Birthday Celebrations: A year added or subtracted from your AGE!!!

There is a big transition in birthday celebrations from the time we were born and to this point and we will see a lot of things happening in this drama of events in the near future as well. These two transitions are different in the sense is that in one case( School days) we eagerly wait for out birth day to come and in the other state(College days) we don’t want our birthday to come and we don’t make it public and avoid as much as possible.

When we were born, Our parents used to celebrate our birth on our behalf and there is this tradition in some parts of our country that if a boy is born then we used to have a lot of parties and if a girl is born then that is not seen as a moment of celebration. Then in the next 2-3 years, Parents gets an excuse to spend lavishly on their kid’s birthday depending on the condition of the family.

Then comes the age when we start going to school and during this time we used to carry toffees and chocolates to the school and class teacher used to announce before the start of the class about the birthday and the event of toffee distribution commences after the announcement followed by classes and that day we get the liberty of not studying and can do any mischief without being punished.

Then comes the age when we start going to high school and we used to give party in the school to our close friends and to the home friends in the evening. And the planning for this day starts well in advance .We negotiate for the gift part with our parents as to which gift, what cost and all that stuff and parents also gives us an option of celebrating birthday or getting a gift.

Then comes the stage where you believe that birthday should not be celebrated and avoided as much as possible. The first paradox is that you fail to understand whether “ One year is added to your age or a year is gone by from your age”.

When your birthday comes then the first thing that scares you are the “ Birthday Bumps”. You are treated not like a birthday boy but an object on which you can take out your frustration and that day anybody and everybody want you to realize the mistake of coming to this world and specially to this college. That day everybody gets this license to lift you anywhere on four shoulders and start giving thrashes with whatever objects they have and favorite ones are “chappals”,”Legs” and sometimes “Belts” and the most favorite places are classrooms, night canteen and hostels.

Then comes your birthday night and the real drama starts and this time you don’t plan your birthday but your friend does it and a mail is sent to all the students of the college on your behalf to come and enjoy your birthday. First these luxurious birthday bumps are given to that guy in the hostel and after this he is taken to the night canteen popularly known as NC where a bunch of frustrated people assemble together to give the Traditional Bumps to this guy. Then “Rajyabhishek” is done to this guy where milk, cold drinks, sauce, eggs are poured over this guy and the birthday cake becomes a cosmetic material that day.

Then for the next few days whenever he sleeps or sits (Because hips don’t Lie), he used to think why birthdays are celebrated and whether this day is a day of Joy or the other way round.

Modern day cricket !!! More of a Drama...

I am writing a post on Cricket, which is treated not only as a game but also as a religion in our country. And the Sachins and Yuvrajs are called the Gods of this religion. I will throw some light on the taste of the spectators, which has transformed drastically in the past few years. The taste can be called the behavior of the consumers, which are spectators in this case.

 The cricket has changed its color right from the Don Brad man’s era to Sachin’s era. And now the world will see a great transformation in the way the game is being played.

Earlier during early 1900, we used to have spectators who appreciated the game of cricket and who spared 5 days of their busy schedule to watch cricket and they patiently watched the match. That was the Era of test cricket and we used to have full 5 days match and Lord’s was called the home of Cricket. Test cricket tested the perseverance, technique, skills, and character of the players. Players needed stamina to battle it out for 5 days and that was very much appreciated and lauded with respect by the spectators. Even though most of the test matches ended up in draw but still spectators were happy watching the test cricket.

Then during 1950’s, the cricket changed its state from test cricket to one-day cricket. This happened mainly because of busy schedule of people and lack of patience of spectators to wait for 5 days to get the results. They were happy watching 100 overs in one day and were more interested in getting the result in one day. The tastes of spectators changed drastically and they were more interested in watching batsman hitting all around the ground and bowlers making fun on fast pitches. The pitches were made fast so that bowlers also have something in the pitch to have a real go at the batsman.

Then came the Era of late 1980’s and 1990’s where cricket took the commercialization way and spectators were interested in who is winning the match and there were lot of gambling took place during that time. Spectators had the power to turn the match in their favor by hook or by crook. So those matches insulted the game of cricket and the players underperformed to get the results they wanted.

Then came the Era of early 2000 and the cricket changed its path from 50-50 overs cricket to 20 overs a side game. The match is a matter of just 4 hours and spectators were happy watching the match for 4 hours and getting the results. Then the 20-20 era resulted in commercialization of cricket where players and teams were sold and this was a huge hit across the world and tournament called IPL was a huge success in India. Spectators were least interested in who is playing as long as batsman is hitting all around the ground and cheerleaders are swinging their booties.

And now the era will come in which spectators will be interested in watching cricket for 2 hours after their office or working hours just to relax and nobody will be interested in testing and appreciating the skills of the players but will be more interested in the glamorous quotient of the game like cheerleaders and short version of the game. An era will come where match will be played 5 overs a side and the game for last for an hour but the preparations for the match will take more time than the match duration.