I've been dimly aware, recently, of people in big sunglasses being excitable on TV and photographed either weeping or celebrating in the newspapers, and of a fair bit of running about in different coloured shirts.

<tr><td><p class='TableClas'></p><P class='TableClas'> <DIV CLASS=rightDiv><script language="JavaScript">
		google_ad_client = 'businessstandard';
		//google_ad_client = 'ca-businessstandard_js';
		google_ad_width = 200;
		google_ad_height = 200;
		google_ad_format = "200x200_as";
		google_ad_type = "text";
		google_ad_channel = "";
		//google_color_border = "FFFFFF";
		google_color_border = "F7F7F7";
		//google_color_bg = "FFFFFF";
		google_color_bg = "ffffff";
		//google_color_link = "639ACE";
		google_color_link = "0253B7";
		google_color_text = "000000";
		google_color_url = "D63431";
		//google_skip = adsenseSkip;
		</script> 
		<script type="text/javascript" src="http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js">
		</script> </DIV><p class='TableClas'>"What's this IPL thing?" I asked a friend on the phone. There was a long silence. "Are you serious?" he said finally. I could have sworn there was a little sob in his voice. "I know it's some cricket thing," I said, guessing wildly, "I'm just not sure what." 
</p><p class='TableClas'>His trembling voice might have been on account of disappointment in me, or exhilaration at being presented with a bonus opportunity to talk about it. Either way, he launched into a happy jabbering full of words like "franchise" and "league" and "carnival atmosphere" and "the future of cricket"

Cricket who?

STET

More From This Section

Nilanjana S Roy: Bastions of expression

Subir Roy: The state of the republic

Mihir S Sharma: The patrons of Jaipur

Geetanjali Krishna: The Republic's invisible people

Explore News