Baba

 Baba enjoyed telling me this one story. This was from Dec 1983. The day after my birth. Baba visited the hospital and went to the section where all the newborn babies were kept. Apparently, there were quite a few but for Baba, it was easy to find me as I was the tallest baby in that group. This was one of Baba’s earliest memories of me.

My earliest memory of Baba which I can recollect was from sometime in the year 1986. I was later told that it was my first long-distance train journey. My parents were taking me to Banaras for some religious ceremony which included among other things to let go of all my hairs. I was two and half years old. I still remember that fun I had on the night train and how I kept asking questions for all of which Baba had an answer. Maybe, it was the excitement of a two and half years old to be on a moving train and see all these new things. And I can still faintly remember my father’s smile from that night. My earliest memory with Baba which I can remember.
Another of my earliest memories was from that trip when my father took me to the ghats of Banaras in the night and show me the lights coming from those boats far from the shore. I visited Banaras second time in 2017 and I could picture and almost identify the place where my father used to take me.
From then on there were countless memories. And memories are flooding back to me. Late 80’s and Baba taking me in his lap to my Pre-primary school. Baba taking me to so many different Puja pandals during Durga Puja. Baba telling me stories of Tintin and Bantul The Great, Baba coming from office early one afternoon and proudly telling us the story of how he went to check the admission list in Ballygunge Govt. High School and finding to his surprise that I not only got the chance but stood second in the admission test. Baba taking me to the local library and getting me a card as the youngest member of the library and so on.
Somehow most of my cherished memories with Baba were from my pre-teen days. Baba was in Patna from 1993 to 2000 as his Kolkata office was shifted to Patna. He used to come during few holidays, and I also have memories of how I used to greet him as soon as I can see him on a cycle-rickshaw entering our lane. By the time, he retired and returned to Kolkata, I was in my last years of school and already busy with my studies and the outside world. Still, there are memories. Baba was a serious man but with typical wit which made him a great man to talk to. His tall handsome frame always made him someone whom you will notice even from a crowd.
I know I am blabbering, but this is my Facebook profile, and this was my Baba.
He was not doing well for the last couple of years, and I have spent some really anxious times for him and with him. My last memory of Baba was from 24th June morning, and I will remember the date. Like last few days, Baba was getting support by Bi-PAP machine with a host of wires connected to his body. In my previous two days visits Baba was not in enough sense to respond. On 24th, when I called Baba he opened his eyes, something more than what he could do last two days. Then he raised his right hand like a wave. Every day I used to go and stand on the left side of Baba as his right eye was damaged from his childhood. Yesterday, I went to his right, hold his hand. He reciprocated and then very gently, maybe almost absentmindedly just brushed his fingers against my palm for the next few seconds, maybe a minute. Then I left him, I had to arrange a transfer for him from that hospital to another hospital and I wanted to do it at the earliest.
Baba left us on 24th June afternoon and my last memory of baba was that gentle stroking of his fingers on my hand. almost like he was trying to feel my presence by touching me.
I am not sure what was Baba’s last memory of me, but I can hope that he was happy and he was proud of what we have achieved as a family.
Thank you Baba for making me a reader, thank you for shaping me into a methodical person, and thanks for the Sharadindu connection.

Number's Game - England in India

England is touring India since 1933. In the 88 years history of England’s tour to India, they have played 15 test series along with one solo test in 1980 as part of the Golden Jubilee celebration of BCCI. Out of these 15 series, India won 7 including the last series, England won 4, their latest series win came in 2012 and 4 series ended in a draw. Here are some key numbers and Trivia related to India-England test matches on Indian soil before their upcoming 4-match series in February-March.

1 – India’s first-ever test match on home soil was against the touring English team under the captaincy of Douglas Jardine. Just the previous year, India made their debut at Lords’ and it was England’s turn to make a return visit. The fascinating first test of the 3-match series was played in the Bombay Gymkhana ground and gain countrywide interest. Since then, there are no more test matches on this ground, and it remains one of the few test grounds with just 1 test match.

2 – The same test match saw the first instance of two debutants scoring centuries on the same test. Bryan Valentine of England and Lala Amarnath of India made centuries in their debut test match. Amarnath’s century was the first test century for the Indians and resulted in great celebration among fans. Till now there is only two more instance of two debutants scoring century in the same test match.

3 – Jumping the clock ahead by 52 years and we have another young debutant setting records during an India-England series. The stylish Mohammed Azharuddin of Hyderabad scored a debut hundred at Eden Gardens, Kolkata and followed it with two more hundred in next two test matches at Chennai and Kanpur. This is the only instance of a player scoring hundreds in his first three test matches.

Source: Internet

5 – The highest number of centuries scored in the India-England series in India. Like many other batting reports, Alastair Cook holds this record as his five centuries included a massive 190 at Eden Gardens in 2012. Among current players, Cheteshwar Pujara has 4 hundred and can break this record in the upcoming series.

13 – Ian Botham holds the record for best-ever bowling figure in an India-England test match at India. During the 1980 Golden Jubilee test match, Botham took 6/58 and 7/48 in two innings and finished the match with 13 for 106. He also scored a hundred to take them to a 10-wicket victory.

64 – The highest number of wickets taken by a bowler in India-England test matches at India. This record belongs to the Indian master leg spinner BS Chandrasekhar who has played 14 test matches against England at home from 1964 to 1977. As expected, the top five positions in the wickets list are occupied by spinners with Derek Underwood being the lone Englishman. Among the current players, Ravichandran Ashwin is in the fifth position with 42 wickets and will hope to be near the top of the tree by the end of this series.

303 – The highest Individual innings played during India-England Tests. Karun Nair remains an enigma for Indian cricket fans who scored a triple-century in just his third test at Chennai during England’s last tour of India. But Nair only played three more test matches since then with minimal success and currently nowhere near the Indian national team due to indifferent performances in domestic cricket and IPL. Interesting 81% of his total international runs (374) was scored during that one innings.

387 – India recorded their best-ever fourth Innings chase during the Chennai Test in 2008. The test match was played just after the ‘26/11 Mumbai attack’ once the English team made a return to India and had lots of emotions attached to it. The emotions reached their peak when India completed an unlikely chase on the fifth day thanks to a Sachin Tendulkar unbeaten century and handy contributions from Yuvraj Singh, Virender Sehwag, and Gautam Gambhir.

477 – England achieved an unwanted world record during their last tour when they scored 477 runs in their first innings of the fifth test at MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai and still lost the test match by an innings and 75 runs. This is highest team total in the history of the game for a team to lose the match by an innings.

759 – Chennai and Kolkata remain two Indian venues that
keep producing various records. In the test match where Karun Nair scored his unbeaten 303, India finished with a team total of 759/7 declared, their highest ever test score at any venue against any opposition. Along with Nair, KL Rahul also scored 199 as the Karnataka duo contributed more than 500 runs of that total.

1331 – Sunil Gavaskar is leading the run tally with 1,331 runs against England on Indian soil, followed by Alastair Cook and Gundappa Viswanath as the other two players with thousand plus runs. Among the current players Virat Kohli (843) and Cheteshwar Pujara (839) are in a race to reach the 1000 runs followed by Joe Root on 584. If Root reached the 1000 runs mark in India in this series that will not be good news for India.a