Sports in Bengal: The change in taste and preferences

Football has always been important in Kolkata (Getty Images)

It’s May and surprisingly there is drizzle in Calcutta. Quite a pleasant weather at this time of the year which otherwise is greeted by scorching heat. But from the city which I know, Calcutta has changed in many ways. Let’s take for example the football crazy populace of the city.

Today we get to hear and see people flocking to their TV sets to watch IPL. While taking a stroll down the congested alleys in Sealdah in central Calcutta, I saw people mostly wage labourers getting hooked to a Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) match. This is in contrast to what we know about Calcutta’s love for football. I don’t know the real reason behind this sudden change of likeness. Still there would be, I’m sure, some Calcuttans who still adore the world’s most favourite game.

Flipping through the pages of Ananda Bazar Patrika, Bengal’s and India’s largest circulated regional daily, it gave an appreciation that cricket and it’s 20-20 form has really caught up even with the downtrodden Bengalis.

East Bengal’s campaign in AFC Cup has been given a secondary space and that too on the second page. I guess the mindset of the media has also changed. The top media houses have realised that what sells is important. Passion and love are secondary.

Materialistic pleasures is what Leftist Bengal’s lower middle class and the upper echelons are looking for. Be it sports and in their social life, Bengalis now have a different taste.