With neither Love nor Hate: Narrative of Cricket EFLU

Dear Cricket EFLU,

       You have seen four springs since the year you were born. At that time of the youth, you enjoyed great love from all of us and others- students, teachers, officials, non-teaching staff and many other uncategorized peoples. Your members and volunteers were dedicated, passionate, energetic, enthusiastic, honest and real cricket lovers. They tirelessly and selflessly worked to promote and popularize you and the game of cricket among all kinds of people on our campus. The unconditional love for the game encouraged your member-friends to challenge and dismiss all the occasions that permitted dirty politics, rampant discrimination, petty parochialism, linguistic regionalism, selfish favouritism, and monetary corruption. There was a unique harmony that established two successful tournaments- the Inter-departmental cricket tournament and EFLU Premiere League (EPL) which were successfully organized year after year by new volunteers, members and organizers who joined the cricket fraternity on the campus.

             Remember those days when the audience jostled to reserve and occupy their seats on the fringe and border of the ground. They would cheer, shout, scream, dance, comment, and celebrate on every passing moment of the cricket match. You felt proud when you enjoyed both running commentaries- both in English and Hindi- of the matches accompanied by the sound-system, an abundance of trophies, cups, mementos, medals and gifts displayed on the tables, players dressed in motley-coloured jersey on the wicket, university officials inaugurating tournaments, teachers sometimes both playing and watching the matches, and overwhelming crowd enjoying the fair and clean game. The popularity of the game was so high that nobody was interested to know the names of the organizers, to question the sources of funding,  to seek details of expenditure, to suspect the decisions of the umpires, and to challenge the transparency and skills of conducting the tournaments. Perhaps, the ardent passion for the game, the inclusive nature of tournaments and the love and cooperation of the people were driving forces for your volunteers and members. In the heyday, you were democratic organization, because you heard everyone’s voice, called meetings in advance and in open spaces, collected signatures in honest manner, proceeded for funds from the university with the due process and channels, enjoyed the supports of every student regardless of age, gender, class, caste, programme, region and language. You witnessed a history of your golden days.

But now!  

          You are owned by a handful of people who falsely claim to represent all of us. Some of the members and volunteers nourish selfish motives and are driven by intention of personal achievements and gains. They set all the rules, agenda, programmes, and the conspiracy too. Those organizers sit in the close-group meetings to decide everything at the cost of ignoring the participation of the large-scale people who pay their money (as fees) towards the Students’ Welfare Fund from where you draw Rs 50,000 (fifty thousands) per year to conduct the  tournaments. In fact, you are reduced to an imaginary and virtual organization now. You coordinate with the defunct and non-existent Students’ Union of EFLU for funding only, then you erase its trace from your memory. The former sports (who sings on the notice as the present sports secretary) secretly betrays all of us telling that he still enjoys the rightly elected sports secretary. In reality, he currently lives in fool’s paradise and is being used by his shady “mentors.” You are absolutely male-dominated and patriarchal body which has no regard for participation, decision-making and money  of the female students who comprise more than half of our strength on the campus.   

           You know that you are not a recognized student organization like Students’ Union. Hence, you are never entitled to enjoy our favour and fund publicly. Where is your address? Which is your office? Where are the office-bearers? All notices are served under the abstract name of Cricket EFLU.  We fail to locate you and your trusty “comrades” physically. You survive in virtual world, because you function through illusionary Facebook account. Only a few privileged ones who are more equal than us, handle your Facebook account, update notices, write instructions, send greetings, uploads photos and chat online. Since your Facebook wall is locked and you do not call for general body meetings at convenient time and value, we all feel excluded from you.

            In the last tournament, your organizer-volunteers and other members organized a poor show, because they were involved in financial misappropriation of fund (that is always our money) received from the Students’ Welfare Fund of our university. There was a case in which one team was disillusioned by the wrong decisions of the umpire and became victim of the favouritism and finally it left the tournament in between never to return. On many occasions, your volunteers waged verbal wars on the Facebook wall in order to show their individual achievements which exposed their hypocritical and double-standard personality and thinking. You are dubious organization that provides avenues for ego-clash among its selfish, stubborn, haughty and wrong-headed old patriarchs who make sure to eliminate any dissent or rebel voices. Your ‘owners’ block us, demoralize us and abuse us filthily if we try to discuss issues, bring out your flaws, hit their wrongdoings, expose their corruption, and criticise their misjudgements and dark intentions. Thus, you are not a democratic organization, but you are an authoritarian and dictator. Better you should perish and die if you do not belong to us. 

          After a couple of hours, you claim to display the show again in the form of EPL season 4. You again collect funds- both from the university and players and spend on the tournament if it is true. Some questions are inevitable if you can answer us- why do you collect money from student-players if you get funded by the university? Will you publish the expenditure details publicaly to maintain the transparency of the funds? Will you open your Facebook wall to enable us to express our opinions? Will you allow us to participate in decision-making process, because we all contribute some way or other in the making of the tournament and the game as well? There are many more question. But answers?

Wishing you the best!