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H O M E
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T O T H E I N D I A N C R I C K E T F A N |
An
Ode to the Indian Cricket Fan
Feb 18, 2003
India is up in flames
(again) – this time because the beloved Cricket team is not playing according
to the expectations of the ‘fans’. So, the poor performance of the Indian team
endows the fans the right to vandalize, terrorize, and deglamorize the nation.
Well, let’s see…
Can we extrapolate this
reaction of the Indian Cricket fan to our reaction to other facets of life? I
believe, for most parts, Yes. We build lofty, unrealistic expectations for
others to achieve what we ourselves are thoroughly incapable of doing, and at
best, only capable of dreaming. It is typical of parents to load their children
with the objective of getting admitted to the IIT. Never mind if the kid has
only an iota of scientific inclination, but he/she is drilled with the notion that
life will be a washout if the JEE exam is botched up. Is it fair to establish
such lofty expectations, and then run down the kid when he/she fails to get an
admission to the IIT? The current Indian team has shown no reason to believe
that they should in fact lift the World Cup on March
I believe a cricket
match is no more than a day-in-the-office. Players can have bad days as much as
we don’t feel like working or write bad code on some days (OK, we write bad
code more often than not). If my house had been vandalized and my posters (wow,
what a thought!) were burnt every time I wrote bad code, I am sure there would
be no trees on this planet pretty soon. I cannot understand how you can resort
to a public show of anger over somebody not being able to do what you thought
they were capable of. C’mon, let’s face it – most of us are mediocre people
(like most of the 98% of the kids writing the IIT-JEE exam, like most of our
cricketers). The 2% who pass the JEE exam and Sachin Tendulkar are exceptions,
but we are not talking about them here. The point is – should the 98% be
penalized for being mediocre? And by a wild stretch of imagination, let’s
assume they should be – then who gets to be in charge of the guillotine? A
person who is equally mediocre in his/her field of work? Which is what most of
the people who burnt Ganguly’s poster (and were photographed for the front page
of HindustanTimes.com) or vandalized Mohd. Kaif’s home should be – because if
they were any better, they would be doing their job rather than doing any of
these.
What is this fixation on
how much these cricketers earn with their endorsements? I mean, what’s wrong
with it? Is it the Indian mentality – “Any (obscene) amount that is earned by
‘X’ that I cannot earn is unjustified and ‘X’ doesn’t actually deserve it”- at
work? These cricketers are making a perfectly honest living by endorsing
products (that I don’t think they themselves give a shit about). OK, the money
may be huge, but why should that be the fan’s or a correspondent’s problem. If
the cricketer pays tax on what is earned, then he is better off than most of
our politicians and film “stars” (who called them ‘star’ anyway, and WHY?). And
it must take more courage in the heart and fire in the belly to face Shoaib
Akhtar or Bret Lee than to jiggle your ass in Switzerland like Kareena Kapoor.
I think it’s time we evaluated our cricketers for what they are, rather than
what we want them to be. If a Sehwag refuses to come for a net-practice session
because he has to shoot for a commercial, then all this criticism is justified.
But in the absence of any such denial, he deserves that money as much as
Kareena Kapoor or Esha Deol deserves her money, give or take a few lakhs – I
would GIVE Sehwag a few lakhs more because he comes from Najafgarh and doesn’t
have ‘star’ parents. (His parents should be given ‘star’ status for having
produced him!)
It is no secret that we
are a nation of under-achievers in sport. And it is no secret that we want to
be over-achievers. Can there be any bridge between these two ‘secret’ brides? I
guess not. But it can be in the minds of us Indians. And I think it certainly
is there. And we need to get rid of it as soon as we can. We need to realize
that whenever we compete in a team-sport, we will never reach the peak because
our mediocrity will pull us down. No matter how many people graduate out of the
IITs, team India’s intellectual or scientific contribution to the World will remain
negligible. Doesn’t matter if we have a Tendulkar who has scored the maximum
number of runs and centuries in Limited-Overs cricket, our performance will
always be limited by our team composition (no quality fast bowler, no
specialist all-rounder, no specialist wicket-keeper who can bat, for God’s
sake) – we cannot win the 2003 Cricket World Cup.
What does it say about
us as a community, society, and a nation when Kaif’s home in Allahabad is
vandalized and when Ganguly’s poster is burnt in the street. Spare a thought
for Ganguly Sr., who might see his son being burnt publicly only because his
mediocre team (including Ganguly’s mediocre self) is putting up a mediocre
performance in South Africa. Are we a civilized society? Can we aspire to be
one? Can we put ourselves on a high pedestal to criticize Narendra Modi? Or are
there some hawks here which say that Modi instigated this round of violence
too? Can we ever expect to accept defeat gracefully, and more importantly, not
consider a defeat to be the end-of-it-all? Let me know if you have answers…
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