Tolerate the Vuvuzela

The metre long vuvuzelas have been the flavour of this World Cup season. In all the matches for the next month, a constant loud noise of the swarming of angry bees will be heard throughout the match amidst all the kicks, tackles and whistles. A lot has been debated about this instrument which causes the deafening noise, camouflaging everything else. Yet, as Indians are we not used to the deafening cheers and horns that accompany a cricket match in which the men in blue play?

India is a unique place for cricket in many ways. The craze for a cricket match crosses all boundaries – every four or six hit is cheered so loudly by the crowd that players cannot communicate which each other and the umpires end up making glaring mistakes. No one complains, however, as the earsplitting atmosphere is tolerated on the account of ‘excitement generated’ and players go on record saying, “Its a fantastic atmosphere…great crowd…great support”, and “Its always an experience playing here in India…the atmosphere is electric…”. To see the spectators jumping up and down like mad animals and shouting as if they have never shouted before is not a rare sight. In fact, Indian cricket stadiums always have barbed fences so that the crazy supporters are kept in the cage like wild animals in a zoo, to prevent mishaps.

the barbed fence: a common feature in Indian cricket stadiums

Apart from some of the Asian stadiums, none of the other major Test playing nations have this ‘barbed fence’ system. But no matter, the fact that India is pretty much the epicentre of cricket in the world makes the dangerously thunderous atmosphere ‘a fantastic experience’!

The only difference is that the vuvuzelas are an African culture that is alien to us – I am sure most of us may have never seen a vuvuzela before. Thus, naturally it causes pain to the ear. When FIFA President Sepp Blatter says it provides an African flavour to the tournament what wrong does he say? Localites will definitely have a reason to feel outraged over a ban on their cultural thing – an instrument which is synonymous for joy and excitement for them, the same way a deafening atmosphere in cricket stadiums in India is synonymous to excitement here.

As for concerns over permanent damage to the ear, to the people who have problems put an ear plug in. Or rather, check out the anti-vuvuzela tune invented by somebody that is said to cancel out the irritating noise. And again, if we are familiar to Indian cricket stadiums, tolerating the vuvuzela should not be any problem.