Sitting in his hotel room in Mahipalpur,Keralas veteran middle order batsman Sreekumar Nair admits he is fidgety. I am probably going to be getting a cake pasting any moment from my team-mates. They have been very silent and I expect the worst. I only hope they use chocolate. Nair,who earlier in the day scored 137 against Services,knows what team-mates usually come up with on his birthday. The cake-pasting bit does not come as a surprise for Nair considering that he just turned 32. In his thirteenth season of Ranji Trophy,Nair said that he had no recollection of the last time he celebrated his birthday at home in Thrissur,Kerala. My birthday falls in the beginning of the cricket season,so its no surprise that I have been away from home. From time-to-time,I have forgotten my own birthday. But yes my teammates make sure I remember it. While others receive calls when the clock strikes twelve,Nairs family are under strict instructions not to call him at such a late hour during match days. They ring him up well in the evening,Sometimes my wife forgets and calls me up, he said. While Nair still enjoys the atmosphere and camaraderie in the dressing room,he sometimes longs for the company of his family. Two seasons back (2008-2009),I had to play a match against Goa and it meant that I could not be with my son who was around six-months old at the time. My team-mates managed to get a large framed picture of my son and brought a cake along to celebrate my birthday. I have no clue how they managed to get that photograph and how they managed to get it enlarged so quickly. Nair is now the oldest member of the Kerala team and he believes the crazy scenes whenever a birthday has been celebrated has only kept his mind young. But with each passing birthday,signifying yet another year on the circuit,Nair knows that the fun too will soon die down. I have been playing cricket for close to 20 years now. I have more years behind me than left in me probably. I often worry about how much more of this camaraderie I can enjoy. I wonder if I will be able to meet such a great set of guys again.
