Of Boring Cricket & Happening Books

Post an irksome Cricket World Cup, I received 1001 e-mails ranging from ICC to Greg Chappell; from bookie losses to one-sided matches; from Bob Woolmer to rains; from long schedules to a faulty Duckworth-Lewis system…and what not. Quite frankly, I am bored, and cannot care less. I will not add anything else to the gamut of things you’ve heard about Cricket; other than 2 facts that glare at me hard:

1. A well-performing Indian team and participation of sub-continental teams like India and Pakistan is healthy for World Cricket and the game in general. These teams, however, seem to be decades behind the mighty Aussies.
2. The quality of telecasts in India; that is dominated by commercialism, is going to kill the game slowly but surely; what with excessive ads, cut-short commentary and the evident fact that instead of the advertisers supporting the game, it is the game that is supporting the advertisers!

And heck, yes, India did badly. So? Leave ‘em alone. “It’s just a game”. You might’ve experienced the spirit of it all. You might’ve been on the turf, playing the game as much with your mind as with your body…but hey, at the end of the day, it is just a game, and people like me (and many, many others), who have lived this game, have no reason to feel vanquished. Remember, when it comes to winning and losing, it IS just a game.

But we can ponder over what’s going wrong with Cricket. Commercialization in excess? With the next World Cup lined up to be played in the subcontinent (India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh), I don’t see the havoc of commercialization giving the game any respite.

The purpose of this post is by no means to discuss about Cricket…relax…no bookies. ONLY BOOKS! Yes, book-wise, the last 2 weeks of April had been swell for me. Work had been heavy as always, but the books gave me much hiatus.

When it comes to my reading escapades during that period, 5 points worth the ink:

1. One of my students had once borrowed “WHY WE BUY (THE SCIENCE OF SHOPPING)” by Paco Underhill for her Marketing class, and she got inspired by it and worked on a project with the same company that Paco Underhill’s associated with (he started it). So, when Paco was in town last week, the same student asked for my book (yes, she had miraculously returned it to me post reading) and got it autographed for me by Paco himself. “THANKS FOR READING ~ PACO”, says the cover now!
2. I was introduced to the genius of Satyajit Ray. Nope, not the Filmmaker or the Cinematographer Ray. Not the Documentary Filmmaker either. Not the Scriptwriter, Editor or Designer. Not the Publisher or the Film Critic. I am talking about the Fiction Writer Ray. Talk about versatility! “THE BEST OF SATYAJIT RAY” was the name of the book. 21 great short-stories. Oh, what a brilliant mix of real characters and supernatural events. On one hand, the characters are the everyday Jacks; but are memorable; and on the other hand, each story conjures up some element of the supernatural world, which makes for magical reading. Some of the characters are deeply etched into me now: ASHAMANJO BABU’S DOG, PIKOO, POTOL BABU, just to name a few. The stories and characters are simple (real, humorous and pathetic at the same time). Children reading this would be able to enjoy this as much as an adult would, as there is no dearth of hidden symbolism and meaning. FOR THE UNINITIATED READER: GO BUY RAY!
3. Browsing through the CLASSICS section of a bookstore, I picked up “THREE MEN IN A BOAT” by Jerome Klapka Jerome. I had once read a page of it, and for some reason, could never finish it. So, this time, I did. Well, again, what a great book! The characters (George, Harris, J. – the three men and Montmorency - the dog) are so real. Yes, the style of writing’s good, and the book is based on a real account of a boat journey, and it is consistently peppered with humor; but the best thing about this is: IT HAPPENS ALL THE TIME. IT IS SO REAL.
4. Keeping up with my fascination for Latin writers, I started reading “AUNT JULIA AND THE SCRIPTWRITER” by Mario Vargas Llosa. I will let you know how that one goes.
5. I am still reading WORLD WAR II and MEIN KAMPF. Books like these take time to read!

You’re done reading this post. Almost.

This might’ve come across as another “BOOK REVIEW POST”, but I realize that when you read something, you do put in valuable time and money into it (unless you’re borrowing, of course), so, you’d better be warned about what you read beforehand. For instance, if someone would’ve warned me about the futility of books like “INDLISH” and my SANSKRIT TEXTBOOKS in School, I would never have spent so much as sixpence reading ‘em!

Reader, you can thank the bookworm in cash for these reviews (he’d use it to buy books, of course!).