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‘I couldn’t imagine walking into Not Just Jazz by the Bay’
Updated On: 27 June, 2024 05:12 PM IST | Mumbai | Team SMD
In this extract from his book, I Have the Streets, cricketer R Ashwin talks of his time in then-Bombay, where he grappled with Hindi, worried about making friends, and was in awe of the fancy restaurants. By the time he left, he was a part of the Under-17 squad
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Mahendra Singh Dhoni (left), Rohit Sharma (right) and Ravichandran Ashwin appeal for LBW against South Africa’s Vernon Philander during a World Cup match between South Africa and India at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in 2015. Pic/Getty Images
We are on the Dadar Express to Bombay, but Appa has woken me up well before our destination. The train has been stationary for a while near Lonavala. He is picking up all our stuff even as my eyes adjust to the dim light. The train is scheduled to reach Dadar by 6 am, but we are still about 150 km away and are certain to be late. Our destination, as usual, is Wankhede Stadium, but not for a Test match this time. I have to report for my India Under-17 selection trials, which I will miss at this rate. All those years ago, Appa traded his dreams for the job security provided by the Indian Railways, also his father’s employer.
Ironically, now, a tardily running Indian Railways train is in the way of his son’s, and I suspect his own renewed, dream. He sheds his middle-class inhibitions and musters up the courage and the money to get us a private taxi to Thane. But we’re not taking the taxi all the way into Mumbai, retaining some of our austerity. Thane is a suburb just outside the city, and Appa knows we can get on a local train from there. We make it in time to report at the camp, but I am already regretting not taking up Thatha’s many offers to teach me Hindi.
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