Bengalis in general and Kolkatans in particular are known to be very warm and emotional.
SRK and Mamata Bannerjee
Their joy burst into overenthusiastic Reception accorded to the Kolkata Knight Riders Team, which won the IPL 5 by defeating the Chennai Super Kings at Chennai.
It is understandable because of the problems faced by the KKR since its inception, with below par performances and Ganguly moving to Pune Warriors this time.
Not to forget two Captains Theory by John Buchanan .
However, the show was hijacked by the Politicians and Bollywood personalities..
It left one wondering whether it was Mamata Bannerjee who won the match single-handedly.
She took over the parade and went to the extent of managing the crowd at the Eden Garden,Kolkata!
She almost danced with Shah Rukh Khan and promised to sing at the venue if KKR wins the next time!
It looked incongruous.
Probably she took a leaf out of Karunanidhi to appropriate the lime light whenever there is opportunity.
Mukul Roy, Union Minister for Sports, MK.Narayanan the Governor of West Bengal, Subroto Bannerjee were present.
One wondered whether it was a National win or for that matter a West Bengal win.
It was neither.
For that matter even when Kolkata Football tem won, this type of reception was not witnessed
As Boria Mazumdar, the Cricket Historian put it, it went beyond Cricket and at times cricket was ignored.
Kolkata Knight Riders won.
Right.
It did not have the Bengali element at all.
The Franchisee SRK is form Mumbai, Captain Gautam Gambhir is a Delhi boy, Maninder Bisla is from Haryana, and Laxmipathy Balaji, of whom SRK was very effusive in praise is from Chennai.
Funny to hear from the Compère of the event that Shah Rukh Khan is a Kokata BOY!
So what does one celebrate?
The Country, The State, the person…..?
Neither India nor West Bengal, but an imaginary Brand, much to the delight of the Corporates.
I remember having read ‘Patriotism is the feeling that your country is great because you happen to be born in it”
By the way, why was the Compère ( Lady) panting as though she had just returned from a marathon?
And what is Mamata’s Name?
Mamata Bannerjee or Mamata Bandopadhyay?( the compère was mentioning as Mamata Bandopadhyay)
Tail piece: Sourav Ganguly was conspicuous by his absence and his so-called fans did not even whisper.How fickle is Fame!
TOI in its Live broadcast indicated that SRK rang up Ganguly and asked him to away to ensure that the limelight is not taken away from Gautam Gambhir!
“Thousands of frenzied fans on Tuesday turned up to give the triumphant Kolkata Knight Riders players a grand reception for their maiden IPL title win after Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee felicitated them at her office in Kolkata.
More than 50,000 people lined up on both sides of the road from Hamza at South Kolkata to the Eden Gardens after the victory procession started at around 11 am.
Frenzied scenes were seen all along the 5-km stretch as the KKR players celebrated the victory on an open bus top with the fans making desperate attempts to touch them.
