We are the World Champions of Cricket after 28 years and India seems more united than it has in the last 10-12 years. My last memory of seeing India united was during Operation Vijay in Kargil in 1999 when everyone poured in money to support the Jawans at the border. Not that India had faced some serious political meltdown since then, but still the passion for the country and the feeling of “being Indian” was never this evident. The tragedy of Mumbai-26/11 did bring Indians together for a while, but as I have always maintained, we forgot it too soon!
Cricket unites India beyond anything else. It introduces Indians to a trait they very comfortably forget in their day-to-day life, which is, Passion.
The popularity of Cricket in India has always been related to the change in the mindset, earning potential and the general beliefs of the common man.
The first time Indians got a taste of World Cricket at their doorstep was the 1987 Reliance World Cup. India was the co-host with Pakistan and the defending champions. But that’s not the interesting part. India and Pakistan were going through one of their worst political phases. Pakistani President Zia-ul-Haq had made an unannounced uninvited visit to Jaipur in February on the pretext of watching a test match between the two nations as a part of the Cricket Diplomacy. The whole world, including the people of India and Pakistan, were skeptical about the co-organizational skills of both the countries amidst such tension. However, the passion driven countries proved to the world that when it comes to cricket, we are on the same page!
The rise of Sachin Tendulkar, or as he is famously referred to, the God of Cricket, is coincidental with the rise of the middle class in the early 1990s. India had just opened doors for the foreign companies to come into the erstwhile fortress and Indians replaced Campa Cola with Pepsi and Liberty with Adidas in no time. The middle class started to believe in itself and, for the first time since independence, their dreams of a “lifestyle” were being fulfilled. And then there was Sachin Tendulkar. A man who epitomized the Indian middle class and whose stature grew taller than the game in no time. When Sachin said “yeh dil maange more” on the big hoardings across the nation, people could relate that to their own dreams, they wanted more! When his bat ruled the world in 1996 and 1998, every mother saw him in her kid. Not that they wanted all of us, who were growing up then, to be cricketers, but they wanted the same unparalleled success for their kids. If Sachin could dictate his terms, sign a 100 crore deal with Worldtel and haunt Shane Warne in his dreams, so could we.
Cricket re-ignited the patriotism and the passion in Indians by the end of 2008. A shattered nation woke up to a famous victory 15 days after the Mumbai attacks and the world saw a new resilient Indian. The chase of 387 on the last day of the Chennai test reminded Indians that we cannot be bogged down. As always, Life in India always finds a way! And it did find a way. We were neither soft nor brutal, we just got noticed. The whole team dedicated the win to the NSG commandoes. India cheered once again and the pain was subsided.
It has to be fate that this 2011 World Cup win comes at a time when India is in another crisis, this time an internal one. The fight against corruption is a new one. We are so used to corruption that no one ever felt that something could be done. This time India needs Hope and a reason to celebrate. India may be a land of many religions and festivals but seldom do we get a chance to celebrate as a nation. Dhoni and his team have given us a reason. The common man is on the roads with the tricolor in his hands. That’s exactly the spirit we need to support Anna Hazare’s movement. With tough games to come after the league round, Indian team didn’t lose Hope. Similarly, with tough times ahead of us, all we need is Hope. We have the manpower to bring this change and to be the Champions of our own fate.
What’s so special about this team? It is lead by a guy from a small city, has beaten all odds to become numero uno in the arena, has belief in itself and most importantly it has given the Indian masses a reason to cherish. What to do we need for this movement to be a success? People from all towns, cities and metros to join hands, beat the self-congratulatory government, be Gandhian in its ways and rule the arena!
Skeptics would say it is an unfair and unreal comparison. But trust me, for a country of the size of India, we either need a common enemy or a common cause or a common passion to be united. Cricket is the passion, Anna Hazare is the cause. What makes me do such a comparison is the spirit that ruled the streets of India and even other countries with considerable amount of Indians on the night of March 30 and April 2. We are emotional people. All we need is to give those emotions a cause and a direction.
This is our moment. We need to be on the streets once again with tricolor in our hands.
I quote from a note on Facebook by my friend Naveen Kumar Chaudhary that’s adds up all that I intend to say through this post.
“Last night I felt something...
Who is an Indian....
One who is not divided by religion
sex , caste, race, creed or color..
Neither he is rich nor poor
He is just an emotional guy dancing after 6 hours of play
because his country has tasted the sweetness of victory...
IN THE WAR WITHOUT BULLETS
This is INDIA and we are INDIANS”
