Today’s column by M.J. Akbar in The Asian Age echoed the exact sentiments I’ve been experiencing ever since the brouhaha over the World Cup started in our country. Akbar says it was humiliating to see young men performing a “yagna” praying for the victory of the Brazilian team. I wouldn’t go as far as terming it “humiliating” as we can have a favorite team, but it sums up our collective attitude.
In India we have a saying that goes like this: Begani shaadi me Abdullah diwana which means that you don’t belong to the party but still you are there and desperately, pathetically, you are trying to be a part of it as if you are having a helluva time. We don’t have a team in the World Cup, but we have brawls guzzling big mugs of bear and beverages supporting teams from distant countries who couldn’t care less if we existed on the map of the world. You may call it my complex, but I find all this “football mania” weird, escapist, and living in denial.
But why not watch matches just for the spirit of the game, you may ask. After all don’t they exemplify the apogee of human striving without being destructive? Don’t the players etch the legends of their hard work on the firmament of world history? Don’t they invoke the ancient Olympian spirit and hoist it up in the stratosphere? Yes, they do. But is the sport just about playing football? Is it not about winning and losing? Entire nations fall into depths of gloom when their teams lose. Every goal opens the floodgates of heaven and hell depending on which side you are. Players are even killed when their mistakes cost their teams matches. National prides are built and crushed during matches. New gods are created and the old gods are relegated to their glorious pasts. I don’t dislike football for all this.
I just don’t like basking in others’ glory. I like basking in my own glory, and if I don’t have that glory, I strive to create it and then bask in that glory. I couldn’t care less if Brazil wins (with due respect to Brazilians) or loses, but if our team is not a part of the World Cup, then for me it is just a news that appears on the last three pages of my newspaper. Coming back to the newspaper, the columnist says that the population of Togo can be put in a small satellite town of Delhi and it still manages to get its team in the World Cup. “Isn’t it shameful?” the author asks. Of course it is. And it is because the same passion lacks when it comes to grooming our own football team. Why aren’t there “yagyas” for the resurrection of our teams? Why isn’t there similar “passion” when it comes to getting our own football players into the World Cup? Are we merely good at clapping and jubilating at other teams? If we love the game so much, why don’t independent individuals start funding a national team by contributing small amount of money and time? Where does our game spirit go then?
No, this is not a xenophobic post and I’m not saying we shouldn’t cheer for the other teams. Of course they represent the pinnacles of hard work, dedication and perseverance and they should be vehemently applauded for that. It’s a treat to watch strong and agile players showcasing their physical and temperamental robustness, but it stops at that for me. Unless my country’s team is out there playing with the other teams, I’d rather spend time watching some cheap Hindi or English flick on TV.
