It is a whole new world in the fan zone around cricket. Sharing living space, travelling together and sitting together in the stands even if they are icons of different nations. So, at Headingley in Leeds, just before the game was to start, a harried Sudhir (we know him as Tendulkar fan) was running away from the stadium. “I am in a hurry, can’t talk now. By mistake I got Gyan’s (Lanka’s travelling fan mascot much like Sudhir) ticket in my pant pocket. I have to give it to him otherwise how will he come to the match,” a harried Sudhir said before scurrying away, world cup minature on his head standing straight despite the commotion.
Back in the stands, CSK’s superfan Saravanan Hari, sporting his frizzy Murugun style hair, sunflower painted face with No 7 on his bare back, says he is waiting for his friend Sudhir to arrive. He has been here for the last three league matches of India, having been sponsored by the CSK management. Of course, he has never met the big man himself but says he cheers for Dhoni at all IPL matches in all venues. He returns tomorrow and would not be attending the semi-final.
But no such restrictions for Sugumar from Bengaluru who has the backing of his company Kerry Imdev Logistics where he works in the Sales department. Sugumar has caught the cameras with his heavy duty Red Indian head gear and air-pumped Team India T-shirts which he sports with elan. He has a booming voice and kicks up a storm in the stands with his “Come On India” and “Bharat Mata Ki Jai” chants when all is quiet and there is trouble in the middle.
So where did he get his Red Indian gear? “My Facebook friend from the US Harish Pai gifted it to me some years back. Then we lost touch. I met him again in Manchester during the India-Pakistan match and renewed our contact. He has since gone back but he whatsapped me the pictures of the two other head gears he has bought for me and will be sending them over through a friend,” he tells you just before breaking into Bhangra on the dhol beats rustled up by a Bharat Army group of children.
Sugumar is unable to explain why he has become Red Indian but he is vocal about how he has introduced mythology to the stands with costumes which not only does he wear but also introduces “the goras” to.
Sugumar, who is a close stands friend of Sudhir and Gyan, just shared a Global Sports Fan Award with them and the famous Chacha. “It was in Manchester that ICC, for the first time, gave this award,” he tells you. The Award carries a “gold medal” and a certificate, he says.
Sugumar, hot on Virat Kohli and RCB, has been sharing accommodation with Sudhir who is so particular about the game that he says “madam drinks break mein hi baat kar sakta hoon. Match ke beech mein nahin.” Another issue though that he obliges his fans with photographs between overs. This year, he has decided to carry a shankh and blows it every time India scores. His tickets are still being sponsored by the BCCI while Sugumar has his boss’ support to give him some money in the pocket.
Amid all these iconic fan propellers, there is newbie Charulatha too, the 87-year-old grand old dame who went viral after Kohli and Sharma sought her blessings. She, however, is guided by the whims and fancies of her granddaughter Anjali who has, believe you me, hired an agent in India to grant interviews! So one has to route all queries through someone sitting in Delhi who will then tell her whether access is granted or not and then only one can even smile at Charulatha!
No such airs for Rakesh Patel who founded the Bharat Army, now boasting of 11000 fans from 23 countries, after he walked into a sea of green Pakistani fans at the India Pakistan World Cup match in the 1999 World Cup.
“That’s when I called up people to come to the stands and by the end of the match, the Indian fans had grown into a healthy 450 count,” he tells you at Headingley, 20 years later. Today, he heads an organised force with ICC mandate to drum up the atmosphere with dhols and saxophones for which he has a group of eight in place. Otherwise working in the global recruitment firm S Three Group for 17 years, Patel now has a lot to do on the Army front too. “For 15 years, we were just a fan body but now we organise travel, tickets and accommodation for the fans too,” he tells you, adding that the years have seen a sea change in Indian fans who no longer burn effigies or stone houses of players but stand behind them through thick or thin.