India's Game, U.S. Spice

I was just watching the start of the IPL today and looking at the cheerleaders in Chinnaswamy stadium, I commented to my husband "I wonder how long it will take for the nari sanghas and so called moral guardians of Indian culture to start protesting against these cheerleaders."

Apart from Brendan McKellums amazing performance and Shah Rukhs exuberance on the side lines, the cheerleaders and how soon they would be shut down was what we discussed. But as the following brilliantly written editorial suggests, we may soon have "cheerleaders" entering the Hindi dictionary :)

I don't have the exact link for this piece, but full credits have been mentioned.

Op-ed in NY Times on the IPL!!

April 15, 2008
Op-Ed Contributor
India's Game, U.S. Spice
By TUNKU VARADARAJAN

IN the blink of an eye, India has gone from faith, prudence and chastity to ... Brittany, Courtney and Tiffani. On Sunday, a team of Washington Redskins cheerleaders landed in Bangalore to help create India's first cheerleading squad.

According to the Redskins' Web site, the cheerleaders will "conduct a national audition of Indian women." The aim of the exercise is to set up a squad of indigenous pompom wielders for the Bangalore Royal Challengers, one of eight teams that will play in the Indian Premier League, a rich new Indian cricket league.

"Cheerleading is a unique American spirit and the fact that it is now a bridge into India and their national sport cricket, speaks to the world vision of the Washington Redskins," said an American spokesman involved with the effort. But it speaks to other things, too. It shows how brash India has become, and also how this brash new India has transformed cricket — once the most staid of sports — into a game that is perilously close to a circus.

Yet how paradoxical it is, and how delightful, that Bangalore, a city that has leapt to global prominence on the back of work outsourced by America, is now itself outsourcing from America — outsourcing glamour, no less. How will India respond to cheerleading? An old language scholar I spoke to declared himself unsure of what a Hindi neologism for "cheerleader" might be. He offered "utsaah-pradarshak naari" — "a woman who displays enthusiasm" — as a candidate.

But when I countered that the job of the woman was as much to spur on a crowd as to spur herself on, we agreed that "utsaah-utpaadak naari" — "a woman who generates enthusiasm" — might be more apt. (We ruled out "utsaah-utpaadak-pradarshak naari" — "a woman who displays and generates enthusiasm" — on grounds of unwieldiness, although we have a sneaking suspicion that Hindi speakers will simply import "cheerleader" into their lexicon, as a loan word from English.

Inevitably, moral scolds — of which India, as a society, has a surplus — will write letters to the editor complaining about the vulgarity/anti-Indianness/neocolonialism of the cheerleaders. It is conceivable, too, that there will be demonstrations outside the cricket stadium by women's groups and Hindu fundamentalists.

All this, however, pales when compared to the broader lessons. With the Redskins cheerleaders on Indian soil, one can safely declare that the British cultural influence in India has been entirely replaced by an American one, cricket notwithstanding. India's relationship with the United States — economic, strategic, diasporic and cultural — is now its primary external alliance, with a complex nuclear deal at one end of the spectrum and 12 cheerleaders and two choreographers at the other.

Tunku Varadarajan is a professor at New York University's Stern School of Business and a fellow at Stanford's Hoover Institution.

Twenty20 - Reactions From a Non-cricket Watching Indian

Nothing personal against cricket, but I don't watch sports ! (This is my first post where I've chosen "Sports" as the Section) Except gymnastics, ice skating and synchronized swimming.

Equally crazily, I am married to the ultimate cricket fanatic, who watches matches, repeats, highlights and replays on the news (that's all of them - not an either/or choice). Who remembers statistics from games I never knew were played. For eg. He just said "We have never lost to Pakistan in a world cup" OK, not a great example, but it needed repeating :)

Another of his gems just before the last ball "For a moment, I thought about the last time a Haryana bowler named Sharma had the last over against Pakistan in a final. New Sharma, New ending"

Now these nuances are lost on me, but I'm sure there is a large group out there who can appreciate them. (Like the employees of various MNCs in India who officially closed office at 4 P.M. today.)

Being away from India for the first time on a long posting, he quickly ensured that we got all the right technology installed at home for regular access to cricket matches.

There's a small population of desis in Cairo (about 500) and an even smaller subset of cricket "fan"atics. The previous matches in the last year went by without much community feeling and viewing in this country. But this 20/20 brought a large portion of the Indian community together.

A couple of rational reasons for this would be the shortened timings in offices due to Ramadan (offices close by 3, the matches started at 2 - Egypt time) and the BCA showing the matches on a big screen where desis could get together and watch the matches in a group with alcohol available to drown sorrows or celebrate victories.

The group did avoid meeting at the club on the day of the India-England match because of the larger number of British supporters. But they regretted doing that by the end of the match.

Many of the Indians met up at the BCA for the days the Indians were playing. The non cricket watching wives would sit around and watch each others husbands bemusedly, wondering which of them would make a bigger scene at a missed catch or a wide ball.

We were of course happy that the matches were shortened, it meant less time sitting around. But it also meant shorter, almost non existent ad breaks (except 2 very irritating Horlicks & Sensodyne ads on Ten Sports) to try and communicate with your cricket lover.

Some of them would sit in the same crazy position that they were in when the last 6 was hit or wear the same clothes/shoes to every match. All kinds of crazy stuff that only fans can indulge in.

This was a good opportunity for us to get together and celebrate being Indian outside of India. Yuvraj's 6 sixes was obviously the biggest highlight till today's match. He does deserve the quarter-million and its good to see the BCCI giving something back to the players.($2 million for the team)

We watched today's match at home, but the phone calls kept coming and going throughout the match from across the world. Reactions & moods of the husband were oscillating from wild elation to extreme dejection at each ball. The little bits of the match that I did watch, I found it difficult to keep track since I couldn't recognise more than half the players (I had completely lost track of cricket from the time the slide started, plus this team had tons of newcomers to the international field)

But it was good to see a young team selected and though they had their health problems, they kept at it. Their confidence and perseverance are to be commended & rewarded. The cup and the 40 lakhs each are just a beginning.

Dhoni from all the conversations I caught, more than proved himself as being an able captain willing to take risks (who else would play a complete newcomer as opening batsman in a world cup final?)

He also showed more class in taking his shirt off and giving it to that little kid (I didn't catch who the kid was) rather than waving it around :)

From the strange tie breaker at the last India Pakistan match to the 6 sixes, to the final world cup win, it was an amazing journey even to the part time spectator.

The final run around the field with the Indian flags was a "rungte kadhe hone wala" scene that would warm the cockles of any Indians heart.

Way to go Indian team. This is a victory to savor for a long time and I hope it paves the way for more new comers into the playing Indian team.

By the way, we did this without a coach !



Photo Credit : Cricinfo.com

cricket fever in Chepauk...

CHENNAI, OCT. 17. The contest on Day four of the India-Australia Test Match at Chepauk was not on the field but in the stands.

``You might be FANATICS, but we Indians are LUNATICS,'' read the chart from the Indian fans sitting right below where the Australian cheerleading squad, Fanatics, was positioned in the Pepsi Stand.

The Australians responded with the thumbs down gesture and broke into one of their many songs, which, amidst the din in the stadium, was difficult to comprehend. But the tit-for-tat continued through the day.

Only a few rows away, another Indian fan sported a red-tee shirt that said: One good thing about bad reputation is that it is easy to maintain.

``Contribute Rs. 5 towards Gillespie's haircut fund,'' read another as the lanky paceman dropped anchor, steering the Aussies out of trouble in the company of Martyn.

Much later in the day, when Darren Lehman and Martin Clarke came together, the banter in the stand continued.

Just after tea, an Indian fan with a video camera rushed to the edge of the Terrace T-3 stand as if to cock-a-snook at the Australian `fanatics' in the nearby stand.

He challenged the Australians that India would win the Test tomorrow. Soon the Australians were cheering: ``Look at the scoreboard ... Look at the scoreboard'' punctuated by three claps, pointing to the giant screen.

The score was 347 for the loss of six wickets.

Anil Kumble answered the fan's call by claiming two wickets in three balls. Now it was the Indians' turn: ``Look at the scoreboard ... Look at the scoreboard.'' The sportive Fanatics rose from the seats to give the crowd a series of bows.

What's cooking?

Food at the M.A. Chidambaram Stadium has been unbelievably good. Among the most popular food stalls were the ones managed by Fruit Shop on Greams Road, Galloping Gooseberry and Frankie's.

Back in the stands, there was a different kind of `cuisine' lined up.

The Australians put up a yellow banner that read: ``Today's menu: Butter Gloves Patel, Kumble No Tikka, Harbhajan Masala. Warning: Very Expensive. Will give Aussies the runs.''

After the loss of a couple of Australian wickets, the Indian fans struck back: ``Today's Indian Menu: Kangaroo Burger, McGrath Biriyani, Warne Pizza, Martyn Masala, Gilli Roast, Aussie Meals.''

Birthday boy

Indian and Australian fans found ways to wish Kumble on his 34th birthday today.

The Australians broke into a birthday song during a drinks break and completed their tribute with their trademark series of bows.

Another Indian fan, meanwhile, came up with a poster idea: ``How about Kangaroo Kabab for your birthday?''

Another person came up with a gift idea. The poster carried names of the Australian batsmen who fell victim to the spinner today, who ended with a match haul of 13 wickets.

The climax

The Indian celebrations were restricted to three small spells through the day — twice when two wickets fell in an over and once when Sehwag came out to bat.

The last 15 minutes of play, however, was what Indian fans hoped would be a sneak preview for the final day's play.

Passions of the Indian cricket fans were fuelled when the close-up of verbal exchange between Virender Sehwag and Glenn McGrath was flashed on the giant screen. The last ball of the day was smashed for a boundary.

As the fans were leaving, plenty of them were scheming how to stay away from offices on Monday.