Never before have 32 runs generated so much excitement and passion as Dada’s run-a-ball knock of 32 runs for the Pune Warriors in IPL4. The mystique of Dada is difficult to replicate, and even more difficult to comprehend.

My first tryst with Dada was in 1996 when I was a young MT with Levers’ living in Kolkatta, getting used to a city in which everything moved a little slower than the rest of the country. I remember coming home from the factory in the evening, only to be confronted at the door by the servant who insisted on giving me a ball-by-ball run down of Sourav’s test century that day. It was only after many minutes of waiting, visible irritation and a slight shove that I was let past the door. This is the passion that Dada could generate just 6 months after his debut. I re-lived this memory 2 days back in Kolkatta; where in a sales meeting to pep up 100 sales guys, the high point of my session was when I said: “Dada is back, and we will be back too”. The spontaneous claps and excitement are a testament to the love and passion he still generates in Kolkatta.

If players have fans, Dada has fanatics !

What creates this frenzy of passion for Sourav ?
– Does it have to do with his being a Bong, where everyone is looking for an idol ?
– Does it have to do with his aggression, rare in the land of Tagore ?
– Does it have to do with his determination (he is a right hander who bats left-handed so that he could use his brother’s cricket kit) ?
– Does it have to do with his Prince title, even after nationalisation of the privy purses ?

I am not sure … I have never quite understood the madness. The only thing that would perhaps make me a passionate fan of Dada’s was the scene at Lords … a bare-chested Indian waving his t-shirt from the balcony of the hallowed portals of English cricket.

I don’t have an explanation to this phenomena … which is rare for me …. I always have a view on everything 🙂 … such is the magic of Dada !