Rhea Rakshit Das with son Arunava Das
A man in a dark beige jacket over a white tee, eyes covered in shades and a cap over his head, walked briskly towards the Club House around 12.40pm.
In the abundance of pink that enveloped the Eden Gardens on Friday, the only pink on Atri Golui was the four words on his tee that read WISH YOU WERE HERE.
After some prodding, the Howrah resident revealed the reason the iconic Pink Floyd song made it to a cricket stadium — his daughter is a fan of the British rock band.
“She got me this T-shirt and insisted I wore it to the pink-ball Test,” said Golui, sporting a shy smile. His daughter is a student of ancient history at Calcutta University.
On Friday, pink had replaced blue as the favourite colour for Indian fans. A giant pink gas balloon kept floating in the sky between two floodlight towers. The colour was plastered on hoardings and paraphernalia in equal measure. Mini pink strobes lit the corners of upper galleries.
Gallery stalls selling “I was there” T-shirts, jam and jelly adverts high on the upper galleries and even the saris worn by chief minister Mamata Banerjee and Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina had a touch of pink.
The last time Golui came to Eden was 25 years ago, for the Hero Cup semi-final in 1993. “I will not forget the last over by Sachin (Tendulkar) till my last breath,” said Golui.
He was all praise for the festive spirit around the pink ball Test but hoped the “cricket would live up to the hype”. He did not expect the Test to be a cliff-hanger like the Hero Cup semi-final but wanted Bangladesh to “put up a fight” against a “ruthless” Indian side.
As the day progressed, it became clear that his “concern” for the visitors was not misplaced.
Less than a hundred metres from Golui, a mother and son were rushing towards Gate 14 of the stadium. Rhea Rakshit Das and Arunava Das were colour-coordinated; the mother was in a baby pink salwar kameez and son in a light pink T-shirt.
“It is a such a historic day. We thought it would be appropriate to dress for the occasion,” said Rhea, a resident of central Calcutta.
They were almost running towards Gate 14, opposite the Mohun Bagan tent. “I don’t want to miss Virat Kohli at the toss,” said Arunava.