Poem: Critical Opinion

George Bernard Shaw said ‘Cricket is a game played by 11 fools and watched by 11000 fools.’ Somebody quoted this when saying that cricket is not a revered game anymore. It was filled with powerplay, politics, money, drugs, and greed.

Why do people paint everything with the same brush? If that were the case, the entire world was then corrupt with power, greed, money, and politics. It is for us to take the good out of everything. I penned these lines, as I thought of those parents and kids rushing early morning to attend the coaching practice.

Poem: Critical Opinion

Look at those little eyes
Light up with hope and zeal
For that moment of magic
When the bat hits the ball
Or the ball hits the glove
Nobody told them that
the great Bernard Shaw
had called them ‘fools’

For that matter
Nobody ever told
The fat bumble bee
the laws of physics
their body-weight ratio
would never allow them to fly
But they still fly
their eyes lighting up
On seeing the nectar in the flowers.

Painting all things red
Coloring everything
with the same brush
Dismissing the little wins
The love for the game
For those little moments
Oh, I almost forgot
What critical opinion is?
It is just that — an opinion.

For those who dream
of making it big
Dreaming of the day
And waking up to their dreams
And those who stand behind
Put in their money, sweat, and tears
No game, no art,
no field is trivial

Yes, money and greed
Patriarchy and politics
have held the reigns
and are still in hegemony
Then which place is not
A few good words
Go a long way
For those who believe
That there is still
good in it for them.

~Ashok Subramanian © 2023