There is a running joke in Chennai, the landmark capital city of the beautiful state of Tamil Nadu, which suggests that the Southern city has but two seasons- ‘Summer and Hot Summer’!
The statement is, of course, a jest on the sweltering heat synonymous with the city steeped in culture, but it is not without its merits, so to speak.
The ‘Hot Summer’ refers to the period between late March and early July, where the impact of the celestial star shining bright up in the sky is felt with a pinch on this side of the equator. However, if you’ve lived in the city long enough, you get acclimatised to the wrath of the ball of fire so much so that it tends to feel rather weird when you do not feel the prickly heat.
The acclimatisation process is also handed a boost due to the expectation of what the summer brings. Holidays, mangoes, ice cream warrants, fun, frolic and the city’s biggest representatives- the Chennai Super Kings.
The five-time champions have become the symbol of the city and serve as a personification of everything brilliant about the centuries-old settlement. The team transcends the notion of a sporting establishment as it serves as a beacon of hope and harbinger of happy times to the benignant, genuine inhabitants of the sprawling city. So much so that it acts as the townspeople’s identity, with one man as the undisputable poster boy- MS Dhoni.
Not for a lack of alliteration though, the summer does bring with it surprises of its own such as the one Chennai’s adopted son Mahendra Singh Dhoni startled the partisan fanbase with ahead of the opener as he entrusted young opener Ruturaj Gaikwad with the mammoth task of captaining the illustrious side.
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In classic Mahi-fashion, Out of the blue! One moment you’re creating material with the captain’s armband across Dhoni’s name, and bang! The now-former captain changes the script as he sends the young boy for the ceremonial picture of all skippers from the tournament, instead of waking down himself!
And as the befuddled crowd looked for the World Cup winner, he was spotted sporting his training kit devoid of sleeves, launching projectiles of cricket balls, one after the other, into the stands, as the kids at the nets session clamoured over the white leather.
No lack of nostalgia either as Dhoni visually rolled back the years. The long hair reminiscent of decades past, the mighty swing that terrorizes bowlers and the same old twinkle in his eye that the helmet couldn’t hide.
It sends you back in time, I tell you. All the way back to when you were a school-going kid idolising sportsmen and picking up the ball of your preference instead of the ‘mighty pen’ or pencil. Getting out of bed for the sole purpose of playing pick-up games with your mates, walking into random air-conditioned stores to escape the ferocity of the beaming sun for a few minutes, the dripping five-bucks-a-pop popsicle that tastes all the sweeter once your clothes are drenched in sweat. The cold dips in swimming pools doused in chlorine, without the threat of proliferation of a virus, and to top it all off with an evening of antiquated pieces of electronics throwing images of cricketing lore your way surrounded by your muckers. Ah! Sweet Childhood! (Special mention to the annoying neighbour who used to refuse the return of the ball that had crossed the threshold without a verbal confrontation marked by obscenity-laced-tirades in domestic linguistic stylings.)
The money-rich tournament, which has managed to adapt to the changes in tastes and demands of the changing times, has witnessed multiple changes through the years. The comings-and-goings of franchises from different parts of the seventh largest nation on the planet, the modifications in the rules of the showpiece event, the names on the team rosters, the glitz, the glamour, the look and feel of the product as a whole.
However, much to the delight of those from technologically rather simpler times, certain things remained the same, headlined by Mahi’s romance with the famous yellow of CSK, and of course the salt of the earth panglossian folk, who call Chennai home.
Cut to over a decade and a half ahead to the present day, if you were to take a gander around landmark localities of the city during matchday, you spot a parade of yellow, a sea of it in fact, but what you’d struggle to come across would be a number or name other than Thala’s.
Merchants trying to make a living off selling CSK merchandise around the hallowed ‘Den’, the artists strolling around with watercolours and paintbrushes and vendors of different products hit payday when the IPL carnival rolls around to the sea-breeze kissed capital of the South Indian city. And guess what their biggest movie good is?
‘Dhoni here, Dhoni there, Dhoni Dhoni everywhere’!
Hoardings and paintings of a plethora of brands advertising their offerings alongside the ubiquitous imagery of Chennai’s Thala stand prominently in celebration of the man who has brought the coveted title home not once, not twice, but five times over. Even the delivery captains from all walks of life (you read that right, multiple educated working-class men have such a side hustle) express their fondness for the man who brought the World Cup back to the tricolour after decades of anxious wait, with his iconic No.7 plastered across their back as they circumnavigate the busy streets of the bustling metropolitan to fulfill their obligations.
It is understood that Dhoni played sixteen home games last season, so to speak, as a band of yellow followed the former Indian skipper wherever he went. Crowds sang, players bowed and legends yearned for autographs. The whistles and celebrations kept getting increasingly vociferous as the season went on!
And just as the city had hoped for a repeat of the iconic ‘Definitely Not’ at the end of the 2023 season, the prodigal son graciously heeded the public’s cry by opting to gift us with yet another year of his aura, the wit, the quicker-than-mutual-funds-disclaimer stumpings and the unorthodox shot that took India to the promised land in 2011-the helicopter.
Going by the common consensus, with the wicketkeeper-par-excellence preparing to write his own swansong, as he does with virtually everything else, the Mahi-mania is as acute as ever, ever after sixteen long years of association. Now more than ever maybe.
As apparent from the day of the curtain-raiser, which boasted an array of star names from across fields of interest including BCCI dignitaries, an Oscar winner, Bollywood Celebrities, all the skippers of the ongoing edition of the tournament combined, and arguably the finest batter of his generation, the loudest cheer at the MA Chidambaram Stadium will forever be reserved for one man, who has managed to become the embodiment of the city who’s language isn’t even his first- MSD!
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