| Published on 05-05-2007 In General | | Viewed 1879 times | | Written by
Kumar Chellappan | 
I saw the game of cricket for the first time when I was a student of the Government Boys High School at Perumbavoor. The area adjacent to the school used to be a residential colony of Iyers and Iyengars from Tamil Nadu . These 'emigrants' were in town because of Travancore Rayons Ltd, a company founded by late M Ct M Chidambaram Chettiar. The workers in the company were from Perumbavoor and nearby areas while the executive staff was from Tamil Nadu.
My father was a worker in Rayons. Most of the students in my school were the children of either the workers or the executives of the company. Our school was quite strong in football and athletics. Sundays used to be days of cricket. A number of grown up people in white flannels used to drive into the stadium in their Heralds, Fiats and Ambys. Only a couple of students in the school used to be around to watch the game. My classmate Sunder Rajan, belonged to the privileged group allowed near the pavilion. All I could see from a distance was a player running in to throw the ball at another player. What stood out were the strange looking 'things' wore by the players.
Sundar Rajan used to speak about boundaries, sixers, spin bowling, wicket-keeping and a host of other things. Another Tamilian boy by name Sukumar used to join him in the chitchat while lesser mortals like me sat flabbergasted. All these terms were quite alien to us. I do remember asking Sunder Rajan what he meant by over and maiden. "Oh.. no! you will not understand such things .. See, my father only taught me all these," said my colleague. Since Sunder Rajan was the brightest student in the class, I was dead sure that he was telling the truth.
Moreover since his father was the Plant Manager of Travancore Rayons, I felt it futile to try to learn the nuances of this game. No acquaintances of mine could clear my doubts. Gopalakrishnan, the local tailor, who had close associations with the families of the company executives, told me that the game of cricket was not meant for people like me. "It is the sport played by engineers, contractors, doctors, merchants and adhikaris. You should know English very well to understand the game. Better keep away from it," warned the tailor.
Sundar Rajan's father was an engineer. So it was natural for him to take to the game of cricket. Since his father was well versed in the game, it was possible that he may pass on the lessons to his son. That is how Sundar Rajan became a genius.
It took me years to understand that the people mentioned by Gopalakrishnan were Farook Engineer, Nari Contractor, Hemu Adhikari, Vijay Merchant and the likes!
Occasionally, I used to see the elite class walking around holding a pocket radio close to the ears. "Running commentary..", some of my colleagues explained. Television was unheard of in places like Perumbavoor though our science teacher once told us about a contraption with which we can watch movies. The names of Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi, Farukh Engineer, Chandrasekhar, Venkataraghavan, Prasanna, Abid Ali, Salim Durrani, Sunil Gavaskar, Ajit Wadekar were familiar since Sunder Rajan and others used to talk about them quite frequently. But I was in the dark about these people and what they did for their livelihood.
The Malayalam dailies never used to give much coverage or write-ups on cricket. The game of cricket remained a mystery to me throughout my school and college days. Though I asked friends and colleagues many times about the cricket terms, the maiden, sixer, leg spin, off spin, googly, gully, square drive, short leg, long leg and a host of other jargon associated with the game, none could make me any wiser.
(Later, when I joined Doordarshan Kendra, Thiruvananthapuram, I was deputed by the then director K Kunhikrishnan to cover a 'national' cricket match at Tripoonithura! I laughed a lot when my TV report of 20 minutes duration was appreciated by him! )
It was my tenure in Bombay which helped me to familiarize to a certain extent with the nuances of the game. The Prudential World Cup win in 1983 by Kapil's Devils made the game of cricket a national obsession. To be association with cricket, even if as a mere spectator or chai-shop commentator, became some sort of status symbol and it continues to be so. Cricket players are accorded the status of celebrities. People feel that you get social acceptability only if you are familiar with cricket.
Though I tried to get acclimatized with the game on a couple of occasions, all of them turned out to be damp affairs. I just wasted my money and time by going for a match in the Wankhede Stadium. I could not understand what the fun was in these matches. The only thing I have noticed was that cricket is a very good subject of discussion for snobs. You can make any number of comments about players and their mannerisms.
I very much doubt the credentials of cricket as a sporting activity. At best, it is an entertainment show, which could be enjoyed on television. The game of football is often described as poetry in motion or a ballet, the denouement of which is most unpredictable. Compared to the synchronized moves of all the players in a football match, the USP of cricket is the glamour and aura associated with the stars. And the high quality television coverage has made the cricket matches a visual treat. The costumes of the players and the ambience inside the stadium with thousands of spectators, give the game the looks of a carnival. One is yet to come across any particular game plan, which takes the audience to new levels of anxiety or thrill.
A colleague of mine holds the game in high esteem. "Kumar, cricket can break the ice anywhere in Kerala. You just ask someone about the score of the match being played. Chances are that he will tell the score as well as a detailed sum up of the match. More than that, he will go on giving you the history of other matches. All the people are trying to impress others about their knowledge of the game," said my friend. I could not disagree with him.
The running commentaries used to give me a shiver down the spine. "Bishan Singh Bedi is bowling to Clive Lloyd with a short leg and a long leg" thus went the commentary. Poor Bedi, how cruel of the captain to make a man with a short leg and long leg to bowl to the punishing Lloyd!
Majority of the cricket players are from the upper segment of the society. There may be very rare exceptions like Vinod Kambli. But the truth remains that cricket continues to be a game of the elite class. It is time somebody like Ram Vilas Paswan and GM Banatwala asked for reservation in cricket for the socially backward classes. That way the status of the deprived class could be raised. The authorities can very well introduce cricket in school and college syllabus so that the new generation will not face any embarrassment due to ignorance about the game—like I suffered way back in Perumbavoor.
A crash programme for the older generation too could be thought about. With the Board of Control for Cricket in India itself claiming that it is a state within a state, the show of cricket is all set to go places. |
|
|
|
|
| Social Web |  |
| |
|
|
| |
|
|
Processing please wait ...
Top Stories
