Cricket’s significance in America.
Cricket’s role in the immigrant community.
The significance of cricket might be unfelt to the general American population but it plays a major role in the immigrant population. Every year swaths of immigrants from subcontinent countries like India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Afghanistan trickle into America in the promise of a better future.
These immigrants leave behind their home country and culture in which they grow up in and experience a certain kind of familiarity and comfort with. The sudden change in the environment can be a disorientating experience for a newcomer into a country making them alienated in a foreign country.
It is in this feeling of alienation that some immigrants seek solace in cricket. For those who follow and partake in cricket in the immigrant community, cricket is like home food, something that satisfies the soul and numbs the pain and suffering of being in a brand new culture.
Cricket gives many immigrants a sense of belonging in a culture in an alien culture. Cricket teams and clubs offer the immigrants a familiar space in which they can feel themselves again and interact and socialize with the people who share the same culture and the love for the sport. Being a part of a team also gives the players a sense of identity, it makes them feel as if they belong somewhere and feel accepted by the people. As a reason, many clubs naturally form teams with members that come from a similar culture and maybe share the same values and outlook.
Cricket gives the immigrants a chance to feel connected to the people around them. It is not always easy for a newbie in a foreign country to adjust and adapt to the culture of the new country. But having friends just eases the process of acculturation and makes them feel less lonely in a foreign space, at least that’s how it was for me. Cricket gives the immigrants a chance to connect with the people who share similar experiences and stories in order to make meaning of their life.
Being accustomed to a certain kind of lifestyle and routine in your home country makes it difficult to adjust to the ways of the new country. For me, I always loved playing cricket whenever I had the chance back home. So, discovering cricket in America was a godsend, which made the entire process of acculturation easier for me. I had something to do in my free time and over the weekends. Cricket provided an outlet for me to release my stress. Whenever, I felt lonely, or found it difficult to cope up with the pressure of living in a new country, playing cricket at Buckley (Drexel’s Recreational Field) was way for me to feel myself again, to feel comfortable being lost and to have a sense of belonging.
There is a certain kind of uncertainty that immigrants experience while trying to make friends with the locals. The fact that there is a difference in cultures makes it difficult for people to connect on a deeper level. Yes, there is always the idea of sharing and acknowledging the cultural differences but, guess what, it is easier said than done. Again, there is a language barrier experienced by immigrants, although most immigrants are fluent and conversational in English, I am certain that most of us feel intimated to talk to Americans in the fright of saying something wrong or mispronouncing something or just being made felt different. Playing cricket has made me realize how cricket helps the immigrants express themselves freely. It provides the players with an outlet to be themselves without the worry of being judged or misunderstood. A cricket field is like their safe space wherein they can be themselves.
The atmosphere of club and a team on the field is so friendly and non-judgmental that it almost like a liberating experience for the immigrants. In such an atmosphere, people cannot help but make friends which last a lifetime. Listening to stories of the senior members of my club, made me realize just how much time they have spend together playing cricket. The kind of memories and stories they share are truly a testament to the bond they share.
Lastly, when I came to America, although I knew that Drexel had a cricket team, and some other universities in the region play cricket, I was not aware of the expanse of cricket in Philadelphia. I had no idea there was cricket at club level, semi-professional level or even on a national level. When I left for America it was with the feeling that cricket would no longer be a part of my life. It was a tough pill to swallow considering the role it played in my life. But after coming to Philadelphia, I realized just how much cricket was going on in America. Finding out the scale at which it is being played reignited my fading passion for the sport. Although there always this pressure of being judged for playing cricket by other around me, but it never overpowered the love and the passion I felt for the sport. Playing cricket in America help me rediscover my passion for cricket and in the process helped me rediscover myself.
I had a chance to talk to Maeez Veqar, a Drexel graduate, who is currently pursuing an MBA at Carnegie Mellon, about his cricket journey in America. Here is what he had to say about it:
