Winter Sundays are hectic for Punjabis. Some prefer to attend weddings. Others throng gurdwaras and temples. Youngsters look forward to their weekend game of cricket, writes Prabhjot Singh

CRICKET is fast becoming the predominant pastime for Punjabis who, otherwise, are known for their love for indigenous and rural sports, attending lavish marriage parties, besides attending religious congregations, including bhogs and special kirtan darbars on Sundays.

This new development shows a major shift from what otherwise was used as a day for rest or relaxing, besides undertaking some pending household chores. Sundays, especially in winter months, are now more hectic than they ever were before.

While the first priority for any Punjabi family is to attend a wedding in the family, or in the immediate friends’ circle, or in the neighbourhood, alternately it would be a game of cricket for those between 13 and 30. The elderly will prefer to attend special discourses held at gurdwaras, temples, deras or specially organised religious or spiritual congregations. Some of the deras, especially of the Radha Soami sect, have their strong teams of volunteers who guide and regulate traffic. These congregations end around noon.

Even bhog ceremonies or the antim ardas of the deceased held on Sundays are well attended. Depending upon the status of the deceased, or the family to which he or she belonged, the bhog ceremony would invariably be preceded or followed by Guru ka langar that at times is as good as a lunch at a vegetarian wedding. So even bhog ceremonies are becoming lavish where, at times, separate arrangements are made for the VIP guests.

The attendance at some of the select massive bhog ceremonies is more for getting one’s presence noticed than the sympathy for the bereaved family.

From November to March-end, it is difficult to get a good resort, or a marriage palace booked. The entire state is now dotted with lavish, well spread out and innovative marriage palaces and resorts on national and state highways, besides important link roads.

A modern day Punjabi marriage now has three to five major lavish parties, starting with the conventional engagement or shagun ceremony followed by mehandi or ladies sangeet, wedding and the reception. Each of these "wet" parties has 200 to 1,000 guests.

Marriages in Punjab are lavish. While the traditional ceremony, including anand karaj, is performed according to religious rituals, it is the festivity that marks the last leg of a marriage ceremony, the lunch before the doli that makes it well attended. The newly weds are welcomed before a large gathering of relatives and friends. Music or dance groups with scantly-clad girls dancing to popular numbers add to the festivity. Live performance by leading folk artistes is a treat to watch. These ceremonies are largely attended and continue till dusk.

More affluent go for a separate reception where the newly weds are felicitated at another drink and dine party. The game of cricket continues for the whole day. It, however, misses the binge.

Thick fog that envelops parts of Punjab every morning notwithstanding, hundreds of youngsters, from 13 to 30, troop out from their mohallas, streets, villages and towns looking for open spaces for their weekend or Sunday game of cricket.

Perhaps no other sport holds that much of an appeal for the youngsters than this game of bat and ball that, till about two decades ago, was treated an "alien or elitist urban sport" with ruralites even refusing to acknowledge it as a team game.

But nowadays, one has to struggle hard to find open spaces or playfields in rural schools or colleges, village stadiums or even open spaces surrounding small towns being used for a game of football, kabaddi, track and field events, volleyball or even hockey`85 that was till recently our national sport. Cricket swarms all open spaces, playfields and even rural stadiums. The only exception is the period when these rural stadiums, playfields or open spaces are used for holding traditional rural sports festivals.

It may be pertinent to mention here that rural sports festivals that numbered about 50 about 20 years ago have also flourished. Between November and March every year, nearly 500 rural sports festivals are held in Punjab. They are normally a three-day affair focussing mainly on kabaddi, bullock-cart races and other indigenous sports. The evenings of these rural sports festivals are dedicated to folk music as eminent singers hold their akharas to keep the ruralites enthralled.

Cricket — because of its simple rules and indigenous playing equipment — has put all other team sports into the background. For a game of instant fun, all you need is a bat — a three-inch wide and half-inch thick flat strip of wooden club with a handle —and a rubber ball. Ten to 15 bricks are used as wickets. At times the boundary wall of a building with three parallel lines drawn with a chalk or a coloured stone on it comes as a handy replacement for either the bricks or the conventional wooden wickets.

Open spaces of varying sizes become the playfield. The game starts with one of the participants offering to bat first and an equally enterprising opponent challenging him with the ball.

For playing hockey, volleyball, football, and kabaddi, or even for track and field events, one has to have basic knowledge, besides attaining a certain level of physical fitness. Cricket is an exception.

It is one game where players of all shapes and sizes, irrespective of their physical fitness, can play and enjoy the thrills of the game. This is one reason that puts no inhibition in those wanting to try their hand either with the bat or with the ball. The organising capacity of this game is amazing. Even without any organised body controlling the sport at the grassroots level, games and matches are played, weekend after weekend, without any serious disputes. Amazingly, most of the games continue uninterrupted for hours together. At times, a spectator would get confused as to which player is playing for which team, but those absorbed in the game know which ball to follow. At times, when the fog is thick and the batsman cannot sight all the fielders, or even fielders cannot see others on the ground, the game continues with interest unabated.

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