Out in here, cricket is religion. We Indians love the bandwagon mentality. Everyone becomes doctors and engineers... anything other than that is sub-standard. 6 year-olds have heard about IIT, but 16-year-olds have no idea about NLSIU, the Law School equivalent to IIT. Similarly, if you play cricket, people pat you on the back and gals get all starry-eyed! But try telling them you are the badminton or tennis champ, they'll probably ask that except for the raquets, what's different in the two games anyway? Out in here, cricket is The Game. So all other games can take a back seat, thank you very much, the front seat are reserved for the exclusive 11!!
We treat our cricketers as demi-gods. They are so adorned in their larger than life images that we often forget to treat them as ordinary human beings, capable of success and failure. Last year, when we won the T20 World Cup, there were talks about building a temple for Dhoni in Jharkhand. This year, the same people are burning his effigies and posters, spitting on him... makes you think how lucky Lord Ram and Krishna are, that they didn't play Cricket! One day the Reebok sales pick up because Dhoni endorses the brand... and the next day, the same clips are show on Aaj Tak with the headline, 'This is not the same Dhoni... this Dhoni runs after money!' Yes, we treat our cricketers like movie stars... which really makes no sense considering that they perform in something where winning and losing is inevitable!
But yes, the Cricketers too don't find absolute favour with me. When you are being called upon to be awarded the highest civilian honour by the President Of India, how can you refuse it? Can Michael Phelps refuse an invitation by President Obama?? Never! And mind you, that guy won EIGHT gold medals in a SINGLE Olympics... so what's this chip that Indian Cricketers have on their shoulder? But then again, maybe it’s ultimately us, who are at fault. Or else why did the Indian Government ignore Sushil Kumar and Vijendra Singh while considering this Award? That's it... when Cricketers do something, every other success is over-shadowed!
So in the present hopeless scenario, all you can do is hope... for a change. Hope that someday, people like Saina, V. Anand, Sania, Lee-Hesh, Baichung, Vijju, Sushil, Abhinav and numerous such unsung heroes from different sports will be treated with the respect they so deserve. Things must change; they will have to... for nothing is permanent in this world except change!!
Hold that thought!
No comments:
Post a Comment