"Cricket is an Indian game accidentally discovered by the English." - Ashis Nandy
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| Google Logo for Cricket World Cup 2011. Doesn't the player in the doodle look like Sachin? |
Beginning today, millions of people in India and around the world will be glued to their idiot boxes cheering their favorite teams. With cricket being one of the religions in India, world cup acts like a platform where in Indians come out of their cocoons and share a unique bond, unlike IPL where they take a dig at each other. And, the world cup fever only builds up more with the opening ceremony being a grand success.
This cricket world cup means different things to different people.
- To youngsters using social networks, it means a lot of spam with cricket related apps on facebook, and endless feeds on match and score details on twitter.
- To TV showrooms in India, it means lots of visitors outside their shops.
- To a corporate manager, it means decrease in the productivity of his/her subordinates.
- To a corporate employee, it means a reason to leave early in the evening to catch up with a cricket match.
- To bloggers, it means lot more topics to blog about.
- To people in movie business, it means off season.
- To news channels, it means no need to worry about their breaking news ticker tapes.
- To Sachin's fans, it means a reason to win the world cup.
- To any Indian, it means a topic to initiate a conversation.
- To my mom, it means an interruption to her in watching her favorite TV serials.
- And to me, it's nostalgia.
What does it mean to you?
It means unity to me! Indians cheer as one and play as a team.
ReplyDeleteBut we also are bad losers... Eden Gardens, episode, is one such incident
Losing against Bangladesh in 2007, another one.. but looks like we shall win today :)
India! India!
Cricket World Cup means a lot to me because it is the cup that counts, I am a cricket crazy person, and I am tired of seeing Australia winning it again and again, India have a fantastic team who registered a one sided victory against bangladesh,and the atmosphere in every city in India is worth watching during world cup. In fact in my city there is a sweet shop the owner of which has given a Sachin Tendulkar T-Shirt to everyone of it's employees, and he has also prepared a cake with the shape of vankhede stadium. Hope India win it this time..!! :D
ReplyDeletepretty post. :)
ReplyDeletePallavi (Delhizen) -
ReplyDeleteVery true! No matter what differences we have among each other, we all become united when Indian cricket team plays. And this unity becomes only stronger when we play against Pakistan team. I wish we can win the cup this time.
Aniruddh -
I used to be a cricket crazy person, but I have changed slowly. Now, all I do is follow the score and that's it. And which is why I say cricket is nostalgia to me. It reminds me how crazy I used to be about watching cricket. And that sweet shop owner in your city must be one hell of a Sachin's fan! Let's hope India wins this time for this shopkeeper's sake and also for all the Indian cricket fans!
Silent Observer,
Thanks for those kind words, and thanks for dropping by!
It means more and more of cricinfo and sleep"less" nights (time zone)
ReplyDeletecricket, this year I just pray my son wouldn't muckup his 12th board exams.
ReplyDeleteGreat one Vee... Yes we all Indians very emotional about the game!!
ReplyDeleteAnd yes we all sometimes go overboard with our reactions... But such is our love towards the players that when they do well we shower them with all the praises in the world...
I seem to be the odd one out here! I don't like to watch these matches... find them boring :(
ReplyDeleteFor me, this time means madness.... when i try to understand what makes ppl go crazy for such things!!
RESTLESS
I used to be a great fan of the game, but of late have lost interest since the match fixing scams surfaced. So today all it means to me is a roomful of fanatical supporters who have no word for poor me :(
ReplyDeleteSrikanth -
ReplyDeleteI haven't been that crazy about cricket this time! Although I still keep a check on what's going on when Indian team plays. This is partly due to time zone, otherwise I would have been watching them completely.
Pramod -
That's a good one! May your prayers be answered. :)
Arti -
Yeah, very true. And it's because of that very reason cricketers enjoy such huge status..
Restless -
Only cricket fans can understand that madness I guess. :P
Zephyr -
Matching fixing scams have definitely tampered cricket's image in this country. But even after all that my interest towards the game has not lost.