Welcome team members clad in pink tees. Image : Revsportz
Sharmistha Gooptu in Leeds
The Yorkie welcome team of local residents of all ages, students and volunteers, wore pink tees with ‘Namaskar’ in Bengali letters and ‘Hello’ in a host of southern Indian languages including Tamil and Telugu, I am told. The Yorkies called out loud hellos and happily posed for pictures.
At the entrance to the media box, I was directed by a couple of helpful young men in the Yorkie tees — clearly Indian volunteers. Both were extremely kind, directing me to the coffee area and helping me find the water fountain on the other side. We got talking and exchanged numbers. They were Vatsal Modi from Surat and Tarun Kumar (names used with consent) from Pathankot — students at Leeds Becket University.
I had written to the local South Asia students’ forum, for a possible show with Indian students focusing on the cricket series. Tarun said he was happy to get 10 or more of his friends outside the stadium any day if we wanted to shoot the segment there.
While the media box lunch had no Indian fare on the opening day, there was an Indian street food vendor inside the stadium premises, offering mango lassi, tandoori chicken, chick pea curry, chicken samosas, masala chips and more.
It’s been very much of the cricket vibe, even in the city centre here in Leeds these last couple of days, what with encountering a couple of Indian cricketers with bagfuls of shopping on our way back from dinner. Or, running into head coach Gautam Gambhir, out on a stroll with friends.
Team RevSportz has been enjoying Indian dinner every day since landing here, thanks to our restaurant partner in Leeds. Members of the Indian contingent have also visited the same Indian restaurant over the last couple of days, since their arrival.
We’re almost in an India bubble here in Leeds — meeting with known faces, members of the Indian media contingent in the media box, and hearing the familiar greeting sounds.
As I write, the people around me are bent intently over their laptops in the media centre, or hooked onto each ball with an ear on the radio commentary. Someone tells me there will be Indian curry served for lunch over the weekend for the media, and maybe they will have gulab jamuns and rasa malai as well!