Category Cricket & Sports

Walking for the Commonwealth

1 Comment read Cricket & Sports, Diaspora, Features, Poliomyelitis
Neena Bhandari carrying the 2006 Commonwealth Games Queen's Baton on Elizabeth Street in Sydney. Photo credit: Brendan Read

By Neena Bhandari

Sydney, 26.03.2006 (The Hindu): On a balmy Sydney afternoon in November 2005, a phone call changed the way me and my family would henceforth celebrate January 26.

Throughout my growing up years, Indian Republic Day held a special significance. We would spend long hours practising national songs on the flute as our school band marched through the streets of Ajmer into the main city stadium. There was a sense of immense pride in witnessing the tricolour unfurl as we played the national anthem. The bundi laddoo we received after all the fanfare was over, continues to be my favourite.

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Steve Waugh – Signing Off: All Good Things Must End

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By Neena Bhandari

Sydney, 26.03.2003 (Press Trust of India): Australian Test captain Steve Waugh, one of the greatest batsmen in cricketing history who also won millions of Indian hearts for his charity work, today announced his retirement from international competition at the end of the upcoming series in India.

The 38-year-old Waugh, a living legend who turned the Australians into an invincible team in world cricket, will bring his illustrious 19-year-old career to an end after the fourth Test in early January.

“My present form and fitness suggests I could play on but all good things must come to an end and I believe Sydney is the perfect place,” Waugh told a press conference at the Sydney Cricket Ground, televised live throughout Australia.

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Sydney Calling

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By Neena Bhandari

Sydney, 01.09.2000 (The Pioneer Column): On the millennium eve, watching the `river of flame’ from across the Westminster Bridge in the slush and rain, we had thought the spectacular show of fireworks in Sydney had really given London a run for its money.

Months later as I write this basking under the bright Sydney skies overlooking the blue waters, the city is all dolled up to host the greatest sporting festival in the world, rolling out expensive red carpets and chilling champagne for its multitude of guests pouring in each day.

Hearts of past greats and future heroes burn with pride as they carry the Olympic Games torch, for most only once in their lifetime, through villages and cities of this vast continent country.

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