The (2007 World ) Cup Runneth Over : Crazy Chronicles

In India, it always feels that we are never away from anything "cricket".

The actual World Cup 2007 gets under way in March 2007, in the West Indies. Folks will fly in from India, Australia, England, US, Pakistan, SouthAfrica, New Zealand, Zimbabwe and many other countries. These are the guys who will appear on TV waving placards, saying clever things, sometimes mean things, and sometimes smile at their image on the giant television screen where it appears when there is a lull in the proceedings and the TV cameras decide to show humans for a change.

I often wonder whether cricket is as much entwined in the daily life of the populace of other countries as it is in India.

What do you say about a country , where the entire population stays awake the whole night to watch India win the world cup in 1983 in England, and as dawn approaches, there are wild celebrations, including a guy sitting on top of an elephant and distributing sugar to the ecstatic masses on the road, on one of Pune's main city thoroughfares , all to the intense confusion of the elephant , who , so far, simply took children and families for a ride in a very responsible and sedate manner, and probably looks down disdainfully about this much ado about three sticks, a bat and a ball....

What do you say about a country , where as more and more people claim toe-space in a unhealthily packed suburban train in Mumbai, three guys hanging at the door, half in and half out, avidly discuss, wind blowing through their faces, how the umpire turned a blind eye to someone who was clearly bowled by Kumble, and the guy who is 3/4ths in and 1/4th out of the train compartment , gestures to some inside chaps to move a couple of more centimeters, so that the 3 cricket faithfuls , blowing in the wind outside, get slightly enhanced protection, all in the interests of having a continued discussion on the topic . I sometimes think even the pickpockets in Mumbais' suburban trains have a modified schedule during cricket matches.....