Cricket is played and followed in India with a religious fervour. So much so that not taking an interest in cricket is considered non-patriotic by many. Just before the start of Cricket World Cup, I was talking to a friend. On being asked how am I going to watch the world cup games, I replied that I am neither going to watch the games, nor I really care about the final outcome. To which I was branded a non-Indian and non-patriotic. My friend (well, no longer a friend since he stopped talking to me since then) just could not understand why as an Indian I did not like the game. I tried to reason that liking cricket has nothing to do with being patriotic; I might love India, but still not like cricket. But to no avail, the guy was a cricket-fanatic. And he is not alone. Majority of the Indian population are like him: dumb, senseless cricket-fanatics, who think that Sachin Tendulkar is the greatest human being ever born on this earth.
When I was a kid, I was a passionate follower of the game. On days when there was a cricket match, I would start pretending to have fever from the morning so that I wont have to go to school. My parents would understand the whole drama, still once in a while they would allow me to take a day-off from school. As soon as I got the permission to not go to school, all my fever/stomach pain/headache disappeared in a second. Those were also the good days of cricket for India, as we used to win a majority of the matches. But as I grew older, India started losing roughly two out of three matches. And then came the match fixing revelation. And my world was shattered. Sandip Agarwal had been duped royally. Never again will he follow this game.
Ever since then, I have not really followed cricket, though, thanks in part to my friends, I have always been abreast of the scores and the results. Even now, India loses a majority of the competitive games, and I am happy that I am no longer passionate about it. Gambling on cricket still goes on merrily, and my inside sources (well I am a marwari, and a lot of the money on cricket gambling is from my community) tell me that the matches are no longer fixed, but the individual scores of some batsmen are fixed beforehand.
In the last year or so, though, there has been a change in my attitude towards cricket. It has changed from one of utter carelessness to that of hatred and now to utter hatred. Cricket these days dominates everything in Indian media. The news channel are making merry hyping the game by using words such as 'jung', 'ranabhoomi', etc, as if there was a war going on. People first watch the game for 10 hrs (or 50 hrs if it is Test match) and then discuss the game with friends for 10 days. Sitting in front of TV for such long time is going to make them one-dimensional human beings. There are so many other good things in life for a youngster-- dance, party, travel, but please dont watch cricket so much.
Indian cricket is no more a sport, its an epidemic. What has Sharad Pawar anything to do with cricket? Isnt he supposed to take care of the agriculture department, which is one of the most important department in Indian govt? Doesnt agriculture, which supports the majority of Indian population, deserve all his attention? Wont it be better that he rather devote his time and energy in improving crop productivity and lowering deterioration of agricultural produce? Every month, hundreds of farmers are commiting suicide, shouldnt he take care of that? But, no, cricket must take his attention, as that is where he could hog the media limelight. Who cares about the poor farmers.
The loss of India to Bangladesh and Sri Lanka in this World Cup has brought mixed feelings in me. On one hand is the loss of pride, since we lost on the world arena. But on the other hand, I think this is exactly what India needs. Hopefully, cricket-crazy people will realize the complicity of cricket board members, politicians, media moguls, and gamblers. Cricket is just a sport, let it remain a sport. Dont elevate it to a religion. If it is a religion, then we are probably worshipping false Gods.
Will India really become more dispassionate about cricket? I know that my expectations from India are a lot, but then, I am an utter optimist and a diehard patriot.
When I was a kid, I was a passionate follower of the game. On days when there was a cricket match, I would start pretending to have fever from the morning so that I wont have to go to school. My parents would understand the whole drama, still once in a while they would allow me to take a day-off from school. As soon as I got the permission to not go to school, all my fever/stomach pain/headache disappeared in a second. Those were also the good days of cricket for India, as we used to win a majority of the matches. But as I grew older, India started losing roughly two out of three matches. And then came the match fixing revelation. And my world was shattered. Sandip Agarwal had been duped royally. Never again will he follow this game.
Ever since then, I have not really followed cricket, though, thanks in part to my friends, I have always been abreast of the scores and the results. Even now, India loses a majority of the competitive games, and I am happy that I am no longer passionate about it. Gambling on cricket still goes on merrily, and my inside sources (well I am a marwari, and a lot of the money on cricket gambling is from my community) tell me that the matches are no longer fixed, but the individual scores of some batsmen are fixed beforehand.
In the last year or so, though, there has been a change in my attitude towards cricket. It has changed from one of utter carelessness to that of hatred and now to utter hatred. Cricket these days dominates everything in Indian media. The news channel are making merry hyping the game by using words such as 'jung', 'ranabhoomi', etc, as if there was a war going on. People first watch the game for 10 hrs (or 50 hrs if it is Test match) and then discuss the game with friends for 10 days. Sitting in front of TV for such long time is going to make them one-dimensional human beings. There are so many other good things in life for a youngster-- dance, party, travel, but please dont watch cricket so much.
Indian cricket is no more a sport, its an epidemic. What has Sharad Pawar anything to do with cricket? Isnt he supposed to take care of the agriculture department, which is one of the most important department in Indian govt? Doesnt agriculture, which supports the majority of Indian population, deserve all his attention? Wont it be better that he rather devote his time and energy in improving crop productivity and lowering deterioration of agricultural produce? Every month, hundreds of farmers are commiting suicide, shouldnt he take care of that? But, no, cricket must take his attention, as that is where he could hog the media limelight. Who cares about the poor farmers.
The loss of India to Bangladesh and Sri Lanka in this World Cup has brought mixed feelings in me. On one hand is the loss of pride, since we lost on the world arena. But on the other hand, I think this is exactly what India needs. Hopefully, cricket-crazy people will realize the complicity of cricket board members, politicians, media moguls, and gamblers. Cricket is just a sport, let it remain a sport. Dont elevate it to a religion. If it is a religion, then we are probably worshipping false Gods.
Will India really become more dispassionate about cricket? I know that my expectations from India are a lot, but then, I am an utter optimist and a diehard patriot.
P.S. I am not against the game of cricket per se. What pushes my buttons are the number of cricket matches and the hype it generates.
1 comment:
Even though I am a big fan of cricket, your take of Sharad pawar is interesting. He has no business to be the head of BCCI.
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