India is a land of cricket-crazy fans.
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It is a relief that India won the T20 World Cup. Had India lost, the die-hard cricket fan would have lost all meaning in life. Like Guru Dutt in the movies of yore, he would have wrapped a black shawl around himself, and leaving hearth and home, like a vagabond, wandered about aimlessly, with tousled hair, grimy face, and an ugly stubble. Disillusioned and dejected, his theme song would have likely been “Yeh duniya agar mil bhi jaaye…to kya hai… (even if this whole world is gained…so what?)”
Such is the cricket crazy fan — for him, India should win at all costs even if it means following superstitions, that too, to the extreme.
A noteworthy superstitious fan is like Bheeshma — he takes a solemn vow not to watch the match!
He sincerely believes that every time he watches the game, India loses. And to let India win, he will inflict self-pain and self-mortification, and deny himself the pleasure of watching the game he loves most.
Others reinforce the superstition. After India lost the ODI World Cup final last year, I got a sudden call from my friend. He had a pointed question, “Did you, by any chance, watch the finals?” Unwittingly, I said, “Yes.” Immediately, he flared up. “Who asked you to watch the match? Now, I know…why India lost!” My friend was so sure that a particular individual watching the game, could influence the result, albeit negatively, overriding the prayers of 1.4 billion people in this cricket crazy nation!
One type of superstition is called a “commentator’s curse”.
The commentator has just praised the batsman to the skies. “A wonderful 50 from Virat! He is now batting ‘in the zone’; not just a 100, this time, even a double hundred, is well within his sight!” Before he can complete the sentence, the next ball, Virat hits the ball in the air, and is out unceremoniously! The commentator is lucky not to be anywhere close to the cricket fan. He would have likely wrung his neck.
When a rival cricketing nation’s commentator praises our team, the cricket fan gets all suspicious and protective. “Rohit is simply toying with the bowling here. India is coasting to a win!” The Indian fan is not at all pleased. He clicks his fists on the sides of his head and applies a black collyrium mark on the TV screen, to ward off the evil-eye! “I know this commentator very well. In his heart of hearts, he wants only his country to win. Never believe him! He is as though…praising India. It is with malicious intent, just to spook us, and snatch the victory from us. Never believe him! Never!”
In the days of yore, we watched cricket matches on the old cathode-ray tube TV. As the match progressed, the TV visuals had a bad habit of “shaking” from time to time. Someone at home was roped in, to slap the TV-top.
Each time, you slapped the top of the TV, the shaking stopped. To our delight, two things happened in unison with the slap: the visuals were restored and to top it, the rival team lost a wicket. It was a perfect case of “kaaka-taaliyan nyaaya” (a crow sitting on a palm-tree and a fruit falling off at that exact instant).
From then on, till the rival innings progressed, the slapper had only one job at hand. He must induce a wicket by pounding the TV from time to time, even if it meant breaking the TV, all with noble intent, of course!
Source link : https://www.thehindu.com/opinion/open-page/off-field-cricket-rituals/article68481658.ece
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Publish date : 2024-08-11 00:47:51
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