That cricket occupies the biggest prime slot in our cluttered national mindspace needs no overstating. India may be out of the World Cup, but the shenanigans between Coach and Team have taken over. What is it about cricket that evokes such passion? Difficult question, difficult to put away without some psycho-social babble. But the granny back home might provide a clue.Back in 1983, when the whole of India was celebrating the World Cup success of Kapil’s Devils, she was the only one with a forehead deeply furrowed with worry. “This boy, Kapil Dev,” she said to an amused audience, as the great man beamed his extra large smile at her from the newspaper pages, “Isn’t he going to find a job? How long can he go on playing like this? I feel sorry for his parents, but they should have been strict in the beginning .”Twenty-four years down the line, as she sits glued to the TV catching every cricketing action coming her way — yes, she is a diehard Sachin Tendulkar fan — she is already a veteran spectator-expert on the block. And like all such experts she has a point of view. The Chappell controversy, for example, is unwarranted in the first place, she believes, because a foreign coach is not required at all when Baba Ramdev is around to fix the niggles bothering the team.Granny’s solution may be suspect, but her sincerity is never in doubt. She is among the millions who just love the game. Down there in Sukinda, the mining belt in the heart of Orissa, tribals forget the day’s work to watch a cricket match. Traditional rice beer in place, loyalties firmly divided and some betting going around — there is little to differentiate between a cock-fight and cricket here. But the passion for the game is beyond question. Ditto the small-town and city crowds who jostle for space outside TV shops to get a glimpse of the action and who disappear from the streets at the hint of a match.The passion is difficult to decipher. But it sure has gone bigger than the game and the occasional jolts of disappointment delivered by Team India. Meanwhile, back home, granny is not worried about Sachin Tendulkar finding a job now. She just loves to watch him in the middle.
