Rivalry or Hatred... ?

Okay. It is a well known fact that India is a cricket-crazy country. And at times the craziness bit seems to take on an unbelievable magnitude. But even this craze takes a turn towards the ultimate levels of lunacy once the Indian cricket team takes on the team from across the border.

It is always good for any sport to have a fierce but healthy rivalry between two teams. The English and Australian cricket teams have fought tooth and nail over the historic ashes. Argentina and Brazil have had a history of locking horns in Latin American football. Barcelona and Real Madrid have an equally absorbing rivalry on the football field as was the rivalry between the basketball teams of the USA and the erstwhile USSR.

A healthy rivalry is supposed to bring out the best in the participating teams. But instead, a cricket match between India and Pakistan brings out utmost levels of lunacy from within the fans of the two countries. In fact, those who do not even follow cricket turn into fanatics on the day of an India-Pakistan cricket match. An example of this was seen when some morons broke into a fight in an Australian pub right after the India-Pakistan match.

It is good to support and cheer one’s own team. But pathetically, the thing that people find more pleasure to indulge in is to ridicule the opponent. And it is not just the players from the opposite team but its followers who are targeted with all the insult and abuse. It is as if the supporters are happier for the opponent’s loss rather than their own team’s victory.

India and Pakistan have been more than just uncomfortable neighbors. They’ve been at war more than just once. But over the years, people on both sides of the border have seemed to develop a strange abhorrence towards each other. A sense of loathing that has been increasing with every generation. It is almost reaching a point of complete intolerance towards each other.

But when one tries to ascertain the reason and logic behind such hatred, one is at a loss to find specific answers. There are certain issues that seem to be valid and require serious thought from both the sides to reach a proper solution. But the truth is that the majority of population in both the countries leads a similar kind of life trying to cope with everyday problems.

There is a genuine problem of terrorism that plagues both the countries. But instead of accusing each other and going to war, people on both sides need to come together to tackle the menace. For this to happen, there needs to be a certain sense of trust to prevail between citizens from both sides to be able to come together.

But the extremely crazy reactions from fanatics from both sides to an India-Pakistan cricket match destroy all hope of trust and understanding between the citizens of both the countries. People today have actually never given a thought to the reason for their hatred towards the neighbor country. They simply follow what they see everywhere around themselves.

It is not actually cricket. It is not also the joy of the team’s victory. It is more about the loss of someone who is loathed. Bursting crackers and going absolutely berserk on social media are just the obvious symptoms of this deep seated lunacy. Because if it was the good cricket being played by one’s own team, then every victory irrespective of the opponent would be celebrated with equal joy.

An India-Pakistan match should be a source of a healthy sporting rivalry, not a source of strengthening the already prevalent hatred between the two countries.  

(Image Courtesy : Google Images)

At Any Cost...

So, MSD has finally called it quits as far as the longer version of cricket is concerned. As has happened countless times in the past, as soon as the team starts doing badly, people start discovering villains. And more often than not, it is the captain who is given all the blame.

Actually, the crux of the problem it seems is that people cannot accept a loss even if it occurs in a sport. If it wasn’t about winning some AND losing some, sport wouldn’t have been sport in the first place.

For a lot many years, it was taken for granted that if the Zimbabwe team was playing a cricket match, it was certain to lose it. Not that the Zimbabwe players didn’t give their best. It was just that the other teams were better than them. But still they kept on trying until they started winning and people started taking them seriously. The opposite was taken for granted for the once indomitable West Indies team.

In sport, people and teams face defeats. But more than the result, it is the game itself that provides all the joy and entertainment. Supremely talented sportspersons lose, but they still provide moments of bliss to those who watch them play. The final result of a game just adds to the excitement and just adds up in the record books.

But we, the people of today are obsessed with the result. And that too a positive one. People are happy as long as the team wins. Even if it wins on the basis of a stupid rule after the game being interrupted by rain.

So it’s no wonder that people want a person who provides them with wins. At any cost. And this goes not just for sport but even about political leaders of the country.

Another thing which is baffling is how we spontaneously equate talent with leadership. We take it for granted that a player who is more talented in playing skills than others will automatically be a better leader. We did this with Sachin Tendulkar. But he was intelligent and insightful enough to understand the difference between talent and leadership.

A leader in sport is not always the best player of the team. He is someone who can bind the players as a team and is able to extract the maximum out of them in terms of performance. He is one who inspires the team in times of low confidence. And above all, he should be someone who conducts himself as an ambassador of his team and country in a respectful way.

MSD was is the example of a leader in the true sense. Not losing his cool and maintaining a level head even in tough situations were the qualities exemplified by him.

But I would personally never like to have the leader of a group of players who represent my country as a person who doesn’t even know the basic levels of decency while on the playing field. Ricky Ponting was a very talented cricketer. And a highly successful captain too. But was he a good ambassador for cricket or his country ? NO !

It is extremely sad to see how people prefer a misbehaving (though highly talented) captain to lead and represent the country. Maybe because they expect him to produce victories for the team which eventually add up in the record books. For people today, a victorious result brings a strange sense of satisfaction irrespective of how the game was played. After all, people are obsessed with victories. At any cost.

 

(Image Courtesy : Google Images)

The Ungrateful Indian Cricket Fan...

So, it has finally happened ! We, the great Indians have managed to do it yet again. Only this time, it seems so many fold more preposterous.

Sachin R. Tendulkar has finally called it quits as far as one-day international cricket is concerned. Something which would comfort and console a lot of ‘well-wishers’ of Indian cricket. It has been for a long time now that people who consider themselves cricket intellectuals have been demanding for Sachin to retire. And the reasons for this demand have ranged from age-issues to dip in form and about making way for youngsters.

Age ? I didn’t know there was a certain age of retirement for cricketers. Even if a cricketer is absolutely fit and motivated, how does his age matter ? If anyone in the world, it is a cricketer himself who knows the best about his own body. And no other cricketer could analyze the state of his own fitness better than Sachin Tendulkar.

We Indian cricket enthusiasts have forced so many fit and in form cricketers into retirement. A certain Robin Singh, who is more than double the age of many current Indian cricketers is still fitter and more agile than them in the field. Yet we forced him to retire because of his age long ago.

People seemed to have got bored with Sachin. I wonder why we never get bored of the non-performing over-aged politicians of the country as well.

It is us Indians who made the man a ‘God’. And then we expected him to work wonders every time he walked out to bat. And just when we saw signs of him being human, we wanted him out. Talking of form, Sachin (being out of form for months) still has better statistics during these last months than many ‘young’ batsmen in the Indian team.

But we are so obsessed about our country. We want victories. We want to be proud. I wonder how many of such proud Indian cricket fans can remember the date when India was ranked the No. 1 team in ‘Test cricket’. Or how many people remember the number of days ‘Team India’ remained at rank No. 1 ?

But still we want victories. We want to be No. 1. Even if after a victory we forget about it in a couple of days. But how many of us can forget what Sachin did on that stormy night in Sharjah ? Or that six he hit off Shoaib Akhtar at Centurion in the 2003 World Cup ? Or the first double-century in one-day cricket ? Or the amazing set of innings in the 1996 World Cup ? The list is endless. And also unforgettable. The records which he set will stand at the top of the world for generations with (IND) written along his name. Something which would be permanent. Wouldn’t that be what would make any Indian proud whenever and wherever ?

There were talks of Sachin being selfish. The popular concept going around was - ‘one should retire when one is at the peak of form rather than at a time when out of form’. Now, aren’t these two contrasting logics ? I always thought, if one retires at the peak of his form, isn’t one being selfish to put himself first by going away with everything good around him for the sake of his image ? Shouldn’t he be rather serving the country when he is at his best ? And Sachin endorsed exactly this logic sometime back when asked about his retirement.

People have become completely materialistic. I think us Indian don’t even know what happiness is. Consider the following two scenarios.

[Scenarion A]

The Indian Team scores 300 singles batting first in a one-day match. And then restricts the opposition at 180 for 2 in their 50 overs and wins the match.

[Scenario B]

The Indian Team scores 220 runs being all-out in 40 overs where a Sehwag hits 80 off 35 balls. But loses the match as the other team scores 221 for 9 wickets on the last ball of the match.

Now which of the above scenario would one prefer. I’m sure the average ‘well-wisher’ of Indian cricket looking for pride and victory would happily opt for Scenario A.

It is evident that people have forgotten the essence of sport. While a victory is certainly to be rejoiced, a loss is an experience to learn from and improve oneself to be better prepared the next time. But people today are simply intolerant to loss. The are happy to have hollow victories. Even if they come in the form of a ‘Duckworth-Lewis’ rule.

And for the want of such hollow pride, we don’t even think before dismissing those who gave us moments to cherish for a lifetime.

People say that the veterans have to make way for the youngsters. But where are the youngsters ? There is still not a single replacement of a Dravid/Laxman/Ganguly/Kumble in sight. If there is, he’ll not need to have a way made for him. Sachin didn’t require a veteran to make way for him. Neither did the other greats. Their merit got them through.

People talk of Virat Kohli. Ok. He may have loads and loads and loads of talent. He may help India win many matches. He may even surpass all of Sachin’s records (which I think he never will). But he will never have the same class. And so he will never motivate me.

Class and character don’t come with success. They are inherent to a person. Unlike a Virat Kohli, Sachin never needed to jump in the air, jab a punch and shout abuses when he completed the run for his first century. And neither did he need to after any of his 100 centuries. Humility and discipline are the hallmark of greats such as Sachin, Dravid, Laxman, Kumble, etc. But the Indian cricket fan gives a boot to such virtues.

Dear Indian cricket fan(atic), God gave you a ‘God’, but you couldn’t even respect him. So rejoice, you ungrateful lot, in your delusion of cricket-fanaticism. I’m done with it. What you really deserve is nothing more than ‘IPL’.

(Image courtesy : Google Images)

Those agonising 20 minutes...

It’s been more than six hours, but I still haven’t really got over it…

In fact, just six hours ago, I went through the most agonizing twenty minutes of my life till date.

But it had to happen sooner than later. And ‘he’ finally broke the 200 run barrier !

I was busy diving deep into my books (have an exam coming up on the 28th) when I just checked on the on-field proceedings online. And the next moment I found myself down to the living room, my eyes fixed to the telly.

He was on 190, just four short of the highest ever. And ten short of the unbelievable. And with plenty of overs to spare. This appeared to be a piece of cake.

But MSD has sort of learnt to do things at times when they are least required. And today was no different. When all MSD was being able to manage in many recent outings was nothing more than single digit or barely double digit scores, before lobbing the ball safely to a half-sleeping fielder, today he had decided against the usual form.

He was just hitting balls out of the park and on top of it, making sure that he takes a single on the last delivery each over…

So, during the span of those twenty odd minutes, and about 40 available deliveries, MSD hogged the strike. Until finally, it was left to the last over with still one run to complete the amazing 200 feat. And MSD on strike again to begin with…

But thanks to a desperate and well-timed dive by Hashim Amla on the square leg boundary, they were restricted to a single. The next ball ending the most agonizing twenty minutes or so that my mind can recall.

We read and watch super-humans in comics and movies, but there’s one in real life too.

AND HE IS MY FAVORITE SUPER-HUMAN !

Visit to a Test Match...

I did it again !!!

For the second time in my life, I went to see a cricket match. It’s not that I haven’t been to any more cricket matches before. In fact, I have rarely missed any being played in my city. But here I’m talking about going to watch a cricket match all alone. And that too, a ‘Test Match’.

Yes. In these times of T-20s and T-10s, when some people are even bored enough of spending a full day watching a ‘One-day Match’, it is highly unlikely that any normal person would so much as even think of going to watch a Test Match. And if there is lack of company, it would be all the more un-imaginable for a normal person.

But here I’m not referring to any normal persons. I’m talking about myself…

The opponents being Sri Lanka didn’t help any bit to make the prospects much exciting. But for me, there is something more, much beyond mere excitement about watching a cricket match live.

I had already made up my mind to watch the match as this would probably be the last opportunity in my life to watch two of my favorite cricketers in action in my city. And that was reason enough for me to ignore anyone who’d suggest that such a plan wasn’t worth it.

I still hadn’t bought the ticket till the eve of the match due to two of my friends who still weren’t sure if they would be able to make it. As it was mid-exam-time for bro, he had already been excluded from the scheme of things. Somehow, I managed to agree to one of my friend at his suggestion to wait for the first day to see how the match progresses. According to my friend, it wouldn’t be too clever to go and watch the Sri Lankans bat all through the first day if they decided to do so, considering Team India’s bowling form. This seemed a bit sensible and so I decided to wait, hoping that India doesn’t bat first.

But keeping up with my luck as ever, I was greeted with the news of Team India winning the toss and electing to bat, first thing in the morning.

I spent the rest of the day praying for Sehwag’s form so that he continues to bat and India doesn’t loose any wickets. I just couldn’t afford them losing any more than one wicket for the day. But by the evening when I was returning home after getting the ticket, I got the news that India were two down. That sent my heart sinking. What if ‘HE’ gets out before day two even starts….

But thankfully, for once, just once, my luck stood its ground. SACHIN TENDULKAR and RAHUL DRAVID were still not out overnight. At last, I would have my wish.

I reached the venue well before time and was pleasantly surprised when I could actually get so close to the ground while still driving and not being stopped some ten kilometers or so as usually happened in the past. I parked the car and moved on as more and more people poured in from all directions. But today, something was strange. And it took me a short while to understand what it was. The ever so aggressive police men who were all around the ground like ants around a box of sweets, didn’t actually look their usual aggressive self. There was a strange laid-back attitude I could observe in them.

And then I remembered the news in the morning’s newspapers about how an IG of police had thrashed a cricket fan who managed to get close enough to Sachin to shake his hands while on practice the earlier day. It would have been a trivial and very normal incident had it not got some media attention. But it did. More so, because the fan at the receiving end was none other than one Sudhir Kumar who has now become a sort of mascot for the Indian cricket team. The guy who, you can easily spot during India's matches with his face painted in Indian tricolor and Tendulkar painted on his back, with the map of India on his head.

And this piece of news getting to Sachin’s ears didn’t help much for the police. Much to their embarrassment, the top officers of the police force were confronted by Sachin accompanied by Sehwag who wanted strict action to be taken against the guilty official. The officers tried to make excuses but were left ashen-faced when Sachin demanded for an identification parade to be held if they couldn’t find the culprit. This resulted in not only Sudhir getting free VIP access to all parts of the ground but also a lot of respite for other cricket fans who otherwise had to face the wrath of the police just for nothing.

This was just a part of what makes Sachin so different from any other celebrity.

I had taken my seat in the new stand which was still only about twenty percent occupied. The two teams were already on the ground practicing various skills with their respective coaches. I could make out that the members of Team India appeared more relaxed as they jogged around while throwing a ball or two. On the other hand, the Sri Lankans were busy in a tough practice routine. Though I could make out most of the Indian cricketers, I still couldn’t find the two I was looking for.

And just then I looked to my left near the pavilion end where two batsmen were busy hitting balls in the nets. Usually, when the batsmen practice their batting in the nets, there are numerous kids who are from the various training sports hostels who run around picking up the balls and throw them back to the bowler. But here were two cricketers who, in spite of being the biggest of icons, were humble enough to pick up the balls near them and hand them over to the little kids without a hint of arrogance. Something that is usually found lacking in the new and young players.

Watching them go about their business with sheer dedication was really inspiring !

During the next half hour, I realized once again as I have often realized in the past, that what a difficult task is it to play for one’s country in front of thousands of shouting people. Specially when few of those people are as uncivilized as one can be. I could see a group of men shouting profanities at not only the opponent team, but also members of their own team who passed by after completing their practice session. It surely must feel like a performing cage for the players with such people getting on their nerves. It is more than enough if they can so much as ignore such a crowd and still get on with their game.

At last, it was time for the day’s play to begin. Something I was really waiting for. And the reception to which Sachin stepped on to the field was to be seen to be believed. By now most of the stand was occupied. Mostly by highly placed Government officials and their families for whom it is a status symbol to go and watch a cricket match without having to buy their tickets. In fact, these days people seem to have an attitude for getting free ‘passes’ to watch the match which signifies their so called high contacts. As if they are doing a favor to the players by coming and watching the game.

The match had started and the crowd in our stand got a bit animated when the Team India fan Sudhir was joined by a certain ‘Chacha Hindustani’ who is gaining fame as well during India’s matches. Amidst all the action, there were the odd derogatory shouts for the Sri Lankan players who would be fielding near the stand. This, in spite of repeated announcements and even numerous written warnings that no sort of racial comments would be tolerated towards any person during the match.

And we cry foul at the racial abuse Indians face in places like Australia…

Meanwhile Rahul Dravid completed another century in his already long list of centuries, much to my own pleasure. I really can’t understand what our problem is. Here is one player who has been performing consistently all through his cricketing career but people just don’t seem to let him be in peace. The stupid selectors finished off his One-Day career sighting his age being the factor. But why can’t they replace him in the Test team ?? Because they know they cannot.

Hats off to one of the most dedicated, disciplined and talented cricketers we have seen in our lives.

Before things got much settled, Sachin lofted one and was walking back to the pavilion much to everyone’s shock and disappointment. But here is one person who gets an equal applause when he departs as when he enters.

By lunch time, the Indian dressing room had more batsmen who had been dismissed than those who weren’t just as our stand had more of those pot-bellied and balding police men seated comfortably munching away at their free lunch packs than the real, cricket-loving crowd.

The rest of the day was mostly uneventful, what with the Indian batting line-up being cleaned up pretty quick and the Lankans getting a solid start after a first-ball hiccup. Well, a large group of young boys did make things somewhat ugly for the people in our stand during the second half. But I guess we in India have become used to tolerating all sorts of nuisance makers in our daily lives.

I returned to the parking area only to find a flat tyre on my car. But I was pretty content with the achievement of watching two of my most favorite icons in action which has always been a great inspiration for me. I, for one, do not go to watch a match just to shout and have a blast. It’s just my way of getting some good inspiration for myself.

******* I had written this post more than a month ago but couldn't manage to get enough time to post it here. *******

Three cheers for 'Team India' !

It is 2 AM and here I am in the company of my laptop, not in the very best of moods. I’ve just returned after watching England defeat ‘Team India’ to mark their exit from the ‘T20 World Cup’. In fact, I’m really disgusted…. !

No. My current frame of mind has nothing to do with the performance of the team. Absolutely not. The reasons for my repugnance are anything but the events that occurred on the field there at Lord’s.

I had seen this coming even before the tournament had started. Right since that ‘bring back the cup’ campaign got underway. There were those ‘wish the team luck’ promotions all over the place. On tv, radio, newspapers…. People even organized special prayers, havans and what nots…. All the news channels, as usual, were quick to try to cash the event. Breaking news captions were hijacked by the latest scores rather than those events of national or international importance.

And now, after the team has failed to reach the next round, everyone is jumping in to have their share of the ‘team-bashing’. The ‘experts’ on tv are trying to point out the flaws of each and every player. The unpardonable blunders that the captain made. The lack of technique that led to the loss.

And if all that wasn’t enough, they are ready with video clips of the players walking around the streets of London accusing them of ‘sight-seeing’ and ‘shopping’ while they should have been practicing. I wonder what they would have done with those clips had the team pulled off an amazing victory….

I don’t have the heart to pick up the newspaper in the morning. But I guess some people would even come out on to the streets in protests and burn some posters or effigies.

When will we start taking sport as sport and not a matter of life and death ??? First of all we put all the possible pressure of the world on our team to not only to perform but also to win the cup. Having done that, we expect nothing but a victory in the finals from the same team. We aren’t ready to accept anything short of that in any case.

Can’t we accept the fact that our team was outplayed by a better performance on a previous day. Didn’t they perform well even today as they lost the match by a mere 3 runs… ??? Can we really doubt the abilities of our team ?

As for me, I enjoy watching the team play for the sheer talent that our boys have. The joy that those special (maybe individual) performances bring. Just like that effortless six which Yuvraj hit first ball. Or the clever consecutive wicket taking deliveries from Harbhajan in the last over ? Or, for that matter, the sweet hits by Yousuf…

Yes, I thoroughly enjoyed them all. It would have been even better if ‘Team India’ had won the match. Well, who wouldn’t like his team to win ?? But just because the team didn’t end up on the victorious side, should we forget the entertainment the boys provided us ???

Well, I would give anything to watch our talented and entertaining bunch of cricketers any day irrespective of the result of a match. They are incomparable to those ‘programmed robots’ which usually the likes of South Africans/English/Australians are. I would rather watch a Sehwag hit 4 consecutive boundaries and get out trying to hit the ball out of the ground, rather than watch a Kallis make a monotonous century.

It’s all about the entertainment, isn’t it ? And our team never fails to entertain.

So let us watch and admire our team for their brilliance of talent which they exhibit once in a while (more consistently these days) rather than crib about results of matches.

And I will always cheer for the fact that our boys are THE BEST.

A Proud Indian... !!!

“I am proud to be an Indian”

You won’t find many Indians who have not heard or said the above statement at least once or more than once in their lives. In fact, many use it quite often. Be it their personal profiles on social networking websites, on their cars, bikes, shops and even on their t-shirts which carry the above statement in bold red color. For that matter, I, personally have a separate section about India and why I’m proud being an Indian on my personal website too. But have we once stopped to think what this statement actually means ?

I guess not. We are so proud about being Indians that we don’t really give a thought to what it is that makes us so proud.

Well certainly, watching the proceedings on 26th of January every year be it on the TV or in person would make one feel so. Is it the might of our armed forces on display or the impressive cultural and regional floats that follow ? Or the sheer magnitude of the extravaganza ? Or, in fact, the inspiring commentary informing us about the greatness of our nation ? Whatever it is, it does.

But it doesn’t matter if it is just another holiday. Why to waste such precious time in watching the same old proceedings every year when a few extra hours of sleep could be so valuable ? Ok. Agreed. So we do sometimes participate in the function on Republic Day/Independence Day at our school/college/office. But who cares about what the speakers have to say. They say the same things every year too. We have much important work reading the messages on our cell phone while sitting somewhere in the back row. And mind you…. We do stand in attention when the National Anthem is played (with one eye fixed on the phone to read that forwarded message). Ok. We don’t really sing. So what. Not everyone’s a good singer. But we still have our pride.

The most common situation where the above emotion flows high is inside a cricket stadium (in India, of course!) during a cricket match which has the Indian cricket team (obviously when having the upper hand in the match !) playing against a team from another country (even better if it’s the neighbors !).

Clearly, any home team should and does enjoy home support while competing with other nations. But what happens to our pride when our very cricket teams loses a match or two (more so in some much hyped tournament) to a team of another country (specially if it’s the neighbors !).

Oh come on !! The pride of us Indians is hurt. Those very players have then brought shame to the country and its people. They cannot get away with anything less than burning effigies, posters, demonstrations and even pelting of stones at their houses. How dare they play with the pride of the Indian citizen?

But I always wonder where we hide this pride of ours for our country in our daily lives.

We are ready to quarrel with the fellow passenger on the opposite berth in the train at the drop of a hat. Don’t you know ? He is from another region. How dare he makes himself comfortable while being in our state !! Hmmmm... Maybe we forgot to pack the pride in our luggage.

We are having a great time out with friends. A McChicken with cheese at McD, followed by a Mexican Green Wave at Dominos. And then the fountain pepsi/chocolate cornetto/ice cold Bisleri, which we chuck out of the window of the car while driving through 'Rajpath' towards India Gate. The same path on which we saw the proceedings on 26th January take place and felt so proud. But it’s not 26th January today. Our pride is precious. It is safely hidden in our cupboards. We use it only on Rebublic day.

Oh. Ok. Accepted. It is the way things get done at the RTO. We have to pass some dough under the table to get those important papers. But don’t worry. We are not passing our pride with the currency notes to the 'Babu' on the other side. Remember, he has enough of that pride in himself.

Well, I can go on and on and on. But yes, we have actually stored our prides in some safe places and use it when we need to show the world that they are worse than us.

I was driving home in the evening amidst heavy traffic and beaming lights. When suddenly a stylish new car, (I’m amazingly dumb regarding identifying the models of cars) carrying a couple of youngsters, with deafening music playing on the car’s music system, (well it cannot be music if it’s deafening…. ) zoomed past mine from the left, swerved right and sped off leaving me and the car in front jamming hard on the brakes and almost smashing ourselves to what not.

All I could gather from the speeding car was the bold and red statement stuck right on the back screen which said…. “Proud to be an Indian” !!!

I sincerely wish if we all could take out the pride of being Indian from our closets and carry it with us wherever we go. And use it to the effect so that we can actually mean what that statement on our shirts or caps, (or cars for that matter) says.

And at least when our team takes the field, what should make us feel proud to be an Indian, above anything else, should be this…….