This week, those of us in Kolkata are taking a half-day break from the election to celebrate cricket. It's not the politics of cricket that interests us, nor the cricket in politics.
We're celebrating simply cricket, as fans and residents of a city that just loves its sport.
The March 19 India-Pakistan game, one of the showstoppers of the Twenty20 World Cup, is to be played in Kolkata. It was not meant to be hosted at the Eden Gardens - though one cannot think of a better, more iconic cricket venue - but it has arrived as a windfall.
When the match was moved out of Dharamshala (Himachal Pradesh), I understand the cricket board had two options in mind, Cuttack and Kolkata. In Kolkata, the authorities, both administrative and cricket, were first off the block. The government promised all support and logistical clearances, and Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee subsequently wrote to Sourav Ganguly, president of the Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB). In a matter of days (a few hectic hours, actually) the decision was taken.
I grew up as an avid footballer, but cricket was very much my first love. My uncle, my mama (mother's brother), was an unabashed cricket buff. He took me to my first game at the Eden Gardens, in December 1974. It was an unforgettable moment. As we made our way through the huge crowd to our seats, the bowler had begun his run up. I had barely sat down when there was a loud appeal. Sudhir Naik was out to the first ball of the match - caught Deryck Murray bowled Andy Roberts. I couldn't have asked for a better introduction to Test cricket, or to the Eden Gardens.
My uncle would have loved to be at the ground on March 19. Unfortunately, and poignantly, he passed away last week, around the time we got news of the match coming to Kolkata. But that taking along of a teenaged nephew to the Eden in 1974 lit a spark. I still remember the Indian victory against the West Indies back then, including a brilliant century by Gundappa Vishwanath.
It was the only time I saw Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi on the field during a Test match. That was Tiger Pataudi's last series and he retired soon after as India's captain. Some years later, he reinvented himself as editor of Sportsworld magazine, and I was one of the young journalists working under him.
The first India-Pakistan match I saw at the Eden Gardens was in January 1979, when Asif Iqbal brought his team to India, the first Pakistani team to cross the border in some 20 years. This was the final match of the series, which India had already won. The Test seemed set for a draw from the word go. I remember sitting though one of the most boring days of cricket imaginable as the young wicket-keeper, Taslim Arif, played an excruciatingly slow innings.
We were into the fourth day and the first innings of the two sides still hadn't got over. Suddenly Asif Iqbal declared, with Pakistan still behind the Indian score. It was a dare. Imran Khan responded with a brilliant spell of fast bowling and some excitement ensued. Despite that flicker, the match eventually ended in the widely-predicted draw.
The Eden has changed so much since 1979. It saw a massive reconstruction in preparation for the 1987 World Cup. We were rooting for an India-Pakistan final but had to settle for an Australia-England encounter, with the subcontinental twins being knocked out in the semi-finals.
In the past decade, the Eden has seen another spell of refurbishing.
The T20 World Cup is the first major tournament to come to Kolkata after the death of Jagmohan Dalmiya, who presided over the CAB for decades. It is the first test in a sense for the Sourav Ganguly-led management. No doubt, from the great pavilion in the sky, Jagguda will be watching with his eagle eye, not just on March 19 but also on April 3, when the tournament final takes place at the Eden Gardens.
The April 3 final will be played just a day before the first round of polling in the West Bengal assembly elections. Mentally I had prepared myself to disengage from political work and take a few hours off from the Trinamool Congress control room to watch the final. The March 19 India-Pakistan match has added to my problems, in a happy sort of way. I now have to take time off for one more game.
But I'm not complaining. While I grew up watching Test cricket, abbreviated cricket has its own appeal. I quite like the T20 format, though some of my purist friends violently disagree. Nevertheless, the Indian Premier League, with its system of franchises and artificial city-club identities is not something I've taken to. For me, a good game of cricket is still an international game, country versus country. And so I look forward to the T20 World Cup.
Postscript: In 2014 and 2015, I actually played on the turf of the Eden Gardens, as part of a City XI taking on the Kolkata Police. Our team comprised well-known Kolkatans, some of them doctors, others movie stars and politicians. On both occasions I kept wicket but didn't get to bat. Our team won without needing me to come to the crease.
In recent weeks, that thought has nibbled away at me. My two resolutions for 2016 are to work for a big Trinamool victory in the assembly elections, and to actually bat at the Eden Gardens. Okay, the priorities are not the same, but you get the drift!
Have a good week, and enjoy the cricket.
(Derek O'Brien is leader, Parliamentary party Trinamool Congress (RS), and Chief National spokesperson of the party.)Disclaimer: The opinions expressed within this article are the personal opinions of the author. The facts and opinions appearing in the article do not reflect the views of NDTV and NDTV does not assume any responsibility or liability for the same.