Kanyakumari—a must visit for all cricket aficianados

Cricket is a game that is ‘World famous in India’ according to a popular saying amongst the locals. But somewhere down the line, Indians have not been known to be well-versed with the statistical aspect of this game and that could probably explain why we get emotional when Sachin Tendulkar walks back without scoring well in the middle without actually realising the amount of runs he has scored in cricket.

Many times I have wondered on the amount of knowledge (specially the statistical aspect) that a West Indian fan has in the game and even when his/her team loses the game, he will a cricketing reason to it than a decision which the heart has. I often wanted to visit a place in India which prides itself as a cricketing heartland for the last 7-8 decades. And my questions were answered on a recent trip to the southern most end of our country—-in Kanyakumari. As we left for this place for a weekend gateway via a temple visit to Thiruchendur, little did we know what was in store.

Even as we were atleast a good half-an-hour drive away from Kanyakumari, we were greeted by giant windmills that to me stood like light towers that light up a cricket stadium during a day-night cricket match. For the uninitiated, these wind mills offer electricity through wind—-a renewable source of energy.

As we made way to satisfy our culinary instincts at a Saravana Bhavan restaurant, a few hundred metres away from the shore, we were greeted by Murugesan—a pot-bellied man who must be in his mid-thirties and had a unique way of predicting what we will eat rather than him giving us the menu. “Saar (sir), I like to predict what my guests will eat…..” and he ended up laughing as if he had blurted out a super joke even as we gave him an amused look. He introduced himself as Murugesan, Barbados born, having lived a part of his life in Galle (Sri Lanka) and yes, you guessed it right… he is an avid cricket watcher and even claimed that one of his distant relatives was a groundsman at the CCI Brabourne Stadium, Mumbai.
“Yes, I am a big fan of cricket and my favourite player was Vivian Richards. After all, how can someone pull a ball of Bob Willis on the front wicket…not any modern day cricketer…” Murugesan replied when asked who his favourite cricketer was. In a short span of time, Murugesan had convinced that he was no novice in the game of cricket and even informed us that his family was glued to the game and had named his son Vivian and Rohan (symbolising the West Indian great Rohan Kanhai).
His hotel even serves “Calypso Dosai”, “Colombo tea” and other delicacies for its visitors. While we bid adieu to Murugesan who told us places to visit in Kanyakumari, he even gave us names of other cricket aficionados in that town and we may have walked only a few metres when we stumbled upon Karthick who was equally mad about the game……

Who says India does not have people who care about the statisticians!!!! Well, I for one have changed my perception on our nation. who knows how many more Murugesans and Karthicks are present in bigger cities such as Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Bangalore and Chennai!

Kanyakumari has fantastic churches, temples and famous Swami Vivekanda memorial that attracts a lot of tourists from across the world.