CSK Fan Posted October 11, 2009 Posted October 11, 2009 Being a cricketer in a country of 1 billion cricket crazy people is a dream of many. But is it such a lucrative job after all? Our special correspondent takes you behind all the glamour to find out what its like to be a cricketer, player X, for a day A day in the life of an Indian cricketer 06:00 – X wakes up to the sound of his alarm clock blaring and gropes with his eyes closed for 2 minutes before giving up and opening his eyes. He finally manages to shut the damn thing, and collects his thoughts. Damn practice, he decides to give it a miss. He was due anyway; he had been on time for a whole week, something unheard of for a player like him 06:20 – X wakes up with a start, remembering just in time that he was actually due for a new ad shoot for a cola company and there was no practice today. Instantly awake, he rushes into his bathroom, cursing the company for fixing such an early time 07:15 – He finally reaches the studio, ten minutes late, short of breath and finds that no one else had turned up. He spots a spot boy and asks for a cup of tea, only to be told to get one himself from the nearest tea shop. The spot boy disappears muttering to himself about over hyped celebrities with big heads who order people around. X picks up the morning paper to while the time, sees at a glance that it has an article by Sanjay Manjerekar criticizing the team performance and hurriedly puts it away 08:15 – Finally everyone is in and the shoot is ready to start. X adjusts the cardboard placed inside his shirt to accentuate his chest and tries to deliver his lines. It takes 12 attempts before the director is satisfied. He tells X that if only he practiced his acting as much time he wasted on practicing his batting, he would have more AD contracts lined up. He better shape up if he didn’t want to be replaced by a younger team member 10:00 – Coach has called an urgent team meeting and X has no time for breakfast. He grabs a cola on the way to the meet. X picks up another team member on the way and immediately wishes he hadn’t. The team mate chides X for drinking a rival brand cola when he himself advertises for a competitor. It only ends when X chucks the half finished drink out of the window. He sees two girls in a convertible going into raptures of ecstasy on seeing him and waves back, wishing he had time to stop and get acquainted, something which he knows will never happen. 11:00 - The meeting hasn’t gone well. The coach berates the senior players for their recent lack of performances and threatens to replace them with youngsters. The below par performances of the team’s bowlers are entirely ignored. He steals frequent glances at his watch, his stomach growling with hunger 12:30 – X finally gets to eat at the lunch hosted by the coach. But the coach has put the team on a health diet and he has to make do with the limited choices. He wistfully remembers paranthas dripping with ghee which his mom used to make and realizes it’s been over six months since he had had home cooked food 15:00 – X looks wistfully at the bat hanging from his wall and wishes he could put in some batting practice. It’s been a month since he batted even in nets and the coach had been putting him through only fielding practice lately. His phone starts ringing and he sees that it’s his girlfriend calling. He glances at his watch and realizes that he has 30 minutes to reach an award function where he was being felicitated for his performance over last year and debates whether to pick the phone up. His relationship with his girl friend has been strained lately with her complaining about the lack of time spent together. He also knew that the team captain has been eyeing her and would cut in if he turned his back for a moment. He picks the phone and for the next twenty minute gets to listen to a one-sided monologue about how he had changed recently with all the fame. She ends by giving him an ultimatum and threatening to cut ties if things persisted. Finally she persuades him to skip the function and meet her in an hour 16:00 - X is stuck in traffic for the past half hour and feeling stuffy despite the air conditioner running in his car. He wishes he could roll down the window for 5 minutes to get some fresh air but knows that would be almost fatal. 17:00 – X reaches the meeting point only to find that his girlfriend has left after waiting for twenty minutes. He decides to pay a childhood friend, who lived nearby, a visit. He reaches the house and his treated to a warm welcome but then spends a very awkward 30 minutes as he is treated like a celebrity instead of a friend 18:30 – X orders a drink in a well known pub and was in the process of downing it when a complete stranger accosts him. It takes him just five minutes to realize that he was one of the bitter fans who would take a defeat by the home team personally. The stranger gets abusive and X beats a hasty retreat. On the way out, X finds himself facing some camera men. He smiles at them but politely refuses to answer any question as he gets into his car 20:00 - X’s father calls him and after 2 minutes of greetings and polite conversation, gets into the gist of things. He wants some money for X’s younger brother whom he wants to send abroad. He also wants to go into business on his own. X gasps when he names the sum. He tries in vain to explain that his checks were still uncleared and he couldn’t get such a huge amount in a hurry but gets told about ungrateful sons who forgot their families once they make it big. After the phone is disconnected, he realizes that his father never once asked him whether he had recovered from the operation he had a month ago 21:00 - X eats a lonely dinner. He has ordered some pizza and decides to watch the evening news. To his shock he finds all news channels flashing his pictures. The news anchor was discussing in details about him skipping an award function which his team attended, to get drunk in a pub. Visuals of him coming out of the pub with a smile were being played again and again. Dejected he turns off the TV. He tries calling his girl friend but finds her phone switched off. He finally decides to go to bed early 02:00 – X still cannot sleep. He keeps on tossing and turning in his bed and wonders whether it was all worth it. He knows that he loves cricket and was born to play but wonders whether he wouldn’t have been better off being born in a small country like New Zealand
Params7 Posted October 11, 2009 Posted October 11, 2009 He spots a spot boy and asks for a cup of tea, only to be told to get one himself from the nearest tea shop. If this cricketer is famous, nobody would reject him anything. Indian cricketers (when India is doing good) are more respected and popular than Bollywood heroes. But otherwise a pretty decent writeup!
CSK Fan Posted October 12, 2009 Author Posted October 12, 2009 If this cricketer is famous' date=' nobody would reject him anything. Indian cricketers (when India is doing good) are more respected and popular than Bollywood heroes. But otherwise a pretty decent writeup![/quote'] I was kinda trying to potray how a cricketer would feel lost in the world of Tv glamour where such spot boys interact with huge movie celebrities daily and a cricketer might be beneath them in their world
champ Posted October 12, 2009 Posted October 12, 2009 awesome .. i was even wondering who the player u talking about .. i got the answer too .. :two_thumbs_up: :hysterical:
nikred Posted October 12, 2009 Posted October 12, 2009 What a tragedy. Poor rich cricketers. :sniffle:
Malcolm Merlyn Posted October 12, 2009 Posted October 12, 2009 I was kinda trying to potray how a cricketer would feel lost in the world of Tv glamour where such spot boys interact with huge movie celebrities daily and a cricketer might be beneath them in their world very well done.......nt i dont think our cricketers are beneath any TV stars in terms of money,fame and fan following they out strip most Bollywood stars
CSK Fan Posted January 22, 2011 Author Posted January 22, 2011 Bump. Our poor little rich cricketers. Rohit Sharma anyone?
IKnowU Posted January 22, 2011 Posted January 22, 2011 Bump. Our poor little rich cricketers. Rohit Sharma anyone? :headshake: Stop nut hugging Rohit Sharma and your perception of spoilt cricketers. Unless you stalk him and actually know him, you have no idea what the persons personailty is like nor his beliefs. All this your picking up from a TV screen. :hysterical: Why should he even bother performing in domestic cricket? then He already got his large pay packet, he could score a century once a season, and still be happy since the money is reeling in????
CSK Fan Posted January 22, 2011 Author Posted January 22, 2011 :headshake: Stop nut hugging Rohit Sharma and your perception of spoilt cricketers. Unless you stalk him and actually know him, you have no idea what the persons personailty is like nor his beliefs. All this your picking up from a TV screen. :hysterical: Why should he even bother performing in domestic cricket? then He already got his large pay packet, he could score a century once a season, and still be happy since the money is reeling in???? Sorry, am drunk and bumped this accidently. I like Sharma as much as Aktar likes his genital warts
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