Young faces staring grimly at their silent TV sets, clashes at roadside tea stalls, and a few souls on tenterhooks over the ball that might come crashing through their window panes... right now cricket World Cup lies at the heart.
The 49-day tournament, which began in the Caribbean on Sunday, has sadly coincided with the all-important school board examinations. And students appearing for these tests in the cricket-crazy state are certainly sulking.
The examinations conducted by the state board began on Wednesday and will go on until the end of the month. More than half a million students are writing the exams.Likewise, the Class 10 and Class 12 examinations conducted by both the Central Board of Secondary Education and the Indian School Certificate Examinations (ICSE) are also under way. As a result, the TV is reported to be out of bounds in an estimated 1mn homes where children are writing exams.
But it’s not just children who are consumed by cricket mania. The game has been a passion in the state ever since India won the cup in 1983.Besides, this edition of the World Cup is special for all Keralites as S Sreesanth is the first player from the state to have made it to the Indian team for the tournament.
A teashop owner near Kottayam is even thinking of putting up a billboard that says “no discussion on cricket please”, after two groups of people almost came to blows over what India’s strategy to win the cup should be.
Also a little edgy are those whose houses are located in by-lanes and near open spaces. Once the board exams end by the end of the month, most streets and open spaces will turn into mini-stadiums for local cricket matches.
Said a worried SD aunty, an aged housewife, here: “Just a few weeks back I repaired two sets of windows after children playing cricket near my house broke the panes. With the World Cup beginning, the children will be right back! I should have waited until the finals.”
