Somewhere Between Teh Sands of Time...

Somewhere between the Pitch, the 70 mm. silver-screen and the sands of time…
-Neelam Reddy
As far as I can remember, Cricket and Movies have always been the popular creed of this country; both have enjoyed unprecedented veneration and will continue to, till the end of days! While the metamorphosis of Indian Cinema has brought about a welcome-change in some ways, I am yet to figure out why this gentleman’s game succumbed to the media- hype, the glam-quotient of size-zero models in VIP stands, the celeb-wives sporting over-sized goggles, the archetypal team-owners (with zilch technical knowledge of the sport), the strange cola ads and even-stranger team-names (not remotely connected to the sport)! The repercussions of this bedlam…? Scores of people enslaved to the whims of the sultans-of-swing and ‘devil-incarnate’ spinners. The fourth-estate, meanwhile, will strike gold by selling the euphoria born under molten-silver flood-lights! Now, post-match-parties will prove more eye-popping than a last-over-last-ball sixer! The frenzy doesn’t end here; products endorsed during commercial breaks will promptly make their way into a majority of homes. Whether air-conditioners, luxury sedans, airlines or diapers- brand-names will be everywhere! Logos shall be legion; adorning the boundary, the ground, stumps, bats, caps, even the umpires! A few more days into the tournament and people will be changing sides! Switching loyalties couldn’t get swifter & trendier!   Welcome to the squeaky-new, eye-candy and cash-centric version of Cricket! Time for wrinkled clichés like ‘India XI’ & ‘one-team-one morale’ to pack up ; Bachchan’s baritone adding soul to a saccharine-sweet and utopian poem under Chennai’s sky   ( at IPL’s inaugural ritual) with Shiamak Davar’s troupe and their method-in-madness sounds more like it!

Now, I personally have nothing against the game’s renovated face; it’s just that I prefer not to tarnish my memories of the days when a one-day international...