Every four years comes a time, when you pin all your hopes on your team to bring home the coveted trophy, the World Cup. And my team is Argentina for football and India, of course, for cricket. This post is not about football. Maybe I should have written about it during my depression at the end of Argentina's campaign. Anyway, back to cricket. Cricket is not my favourite sport, not by a long shot. I have even often argued with people about it being a non-sport because of the limited physical activity involved. But I am an ardent follower of the game when India plays, a die-hard Sachin Tendulkar fan and like most Indians, someone who dreams of the glory Team India would one day bring us. Nothing can unite millions of people and generate a positive hysteria like sport and in India, nothing can create this passionate frenzy like cricket.
It has been a long wait. On the previous five occasions ( I wasnt around in '83 and my zilch memory of the next two means I didnt watch them), all dreams were shattered by a couple of early exits and a few heartbreaking late losses. This was betted as our best chance, and more importantly for me, this was Sachin's last chance to win the most prestigious event of them all, the only achievement left for the 'Son of the Nation'. The three knockout matches against Australia, Pakistan and Sri Lanka had made me a nervous wreck. But India came on top and sent me along with a billion other people over the moon.
With Argentina disappointing yet again after making a promising start, and Federer and Chelsea hardly winning anything, I had made a resolution that I should not let losses in sport affect me. After all, people I dont know personally doing something beyond my control shouldnt ruin my health, right? Wrong!!! The Indian World Cup win reminded me how going through the agony of defeat and longing for that win multiplies the joy and sense of accomplishment when victory finally comes. The seemingly crazy dependence of happiness on sport may not be such a bad thing after all.
Jai Ho.
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