1983 & Jersey - Sports As A Means To An End !

Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed, citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.

- Margaret Mead

I was 9 years old when India won the world cup in 1983.  Everyone in my house were sleeping; I was watching the match with someone who was visiting us. I think he was my mom's relative. That is one of my oldest memories. I don't remember how jubilant I felt that night but there are glimpses of me walking to the refrigerator and drinking ice cold water (which meant I was happy and needed a drink).

That victory changed confidence of Indian people. It was the seed which lead to the growth of Tendulkar in 1990 who single handedly responsible for boasting confidence of India. Timing was impeccable as the economy opened up around the same time. I am pretty sure, this generation doesn't have any idea what it meant and hence, they have no gratitude for what they have now. 

I also met Kapil Dev near my house before I moved to US. These two cricketers are great human beings who have a big hand in changing a fate of nation which was stuck in the past even after 4 decades of independence. 

The English game of cricket was the biggest catalyst for India to come out of the shadow of English imperialism. 

I don't watch cricket anymore nor any other sports. I think, it was very useful tool for me during my younger days. Sports inspired me and I moved on to other things as I grew older. It's pity that most people use it as a passive entertainment and wasting hours everyday sitting in front of the TV. It's worse in US. 

What Orwell feared were those who would ban books. What Huxley feared was that there would be no reason to ban a book, for there would be no one who wanted to read one. Orwell feared those who would deprive us of information. Huxley feared those who would give us so much that we would be reduced to passivity and egoism. Orwell feared that the truth would be concealed from us. Huxley feared the truth would be drowned in a sea of irrelevance. Orwell feared we would become a captive culture. Huxley feared we would become a trivial culture, preoccupied with some equivalent of the feelies, the orgy porgy, and the centrifugal bumble puppy. 

As Huxley remarked in Brave New World Revisited, the civil libertarians and rationalists who are ever on the alert to oppose tyranny "failed to take into account man's almost infinite appetite for distractions."

In 1984, Huxley added, "people are controlled by inflicting pain. In Brave New World, they are controlled by inflicting pleasure. In short, Orwell feared that what we hate will ruin us. Huxley feared that what we love will ruin us".

This book is about the possibility that Huxley, not Orwell, was right.

- Neil Postman, Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business

Jersey is a heart warming story. It's inspired from the life of the late cricketer Raman Lamba. I don't remember much about his career but the kid in me was thrilled to see him come out to bat and he was the fittest person in the team. 

When I read the review of the movie, I thought it was the story of Robin Singh. But this is a story of thousands of talented Indian cricketers and other sportsmen who lost their dreams because of omnipresent bureaucracy. This hasn't changed even today. 

Movies like Jersey are a remainder to younger generation to see the reality as it is, stop using cricket to fuel nationalism, be persistent to fight the system and change it. One can dream. 

The song Maiyya Mannu is soothing.

After a long long time, I got to watch not one but two soulful Hindi movies.