Hurray!

When film stars and obscenely rich businessmen along with their wives, wave the tricolour from the VIP boxes,I cannot help but wonder what their India is like.
Imagine,you live in a palace,step out in designer clothes,donning large dark sunglasses into the most luxurious expensive cars,temperature suited to your comfort,driven by courteous chauffeurs,or into your private jet served by your staff.Here,you are king(or queen),and a king can do no wrong.You will never need to slip a 500 rupee note into the greasy hands of a traffic police or queue up behind hundreds of cars to fill yours,before gas stations call an indefinite strike,or worry about your kids admission or sweat over your new venture,or wait for months before you get that call for a job interview.
You wave your hands and the crowds cry out in thousands,you smile at them before vanishing into your hotel guarded by your men.At other times,when you feel too bored to wave,you order your guards to shoo the large crowd away.
When you wish to have a quick ride to your meeting venue,across the city,your managers and advisors call up the 'right people' to ensure your car is not held up at some traffic congestion.Will you even have the time to think of another man,who may be battling for life inside an ambulance held up for too long?The country you were born in,loves you, and of-course ,you love it back.
You spend millions and buy a cricket team to show your love,and you open retail chains in sprawling shopping malls so common people can improve their taste in clothes and food ,jewelery.
You build schools,where the hapless returning NRI ,Senior Executive, Media mogul, Entrepreneur,or Politician parents,who suffer anxiety at the thought of the company their children gather at those public schools,can finally,peacefully send their kids!So,when they declare you a true visionary, and when newspapers call you reformer,you are glad to see your patriotism recognized.
Then the camera turns at the ordinary stands,where 'the crowd' paint their faces and wave placards ,jump up and down,shout and cry.I cannot see individual faces here,but a field of heads and shoulders.But I look more carefully today,I try to spot a friend who has bought a ticket from the 'blackers' at thrice the value,almost his entire biweekly pay.I think I did spot him,fervently swinging his tricolour at every direction,wasn't that him in a blue shirt?One cannot be too sure though!
My neighbour's son,who is quite a few years younger than me,practices the game religiously.He can answer any quiz on the game,now isn't that something?He cannot watch today though,there has been a power-cut in their row of houses since last night.So he keeps peeping from across the boundary wall to catch a glimpse of our TV.
The man who runs a tea stall just opposite where I live,has been saving up for the last few years.Finally he has bought his first TV just before the matches started,though he had to loan a few hundred bucks from his friend,the bus conductor.They both are watching the game over cups of tea and frenzied shrieks.Not too many customers came to drink his tea,today.Less sales ,means he will walk home ten miles on foot,to try and cover the day's losses.
The bus conductor,is a school dropout.He had to drop out after his brother,the only bread earner in his family,met with an accident and died.He was hired by the same transport company his brother worked for.
That company is run by a aging man who lives nearby.He has a tough time keeping the wheels moving,given the rising fuel costs and deteriorating conditions of the vehicles and the equally disparaging roads and traffic conditions.Today he has given the day off,so his 'boys' can watch the game.Most of them are at his place watching it on his colour TV,while his wife serves them chai and snacks.
The wife is a cheerful little lady who needs very little to keep her happy.Indeed she has very little left after her son has left for USA to finish his education.Her parents had left her a little piece of land and some gold which had to be sold off little by little, to pay for her father-in-laws expensive surgery and to buy her son's dreams.
Her son is a diligent boy,works hard and will surely make his parents proud.
Today,she missed him,he loved watching these games and played well too!He was a top class player,"he can go upto the state levels in a few years"the school coach had said.
His middle class parents were not overjoyed,they knew the probability of an assured paycheck even for a talented player like him,could be slim,since he had no contacts,no godfathers or billions to influence anyone,studies would give him a better chance!
Suddenly the thoughts are interrupted by cheers in the parlour.India wins the game.Everyone shouts out "hurray"!