Mumbai Cricket Club

We have been here at Sardar Singh Niwas for quite a while now. Most people know us by the sounds of the balls hitting the bats coming from the Vakola side. It gets busy in the evenings when the school kids finish up their classes and head over. The road near the Vakola Masjid is always crowded, so you have to walk carefully to get to the nets. There is a lot of dust that kicks up during the summer months, but nobody really minds once they start playing. We spend most of our mornings just clearing the grounds and making sure the gear is in decent shape for the afternoon sessions. It is not a fancy place, just some honest space to practice. The coaches usually sit on the plastic chairs near the entrance talking about the games from the weekend. Sometimes the rain gets heavy and we have to cover everything up quickly with those big blue plastic sheets. It can be a lot of work maintaining the pitches when the weather is bad. Most of the boys who come here have been doing so since they were tiny. You see them grow up and their game gets better year after year. We keep the shop open until late evening, mostly just chatting with the parents who come to pick up their kids. It is just a regular part of life here in Santacruz East, nothing more and nothing less than that.