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Jeetega bhai jeetega!

1/4/2011

7 Comments

 
Cricket Fan
Picture courtesy my friend Jyoti Mishra, who helped make the page look more interesting. That's the pretty Jyoti and her daughter Shagun
It isn’t often that god comes to bat at number 2 for India, and shows one billion plus people (holding their collective bad breath) that he has a scratchy, nervous human side too. Not once, not twice, but six times (four dropped catches and two LBW appeals, wasn’t it?). But then there has been some magic in the air this week and those of us with the colour blue waving madly from our hearts are hoping it will stay and do its job today. The 2011 ICC World Cup has generated a madness seldom seen before.  2 pm today, it reaches its glorious nadir.

Was Minister Malik calling up the guys in green at Chandigarh with a menacing: “I’m watching you” earlier this week? (It didn’t help, though, did it!) Was Dawood downloading “dallars” into secret accounts, as some cynics insisted? Were we watching cricketers or just darn good actors on the field of Mohali? We don’t know. And, fact is, we don’t care. For the time being (and till the last  ball meets willow bat today) the world for us Indians (with the Tricolour unfurling from painted cheeks) has simply shrunk into the precincts of a stadium – it was Mohali on Wednesday, Wankhede today.

It is time once again for time to stop. No, the birds won’t stop singing, the wind won’t stop blowing, tsunamis will not halt in their track; but yes, radiation threats will not matter anymore. Phones will stop ringing, SMSs will stop coming, roads shall empty of all traffic, kids will abandon their PSPs, offices will get deserted and  nobody shall be pinging anybody, even on Facebook chat.

What we shall witness is the power of cricket, at its most awesome. Every Indian and her grandmother has an opinion on what Dhoni has to do. At Mohali, he had to bat first before the dew factor turned the game, in Mumbai today, we shall be deciding closer to 2 pm. The entire country and all our brethren who have migrated to foreign lands know that we cannot  afford to take our eyes off the ball for even a second (even on television screens). Otherwise it will just go stumping out a wrong wicket.  Too much is at stake. We have a cup to bring home. So we’ll be staying home today, closeted in with friends and family. Glued to the plasma TV, ordering butter chicken and Chinese, we will be shouting ourselves hoarse and drinking ourselves silly to combat the tension.

For fat ladies with flowery hats and plump cheeks sitting in hot stadia, for little boys who forgot to take fingers out of itchy noses and for teenage girls who don’t want to look at Aamir Khan’s new handlebar moustache but rather Ashish Nehra’s crooked teeth: it is D day. All that matters is cricket, all that we can hear is the sound of bat meeting ball and the roar of excitement sweeping across stands and sitting rooms.

We have just returned breathless from a rollercoaster ride of high emotion. We have fallen in love with Sehwag’s swashbuckling style, we have envied the grit in Abdul Razak’s stance, we have been frightened by the madness in Shahid Afridi’s deep brown eyes. And yes, we have returned from the dead when Sachin was declared out right in the beginning of the Mohali match, and then saved. The world cup fever has done more than tweak emotions in our lives. It has reduced (no, lifted) us from lowly mortal entities - with 9 to 5 jobs, families to take care of, homes to build and children’s education loans to pay off - into higher more evolved  beings who are so meditatively into eating, drinking and breathing  cricket that we have almost touched nirvana.

We have bought India hats from department store, we have coloured our faces saffron, green and white, we have been waving the National Flag in stadia and at home and we have learnt to scream “chakka laga” at the top of our voices. Yes, we have lost our marbles but we don’t care, do we? Balls are what matter more today (no pun intended). We are waiting breathlessly with rolled up sleeves for the stadium gates of Wankhede to be thrown open. We are ready to spit into our hands, tighten our grip and take on the first ball. We are ready to stop breathing. And why not!  It is our time for a tryst with destiny once again. Jeetega bhai jeetega…..


Jeetega, bhai jeetega: we shall win brother; chakka laga: give us a sixer

A version of this article has appeared in the Deccan Herald 
7 Comments
Neelu
1/4/2011 02:57:39 pm

A win over Pakistan was more important than wining the Finals but yeh dil mange more so now we want that when all the men in blue turn up at the crease today .. it's our blue that lifts the cup ...some one said we've kicked out the Kagaroos..then the Donkeys and now it's time for the Ravana!!
Rem'ber what Junior Bacchhan said ..??
I celebrated Dewali that day .. it's time for Deshera now..

Reply
Pushpa Bhandari Bisht
1/4/2011 07:45:37 pm

Every foreign policy failure in South Asia is evened out on the cricket pitch. All CBMs on one side and the television footage of Yusuf Raza Gilani rubbing shoulders with Prime Minister Man Mohan Singh at Mohali on the other! Cricket has made it to Track II diplomacy.
That was some crisp writing (have to read the others...am saving them as a treat). The roads were deserted as I drove back from work. Unpatriotic me I’ve still not switched on the TV. One of my colleagues asked “Who is India playing against?” I had to say “Shut up! You’ll get lynched for your ignorance.”
Tomorrow, the painted cheeks will have been washed. But I hope the Tricolour continues to unfurl from the hearts even as we lowly mortal shuffle to our 9 to 5 jobs and get back to the mundaneness of our existence.

Reply
noopur
1/4/2011 08:12:43 pm

It does reflect the sentiments of our billion plus countrymen....terrific <3

Reply
richa
2/4/2011 10:45:08 am

Congrats to all Indian, for winning the CUP- Mr Dhoni ended the match with much awaited sixer.

Reply
Mahendra
2/4/2011 02:18:58 pm

People are envious of my name, and am cashing on in the boom by spreading the rumor that I am related to Dhoni.

Reply
Mahendra
2/4/2011 02:21:49 pm

Also..er..any news of Poonam Pandey? She was..cough...supposed to add to the color of the festivities.

Reply
Amit
11/4/2011 09:44:59 am

one billion plus people (holding their collective bad breath).

Hope, they have started brushing their teeth regularly now.

Reply

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    Rachna Bisht Rawat is a full time mom and part time writer. She is married to an Army officer whose work takes the family to some of the most interesting corners of India.

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