A Visit to Mysore India
Sport is a great way to bring kids together. While in India, a group of children introduced me to the joys of cricket.
My husband and I traveled to Mysore, a city in Karnataka, one of India’s southern states. On our first day in Mysore, we took off to explore the city. The cool early morning temperatures were a welcome break from India’s steamy weather and perfect for a walk. Most streets were host to a few sleeping cows and dozens of chickens scratching around for breakfast. The houses appeared run down, yet the residents painted the house in cheery pastel colors–lavender, mint green and pale blue, and hung bright potted flowers outside their homes.
Street vendors wheeled wooden carts along the narrow roads. A man selling vegetables yelled, “Tomatoes! Zucchini! Peppers!” (Of course he said these terms in Hindu). Mothers would pop out of doorways to make small purchases from his cart and then return to their kitchens.
We made our way to a small park on the edge of the city. By ten a.m. three cricket matches were already underway. Teenagers and adults dominated the playing fields. As typical Americans, we had a little knowledge of cricket. I know the game has some similarities to American baseball, but many more differences. To me, the game seems slow and tedious–the average match takes eight hours.
We continued our walk and came across a group of young boys in the midst of a pick-up game of “street” cricket. David and I took a seat on a curb a few meters from the action. The boys ranged in age from eight to thirteen. Their skinny deep brown legs raced up and down the alley flinging balls and chasing after hits. We clicked away with our cameras and enjoyed the action. After a bit of spectating, I approached a ten year old in a bright yellow shirt and gave him a friendly wave and a big grin. I asked about the game. To my relief, my new young friend, Charrin, spoke English. I asked if he would teach David how to bat.
Charrin’s eyes widened. He gathered his band of friends together and they chattered away in Hindu hatching some sort of plan. David and I waited for instruction.
Finally, a round-faced boy took David to the middle of the street and gave him a cricket bat. A cricket bat is made of willow wood and is flat on one side and has a hump on the other. With the seriousness of a Yankee’s coach, the eleven-year-old gave David instructions in the basic art of batting (in cricket attempting to hit the ball is called playing a shot or stroke). David had to make some adjustments to his normal baseball swing and did his best to learn how to “stroke” the ball.
The bowler attempts to get the ball past the batsman/David. In cricket, the pitches can be bounced or thrown. Charrin was the first “bowler” of the afternoon. The slim youth was a blur of yellow t-shirt, white teeth and brown skin as he flew by me in his pre-pitch wind-up. He frantically circled his arm and then “whoosh”, released the ball towards David.
A swing and a miss! Charrin let out a yelp of glee!
David’s batting coach shook his head in frustration and made some modifications to David’s hand positions on the bat. Typically, in cricket there are many hits. In an average test match (the equivalent of a baseball game) there are 320 runs scored!
Charrin was galloping towards David once again-this time David connected with a loud knocking sound-finally some success.
After an hour of play, Mothers started to peep their heads out of windows to see what was inspiring all the whooping in the street. Little girls wandered outdoors and sat on doorway steps to watch their brothers in action. It seemed all the attention of the neighborhood had shifted from the grown-up’s matches in the park to our little pick-up game. It seemed as if each boy under thirteen in the Mysore area had a chance to pitch and the day was a complete success.
One of the mothers approached us and invited to enjoy post-match refreshments. We answered, “Of course!”
After a warm glass of hot chocolate (in America it would have been an iced cold soda since the temperature had soared to 90Ã?º) and a few sweets, we took “team pictures” with our new friends. I lined the boys up and put David in the front with his bat.
I’m certainly not a cricket expert now, but we learned a lot from our young friends. We look forward to returning to India some day, maybe we’ll get some lessons on how to “bowl” next time!
