Get-together of Kannadigas in Korea and the Cricket Match.

Get-together of Kannadigas in Korea:

Well one of my Indian colleague added my name to “Indians In Korea” community in facebook. With that introduction I found many Indian friends of whom many were from our state. With the help of new Kannadiga friends I got introduced to one more community called “Korea Kannada Koota”. As the name indicates it is a small group of Kannada speaking people who are living in South Korea. The members of this community are from different parts of the Karnataka with different dialects of Kannada Language. I was invited for the get-together hosted from Korea Kannada Koota on 2^nd of July 2011 with a purpose of meeting and interacting. So far we knew each other only through internet, never met with anybody face to face. So it was decided by the organizers to bring all the people under one roof and have lunch together. The meeting followed by buffet lunch is decided at an Indian hotel called “Chakra”. The buffet was specially ordered to include some of our South Indian dishes. The rate of the lunch was fixed at KWR 20,000. I and friend Karthik decided to attend the event.

On 2^nd July we left our place at around 10.30, took subway transportation and head towards the Chakra. We reached the meeting place (Hannam station) around 12.10 pm. few people were already reached that place and were waiting for others to join them. We made introduction of ourselves. After 10 minutes of waiting few more people joined us. It was raining badly outside, but we decided to walk down to the restaurant in the rain. The restaurant was at 10 minutes walking distance from the station. We reached the place at 12.30. Few more Kannadigas who came by their own vehicles were already seated inside the restaurant. We said hello to everyone and seated. The lunch was ready and kept it in respective tables. Before starting the lunch the organizer announced since most of us are meeting for the first time, it is better everyone to get self-introduction. Starting from Organizer himself everyone made their introduction (of course in Kanglish). Totally there were 24 people in the party. The people represented real Karnataka mean to say, from different parts of the State from all most all regions like Bidar, Gulbarga, Yadgir, Bellary,  Chikmagalur, North Kenara, Hassan, Davangere, Shimoga, Tumkur, Bangalore, Mangalore, Mandya, Mysore etc…  The senior most guy (in terms of staying in Korea) is in Korea from last 10 years. He knows more about the local culture, the language and he said he is comfortable working in here. Many others are also staying here from 3~4 years. Many people who are doing Ph.D or post-doctoral research in various universities of Korea. Few guys are working for Samsung Electronics in Suwon, Korea. Myself and Karthik are working for Hyundai Engineering. One female is working for pharmaceutical research institute. Like this people working at different fields got introduced. Amongst all me and Karthik are the new comers to Korea (just staying from last 4 months).  Although many of them are here from quite long time, never met each other. Everyone felt happy that at-least now the Kannadigas are come under one roof and meeting each other. Following the introduction, we started having the lunch. The menu was specially ordered for this occasion. Usually Chakra at Hannam doesn’t keep buffet lunch, but on this special occasion he agreed. There were samosas, pakodas and vegetable soup as starters. Followed by 3~4 different types of currys, vegetable pulav, salad, raita, rotis/naans, jamoons, ice-cream.  The food though not excellent was good. More than food meeting kannadigas and having food together was excellent.  After the lunch gets over, the original plan was to go together to Korean History museum. But since still it was raining, we dropped that plan. Instead decided to go to the bowling nearby the Chakra, everyone agreed. Since totally we were 22 people, got divided into 5 groups, 2 groups with 5 people and 3 groups with 4 people each. It was really fun, after nearly 1 year I played bowling. Initially felt difficult but picked it up. Our group finished fast while other groups are still half way through. So decided to go for another round of game, was a great fun. By 5 pm we finished two rounds of bowling. We decided to disperse. Before dispersing had a group photo session to mark the event. We also decided to meet regularly at least once in a month kind at different places. Everyone agreed for the same and few suggested that instead of just meeting to do some activities. After the disperse I walked down to nearby subway station, took a train and reached my place. At the end of the day I really felt happy meeting many people and having time together.

Group photo at the end of the party

Cricket Match:

Cricket is an international game played mostly in the countries which were once ruled by British. It is the most popular game in the countries where it is played. As of now there are only 10 permanent cricket playing nations in the world. ICC is promoting cricket game in almost all the countries. There are now many countries which are members of the ICC. Korea is one among them. Cricket was introduced to Korea by Australian soldiers. The soldiers who were here as a part of peace keeping force, played cricket during their free time as back as in 1970s. With many ex-pats living in Korea various teams were formed and over years      cricket games were played. Ex-pat teams of Indian community and Australians played the first international match in Korea in the early 1990s. Then on regular competition were held by the newly formed Korea Cricket Club (KCC) the first organized cricket club in Korea. In 1999 KCC was reorganized as Korea Cricket Association (KCA) and Korea was recognized as a ‘new territory’ by ICC. From then on every year KCA is organizing cricket tournament within Korea. Initially 50 over matches were played off. With the event of 20-20 match, from 2008 KCA is organizing 20-20 tournament. There are currently 11 teams, two groups are formed with group-1 having 6 teams and group-2 has 5 teams. There are group round robin matches played first. The two teams which get more points will enter the semifinals and then finals. The games are held from May till October. The matches held only on Sundays.

I am a member of ‘IndiansInKorea’ community in Facebook. The moderator of the community posted an event in FB telling mark your calendars on 17^th of July to attend the match between Indians in Korea team and Australia Newzealand teams. The invitation was basically wanted the community members to register for the event and cheer the Indian team. I did accept the invitation and confirmed my name in the attendees list. I also browsed through Indian in Korea website. In the website there was note that those who are interested in playing for the team can register their names. I just registered my name giving the details of the self without even expecting I will be called for the match!, but just 3 days before the match the Team captain Mr. Maidul Islam called to my mobile and checked with me if I am interested to play for the team. They were in need of the players.  I immediately said ok. Then he took my details and sent me a detailed mail regarding the event schedule. The same day during the coffee break when I discussed this with my colleague Prashanth that I got a call from IIK team captain, he told even he got a call and he is also going to attend. On Sunday 17^th july, I phoned up Maidul and get confirmation regarding the match. Self and Prashanth left our place around 10 in the morning. The match ground is located in another province which is around 2 hrs journey from the place where we are living. We took the bus and reached a place called Yeongpyong-gu and from there we took subway line to reach the place. When we were going from subway station to the stadium we met few more Indians who were also on the way to the stadium. When we reached the stadium already a morning session match between two other teams was going on. We assembled at a practice nets to have a practice session. Maidul joined us after 10 minutes. There were people who had come from different parts of the Korea to play in this match. Maidul briefed us about the event. There were actually 4 spots left in the team which is going to be filled based on the performance of us in the practice session. At this point I am confirmed that I will not be selected to the team because I had not played a single ball in last 2 years, moreover after a full one decade I was holding a leather ball! But I took part in the practice session for just fun. The practice session went on for full 2 hrs. I did bowling in the beginning. The very first ball which I bowled surprisingly was perfect in line and length. With this confidence I bowled the second ball, but it was shocking. I just bowled a very big no ball. The next ball I changed the pace and was perfect again, but was very slow and the batsman belt it badly. The next few balls were a mixture of wides, no balls, good balls, slow pace, tried bowling off spin but no, not at all promising performance. 4 out of 10 balls were extras (either no ball or wide) and the balls which were perfect in line and length were very easy ones and batsman belts badly! The captain was not happy with my bowling. After the bowling practice he gave me a chance for batting. First time in my life I wore pads, gloves and abdomen guard. I was not feeling comfort. I faced the first ball. Straight bowled. No surprise in that, as expected. Totally I faced around 8 balls out of which only twice I could able to touch the ball. 2 times I got bowled and the remaining 4 balls didn’t even touch the ball. I give up the practice and gave chance to other in the line before captain’s instruction! I returned to pavilion and waited till the practice gets over. After the practice got over, self, prashanth and another guy went around the university campus. Prashanth had brought lunch for himself which he shared with us. After that we returned to the stadium, the morning session match was over and our match was happening soon. Captain announced the team. I was not in the team which was known to me, but Prashanth got selected. Well I decided to watch the match. Supporters started coming to the stadium to cheer for IIK team. Around 40 people were assembled to cheer for IIK.  The opponent team won the toss and decided to bat. The ANZIK (Australia Newzealand) team comprised mostly of veteran squad. I thought IIK can beat them very easily. Until 2 overs gets completed there were no wicket loss meantime runs also was not very much. At the 3^rd over IIK got the break through. 4^th and 5^th overs were good for ANZIK in which they were able to hit some boundaries. In the next few overs IIK got 3 wickets. I did not keep a track ball by ball. But at the end of 15^th over, ANZIK scored just 70 runs with the loss of 7 wickets. Everyone was cheering for IIK. I think at this point IIK were over confident and bowled some loose overs. Finally at the end of 20 overs ANZIK were able to score a promising score of 122 runs with a loss of 8 wickets. The target of 123 runs I thought IIK will chase it quickly. My assumption was totally wrong which I come to know later. Me and my friend took a break and went outside for light refreshments. When we returned to watch the match, already IIK had lost important 2 wickets for just 10 runs. The 3^rd wicket partnership played very cautiously without even attempt to hit shots. Somehow the score reached 40 runs in 8 overs. At the ninth over Captain got run out. It was clearly visible to us that the bowler who removes the stumps was not holding the ball at the time of removal, but even then umpire mistakenly gave the out decision. What to do, there are no appeal for that. This decision was devastating for IIK. The middle order was not at all good. At the end of 14^th over IIK were 65 runs with the loss of important 7 wickets. We were sure that IIK will lose the match. Suddenly a twist happened. Two consecutive boundaries gave hope to the team. Slowly runs started coming. At the end of 18 overs IIK were 101 runs with the loss of 8 wickets. In 19^th over 1 more wicket fell down. In the last over IIK needed 12 runs, but failed to reach the target. Finally IIK lost the match by 10 runs and the veterans won with pride.  But the real thing is not over. One Mr. Hasmukji who is an Indian running a cosmetic business in Korea had come to the match. I later thought he had come to the match to promote his business. He gave some gift coupons to all the team players. For the audience there was a lucky draw. 10 gift coupons for the audience. I am lucky enough to receive one. It is worth $100. But it is useless for me because it is free facial coupon. What am I do with that? But I received the coupon; now have to find someone whom I can spare it. That’s it, match got over and we returned to my place. Overall it was a nice fun day for me. 

The IIK team.

IIK supporters watching the match

Group photo of IIK team and supporters after the match