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| Volume: Vol - 3 No. 11 Issue: July 2006 |
| Balls for BETI! 7 2006 | |||
| The balls have been flying thick and fast this last month or so. Around the world, billions of dollars are being made as millions of eyeballs are glued to Cricket, Tennis (French Open and Wimbledon), Football (FIFA World Cup). But in a small corner of suburb in Mumbai – Andheri — watched by a few thousands of people, a small game of Cricket was played on June 04, 2006. It was a small game with a BIG difference: It was played by BIG TV Stars with BIG hearts (some stars whose hearts were not so big, dropped out at the very last minute!) to give support and power (i.e., 'balls') to two very BIG causes: (i) BETI, an initiative that highlights the horror of Female Infanticide; (ii) The TV Workers' Welfare Fund. The convenors of the Match, Anu and Shashi Ranjan, who are also the publishers of GR8!, elaborate on the Causes. Seema S. Mattoo & Mona Vaidya give a ball-by-ball commentary of the Match and immediately after that are the Players' Quotes.
"The idea of playing a GR8! Welfare Cricket Match originated because we were thinking of doing something constructive for two important issues. One is 'Beti'. And the second is to generate finance for the welfare fund for the TV industry. The Welfare Fund is for the needy from the TV industry who we feel require monetary help. We will organise more such events in the future too to build up this fund. "The TV industry has always been very responsive and we have been lucky that the mutual trust has grown over the years. As and when we have asked the TV industry to be with us they have never shied away to support us very strongly. And vice versa, as and when the TV industry needed something we have always helped the cause. "To have entertainment programs, is normally the trend so we thought of doing something which is more fun where the people participating should enjoy and have fun rather than looking like they are laboring for it. Hence, the idea of a Cricket Match. And believe me, all the players enjoyed every bit of it so much that they are very keen to repeat it more often and they have asked me if we can organize a match every second month even if it is for charity. I myself stepped on the field to play cricket after 20 years and even without practice I enjoyed myself when I saw that others in the team were almost like professionals and very good at the game. "Cricket is our national passion and obsession and it is one game which everybody knows about whether one has played it or not. Like some of our girls who were cheerleaders claimed they had never witnessed a cricket game before but they shouted the most, enjoyed themselves to the hilt and said they just loved the entire experience, so no wonder it is our national obsession. "All in all we had GR8 fun and the future will see us organizing some more matches." "Beti was a movement started during the GR8! Women Achievers' Awards in February '06 when we decided to create awareness by talking to people about the drastic fall in the birth of the girl child. We decided to keep the movement alive by organizing small talks, happenings, events through which we plan to convert many minds. Beti is not a foundation, just a movement so whatever funds we get goes to an NGO that is working for the Girl Child. "The Welfare Trust for artistes has been around since 2001 when ITA was formed and we are building this fund for any needy person from the TV industry who may require it urgently. Any one who genuinely needs money any small, big amount whatever capacity we will give and we want the funds to grow. "Thus we organized the GR8! Welfare Cup since Cricket being our nation's passion everybody responded so well. Now the players want to form their own team where there will be practices and matches for charity and causes. These players have acting as their business from where they earn there money and playing cricket is more of a passion for them just like when they do a show or event for a cause. We will see tons of matches in the future once the season is good." The rains lashed Mumbai with such fury that everyone was in two minds whether the Welfare Cup will happen. But since it was for a good cause, the rain Gods decided to take it easy and the sun shone brightly on the day of the match. The celebs walked in all ready for a mini battle of sorts armed with their cricketing gear and loads of energy drinks. Indraneil Sengupta was the first to walk in and hung around quietly till the rest of them walked in. Although in the beginning he looked a little lost, but he soon started smiling from ear to ear. Perhaps it had something to do with the arrival of Barkha Bisht, (his co-star in Pyar Ke Do Naam Ek Radha Ek Shyam), who had come to cheer him up. After the first innings got over, Indraneil made it a point to take her aside and talk to her and only her. And in the second innings after he got out, he preferred sitting with her away from the pavilion in a secluded corner. When Varun Badola, captain of the Team Blue [TB] walked in, he looked focused and business like. His wife Rajeshwari strolled in behind him and looked dressed for English county cricket in casual jeans and top with a hat to go with it! Varun was very bothered with who was playing in which team and before he could figure that out, Salil Ankola, captain of the Team Yellow [TY]appeared and they both got into an earnest discussion about the weather and the pitch. As the rest of the players gathered around, some got busy with other things. Like Akashdeep Segal [TB] who had walked in with a pretty foreigner girl and two other friends. He kept grinning and showing his pearly white for some reason, till you got a closer look at one of his tooth. He's got a blue stud stuck onto one of them and was showing it off the whole evening, that was when he wasn't holding hands with the girl or tying his long hair. Sharad Kelkar [TB] looked tired and complained it was a hangover that he was suffering from. It had been his first wedding anniversary the previous night and his wife Keerti and he had thrown a party. They danced and drunk so much that both of them were nursing hangovers. Yet Sharad managed to revive himself and come for the match. Keerti was still in bed. Yet in another corner, one of our cheerleaders, Tanaz Lal, had walked in on time unlike boyfriend Bakhtyar Irani [TB] who was the last to arrive and came running in with a plastic bag in hand. While she chatted up with the other cheerleaders like Shruti Ulfat, who apart from being a cheerleader was also one of the commentators, he rushed to change his clothes. Shama Sikander came accompanied by 'just good friend' Amit Jain [TB], who also happened to be playing the match. While Amit got down to some serious practise, Shama kept looking at him all moony eyed. When Shashi Ranjan [TY], Convenor, Indian Television Academy announced for the match to start, and Salil and Varun along with Harsha Bhogle [TY]and Shruti marched off to the pitch for the toss. Varun won the toss and elected to bat. So the match started in full seriousness and the commentary started with full masti with Bakhtyar and Tanaz trying to out do each other. Their commentary had everyone in the splits especially the players on the field. When Manav Gohil [TB], who played a great innings, came back to the pavilion, he said loudly, "during the match there were times, when I wished I could've pulled the plug on the speakers. You guys were too distracting." Shweta Kawatra had merely come to cheer Manav and after a while quietly left. Team Blue kept smashing fours all over the field, but also managed to give away wickets. Kabir Sadanand [TY] took two brilliant catches. At the end of the first innings, the score said team blue was 155 all out. After 15 minutes break, where the celebs have their energy drinks and feasted on hot vada pavs and samosas, the team yellow padded up. The umpire for the match was Ashok Pandit and he was the only one without a uniform. As the second innings began Sumeet Raghvan [TY] got out within the first few balls and after he came back to the pavilion he took up full time commentary along with Manoj Joshi [TY]. Whenever Ashok would spread his hands out to call for a wide or announce a four, Sumeet would take off saying, "Look what the vampire has indicated." While the match was being played, some other players were occupied with other things. Like Kabir was busy trying to keep his two year old daughter Kahini from running off into the field. She kept running towards the field and he kept bringing her back. In the last 4 overs, the match reached a peak with the yellow team trying desperately to get runs. When Shashi Ranjan came into bat, Sunil Mattoo [TB] had already claimed two wickets and Team Blue had their eyes on Shashi but he got knocked out on the first ball for a duck. Team Yellow kept losing wicket after wicket but played a brilliant innings. But they lost the match short of 9 runs. When the teams walked back to the pavilion, someone said aloud, "You know all the cheerleaders were either wives or girlfriends of the Blue Team members. And there was no one from the Yellow team side. That's why they lost." They don't call it 'Lady Luck' for no reason! |
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Anupamaa
