Team India
My mind is swirling with the repercussions of this loss. India is out of the World Cup. I am unable to wrap my head around it. It seems too unbelievable!
It seems so unbelievable that a few hours ago, I chatted endlessly about the consequences of such a loss. And now that mindless chatter has become a reality.
Hundreds of millions of dollars worth of sponsorships will be lost. Players' homes will be broken down, effigies burnt. A quarter of the Indian advertisements can no longer be played on television. My mind tries to estimate the Grand Loss that India's biggest companies will face owing to this huge waste in advertising budget. And I fail to do the math!
Fanatics will march on the streets. And if there's one wise decision Team India needs to take, it is to stay in the West Indies till the anger fizzles out. We are a fiery nation, where cricket is our religion and the players our gods. And when the gods fail to perform miracles, or even just to perform, we don't understand. We lose faith.
There's a bit of irony here. When Team India wins, the key word on everyone's lips is 'we'. We did it. We are a great team. We won. Yet 'we' metamorphoses to 'they' as quickly as the wickets fall! In times of trouble, we get accusatory. They are incapable. They didn't deserve to win. They lost.
And we call ourselves Team India.
The Times of India marketed Year 2007 as the Year of India. Ratan Tata, Sunil Mittal, K.M. Birla all played their part, taking the campaign forward. And then the torch was passed onto Team India. But Sri Lanka doused those flames.
Our Boys in Blue will come back empty handed. But they must come back to one billion people who still call them their gods and their Boys in Blue.
Only then do we earn the right to call ourselves Team India.
It seems so unbelievable that a few hours ago, I chatted endlessly about the consequences of such a loss. And now that mindless chatter has become a reality.
Hundreds of millions of dollars worth of sponsorships will be lost. Players' homes will be broken down, effigies burnt. A quarter of the Indian advertisements can no longer be played on television. My mind tries to estimate the Grand Loss that India's biggest companies will face owing to this huge waste in advertising budget. And I fail to do the math!
Fanatics will march on the streets. And if there's one wise decision Team India needs to take, it is to stay in the West Indies till the anger fizzles out. We are a fiery nation, where cricket is our religion and the players our gods. And when the gods fail to perform miracles, or even just to perform, we don't understand. We lose faith.
There's a bit of irony here. When Team India wins, the key word on everyone's lips is 'we'. We did it. We are a great team. We won. Yet 'we' metamorphoses to 'they' as quickly as the wickets fall! In times of trouble, we get accusatory. They are incapable. They didn't deserve to win. They lost.
And we call ourselves Team India.
The Times of India marketed Year 2007 as the Year of India. Ratan Tata, Sunil Mittal, K.M. Birla all played their part, taking the campaign forward. And then the torch was passed onto Team India. But Sri Lanka doused those flames.
Our Boys in Blue will come back empty handed. But they must come back to one billion people who still call them their gods and their Boys in Blue.
Only then do we earn the right to call ourselves Team India.
posted by Melanie at 1:40 AM
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