The Caption Game: “Chak de India”-Edition

Posted on by

Harbhajan Singh.jpg If it’s Monday, you must be as hung-over…err… depressed…tired as I am– but wait! It’s a brand new week and surely there will be much fighting/gnashing of teeth/troll-feeding to do in the days ahead. Isn’t that daunting? Well, fret not, my pets.

The best thing about Mondays at the Mutiny is being able to play The Caption Game, a nice, easy warm-up for the week. You may not be able to touch your toes, but you can injure your funny bone trying to outwit Dravidian Lurker, MoorNam, PingPong et al. (Rahul…I’m pouring out some Old Monk for you, son. You are the missed.)

This picture, which was thoughtfully submitted by Jeet a few days ago (thanks!), is just pleading for a different label– look at what it’s been saddled with:

Harbhajan Singh’s joy is apparent as he catches Kevin Pietersen, England v India, Group E, ICC World Twenty20, Durban, September 19, 2007. [link]

Oh, come now. You mutineers can do better than that! Especially since the boys in blue have made some of you verrrry happy, right? 🙂

Confused?

Irritated?

Think this silliness is something new for the mutiny? How wrong you are, my sleepy friends. Lo, previous editions of the captioning game will prove that this isn’t a one-time timesuck: Ikk, Dhoe, Tinn, Char, Panj, Chhay, Suth, Utt…

97 thoughts on “The Caption Game: “Chak de India”-Edition”

  2. 38 and #40,

    Sreesanth and Robin are both Hindus ..FYI.. But Shoaib Malik is dheela upstairs..Forgive him, he has to go home back to Pak. He said all of it in absolute majboori. Try to read between the lines.

  4. To add, Am I the only one who caught Afridi saying “congratulations to the Indian captain and all the Indian nations…” Indian nations? Wth is that… 🙂
    All of us, we who use the internets.

    When senior officials from the English speaking world can screw up, they are not setting a very high bar for a “kid” from Pakistan. BTW, how old is Afridi now, is he still 16?

  5. they are not setting a very high bar for a “kid” from Pakistan. BTW, how old is Afridi now, is he still 16?

    The guy’s 27ish, but I didn’t get your point – was Afridi trying to pass himself off as being younger at some point?

    Also, speaking of bad interview skills, anybody remember Azharuddin? After losing to Zimbabwe in the 1999 World Cup, he lashed out at a press conference saying [I paraphrase]: “You only saw us play on the field. You don’t report when we play well. We played very well this morning in the nets”. Pretty much everyone was struck speechless! 😀

  6. And just to throw this in there, SRK was in the stadium supporting India.

    A marketing masterstroke for his upcoming release “Om Shanti Om”. In addition to wearing the t-shirt, he also managed to plug it in during his interview. Smart move 🙂

  7. Shoaib Malik is obviously an ignorant fool for making the Muslim statement. But one has to stay he was fantastic as a captain. The bringing on the spinners for Yuvraj, playing all front line main bowlers was very aggressive, the field placements were spot on. I was not sure about his strategy of not saving singles in the first 10 overs though. If you cut off the easy singles, you force batsmen to play over the top and lose wickets.

    Dhoni was excellent as well.

    I think Twenty20 actually requires more strategy and specialist players than other forms of cricket. Its incredible that India did not even have a coach.

    Anyway, SM should have more posts on sports. I know ANNA is a big cricket lover 🙂 and Abhi is known to be a football enthusiast though he is a Wolverine fan so it must be hard times.

  9. Sreesanth and Robin are both Hindus ..FYI.. But Shoaib Malik is dheela upstairs..Forgive him, he has to go home back to Pak. He said all of it in absolute majboori. Try to read between the lines.

    Uthappa is christian; he thanked jesus after scoring the winning runs against england in the one day series; also Sreesanth always crosses himself before bowling or after taking a catch. But all this is beside the point…

  10. The guy’s 27ish, but I didn’t get your point – was Afridi trying to pass himself off as being younger at some point?

    When you have to explain the joke, it looses its value.

    Yes, for the longest time he was trying to pass himself as being way younger (I think it was when he hit the fastest 50?).

    Also, speaking of bad interview skills, anybody remember Azharuddin?

    He should also be credit for starting the “Boys fielded well and boys batted well” statements.

  12. “I think Twenty20 actually requires more strategy and specialist players than other forms of cricket. “

    i’d have to disagree with the second part of that statement (and the first, because Test cricket requires the most strategy by far). England had specialist Twenty20 players in their line-up and expected that to given them an advantage over the other teams and they more or less failed to set the place on fire. they only beat zimbabwe out of all their matches. to trot out a cricketing cliche: form is temporary, class is permanent. India, with the least experience, did set the place on fire with their “traditional” cricketers, not specialists.

    Twenty20 may not be to the purists’ liking – and already there is some predominantly Australian and English handwringing over how the success of this format amongst subcontinentals is going to be the death of test and 50-over cricket (but when England were all gung-ho over this format and “invented” it and its popularity in its current form, we heard no such moaning over the death of “tradition”) — but it still requires top-level international cricket skills. i think this format may help improve some odi skills and not have too much effect on Test match skills, but i don’t think going the twenty20 specialist route is a good idea.

  13. Hari wrote “How very different from the Imran / Majid / Javed days.”

    Not very different. Mushtaq Mohammed, the Pakistani captain during the 1978-79 series made the same gaffe by thanking “all the muslims in the world for praying for a Pakistani victory”. Gavaskar has written that the Indian wicket keeper Syed Mujtaba Hassan Kirmani was livid.

  15. “Thank you recommending that bookie!!”

    Thats illegal in the US. Let me call up your DA.

  16. No captions necessary as the cup of joy is full. 🙂

    I think Twenty20 actually requires more strategy and specialist players than other forms of cricket.

    Probably in the sense that there are only 20 overs, so whatever strategy one has to apply, it better work as there won’t be a second chance, or that there’s no luxury of experimenting as in a Test match.

  18. A marketing masterstroke for his upcoming release “Om Shanti Om”. In addition to wearing the t-shirt, he also managed to plug it in during his interview.

    I didn’t notice the T-shirt. I couldn’t get past the blue velvet blazer. Really, SRK? A blue velvet blazer? In 2007? In public?

    snerk

  19. Thats illegal in the US. Let me call up your DA.

    That’s Kevin thanking Harbhajan…I thought we were playing caption?!!

    Me bet, gamble, buy life insurance? The Libertarian gods would curse me!

    M. Nam

  22. Sreesanth always crosses himself before bowling or after taking a catch. But all this is beside the point…

    A lot of catholic school educated kids do that in India. He was wearing a Tilak on his forehead.

  23. Let me try why Malik’s comment was offensive to every Indian especially coming from a Pakistani. The statement by Malik questions the very identity of an Indian. It is difficult to define what does an Indian identify himself or herself with because India is a vast country with different language, culture and religion. Most Indian love there country for this unique blend of languages, culture and religion. They are proud that they can not only co-exist peacefully with each other but also enjoy each other’s success (I know this is not always how it is but this is what a proud Indian likes to think). When you question our ability to co-exist with each other or ability to share each others success and failures you question the very identity of an Indian and hence it is offensive.

    Furthermore, as we all know, India and Pakistan were divided on the basis of answer to the question – whether Hindus and Muslims live together? I do not know what is the “correct” answer but what I know is that this, my friends, makes it much more offensive and arrogant coming from a Pakistani. It is as offensive as a Pakistani can get to an Indian.

    I understand that Pakistani’s are as patriotic as citizens of any other country. And they must also have some idea of Pakistani identity. If we can understand each other and respect each other’s feeling we will give the next generation much better world then we live in.

    I guess (and hope) Shoaib Malik was just ignorant or just plainly said something he didn’t intend to say. However, it is important we as citizens of two countries discuss more about these uncomfortable issues (as oppose to what has been suggested by some people here).

    Just as a counter, how would a Pakistani feel if Dhoni dedicates his win to the prayers/blessings of all people in South Asia??

  26. Long time lurker but comment #73 has prompted me to respond. I think that based on all the other statements made during the interview, Shoaib did not intend anything nefarious with his comment (although it has inflamed a lot of Indians). I think it just came out incorrectly. Infact Shoaib is married to an Indian lady from Hyderabad that he met during one of his trips to India. I have been watching cricket matches between India and Pakistan over the years and these days it appears to me that we have reached the best of all worlds – where the intense rivalry makes both the teams try very hard to outdo each other, however the players really enjoy playing against each other and like each other. There is much less rancour in the players or the crowds than in the heydays of the 70s and early 80s.

  28. Re:72 Sreesanth wears enormous amount of bling, and I did catch one instance where he did have a cross…but as #59 says it is beside the point.

    The game was just brilliant. I was watching the game live, and as a mad cricket fan, the tension was at times too much…but it was all worth it

    T20 does have different strategies, and there’s less of a price on wickets (unless ofcourse you happen to have a collapse early), and although people always said that this was a batsman’s game, I’ve seen enough games to say that bowlers also play a huge part (the final proved it)….i’m still not completely a T20 fan (a Test purist to the core), but i guess its okay to hold this once every two years (maybe this could replace the champions trophy – a world cup all but in name).

  29. 72 :

    Sreesanth always crosses himself before bowling or after taking a catch. But all this is beside the point A lot of catholic school educated kids do that in India. He was wearing a Tilak on his forehead.

    Interesting to learn that catholic school kids in India do the cross. Fascinating. BTW, I have christian relatives who do wear Tilak(men)/Bindi(women).

  30. To Ava in #77. Shoaib’s wife is Muslim. He apparently met her in Hyderabad while on a cricket tour and fell in love. I recall that during the last Pak-cricket team visit to Hyderabad, the entire team was hosted by Shoaib’s in-laws for dinner.

  33. Pedantry time! Not the word for “zero”.

    Good catch, Sin! ‘Siphar’ in Urdu (from the Arabic) versus ‘Shoonya’ in Hindi. (And BTW, Anna, you got the Punjabi pronunciation bang-on with your transliteration. The Hindi and Urdu pronunciation is similar but recognizably different.)

    What I would like is for Girish (or someone) to tell us the word for ‘zero’ in the South Indian languages, like he did over here for the other numbers. Then, we can discuss what that tells us about the regional origin of the mathematician who ‘invented zero’ 🙂

  34. the word for ‘zero’ in the South Indian languages

    I know I’m probably not spelling it properly, but I think it’s “poojam” in Malayalam. 🙂

  37. @79

    I went to a catholic school in India and we had 2 school prayers daily, the morning one was at assembly and was read out by a student, representing his/her division in rotation, and was generally his/her choice selected from a book of prayers. The end of the day prayer was standard Lords prayer in the modern format. Most kids would cross at the end because the father or the nun would do the same.

  39. I didn’t notice the T-shirt. I couldn’t get past the blue velvet blazer. Really, SRK? A blue velvet blazer? In 2007? In public? *snerk*

    Lizie @ #68, My eyes!My eyes!

    Judging from the photos in rediff , something is seriously wrong with SRK. I mean the hair ! The jacket!Why?

  40. The Indian cricket team consists of players from all major religions in India…. Hindu(Dhoni, Gambhir, RP Singh, Joginder Sharma, Rohit Sharma) Muslim (Irfan Pathan, Yousouf Pathan) Sikh (Harbhajan, Yuvraj) Christian (Sreesanth, Uthappa)

    Hmmm, so hindus are a minority in victorious Team India while christians and sikhs are disproportionally represented. If you consider all 44 starters from teams from the subcontinent (India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh) only 6 are hindus (the five above and Muralitharan of Sri Lanka). There were more buddhists (from Sri Lanka) than hindus who played for south asian teams in this World Cup. Most players (over 24 at least) were muslims.

    Wonder who Shoib Malik would have thanked if Pakistan had faced Bangladesh in the final.

  42. I think this 20/20 format is excellent and will probably replace the other two as the main form in which cricket is played in the future. The british colonials could afford to spend 5 days on a game as they had masses of indian and african servants to do their daily work. That form of sport is an anachronism today and will eventually die out despite the purists attempt to sustain it. Even the day long version of the game is a bit much. Three hours of exciting hard-hitting cricket hits the spot. It can be played after work hours so that productivity is not hampered.

    I believe this new format will also make cricket popular in many other countries which were never under british rule. Imagine a final between India and China in a future Cricket World Cup! That would make the India-Pakistan rivalry, which is contaminated by religious overtones from the pakistani side, seem tame in comparison.

  44. Yo, RELIGION IN CRICKET????? Finally I am happy to see many people with whom I can relate to. I was so disturbed after hearing Maliks comments after 20/20 and I thought it would be a much discussed issue. I combed down every e-paper the next day ( as I am in US )but didnt see any coverage to Mallik’s ” adressing of muslim fans (only)”. I was more than dissapointed on our “passive” society and wrote a a few sentences in my “baby blog”. Thought people just stopped reacting until I read this blog.Nice to see it.

  47. CCCCCCCCCCCCCCCHHHHHHHHHHHAAAAAAAAAAAAKKKKKKKKKKKK ddddddddddddddddeeeeeeeeeeeeee iiiiiiiiiiiinnnnnnnnnnndddddddddddiiiiiiiiiiiiaaaaaaaaaa

    India is the best team ever!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! sorry if you dont like india but they are the best team ever!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!