The Indian Premier SAfari

The Asian community here has always had a cultural affinity with the subcontinent,and with the IPL,they are willing to play along with faux regional rivalries from another continent. Nabbi,whose roots go back to Punjab,is rooting for Preity Zintas Kings XI Punjab. Rivonia Singh,a 22-year-old medical student from Pietermaritzburg,who is of Tamil descent,said she would be supporting the Chennai Super Kings.

Starting this weekend,South Africa will be wooed by an upstart league of quickie cricket that is calling all faithfuls through kitschy posters The heat is coming,huge billboards and radio or television spots in which Indians tell not-so-funny jokes in heavy accents One shows an overweight,Indian man swinging his arm about as though he has just smacked a ball for six; the tagline reads: The Yuvraj. Above all,there is the promise of fast,absorbing cricket.

For Maverick,the company packaging IPL to South Africa,the challenge is to give the format a broader scope. We dont want to create another India here. Instead we are going to marry Indian and South African culture, said Andrew Ross,who is in charge of the projects marketing. The opening ceremony on Saturday set the tone for this cultural encounteras the rich harmonies of the marimba,an African percussion instrument,consisting of wooden bars that are struck with a mallet,combined with the beats of the tabla. The music for the remaining matches will be funky fusion too. Kajra re will be played alongside some of South Africas home-grown rock and kwaito,its version of hip-hop. The people serving up the music at the stadiums are South African club DJs who are accustomed to spinning their tracks at the local Twenty-20 series,known as pro20 in South Africa. The same can be said of the dancers. Six of the eight teams will be using dancers from a common pool of South African girls. The cheerleaders have been training with local choreographers both the African shimmy and the Indian jhatka.
The tournament was welcomed to African shores with a carnival on the streets of Cape Town on Thursday night. The aim was to introduce the teams to the local fans and announce their arrival. Not that the people needed reminding.

But not all of the country has fallen for the IPLs charms. While the coastal cities of Durban and Cape Town are buzzing with excitement,life in Johannesburg has never seemed more normal. That perhaps comes from such a thing as perspective. South Africa will,after all,host the FIFA World Cup in two years and thats as big as it gets. Cricket,even the pulsating shorter version,has competition in SA from sports such as rugby and soccer. I dont think many of us here are really that concerned that the IPL is coming. Sure,it will give us something to do but we have so many events in the next few months Super 14 Rugby,Confederations Cup,local soccer tournaments that this is just another one of them, says 37-year-old Jon Gericke,one of many residents keeping up with the rat race in South Africas most serious city,Johannesburg. The Rosebank/Killarney Gazette,a community newspaper in the city,reported that residents in the apartment blocks close to the Wanderers are up in arms over the traffic and parking congestion they will have to face because of the matches.

So,Durban it will be where the IPL will find a home the quickest. A lot of residents have already pledged loyalty to the Mumbai Indians teamand not only because the city has been dubbed South Africas Mumbai. Some of the young players of the team have been here since before the Lahore attack,training with Shaun Pollock and Jonty Rhodes. And people cant get enough of them. They flock to the practice sessions and treat them like heroes, says Nabbi. Durbanites have also lined up Bollywood bashes and bhangra nights to pump up the excitement.The affections are reciprocated. Ahead of the competition,all eight teams in the league wanted to be based in Durban and feel at home.

Cricket with Bollywood masala will work elsewhere too. Nandini Nagin,a 23-year-old trainee lawyer from the largely Indian town of Lenasia,south of Johannesburg,says that just knowing Shah Rukh Khan is in the same city as her,is enough to get her interested in the IPL. Im supporting the Kolkata Knight Riders because that is Shah Rukhs team. He is much more iconic than a Hollywood celebrity. I didnt follow the tournament last year but now that its so close to home,I want to keep up.

The league has also struck a chord in Bloemfontein,a city in which Indians were banned after dark during apartheid,and Pretoria,the epitome of white Afrikaaner culture. Elize Lombard,CEO of the Titans franchise the local cricket side,said she will be targetting the Indian suburb of Laudium and has even discovered a sizeable Hyderabadi community in Midrand,the town between Johannesburg and Pretoria. For matches involving the Deccan Chargers,she hopes to advertise on the community radio station and drum up some support.

As much as the event relies on the Bollywood factor to sustain it for the five weeks over which it will be played,IPLs biggest marketing tool is that its bringing the best players in the world to South Africa. Shane Burger,a franchise cricketer for the Lions,played in warm-up matches against the Delhi Daredevils and Bangalore Royal Challengers. He says,When you play against them,you realise just how good those teams are and just what good value they are to watch. We watched it on our televisions last year but never thought we would see it live. Cricket fans are in for a treat because at no other time will they get to see so many of the worlds best in one tournament. The teams are so well-matched and the competition so good,I think anyone could win,and thats going to the really interesting part.

And what about the South African experience that Indian players can expect? Indians from Durban are not carbon copies of Indians in India. They have their own culture and perhaps our visitors will take something back, said Nabbi. Like the Durban curry,he explains. Its nothing like a north Indian or south Indian curry. It has its own unique flavours and scents. I hope some of the IPL players will be willing to go to Johnnys Roti a local restaurant and try out one of the rotis with chips. Now if only the cricket would be as finger-licking delicious.