Namde to Namdu: Virat's 18-year quest turns Bengaluru's cheat code into IPL glory
It was the early 90s. We had a Weston B&W TV with no remote control, given we just had one channel to watch, we didn't really need it. For other menial functions, like switching off the TV or turning up the volume, parents produced 2nd or the 3rd kid, eventually to be used as a TV remote. I was one such kid, who, upon being instructed, would turn up the volume during the 8:30 pm news. That's where I found out about the chaar mahanagaro ke taapmaan — Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai. All four had conveniently allotted STD codes — 11, 22, 33, 44.advertisementBangalore didn't feature in those chaar mahanagars. For a North Indian kid like me in Bihar, who had never ventured south of Ranchi, this city was a part of the monolith called Madras. Going by our Social science book, it was a beautiful city of gardens which had Kemp Fort and good dosas. But we were completely unaware that all the exams we were slogging for, all that hard work at school was to somehow make it to this very city.Eventually, most engineers, including me, managed to spend some part of their life in Bengaluru. Other than the amazing weather, the key facets of living in this city were paying 6-month rent in advance, the silk board traffic and sympathy towards an RCB fan.
People like me, who came from lands which were too poor to have an IPL team, automatically assumed the identity of an RCB guy 'Afterall it's my karmabhoomi', Funnily the first Kannada words I learnt were not 'Hey, how come you are charging me 1.5x of regular auto fare', but those golden words were actually 'ee sala cup namade' (This year the cup will be ours).advertisementNow this was a cheat-code. Once you utter it, you somehow earn a Hindi-pass for 30-60 business days. You didn't need to learn any other Kannada words. This was enough to show you care. Fortunately, the cheat-code didn't change. You never needed to upgrade. Each time you come back to Bangalore, even in different decades, it was the same: 'This year the cup will be ours' because the team never won.Vijay Mallya kept throwing free beer parties, attracting the best cricketing and cheerleading talent from across the world, yet the result was the same. Mallya escaped abroad to keep track of banking holidays. New owners came in. New players joined, yet the result was the same. We invested in our biggest cricketer after Sachin in this franchise, the son of a criminal lawyer, Virat Kohli, who spent half of his mortal life here. Yet the result was the same.Imagine investing 2 months every year to face jokes, face defeat and feel humiliation for 18 long years. Yet, he stayed put, never switched. The franchise, having won nothing, still made 222 crores in profit last financial year. All due to one guy's persistence. Yet, the result was the same.Finally in 2025, the gorilla is off his back, the cheat-code has changed. Now it's 'ee sala cup namdu' (This year the cup is ours). Bangaloreans are out on the streets, chanting, burning crackers, emerging from their sunroofs, waving flags. We needed this. IPL needed this. I meet enough people who swear by saying they have barely watched any IPL matches this time. 'Wo maza nahi raha' as their favourite players retire (or not retire and cling on), the celeb-hungry public loses interest. They need to see their stars play, they want to see more super-overs. They forever yearn for dramatic scripted fun from an unscripted event. But with RCB, a virginal team winning, it keeps the core fandom alive and stems fan-attrition to scripted 10-sec reels. The unscripted must win over scripted stuff for the general interest in sports to stay alive. The only thing that can keep fan interest alive, even if there are no super overs, is fierce team loyalties. RCB just charged the batteries of its fandom.advertisementIt was a huge moment. Virat puts it right up there with any World Cup victories he has achieved. As the 19.3 delivery was bowled by Josh Hazelwood, Virat fielding at the boundary, bowed down and started crying. Anushka was crying. Even UPSC aspirants get only 6 attempts; Kohli was at it 18 times. In this timeframe, he got married, had kids, and turned spiritual. Was stripped of the captaincy, almost forced to retire from Test Cricket, to leave him with just one format. Even bank holidays are more frequent than bilateral ODIs these days.advertisementPost the win, the RCB alumni were present, and Virat very humbly shared the credit with them. But none of them won a title. This victory is not cumulative. You have to start from scratch every year. Virat was there when it happened. He was robbed of a great Test farewell, but I guess having personally changed Namde to Namdu in the city's favourite war-cry, will compensate somewhat. The man deserved it. The city deserved it. The mahanagar which gave so much to the country to defend itself in May (DRDO, HAL, GTRE, BEL, ISRO) deserves a gift in June. :)
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Indian Express
11 minutes ago
- Indian Express
Countdown to Bengaluru stampede tragedy: State, RCB insisted on own events, security was stretched thin
As the Karnataka government ordered a probe into Wednesday's stampede at the Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru, where 11 fans of the Royal Challengers Bengaluru were trampled to death by thousands of RCB fans trying to get into the stadium to celebrate the team's first IPL win in 18 years, the first details on what probably led to the tragedy pointed to the RCB's refusal to stall the event until Sunday and the state government's insistence on sharing the spotlight the same day. Multiple sources in the police and state government, a police FIR on the stampede case, submissions made by the state before the Karnataka High Court which took up the case suo motu, all revealed that resources to protect the life and limb of RCB fans were stretched thin by competing interests of the RCB and the state. According to a senior police officer, the RCB's unilateral decision of holding a Victory Parade Wednesday in Bengaluru, without obtaining police permission as mandated under the Karnataka Police Act for events requiring police security, and the decision of the state government at the eleventh hour to hold its own event to bask in the glory of the RCB played a key role in the tragedy involving frenzied fans. 'We were stretched thin in terms of resources. We were virtually handling four events simultaneously on that day – the arrival of the RCB team at the airport, their safe transport to the team hotel, to the government felicitation ceremony and finally to the RCB event at the Chinnaswamy Stadium,' the officer said. The entire Bengaluru police, which had been working until 3 am the previous night due to the IPL finals, were forced to provide a security blanket across the city for the second day, especially for the government event at the Vidhana Soudha and the RCB event at Chinnaswamy Stadium located a kilometre away. An FIR registered by the Bengaluru police Thursday against RCB, the Karnataka State Cricket Association, the custodians of the stadium, and a private event management firm suggests that the virtual overlap of the RCB event and the government event between 3 pm and 5 pm on June 4, along with a free invite given to RCB fans, played a key role in the stampede. An analysis of RCB posts on social media shows that at 7.01 am on June 4, the RCB put out a message on Instagram announcing a Victory Parade for its team. The Victory Parade from the Vidhana Soudha to the Chinnaswamy Stadium was announced by ' on Instagram despite the Bengaluru police rejecting, according to the FIR, a proposal for a parade made the previous night by KSCA CEO Shubendu Ghosh due to possibility of the gathering of a large crowd. By 9 am, word had spread about the Victory Parade via social media, influencers and mainstream media, says the suo motu police complaint . Even as the Bengaluru city police were preparing to deploy forces to deal with the situation arising of the 'unilateral decision' of the RCB to hold the parade, police were informed by the state government of a plan to felicitate RCB players on the portals of the Vidhana Soudha. By 10.30 am, a media communique was issued on behalf of RCB and the state government of RCB's felicitation by Chief Minister Siddaramiah and others in the government, followed by a parade to the stadium for RCB fans. 'The Deputy Chief Minister ( D K Shivakumar) took the initiative for the felicitation. He went to the airport to receive the team, attended the government event and the stadium event,' police sources said. JDS leader and Union Minister H D Kumaraswamy targeted Shivakumar. 'Why hold two separate events? One programme, well-organised with proper preparation, would have been enough. There should have been appropriate security and caution. Instead, everything was rushed simply to glorify himself. As a result of this recklessness, sports fans lost their lives,' Kumaraswamy said in New Delhi Wednesday. On Thursday, an emotional Shivakumar said that he had seen the young who died in the stampede. 'No family can digest such an incident,' he said. He said he did not have plans to attend the event despite an invitation by the KSCA. 'I took the KSCA president and other members of the management in my car and we closed the programme in 10 minutes. I was not aware of the deaths until I reached the stadium… I went there and told them not to hold any function,' he said. According to a source in the government, Bengaluru city police commissioner B Dayananda had informed the Chief Minister that they would not be able to hold the event at a short notice. However, another 'influential politician', who is also associated with the sports fraternity, convinced the Chief Minister that the event would result in 'positive vibes', the source said. The issue was discussed with new DGP M A Saleem and directions were given to the Bengaluru police to organise the event. The city police were of the opinion that celebrations must be held on Sunday which would give them some time to arrange security. 'We had only around three hours to arrange security at four to five places. Since the cricket stadium security is handled by RCB and KSCA, the concentration of the police was on the government event at Vidhana Soudha which went off peacefully,' police sources said. A senior police officer said that one of the reasons cited by RCB for holding the Victory Parade Wednesday itself was the fact that the team's foreign players were scheduled to depart for their homes and a full felicitation would not have been possible later in the week. 'The event (at the stadium) was organised on behalf of RCB by DNA Event Management. KSCA is in charge of the stadium. All the security is provided by them in the stadium. All the deaths happened at the entry gates of the stadium. The problem is that 33,000 people were expected, which is the capacity of the stadium, but 2.5 lakh people turned up,' state Advocate General K M Shashikiran Shetty told the High Court Thursday. A statement from the RCB after the tragedy stated: 'Immediately upon being made aware of the situation, we promptly amended our programme, and followed the guidance and advice of the local administration.' – With Kiran Parashar and Sanath Prasad
Time of India
an hour ago
- Time of India
Will punish guilty: Siddaramaiah on Karnataka minister's role in hurried celebration
BENGALURU: Police commissioner B Dayananda was among five senior Bengaluru cops, three of them IPS officers, suspended Thursday as the Karnataka govt scurried to fix responsibility for the death of 11 cricket fans and injuries to 75 others in a stampede outside Chinnaswamy Stadium ahead of IPL-winning RCB's planned victory parade the previous afternoon. CM Siddaramaiah also ordered the arrest of unnamed "top" officials of RCB, event management firm DNA and Karnataka State Cricket Association (KSCA), based on two FIRs alleging criminal mismanagement of the celebratory event. A CID special investigation team will conduct the investigation. One of the FIRs, registered suo motu by a police officer, names RCB as accused No. 1, DNA Entertainment as No. 2, and the KSCA administrative committee as No. 3. It alleged that RCB, KSCA and DNA pressured police for the celebration on Wednesday despite their reservations. "Prima facie, it appears there was negligence and apathy on the part of the organisers, and this led to the tragedy," the CM said. "These stern decisions have been taken after reviewing the available evidence and considering the statements of senior police officers and ministers." Karnataka high court initiated a suo motu PIL and issued notice to the state govt, seeking a "status report" detailing the security arrangements and the circumstances in which the stampede occurred. Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like 수천시간을 투자해서 만든 이미지영어 40분 특강 스티븐영어 지금 시작하기 Undo Will punish guilty: Sidda on K'taka minister's role in hurried celebration Acting Chief Justice V Kameshwar Rao and Justice C M Joshi said they intended to "examine preventive measures and future remedies in similar situations". Dayananda, the first police commissioner in Karnataka to be suspended while in office, will face an inquiry for alleged dereliction of duty along with ACP (west) Vikash Kumar Vikash, DCP (central) Shekhar H Tekkannavar, ACP (Cubbon Park subdivision) Balakrishna C and inspector Girish AK of Cubbon Park police station. On allegations about a member of his ministry being responsible for the hurried celebration that caused the crowd crush, the CM said, "Let the inquiry report be submitted. Action will be initiated against those found guilty." Retired high court judge John Michael D'Cunha will conduct the inquiry and submit a report in 30 days. Of the two FIRs in the case, one was registered suo motu by an officer of Cubbon Park police station. The other is based on a complaint filed by a person injured in the stampede. Inspector Girish AK's FIR mentions that KSCA chief executive officer Shubendu Ghosh approached Girish around 6pm Tuesday, requesting security arrangements for "likely victory celebrations of RCB" the next evening. The inspector turned down the request, explaining that if RCB won, fans would celebrate all night and police would need to focus on that. But KSCA, DNA and RCB allegedly "pressured" police by saying a victory celebration would be held. Since early Wednesday, RCB's official X account invited people to take part in the victory parade without waiting for police permission, the FIR says. A security plan was prepared and sent to senior officials around 9am. The state govt, too, organised a felicitation for RCB at Vidhana Soudha, necessitating additional security arrangements.
News18
an hour ago
- News18
Gautam Gambhir Slams RCB In Aftermath Of Tragic Bengaluru Stampede; Calls Out Lack Of Preparation
Last Updated: India's coach Gautam Gambhir stressed preparation over celebration after a stampede at Chinnaswamy Stadium during RCB's victory parade caused 11 deaths and 30 injuries. Preparation and precaution should come first while celebration can come later, stated India's head coach Gautam Gambhir, reflecting on the Chinnaswamy tragedy that took place yesterday on Tuesday. RCB's victory celebrations in Bengaluru followed their first IPL title win against Punjab Kings in a thrilling final at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad. But, a moment of joy turned into tragedy for Bengaluru when confusion erupted among Royal Challengers Bengaluru fans during the team's victory parade outside Chinnaswamy Stadium. The tragedy unfolded after the stadium, which has a capacity of 35,000, witnessed an enormous crowd of 2-3 lakh people. Free passes, overcrowding, and limited seats at the Chinnaswamy Stadium were major factors leading to the stampede, resulting in at least 11 deaths and over 30 injuries. At the pre-England series press conference with newly-appointed Indian skipper Shubman Gill, Gambhir spoke out on the lack of preparedness and concern that authorities and concerned parties showcased before the supposed victory parade for RCB, who were crowned IPL champions after an 18-year wait. 'I am nobody to ascertain responsibilities. When I used to play, I never believed in roadshows. I still don't and I never will," Gambhir stated in the press conference, with Shubman Gill alongside. 'Winning and celebration are important, but the life of an individual is more important. In the aftermath of the tragedy, RCB released a statement expressing sorrow over the loss of life, mourning the tragic loss, and extending heartfelt condolences to the affected families. The franchise also pledged immediate financial assistance to the families of the deceased, stating that financial support of INR 10 lakh will be given to each of the eleven families of the deceased and created a fund called RCB Cares to support fans injured in the tragic incident. Yet, karma found its way back to the IPL champions, as a First Information Report (FIR) has been filed against them concerning the tragic stampede. First Published:
