By Kamil Zaheer
New Delhi - Vikram Ray tucks into a chocolate pastry dripping with ice cream and says he is all set to scream himself hoarse cheering for India, where millions are caught up in cricket fever days before the World Cup.
Problem is, he is spoilt for choice of venues: hotels, bars, shopping malls, movie halls and public parks across the cricket-crazy nation will become viewing galleries for fans to watch the tournament that begins in the West Indies next week.
India, along with 15 other countries, will play for the game's most-coveted prize over the next six weeks in the Caribbean, half way around the world. Although it is not among the favourites to lift the cup, interest is soaring at home.
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| 'I want to shout and shout along with others, and feel the patriotism' |
"I want to shout and shout along with others, and feel the patriotism," said Ray, a 20-year-old college student, at a trendy coffee shop in New Delhi.
Near his table, a large white board put up by the coffee shop is filled with messages of support for the Indian team, preparing for the six-week tournament that starts on March 13 across nine Caribbean nations.
One message reads: "We will win the war in the Windies."
India play less-fancied Bangladesh on March 17 and temperatures ahead of the game are being raised by TV networks that have launched "Cheer-for-India" campaigns.
Fans are being rallied to the cause: an Indian victory 24 years after the country lifted the world cup in England in 1983.
| 'Good luck India, we need the World Cup' |
Weavers are making saris with star batsman Saurav Ganguly's image in his home state of West Bengal, while in New Delhi, girls in short skirts and pompoms attract bemused stares from men as they do a jig, sponsored by corporates and media houses.
In the coastal state of Orissa, a young musician has shot a music video in which he attempts to play cricket underwater. Elsewhere, special prayers in temples are being held.
India's many TV channels, fighting for a slice of the viewership pie in a nation of 1,1 billion people, are tracking the build-up in minute detail as well as contributing to it.
"Good luck India, we need the World Cup," Bollywood action hero Akshay Kumar tells a TV news channel, which claims to be the "official network of the Indian cricket fan".
A rival channel asks viewers to send text messages as part of a contest to find the "craziest" cricket fan in India where national players are often more popular than Bollywood stars.
"They have to feed their 24-hour channels and everyone wants to jump onto the bandwagon," said Poonam Saxena, a media critic. "If someone wants to get away from cricket, he or she will have to leave the country."
For others, hotels are offering flat-screen TVs on bar tables for customers to watch matches that will start in the evening and end early morning local time.
Foodies can enjoy "googly pasta" and "century noodles" at a restaurant in the western city of Ahmedabad.
But amid all the hype, experts are warning against inflated expectations that could end in disappointment.
They point out that during the previous world cup in South Africa in 2003, fans, angry at India's loss to Australia in one of the preliminary matches, damaged star batsman Rahul Dravid's car and attacked team-mate Mohammad Kaif's house.
"It is totally unfair on the 11 young boys that people burden their lives' expectations on them," Ramachandra Guha, a cricket historian and writer, said.
"We are raising expectations too high. India has a mediocre team that is unlikely to win."
Additional reporting by Prithwish Ganguly in New Delhi and Rupam Jain Nair in Ahmedabad.
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