Lunchless in Mohali

It's called jumping on to the bandwagon. Its the easiest thing to do. Someone else does the slogging and hard work, something becomes popular, and you just take a light step up, climb onto the bandwagon, and enjoy the benefits. Free.

The lines between "sports" and "circus" are blurring fast.

What is routine in this country, is that you spend and dedicate amazing number of hours to practice , workouts, and fitness. Sometimes you travel hours just to get there. In places like Mumbai, you even battle another war as you struggle to travel in suburban trains with your kitbag. Then you appear for selections , where spending on athletes/players is really the lowest priority. Once you are selected you attend camps, where you build up your immunity by being subject to suspect environments in air and water. And of course there is a Godfather system, and a Geographical equal opportunity system.

Our politicians, by definition are part , nay, the whole, of sports management in this country. In Cricket, they have reached International levels in management, while in other sports, they tangle at the CWG level, staying true to their aptitude for making dark hued money, while denying our sportsmen and women, simple things like travel allowances, and decent lodgings during meets..

When it looks like you are going to play a cracker of a match with a politically significant opponent country and this is becoming a world event, you invite the PM of the opponent country to watch.

And that's when the circus starts.

Our Indian team, played their semifinal of the World cup at Mohali at 2:30 pm without lunch .

Why ?

Because with all the security cordons, restrictions, no fly, no drive, no walk zones, and checking of anything that resembles a closed box, the caterers could not reach in time, to allow the team a light lunch.


Why, because two PM's, and their assorted total staff of 100's , decided to attend, and sometime during the match, they went off for a fancy sit down dinner at the stadium. Channels cooed over the menu, and who sat next to whom, and read meanings into things.

While the boys played their hearts out on the cricket field. Lunchless.


I now hear that the Presidents of India and Sri Lanka will atend the final in Mumbai. With their individual entourages. Once again, there are no fly, no park, no walk zones, and thousands of security checks.

Maybe they will have a sit down dinner. They will sit side by side and shake hands with the teams and with each other. There will be photo opportunities, and menu discussions. Glum looks or practiced smiles depending on what is happening.

And the circus will start all over again.

There's just one encouraging thought.

Last time this kind of thing happened , a few days ago in Mohali, we won.

Maybe the Taj can now send lunch dabbas for our team in the team bus itself.