House Games in Flannels

While in school, my sport of choice was football. I was a goalkeeper of some reckoning in local and club-level tournaments. The only reason I made it to the school cricket team (as wicket keeper) was that my friend was the team captain. For the past three years I have been keeping wickets for the Parliamentarians' XI. Every December, towards the end of the winter session, MPs play journalists in a 20-over game. The match is held in good cheer and for a good cause—children's health and fighting childhood diseases. The NGO Global Health Strategies organises an event around the game.

This time, the match was played on December 20, 2014, at the Delhi Public School ground on Mathura Road. The MPs' XI was a multi-party team, though Congress MPs, so visible in previous years, were missing. The Journalists' XI had more television professionals than those from print. Perhaps television journalists are physically fitter and simply run around more than a print journalist!

Batting first, the MPs' XI collapsed to 109 in the allotted 20 overs. Our star batsman in 2013, Mohammad Azharuddin, was not with us, having not been elected in the Lok Sabha polls. Navjot Sidhu was not there either, since he didn't contest the 2014 elections (though some say he did manage to stump his party in his former constituency, but that's another story). Sachin Tendulkar didn't show up. He scarcely makes it to the Rajya Sabha, so he couldn't really be expected to come for the MPs' cricket team.

One by one, all our stars failed, even Kirti Azad and our captain, Anurag Thakur, the two former cricketers in the MPs' XI. I was run out early, the fault of a mix-up with the non-striker, Dushyant Chautala of the Indian National Lok Dal. The dynamic duo from the Biju Janata Dal, the movie star Siddhanta Mahapatra and Kalikesh Singh Deo, who had a glittering sports career in The Doon School, also scored poorly. It was left to Manoj Tiwari—not the Bengal and India cricketer but his namesake, the BJP MP from Delhi—to play a lone hand and keep our score respectable.

Chasing 110 in 20 overs shouldn't have been difficult but the Journalists' XI made heavy weather of it, losing six wickets before getting to their target. They suffered a shock after a brilliant run out, effected by a sharp throw from Thakur. For me, this was the moment of the match. It was very impressive fielding and an indicator of just how seriously the match was played. This was no exhibition game, but truly competitive.

On January 24, I am organising a match between MPs and Journalists in Kolkata, at the Calcutta Cricket & Football Club. I am proud to be a member of this club. Founded in 1792, it is the world's second-oldest cricket club, right after the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC). Our MPs' XI for January 24 will comprise both Bengal MPs and those from other states. I am looking forward to Kirti Azad, who is flying down to Kolkata for the game, hitting the ball out of the playing arena, onto the tramlines outside the club.

In the summer of 2015, an Indian MPs' XI is travelling to London for a cricket match against a British MPs' team. The dates have not been finalised but I expect this will be after the general elections in the United Kingdom in May. Let it be clarified, this is not some junket. The 'cricket tour' will coincide with an official trip being made by MPs in their professional capacity. I am excited about playing on English green. Of course, it would help if my Rajya Sabha colleague, the honourable Mr Tendulkar, were to take guard.

Derek O’Brien
Member of Parliament
Chief Whip in the Rajya Sabha and National Spokesperson, Trinamool Congress

The Big Apple's barometer

My wife lives in New York, and, over the years, I have got to know the city well. It is a useful barometer to judge the health of the world and of the American mood and economy. A visit in the winter of 2008-09, over the New Year and just weeks after the Lehman Brothers crash, is still in my memory. It had been only a few months since my previous visit, but the financial crisis had taken its toll. It was as if I were walking through another country. New Yorkers had lost that spring in their step.

I was in New York for a week this October and spent a lot of time thinking about the 2008-09 visit. The buzz and the atmosphere was quite a contrast to those times. It told me the US economy was recovering, that spring was back in the step—but there were some caveats.

In the US, everything is a marketing opportunity, even an economic crisis. In early 2009, I began to notice signs outside restaurants offering 'Recession Lunch', a discounted meal aimed at attracting customers who were staying away. At least two of five restaurants made such offers. Today, the 'Recession Lunch' signs have vanished. Normalcy is returning to the eating-out industry.

Five years ago, my wife's house help, a Colombian lady, began to bring her husband to the apartment on her weekly cleaning mission. He used to work for a moving and packing firm, but it had more or less shut down. There was no business. Bored and desolate, he accompanied his wife to keep himself occupied. We do not see the husband anymore. He is back at work with the same moving and packing company; the US economy is moving again, literally.

In 2008, I had spent long hours consoling a close friend who had lost his job at Lehman Brothers. He was distraught, middle-aged and out of job, with no sign of recovery. In the next 15 months, he changed four jobs. Today, he is settled into another job with a leading investment bank. The stability is back, so is the pay-cheque and the bonuses, even if these are not as generous as in the old days. Nevertheless, my friend works very long hours; he is out of the house from 7am to 9pm. He tells me the fear of losing another job and of another collapse gives him nightmares.

In 2008-09, I used to see too many 'For Sale' signs outside houses and properties. The housing market had plummeted. There was panic in the mortgage industry and distress sales were very common. Today, there are far fewer such signs. The number of distress sales has fallen as people are regaining control of their lives.

Ironically, they may not actually be buying homes. Anecdotal evidence in New York would suggest that even those people who can afford to put down a decent mortgage are preferring caution and staying on rent. There is apprehension of committing to a large mortgage and being sucked into another debt trap.

I am no economist. These are stray observations and pieces of information picked up during conversations. As such, my view is decidedly limited. Yet, a recovery is definitely on course in America. But, that sense of anxiety has still not gone away. For an entire generation of Americans, the survivors of September 2008, it may never.

Derek O’Brien
Member of Parliament
Chief Whip in the Rajya Sabha and National Spokesperson, Trinamool Congress