Flash back to 2007. A normal day and I was brimming with confidence. It was India vs Bangladesh in the World cup being played in Trinidad. I thought it will be a cake walk for us since we were one of the favourites (we always are) and Bangladesh really were not a team to be feared. Don't really want to explain in detail we lost and so did our hopes once again. Lots of anger and I decided not to watch a match again.
Fast forward 4 years...
Tomorrow the 2011 world cup kicks off. India and Bangladesh are the co-hosts and the first match India vs Bangladesh. All these years I just managed to keep track of the "Men in Blue" but never watched any of their matches. As days got nearer to the first match I found myself involuntary following the team news, I managed to download the fixture list, found out in which group India played and all their matches and then thinking on the possible wins and potential tricky matches. This is the story of every Indian cricket fan, right back to support them whenever they need it the most and every time they are the favourites. THIS IS THE WAY WE ARE....
I followed a quite a number of interviews and read about every past cricketers reading out their prophecies and dishing out wisdom that no one in the world really cared for. The guys selected for the Indian team did have a lot to say but there was one common rhetoric they wanted to win the world cup for Sachin. It is probably going to be his final world cup and what a fitting tribute it would be to the greatest ever player to yield a bat. From the captain to the seniors to the youngsters everyone wanted to win it for Sachin, they felt it would be a great gift from them to a player who served Indian cricket for more than two decades.
Then there was an interesting interview from a former world cup winner, he mentioned how Indians shouldn't think about winning the world cup for Sachin. They should be thinking as a team, they should be thinking of winning it for themselves. I found it interesting yet not surprising. It's quite difficult to understand an Indian mentality until you have lived as one. Absolutely no wrong in what the gentlemen said but there are certain things (with a little bit of pride here) that sets us apart. Here was the Indian cricket captain (considered to be the most difficult job in India) declaring that it's the team's wish that they win the world cup for Sachin. Not for themselves first, but for someone else.
It's a something all of us Indian's stand for. Love and Respect. In spite of so much diversity and so many manipulating forces both political and communal we still manage to show a lot of love to each other. It doesn't matter whether we win or not, but what a magnanimous gesture !! And to those who still can't figure this all out, all I want to say is, "THIS IS THE WAY WE ARE".
A quote from a book called Shantharam...
"That's how we keep this crazy place together - with the heart.... India is the heart. It's the heart that keeps us together. There's no place with people, like my people, Lin. There's no heart like the INDIAN HEART"
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