Sense & Insensibility
Game of cricket, game of politics
Six of the best?Photo: AFP
Cricket and politics are the two most loved and two most despised games in Bangladesh, thanks to the antics of the players in the two camps. The two games make both players and diehard supporters get ecstatic, irrational, wild, unreasonable and even murderous, depending on which side is winning. If my team wins, everything goes. If my team loses, everything goes. The performance of our national cricket team, the "Tigers"" (?!), and that of bagha, bagha political parties continue to be unproductive and at times even shameful. Little is left for us to feel proud about either of the two. We have very recently been subjected to collective humiliation by the Tigers, once again, through displaying on the field anything but cricket. It was a display of infantile behaviour, trepidation, intimidation, cowering and cowardice of the worst kind. For all its worth, the national cricket team should play Dandaguli for the next five years to improve their aim, dexterity and concentration. If they can hit that small gulli well enough, they will be able to hit the cricket ball better, someday. After they qualify in dandaguli games the team should be sent to play local cricket teams of the chairmen of the union councils (Chairman's Eleven). In this way they should play district teams (DC's Eleven) and develop the habit of winning. I believe the series of losses has badly scarred their spirit and created a mindset to accept a loss quite easily. They better consult a qualified psychologist. Whether the government should allow Bangladesh cricketing authorities to sign astronomical sums (the amount can well run a medium size hospital for the poor) for buying designer cricketing gears, sunglasses, foreign trips, hotel expenses, and fat, fat salaries of the top bosses, coaches, physios etc., is a question that should be discussed in the next parliament. We cannot afford the luxury of international level cricket, and it is as simple as that. Oh, one more thing before I wrap up this part on our cricketers. Dhoni, the captain of the Indian national cricket team has gotten himself enrolled in a college to obtain a B.Com degree. I wonder why Dhoni should do such a thing! He does not need a degree like that to earn millions a year! Or does he? Maybe he wants to feel better, like an educated cricketer does, like Kumble or Srinath and many others who have good academic degrees. Now don't blame me for harbouring the wicked thought of sending our cricketers to some good school and college! They should learn to speak Bangla properly to begin with. Gosh! The accent! It might do a world of good to cricket if cricketers came from the best of colleges and universities. Remember those cricketers of the bygone days having Dhaka University academic background? Frankly speaking, they were taller, broader, stronger, smarter, cleverer and courageous, like what cricketers ought to be. Well, that was about our cricket. Let's have a look at the game of politics. Political parties have been demanding for a level playing field, but our experience says that as soon as you give them a level playing field they would chase one another and club one another to death right there on the field. We have seen it happening many times before in this country. But, as long as the field is not level, they would keep grumbling, whining, yelling and blaming one another for the situation. But, dear readers, they would never blame themselves for the field having gone "Un-level." They would never ask themselves: Why have things become so difficult today for politicians when they were the ones who were in power for last fifteen years? Definitely the caretaker government didn't run the country then? Even today, look around and see how politicians openly engage in squabbling, bickering and wrangling to come under the limelight. That is all that matters. An extra inch on the podium means gaining a mile for them, and that is all about politics in this country. And the circus that is going on in some political parties is turning out to be more hilarious than any Charlie Chaplin movie. It is more like that joke, where it is said that there is no guard before a special compound in hell where Bangladeshis are kept. Why? Because when any Bangladeshi tries to scale the wall others pull him down. In that light we see that in a particular party the race is on to pull down whoever tries to raise a voice. The blame game among the senior leaders is now heating up with the promise of more action in the future, as election date will approach nearer. Their eyes are now set on the election date. But how qualified are most of them to come and sit in that beautiful parliament building? Some of them are not even qualified and wise enough to run a union council as chairman! How can you expect them to keep a cool head when they will sit inside that huge edifice and deal with matters worth $100 or 500 million! It will take them one whole week to calculate that kind of money in taka! Truly, most of them have negotiated only with the local machwala (fisherman), so how do you expect them to sit across the table to negotiate with foxy opponents on matters of utmost national interest! Like those cricketers of ours, they cannot face fast or bouncy balls coming thundering at them. So, what better game can we expect from them once the playing field will be made level?
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