Cricket in India has surpassed at just being a cult and has taken over to be something even more significant. The game probably is the one true unifying force in this country that easily walks over every barriers of caste, creed, race and religion. When Sachin Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag walks in to bat at any corner of the globe, there’s always men and women in thousands at the stands, flying the tri-colour high, keeping no bones unturned to show their support. From Chandni Chowk to Chengalpet, everybody prays for a Team India win, forgetting for a day their worries and troubles.
Summing up the feelings of a million of his fellow countrymen, full-time cricket enthusiast and part-time marketing executive Akshay says: “Cricket to me is a chance to get the better of the ‘whites’. As an Indian, it is also a source of high quality drama and story-telling. The winning feeling that cricket evokes is something that only a Post-Colonial nation can understand the best.” A die-hard Sachin Tendulkar fan, he booked tickets months ahead for the India-England clash at Eden Gardens and spent sleepless night when the game was shifted to Bangalore. Thankfully he got a ticket there too, and watched his maestro score a blissful 120 against the English. “He is God. Since his debut in 1989 he has converted many an atheists like me in believing that there is a supreme power,” he gushes.
He is not the only one in the country who goes gaga over the game. Chennai resident K.S. Ramakrishnan has built a “cricket temple” in his apartment complex as a tribute to the great game. The holy shrine is built around the Lord Ganesha, but the elephant-headed deity is seen clutching a bat and ball, hence his name “Cricket Ganesha”. “When I installed the Ganesha temple, he instantly answered my prayers by making India win cricket matches,” says Ramakrishnan. The octogenarian has also cut an album ahead of this World Cup in support of the Indian team. And then there’s, Dharamveer Singh Pal, India’s unofficial twelfth man designate. Polio may have left him immobile from the waist down, but he is certainly not handicapped. Since 2004 he has traveled to all the grounds to watch the Indian cricket team play.
“My favourite is Sachin paaji. He has even opened a school for handicapped people and he called me there. He makes me field and cheers me when I do a good job,” he says. It is the cricket stars who pools in money for his traveling expenses. “All the players, be it Yuvraj Singh, Sreesanth or Sachin Tendulkar, help me travel by contributing,” he adds.
Another regular feature at the cricket grounds in India is Bihar-lad Sudhir Kumar Chaudhary, who claims to have followed every game of the Men in Blue in the sub-continent since 2002. “I cycle to most cities to watch a match. I stay with friends or with the local painter who paints my body. I have been travelling ticket-less on trains to see matches,” he says.
Chaudhary, who is almost a mini-celebrity in his home town of Muzaffarpur always has a tale or two to share, like his experience of cycling over to Pakistan and troubles at Wagah border or his stay there with Abdul Jalil, the famous “Chacha” of Pakistani cricket during India’s tour of Pakistan in 2003/04.
So as India gets ready to take on the Aussies at Motera these individuals along with very many will conspire with all the supreme forces in the world to notch up another Indian victory. Cricket is a religion in our country and we have too many followers in our billion people, God has no way out but to listen to us.
-Agencies