Reminiscence of Bangladesh cricket in 50 objects

[Zeeshan]

Reminiscence of Bangladesh cricket in 50 objects


Psychometry is the reading of memories from association by simply touching an object or token via ESP. An example would be Matt Damon's character in the the movie Hereafter. As I look around my room I am surrounded with various objects that promptly remind me of Bangladesh cricket memories. From Banglawash heroics embedded in my wallet to a frightful horror of Shane Watson encoded in colour yellow, here are some anecdotes that triggers mixed emotions written in the spirit of Gavin Mortimer.

1. Hilsha: Everytime I chomp on fried hilsha or illish maach I am destined to remember controversial figure Mohamamd Ashraful as he treated Sachin Tendulkar in his apartment.
2. Street barber: A curious sighting in Bangladesh is that of street barber. Nay not with red and white poles, but just a chair with a hand held mirror randomly planted and dotted in the ghetto like city of Bangladesh. As I once attended a Sri Lanka match, this sight of a street barber will always remind me of the numerous ticket sellers in 'black' who accosts unsuspecting public. It's unfortunate; but that is the harsh truth.
3. US $1 bills: For months I had the Bangladesh vs New Zealand 2013 Sahara Cup ticket tucked neatly amongst various US one dollar bills until one day I decided to empty my wallets and simplify matters. I still have the ticket however.
4. My mother: Mom was born on March 9th and that is the same date I joined a fan forum of Bangladesh cricket which cavalcaded the whole matter culminating to this present state of my obsession with Tigers.
5. Meditation mat: Yeah, I have a circular wicker mat for meditation in my room purchased from IKEA. Anything remotely related to mediation reminds me of Ashraful ledinititative to help his mental aspect of the game from a 'Quantum Foundation' in Bangladesh.
6. Telephone: The day my Dad called to inform me that Bangladesh knocked India out of 2007 World Cup.
7. Prescription pills: Many nights which I avoided or postponed till morning to watch Bangladesh cricket due to time difference.
8. Troy: Tamim Iqbal's characteristic pose after England heroics.
9. Redbull: Being a New Agey person believing in Law of Attraction, which could very well be pseudoscience, and touted to influence matters, I always have some Redbulls handy as I walk to Mirpur so that my positive energy and vibe will 'spill over' and affect others and the team indirectly. Or as some may call me- psycho! (On the downside to it, as energy wears off gradually and diuretic kicks in, my team's abject performance corresponds accordingly.
10. Russell Crowe I: May be bit of a stretch but -- Gladiators....gladiator...Dhaka...Dhaka Gladiators.
11. Russell Crowe II:May be a bit of stretch too but every time I watch the pigeon scene and the equations on windows in the movie A Beautiful Mind, so many times I wished I could chalk up a Moneyball like theory to help my team.
12. King Solomon: It's not of a stretch if one translate Solomon in Bengali which is Suleiman, and that is a direct reference to Suleiman Benn's 58 match against us.
13. Angel stadium: I had to check the date but it was 3rd November 2009 when Bangladesh got Zimbabwe out for a low scoring total to win the match. That was the same date I went to watch Angels game and my only baseball game.
14. Darwin: The evolutionary biologist actually reminds me of the Bangladesh tour of Australia and the day I got my
    US citizenship something I blogged in an another article.
15. Colour yellow: Xanthophobia is the fear of colour yellow- something which I nearly had- after Shane Watson psychologically traumatized me with his 185 at Mirpur for which I almost needed therapy and considered filing a lawsuit. You see, here in California, all these surfer boys actually even reminds me of him too. So that is double the blow.
16. Rickshaw: We had to circumambulate Mirpur stadium frenetically and frantically searching for tickets finally a kind rickshawpuller took us to Indoor pedaling as fast as he could to purchase match tickets.
17. Benjamin Franklin: He is the culprit who invented Daylight Savings Time, something and sometimes I have to factor in so as to miss any ball of my beloved Tigers.
18. Toast: I once penned a piece on Bangalcricket called Sylhet Toasted when Gayle just when crazy punishing the team for a T20 hundred. Some sees Virgin Mary on toast, I see Chris Gayle.
19. Nightclubs: Countless weekends I skipped going to the place of decadence and Dionysian pleasure sacrificing my time for these idiotic displays of my wretched Tigers.
20. Ben-hur: The times I contemplated to watch the 8 hour movie so as to kill time before match begins.
21. The Joker: Shakib al Hasan's make up.
22. Honda Accord EX 2014: A car we brought two days ago which will forever reverberatingly remind me of the time we had to go to dealer to purchase the car leaving the fate of West Indies - Bangladesh first ODI to uncertainty. And as ill luck would have it, we would lose it in spite of Anamul's 100 after 35/5!
23. Thanksgiving: Not much of a stretch if you associate 'carving turkey' and the word 'carve' from Robin Jackman's comment that Kayes carved [the ball] for a six. Oh well Sehwag bulldozed us the match to victory in the inaugural 2011 Cup.
24. Loveguru: This is a tricky one. There is a radio talk show host by that name who apparently drew his inspiration from the insipid movie of that same moniker. And he would put Nasir on blast for flirting with random chicks on Facebook. Oh God almighty!
25. Yoshinoya sushi takeaway: To harp on that Law of Attraction theme, I actually would treat myself to be in positive state of mind, and it'd work valiantly after Rubel would york Kyle Mills for a Banglawash 1.0.
26. Dhaba restaurant fuchka: When the loadshedding would come, my Dad and I would go to a Banani's Dhaba restaurant for a plate of fuchka. The expletive reading name is actually something like panipuri dish of India whose nearest species of cousin is unknown in Western part of the world.
27. Rehabilitation center: Everyime I drive past random rehabilitation centers it reminds me of Abdur Razzak's bowling action for which he spent some time in rehab.
28. Singer Mumtaz in Fobana: She is Guinness Book of World Records. She came to Fobana in Wichita, Kansas which I attended. She is rotund and composed the song "Aguner Gola" to which Ashraful danced. No I can never get the song out of my head.
29. KFC: Urban legend has it is former batsman Akram Khan's chief diet. Snopes doesn't confirm though.
30. Schwarma house pizza: A place where I treated my cousins to come with money short which had the final ODI of Banglawash 2.0 screening and were shouting and urging the servers to put the volume on. And oh! They have the finest thin crust pizza ever.
31. Hotel Hanford in Costa Mesa: I went to that Hotel after an argument with Mom and strangely they showed Chris Gayle's T20 match in ESPN. I forget which IPL it was but most likely the South African one.
32. Six packs: If six packs doesn't connote Ian Pont than I don't know what does. After all, a player interviewed in IPL said he wish he had six packs like Dale Steyn, and Dale Steyn is the fast and furious pupil of Ian Pont and Ian Pont is the ex-coaching genius of Bangladesh.
33. Shahrukh Khan: Someone which Shahadat Hossain look up to and wished he could pursue a career like the icon.
34. Muay thai ring: Bangladesh once had an aggressive start against South Africa in South Africa in T20 after beating West Indies. They lost the match but were so aggressive at first that after I went to my muay Thai class pumped up that night my instructor rebuked me for saying that my punches did not land to which I replied: I know it's just that I was trying to be "aggressive".
35. Korean book: They say lead by example. So many times I wished I could memorize a single volume of Korean book for strengthening visualization skills so that finally I can take a job as a consultant for Bangladesh team to show that eidetic imagery or photographic memory is indeed possible, ergo, anything is possible. It failed miserably.
36. Guillotine: Shakib al Hasan's guillotine pose after dismissing Shane Watson in IPL.
37. Jadoo box: It is a satellite or cable equipment found in USA which enables viewers to watch cricket match.
38. Aikidi kiai: Legend has it aikido masters can break and split bamboo or drop a bird with a shout of kiai. Didn't know Shahadat Hossain was an aikido fan.
39. Tennis star Sharapova: Ibid.
40. Flyover in Bangladesh....reminded me of World Cup 2011 preparation of infrastructure as well as 58 and 78.
41. Tanks, helicopters and armored vehicle: a regular sighting along with black bandana wearing RAB (Rapid Action Battalion) police officers.
42. Black sports car: Knightrider and Kolkata Knight Rider.
43. Lighter: In Alop Kapali's 100 against India I did not watch the match instead threw a squar inch paper in air and tried to light it with fire with a lighter hoping it'd improve my hand-eye making me supernatural and hence will enable me to earn eidetic imagery. See # 35
44. Robin Hood: Moniker of Shahriar Nafees, the first Bangladeshi to get a BPL century.
45. Coffee: A bumpy bus ride where I spilled hot coffee all over the place before going to first Test of New Zealand where Rubel took a spectucular catch.
46. Radio: A must in car of Bangladesh to follow cricket matches en route due to ubiqutious heavy traffic.
47. Fitting room: Many times my relatives wanted me to buy me shirt in Bangladesh and there were times when Pakistan would systemically destroy us as I could barely wiggle myself in the straight jacket in a fitting room size of a coffin.
48. Biryani: Sold at Mirpur stadium this local delicacy is the de facto celebratory meal after win.
49. Marijuana: Times of failure as I forced to control reality by merging one with all under the influence. However, I have been sober for a long time.
50. Sun in green field: Well, it's bright. It's red. It's ox blood red splashing all over green rice paddies field in Bangladesh. What better to encapsulate the spirit of the entire nation as well as complement the yellow and roar of a Sundarban Tiger?

[Zeeshan]

oi! tumra amake shobai etto opochondo (not anaconda) koro kano....ektao like dila na..reply korla na... jottshob...jau r likh bo na

[NoName]

I like.

[mufi_02]

I like it too!! FP material.