Superbowl Sunday....

For a Cricketer...

I am watching the NFL super bowl 2009 on TV right now. I am sure more than 90% of Americans (of my gender at least) will be watching it. I don't completely understand the rules of the game. My knowledge of American Football, till very recently, came from watching some hollywood football movies, most notably, "Remember the Titans". But I very much enjoy watching every time someone (doesn't matter which team) makes a touch down. Its just fun to see them run with the ball like that!

I come from India and we are a Cricketing nation. Cricket is not just a game in India its more like a religion in the subcontinent. Indians are die hard fans of Cricket and funnily enough, they can be very superstitious about it. I have seen many people who do weird things like:
- sit through the entire match without even taking a break
- not speak a word to anyone or move from their position
- wear a particular color cloth/ hat on that day
All this- hoping that anything they do might affect the performance of their favorite player and even worst lose that all important wicket!
I had my share of misfortune too...for some reason, every time I was watching the game...India would lose wickets continuously, whereas if I was watching the opponent team, then they did better (because our players did worse). My younger brothers realized this and made fun of me saying I had some kind of evil eye that only worked against our team. So they made me go to my room (and sometime locked me up) if it was a crucial match while they watched the game. They would continue to shout out the score. I was content watching the highlights of the game later in the night. I enjoy playing cricket than watching it...unless it is really interesting...so I didn't mind this very much. In fact, I was happy if our team did well due to this superstition. Its been a while since I have played or watched cricket. I haven't after I came to the US.

Almost every kid in India would have grown up hoping to be a Cricketer one day and play for the nation...I did too. Soon enough like million others Indian kids you will realize that your parents are only interested in getting you to do well in studies and become may be a Software Engineer or Doctor or something good professionally so you have a stable job and any time playing as a kid trying to hone your sporting skills is simply a waste of time. The percentage of Indian parents who are proud of their child's sporting prowess is unfortunately very small. This probably explains why India with such a huge population and almost perfect weather round the country produces so few Olympic medals every year. It will take a long time for the current generation of parents and soon-to-be parents to realize that its important to support what your children really want to do. In most cases, I guess, they know the sad truth- their children hate to do what they want and they would hate what kids really want.

Eastern- Eunoia