With Justin Langer at the Taj (24/03/2001) - What a lovely person JL is !! Never did I imagine that I'd become such a huge fan of JL. He's such a great person and a gentleman. From the very first time I spoke to him - with a lot of stammers and strutters, he was very nice to me. I had a great time talking to JL - an unforgettable experiance. And hey - this photo was taken by Michael Slater for me!!

Steve on his way to the dining room at the MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai. When I took this photo, Steve was looking at me. I was stunned for a couple of minutes, thought he was offended at me taking a photo. But I guess, he then caught sight of the "STEVE WAUGH" badge that I'd pinned on, coz he smiled and walked on. Whew!!

A 'Just for Me' autographed photo of Justin. I had taken this photo 19/03/2001. Observe the rope like thing in his hand. He proceeded to exercise with it watching Steve and Matt Hayden at the crease. All of a sudden he turned in his chair, sat facing me and continued exercising. I was sitting just 2 feet in front of him and was stunned. For a full 30 minutes, I observed JL wide-eyed as he unblinkingly continued exercising. It was then that I felt the full force of JL's attractice eyes and longed to meet him.

I got the photo autographed on 24/03/2001, when JL was leaving for home. The ODI team had already left and JL was returning with the other 4 non-ODI players. I had had a wonderful evening the previous day, talking to JL and the next day, remembering me, JL spoke to me for quite a long time, like he'd known me from ages back. What a gentleman !!

On liking JL at first sight, I started stalking him(Sorry, Justin, but I couldn't help myself), to catch a glimpse of him. I lay in wait to catch him on his return from the dining room. I'd got my camera in the perfect position. But when JL came out and looked at me (I won't flatter myself - he had to see me as I was the only person there), my focus went woosh and JL figured in some corner of the photo.

Justin saying a nice 'Hello' to Faisal, the journalist from rediff. I met Faisal on the day the Gujarat earthquake benefit ODI was held (23/03/2001). JL was playing in it and Faisal had come to fix up a chat on rediff with JL the next day. Faisal was all praise for Justin and I loved hearing Faisal talk about JL.

I took this photo of Justin just as he was about to leave. My camera had chosen to go stubborn at that time (of all times) and I was trying to get it work and the snap took JL unawares. This would probably be a collectors item one day as JL always sports a great smile in his lovely photogenic face. Faisal, if you ever get to see this section of my site, I would like you to know how much I remember that chat with Justin. But for you, I wouldn't have been able to spend some extra time with JL, before he left

Steve congratulating Matt Hayden on his wonderful innings in the first innings of the Chennai test. Steve sat out watching all his batsman, unlike Ganguly who prefered to stay in the confines of the dressing room. The sight of Steve sitting with icepacks and munching oranges was a reassuing sight. Hayden was glorious - reminding one of Dean Jones epic double century at the same venue in 1986.

This was Mark during lunch. He had just given me a 'thumbs up' sign for my photo. Unfortunately, my photographic skills was so bad that I completely missed it. Mark was very nice throughout. He even signed autographs for all the little kids around, while some of the players would just glare at the kids. Though I liked Mark, he somehow failed to leave the sort of impression on me like Steve and Justin had. Probably, it was due to the meeting with the team at Taj. I liked him yes, he conversed plesantly enough, but, let me just say - I would go out of my way to meet him as I would do for Steve, Justin or even Slats.

This guy's supposed to be a terror to the batsman !! Can't believe it of him on watching him for 5 days! McGrath had a smile always - and he loved walking barefoot ! Barefoot - in Madras. Well, Pigeon, I'll leave you to it. He was such a naughty ( I can't find any other word) character off the ground - eating oranges and throwing the peels around at his teammates and stuffing it down their necks. Pity I couldn't talk to him on a personal level at the Taj, coz he'd left the other players after a couple of customary drinks and we couldn't catch him.

Doesn't Slats look sweet with that smile? That smile was all for me, mind you.
This was taken in the morning, before the day's play started. We (Suchi and me) were there every morning long before the match used to start and exchange smiles and waves with a lot of the players.

Two of the most Good looking of the Aussies! Damien Martyn and Michael Kasper had movie star looks, yet how little I was affected! Apart from Steve, it took a quite ordinary looker, a short guy, a good though not world class player, but with stunning startling blue eyes, a gentleman - Justin Langer - to make that impression on me.
Kasper, I acknowledged to be smart, and have a few fond memories of him - while he was ragging me, when I was tongue tied(literally, I was), trying to talk to JL. But, Martyn, well, .. I really cannot find anything good to talk about other than his looks. Observng him during the 5 days, I'd felt he was a triffle rude and arrogant (I know there are a lot of Marto fans out there), perhaps this feeling was strenghtened by that incident at the Taj with Martyn, JL and me.
That fraction of a second is the only thing that was bitter and hurtful to me in a whole evening of unbriddled pleasure. But, that incident made me like JL even more, coz he was so sweet to me after that - perhaps since he felt I was truly and visibly hurt!

Dizzy refused to be photographed !! Unfortunately, I didn't know of his dislike for photographs when I took this pic, else I would never have ventured. Sorry about that, Dizzy. But he was very nice the next day when he found me talking to JL when they were just about to depart, even offered to stand in a photo with me, but knowing by then about his dislike, I declined, also since I didn't want Dizzy to be all nice to me just because JL seemed to know me.