Wednesday, March 28, 2007

No Sun - No Fun!

I am supposed to be in a Desert. Its supposed to be hot here - so hot that you should be drinking water to keep yourself from fainting. So hot that you should probably wear a cap and sunglasses all the time - just so you dont get sick due to the heat.

Its a farce - a huge farce this desert business. Well - atleast in these months. On odd days it does get hot and they throw up a sand storm to convince you about the existence of the desert but for most part the weather is pleasant here. Evenings - some have been chilly too.

But I was willing to live with pleasant weather - thinking nice bonus and what not. Plus I was always told that deserts have extreme weathers - hot by day, cold by night.

But today has been a shocker - its RAINING here! Raining! Desert Rain! The weather is actually gloomy and grey and dark at 10.30 in the morning - its DARK out there. So depressingly gloomy.

Apparently this is the weather they have in Cal - gleeful fellow trainees tell me - That explains a lot of things about bongs i suppose!

No Sun - No Fun! is all I have to say.

Sunday, March 25, 2007

Against the Flow

This is the 3rd consecutive post on the same theme – the theme that asks for supporters and not fans. Every time I feel disappointed with the Indian team’s performance – the coverage on the news channels (alright – I get just Sahara Samay here, and its bad but I am sure its representative of the kind of coverage that goes on) and the kind of reactions expressed, just drive me to want to support the Indian team.

Cricket is a sport – a game. Its not a question of life and death. We as fans/supporters have every right to feel cheated/disappointed/angry with the team’s performance. We however have no right to abuse their personal space and their families. The police having to spend resources to protect the houses of our players is ridiculous – not for the action – but for the need arising to do it.

The players are not in the game to fulfill our fantasies and dreams. That we make them our heros and our messiahs is our own problem. It’s a career for them. Its what gives them their daily bread and luxuries. They can make money only over a limited timeframe – a shelf life shall we say? It is absolutely valid for them to earn money from other avenues like promotions and advertisements. To suggest that their advertisements are the cause of their poor performance is sheer stupidity. Does your work get affected by your dealing on the stock market or investing your money in banks? Or for that matter by your working for your local Rotary Club or heck even by your watching a movie? The board and the coach arrange for sufficient matches and training camps. As long as the players attend these – we have no right to cry foul.

Saying that the players should be banned from advertisements is completely unfair – as is suggesting that their performance should dictate the amount they get paid for advertisements. It’s a statement unfair not only to the players but also to the companies they represent in the ads. Let the market decide what they should pay whom. Also next time we read a report saying that a player’s sex life affects quality of performance on the sports field – will we go ahead and regulate his sex life too?

The players DO NOT work on tax-payers money. We do not pay him his salary. Just like we don’t demand that Amitabh Bacchan should only be paid if we like the movie, we have no right to demand that the player should only be paid if we like what he does on the ground.

Also while a loss in the first round is shameful and unexpected – it does not mean that the team is shit. TV channels seem thrilled to get opinions from viewers that literally use these words about them. It means that our performance was not good enough this time around. If we have doubts about the quality of their performance – we have the option to stop watching their games altogether – without wanting them stoned/burnt or worse killed.

“India Great” when we win a match and “India Worst” when we lose a match – and have these emotions swing wildly every match is not a done thing. Just like everyone else, the players too will appreciate stability of emotions. Either hate the team and do not follow them or support them and bear the low performances. Do not be like the creepy friend who only sticks to you when you have the money to spend on him. No one wants the wild swinging between Havans and prayers and then effigy burning and stoning.

The MPs and MLAs demanding a probe into the performance will be better off allowing the CBI to conduct the probes into them in a free and fair manner. And would you mind being not corrupt for a change please? And minding some slightly more important business about running the country?

Can the channels and people concentrate their efforts on tracking down real villans and criminals rather than attack the soft targets that the players are?
Finally what are we really pissed about – the fact that we crashed out of the WC or the fact that rich cricketers crashed out of the WC ?

I know I have repeated my points over and over again but then so do the newschannels.

Saturday, March 24, 2007

The end of a dream.

WC 2003. We had a dream. Ponting had a bigger dream.
WC 2007. We had a dream. We woke up too soon.

Yesterday we crashed out of the world cup. We might still make it if Bermuda beat Bangla - but we rather not make it that way. We are out.

While I was quite ok with the Bangladesh loss - we were surprised and they did play quite well, the match against Lanka was a disaster. 255 was chaseable through the strategy of batting out 50. Did not happen and thus ended the World Cup for Team India. And in all probabilities the last WC match for Sachin, Ganguly and Dravid. The big 3 have bowed out of the cup with only one man having put up a fight. Sure Sachin got a ripper of a ball - but this was one match where he shouldnt have been ripped. Dada - I dont know what the hell he was thinking. Yuvraj ???

*Sigh* Its all ended in a heap. Now we will witness old unsuccesful fat players play the sharp critic, news channels will have a field day and the players will be generally made to believe they shouldnt have been born.

Dravid will probably lose captaincy. Greg will go. Maybe Uthappa will have signed a resignation letter with his shot. All this desirable? Maybe not. Any other option? Sadly sanity will not prevail.

Lets just remember that the players are humans too. They did not want to lose either. They are breadwinners for their families (sure the bread is made of gold but that shouldnt matter). They have a right to make millions from Advertisements. If they do not perform - the market forces will take care of that. We have no right to grudge them their earnings. They dont get paid taxpayers money. The MPs and MLAs do. Do we ransack their houses when they get caught for scams or dont work?

Dreams do get shattered every now and then. But its always the pursuit of the next dream that eggs us on.

Cheers
Pushkar
A Team India loyalist
Shaken, stirred but still a loyalist.

Wednesday, March 21, 2007

Wanted: Supporters not Fans

Cricket is a religion in India. The players are treated like Gods.Perhaps true - When we attack temples and mosques that represent the real Gods - why would the treatment be any different for the sporting Gods?

We are a country of hype - no one would ever deny that. We are a country of extremes - no one would deny that either. But it seems that we are a country of fanatics too. For who gave us the right to attack a cricketers house? Who gave us the right to pelt stones at the their families? Who told us that we owned the cricketers and we could treat them anywhich way we wanted?

Cricket may be a religion, it may be a passion, it may be a first love for many - but why do we insist on forgetting that above all else it is still a sport. Not a battle of life and death. A sport in which victory and loss are fickle guests for every team. A sport which is made exciting by its cliched but true glorious uncertainties and twists and turns. If everything went to plan and the stronger team were to win all the time - not only would the game be no fun - India wouldnt ever have been the World Champions in 1983.

The Indian team has plenty of fans - nay fanatics but seemingly just a handful of supporters. Its almost as if an army of Team India -Baiters (News Channels, Ex-Cricketers and Fanatics) just wait for a chance to start abusing the players and to push them off the pedestal they stand on. But hold on a minute - who put them on the pedestal? For the life of me, I cant remember a Sachin or a Rahul proclaiming that they were sporting Gods and should be worshipped as such? That their place was on a pedestal? If we put them on the pedestal - lets atleast respect their personal lifes just that little bit.

Criticism? Sure but let it involve a balanced view. Disappointment? Ofcourse! Frustration? That our right. Attacks? Hell no.

But amongst all the rambling - my expression of thoughts is not even a patch on Rudyard Kipling's classic - "And if you can face Triumph and Disaster - and treat those two imposters just the same - you will be a man my son!"

About time - we accepted the lows of Indian cricket with the highs.