Delhi Dil Se at India-Pakistan Match

Sunday, 10th Oct ’10. Every Indian on that day would have wanted to be at Dhyan Chand stadium. But all could not have made it, but I did.

This was the night I could never forget. It was a night, Delhi showed to the world that CWG Delhi 2010 is not about complaints, missed deadlines and corruption but about passion, games mania, patriotism, jubilation and much more..…Indeed it was the best night of my life…

Sporting a tricolor on right cheek, a tricolor muffler and the Great Tricolor Flag, we patriots entered the stadium at 4 PM for a match scheduled for 7PM. We did this only to make sure we get our favorite seat. We couldn’t take any chances because whenever we sit in that position we have never left the stadium without seeing our country win.

Sounds of “India … India” started cantillating the stadium during the Australia-Malaysia match itself. Although this didn’t meant anything at that time but such high was our excitement that we couldn’t resist it and joined to increase the noise levels.

Australia-Malaysia match got over and we got a glimpse of our HEROES – Indian Hockey team members. I can swear even Salman Khan or Hrithik Roshan wouldn’t have got that loud a cheer from the crowd.

As soon as the Indian Team entered the stadium for warm-ups the patriotic slogans started – Bharat Mata ki Jai, Hindustan Zindabad, Jeetega bhai jeetega, India jeetega – the feeling of being a proud Indian was at its peak.

Among loud cheers, the whistle was blown to commence the match. Expectations were high and so were the stakes; Loss meant ouster.

But in the 4th minute India got its first penalty corner and everyone in stadium was jumping as if it was on fire. Our Tendulkar of Hockey, Sandeep Paaji soon delivered “The Precious” to us all. I can’t describe that feeling in words: We were shouting like crazies as feeling of exultation and jubilation had engrossed everyone in the stadium.

Another nail in the coffin came in not more than 10 minutes and India scored another 2 goals in not more than another 10 minutes and it felt like the golden days of Indian Hockey are back. Everyone had already started celebration, the voices had gone hoarse but the end was far away.

Pakistan team scored 2 quick goals and there was pin-drop silence in stadium.

The second half saw what actually cheering could do to boost the morale of a playing team; Indian team started attacking again and soon the game was in the half where everyone in the stadium wanted it to be. Finally, with the score of 7-4, as the countdown started in the stadium – 10-9-8-7-…-2-1 – I heard the loudest roar of my life.

Celebrations had just started. It was time now for everyone to congratulate each other. Groups of people were running around the stadium shouting patriotic slogans and it was very fascinating to see how everyone else was joining them.

Just as it seemed that party is over, there came another surprise: As soon as we came out of Mj. Dhyan Chand Stadium, there was a group of people from some religious society. They had dholaks and manzeeras with them and some people were dancing with them. We also joined the group and seeing us many more joined it. Soon around 200 people were dancing outside the stadium. This dance party continued for about 30-40 minutes before CRPF personnel asked us to leave. Then as soon as we entered the shuttle bus for Metro station, sloganeering started there too. We were shouting at the top our voices and some CWG volunteers requested us to take our pics. We had pics clicked in the center of road. There were slogans even in Delhi metro. We felt so proud that we wore the tricolor muffler and flag till we reached home.

I repeat my prologue once again.

This was the night I could never forget. It was a was the night, Delhi showed to the world that CWG Delhi 2010 is not about complaints, missed deadlines and corruption but about passion, games mania, patriotism, jubilation and much more..…Indeed it was the best night of my life…