Cricket Wars and All That
Long before the 2011 census figures uncovered the mind
boggling bulge in the demography of eleven northern states , the Hindi media
had sensed the hysteria and the psychological warfare waiting to be unleashed
at the WC matches between India and Pakistan and the unprecedented TV rating
points and political point scoring the Semi finals were going to trigger off in
the spring of 2011. Anil Kumble confessed on an English TV channel that the
Indo Pak matches have a special subtext for cricketers and their audiences up
in the north which he , as a southerner from Bangalore , had always missed out on . But
the Hindi channels declared early on that there is going to be a war during the
semis and even the English channels believed them and began giving
all viewers additional lessons about the sub continent : on what Indo Pak
relationship is all about outside of Delhi and Islamabad .
At first the non Hindi speaking India paid it scant attention . As
the teams arrived the English channels carried most of the exclusive interviews
as usual , discussing what the nasal voice of the singer Shan called India ’s
, “ new thinking , new possibilities” .
They created an impressive line up of ex captains of teams from the subcontinent , England , Australia
, New Zealand
and the Caribbeans . They came and sat perched on stools on hard lean buttocks and
predicted and analysed constantly cracking in jokes at which they laughed the loudest . For the subaltern mobs, that were not privy to the old bonding a la public school cricket teams ,the Hindi channels lined up godmen ,
astrologers and demented fans : always a better bet for watchable TV and wild
predictions that the subcontinent loves . Since everyone in the subcontinent
loves intelligence conspiracy theories ,
spying and plots , on the eve of the Mohali match a driver from the Pakistani
PM’s entourage was caught and questioned for roaming aimlessly in the army
Cantonment area in Chandigarh
, a gesture reciprocated with alacrity across the Wagah border where an Indian
embassy official was hauled for questioning . Both were later released .
In the light of the above, happy viewing fans ! I’d rather
watch Kapil’s Comedy Night re runs!
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