On Thursday Sri Lanka-England first Test match started. Inevitably there is so much excitement – who will win?
The Indian subcontinent has four countries playing cricket internationally – India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. Even Afghanistan is coming along very well.
IPL has made India the most lucrative place for cricketers from all the cricket playing nations. English players make more money proportionately playing for four weeks in IPL matches than over the entire year at home. When was the first time English players played cricket in India?
Histories of cricket record the first game on Indian soil was played in 1721 by some English sailors upon one of the creeks off the Gulf of Cambay in Gujarat.
This is avidly written in a 60-page booklet by John Drew who attributes his writings based on another book by Clement Downing (A History of the Indian Wars 1737).
I recently received this booklet, courtesy Lord Bhikhu Parekh. It's an amazing tale. The booklet is dedicated to the famous Gujarati men of literature who was well-known as “Chanchi” or just “CC”.
Rev. A K Forbes who was once collector at Dabhoi and is one of the most famous Englishmen (or a Britisher) in Gujarat wrote a big volume called “Ras Mala”. There is so much mention in John Drew's book about Gujarat in the 17th and 18th centuries.
It may be interesting to know that though one East India Company reached Surat (Rander) in 1607 through three sailing ships, very soon there were two East India Companies claiming to be the official company, each denounced the other to the Mughal authorities at Surat as buccaneers. It was perhaps a rare case of both sides in a dispute being right!
John Drew adds that the English were not the only colonial power at this time, they were not even a country power in 1721.
There is one more important revelation. “The company is absolutely dependent on the Indian merchant bankers and brokers who (in the words of Bombay Council) “for many years without control” have held “the absolute management of all the English affairs in Surat”, … Laldas Vitaldas Parikh, confronting scarcity, anarchy and welfare observes, “How ticklish the times are.”
In the Gulf of Cambay, not far from Jambusar, Dhadhar River meets the sea. The first time the English (the term included any European) playing with Indian sailors – (20 Europeans and 30 Indians) played cricket for the first time on the Indian soil at a place called Chimnaw. At that time the main source of support came from cricketers of Kent.
The book has so much reference to the geography, history, warfare and chicanery – all that for some other time.
But there are names of places which will remind many readers of their ancestors' homes – Bharuch, Surat, Vadodara, Amod, Chimnaw, Kavi, Ahmedabad, Nadiad, Vasad, Adas and many other places as well as rivers like Mahi, Sabarmati, Dhadhar, Narmada, Tapti, etc.
Picture caption:
A Dutch picture of Cambay 1679.
Modi's radical pledges and performance
Prime Minister Narendra Modi completes 2 years on 26th May. Of course, he has been elected for 5 years and he has at least 3 years to go to fulfil his aspirations and projections. In that whirlwind election campaign of 2013/14, Modi made several important commitments. Which politician can fulfil all the commitments made during an election campaign?
Almost all his commitments, projections, expectations are well within his reach or on their way to become a reality except one – to retrieve the billions siphoned abroad through black money is just not possible. Ask the SFO, a very powerful and well-funded British set-up.
The radical pledges are in a way haunting PM Modi, more so they are an opportunity for his adversaries and detractors to continuously challenge him and harass him.
Financial Times wrote a big piece on 16th May (page 8) titled “Modi struggles to realise Indian dreams”.
Victor Mallet, the FT man writes from Varanasi that “Resistance from bureaucrats, elections and a tax law have held back the PM's ambitions.”
I take a strong objection to “resistance from bureaucrats”. It is always a privilege of journalists to attack the bureaucrats. But the Indian civil service is doing a sterling job and I would say by and large their efficiency, integrity and performance have enabled India to have a working democracy along with the rapid development of the country.
FT quotes some entrepreneurs who unhesitantly say, “Definitely his (PM's) vision is perfectly okay.”
An unnamed retired banker from Varanasi is quoted, “Modi's a realist, but he hasn't achieved anything yet.”
Foreign correspondents very seldom make a fair assessment. Perhaps, there may be a reason for it.
Let me quote 3 complete paragraphs from FT.
“On Mr Modi's watch, India has accelerated road-building, invested in the ageing rail network, launched an ambitious solar power plan, opened bank accounts for more than 200m Indians without them, and increased the foreign investment limits for sectors ranging from insurance to defence manufacturing.
“But it has failed to repeal the previous government's retroactive tax law, which has targeted Vodafone and Cairn Energy among others and sapped investor confidence. Nor has it so far been able to break the grip of the Congress party on the upper house of parliament to enact a long-awaited goods and services tax that would benefit business and the economy by turning India into a single market.
“For Harsh Pati Singhania, director of JK Organisation, a family-controlled industrial conglomerate centred on Kanpur, the Modi government is on the right course but needs to focus on implementing its plans. 'India,' he says, 'for any government or administration is not so easy to govern'.”
Need I say more? I myself is very optimistic of India's future. Even if half of Modi's pledges are realised, it will be more than what has been achieved in the past 70 years of independence and 180 years of colonial rule.
