Time to Bleed...

The year 1983 is etched with golden plates on every Indian heart. This minnow of a country had for the first time achieved something no one in their dreams thought possible. Reaching the finals of Cricket World Cup, let alone winning it. It was like a second victory against our colonial past. (Never mind that the final was versus another colony) Sadly,our national television DD barely managed to telecast the match in parts. So, most of the country was tuned to BBC radio for the scores. I vaguely remember my dad explaining me everything about cricket and English accent with equal enthusiasm while listening to the BBC commentators. With that victory, cricket overtook every other notion or ideal to become the sole unifying factor for a nation grappling with political, social and economic inequalities. The popularity of the game soared higher and higher with each passing year in the subcontinent. It overthrew politics as the country's favourite teatime discussion. It became the duty of every conscientious citizen to dissect the players' performance in every match. Worried moms (including my mother) all over urban India treating the players like their own children, which meant taking the players to task, mummy style, for every mistake they make! We didn't need to understand the technicalities of the game, just the simple sight of the bat hitting the ball or the ball hitting the stumps was enough to cause a rush in our blood.

 It didn't take long for the admen to notice the selling power of cricket. The hitherto shy cricketing faces appeared all over print media and commercials selling shaving foams to airlines.  Many tournaments went by since the '83 world cup with our hopes rising each time only to get smashed brutally by some fiercesome competitors. Yet, the popularity of the sport managed to increase manyfolds with each series. More and more series and tournaments getting scheduled around the year made the cricket control bodies including our own BCCI very rich and powerful. With money in, corruption didn't lag far behind. The nineties saw some of the worst scandals involving players from almost all the cricketing nations. It didn't deter the fans or the organisers who found there was a lot more treasure to be unearthed from this world. That gave rise to a much shortened and more commercially viable format of the game, Twnety -Twenty. Then followed the Premier Leagues sensationalizing the Gentleman's game into  hotblooded battle zone shows. Even more money flew in tainting the game with bigger controversies.

With economic reforms came a reformed meaning of sports to our people. Indian sports fan's myopic vision got cured enough to include not just cricket but a variety of sports within the gambit of the word 'sport'. The commercial success of newer formats of cricket carried with it a new hope to many other games as well. Olympic medals, championships, world rankings, premier leagues are coming our way in  other games like badminton, tennis, hockey, boxing, football, athletics et al, like never before.

Cricket of course is still the common darling pet that evokes bitter sweet emotions, something no other game can do. The only religion that unites instead of dividing us. To the people of subcontinent, nothing can replace the grandeur of Cricket World Cup which remains the dearest of all. Winning it for the second time in 2011 assured us celestial status in the cricketing world. It is not greedy to expect a permanent star on that walk of fame with another victory or two perhaps! The recent debacles might have shaken our faith. But, the greatest legends of this sport have come from our land.  We have the experience, resources and talent enough to make it to the top again. All we need is to look back at those years, imbibe that passion and grit once again to reach the Cricket pinnacle.

Though staying away from India has dampened the cricket fan in me over the years, the child within jumps with joy every time I catch a glimpse of that ball crossing the boundary. It is what the Japanese call "natsukashii"-some small thing that brings you suddenly, joyously back to fond memories. How I wish to create those memories for my kids!

Best Wishes to the Indian cricket team!

A billion hearts with you 

Team India, Go Bleed Blue!