Yes, that is me shrieking in exasperation. And before you men out there dismiss it with a shrug and say, “Women...what do they know of sports,” let me tell you I was a great fan of cricket. Though not able to quote statistics at random, the interest in cricket was held fastidiously till the infamous match-fixing allegations in the famous year of the century, the Y2K. That’s when I lost faith in cricket and gave up watching it.
The world cup was therefore obviated from my radar as were all previous cricket matches including the supposedly very thrilling 20-20s. Yet, it was not to be so this year. I could not but submit abjectly as I found myself swathed, swamped and smothered by an all-pervasive delirium.
TV news channels are taken over by well-known Mademoiselles, thrusting mikes under people’s noses asking, “What do you think about tomorrow’s match?” “Do you think this match will really benefit the peace process in India-Pak relations?” Switch channels, and you have another equally popular Anchorji doing his best balancing between comments of Indian/Pakistani cricketers and audiences. Bites, bites and more in every channel. Perhaps the India and Pakistani cricketers are making more giving these bites than what they did during their playing careers back then. Even the equable DD news channels submit to this frenzy interviewing people chanting pro-India slogans.
At office, the mail exchanges stopped at 2:30 pm. A ticket assigned to a (guy) network administrator gets transferred to a lady associate. A coincidence? 95% of people are missing after lunch. They are licensed to absent themselves today as the office has giant screens set up to enhance the watching experience. Every few minutes, loud shrieks told us that one of the Indian batsmen had scored. I left office early and found that, thankfully, the trains were running half empty too! Who would want to leave the match and spend one hour traveling?!
At home, the family is stuck to the TV, forbidding me from touching the remote...my saas-bahus are relegated to repeats! :( When I could lay my hands on the remote for a few seconds during the break, I turned to the Telugu news channels. Unmindful of the sober news of the death of a very prominent actor, cricket updates were running gleefully in the scroll below.
Even when I was away in the kitchen, loud cheers and bursting crackers outside told me when a Pakistan wicket fell. Stony silences were indicative of a Pak batsman’s 4 or a 6.
The last over was crowned by the deafening sound of crackers accompanied by loud cheers from youngsters zooming past on their bikes.
Sanity prevails as the key match of this world cup is over!
Now you know why we Indian women cannot remain impervious to the world of cricket! :)
The world cup was therefore obviated from my radar as were all previous cricket matches including the supposedly very thrilling 20-20s. Yet, it was not to be so this year. I could not but submit abjectly as I found myself swathed, swamped and smothered by an all-pervasive delirium.
TV news channels are taken over by well-known Mademoiselles, thrusting mikes under people’s noses asking, “What do you think about tomorrow’s match?” “Do you think this match will really benefit the peace process in India-Pak relations?” Switch channels, and you have another equally popular Anchorji doing his best balancing between comments of Indian/Pakistani cricketers and audiences. Bites, bites and more in every channel. Perhaps the India and Pakistani cricketers are making more giving these bites than what they did during their playing careers back then. Even the equable DD news channels submit to this frenzy interviewing people chanting pro-India slogans.
At office, the mail exchanges stopped at 2:30 pm. A ticket assigned to a (guy) network administrator gets transferred to a lady associate. A coincidence? 95% of people are missing after lunch. They are licensed to absent themselves today as the office has giant screens set up to enhance the watching experience. Every few minutes, loud shrieks told us that one of the Indian batsmen had scored. I left office early and found that, thankfully, the trains were running half empty too! Who would want to leave the match and spend one hour traveling?!
At home, the family is stuck to the TV, forbidding me from touching the remote...my saas-bahus are relegated to repeats! :( When I could lay my hands on the remote for a few seconds during the break, I turned to the Telugu news channels. Unmindful of the sober news of the death of a very prominent actor, cricket updates were running gleefully in the scroll below.
Even when I was away in the kitchen, loud cheers and bursting crackers outside told me when a Pakistan wicket fell. Stony silences were indicative of a Pak batsman’s 4 or a 6.
The last over was crowned by the deafening sound of crackers accompanied by loud cheers from youngsters zooming past on their bikes.
Sanity prevails as the key match of this world cup is over!
Now you know why we Indian women cannot remain impervious to the world of cricket! :)
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