From Aus to Houston, Kolkatans erupt in joy across time zones

Kolkata: Scores of non-resident Indians, many of them hailing from Kolkata and other parts of Bengal, watched and then celebrated India's historic T20 World Cup win in the US, Canada and the UK on Super Sunday.In Houston, Indians woke up early on Sunday morning and assembled at cricket screening parties all over the Greater Houston area. After the game, there was a celebration party at Houston Durga Bari. "We played and danced to patriotic songs to celebrate," recounted Partha Sarathi Chatterjee, a technology executive from Entally, revelling in pride over India's sterling show in the tournament. Nirmalya Roy, an IT professional, talked about repeating history at Durgabari, where they celebrated the ODI World Cup victory in 2011 and the T20 World Cup win two years ago.
Further east in Tampa, Florida, which boasts a sizeable NRI and Indian American community with roots in Kolkata, the regular Sunday football game was shifted to Saturday morning so that Sunday morning could be dedicated to the T20 final. New Tampa resident Nabin Das, who is lovingly called the Prince of Kharda, set up a 4K projector to screen the match on a massive 120-inch screen. His living room turned into a mini-stadium.With the spring-forward time change on Sunday, the fans woke up an hour earlier than usual. Surajit Roy, originally from central Kolkata and now living at Apollo Beach, walked in late but was at the receiving end of the group when three wickets fell in quick succession soon after he arrived. "India posted more than a competitive total and then blew New Zealand away. We celebrated the victory with luchi and goat curry. It was a Sunday well spent," recounted Jyotirmoy Sarkar.Across the border in Toronto, Canada, Avik Chakrabarti put in place everything, including French vanilla coffee with doughnuts and sandwiches, to watch the match. They expected a thriller but were ecstatic with India's comfortable victory. "We began betting amongst ourselves on what the winning margin would be. No one expected it to be so huge," recounted Chakrabarti, who runs a Bengali restaurant.Subhomoy Mukherjee, an IT professor living in London, watched the match with his sons and visiting relatives. They initially planned to step out and watch the match at a restaurant or a bar but instead joined fellow supporters at the Watford Cricket Club. Former Kolkatan Vishal Mehrotra who is now a professor of marketing in Gold Coast, Australia, said the Indian diaspora Down Under spent a sleepless night, watching and cheering the team. It was 3.30 am when Team India lifted the trophy. Such was the adrenaline of fans that they remained awake till Monday dawn.