Roti, Kapda aur Cricket !!!!
Written on Friday, November 24, 2006 by Unknown
The drubbing at Durban didn't come as a surprise to me at all especially when it was the same pitch where we were skittled out twice for a total sum of less than a hundred in 1996. But what astonished me was the debate and subsequents hours wasted in the parliament over it. Come on guys this country has enough graver problems which need your precious time.... literally. (Believe it or not, the cost of running a Parliament is approximately Rs 58 lakh a day, while that of the whole session easily runs into crores.)
No where in the world do you never expect the house of commons fighting over issues like their team losing a soccer match but then where else do you expect people saying with blatant prideness "It happens only in India". I would not be amazed if i read this (members fighting in parliament over cricket) as some fun trivia in an international publication.
And when reaching a conclusion was concerned cricket was no different from other issues (not considering here the reservations, amendment of constitution to provide more power to legislative etc.) Neither had you Peter Roebucks and Gawaskars dissecting the peformance of the team [no
(un)fortunately they are not yet Rajya Sabha or Lok Sabha members]. So the quality of discussion wasn't any better than the ones heard at the "chai ka galla" next door. From chappel bashing to "bring Ganguly back" song, as if reason for current failure lies solely on them.
Just before i sign off (hope this is correct way to use it and if it is not blame it to over exposure of host oriented tv shows ;) ), even if we owe this to very sporty MPs we have then why not a discussion on Indian Hockey debacle (Trivia of the day: Hockey is India's national game. Played with 11 sticks and a ball. The stick looks exactly like those which bad guys carry in hindi movies ;) Save it somewhere, you might well be at loss of words while you explain hockey to your childrens.)
No where in the world do you never expect the house of commons fighting over issues like their team losing a soccer match but then where else do you expect people saying with blatant prideness "It happens only in India". I would not be amazed if i read this (members fighting in parliament over cricket) as some fun trivia in an international publication.
And when reaching a conclusion was concerned cricket was no different from other issues (not considering here the reservations, amendment of constitution to provide more power to legislative etc.) Neither had you Peter Roebucks and Gawaskars dissecting the peformance of the team [no
(un)fortunately they are not yet Rajya Sabha or Lok Sabha members]. So the quality of discussion wasn't any better than the ones heard at the "chai ka galla" next door. From chappel bashing to "bring Ganguly back" song, as if reason for current failure lies solely on them.
Just before i sign off (hope this is correct way to use it and if it is not blame it to over exposure of host oriented tv shows ;) ), even if we owe this to very sporty MPs we have then why not a discussion on Indian Hockey debacle (Trivia of the day: Hockey is India's national game. Played with 11 sticks and a ball. The stick looks exactly like those which bad guys carry in hindi movies ;) Save it somewhere, you might well be at loss of words while you explain hockey to your childrens.)
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ya even i found out from my friends that this had been discussed in parliament. very depressing.
but i am surprised that this is a surprise for a person who wasnt surprised by indian team getting out at a <100 score for the third.
After all, surely much more than 3 or 4 sessions would have been wasted on similar or even less important topics in our parliament.
Nevertheless, I have stopped expecting big things from our government and politicians so I will not get into that.
As for cricket, even I am starting to believe that Chappell's method just brought short term success and unless he is able to bring in a sense of ownership in all the batsmen and inculcate some killer instinct or aggression in Dravid, then there is no chance for India in the forthcoming WC. Its sad but very true.
As for the stuff you said about hockey, thanks but I wont be needing it. I still know how to play it, and also follow the big matches. Indian Hockey se bhi zyada umeedein nahi rahi ab to...
anyways i will sign off here(yes this IS the correct way to use it)
lol (for sign off part)
And m not surprised the reason for which is mentioned in the blog..
Sports and Politics are interrealted Its like this from roman era, nothing new(Remember Gladiator). Sports carry the sentiments of people and hence of the politician. But I wonder ,is it right that we blame politician for this. Who elected them boss???
@abhi
I didnt elect them but m very sure whoever did, didn't do with intention of having them discuss cricket in parliament and wasting our money.
And just by being elected by a handful of ppl (yes handful of ppl.. you can get elected even if only 30% ppl voting in favor of you) does not give u either the right or the qualification to judge whether Raina should be batting in the middle order or ganguly should be in or out of the team.
Good one..!! :)
keep blogging..!!
@abhi,
why is it that anytime some comment against some politician or the act of the government is condemned, criticized or even questioned; the question of "who gave them the power" arises???
firstly, for all you know the person raising the question might not have voted for that person
secondly, majority of the voters in India are either illiterate or easily swayed by caste and other types of dirty politics
and thirdly, even the best of people can be corrupted by power. Therefore, just because we elected someone doesnt mean that we cant question their acts, On the contrary it gives us all the more right.
A much better question would have been what are we doing to change that?
and i guess the answer to that question would be a resounding silence.
Well said Sanjay(mountcleverest)
If performance of Indian team is discussed in parliament than what is bad about it...It is good to see that all sleeping giants can smell the failure of Indian team.
And since cricket is equivalent to our national interest..so ppl should discuss the deteriorating performances of Indian team at ne place...and ppl must have seen the visit of presidents of different nations to the FIFA where their country was playing....It is national issue I think....and natonal game ( pseudo ) as well.
There is no question of wasting money...in parallel to Jalan's logic he is wasting his companie's integral resources in discussing cricket during office ours.
He should be skeptic abt it.
@Pradeep
Just one question which national interest are you talking about? Indian team's cricket performance is in national interest?? Which national interest is being served here.. I would love to know that. may be i had been missing that "national interest" aspect all my life.. and perhaps after discovering it (thanks to you) i might even think about doing something about it...Probably a discussion or two with my peers.. that would certainly help. isn't it?
And if it is of such a national importance than after yesterday's loss i guess our country is in deep national crisis. I guess we should declare an emergency. And if we go on to loose the series who knows manmohan singh might have to resign. After all it is a national issue.
And as far as drawing parallelism with me is concerned i guess this is one of the most absurd analogy i have ever seen in my life. According to this logic if i, you or for that matter if anyone on the street does any damn thing be it just a discussion to littering on the road it means our MPs should also be doing the same. Cmon pandit just think before you write wat u r writing. M not pointing any finger on ur intellects but m just saying that a little bit of restrain and thinking before you go on to make a comment like that could go a long way.
@ pandit
cricket = national interest(of the scale to be a parliament issue)?!?!?!??!?!?!?!?!?!?!??
ok.
@Jalan
If a billian ppl are follwing only one game and investing 8-10 hours a day..certainy it is of a nations interest to watch it . Dont compare it with interests of; so called interests of nuclear energy , and many more you know.
It is reflecting nations interests I say.
And it is not a national crisis where PM have to resign or impose emergency when India lost but a matter of 'Nation's Shame' when national representation is failed again n again in the sporting field.
You remember when Onion prices were gone up...govt fall ...defeat to pakistan draw the lines of curfew in many sensitive areas...
Dont take it in direct sense " National Interest" I know what it means.
@Sanjay
What is the definition of national interest? As you are putting lot of question marks after the comparision. Educate me!
@pandit
What a way to define national interest.
So by this logic world recently faced an international crisis.
An event called world cup soccer completed some few months back. Atleast 5 billion ppl (not one) invested a month (not 8-10 hrs) so it must be of huge international interest. And at the end of it all only one country won the event. Wat an international shame. I guess UN should do something about it. The who and who of the world should discuss this in UN for atleast a week coz an issue of such enormous "international shame/interest" atleast deserves such a discussion. Right pandit. Hats off to you.
I remeber one movie 'Munich' in which due to some pilitical crisis the 11 Israely atletes were murdered at the Munich olympics...what was that...why they killed innocent players due to political agony.....political implecations to rehte hai bhai...
you are deviating from the topic Jalan
@pandit, vishal:
abey wait!
why go international?!
in india only there was a survey by ToI and it said that more ppl followed the soccer world cup than the ones who follow cricket!
and the fact that the indian soccer team didnt even qualify to that level?! isnt that a matter of shame?!
Pandit, all we are trying to say is that there are a lot many more serious issues to discuss in a place like parliament other than cricket.
Sports is put under the category of leasure. To be able to indulge in leasure a country needs to get rid of other problems first.
And the politicians should be having more important things on their minds.
I am surprised that of all the important issues you choose nuclear power issue. I know you said "and many more" but that just proved to me that public memory is indeed very short.
The change of a perfectly fine government on the increase of onion prices was an unfortunate event. To carry forward on all discussions based on such an event is inane.
and all the Question marks were meant to convey my sentiments and facial expression after reading ur comment. The Ok, that followed, was supposed to accept my inability to argue with a comment like that.
@pandit
"And it is not a national crisis where PM have to resign or impose emergency when India lost but a matter of 'Nation's Shame' when national representation is failed again n again in the sporting field. "
Just to quote you i guess u meant "only cricket" by "sporting field" and u don't consider hockey and other games as part of sport.
Cricket is not a national issue.
But after all Sharad Pawar, the agriculture ministry is leading that org called BCCI, it had to come to lime light and came .As Mr Sharad Pawar is spending more time on Indian Squads Jacket and T-shirts rather than farmers dying in Karnataka and Maharashtra. Sharad Pawar is involved in this then politics had to arrive. One one hand MEdia is showing Chappels comments on politicians that Indian Politicians are paid for creating controversies and making statements and on the other side Mr Pawar is ignoring and denying that Chappel didnt say so. What a fool Pawar is. Now comes what is important. There are many issues but there is mixed reactions of politicians like Sharad Yadav appealed to all politicians involved in this discussions and avoid Cricket at all. He infact commented that All who are wasting time on cricket should leave this cricket behind and take care of hell lot of probs in the country.
I m also confused what thing i m supporting..heheebllaaahhhblaaah
Cricket is integral part of our life but it should not be a national issue. This statement is ABSOULTELY WRONG.
Players are Indian ambassadors representing COuntry and if they at all bring bad name to country then it has to be discussed in Parliament. Other wise why SPORT MINISTRY is there.
Secondly the sessions abt which Sanjay is talking about were meant for discussion on sports also.
Why it shudnt be discussed in Parliament. Sachins ball tampering was discussed, Azhars match fixing was discussed. Why coz it was bringing bad name to country. ANd any matter that brings some kind of scratch to Nations Pride has to be discussed.
Weightage to other sports is less, that is the only bad scene here..
"Players are Indian ambassadors representing COuntry and if they at all bring bad name to country then it has to be discussed in Parliament. Other wise why SPORT MINISTRY is there" - Tongia
I remember there was a huge stone structure in my school with these words written on it. "Winning and losing is not important but what is more important is to take part". (Just in case u didnt' know this is also the motto of olympic games)
What i fail to understand by your comments is how does losing a cricket match bring bad name to the country? Ok sachin and azhar issues which u mentioned do bring the shame but how can losing a game can bring shame to the country. This is beyond my comprehension.
I know what do you ppl want to say ( hopefully you ppl are very well concerned to indian social and political issues)
But sanjay tell me Isnt is a matter of shame that Indian Soccer team doent qualify to that level?
Isnt it a shame for us that India is very poor performer in sports with respect to any standards of may games.
Now if it a matter of shame than what if our politicians discuss it in house; where we doesnt even know that what else they do discuss in the house of commons, Although we are not concerned to it. ( the talk is only restricted to we ppl only, because it looks like that )
If Italy won the FIFA ..than it is proud for their nation..If we could win Cricket WC..It is proud to be in this time....Because it will be a history for India.
Once I heard talking of Prof. Viswajit pandya on cricket tour of India to New Zealand..at that time prof pandya was bitterly abused by fellow newzealandian there for shameful performance by Indian team. And WC when India was celebrating against Newzealand, then the fellow profs were saying ki 'The Coach is from Newzealand'...what else is left!!It is SHAME nothing else.
@Jalan
All other games are regional than cricket.
cricket is the only game widely followed ni India.
Thats where Indians are behind ..far too behind..Motto gaya tell lene (OIL lene) .. We want results. aur yeh baat tu apne aap ko samjha..Exam mein tu agar baar baar fail hoyega naa to mom dad kab tak kahenge beta koi baat nahi tu exam mein baitha to tha. Fail n Pass doesnt matter...Rubbish....Every team is running behind results baut ho gaya participation. And a FUTURE team is in Making..haha haha wat joke.... FUTURE kab aayega..bhai...
Main future mein kuch achha bann jaunga isliye experiments kar raha hoon. NID de raha hoo, CAT de raha hoo.. Designing kar raha hoo.. IAS de raha hoon...kya kar kya raha hoon main...It has to be questioned by someone.... IF selectors not gonaa do, BCCI not gonaa do then public n public representatives would come forward and ask the progress. .Why Indian team is not performing...Then WHOSE CONCERN IS THIS.... WHO WILL LOOK AT THIS>....
And dont read those stones.. i know wat all these stones say...Go to Pune Police Departments. Go to India COurts..Go to Mumbai Railway COunters..They say very very good things but their own representatives some inspector or some TT would spit on your face while talking to you in a disgusting manner then you would understand that these stones have had no importance. You would one day figure out whats importance of your education. Why have you gone too far. And if you havent come across such bad moments, I thank to God..but dude there is something else CALLED LIFE..... Ab tu fir kahega ki tongia senti ho gaya... Coz it has reasons.. And thats y i do believe you have to have someone to answer your every question and when there is no one to answer , you have no option but to fight against, as Mahatama did, As Nelson did ..... And one day I will ......
This comment has been removed by the author.
I was just going through one of my regular reads on cricket, and came across this article which very closely represents my thoughts on the Chappell-MP fiasco...
http://cricket24x7.blogspot.com/2006/11/outside-off-left-alone.html
I guess the author has managed to convey my feelings much better than I myself managed to.
Also on the same issue,
http://cricket24x7.blogspot.com/2006/11/were-you-expecting-any-better.html