A Letter to the Indian Sports Ministry

To,

The Sports Minister,

New Delhi.

Subject: Hockey out, Cricket In.

Respected Sir,

What is Hockey? Who is Dhyan Chand? I did not know the answer to these questions when I was 9 years old. But I did know who was Sachin Tendulkar and I would dance after every cricket match that India won. I wasn’t alone. There were millions of boys like me who celebrated cricket but were ignorant of hockey. I am going to talk about this behaviour and how it should now be accepted officially.

When I reached the 6th Grade, I obviously learned that Hockey was India’s National Sport. Did it make sense? No. So I asked my father. But he too, had never played the sport and told me, that long ago, India were champions of Hockey and since we were so good at it, Hockey was made the national sport. Dhyan Chand was the best hockey player of his generation and he helped India to many medals and awards. I got excited and asked him if we could see a hockey match. He searched and found out that there were no hockey matches being played in Mumbai that week. And most often than not, those scheduled are cancelled due to problems like lack of venue or no sale of tickets. I was disappointed. Soon I forgot about it and fell back on cricket.  Even the media supported me and there would be coverage of cricket on every channel to the minute details and microscopic analysis of every aspect of the game. So I forgot about Hockey until I met an Australian Boy.

I met Doug when he had come to India. His father was my Dad’s friend from University. Doug and I were talking about sports and he asked me if I played hockey. I replied with the natural “No-and-I-don’t-know-anyone-who-does”. To say he was appalled by my reply would be an understatement. He thought since Hockey was the national sport, everyone must be a hockey-enthusiast. He tried to talk about some of the hockey games but I dismissed his attempt to change the topic. I convinced myself that he was just trying to change the topic so that I do not rub in the fact on how India snatched the World Cup from Australia in 2011. But this topic bought a strange feeling to me, the feeling of guilt.

Like all human beings, I have a huge problem with guilt. And it is this guilt which makes me write this letter to you. I do not know hockey. I do not know the teams. I do not have any avenues to increase my knowledge as the media only mentions the horrible hockey defeats. My school does not have a hockey team or coach. But we have a very good cricket team. I urge you to change the national sport to cricket. We are tired of feeling this guilt of being ignorant of the national sport. Shouldn’t it be a sport which we are good at? A sport every kid knows? A survey of my class  will reveal that  football and cricket are the most appealing sports for them. It is already the highest paid sports and a cricketer is the first sportsperson to receive the Bharat Ratna. That is enough proof that we need to officially make what everyone believes-Cricket is India’s Sport.

I hope you understand the predicament of the Indian Youth and absolve us of this guilt. We have nothing against hockey. But we have not been raised to feel anything for it either. Maybe this change will do good for the sport, take away the unnecessary criticism and limelight from the sport. If hockey stays on the fringe like tennis, chess, billiards, badminton, we might see a silent growth which Anand, Paes, Saina and Advani bought for their respective sports.

Thanking You,

A 16 year old Indian Sports Enthusiast (Basically a Cricket Lover).