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'Allah has been kind to us'

Savera R Someshwar reports from Bandra/Mahim

"No one should under-estimate us. We know how to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat. People tend to forget that we are Indians after all."

"Yes, it was a long-awaited victory. Allah has been kind to us." As Mahendra Singh Dohni and his victorious team swept through S V Road at the Mumbai surburb of Mahim, cricket was the only topic of conversation.

The motorcade moved on, the conversation continued with a fervor the constant rain couldn't damp. Two Muslim men in white, with the traditional cap firmly on their heads, walked along the cavalcade route in the wake of the team bus.

Mohammed Iqbal, 32, walking to work at the tailoring business he runs, is thrilled. "This is the regular time I leave for work," he said, unable to stop smiling. "I never thought I see our cricket team like this."

Traffic was at a standstill, but no one minded - no impatient honking, no engines growling, no late-for-work folks yelling abuse: the mood today is of joy, of celebration, and personal inconvenience is shrugged aside as of no moment.

People were heard calling each other on their cellphones, updating friends about the progress of the cavalcade. Several got down from the buses taking them to work, and joined the throngs lining the route. Victory brings its own camaraderie - total strangers hugged each other oblivious to caste, religion or even sex.

The junction between Bandra and Mahim was a sight: car doors hung open, and there were people precariously balanced on the footboard, trying to get a glimpse of their heroes.

As the bus came into view in a blaze of orange and white and green balloons, the crowd surged forward; young girls jumped out of buses and joined the stream of fans racing after the bus, dancing in the rain.

Long moments of berserk joy - and the cavalcade moved on; those who remained asked each other whether they had got a good look, compared pix they had taken on their cell phones, yelled and screamed in unconfined excitement.

Some fans jumped on their bikes and took off after the team bus.

A group of teenagers, walking into Mahim the church for a Mass, couldn't keep their mind on their prayers. "They really played their hearts out, man! They really deserved this!"