Kshana - Moments of Happiness

Kshana decided to take the cricket fever one step ahead by having its very own Kshana Premier League at The Bandra East Community Centre which is a home to 40 cricket crazy boys.

The boys were divided into 6 teams with names of their favourite IPL teams. Two Kshana members were assigned to coach and guide each team. The boys couldn’t wait to play cricket with their brand new cricket kit which was a gift from Kshana to them. We brought caps and printed the Kshana logo for all the children so that it could help them beat the heat and focus on playing well.

The matches started with a lot of clapping, cheering and boo-ing. All the teams were riding high on expectations. The matches had all the elements which would keep the spectators at the edge of their seats. There were moments of anxiety, moments of panic, moments of happiness, and moments of disappointment.

The boys would scream with joy and jump around with their ‘Four!!’ flashcards whenever the ball hit the boundary or gasp collectively in horror when the umpire declared a player ‘Out!. And then the screams of ‘Hozzzatttt!’ from the team that was bowling and murmurs of ‘Woh toh out nahi tha!!!’ from the team which was batting. These are the few moments that we cherished with the boys who reminded us of our childhood days.

We had a huge audience comprising people from the nearby slums who just could not resist catching a few minutes of the match. Our wonderful commentator kept the audience entertained with his witty remarks about the players, their batting, bowling and fielding skills (and sometimes the lack of it! :P). There were so many photographers who just couldn’t get enough of all the action (inspite of dodging and getting hit by the ball!). The boys had such high levels of enthusiasm that the presence of any cheerleaders was just not required..hehe.

The Royal Challengers won the finals and were declared as the champions of the Kshana Premiere League. There was lots of yelling, hugging and dancing to celebrate their victory. All the other team members and Kshanites joined their dance session. It was so surprising to see the boys dance so actively inspite of being so tired with all the cricket. The DJ kept playing popular chartbusters and we danced like there was no tomorrow. We did not stop until it was dinner time. It was then, that we realized how hungry we were. The boys were greeted with a delicious meal comprising chole, puri, gulab-jamuns and chocolate cake! Post a quick prayer they pounced on their food and insisted that the Kshana members also eat with them. The boys saw to it that each of us ate atleast one gulab-jamun before we left. It was such a sweet gesture indeed.

We wrapped up after sharing a wonderful meal with the boys. We said our goodbyes and left with the memories of an action packed day which I doubt anyone would be able to forget.