Nothing other than your mobile phone with a local active connection can lead you out of the sprawling lawns around the stadium.
Only app-based cab service can be called around the Nassau Cricket Stadium in Eisenhower Park, East Meadow, Long Island, a little over 32 miles from the New York city. (Credit: Getty Images)
New York, June 5: Cricket is the last thing on the minds of US citizens, the ones who have no connection with the Indian subcontinent. No matter the event in the vicinity is a World Cup. Doesn’t matter even if the Indian cricket icons are practising nearby. No excitement, no craze.
The cops on duty at the stadium won’t be able to, or won’t, guide you to the arena where teams practice. They are least bothered about anything that’s cricket. Their only concern and priority is the professional brief that they need to secure the area and only allow authorised persons towards their designated blocks in the stadium. Zero tolerance, no compromises on that front.
A mobile phone with a local active network remains your sole companion and guide. Even a cab ride cannot be booked without that. Only app-based cab service can be called around the Nassau Cricket Stadium in Eisenhower Park, East Meadow, Long Island, a little over 32 miles from New York City.
The closest rail station, on the New Jersey Metro track in Hicksville, is nearly seven miles from the remotely-located match venue – around 11 kilometres to understand the distance better from an Indian perspective.
Nothing other than your mobile phone with a local active connection can lead you out of the sprawling lawns around the stadium, amidst an array of roads shadowed by tree branches laden with fresh, green leaves.
The joy of being in the lap of unadulterated natural beauty goes in a whisper the moment you realise that your phone is left in the car that dropped you at the stadium.
The first step out of the trouble would be to join fellow journalists at Cantiague Park, the practising facility for the team precisely five miles from the stadium. An Indian-origin American radio journalist comes as a big relief since she too was heading to the practice arena for the Press conference.
The problem remains far from solved till the time the phone is reclaimed. It is just not possible to focus on any other event around. It’s not about the device or the gadget, but for the service and support it offers.
Since the cab to the stadium was booked through the hotel front office, one was always optimistic about locating the service provider, the cab and eventually the phone. That was only possible after reaching the hotel. But, how do you do that? A cab could only be booked through phone. That too would wait for you around half a mile from the Park due to security reasons. No private or commercial vehicles are allowed near the practice arena.
Fellow journalists from India are busy with their assignments. In a time zone ten hours behind IST, they struggle to beat the deadlines without missing a news point. You don’t distract them from their jobs irrespective of a personal emergency. Still, they are concerned and book a cab ride for you – all you know is that a Toyota with registration number 1761 will be waiting for you.
App-based cabs, just as in India, would only start the ride after a four-digit code is submitted to unlock the route. Since the cab is booked by a journalist who now is not accessible, you cannot get that code. The driver, courteous beyond the call of his duty, tries several tricks, but to no avail.
Pathan from Peshawar comes to the rescue
During the conversation in that tense situation, the formal introduction happens between a journalist from New Delhi, India, and the Pathan from Peshawar, who has been driving cabs in New York and Long Island for over 10 years. That breaks the ice.
“Aap hamen ye batayen kaun sa hotel hai, (You just tell me about the hotel),” Muhammad Khan, the tall, handsome Pathan, starts moving the luxury cab even before one could answer his question. The conversation that followed was in chaste Hindi and Urdu with an unadulterated Peshawari (Peshori) accent.
“Phone nahi milega to koi fiqra ka baat nahi hai, bhai ka kaam nahi rukega (Don’t worry if you don’t get your phone back. I will not let your work suffer),” he completes the sentence while halting the car at the hotel gate and exchanges his personal phone number. He refuses to accept the payment for the trip, going to the extent of being stubborn, but polite.
Since, the cab to the stadium was booked by the hotel staff, it didn’t take long to reach out to the service provider. The driver had deposited the phone with the company. It was eventually dropped at the hotel against payment for the cab which came to return the phone.
In the bargain, the practice session, albeit an insignificant one since most of the players didn’t turn up, and a major part of Rohit Sharma’s Press conference was missed.
But Muhammad Khan gave a reason to cheer for at a time when no road appeared to be leading from the stadium to the hotel.
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