Flood lights

With the advent of Ramazan, young men are seen putting up extra lights on various lanes and roads to hone (or as some would say to spoil) their cricket skills in the night matches.
Though there are a few playgrounds in the city the exuberant youth prefer to play on roads, probably because the grounds are seldom maintained and the roads are relatively less bumpy for cricket. Or perhaps the players have grown so used to playing on concrete that they don’t feel comfortable playing on the soft rubble of open grounds.
Interestingly, the game not only offers a thrilling experience to its players and spectators, it also gives them a reason to sleep the next morning after Sehar till Iftar when they are served delicious food lavishly. (Never mind, there are others also who don’t play cricket but have a similar sort of passion to enjoy the blessings of the holy month).
Almost every one of us at one stage or the other in our life has participated in street cricket (not necessarily during Ramazan), but it was never such a cut-throat experience in the old days. What were unwanted but more common in those matches were the shouts from the affected house whenever a ball crossed its boundary wall or, worse, smashed its window. Now, with the gradual advance from streets to service lanes to roads the sport has become all the more risky for its players, passers-by and motorists. Drivers often pray for life while coming across such enthusiasts on roads now and hope the windscreen of their car does not meet the same fate that the unfortunate house window did in the old days.
Though it is beyond comprehension to many why the young cricket-lovers opt for roads to play on (the scarcity of public grounds notwithstanding), some do understand the thrill involved and ask road-users to be cautious in the holy month as with each passing day, the number of players and night matches grow till Eid-ul-Fitr. By then, every street and road - except the thoroughfares - is occupied by the young and old cricketers. However, drivers need not fear for long since the cricket craze fizzles out as soon as the holy month is over.—HA