Members of the All Star Club team hold up the trophy and the cheque at Machkhowa Idgah

So what if it’s tennis ball cricket?

It was yet another huge gathering at the Machkhowa Idgah on Saturday evening when several people thronged the place not to offer any prayers but for sheer entertainment — as provided by the most popular sport, nay a religion, of the nation. It was the final of the fifth Dhirendra Nath Bardoloi all-Assam Day/Night Tennis ball Cricket tournament, organised by Machkhowa Cricket Club, that drew not only the cricket enthusiasts but hundreds of passersby who had some time to spare for a feast for the eyes.

So what if it was being played with a tennis ball and not the red cherry; after all, it was cricket.

The crowd also included state sports minister Bharat Chandra Narah, East Guwahati MLA and the late D.N. Bardoloi’s brother, Robin Bordoloi, former MP Ranee Narah, Kamrup (metro) deputy commissioner Prateek Hajela and a host of other dignitaries.

Unlike the regular cricket matches played on proper turf with all precautionary measures adopted and lots of calculations, it was absolute cricket where the batsmen were not the only people enjoying the game and slamming the bowlers across the green. There were also moments of pride and fulfilment for the bowlers, who were at times taken by surprise as even the finest batsmen were caught off- guard by an otherwise innocuous-looking delivery.

As for the spoils of the tournament, All Star Club, Maligaon defeated NN XI, Machkhowa for the title in a low-scoring affair.

The All Star men were all out for 44 and NN XI were bowled out for only 23 runs. Ranji player Swarupam Purkayastha of All Star Club was adjudged Man of the Match as well as the Man of the Tournament.

Temple talk

For villagers of Saranamei, a remote village in Senapati district, Nongthombam Rajendro Singh, president of an NGO, is next to the “Almighty.”

So when a team from the Information Centre for Hill Areas of Manipur, headed by its president Rajendro Singh, visited the village, about 22km from the district headquarters, on January 25, thousands of villagers turned up to receive the team from Imphal.

The occasion was the inauguration of a temple of the village deity and compound wall of the temple complex, donated by the Nongthombam family in memory of Rajendro’s late son Bungcha. The villagers were so happy that they fired shots in the air with their licensed guns to receive the team.

The villagers said no government official ever visited the area and the team’s visit raised hopes of the villages. ICHAM is an Imphal-based organisation with membership from all the five hill districts have been reaching out to interior villages helping poor and helpless people by organising health camps and other welfare programmes.

Village guards at the golden jubilee celebrations in Kiphire

Footnote

One of oldest village guard set-ups in Nagaland recently celebrated its 50th anniversary in Kiphire district, bordering Myanmar.

Set up on January 23, 1959, 30 guards took charge to protect the frontier village of Phelungre.

Since then, the frontier guards have come a long way.

Today, the village guards have a band — the only village guard band in the state.

The commandant-general of village guards and commissioner, Nagaland, H.K. Khulu, lauded the service rendered by the guards in the past 50 years after throwing open the golden jubilee celebrations.

S. Ritsakiu, the only surviving village guard from the first batch, sat through the programme at Kiphire, taking a “trip down the memory lane”.

The village guard was raised at the peak of militancy in the state, as the first line of defence against rebels.

Over the years, the men have been on the forefront in guarding the village.

During the celebrations, six junior commissioned officers, four non-commissioned and retired officers of the village guard were awarded commendation certificates and roll of honour.

The programme ended with performances by dance troupes from four villages.