Passion unlimited...

India has always been a country enriched with passion. The inhabitants are very passionate and loving as well. The average Indian male has two passions in life, the first one being his appetite and the second, his undying love for cricket.

"The best way to a man's heart is through his stomach", is a saying that reflects a lot on the personality of the male. If it is not food it has to be cricket. Even the biggest cola companies have realised this fact and are cashing in on the fact that indians love food and cricket. So they come up with a package, "Eat, Drink, Sleep Cricket".

Rationally speaking, the phrase is impossible but Indians in the past few seasons have been fed with an overdose of cricket. The match fixing debacle has taken its toil on the viewership of channels, even the fan following has deteriorated but the passion for the game continues. A Test series with a Zimbabwe side, shorn of big names, still draws good spectator response. A century by Rahul Dravid still raises the crowd to their feet. A double hundred by Sachin Tendulkar still manages to have the crowds dancing in the aisles. Yes, the passion still prevails.

The media has hyped and fed the Indian community with the match-fixing reports and the CBI statements. The people have began turning their eye from the reports back to the cricket. A majority of people feel let down and furious about the whole episode but an equally strong number of people - and this includes the BCCI - wish to put it behind them and get on with the game.

As Shakespeare said "The show must go on." Let the game go on. Let the passionate, cricket crazy people enjoy the game they love so much. Let them watch the game they play in their by lanes, breaking window panes of the neighbourhood. The game they play with any piece of wood compromising for a bat. The game that unites a nation, the game that holds them in a trance.

The debacle that occurred may never be sorted out and no matter how forgiving we may be, it will always prevail as a black spot in the history of the game. Let's just hope that the passion for the game continues......