Felicitation of Team India, or... Review on Cricket

Edification of Pawar?

Team India sweated for 14 days showing exemplary skills, under pressure, against the best teams in the world to bring home the inaugural Twenty20 Cup.  They not only carved their names in history but did our country proud.  They gave the common man something to cheer, something to shout about.  Partying continued right into the night with dancing, hugging, and slogan shouting.  The euphoria may not last long, but no Indian supporter is likely to forget this achievement in a hurry.

For once, there were no politics in cricket, but can one keep the politicians out of cricket?  Politicians, anywhere in the world, by their very nature are a strange and self-serving breed.  But, India seems to be the Mecca for these shameless, scheming, and publicity hogging species.  Being the opportunists they are, grabbing every chance to bask in reflected glory is their forte, even if that glory has nothing to do with politics.

Hundreds of thousands of Mumbaikars were on the streets braving nagging rain for hours to support their heroes, shouting slogans and waving banners.  Most of them covered the 30 Km stretch from the airport to the Wankhede stadium, moving with the motorcade.  In fact, such was the overwhelming support that students bunked classes, employees left their seats and even Banks along the route were temporarily shutdown.  Most of the female college students were out there excitedly waving placards on which were hastily written messages for the Indian team, a greater part of those messages simply consisted of two words… “Marry Me.” Who needs bharatmatrimony.com?  Eighteen year old Piyush Chawla’s eyes must have lit up on seeing so many pretty damsels readily offering themselves.  Alas, they were not for him, he was the only player in the team who had done nothing of note.

After an eternity (for those who were waiting in the stadium), but a mere 5 and half hours (for those in the motorcade), the procession finally reached its destination – the sprawling Wankhede stadium.  The vast throng of supporters were deliriously happy… now, they could get a proper ‘dekho’ at their world beating heroes and get to hear of their exploits in their own words.  After a brief rest where the players changed into their team blues, they were ushered into the hastily constructed stage.

Some of the players, as the felicitation was for them, naturally moved to the front rows assuming that they were the guests of honour which, of course, they were. Or else, why did the huge crowd turn out braving the driving rain and skipping more important work to do.  Tens of thousands were packed in the stadium, and millions watching on TV for the felicitations to begin.  But, the Indian team and the waiting public got a rude shock when someone on the stage pointed to the Indian team that their rightful place was at the back.  Just as the players were coming to grips with this unexpected development, a horde of politicians and BCCI office bearers gleefully occupied the front row as if they were the ones the public had come to see.  For a brief period of time, one was at a loss to know who was felicitating whom as the hon’ble Deputy CM, RR Patil, began a long winding speech in Marathi praising Sharad Pawar to the ‘pawar’ of 10, and made sure that all who were watching understood what a great leader he is.  Holy cow… and we were so naïve to think what a great leader Dhoni is.  My first reaction was like “Great Gadfly, did someone announce midterm elections?”

RR Patil’s speech was a pretty poor effort on two counts; firstly, he was praising the exploits of the wrong person and out of context too, second, while felicitating the team, why speak in a language which 13 members of the 15 member team including Dhoni don’t understand?  Maybe I am wrong, the felicitation was indeed for Pawar and Dhoni’s name was mentioned just in passing.  This particular incident was less glaring when you compare the ignominy Team India was silently bearing sitting in the back row while nondescript leaders of a regional political party were hogging the limelight, and basking in borrowed glory and hardly feeling gracious about it.  We do not know whose idea it was but it sure was in poor taste.  Why should there be so many people on the dais to felicitate the Indian team which, for want of space, is forced to sit in the back row?

Sycophantic speeches would have come thick and fast from everybody who was a ‘nobody, ’ but for a happy event that cut into the time allotted for speeches – the motorcade reached the stadium a good 3 hours late and Pawar was tired, and the public restless and in no mood for political rhetoric.  Dhoni had a subtle dig at the previous speakers when he jokingly remarked "a lot has been said in English and Marathi. Now let me stick to Hindi".

Why do I get the feeling that the whole event was orchestrated and made to look like a victory for the Maharastra Government in general, and Pawar in particular, when in reality it was a victory for the whole of India, and Indians the world over.

Even the posters that were hastily put up had a huge picture of Sharad Pawar clearly overshadowing the smaller picture of Dhoni… the rest of the team can go take a dip in the Arabian Sea was the message one got.  Any Indian, who had not followed closely the events of the past fortnight, should be excused if he or she thought Dhoni had joined the NCP party and was campaigning for a seat in Lok Sabha.

A passing shot – if the Maharastra Government went overboard and treated Team India’s victory as a victory for the State and announced cash rewards for the Maharashtra players, the Gujarat Government thought the victory was of no consequence.  That’s how the pendulum swings in India… from one extreme to the other.

mbfarookh