Continuing from the previous blog post, let’s delve further into the books:
1. Beyond A Boundary- C.L.R. James
“Time would pass, old empires would fall and new ones take their place, the relations of countries and relations of classes had to change, before I discovered that it is not quality of goods and utility which matter, but movement, not where you are or what you have, but where you have come from, where you are going and the rate at which you are getting there."
This statement from C.L.R. James’s classic book shows role the game of cricket has played in the making of the history of Caribbean society. C.L.R. James, the historian and cricket writer, embarks on a biographical journey from 1910s to 1950s in West Indies, and England to prove the point. He invites us to look closely the complex ties between political struggles of decolonization through cricket and the long process of decolonizing his own mind from the gaze of the western civilization. Beyond a Boundary starts by focusing on wonder years of the writer in Trinidad and his observation on the intermingling of the race and class in the local cricket. The writer advocates cricket as an art form like Greek literature by observing the game not just as a sport, but as a craft with rhythm, beauty, and a narrative flow. He argues in the book that cricket was a form of resistance against colonial oppression, especially as Black players took on leading roles, challenging racial stereotypes and social barriers. Two players he often highlighted in this context were Learie Constantine and W.G. Grace to argue that cricket is inseparable from the politics and social structures of its time. The idea of “leaving politics out of sports” is a topic of ongoing debate, but this book makes us aware that the injustice "beyond the boundary" ultimately impacts the cricket. The players are not islands of sportsmanship while being deeply engulfed into societal structures, systemic biases and burden of the history. C.L.R. James embodies a unique and compelling mixture of identities: a Marxist historian, an anglophile in initial years, a Black intellectual, and a passionate lover of cricket. The book is written through this multi-faceted perspective, that is as much about the identity, and struggle as it is about cricket.
2. A Corner of a Foreign Field: The Indian History of a British Sport - Ramachandra Guha
Our inability to understand and tell sociological stories is one of the key reasons we are struggling with how to respond to social transitions. Without embedding social narratives, we miss understanding who benefitted, who was left behind, and what kind of society we were building. The idea that we could somehow eliminate casteist mindsets, religious differences, and racist discrimination by ignoring such identity question under the veil of secular cricket leads to formation of a veil of ignorance.
Social history of Indian cricket suffers from one enormous disadvantage: that we as a people, have criminal indifference to written records. The history of India, like that of any other country, has been a story of social inequities, exploitation of the common people, religious conflict, and so on. The history of the cricket in India is no exception to this.
A Corner of a Foreign Field: The Indian History of a British Sport is a book depicting religious fault lines. A book talking about caste. A book talking about racism. Yet, the book is written for the lover of the game by a writer looking from the perspective of the history, sports, social transformation, and Indian Independence. The book is divided into four chapters—Race, Caste, Religion, and Nation—and features the experiences of the cricketers, politicians, and Maharajas making it an engaging and interesting read.
The book captures the long journey of cricket in India—from its beginning as a game created by an alliance of imperial and Indian elites to becoming a sport for the masses. The book shows how Indians overcame the deeply rooted caste barriers in society and challenged the British notion of racial superiority in the game of cricket. Cricket tournaments like the Bombay Quadrangular and Bombay Pentangular were initially organized based on religious communities of Hindu, European, Muslim, and Parsees leading to widespread riots and political unrest. The book also ends with the origins of the Ranji Trophy and the formation of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).
This book introduced me to Palwankar Baloo and his brothers, early Indian cricketers, and shared stories about famous players like C.K. Nayudu, Lala Amarnath, Vijay Hazare, and Vijay Merchant. This is a must-read book capturing cricket history of India in an effortless and seamless manner.
~Worth a Look~
4. Missing In Action: Why You Should Care About Public Policy - Pranay Kotasthane
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