The cricket connection

i have an uncle who's the head of a high school p.e. department. and i have a cousin who plays cricket for india. and they're both pauls! so that's where the sports gene went! 'cause it definitely ain't here. right ate?

from a not-so-recent magazine article about my cousin's *ehem* athletic prowess

uncle sujit's family was half the reason why my arrival in kolkata was happy, rip-roaring chaos. three of them (minus subho) plus three people from my family (minus dima) went to pick me up and carted me off to santoshpur in a clunky jeep, talking a mile a minute in bengali. it was a bit like being on tour with the glee club except mag-isa lang ako!

at some point during that rollicking ride, a phone got pressed to my ear (presumably for me to speak into. when i asked who was on the phone, the reply was: "your brother!"

eh? ang alam ko kaming dalawa lang ni ate a. i was so disoriented. it was crazy. fun, but crazy. it turns out that in bengal, cousins are considered siblings. that was when i "met" subho, my closest male cousin (his dad, uncle sujit, is my dad's first cousin) and the one closest to my age (he's 22).

anyway, subho was off playing cricket in australia, scheduled to fly home that weekend. "i'll take you for a ride around calcutta, sister," he said cheerily. "i should be calling you sister, huh?"

"um. okay. i guess" was my feeble response. god, i was so out of it, i could've unknowingly agreed to an afternoon of torturing newborn bunny rabbits.

subho ended up not arriving due to some change or other in his cricket tourney. which was a real shame. i would've liked to meet him. kasi putang ina, ang guwapo pala niya.

itatagalog ko kasi nababasa 'to ng pinsan kong buo. pero pucha. nagpakita sa aking ng letrato niya ang kanyang ina. mga letrato na nakapambahay siya at walang pantaas. nanghina talaga ako.

kinunan ko ng letrato ang kanyang mga letrato, pwera yung mga halos hubad siya siyempre. sasampalin ako ng aking tiyahin kung ganun. kaya eto lang ang maipapakita ko.

pero pucha talaga. may kamag-anak pala akong laglag-panti. siya na yata ang pinaka-guwapong taga-roon na nakita ko sa aking tanambuhay. natuwa naman ako at nanggaling ako sa lahi ng mga magaganda't guwapo.

that aside, though, subho is quite obviously their pride and joy, what with the national obsession with cricket. uncle sujit coaches a cricket team, and even priyanka (mile-long legs, soft voice, mischievous smile) used to play cricket. over dinner at their flat, uncle sujit proudly carted out a fat file of certificates, awards and articles with headlines like "subhojit leads bengal to victory" and "subhojit shines". out of family's giant closet came the gold medal subho once received as the telegraph's sportsman of the year.

flashback to years of trying to weasel my way out of high school p.e. haaay.