31 March,2011 08:08 AM IST | | Varun Singh
As fans streamed out on the streets, from Marine Drive to Peddar Road, dancing in a daze, whistling and howling happily, jamming the roads with their cars and bikes, oblivious to the traffic, mindless of the time, it was obvious that the joy was too overwhelming to be contained within four walls.
On the streets, flags were aflutter.
Slideshow: Fans erupt with joy for Team India
Mumbaikars were swaying to music, mostly patriotic, shouting slogans, and chanting tirelessly, consumed with energy and elation, refusing to pause.
Fireworks lit up the night sky, vehicles kicked off a honk-a-thon, to cheer bystanders on the sides of the roads.
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A small route from the Intercontinental to the Trident, which generally takes not more than five minutes, couldn't be navigated in over an hour. Perhaps for the first time, no one minded snarl-ups. In this city, that says something.
Crowds were unwieldy, so much so that police constables had to alert their seniors. The zonal deputy commissioners of police had to be called upon to handle the frenzy.
After all, it has always been a city on the edge. As for its inhabitants, the countless wrongs they had suffered as a people, the scams, the controversies, the pressures of a pacy life, the divides, were all forgotten in the moment.
Just a singular monolithic happiness coursed through them all, across all strata - social and economic, even educational. Some popped out of their cars' sunroofs, others walked, some rode, still others made videos of the madness. It was a moment. India's moment.
Up in the suburbs, starting right from Dadar, up until Juhu, Versova and Yari Road, fans dotted the roads, every turn, every signal. Clad in blue, they waved the national flag, omnipresent in the city.
Replicas of the treasured Cup hogged the attraction. If it passed through anywhere, perched atop its devotees shoulders, the crowd just ran to it, to touch it, to glimpse at it, just to be near it.
Crackers were burst and speakers blared music after 10 pm, and no one minded, not the civilians, nor the cops. Vehicles stopped in the middle of roads, played songs at full blast to let the crowd dance.
The delirium was seamless. It reached cybersphere almost instantly. Facebook updates all read the same. No one had anything to say, just express. Many tweeted to compare the city to Los Angeles.
A policeman was overheard saying, 'Aaj khushi ka din hai, sabko celebrate karne ka mann hai. Ab kisko kisko roke.'
Not a single alley in the city stayed away from the celebration.
