IPL addicts woke up to a different, more depressive Monday blues this week. Nikhil Narain, 25, and a self-confessed “hardcore enthusiast” says, “It felt like I had nothing to do. Everything else on TV pales in comparison to the IPL excitement.” Narain, a fitness fanatic, has a novel cure for his condition. Now on, “instead of feeling down at about eight in the evening, I work out for an hour longer.” Breaking into a sweat may not flush out the T-20 hangover for everyone, but there are many around the country facing Nikhil’s predicament.
Arpita Deb, 27, a public relations executive, recently got back from Chandigarh after having rooted for the Mohali team. She is one in the presumed minority of women who are actually bothered by the end to 40-odd days of the first IPL season. “I’m still very high on the game. The last few weeks have been so much fun, and now I have just too much free time. I was so hooked that even when I went out clubbing, I'd walk up to the manager and have at least one TV switched on so that we could root for some good cricket.”
There are of course those who are heaving a sigh of relief – both men and women – who remain unruffled at The End. Media executive Ipshita Sathe vouches for the celebration in her Malabar Hills home, in Mumbai. “My little cousins are thrilled now that their father can’t tell them to go play outside or something.” Sathe explains that since April 18, the bachchas have been deprived of their cartoons routine at dinnertime, as the TV-remote had been monopolised by their 40-year-old father, Ipshita’s uncle. “My aunt herself has no interest in cricket. She was not into anything other than the Bollywood stars and the Sreesanth-slapping drama.”
The end-of-IPL has had its effect in far off lands too. Rohit Punnen, studying music production in Australia’s SAE Institute, has had a busy week. Given the time difference, a section of cricket loyalists Down Under would have “all-night beer parties”, during which Shane Warne and team would get the loudest hollers. The 29-year-old emailed: “We’d still make it to class the next morning, but we’re going to miss the night-beer fun,” says Rohit.
{{/usCountry}}The end-of-IPL has had its effect in far off lands too. Rohit Punnen, studying music production in Australia’s SAE Institute, has had a busy week. Given the time difference, a section of cricket loyalists Down Under would have “all-night beer parties”, during which Shane Warne and team would get the loudest hollers. The 29-year-old emailed: “We’d still make it to class the next morning, but we’re going to miss the night-beer fun,” says Rohit.
{{/usCountry}}Back home, some families want to revive their old habits. Geetha Raman, a writer based in Bangalore, says she intends to take her husband and two teenaged sons to the movies all over again, an indulgence missed for more than a month.