Cricket World Cup - Is India a Cricket Loving Nation?

 Here I am, sitting in Finland watching the opening game of the 2023 Cricket World Cup being played in Ahmedabad in Gujarat, India.

Looking at a sparsely populated stadium and an opening ceremony which was totally lack lustre, for the starting point of an event of this magnitude, which takes place only once in 4 years, it is difficult to believe that Indians are cricket loving and also whether the Indian Cticket Board has any competence to host an international event of this significance.

The opening ceremony was Sachin Tendulkar walking out with two Quatari Air Hostesses to place the World Cup on a stand. 

End of opening ceremony.

Shots of the stadium which is supposed to hold 110000 people was hardly a third full!

Does that speak of a country which loves cricket or one which just loves itself and the money which may be lining the pockets of the administrators?

As I watch the cricket on one of six 20 streams available to me, the streams are breaking up every two minutes!

The match goes on but I am sorely disappointed with the Indian organisers and the Indian cricket fans  who are just partisans who love nothing but themselves.

I return to theWorld Cup which was held in 1987 and was run by my family owned company, MRF Ltd. 

It went like clockwork and there was not a single hitch. 

MRF took on the task by telling the Indian Organisers that that would not accept any interference in the organisation. It was tun totally professionally with my two cousins, Vinoo and the late Ravi Mammen, and my good friend S. Rama Ratnam, himself an ardent sports lover, putting together a team of professionals to run the event.

In 1989 I attended a International Semiconductor Conference in Delhi. When I went to the registration counter with my Professor, the lady asked my local address. I told her we were staying at the MRF Guest House in Sundernagar. On hearing this she asked for my relationship to MRF. When I told her of my roots, she did not take any money to register us and we were given pride of place at the conference, much to the amazement of my colleague! 

She told me that MRF had brought great credit to our country in the way they had organised the World Cup!

Shame today on my country.

 I am ashamed on the organisation of the present Wotld Cup, an insult to sports loving cricket fans around the world. .

Delhi hosts us

It was so great that the Delhi Cathedralites Alumni organised a special event so that Annikki and I could meet with them yesterday.

Two of us present were wearing the new Alumni tie - 49er Yezad and myself. Deepak has one, but he thought the event was informal, so did not wear it. After all, he organised it, so his strict definition of "smart casual" was tieless! :-)

The Cathedralite Delhi Chapter had so thoughtfully brought back a tie for his classmate, Jamshed, which was presented to him at the occasion by Yezad. I was so touched that Jamshed made it to the party.



Among those who attended included 49ers Jamshed Desai, Raj Bhandari and Yezad Kapadia (with wife Rati). 54er Rahul Bajaj, Savage House Captain and also a Stephanian, stayed back in New Delhi especially to be present at the occasion. Ravi Jaitly, another 54er attended with his wife Krishna. 55er Anil (Bobby) Bhalla was present. 56er Pradeep Anand was there. The 57ers present was Tony (Ashok) Jaitly, who is also a Stephanian, and Annelita (nee Uttamsingh) Thadani and her husband, Ravinder K Thadani (Baby). 58ers were represented by Maiti Sayal. 59ers included Harmo Rani Malik (née Uberoi) accompanied by her daughter, 82er Priya and Vijay Nayar, (and myself). 60ers were Dellinder Kohli and Jotsyna Singh (née Jaitly) accompanied by her husband, my Stephanian classmate, HE Ambassador Siddarth Singh, and the 64er present was Deepak Deshpande who organised the entire event with the help of his colleague, my fellow mallu from Alleppy, Joceylin. (Dellinder Kohli left early, so is missing from the photograph. Also missing in this picture is Deepak's lovely daughter, Pallavi, whom I got to talk to quite a bit about journalism. Pallavi took the group picture with our camera. Thanks!)

The food was simply superb and served scrumptiously. I had a bit too much of everything, especially the delicious sweeets.



The Delhi Alumni presented Annikki and me with a wonderful gift, "The Speaking Tree Collection" of the Times of India column in 4 Volumes plus an extra volume, entitled "Inspiration for the Soul".

It was so touching that they had chosen to honour us both in this fashion.

(I was also so happy that Deepak thoughtfully arranged it that all those who helped in running the event also got their share of the food.)