Politics

Think Piece on “Chokra” by Piyush Soni
Celebration and pride can be expressed through different mediums, may it be dance, a festival or even song. In celebration of Sri Lanka’s triumph over Australia at the 1996 ICC Cricket World Cup a song titled “Chokra” by Piyush Soni. It speaks of a boy who tries to make something of him but somehow keeps failing until one day he gets it right while helping others on his way. In 1996 Sri Lanka won their first ICC Cricket World cup and the song may be paralleled to their journey. They can be seen as the scrappy street boy in the world of cricket that kept failing but never gave up until they were triumphant. In a more general sense the song may be a reflection of those countries that were colonized by the British Empire and struggled to be successful or influential in a game that was dominated by the “white-man”. The video of the song shows highlights of the 1996 match between Sri Lanka and Australia which displays their pride in accomplishing something they dreamt of since the inception of the ICC Cricket World Cup. In addition to reflecting pride, the video brings out a number of issues in cricket and sport by extension that can be further discussed. The issues include; unity, the history of cricket and cricket as a business today in sport.
In order to understand cricket and what it means to its players and spectators one must first understand its history. Cricket was known as a white man’s game to those of the elitist class. It was known as a ‘Englishman’s game’ according to Jennifer Mohammed (2007). When the British began colonizing they employed acculturation. They taught their culture and institutions to their colonies and one being the sport of cricket. Even after slavery they used the sport to practice the dominance over their subjects. The clubs were stratified according to racial criteria which reinforced the inequality that existed in the slave system. However though cricket was a part of colonization it was also...