“Life is a slippery wicket…”, and as the saying goes. Isn’t it dicey to compare our precious life with a game or have we made our life a game. That’s all we have to discuss tonight.
To start with let’s go to our roots. In ancient India games like ‘satranj’ were played for recreation purposes. During those time archery wasn’t categorized as games… because man was still dependent on hunting and it was necessary for its basic survival. ‘Satranj’, although
competitive, was played just as time-pass. Fast forward to this century; Times have changed. Primeval man has become gentleman. He longer needs bows and arrows for his lifestyle. But as an ant who never forget the route to its nest we have to keep our instinct alive and hence we find people playing it in indoor stadiums.
Games are added in every school’s time-table. Not because it would help students to take it seriously. On the contrary it is added to add relaxation in the hectic life of the students.
Jobs are becoming less as the population rises. Hence we see humans taking diversion from the usual trend. In various countries, sport has become one of the choices for earning a living. Unfortunately, in India the condition for the same is pathetic.
While we were talking about population lets compare our nation with its closest rival: China. There are five major sports schools in China which start training individual around the age of eight and produce nearly hundred and twenty individuals for every Olympics. In India, the absence of training makes sure that we do not get many trained professionals. Hence we end up looking to recruit people from the army to represent our country in the Olympics. How can we then say that sport is a serious career option?
The conservative background of India means that commoners do not get any awareness about training camps, if they do occur once in a blue moon. There is no encouragement from the families where children are looked upon as bread earners for the family. This lack of support by the family for any kind of games have also been shown in movies such as ‘Iqbal’ where a poor boy is made to fight to pursue his interest for the most popular game in India. Hence, sportsmen hail from rich families where there isn’t a pressure to earn money from the age of ten or of any kind. Others are those who have genuine talent and have the courage to struggle to any level to pursuit there interest. Petty politics in India doesn’t help the situation. If you happen to be the first cousin of the chief minister, you happen to be in the national team, while this doesn’t only discourage potential players but also diminishes the status of the team and of the game. As a game loses its popularity it also loses it funding and sponsorship. Popular games such as cricket do not have funding, sponsorships and viewers at domestic level. Many Ranji matches end up occurring in empty stadiums.
Tendulkars’ are not born everyday, but they can certainly be made. The infrastructure to groom young talent is nil in the country. Youth camps to indentify young talent are very few. In them also you need ‘contacts’ to get noticed.
The national cricket board made a mockery of itself when it was to choose a coach for the national team! The popularity of cricket means that they get a foreign coach on demand and manage to get knocked out in the group stages of the world cup, while there isn’t a proper coach for Sania Mirza, who is ranked In 30’s in the world rankings. The Salt Lake stadium which has the capacity to hold 1,20,000 viewers has a average attendance of 3,000 per match. In the festival time, it is given to organizers to hold fairs. Eden Gardens, one of the biggest grounds in the world, doesn’t have a care taker since the last six months.
Everyone in India wants to become a doctor or an engineer and wants to be a part of making India a developed nation. No problem in doing that, but that means that sports as a career option can take a back seat. Plus it is commonly assumed that a person enter the field of sport only when he is not good at studies.
People look for a career that provides handsome salary and job security, plus some assurance in old age. In India, money is only there in cricket, that too as long as you play. We often read that one time famous cricketer or hockey player dying of illness with the national board just looking on. The board itself is in debt, how do you expect them to pay for an ex-player’s surgery!!! In sports your career end at the age of 40. There isn’t a job guarantee after that. The government does nothing to help those who once represented our country. You are only recognized if you win an award, and that popularity also dies down with time.
With such pathetic conditions neither I nor you would be risking our life in sports. After all, life is not a game, remember!!!
So as a tree that can never leave it roots, India too for the time being has decided to stick to its roots. Sport still is for recreational purposes only.
