Good Bye, Roy!

If you've followed this week's sports pages and talk shows on TV closely, it would appear as if Nepali cricket is about to change. The scenes are changing and changing fast.

We are about to see the departmental teams (Police Club and Armed Police Force) in cricket. There are now 8 cricketing regions, up from existing 6. Not much needs to be said about the departmental teams and their contribution to Nepali sport. And to everybody's excitement, APF have announced their intentions for the domestic league by signing the top names in Nepali cricket already.

With the national team captain already in their ranks, APF is sure to draw a lot of attention, should competitive cricket be held on schedule. The arrival of two teams is sure to heat up the market for the cricketers, as some regions – which are more in number now – will also see the cricket fertile lands drying up for themselves. However, this is an age for competition and Darwin's theory - survival of the fittest – is sure to decide future of a number of cricketers.

However, all that could be termed secondary in light of a huge decision taken by the Cricket Association of Nepal. It has decided not to extend, or rather demand extension, of its long serving coach, Roy Luke Dias.

Roy entered Nepali cricket just before the Youth Asia Cup in 2001, as his wards won him the title, right on his birthday. He had told this scribe then, "This is the best gift the boys could have given me."

This was what the Nepali cricket had to offer him. Regards, a lot of it, and sometimes too much of it… Even to the extent of inspiring awe, from many, including players and cricket officials. And why not, during his playing days, he was regarded as the most complete Test batsman of Sri Lanka. Only recently, Sunil Gavaskar, who himself was a purists' delight as batsmen, was heard during commentary, "Roy Dias is the best Sri Lankan batsman that I have seen. Better than even modern day run machine Mahela Jayawardane."

A long stint at any post, cannot remain without controversies. And we would do well to remember that Dias was no God. He had been a taskmaster, forcing habits into his wards, for which he was not going to be given the title of Mr. Popular within the fraternity. And he knew it. That's because he was groomed that way. Sri Lanka was trying to make mark in world cricket during his younger days. 'Discipline is the most important virtue you can have,' he'd heard it many a times during his younger days. And naturally he tried to inculcate that into the people he was given charge of.

When he took the Nepali team to the U-19 World Cup in 2001, Martin Snedden, former New Zealand cricketer and tournament director asked him, "Roy, what are you doing in Nepal. You should be coaching Sri Lankan team." But he stayed with team Nepal.

At the risk of being controversial, I would say that Roy Dias was the best thing to happen to Nepali cricket, after Nepali boys learnt to take to the field with a willow and leather ball. Not only because he helped us learn to win, but also because we learnt our own inadequacies through him.

We never groomed proper coaches, despite him being there. We did not take help, despite knowing we should. We knew he was not going to be forever, despite him saying Nepal was his second home. Every player has a shelf life, more so a coach. Many a player don't last for half a decade, he's been a coach of our team for almost a decade. Our failings are in not being able to read the writing on the wall.

Dias going could mark an end of an era, and a new beginning. For he would go with his head held high, having earned a second home. For many, he would still hold the charm cricket had in non-commercial days.

But the question is: Have we thought properly about an alternative and transform Nepali cricket?

(The article appeared in a weekly column of yours truly, in The Kathmandu Post, Oct 2, 2010)

So, who is the most powerful, after all?

Just like you, yours truly (because he is yours truly), has also heard about foreign interference on our nation. Just the other day the PM, or was it one of the many ex-PMs that we have, was speaking about some country interfering in Nepal.

The best thing is about this is that we often forget who says it. Forget the vested interest of the person saying it, we often take it for granted that we are being interfered. The worst part is, we’re becoming used to interference and also being told that we’re being interfered.

So the perpetual question arises. Who is the most powerful in Nepal? (Did you ever think that Come-raid Fierce One or Come-raid Red Undies or the Grand Old young Turk would feature in the list?) Is it India? Or US? Or is it EU, or UK, who had the best mimicking Ambassador in the history of this former Himalayan Kingdom? (Did you forget His Excellency something, who used to mimic the former King, in many interaction cocktails with the bigwig journos of dear Nepal?)

Well, yours truly’s estimates (often termed under or over estimates) and research (often termed time pass), says it is Sri Lanka. Or more precisely, the Sri Lankan President…

In case anybody thinks this is surprising, they just had to look at the lane dividers on the capital valley’s nasty lanes being removed, just because Mr. Prez wanted them to stay on the sides. Nothing till then, not even the strike organizers, passing cabs who hit those concrete materials pretty regularly – changing their shapes – could change the décor of city lanes. But Mr. Prez from a friendly nation could change that. Powerful, eh! (That reminds yours truly of a famous line from Mao – Power flows from the barrel of the gun!)

They say, truth is stranger than fiction. And sometimes true it seems. Just imagine, the same powerful person had to quit the Nepal tour midway through due to some shameless actions on the Lankan cricketers in some other friendly land. Now the question is: Who is more powerful? The Mr. Prez, who could move the concrete blocks from the middle of the road (where they probably deserved to be) or the terrorists who moved him back to his nation, in a rush of emergency?

And as that famous songster sang once… The answer my friend, is blowing in the wind…