Cricket as a National Religion

With apologies to Ghalib, let me say about your article that:

dEkhnA `tehrIr` kI lazzat, ke jo `tum nE likhA` maEN ne yeh jAnA ke goyA yeh bhi mErE dil meN thA

(I hope it is not inappropriate to quote Urdu

verse in this forum, but with a name like `Chowk`....:-)

I have often said that cricket is the national

religion --- though that statement is probably reflective of my parochial mindset. I have no evidence that the lonely goatherd on a Baluchi hill has the slightest interest in cricket, or is even aware of Wasim Akram, but for the urban and semi-urban denizens of the Sub-Continent, cricket is indeed something of a religion. Do we not stay up nights in prayer, or wake up before dawn to kneel reverently before the television set that carries moving images of our dieties? Do we not treasure every miracle and execrate every sin? Do we not turn famous victories and shameful defeats into the stuff of myth and legend, passed down from one generation to the next? Do not some of us --- more devout in their practices --- commit large parts of the Holy Text (Wisden) to memory, and recite it at appropriate --- and sometimes, alas, inappropriate --- moments? Sounds like religion to me. Hell, I personally find it easier to contribute $500 to Dish Network in the name of cricket than giving the same amount to the local Islamic Center --- all so that when the call for prayer (aka the toss) occurs, I am there, with hope in my heart and `chai` in my hand, ready to adore the apparitions on the sacred television monitor.

Nice article!

Ali Minai

PS: It pains me to do this, but here`s the obligatory disclaimer: Readers of the opinions expressed above should not take them more seriously than the writer does.

a well written and insightful article.enjoyed it berry much.


shandana

Cricket as the national religion of Pakistan.....sure why not. They have a lot in common; both are a waste of time and are a case of much ado about nothing!