In cricket’s shadow•Your news title, What about us orphans is a heart wrenching one. The bitter lament of hockey stars that, compared to the welcome and financial bounty given to the victorious cricket team which has just returned from South Africa, gives one a vantage point to think deeply about the obsession of people with the game of cricket. Is it lack of genuine heroes in today’s society that pushes people to seek comfort in a cricket victory? Or is it because this gives an opportunity to people who are indolent to pass time in watching cricket matches on TV? People old and young bunk their offices or colleges to witness cricket live, totally oblivious of anything else. The same people who are idolising cricketers now would be the first to pelt stones and burn their effigies after a defeat in an important match. Ajit Wadekar, Shahid Afridi and Younis Khan have all gone through this experience. Even the parents of today’s hero, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, must not have forgotten the unpleasant sight of their son’s effigy being burnt after the ignominious exit of India from the World Cup carnival just a few months ago. — John Alexander NagpurToo triumphal•Our national tendency to swing from one emotional extreme to another seems all-pervasive. It was on full display for several days since September 24 when the Indian cricket team won the inaugural Twenty20 cricket final against Pakistan. The cliff-hanger match between the traditional rivals gave the feel of India snatching victory from the jaws of defeat; thus, the outcome appeared remarkable. But saturation coverage by the media, particularly TV, seemed to suggest that the nation had gone berserk. The showering of monetary and other rewards on the players — like a Porsche for Yuvaraj and one crore rupees for his six sixes in one over — seemed vulgar and bizarre. One has not forgotten how several Team India members were received by Indian fans only a few months ago. India will soon spar with Australia. What happens if we lose? Should we not learn to take victory and defeat in our stride?— M. RatanNew Delhi•The importance we have come to attach to success scares me. Suppose the Pakistanis had hit just one more sixer in the World Cup? Would that have made India a flop team? If that were the case, I am sure, our cricket crazy compatriots would have condemned today’s heroes as zeroes.— M. Hasan JowherAhmedabadMuslims left behind•I fully endorse Vitall Gupta’s views in his letter, Progeny power. A.K. Sharma, who has blamed the Muslim community for the population explosion in his letter, ‘Teeming millions’ (IE, September 25) should know that it is poverty and lack of education that are responsible for the malaise. For example, the birth rate in the backward states of UP and Bihar is the highest and almost equal in both the Hindu and Muslim community, and the lowest in Kerala, which has the highest literacy in the country. Moreover, poverty in the Muslim community is higher because of caste-based reservations. Its members find road blocks in the path to progress. The major chunk of seats in educational institutions and in government jobs goes to Hindu and Sikh reserved categories and women. Even the poorest of the poor Muslims have to compete within the non-reserved categories. Naturally, they get left behind. Reservations and other concessions should be on an economic basis. — Dalip Singh Ghuman Mumbai.
