Column

The T20 cricket World Cup kicks off today. And movie releases and television shows are being charted out despite and sometimes around the sporting action, so as not to loose out on eyeballs. Indian skipper Dhoni said at the pre-departure press briefing that it’s about playing for the country now. The country of course ought to be smiling, being offered the toss up between World Cup sport and big ticket entertainment in the hot months ahead. Trade analysts are predicting around Rs 300 crore at stake at the box office till June, as mega budget films line up for release one after another. Add to this a slew of television shows, all set to debut this summer. Amidst all the entertainment lined up, the World Cup cricket tournament sits pretty, confident of its place in the scheme of things, to be followed, at a less fanatical level (at least in India) by other sport, like tennis and the football World Cup. Watch Sport or Entertainment? It isn’t a fair question when the country in question is India and the sport in question is cricket. To call cricket a sport is sacrilege, it’s religion here, everybody knows that. So then why even bother with the entertainment bit?

Do I dare say it’s because there are those who’d prefer entertainment over the game? Or because there are those who’d like to follow both? How about the entertainment industry has lined up so much fare over the coming months, despite summer vacations and sport, they must be acting on some knowhow? Or should it just be said that in any case we’ve been entertained so much over the last few weeks with the controversies and the opening of the IPL Pandora’s box that it’s safe to conclude that the two — cricket and entertainment — now go hand in hand. We can’t have one without the other following suite before long!
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Pets make better listeners than husbands, says a poll released on Wednesday in the US. A third of married women believed their pets to be better listeners than their husbands. Though the survey was not conducted here, I can vouch for the fact that pets make wonderful sounding boards. I have mentioned that my yellow labrador Simba endures my mood swings, and certainly, my silences (as does my husband, I should add). But for all-out, sound barrier-breaking toddler yells, you need more than your average survival skills, no matter how robust your resilience is. Enter Simba, displaying the sanity of a saint. His patience when dealing with my three-year-old is exemplary: in exuberance or frustration, her every whimsical yell is borne with equanimity. And she responds to this unconditional positive regard with the directness of the very young — in moments of crisis, or when being reprimanded for being naughty, it is Simba she runs to, hiding her small face in his coarse yellow fur, the comfort of its roughness no doubt greater balm than her flannel-soft pillow. And I am lost at this sight, the great big dog’s gentle soothing of the little baby, wordless and profound.

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And the state turns 50 on Maharashtra Day tomorrow. I’m excited because my favourite, the simple varan bhat toop limbu will be the special at most of the clubs and restaurants celebrating tomorrow!