IPL as a social outing

People are going to the stadium for everything but cricket as the privatized version of the game is mere entertainment rather than a sporting event

Cricket undoubtedly is one game which triggers myriad feelings amongst Indians – euphoria when the country wins, jingoism when the victory is against Pakistan, excitement when there is a photo finish and a sense of loss which lingers for days when team India gets beaten in a one-sided match. It is one common thread from Kashmir to Kanyakumari which brings strangers together and they can break into a conversation on the performance of Sachin Tendulkar or why a particular player has been inducted or kept out of the team.

I am not writing an essay on cricket but just wanted to highlight that the game is a great leveler as my neighbourhood paanwala thinks he is as much an expert of the game as Sunil Gavaskar, Harsha Bhogle, Ian Chapell, Sanjay Manjrekar and other commentators in the box.

Though I have followed the game closely since my childhood, when I used to watch five-day test matches ball to ball on a black and white TV set in which the screen was visible only after a shutter was winded, it was only on last Wednesday that I went to a stadium to watch an IPL game. This was at the PCA Stadium, Mohali. As I wanted to have a first hand and a thorough experience of the IPL tamasha which had gripped the country earlier and now seems to be wearing off, I again went to the same stadium on Friday as well to watch the next game.

After two days of watching IPL unfolding in front of me, my romance with the game and nostalgia associated with cricket went for a toss. I have watched test cricket and One-Day Internationals on the field but had never watched a game in a stadium in the earlier four avtars of IPL, ever since T-20 is said to have become a rage. I felt that watching the IPL matches on TV is entirely different from watching them on the ground.

I saw the game being reduced to a caricature in which there was no place for emotions. I felt no one in the ground knew whom they were supporting and why – the “home team” Kings XI Punjab or Kolkata Knight Riders on Wednesday and then in the match between Preeti Zinta’s team and that of Vijay Mallaya on Friday.

The spectators watched the game like a movie. They appreciated a good shot by either of the teams and booed down a bad performance. This is what movie-goes do. They clap at a well choreographed song and appreciate a well-made movie but they also do not hesitate to use choicest of abuses when they find that after purchasing a ticket, they did not find anything worth while to appreciate in a movie.

Though the local team is called Kings XI Punjab, there was no one in the team from Punjab with whom the spectators could identify, except perhaps Harmeet Singh, and that too because he is a Sikh with roots in Punjab and not because he is a local boy. The most popular local boy, Yuvraj Singh is recovering after battling Cancer and in any case, he plays for Pune Warriors these days. Another Punjabi, Harbhajan Singh plays for Mumbai Indians. No one was from Punjab or Chandigarh, be it the owner, the players, the captain, coach or the support staff. Only some of the bouncers, stationed at the venue, were locals.

After being dropped at the main gate when I started walking towards the entrance of the stadium, instead of getting a feeling of cricket or a sporting event, it seemed as if I was going for a disco or a late night party. Nattily dressed boys and girls, men and women had applied perfumes and cologne liberally. Bouncers of the “Home” team were there all over the place, wearing black jeans and black T-shirts, flexing their biceps and walking with chest pulled up so that the fat around their tummy is not visible.

It was one tier of bouncers after the other when I finally reached corporate box No 5 at level two, at the second floor, from where I had to watch the match on my complimentary ticket. Here, again, there was another bouncer, who tore the ticket and pasted a violet paper band on my wrist. This is what they do to the kids when they go to an amusement park and buy a package for the rides. The colour of the band helps the attendants at the amusement park identify how many rides have the parents of the kid bought and which one.

I now found myself in a small hall air-conditioned lounge where 125-150 people could be seated on the chairs. A little over half the chairs were occupied. Some of the spectators had placed their caps on the chairs to warn others that those seats are not to be occupied. Inside this hall, I hardly found many people interested in the ongoing cricket match in from of them.

A few people were at the bar to get their fill in plastic glasses while others were waiting for the snacks which had just got over and the attendant had been sent to fetch some more. Snacks were in great demand as most of the men were drinking. The bar was not well stocked but it had half a dozen brands on display at the shelf from where you had to make a choice. Kingfisher airlines could be sinking but the Beer brand with the same name had put up a separate counter to serve the chilled stuff to the guests.

Socialites of Chandigarh, aspiring models, businessmen from the region, a few bureaucrats and police officers who had obviously been given free passes, moved from the bar to the snacks counter and then to their seats. They were interested in everything else but cricket. It was a social outing for almost all of them. Clearly, the venue was the most happening place of the city that night and the IPL match between Kings XI Punjab and Kolkata Knight Riders was incidental.

In the first match, a few people, who looked like employees and their family members, had been sponsored by a Gujarat based company and they were wearing a T-shirt in which the name of the company was embossed prominently. When they go back home, they will obviously tell their neighbours that they saw the Sukhna Lake, Rose Garden, Sector 17 market and the IPL match at Mohali stadium. They were clicking frantically and this would be the proof for their neighbours. I wondered how many would remember who was batting or bowling and which team got defeated the next day.

Almost a similar setting was there in Friday’s match between Punjab and Bangalore. Only some of the faces had changed. The bouncers on duty were the same but a few people, wearing the jerseys of the Bangalore team, were not there in the last match. A couple of girls, who apparently were off-duty cheer leaders, were a distraction for the tipsy men. But given the presence of bouncers carrying walkie-talkie, no one dared to take any liberty or make a pass, at least till I was present.

Just to have a feel of the atmosphere, I stepped out on the balcony from the AC lounge. Loud music blared the moment an over was bowled. The cheer leaders were caged in nets and surrounded by policemen in Khaki uniforms and bouncers in black so that no one threw bottles or anything at them. Only the portion of the “cage”, facing the playing arena, was not covered with nets to enable the TV cameras film the cheer leaders dancing for the TV viewers in the rest of the country.

I returned to the lounge. The attendants announced that buffet was in place and the guests could have their dinner.  I had my dinner and as I put the plate down and looked at the playing arena, I found that the “Home” team was a couple of minutes away from defeat. I walked out deciding that I will watch IPL at home on my TV rather than in the stadium. (April 22, 2012)
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