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October 6, 1998
ELECTIONS '98
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How Readers reacted to Dilip D'Souza's recent columns
Date sent: Wed, 30 Sep 1998 17:40:46 EDT I am surprised about his reference to meaningless cricket in the Sahara tournament. To me cricket at Toronto was much more exciting than anywhere else. In fact, for me the Board of Control for Cricket in India should have sent their A team to Toronto, and a B team to Kaula Lumpur. This is because the Sahara tournament has gathered much more tradition than the Commonwealth tournament -- where cricket is just being introduced. A writer must be much more careful in choosing his phrases. S Subramanyan
Date sent: Wed, 30 Sep 1998 13:26:05 -0700 Cricket is the only sport Indians are best at. I do recognise that the Commonwealth games at KL haven't been given enough attention; but that is the fault of the media. We want more news about cricket as well as other sports. And talking about reforming the political system of India, discussing about cricket does not hurt the existing low moral values of our society. If you guys are good journalists, try to educate the illiterate and get them to understand what kind of idiots they are electing.
Venkat
Date sent: Wed, 30 Sep 1998 17:02:11 -0400 Please stick to your favourite pastime: bashing Hindus! Why must you bash cricket also? It is a game watched by many others too besides the Hindus! V Hari
Date sent: Wed, 30 Sep 1998 14:35:00 -0700 This is a real sensitive issue. Why is cricket so dominant in India? Why is there no money in any other sport in India? We can't just blame cricket or cricket fans for the present situation. There is a lot more money in soccer and tennis globally, but they are not as popular as cricket in India. You go and watch a game, just because you love it. You can't force people to go watch a game they don't like. If people are not watching other games, those games will die. Let them die. It's the same in any country. Take the USA, only football, basketball and baseball have all the money. Let's all be happy that we have one sport which unites our whole country. Indian cricket, I am really proud of you.
Date sent: Wed, 30 Sep 1998 23:02:29 GMT That is a nice one, Dilip. Thanks for coming out so boldly. I for one do not like cricket. Of course it is an interesting game. But we cannot spoil our country's entire sporting arena for the sake of cricket. It is time we realised our mistake and show some of our appreciation to the other sportsmen too. Also, if we want to achieve anything in sports, it has to be taken out of the bureaucratic stronghold. Every time our teams go for any international event we keep hearing stories about refused permissions, wrong selections, favouritism, lack of facilities. Most of the times they go even without proper supply of athletic wear. In the Commonwealth Games itself there was not a single doctor for the entire contingent, while many teams from other countries even had their own dieticians. I simply could not understand these things. Is our country so poor that we couldn't afford a doctor for the team? My goodness! These bureaucrats! Something needs to be done to improve the things. Maybe a hyperactive minister for sports might help. Sivaraj
Date sent: Thu, 01 Oct 1998 11:36:22 +0900 I found Dilip D'Souza's article purposeful and lucid. He is quite correct when he says that we get overly carried away by our emotions over cricket, and do not pay even a fraction of that attention to other sports. Instead of being overly depressed or elated over cricket results, we should also be proud of the achievements of our other sportspersons like Viswanathan Anand, Geet Sethi, Leander Paes & Mahesh Bhupathi, Jaspal Rana, Aparna Popat, Kunjarani and Malleswari. In fact, many wouldn't be aware that we are world carrom champions and have always been so since the tournament started (maybe a decade ago). If the US can give importance to a sport like baseball (which is not even played at an inter-country level) and hijack the world media for the achievements of a McGwire or a Sosa, why can't we rightfully play up the achievements of our champions in sports which ARE played at an inter-country level and hence are much more prestigious? It is time we learnt to shed this obsession toward a single sport and behaved rationally! Balaji
Date sent: Thu, 01 Oct 1998 15:43:27 PDT I started reading Dilip's article thinking that he is just one of those cricket bashers who is plainly intolerant about the popularity of the game, but he surely raises some ponderable questions in mind. I do not agree with some points (they are very few though), but his concern about our obsession with cricket and the collective apathy shown by us towards other sports is understandable. Why even the media cared to say very little about the Indian record in the Commonwealth Games! I found the sarcastic references to the mournful articles written after the Indian cricket team's debacle, and then the overblown ones written after its supposedly superb wins to be very appropriate and amusing. I am sure some public interest and support would electrify our striving sportsmen to achieve better results. We need to be more supportive in lending our emotions. Thank you Dilip for the thought-provoking article. Ratnakar
Date sent: Thu, 01 Oct 1998 13:33:06 -0400 Twentyfive medals in the Commonwealth Games. Wow! Is it really something to be *proud* about? C'mon, man...get real. BTW, what has India done in both hockey and badminton in the last decade on the world stage? Zero. Zilch. Zit. You can't expect people to follow a game, just to lend support to the players. The support starts *after* they prove themselves. After all, the popularity of cricket rose exponentially only *after* we won the World Cup in '83. Only other games worthy of our support would have to be tennis and chess. Nothing else matters. PS: The comparison between Archana Popat and Steffi Graf really *did* put things in perspective. Thanks a lot. BTW, just how many All-England championships has Archana won as yet? I think I have lost count....
Date sent: Wed, 30 Sep 1998 15:36:59 -0400 Please do not get me wrong, I totally believe in free speech but there has to be some distinction between speech and nonsensical garbage. I really can't believe that an excellent site like Rediff can actually manage to keep someone like Dilip on your list of columnists. It's your site and your space, but I believe you must also realise that there is some difference between "unconventional wisdom" and "lack of wisdom." Then he complains of not being able to make it to The Times of India even after 10 years. God forbid, if that happens, TOI will have at least one subscriber less (rather visitor). If you really have to carry Dilip's article, please add this footnote to each of them. "Father, forgive him for he know not what he writes (modified from Luke 23:34)." Amen Yogesh
Date sent: Wed, 30 Sep 1998 13:58:06 -0400 Dilip's comments and arguments are very valid, and I thoroughly agree that a mad degree of cricket 'riotism' is what has been pulling India backwards in all other sports. There is no doubt that India has abundant talent, what else would you expect when 70 per cent of the children take up cricket, and that too, with no degree of seriousness or professionalism in the training period. India surely needs to start looking at other sports, to at least acknowledge the thankless jobs that Indians in those sports are doing. Keshav
Date sent: Wed, 30 Sep 1998 10:21:49 -0700 I agree more than 100% there. You are absolutely right. Cricket is a criminal wastage of our human resources, and should be shown the place it deserves. There are a billion other sports that have been neglected because of cricket. One thing that makes the people in European and American countries so aggressive in every respect is the sport they play. Basketball and football in US have contributed a lot in shaping the personality of the youth. We need games that are vibrant and enthuse the fledgling spirit of our youth. Excellent article. Sameer Kuppahalli
Date sent: Wed, 30 Sep 1998 11:27:37 PDT Thanks for not choosing a communal topic this time. This country is also grateful to you for not blaming the Sangh Parivar and the BJP for the "cricket shenanigans." This article is not worth commenting upon. I am eagerly waiting for your next communal, Communist and Leftist inclined article. Vasu
Date sent: Sun, 27 Sep 1998 23:47:37 -0700 It amazes me to see how people criticise Dilip D'Souza's as a person who writes only on negative issues. Wake up all you spineless cretins who love to cover up the pitiable state of the country with a veil of fateful resignation! We need more pillars of courage, more crusaders like Dilip to shout out the truth, and hopefully inspire and motivate us to expunge the evils that we are so content to live with!
Date sent: Thu, 01 Oct 1998 11:14:44 -0700 Why is it that the burden is on the sport of cricket if other sports are being neglected in the country? Clearly, the sports writers are dishing out stuff because the consumers are there for it. Why don't we, for once, take a look at other sports and say what we can do to make them more appealing and generate interest among the masses. Clearly it's the governing body of each sport that is responsible to market it. Stop crying about what the majority can do (be it sport or otherwise), see what you can do to reach out. Srikanth Malipatlolla
Date sent: Sun, 4 Oct 1998 20:22:14 +0530 I read the article by Mr D'Souza with interest. After the advent of TV and the Packer-originated one day version of the game, cricket is indeed occupying a central place among sports followers and fans in India. One can hardly find any one taking the trouble to go to a stadium and watch foot ball or hockey. It is a pity that we are so partial to one game which occupies so much of our time without even a fraction of the interest shown in other games. The articles certainly provides food for thought and some action by the media, sports federations, businessmen etc. N Murali
Date sent: Sun, 19 Jul 1998 15:28:39 -0400 I would like to request Dilip D'Souza to express his views (in his column) on the ban on the Godse play. For some of us, it would make a difference as to how we regard his views in general. Subramanya Rao |
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