I was alive when India won the Cricket World Cup!
This is precisely how I feel about the win that the Indian cricket team clinched on 2nd April 2011 in Mumbai.
And it's not just me. Hundreds of thousands of people born in my generation -- in fact all those born after that historical win of 25th June, 1983 -- would, I am sure, echo the exact sentiments. Literally.
The ultimate rush of the World Cup fever began to be felt after the victory over Australia, slating India to clash with Pakistan in the semi-finals. For those few days before the 30th of March, the finals simply did not matter. Thrashing Pakistan was the only goal in sight.
And suddenly when even that was achieved and India saw itself in the finals along with Sri Lanka, we wanted that next big thing too. And why not?
I've heard many people around me wonder: Why the craziness? Why the madness over a ball and bat game? Why the effusion of sentiments, emotions and excitement over a mere cricket match?
They forget that, love it or hate it, in India cricket probably has a bigger following than any other religion; in fact, it is a religion by itself. And, of course, for all of us born after 1983, a world cup win was something we only read about as it was something that happened before our lifetimes.
Yes, we got into the finals in 2003 too, but it ended in heartbreak; it was a case of so close and yet so far. Winning the World Cup was something we only dreamt about.
As much as all of India wanted another one of those World cup trophies, it still basked in the glory of the 1983 win -- something that, for millions of us, was literally a historic event. As a friend of mine said after the win, "I was getting sick of seeing those black and white pictures of Kapil Dev holding the Cup."
And so when Dhoni catapulted the ball into the stands for a victorious six, the whole of India cheered. But for this generation, it was special: We finally knew what it felt to win the world Cup! The spontaneous celebrations we burst into was for Dhoni and team letting us share the thrill and exhilaration of being the world champs.