Indra’s Drishtikona (Viewpoint)

Cricket, Kids and a Foreign Minister’s view

Posted : December 26, 2004 at 9:43 am [IST]

I was never good in any sports. I came from a remote village. I had seen only wresting. I thought, one of our family background couldn’t be a wrestler, as it was for tough ones. We were the most respected one in the village. When I came to Birlapur near Calcutta, I started topping the class. Even the neighbouring parents started giving sermons to their wards to become one like me. I never participated in any games and remained a studious one and exemplary for the community there. However, I know for a record I was in a volleyball team of our school once and played too for the match we lost.. May be that one of my friend would made that favor to include me. I went to Presidency college and then to IIT, Kharagpur. Everywhere I carried myself with lot of inferiority complex because of my nature. I never participated in any extracurricular activities. However, my children never had that drawback. They grew as children of an executive of a big company- Hindustan Motors, one of the largest companies in those in India. We lived in its residential complex. They took part in all extracurricular activities. The eldest Rakesh had multifarious interests- sketching, painting, sculpture, writing, and naturally football and cricket. The middle one-Rajesh was very good in cricket and then in basketball. And he had his biggest fan in my youngest son-Puchhu or Anand. Rakesh went to IIT-Kharagpur and made a name in everything including topping his branch and brought number of certificates and medals. Rajesh made in basket ball and cricket in BIT, Ranchi. Anand got a number of medals and cups in different extracurricular activities in REC, Kurukshetra. Yamuna, my wife says all that happened because of her. I fully agree.

But the story will not be complete unless I also narrate my maiden appearance for a friendly cricket match in Hindustan Motors. I was always afraid of the hard cricket ball and also at that speed. When my turn of batting came, I closed my eyes when the fast bawler of the opposite team threw the ball. Naturally the obvious happened. They knew my weakness. My children remember this incident and talk about it when we meet and we laugh for some time.

I felt happy, when I read the speech delivered by Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar at the Technology Senate 2004 organised by The Indian Express and John Keells Holdings in Colombo. It is interesting and I am sure my children will be happy too after reading this and so will you all with some interest in cricket.

”Ladies and gentlemen, some historians say, I think uncharitably, that cricket is really a diabolical political strategy, disguised as a game, in fact a substitute for war, invented by the ingenious British to confuse the natives by encouraging them to fight each other instead of their imperial rulers. The world is divided into two camps-those who revel in the intricacies of cricket and those who are totally baffled by it, who cannot figure out why a group of energetic young men should spend days, often in the hot sun or bitter cold, chasing a round object across an open field, hitting it from time to time with a stick-all to the rapturous applause of thousands, now millions, of ecstatic spectators across the world. The game has developed a mystical language of its own that further bewilders those who are already fuddled by its complexities.”

In the course of my travels I have a hard time explaining to the non-cricketing world-in America, China, Europe and Russia-that a googly is not an Indian sweetmeat; that a square cut is not a choice selection of prime beef; that a cover drive is not a secluded part of the garden; that a bouncer is not a muscular janitor at a night club; that a yorker is not some exotic cocktail mixed in Yorkshire; that a leg-break is not a sinister manoeuvre designed to cripple your opponent’s limbs below the waist.

As a politician who played cricket once upon a time I venture the following comparisons between politics and cricket: ”Both are games. Politicians and cricketers are superficially similar, and yet very different. Both groups are wooed by the cruel public who embrace them today and reject them tomorrow. Cricketers work hard; politicians only pretend to do so. Cricketers are disciplined Discipline is a word unknown to most politicians in any language. Cricketers risk their own limbs in the heat of honourable play; politicians encourage others to risk their limbs in pursuit of fruitless causes while they remain secure in the safety of their pavilions. Cricketers deserve the rewards they get; the people get the politicians they deserve. Cricketers retire young; politicians go on forever. Cricketers unite the country; politicians divide it. Cricketers accept the umpire’s verdict even if they disagree with it; politicians who disagree with an umpire usually get him transferred. Cricketers stick to their team through victory and defeat; politicians in a losing team cross over and join the winning team. Clearly, cricketers are the better breed.”

- Indra

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