Cricket Mania

World Cup is about to begin. Frenzy everywhere, anticipation infectious. People are delighted. They are collecting paper glossed time tables with elaborate details. Newspapers are printing the opinions of the cricketers of all times, the young and the old, the hot and the not.

Even if I am bound not to generalize, I have to say people are involved at different levels in cricket. I have the following categories:

a. These are the people who have the true knowledge of the game and know the tricks and the trade of it. They enjoy playing the game and therefore, follow the game like a fanatic, as they see their abilities being appreciated by many in another form. This breed owns auto-biologies of the greats. This breed argues and discusses various rules and regulations of the game. This breed is rare and is worthy of notice.

b. These are the people who have superficial knowledge of the game and their dedication and loyalty to the game supersedes the former. These are the folks who have once played cricket but now don't. The magic of the game still controls them. These are the ones who, even though don't have or don't intend to know more about the game, but have un-shattering faith on the game.

c. These are the people who are spell bound and mesmerized by the hoopla and the hype around the game. They might have played cricket in their childhood out of playfulness but they see cricket now as a gem owned by others but whose shine twinkles in their own eyes.

d. These are the people who use cricket as the topic to break the ice between colleagues and fellow peers when they meet and discuss the recent match highlights as a means to make their place in the group. They neither have the interest to plunge into the details nor intent to do so. These are the folks who are bound to the game only because they find no other way to make their place in the cricket-dominated discussions. They are the ones who know in the back of the mind that there are other more worthy things to discuss and ponder upon, but do not dare to reveal, and flow with the flow.

Which one is you? Do you dare to differ? Anyways enjoy the World Cup!