Life will go on after IPL 2015

With the slash and bang and subtle cacophony of the eighth edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) over, a dazed nation finds itself facing empty evenings. Unlike other formats of the religious exercise of watching cricket, the Twenty20 format of the IPL is a sundowner.

Which means that for some three-and-a-half hours each evening, the office-returned, the homework-completed and the chores-finished could all congregate in the living room, or for the less unsporty, go to a stadium with a game on near you. Now, there will be millions staring blankly at their television sets —until this nostalgia for the daily carnival under the garb of cricket goes away.

And recede it will. To quote the Jewish philosopher from New York, Jerry Seinfeld, “Men don’t care what’s on TV. They only care what else is on TV.” In 2015 India, this also applies to women, children and those shadowy entities that reportedly make up television ratings.

So even as you suffer terribly right now by not getting to watch what you seemingly have followed for years — starting on April 8, IPL 2015 actually lasted for 47 days — you will find other things to do, other things to watch on television or out of your window. Until April 8, 2016, when the illusion of ‘bring hooked to cricket’ will start all over again.