Through time, and especially recently, India has been slowly modernizing, losing its traditions and becoming more and more western. Though this affects most aspects of Indian culture, one aspect that is greatly affected is sports. The sports a country plays can tell you a lot about the people, and the way the sports change over time can tell you even more. For something to change there must be some sort of conflict. The conflict of this situation was between the traditional sport of India, being Cricket and the newer, more Western sport that the rest of the world, mainly Europe was getting into, soccer. Back before the eighties, before India really began to change, Cricket was the main sport. As time went on, it became less of a sport for the youth and younger generations, and more for the more traditional, older people. While this was going on in India, soccer was the most popular sport in Europe and the West. Young people began to play soccer in India, and eventually it became one of the most popular sports. Today, it is the most popular sport in India, beating cricket. The way India’s major sport changed can tell people a lot about how the country has changed as a whole, losing some of its traditions and older cultures to become more westernized.
(This picture shows people in India playing cricket. This is Pre-Modernization, when Cricket was the most played sport for people of all ages)
(This picture shows the sport of soccer being played by a person who is not a youth, showing that Soccer has made its way into the framework of India’s society, more played than cricket, for all of the citizens, not just the youth)
This is a clip from the movie “lagaan” it shows people playing cricket.
Skit
Our Skit depicts the way the younger generations have slowly been moving out the traditions of the older generations and replacing them with new modernized, westernized things.
Characters:
Nisha- Elder Indian Person
Hannah- Indian Youth
Nisha: *plays cricket*
Hannah: *interupts with a soccer ball* What are you doing? Practicing CRICKET?
Nisha: Yes, it is my favorite game.
Hannah: Well, you have to move, this is a place for football, A better sport.
Nisha: Football? That is a Western sport! Why would you play that when we have our own games? Games with history! Games with Culture and tradition!
Hannah: Football is the new game now. It is much more modern and Western, making us more like the rest of the world, uniting us, helping us to move forward.
Nisha: Yes, moving forward is good, but not always. We shouldn't leave behind our traditions to be like others. Our culture is important and should not be forgotten. Cricket is the game of our country, of our ancestors. Football has no past here, no meaning.
Hannah: Thats true, but we need to modernize ourselves, not completely, but we do need to. A compormise is what would be best.
Nisha: Yes, in the spirit of compromise, lets play cricket and then football.
"Is cricket killing other sports in India?" The Hindu : Front Page News : Monday, May 04, 2009. 03 May 2009 <http://www.hinduonnet.com/tss/tss2725/stories/20040619007307900.htm>.
Sports of India. 03 May 2009 <http://sports.indianetzone.com/>.
Comments (1)
Hannah Loeb said
at 7:25 pm on May 14, 2009
WHAT A GREAT WIKI BLOG!!!!!!!
You don't have permission to comment on this page.