Published: Sep 10, 2015, 12:00 PM (IST)
Edited: Sep 10, 2015, 12:01 PM (IST)
In what comes as a surprising development in the Indian cricket circles, cricketers including Ishant Sharma and Suresh Raina have extended support to the meat ban which has been imposed for four days in the month of September in the cosmopolitan city of Mumbai. The ban on sale of meat in Mumbai has created a huge furore in the western part of the country, after the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) as well as the Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation decided to suspend it during the Jain festival of Paryushan. Those Indian cricketers who do not eat non-vegetarian food have welcomed the move as it gels well with their sentiments as well.
For the uninitiated, the BMC has decided to imply a four-day ban on meat on September 10, 13, 17, and 18, as they are the days of the Jain festival. The move has created a humongous controversy, as it is being perceived as yet another case of the government’s interference in what the general public do in their lives.
The Jains themselves have stood against the ban; social media is swarmed with their posts on how illogical and bizarre this decision is, but the authorities seem unmoved. Amid all this, we have learnt that the Indian cricketers’ sentiments have been touched.
Indian cricketers, notably Ishant Sharma and Suresh Raina, have supported the move. The sources close to them say that the vegetarian cricketers do not want to get involved in the political aspect of the entire episode, but just the fact that the move will highlight the importance of vegetarian food has brought them some relief. Time and again, it has been reported that Ishant, Raina and others go exploring for vegetarian food which they do not get, especially when India tours overseas. ALSO READ: Indian cricket team not happy with the location of Dhaka hotel
It must be recalled that during India’s tour of Bangladesh in June 2015, the Indian cricket team had asked the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) to change their hotel because the place they had been originally put up at did not have any vegetarian restaurant around. The Bangladeshis were a little shocked with the request that the Indians had made, but somehow had managed to convince the tourists to not leave the Dhaka hotel amid the tour. The teams were playing the one-off Test when the requests were made, and Bangladeshis did not want to waste their energies on shifting an entire Indian contingent to another hotel. ALSO READ: After hotel in Dhaka, Indian cricketers unhappy with name ‘Za’ N Zee Ice Cream Series’ against Bangladesh
What was surprising for the Bangladeshis was the fact that Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi — a staunch vegetarian — had stayed in the same hotel before the Indian team. The Bangladeshis must have thought that if the PM did not have any qualms, the Indian cricketers should not have any either.
This is not all. During the second Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2014-15, Ishant Sharma walked out of lunch on Day Four when he discovered that there was not a single vegetarian dish in the sumptuous buffet served at The Gabba in Brisbane. It is still unknown that whe gaunt and wiry Ishant would have had that day. ALSO READ: Ishant Sharma disappointed over lack of vegetarian dish on menu at lunch
A source close to the cricketers said, “Look, the guys know there is politics associated big time here. But they do not want to be associated with that at all. It is just the pure sentiment which they have — people need to understand the importance of vegetarian food.”
We tried reaching Ishant, Raina as well as other cricketers who are vegetarians. But since the Indian cricketers are enjoying a ‘much-needed’ break ahead of the daunting series against South Africa, they could not be reached for comments.
Please note this is a humour article — a work of pure fiction
(Golu Sharma is among the millions of lardy Indians who wanted to become international cricketers, but their bulkiness came in the way. He’s now freelancing as a cricket journalist, but doesn’t like to be addressed as ‘citizen journalist’. Golu also dreams of flying a Sukhoi MKI 30 so loud and fast that it proves to the aircraft’s Russian makers that it’s their lousy technology behind the crashes)
