Wrote this bit long ago. Found it while 'spring cleaning' my computer . I am a firm believer that a piece of lace and an article written should not be wasted. So here you go..
IPL is everywhere!
I am not into cricket so you can understand my predicament!
I shudder at the word. I open the newspaper and there it is in big bold letters, I switch on the television and every news channel seems to be covering it. I turn to my friends for conversation and all they talk about is IPL.
I fail to understand this obsession with IPL or cricket for that matter! As if that were not enough there comes more confusion on the Tharoor controversy which I am trying to follow.
Don’t our hard working, tax paying and corruption bearing countrymen have better things to do? The Sania-Sohaib saga was a refreshing respite from this cricket mania, but now that Sania, Sohaib and Ayesha are appeased, its back to boring !
Well, I did try to get a hang of it but the whole thing was too complicated for me to understand. So I sought the help of some cricket-buff friends of mine to get some aid in understanding the whole IPL thingie.
So the next time I met them at Barista and the conversation went crickety as it was bound to happen, I said ‘I don’t know why Modi is so upset about the whole thing, I mean Gujarat doesn’t even have a team. Right?’
TK & HK, the 2 cricket buffs I unfortunately got as friends looked at me blankly.
Looking at their puzzled faces, I elaborated,” I mean, what does Narendra Modi have against Sashi Tharoor ? Neither of them are cricketers. Why are they fighting?”
HJ nearly choked over his cafe latte and TK looked at me with a mixture of disgust and amazement. In fact, the couple next to us stared pointedly at me and then at each other in disbelief and the waiter looked at me with scientific interest.
Through it all I patiently waited for an answer.
“You idiot, its not the Gujarat CM is Lalit Modi” Spluttered TK as droplets of Swiss Mocha Frappe spotted the table.
"Oh, okay, what’s the big deal ? A Modi is a Modi- bound to create trouble whether its cricket or politics" I retorted feeling a little silly , especially since the waiter was now retelling my gaffe to his peers.
I suddenly felt like the Maroon Leaf Monkey at Bannerghatta National Park, except that the monkey gets free food and I had to pay for food and humiliation.
So much for trying to understand the gentleman’s game. *Sigh *.
Lesson Learnt? – More of ESPN and less of CNN.
