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Beyond the Blues
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March 2, 2009
Posted by Aakash Chopra on 03/02/2009 in Ranji one-dayers 2008-09
Absorbing Agartala

Dear readers,

We’re in Agartala for the knock-out rounds of the Vijay Hazare trophy. For those who are not aware Agartala - the capital of Tripura - is located in the far east of India. One needs to take a flight from Kolkata and fly over Bangladesh to reach here. We realised its proximity to our neighboring country as soon as we landed. The network for mobile phones, if not selected manually, tends to log onto Grameen, the telecom service provider in Bangladesh. So if you’re not careful you might end up paying a lot of money for making and receiving calls under the international roaming rates.

Personally, I like coming to the smaller, lesser known places in this vast land. Only cricket could have given us the opportunity to travel all over and get acquainted with various local cultures. There’s something peculiar about the houses (on the outskirts) in this part of the country. Since land is not at a premium the houses are built on a big compound with enough space for a garden. Invariably there are a couple of coconut trees in every compound and the boundary walls are made of bamboo. Those bamboo boundary walls – some of the smaller shops have them too - make a statement: we trust each other. It reminds me of the tradition in a small island called Nevis in the Caribbean, where locking your car is taken as an insult by the others.


The houses in the city center are just like any other across the country but the houses in the outskirts tell you a different story.


We were in for some excitement as soon as we landed. Imagine if someone tells you the booking you made at a local hotel has been cancelled and that the local association has booked our rooms in a different hotel. If that someone also happens to be the liaison officer, you tend to believe it. There’s only one decent hotel in this city and to be told that we were not to stay in that despite booking well in advance left us quite red-faced. We called up the officials in the Delhi association responsible for making the arrangement and even they weren’t aware of the cancellation. We then called the hotel itself and were duly informed that the booking was well in place and they were waiting for our arrival.

We were stunned at this revelation but it didn’t end here. We told the liaison officer what had happened and asked him to take us to our preferred hotel but he didn’t; in his defence he was just following orders, and he promptly took us to a dingy hotel in the city. We had to argue, and quite vocally too, that we should be taken to our desired destination, and eventually we got our way, but the whole thing smelt of conspiracy. Had we not asked our association and the hotel people we would have been forced to stay in a below par hotel. We struggled to comprehend the reason behind their lie. Perhaps the hotel we were asked to stay in had some arrangement with the local association. But we will never know.


The good thing about playing in a smallish center is the interest it generates in the locals. Even though the ground on which we played Railways was not the ideal ground to field in, we saw the lighter side of our plight. We were having bets on fielding the ball without fumbling, and a misfield wasn’t regarded with contempt but as a reason to laugh. To cut it short, it’s bumpy and rough. But there were people on the ground to watch cricket and that was a pleasant sight. Even though it wasn’t a big number, to people like us who are so used to playing in front of empty stadiums, even a few hundred can make a difference. The local cable channel had been advertising the event and, of course, the entry was free for all.

We have a three day break before the quarter finals and even after taking a day to recuperate from the match fatigue, we have enough time and days to look around and know this place a little better.


Cheers

Comments (16)
Posted by: Tapo at March 2, 2009 12:20 PM

Hi Akash - Good to see you are enjoying Agartala. Dont you think that the ODI tournament in India should be marketed a lot better. I think the IPL has given a big fillip to the interest levels for the domestic games and it is the right time to capitalise. All the best for the match against Bengal but i honestly think Wriddhi, Tiwary and Shukla will send Sangwan and Co. on a leather hunt.

Posted by: Aditya Guha Roy at March 2, 2009 12:32 PM

The best part of the blog was about the network which u wuld select on ur phone.... Its a lovely place and as u love nature i guess u'll surely love the place.
And ur struggle wit the accomodation will never end i guess... :)... anyway all the best for the tourney and u r sure gonna be an ODI specialist.... another ton is in waiting.... Virat all the best to u to...
Cheers

Posted by: Sahil Dev at March 2, 2009 3:55 PM

Aakash Sir

being someone who lives in delhi, i can very well understand the peace of mind, we get by going out of delhi and to such a beautiful place like agartala. A real natural beauty. I always pray that domestic cricketers get at least 50 % of the recognition international players get. And another good description by you. Though i have not read your book till now, i would surely read it soon. Keep up the good work.

thanks
Sahil Dev
another delhite :)

Posted by: Neha J at March 2, 2009 4:07 PM

..Only cricket could have given us the opportunity to travel all over and get acquainted with various local cultures...
So true..!
Keep up the hard work..and good luck for the next game..!
Cheers!

Posted by: Chandan at March 2, 2009 4:56 PM

In your next blog, please tell us how the pre quarterfinal group was decided. A lot of us were confused at why Dehi, the north zone winner, and TN, the south zone winner, had to play in preQF.

Today UP and Baroda qualified for semis. Hope Delhi does too. All the best!

Posted by: James at March 2, 2009 9:36 PM

Thanks Aakash.
I am an avid cricket fan from England, and over the past few months, your blog has given me a fascinating insight about domestic cricket in India, which had previously been something I understood little about.

I have been looking for a while to buy your book, 'Beyond the Blues', but neither my local bookshop in England nor the UK version of Amazon have it. If either yourself, or someone from cricinfo could tell me how I could get hold of a copy, it would be much appreciated, as on the evidence of this blog, it is sure to be an excellent and absorbing read.

Posted by: srikant at March 3, 2009 12:12 AM

akash ...my question to you ...i play grade cricket in melbourne..this season was quite dull for me....i tend to get disturbed with the lots of chirping and sounds coming from slips..( you know how aussies sledge)..my problem is that it makes me play a rash shot or play away from the body..how do i increase my concentration ...any tip...

Posted by: Sid at March 3, 2009 5:35 AM

I had visited Dimapur, Nagaland. I live in Baroda. To visit Dimapur, I had to fly over Bangladesh. One flies over river Brahmaputra. Even from the plane, the river looks so huge. One cannot imagine until one actually sees it. Northeast is very beautiful, especially Kohima with its war cemetry. If one gets a chance, one should definitely visit Northeast.

Posted by: Amitabha at March 3, 2009 12:34 PM

Hi Aakash,
I happen to be from Agartala. After reading your blog I talked to the Secretary, TCA regarding the confusion about your hotel accommodation. It seems there was some communication gap between your liaison officer and you. Knowing the people over here I just hope the fellow can express himself properly in Hindi or English. Anyways, the Secretary, TCA told me that the association was not aware that you had booked your preferred hotel which, in fact, did not have any more accommodation left. The liaison officer realised the situation only a bit late. I assure that the other hotel did not have 'some arrangement with the local association'. I have requested the Secretary, TCA to clarify the matter.
Anyways, your post was lovely to read. We are touched by your love for Agartala which has been struggling to come up in the cricket map of India.
All the best.

Posted by: Trideep at March 3, 2009 1:08 PM

Hi Akash.. If you can see this message, then something good and cheap stuffs u can find in Agartala. Do visit the market at Battala (a place), where u can find anything starting from clothes - electronics for very much cheap price. Hope you have a nice time staying at Agartala. Enjoy !! Best of luck for your games.

Posted by: Yogesh at March 4, 2009 1:18 AM

So nice to read about a place where people can trust each other.

Posted by: Shuvadeep at March 4, 2009 5:48 AM

Hi Akash
This one is from an Agartala-ite. Hope you have a nice stay.

Posted by: Debargha Ambuly at March 4, 2009 6:27 AM

Which ground did u play in ? The MBB stadium is one of the prettiest in India I think... but cant tell about the ground conditions though... try some gr8888 fast food in the city... bawarchi chicken rolls, motorstand chops, puri sabji etc .. also visit nirmahal, sephaijala, kashba... n play great cricket obviously.... Nice post overall.. thanks

Posted by: praneet at March 4, 2009 7:33 AM

Finally got hold of ur book..:).Brilliantly open and honest..i have just read up to the semifinals stage.. You dont hold back anything..its one very very important and much needed book about Indian cricket..something similar to what Peter Roebuck captured in "Sometimes I forgot to laugh"...Keep on writing Akash and keep on scoring those tons.

Posted by: Rajit at March 5, 2009 1:10 PM

Agree with Chandan,can't figure out how thie Pre QF standings were decided.Also I feel this tournament should have been covered agressively on TV ,with ex & fringe players like Virat Kohli,Badrinath,Abhishek Nayyar,Sangwan ,AC (Himself) etc playing.All said and done it looks like that the tournament ( with last years' winner not even in QF) is heading for a fantastic finish with 4 top teams in the Semi-Finals.
All the best!!!

Posted by: Abhishek at March 5, 2009 3:46 PM

Hey Akash

Congrats Man on release of your book. You are good writer.. and better batsman. So keep on batting. Can you please tell me where I need to buy the copy of your Book online? I am currently located in US.. But I hope they can mail it or something.. Do let me know if you get this messsage. Its been pleasure reading all your articles. I liked the one where you described about the food for domestic cricketers. Can you write one more column about food as international cricketer. That is always good to know. Otherwise one can never get insight what's the life off the field for cricketer. Also one more question for you, Do you read the comments that you get on cricinfo articles??? Bcoz I always wonder if you even follow it or not?? The most imp thing is you keep doing your batting going for delhi.. Hayden got back very late to international cricket.. still made it.. You might be destined with same fortune.. But for that keep scoring tons of runs for Delhi..

Take Care Buddy

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Aakash Chopra opened for India in 10 Tests, forming a potent all-Delhi combination with Virender Sehwag during India's tour of Australia in 2003-04. He also made his mark as an exceptional close-in fielder. He writes columns for the Hindustan Times and Cricinfo, and is the author of Beyond the Blues, his season diary for 2007-08, when Delhi became Ranji champions. His website is here, and his Twitter feed here
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