Where will the kids play in Calcutta?

Inspite of the recent controversies surrounding the game, cricket has been a very popular game in West Bengal, particularly in Calcutta. One could always find youngsters playing the game with a lot of zeal on the streets of the city. This gave rise to a large number of tournaments in Calcutta. Mostly the matches were played at night and it came to be known as `Para Cricket Tournament.' A large number of multinationals also were involved in promoting these sort of championships through sponsorship. Even Test players like Arun Lal were frequent participants in these kind of tournaments. Sadly that won't happen anymore.

A recent High Court order has banned all forms of the game from the streets from four to 11 in the evening. The High Court passed the order after a petition was filed by Rajen Sen of Baghbazar, an area in North Calcutta. In the petition that he filed, he complained that such tournaments were obstructing traffic and pedestrian movement. Moreover, the microphones that were being used by the organisers to provide running commentary of the matches were also polluting the sound level and the matches had become a menace to the peaceful citizens.

Justice K.J. Sengupta of the Calcutta High Court, against such a backdrop, banned all such tournaments being played on the streets. He made it clear in his order that the police should step in whenever they found that `Para Cricket Tournaments' were affecting normal life.

However, the organisers of such tournaments are not ready to back down against this order. SK Ghosal, who organises one of the biggest 'Para Cricket Tournaments' that has prize money of over Rs 2,00,000 said today, "We play on the streets simply because the number of parks in the city are insufficient. So we will definitely challenge this order. Cricket and tournaments of these types have become a part and parcel of our lives. So we cannot stay without them."

Prabal Bose, who plays first division cricket in the Kalighat Club here stated, "It was through tournaments of this type that I came up. It was my performance in these matches that attracted officials of the various clubs here. Today, I am making a living out of the game because I played `Para Cricket'. So how can the game be banned?

None of those who were spoken to were ready to agree that they were obstructing public life. "If we had been doing that, we wouldn't have so much of spectator support," they said.

Sen, who has filed the complaint however, has a different opinion to offer. "The noise used to be a menace. Old people could not sleep because of the commotion these tournaments created. Houses, windows and doors suffered frequent damages. As a result of this, I had no option but to move the court."

He may have done the right thing. But then as Arun Lal pointed out, "Where will the kids play. There is very little vacant space in the city."