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| Current music: | Vettaiyadu Vilaiyadu - Paartha Mudhal |
| Entry tags: | alaska, cricket |
Kirmani in Alaska
We met Kirmani yesterday. He was a black man. What stumped us was when he spelt out his name, K-I-R-M-A-N-I. You might ask what's the big deal about it? If you do, you are probably not from India. African Americans are known for rummaging thru' the entire set of African languages for innovative names - Kijani, Shomari, Dakarai etc, this must be just another name from that bunch, right?
Wrong. The guy although he is a black man, does not consider himself African-American, he is a West-Indian. Those people almost take it as an insult if you ever call them African-American. In their company you've to acquiesce that reggae is the rhythm of life and rap is c-rap. Then as fellow 'Indians', albeit from the extremities of sun's path, we do share a lot in common - the benevolent looting of our lands by the British monarchy, dal, coconut, spices and cricket. Cricket, that's where the name comes from, can you believe it?!!
West Indies was a mighty force to reckon with in the cricketing world in the late seventies and eighties. If India was playing West Indies it used to send shivers up our spines, but then the Prudential Cup happened(I still have the yellowed newspaper cuttings that I would almost cry over with pride. lol). Alright before I lose myself in the trail of happy tears let me come back to the guy we met. Somewhere in the West Indies, a boy was born sometime in the early eighties. His father happened to be a big fan of the game of cricket and decides to name his baby after a cricketer. The funny thing is that he didn't call his son Vivian or Gordon after the famous West Indian cricketers, nor did he fancy the name, Kapil – the illustrious Indian captain but he named his precious bundle of hope, after one of Kapil’s Devils – the Indian wicket keeper Syed Kirmani.
So people, give it away to the black Kirmani in da house. Btw will the real Kirmani please stand up, please stand up – is he still the chief selector of the Indian team?
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diffdrummer) wrote,
