Festive mood at restaurants,cafes,lounges,hotels,university hostels,shopping complexes,even offices as India get off to a dream start; crowds at Sector 17 Plaza rush to see action on 22-inch TV Every boundary that Virender Sehwag hit during his blitzkrieg 175 off 140 balls was greeted with defeaning roars by the cricket-loving people of the Tricity as India made a fantastic start to their Cricket World Cup campaign today. Be it the shopping complexes,hotels,restaurants,cafes,university hostels or even offices,people went berserk as fours and sixes rained from Sehwag and Virat Kohlis blades. We had a great time when Sehwag was batting. We expected India to score a big total against Bangladesh and that was what happened. Sehwag was devastating today and it was surprising to see his mellow side too as he did not rush after every ball, crackled Jaswinder Singh who enjoyed the match at the PU boys Hostel no 4. Even the PU alumni meet came to a standstill as students left the event to catch a glimpse of their favourite cricketers. I got a call from my friend when Sehwag was about to reach his century. I immediately rushed to the hostel and watched him complete his century. Then I came back to the department, said Amarjit Kumar,an alumni of French Department. By the time Sehwag reached his half-century,people had left work to sit down and enjoy the match. It was like a festive season for me and my colleagues. We watched the match at office and we had betted on who would go on to win the match. Since we had betted on India,we are sure to get a treat from those who were in favour of Bangladesh, shared Sajan,a cricket freak currently working with Wipro. At the Sector 17 Plaza,the crowd came to a standstill as people rushed to see the Indian cricketers in action on the sole 22-inch television installed for public viewing. People got hysterical when India blazed their way past the 300 mark. Sachin looked in fabulous touch but unfortunately he got out cheaply today. But kudos to Sehwag and Kohli for putting India on top with their batting performances, said Amrinder Singh,who had come to shop but instead ended up watching the entire Indian innings. Even shop-owners could not resist the temptation and came out to check the scores. It is difficult to spare time to watch the match since we are working but we rush in between to check the score. We did watch the match for an hour during our lunch break. We will go home and watch the rest of the match, said Mohit Sharma,owner of the Damilano showroom. Tricity restaurants,coffee shops and lounges were filled with people sipping their drinks and catching the action live on TV. We have two screens to telecast the matches. The footfall has increased because of the World Cup as cricket is a religion in India. People are in no hurry to leave and that means good business for us, voiced Purshottam,captain of Blue Ice restaurant.
