Cricket - False Religion, False Gods, and False Patriotism

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.

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.

The American Alcohol Industry, its Manipulation of Media and Scientific Research, and Impact on India.

A popular belief in the first half of 20th century was that cigarette smoking is healthy. Cigarette smoking was extremely common with the intellectual class, as is evident by acclaimed movie “Good Night, and Good Luck”. But the American society of today by and large abhors smoking. On looking closely at the situation, it could be noticed that the wrong impression of health benefits of smoking did not arise from any medical study, but by some clever advertisement strategies by cigarette companies with ad-lines like “More doctors smoke Camels than any other cigarette” or making cigarette smoking a sexy and alluring thing.

That now brings me to the topic of drinking alcohol. The alcohol industry has cleverly positioned itself in such a manner that a teetotaler is considered as if he/she has come from a different planet, and this is especially true for teenagers and youths. The last ten years of my student life has firmly convinced me that it is peer-pressure which leads to the start of alcohol in teenagers that slowly becomes a full-blown pursuit. Much of the media reports on alcohol consumption focuses on the positive health impacts of drinking alcohol, though there is a wide scientific literature that unequivocally proves that drinking alcohol, even at low to moderate amounts, can lead to increased rates of suicidal tendencies, breast cancer in women ("Alcohol Dehydrogenase Genetic Polymorphisms, Low-to-Moderate Alcohol Consumption, and Risk of Breast Cancer." Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research 31(3)), and brain damage among adolescents (http://www.ama-assn.org/ama1/pub/upload/mm/388/iom_fact_sheet.pdf). Instances of medical benefits are often cited by my friends as well as in popular media. A New York Times article comes to mind, in which was mentioned a study that showed that a chemical found in wine, resveratrol, was found to prevent cancer in mouse. On the surface, the article gives an impression that daily consumption of wine would be a potent prevention against cancer. But further analysis throws two surprising things, which were not really highlighted in the article. First, the dose of resveratrol given to the mice in the month long “scientific” study is equivalent to 10 bottles of wine everyday. And mind you, that is in mice, not in human beings. And the second fact, which I found very funny, is that resveratrol in wine comes from grape itself. So even if I am a human being with an average brain, I would rather have grape juice than wine for health benefits. Not only I would get more resveratrol, I also imbibe other benefits of grape juice which are lost during the fermentation process in making wine.

The alcohol industry has gone further than the cigarette industry by manipulating scientific research. Large number of scientific studies (for example "Alcohol Consumption and Hemostatic Factors: Analysis of the Framingham Offspring Cohort." Circulation 104(12) and "Alcohol Consumption and Risk of Lung Cancer: The Framingham Study." J. Natl. Cancer Inst. 94(24)) that show the positive effects of alcohol on health is sponsored either by organizations like Wine Institute or Beer Institute or by persons associated with such organizations.

Another shocking fact is that underage drinkers account for around 20% of the revenue of alcohol industry. The average age for an American for his first alcoholic drink is 11 years for boys and 13 years for girls. Alcohol abuse is linked to two-thirds of sexual assaults and more than half of traffic accidents. Yet the media and the politicians are completely indifferent. The reason is simple: money-power. Alcohol companies spend around $5 billion in alcohol advertising and were one of the most generous donors to various Republican and Democratic candidates in the 2000 election cycle.

(http://www.ama-assn.org/ama1/pub/upload/mm/388/iom_fact_sheet.pdf).

In today’s globally connected world, America is a role model for many developing countries. As such, alcohol consumption is rising at a remarkable pace in India. A decade ago, alcohol consumption was looked down upon; alcohol drinkers used to drink in the privacy of their homes. But these days its very common for youngsters to frequent bars and pubs, and parties where alcohol is served is commonplace. Consuming alcohol is considered cool and hip among yougsters, whereas non-drinking is looked down upon. Alcohol consumption has also been linked to increased domestic violence in rural areas of India. Alcohol is purchased by lower income group people often at the expense of basic necessities. From a recent article (http://www.unhooked.com/sep/thirdworl.htm), “Not surprisingly for a country in which the doctor-patient ratio is 1 to 2310, the health services are focused on providing bare essentials such as immunization. When questions of alcohol consumption do arise, the answer is usually simple: "Don't drink". Religiously, culturally, socially and economically it is the only answer that makes sense. In other words, for an average Indian abstinence in not a matter of choice but an imperative.”

Is the lesson of alcoholism India wants to copy from America? Cannot India rather emulate America’s ideals of discipline, creativity, and hard-work?