when will we stop over-reacting?

It is a history now that India has won the 20-20 championship. When cricket is slowly transforming into baseball, winning in such sports makes one wonder whether we are the champions of cricket or baseball or golf (this is because, nowadays cricketing strokes are similar to the strokes of baseball or golf).

As usual, the entire country is reacting or rather over-reacting to this incident. The winning team was received with much fervor and they will go on a victory lap from airport to Wankhade stadium in an open bus.

State Governments after state governments are declaring a bonus amount of Rs 5 lakhs per player for this feat! Maharashtra Government has gone overboard to announce Rs 10 lakhs to the players while their farmers are dying out of starvation! One TV channel went on criticizing mr. Narendra Modi who kept cool and did not announce any such bonus to the cricket players. I may not be surprised if Modi subjecting to such pressures might declare bonus (may be more than any State).

At the outset, why these players need bonus? Are these cricket players are running out funds that they need such bonuses? Have they been to Mars on an expedition and came back with more scientific truths? What have they achieved? Are they contributing anything towards the nation or its development? On the contrary, the BCCI do not pay income tax for the hefty sum they generate and rotate in the name of cricket!

If sports person were to be facilitated, why did not we do this to the Indian Hockey team who had won the Asian cup with comfortable margin (unlike a cliff-hanger cricket we saw). Why not Vishwanathan Anand and Narain Kartikeyan were facilitated? Even Goswami, the only Indian Woman cricketer to appear in the list of ICC awards was not given such a priority by the BCCI. Why this bias?

Let numerous films like Chak De or Goal be screened in India all over! We will neither change nor our attitude towards a sport. This reminds me that during the last scene in film Chak De, a small sikh boy will come forward and erase the word “gaddar” from the wall and he will be presented with a hockey bat. Surprisingly, (or ironically), one of the audience shouted, “Come on Bhajji (Harbhajan Singh, a cricketer) come on”. Cricket has invaded our life indeed!