Now, Howzatt!
Now, you know why we’re cricket crazy!
It’s only there that we can decimate
The demonized nation
It’s only there we can feel we won.
With ugly bald-headed monsters blaring
Into our ears an unintelligible blabber
Around this fifth-year festival of ‘democracy’
Leading us to believe what the ‘real issues’ are-
Instructing us about what our priorities should be-
Showing us empty unfinished concrete buildings
Of statistics which seem to show us
We are becoming invincible.
We know they are fooling us but we have no choice
But to throw them back to power for lack of an alternative.
That is why we give our hearts to the exploits of Dravid and Pathan.
We think and believe that here is the true sign of our nation shining.
Now, please don’t tell us they were ‘fixed’ matches.
Our dreams would shatter. Our hearts would break.
Please let us keep our beliefs, however false they may be.
We have got used to living in a make-believe world.
We have reached the Orwellian 1984.