I would like to call it that way. We, Indians attach a lot of importance to glitz and glamour. That has become a way of life. Bollywood stands as a testimony to this fact.
'Cricket-craze' can also be attriburted to this very basic fact. Cricket players instatly become celebrities as soon as they are selected in the Indian team squad. They start endorsing scores of brands from day one. Cricket in India is more of a celebrity rendezvous and less of a game. And as Indians love to worship celebrities, it is quite obvious that Indians would go crazy about cricket.
Not only the 'aam janta', but everyone right from politicians to film actors, like to be associated with cricket in some or the other way. Let's take the case of the IPL. It was such an unimportant issue, which was hyped to such an extent that it seemed to be a national issue at some point. And again, Bollywood actors are associated with IPL.
It is not to say that 'stop worshipping cricket. Worship the national game, hockey'. I don't mean to say that from any angle. Hockey may not be worshipped; hockey may be neglected; but, then again, I would like to ask the same question, Why cricket???.
Even the government is ready to shed heavy sums of money on cricketers. Never would someone be able to read a news in the newspapers or hear from some news channel about a hocket player, or an athlete receiving huge sums of money as a cricket player receives.
I recently read an article on the plight of aspiring cricketers. It was really shocking and disheartening to learn the reality. If am not wrong with the statistics, it is said that every year, near about 2,00,000 aspiring cricketers compete at various levels of domestic cricket out of which 300~400 end up playing in some national level trophy. The rest are left behind. Of course, those who get on to the top are talented and would be capable enough to take India to victory in the next T20 World Cup. But, those who are left behind are left behind forever.
The article said that those taking cricket as a profession and those who dream of playing in the Indian team, spend the precious time of their youth and career practicing cricket and playing in some district or state level teams. Ultimately, when they are not selected for playing any national level matches, they are left with few or no options to fall back on. For most of them, it marks the end of their career.
This situaiton is totally different from a candidate failing in an entrance examination. For him, there are alternate courses and he can carefully choose some career which suits him. But, for the former, the case is different. The article also talked about suicides resulting from disappoinment in not getting selected into some match or team, people who have lost their mental balance due to the shock resulting from grave disappoinment when they do not make it finally to the prestigious squad.
The numbers are alarming. Imagine, people who, otherwise would have lead a normal life, ending up committing suicides and losing mental balance!!!. Terrible...simply, terrible.
Apart from a handful, for the rest its all nothing other than the insatiable hunger for becoming famous, attaining celebrity status and what not.
This is precisely the reason why I call cricket as the 'Great Indian Madness'.
2 comments:
dude well said.
but i disapprove from your view...cricket is worshiped in india because it has that charm in it (in your words madness) which is able to grip the whole country.it has made its place in the heart of the indian people over a period of time.
as for the figures related to suicide and disappointment it is there in every field...students failing in class 10th cbsealso commits suicide.
a BE Btech degree from an ordinary college will make you only an engineer on paper..what is the future of 4lacs engineers graduating every yr in india,not all of them gets campus placed or off campus.
so my point is that struggle is present in every arena of life.
and its we people only who makes someone/something more priviliged and honoured than others....
well in the end its all about success and being happy..NOTHING ELSE MATTERS!!!!
Ankit, Thanks for the comments.
I fully agree upon your point that struggle is an inherent phenomenon present in any field, whether it is cricket or IIT JEE.
Yes, cricet is worshipped in India because of its charm. What is that charm?? The 'charm' is nothing other than the 'celebrity-ship' associated with cricket. Some may be of course true lovers of the game. They are always there.
I also agree upon your point that 10th standard students commit suicides because of failures in boards and low marks using which they are unable get admission into any sort of professional courses. This situation is different from the former. A normal Indian student does not take up 10th standard because he wants to become a celebrity. He writes his boards because it is a milestone surpassing which he may be eligible to take up some professional or vocational course. As I have mentioned in the blog that apart from a few, the rest take up cricket as their career path or profession because of the glitz and glamour associated with it.
Again, a person does not do his graduation to become a celebrity. Agreed that there are many jobless engineers. But, that does not mark the end of his career. He always has options, he just has to search for it. I agree that it is easier said than done.
The whole point is that a game must be viewed as a game and not as some inevitable part of life. It is good to promote it, participate in it, but, the limits have to be drawn clear.
Yes, as you said, for some cricket may be life. It might be his dream to become a cricket. Well and good. But, are we as a nation ready to take this challenge or in other words are we (our nation) ready to take the responsibility of training these aspiring cricketers in a structured manner??
Do we have the right resources??
These things have to be thought of.
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