I was never a cricket fan.
When young, Berry Sarbadhikari's cricket commentry
will draw me towards cricket.
My heroes were M L Jaisimha,
Salim Durrani, Polly Umrigar,
and the like. I still remember the day
when Nari Contractor was hit on the head
by a ball in Australia. It was as if
a day of national mourning.
How can one forget
the Nawab of Pataudi?
India had endless heroes.
Great people they were.
Their greatness would finally give rise to
somebody called Saurav Ganguly,
hailing from a state,
whose players would never be
first, second or even third choice.
Many felt the state that produced Pankaj Roy
should have been represented more often
in Indian cricket.
But these things happen.
But when Saurav came,
after a whimper and a gap of a few years
he came like a thunder
and galvanised Indian criket.
Indian cricket never witnessed
a more emotional affair in cricket, earlier.
There was elan no doubt.
But what he brought was passsion.
He brought leadership
that would draw a least sports lover
to some kind of interest,
that was not exactly cricket,
but a spirit and protest
for a fairer dispensation
in every aspect of life.
Pundits of cricket,
you may go on analysing
the highs and lows,
the superlatives,
and all time greats.
They hardly mean anything to me.
I will just say,
learn from cricket,
and learn from Ganguly.
Learn, how to fight.
Learn how to hold your tongue
and how to be gracious
even in adversities.
Learn how to be dispassionate.
Learn how to lead
by impregnating confidence.
If you can learn just these things
by observing a player of a game,
I think, one would have learned a lot in life
to conduct oneself,
be successful,
be gracious,
and patriotic.
