ulta pulta
Bowled over
Jaspal Bhatti

In India when we call an object a ball, then in all probability we mean a cricket ball. Even though the football World Cup is on and the media has lapped it up, when a child watches a football match, he does so holding a cricket bat in his hand. And when the football match is over, he religiously resumes playing cricket.

In a marketplace, if a person has his ears firmly glued to a transistor set, everyone is most likely to ask him, "Bhai sahib, kitne out huey hain?"

The man with the transistor has to guiltily explain that he’s actually listening to a football commentary.

In some schools and colleges one may find it difficult to get even 22 players for the football team. But in the same school there will be more than 122 players willing to enrol for the cricket team.

Once a politician who knew little about football was invited to give away the prizes after a football match. In his speech he said, "I am saddened to see that due to lack of funds, all the 22 players were fighting for a single ball. I am going to instruct the Sports Department to issue a ball for each player".

Nobody could go against mantriji’s orders. So on record, 22 balls were bought for each match. Needless to say one ball was needed for the match and the rest of the money was pocketed by the coach and the manager.

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