I Feel Sorry For My Husband!

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This is an old cutting of the players of the 1971 India-England match - I had this cutting in my scrap book! I had written the names of the players too! One more link of the players of the same match is here.

Well...the cricket memories for me goes back to my school days.  I have written about them in a post here.  In those days, we used to 'hear' comments in the radio.  I was familiar with some players' names.  I saw the players being worshipped as heroes, in the years to come. I was watching some matches on and off, after marriage,  in  TV...watched two matches in the cricket grounds in Bengaluru and Chennai, but was not crazy about cricket, like my husband!

My husband was playing for his school in his childhood days.  He used to go to the 5 day test matches with his friends...some 20-30 friends.  He studied in Hindu High School and lived in Triplicane.  The Triplicane crowd was the true connoisseurs of Cricket in those days, he says.  This must be around late '50s or early 60's.  The children were playing cricket in each and every street whenever they got a break from school.  He still has got a hit mark on his forehead when he fell on a rod on the road while trying to catch a ball! 

Well...back to cricket of those days! There were only 5 days test matches in those days.  No 'one day internationals'.  The season ticket was Rs.8 to Rs.10.  They were allowed to take anything with them, inside the stadium.  The matches were not played in the current Chidambaram stadium.  It came late.  The matches were played at Corporation grounds, which was called Nehru stadium later.  No chairs.  They were going in by the cheapest tickets.  They were buying a few tickets, go in and throw the tickets to their friends outside the compound and they were coming in! No punching system! They used to bring their own food from their homes.  They used to stay outside the stadium overnight to get in first via the cheap tickets. Ten of them will stay and the rest will go home and bring food the next day for all.  They used to take turns for doing this!  Boys who stayed there, never slept at night, but play cards, sing songs etc. (no bath for days together, I said).  The night crowd also was huge, he says. All of them used to shout so much that their voice became hoarse and spoke in whispers after the match. The test matches in Madras were held mostly during Pongal holidays...mid January.  If the children didn't go home the mothers and sisters used to bring the pongal dishes in huge vessels (thookku) and distribute to their children and others.  They just walked in with the food inside the stadium.  Nobody bothered to check for the tickets in the middle of the match! Golden days, I would say! The whole atmosphere was like a festival atmosphere, he says with so much happiness in his voice, even now.   

If the wicket didn't fall for sometime, they were placing a camphor in a chappal and do haarti (pooja) and it used to work most of the time it seems! (Even now, he is a cricket fanatic...in his mid-sixties! He claps, shouts and stands up in excitement while watching the match in TV).  

I had written about the atmosphere we had at home, in Hosur, when we won the cricket world cup in 1983.  We had so many people at home enjoying the match in TV.  TV also was still new in those days, very few houses in the colony had TVs.  I was making tea and coffee all the time and cooked also.  Food came from other houses in the colony too.  All of them were shouting so much that we, women were going out for  chatting, standing on the roads!  Whenever a 4 or 6 was hit, or a wicket fell, the shouting was so much that our Andy also got excited and shouted standing on two legs,  jumping, looking at all of them!  It was pure happiness in the atmosphere! Kapil Dev was treated as a GOD!

I don't feel like writing about the current atmosphere.  Betting is common in cricket everywhere, my husband says.  Spot betting is bad, he says.  It is legal in other countries but not in India. My opinion is, we need not worry much, since the money is not our/tax payers' money.  It is gamblers' money.  We should worry about the Bansals and other political thieves who thrive with our money and escape punishment.

I have read so much and seen so much discussion in TV about this scandal.  Feel sick hearing about it now.

They have made a fool of all the cricket fans, sincere fans, here.  Betting outside is different.  But the players playing to their wishes is sickening.  Hereafter, we will be watching the players' body language than the actual match, to check if they are sending any signals to the bookies.

Today CSK vs Mumbai Indians' match is there at night.  Feel sad for the sincere players, esp. Dhoni.  Spectators might cheer but with some reservation today.  

I am planning to watch the finals of IPL today with my husband and son.  Will make 'easy to make' idly.  Saambaar is already done.  Don't know if we would have a sincere captain like Dhoni playing in the future!

We were watching Suresh Raina's interview in India TV's 'aap ki adaalat' prog. just now.  He looks so innocent and speaks from the heart.  He went to Shirdi Sai Baba's temple once, it seems.  When he came back, he saw in the TV news, a clipping of himself in the temple and the anchor was saying that the man standing behind him was a bookie. He had never seen the man before! His mother told him 'ab se tum ghar se hi baba ko pranaam karo, kahin math jaana'! How long can the players be 'protected' from the filthy money makers? They should be very strong minded unlike Srisanth, whom we thought was very childlike...crying baby, until now.

I just wonder if Dhoni would make a good new BCCI chief or Dravid or Ganguly? They should be tough to curtail the bookies' activities or at least they should see to it that they don't reach the players.  Or am I dreaming?! Will the game ever be the same again? Feel sorry for fans like my husband.

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Edited now! I had linked a wrong post in the first paragraph by mistake.  Corrected now!

Edited on 27.5.13, after the IPL finals:  Mumbai Indians won and the BCCI chief (!)Srinivasan gave away the trophy! Feel very sad for Dhoni! It would have looked bad/worse for Sinivasan if CSK had won... Cricket is never going to be the same again! People who wonder about the IPL scandal, read this article.