My Pkadu

Never thought I would sit alone in our famous panjarakadu.. It’s not that I always had my girlfriend(s) to be with me here, but some friend - boy or gal, would give me company.. always.. In four years of engineering studies, this is the first time I'm actually alone here..

For those of you who ignorant about our kadu, it’s a collection of aptly spaced acacia trees.. The kadu is strategically located in front of the LADIES HOSTEL and near to the college front.. So, all guys, both with and without girlfriend(s), make it a point to utilize their 'cut' hours here.. At any point of time, you can spot at least two couples in our kadu.. That however is a case of the past..All couples were forced to find new shelters of love, because of a few..

Specifically, us..

Cricket had always been at top of our agenda.. So much so that we used to play inside classrooms till third year.. After that, we couldn’t play anywhere because of space constraints.. Grounds were a long way off.. We had to get bats, enough people to play.. Work of any sort was despised by us..

At the begining of S6, there was another failed attempt to play at the ground. Seeing the futile process, we decided to go to the kadu for some entertainment. That’s when we saw this large clearing right in the middle of it. For some odd reason, this clearing had never been noticed by any one of us. And that’s the moment, he made his appearance.

Apple fell off a tree to inspire Newton to develop the theory of Gravitation. An acacia branch of perfect length inspired us. Ball in hand, a bat-like thing in front, just enough space around, hunger for cricket within. We decided to play right there, right then. Our eyes went around the clearing. Three couples. We would have to clear them out. We first thought about asking them to clear out. Realizing that would be cruel thing to say, we opted for plan B. We started playing.

And, as per our plan, the noise, the runaway ball and continuous swearing, made the couples fly away. And they never came back..

A new constrained venue meant that we had to make new rules for the game. We adopted the one-pitch cricket game rules.

1. All types of bowling with all variations - over arm, under arm, side arm – are allowed. Basically, bowler needs to launch the ball to the keeper.
2. The batsman needs to touch the ball with the bat without getting out.
3. And there’s no team. Everyman for himself.

The game has evolved over the year. Preposterous rules and perfect location for side businesses has attracted players from other branches to try and make a mark in this intriguing contest. It has made mice out of lions of the cricket field, and has given success to many an underdog (ME, being one of those stories). It has given rise to new techniques and terms for the cricket field.

• Stock ball – developed by sivaharsh. Throw the ball up into the air and make the batsman wait. According to him, this involves trajectory planning and projectile motion.
• Deepak’s kutti – deepak’s favorite shot always leads the ball to this tree.
• Siva’s point – a tree we assigned to sivaharsh, because he won’t stand anywhere else.
• Shiv’s reverse – shivan’s reverse sweep to LH.
• Kozhi shot – Running down the track, jumping on one leg, turning the bat from slip to bowler n hoping that the bat makes contact. Developed by, yours truly.

Some of you might be concerned about the love birds we chased away. Don’t worry. They found refuge in the new bike bay. And because of the bike bay’s concealed nature, they love our intrusion into their previous haven.

Over the past two semesters, we have had lots of unforgettable experience here. I would have never imagined me climbing a tree to get a retrieve a stuck ball, and hence make a batsman out, if it wasn’t for this game. Nor, could have I known that you get ice for 50ps at chechi kada, so that you can give it to the gal, whose face you just accidently hammered with the ball.

Most of our seniors say that panjarakadu is the first thing that comes to their mind when they think of college. I think we have made one more reason to think of it, after we pass out. And that’s why, when we decided to coin a name for this hobby of ours, we decided to call it

“Panjara cricket”..