Month: June 2006 (Page 4 of 5)

What do you do if you want to call your friend standing across the street? If you’re a true Mumbaikar, you’d just… kiss.

C Senthilnathan

What I have been trying to convey so far may not sound what it is supposed to. I am talking about kissing sounds which people use to communicate with each other, standing more than 10 feet away. This art has been mastered by all Mumbaikars and their ears are sharp enough to catch the one meant for their ears.

Picture this. You are in a train and your friend is standing about 10 metres away. There are about 20 people between the two of you. How do you call him? A non-Mumbaikar would probably call his friend’s name aloud. But no. That’s not how it’s done in the city. You just make a kissing sound. Twenty-one people turn and look at you. Twenty of them will realise that the sound was not meant for them and will look away. No offence taken. Now your friend and you can start communicating.

I was discussing this with a friend and when I made ‘the sound’ to show him what I meant, at least five people looked around and then resumed what they were doing as though nothing happened.

India declared their second innings on 521 for six after a controversy surrounding M S Dhoni’s dismissal.

Dhoni, who played like a man possessed, smashed three consecutive sixes off Dave Mohammad. He then smashed a fourth, but was caught by Daren Ganga on the ropes.It was unclear to both the field umpires and third umpire whether Ganga had taken the catch cleanly as he claimed or had he stepped on the rope.

A consultation followed, holding up the game and West Indies captain Brian Lara was not happy when the umpires decided in Dhoni’s favour. Indian skipper Rahul Dravid then signalled for the declaration and Dhoni and Mohammad Kaif walked off the ground.

Dhoni finally ended the controversy by accepting Ganga’s version and was pronounced out caught Ganga bowled Mohammad for 69 runs that came off just 52 balls and included six sixes and four fours.

Trivia
MS Dhoni is the only batsman in the history of ODI cricket, amongst the batsmen with a minimum of 1000 runs, to have maintained an average of 50 (52.76) as well as maintained a strike rate of 100 (103.00)