Well, I feel matches like these justify need for a sporting event amidst a pandemic. Large portion of world's population is stuck at home, facing issues like anxiety, depression, fear, pain, insomnia, etc. because of an incredibly prolonged detachment with the routine world. If 4 hours of sports does put a smile on their faces, I honestly believe they deserve that much.
When I said this, I did not mean events like IPL should happen at cost of anyone's life, at all. That will be epitome of insensitivity. Situation in our country is really critical and I concur with most of the people around here who say that tournament organizers are absolutely
not allowed to advertise these leagues as a humanitarian cause. Better they work in silence and stop being stupid by thirsting for credit. It's people who make professional sports successful.
Although, there are bunch of angles to how we can view this, how we compare pandemic and professional sports happening at the same time. There are 1.3 billion people in India out of which 2 cr cases have been detected in past year. I know that number doesn't depict the real situation because testing is not up to the mark. So let's assume there have been around 3-5 cr cases over last 12-14 months. Now it's not like all of the 130 cr people are at a risk at the same time, it's not possible. But, am I right to assume that nearly half the population has been harshly affected by this as they have to be stuck at home? People call this a new norm, it's for our own safety though, but are we accustomed to living like this? No. So I understand situation is really worse out there for frontline workers, patients and their families, but it's also not that damn easy for people who have accepted the new way of life. In these regards, a sports event gives people a sense of normalcy. Even though not everyone is infected, the news, getting to learn someone close being affected by the virus, not being able to help them, not being able to distract our minds like we used to before all this leaves us in state of
helplessness. You can not just be sitting at home and working and studying and ignoring ongoing crisis at all hours to stay positive.
Again, BCCI or FA or UEFA, nobody gets to seize credit here for keeping the professional sports running and people being happy because of it; it's because they choose to watch these sports, organizers are able to go on. But imagine if these events are shut down and entertainment industry is also shut down, and people who have been trying to stay true to their social responsibilities by following protocols decide to pretend nothing is going wrong and just try to live like normal as the way of handling depression. It will be utter chaos then I'm afraid!
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