Foul becomes sweet…

Last time I had been ‘chosen’ for my serious Haiku.  This time for Ronovan Writes Weekly Haiku Challenge 37, I am in a very different mood as my thoughts seem to flow only in one direction today.

Firstly, here’s my Haiku on the two words given to us:  Foul & Sweet 

      the foul games of life
      hurt, but once they’re over
      begin life’s sweet overs

In my above Haiku, of course I am talking about vagaries and treacheries of general life, about how we are often hurt by unfair treatment we come across esp. in the hands of people known to us. But once we get over such foul experiences, we can start to live the sweet ‘overs‘ of life.

Over and out!!   Read the rest of my post only if interested in the game of overs.

~~~

What else can I talk about today except overs – yes the cricketing overs. Right now as I write, India and Australia are standing against each other in the middle of the battle ground. The war bugle is about to go and soon the game of overs will start in full fervour.

The game…Cricket World Cup semi-final.
Team Australia vs. Team India.  Gold vs. Blue.
The winning team will go to the finals and have a match against New Zealand, the Kiwis.

Today’s semi-final is important for both Australia as well as India. It’s one final chance to to win the World Cup. Hopes of one team will be dashed today.

But Australian-Indians…which team will they go for?  Which country do they side with?
Is it a question to be asked? India of course.
But is that fair?
Please don’t ask that.
Indians will favor their adopted country in every other way except in cricket.
Please please let us side with India, they seem to say.  Sorry about that.
But how fairly-unfair is this!!!  or is it unfairly-fair?
Foul and sweet at the same time.

Call it sweet or foul, it is true that 70% of the of the 42,000 seats at Sydney Cricket Ground have been bought by Indian fans. It’s also well-known that Indian cricket fans are an agitated passionate lot – very noisy. No wonder Australian captain Michael Clarke is worried.

Call it fair or foul – sledging too is a huge part of the cricket ground, esp. foul words are always exchanged between Australian and Indian cricket teams.
But Sydney’s Today Show host Karl Stefanovic began the tete-e-tete even before the game began. While interviewing Indian cricket supporters today morning, before the semi-final between Australia and India, Stefanovic said:  “I was just going to ask…who’s going to be manning 7-Elevens today?

Actually, many newly migrated Indian students take up part-time jobs in petrol-pumps like 7-Eleven and similar service stations. So Karls’ logic was that if 70% of Indians will be at cricket ground, who will take care of the petrol pumps?
Funny retort. Leg pulling? Fair enough!!
His remarks offended many touchy-type Indians.

But hey! C’mon!!  It was only a joke. Be a sport…!!!

     Everything is fair in love and war.
     Fair becomes foul and foul becomes fair. 

Of course war it is, this cricket, esp. between Indians and …and…any team. Any team.
For most Indian cricket fans the slogan is – ‘My heart bleeds for blue’.

Personally speaking, as the match began sometime back with national anthems, my heart felt almost similar beats when listening to both the Indian anthem Jan Gan Man as well as Advanced Australia Fair, the Australian anthem.

Shouldn’t it beat for only one of them?  What say? In this global world, all countries are full of migrants from here to there, how fair and how foul are our loyalties?

P.S. Australia had won the semi-finals against India ,and also eventually won the World Cup, that too by huge margins.