Vinay M. Shivanna saw my
poetry posted on Facebook in 2017 and liked it; I
reached out to him when I was looking for a beta reader for one of my novels in
December 2017. “It's 90,000 words, 240 pages. I can send you a standard beta
checklist.”
He said it would be okay and I sent him the PDF. Months passed. I thought I would
never hear from him again, though I noticed he liked new poems I shared. At
that time, I had no idea he lived in Hsinchu, Taiwan, and a mere fifty miles
north of my home in Taichung; I thought, like many of my poetry readers he was writing from India.
On June 25, 2018, I posted a meme on Facebook to
test the water about possibly throwing a party for my birthday in July. “Do I
know enough people in Taiwan to make a birthday party for myself?” To my
surprise, Vinay was one that responded. By then I realized
he lived in Hsinchu, Taiwan, but I knew nothing about him. I did a quick search of his Facebook home page
and located his hometown in south-west India.
“Bengaluru is to the south of Mumbai, considered
as Silicon Valley of India,” he texted when I suggested a 19 hour drive from
Tiptur to Mumbai was a long ride; Mumbai is one of the only cities I knew of in
India. “India is quite big. Bengaluru is the nearest metro city from my
hometown, Bengaluru to Mumbai is a 1.5 hr. flight.”
I noticed a photo of the Bhagavad Gita on his
page and assumed he was a Hindu. Some branches of Hinduism give the Bhagavad Gita
the status of an Upanishad, and consider it to be a Śruti or "revealed
text.” I asked if he was a vegetarian. “Yes sir, am a vegetarian but milk and
its products, onion, garlic are all okay... No meat and pork oils.” I assured
him there would be vegetarian food at my birthday party.
I told Vinay I would love to visit India one day but
I wouldn’t know where to start. “You can consider travelling across India,
selecting few prominent places from North to South.” I texted I wouldn’t dare go alone.
“It isn't worst as hyped in the media and SM.” I
admitted I was a victim of that negative hype, but the fact was, without a
guide, I wouldn't know where to go. “It's possible to find an Indian guide but will
be restricted to a single state in India rather.”
There are around three thousand Indian nationals
living in Taiwan under work permits and resident visas; the majority live in
Taipei, with Hsinchu second with six hundred and Taichung the third main area
of residence. It is a small percentage compared to the 500,000 foreign migrant
workers, mainly from the Philippines, Vietnam, Thailand and Indonesia. Most Indians
love the weather and opportunity; Indians have been coming to Taiwan since the
1980's — mainly businessmen, jewelers, and scientists.
Through India’s "Look East" foreign policy, it has created ties with
Taiwan in trade and investment as well as developing cooperation in science and
technology. Indian culture shows itself through yoga, fashion and music.
Ayurvedic spas and beauty salons are appearing as well as Indian restaurants. Diwali
and Holi are celebrated by the Indian communities.
At my birthday party,
Vinay invited me to the cricket finals in Hsinchu to see his team play; he is on the Titans. While teaching in FDR High School in Brooklyn for
twenty-five years, the increasing number of Pakistani and Bengali students
formed cricket teams that played in Prospect Park but I didn’t avail myself of
the opportunities to watch them play. I was looking forward to watching my
first cricket match and told Vinay I would be delighted to go.
On August 1st, Vinay contacted me with details for the cricket final in Hsinchu that Sunday. I would
take a Taiwan Railroad train from Taichung getting there in time for the four o’clock
match, returning at ten o’clock after the Titan’s hopeful victory celebration at
Chillies’ Indian restaurant, the club's sponsor.
On August 5th, I
got off the train in Hsinchu and walked to National Tsing Hua University
baseball field where the final playoff match that day was being held. I met
Vinay as I entered the campus. The match had not yet begun so we hung out on
the bench during the first inning; there are two innings in cricket; all but two of the eleven players, the batters,
were on the bench. The Formosa Cricket Club and the Titans went head to head in
the final after six preliminary matches involving the Taipei Cricket
Association (TCA) and the Badshaws.
The game lasted over three hours. This cricket
virgin sat in the dugout with the score keeper and Vinay and tried to figure
things out. The Titans won 162 to 108 in 18 overs; Captain Vivek Nandkumar’s had
46 runs and Rachit Aggarwal 31 from 16 deliveries. Rachit took three wickets. Titan’s
teammates Karuna Nidhi and Manikandan each made great catches.
“What you played that day
was 20-20?” I later texted Vinay, proud that I had boned up on some cricket
history and rule changes.
“18-18,” he said. “Time
limitations and too humid weather resulted in breaks between games. We wanted
to do 20-20.But customized to 18-18.”
‘”That kind of cricket has
only been around since 2003,” I texted smartly.
“Exactly. The first world
cup of 20-20 was only in 2007. It's the newest form in cricket.” I could understand
75% of how runs were scored or why they weren't. As a baseball fan, I chuckled
at the chance in baseball of having all foul balls good for runs as they are in
cricket, and having a bat with flat surface area which seemed easier to hit the
larger ball with. The softer ball seems easier to catch without a glove, but
what do I know? Only the speed and catching skills of the “outfielders” and catching
the ball before a four-run ground ball out-of-bounds or six run “home runs”
seemed similar to baseball rules. I still don’t understand why the bowler has
to make such a big deal of running up and throwing the ball when he can get as much
velocity and curve by standing and going into a wind-up. From wicket to wicket,
the batters didn’t have to slide; only touch their bats to the line; no wonder
their uniforms were so clean and neat at the end of the match!
After the victory, I was
honored to make a little speech and present the trophy to the Formosa
Cricket Club with the Titans HT's trophy Captain Vivek Chakankar presented by Duane
Christie and Jayesh Sharma. FCC Captain Arun Parappagoudar received the Runners
Trophy. But after the ceremony there was no talk of going to sponsor Chillies’ Indian
Restaurant; everyone was too excited so, with more than an hour before the last
train south, I was directed by Vinay to a taxi shared with the primary
sponsor. Through the campus gate to Guang Fu Road Section 2 where, across the busy
thoroughfare, I took the #1 bus back to the train station, a bus that seemed to
take longer to the front of the station than it had taken me to walk from the
back to the University.
I was pleasantly surprised
to find that Titan player Joyal Francis asked to friend me on Facebook; Joyal
had taken three wickets apiece as Formosa were bowled out. “You must be happy
you won.”
“Yes! Of course! We've beaten
number one of this island.”
“How long have you played
cricket?
“When I was in my childhood, I started to play. Professionally it was a perfect cricket,” Joyal texted, “and
perfect ground under the rules... but not for money, for pride. In Taiwan
we try to implement the natural game... it's always learning.... learning..."
“Where did you practice when
you were a kid back home?” I asked.
“High school and
universities and some different private cricket clubs in India. To become a
cricketer, one should learn game from proper coach and some good clubs.”
Vinay and I texted again. “Here
is the page for our cricket club patrons
https://www.facebook.com/Titans-Cricket-201805863936750/. This
is the group for patrons." Vinay expressed his gratitude to Mr. Thomas
Xavier, Chairman, Hsinchu Titans Cricket Club and Mr. Ramakrishna Krishnan
("they call him 'Ramki'")-Vice Chairman and Finance Secretary, Hsinchu Titans
Cricket Club "...for leading the club despite all the odds with the great and
consistent support from Mr. Nitesh Gupta and Mr. Manikandan Arumugam."
Vinay continued, “They are the ones
keeping the club alive and make cricket tournaments happen. Funds, cricket
gears, practice sessions, practice matches with other teams, organizing
tournaments they do all of it. For the game of cricket, they are doing
everything they can. . He also remembered the founding members of the Hsinchu Titans- Mr. Sham
Chabukswar and Mr. Tathagath Bhowmick.
"Hsinchu Titans Cricket Club whole-heartedly express their
appreciation to Mr. Minesh Valand, Chillies Indian Restaurant for his great
support to Chillies Titans Cup-2018, Hsinchu Titans Cricket Club and thank him
for his passion for the game of cricket," Vinay concluded, then he changed the subject. "
“Thanks for the great
experience,” I replied.
“It was indeed our
pleasure. The team was really happy to meet you."
“You opened up a new
browser for me in cricket and for that I am grateful.” I have been watching all
the cricket YouTube videos I can since that match. “Glad you won, but I'm sure
you would have been happy if you hadn't.”
“No no; we wanted to win
for sure, particularly if you are the host team, you must win considering its
your home ground; you're familiar with the conditions here, and you know how
the ball behaves after pitching better than the guest team,” Vinay responded.
“Okay, so you're real,” I
chided. “I think of Krishna heading into battle. He stopped to wonder why he
was fighting and was reassured he was put in the world for that purpose.”
“Ha-ha...What amazes me
is, your knowledge about Krishna and Mahabharata. I am sure many Indians aren't
familiar with it as much as you are.”
“Don't flatter me. That's
all I recall; perhaps the rest will come back to me soon.” That reminds me of the only rock ‘n’ roll song
I know of, by The Kinks, about Cricket: Watch "Cricket" performed by the Spivs here.
Some people say
that life is a game, well if this is so
I'd like to know
the rules on which this game of life is based
I know of no
game more fitting than the age old game of cricket
It has honour,
it has character and it's British
Now God laid
down the rules of life when he wrote those Ten Commandments
And to cricket
those ten same rules shall apply
Show compassion
and self-righteousness and be honest above all
And come to
God's call with bat and ball
Now the Devil
has a player and he's called the Demon Bowler
He's shrewd,
he's rude and he's wicked
He is sent by
Sinful Satan and he's out to take your wicket
And you know
that that's not cricket
He'll baffle you
with googlies with leg breaks and offspin
But keep a level
head and don't let that demon in
So keep a
straight bat at all times, let the Bible be your guide
And you'll get
by, yes you'll get by
All through your
life he'll try to bowl you out
Beware the Demon
bowler
He's crafty and
deceitful and he'll try to L.B.W.
And bowl a
maiden over
The Devil takes
the weak in spirit and so we must always be courageous
And remember
that God is on your side
So keep old
Satan in your sights and play the straight and narrow line
And you'll get
by, yes you'll get by
板球基本規則
The basics of the game of cricket explained in
Chinese, filmed during the match between Hsinchu Titans Cricket Club and Taiwan
Daredevils Cricket Club held in Chiayi City, Taiwan on Sunday October 4th,
2015. With hardcoded Chinese and English Subtitles.
Copyright © 2018 by David Barry Temple. All rights reserved.
niceone!!
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