So Team India wins their inaugural match at the World Cup!Great start to the tournament. Hope this continues, and who knows - we might have a good shot at winning it all. Of course we were the mighty champs a few decades ago till the Aussies and the Dutch came over and told Pillai n Pargat to go fly a kite. The last time we won the World Cup was in 1975, and since then most laurels, including Olympics (last was in 1980) have eluded us Indians.
Many folks have reason to believe that Kapil Dev and his underdog triumphants in 1983 were responsible for taking away the limelight and shifting the national obsession to Cricket. Not that we are complaining - how else would we find another God called Sachin. But the point is - slowly and steadily, since the 80s, hockey didnt even matter any more. It was just a piece of general knowledge that kids mugged up in school - regarding Hockey being the national sport of India. That was it ! Seriously, guys - how many of us know about Dhyanchand any more? Not the new generation born in the 90's surely.
But I digress. This first win is what counts, and is a great performance by the team. Specially after all the disputes between the team and the federation that happened all these weeks earlier.
But today, I couldn't help but remember this incident a few months back when I was in Pune. The Indian team was at the Balewadi Sports Complex at the city-outskirts, and training under the Spanish coach Brasa. Barely 4-5 kms away from our place, it felt nice reading about them in the papers - Balewadi has surely great facilities. But here's the thing - the team were served Chivda for breakfast!! I'll say this again, lest you missed it - yes, they were served Chivda! And it was a small piece of dispute covered in the local papers.
Now I personally have nothing against the humble Chivda. In fact as a self-respecting (and expanding) Gujju foodie, I place it highly on my light snacking lists. Laxminarayan chivda from Pune is one of the great delicacies that go divinely with ginger tea. But chivda for hockey players? Really? I mean imagine our team fed on a 'healthy' diet of chivdas locking horns with a big, muscular group of 11 Aussies stuffed with Eggs, bacon, milk, sausages and fruits. Sorry, but the match was lost at the A piece of the story here.
This gives an idea about how a national team is treated if they happen to be playing any sport other than Cricket.
But well, the 1st win is great, especially against Pak, so its time to rejoice! Bring on the chivda,.. err Champagne (German Sekt, if you please) and pray that this great form continues for few more weeks for the boys. In absence of live-TV, I shall try to remain connected through youtube highlights, if I can find them.
PS: Overheard from a twitter feed, this: 4-1 win to India confirmed! Unless Pak government denies that these 11 players are Pak citizens. Lol. (via @rameshsrivats)
