Christmas festivities stretched into the Boxing Day as Kolkatans
distributed sweets to celebrate local hero Sourav Ganguly's 100th Test appearance
for India.
The denizens woke up early to witness the historic moment of Ganguly's career
at Melbourne Cricket Ground where India play Australia
in the first Test of the series. The famous MCG, incidentally, was also hosting
its 100th Test match.
The city wore a festive look and people were in high spirits as the left hander's
achievements became the topic of nostalgic discussion at trams, buses, restaurants
and offices.
Ganguly's locality Behala in the southern part of the city
was the centre of action. A stone's throw from the Gangulys' palatial residence,
the cricketer's fans made a paper-board replica of a stadium, adorning it with
100 balloons and the same number of cricket balls.
Another 100 flowers were used to write 'Sourav', as the tri-colour
and the Australian national flag fluttered, while a makeshift scoreboard showed
Ganguly and Laxman as the batsmen in the middle.
Homemade pancakes were distributed among the people, with youths constantly
raising slogans eulogising the talismanic player who made a stellar comeback
scoring more than 1000 Test runs this year.
|
