First, cricket is a business. Govind, Ish and Omi open a cricket shop in the corner across from a Hindu temple run by Omi's family for generations. In this way, the three young men attempt to make a living without directly following in the path that their parents would like to have seen them go.
Ish is the number one fan of cricket among the three. The successes and failures of the national Indian cricket team constantly affect success in their sales of cricket equipment and cricket clients for training on the pitch. For example, after the Indian team makes a historic upset over the Australian team, not only does the country go bonkers over cricket, but the cricket business in Ahmadabad booms.
Likewise, in the phenomena of the young cricketer, Ali, Ish (as the cricket shop trainer) finds his true passion in life, which goes beyond just overseeing young Indians learning to play cricket better. He desires to improve cricket education for all in the schools of Ahmadabad.
In the meantime, Ish becomes extremely concerned with Ali's welfare and sees the gifted young man and his success on the playing field as a symbol of national hope for all of India. Ish often calls Ali a national gift to all Indians--regardless of race, faith or gender.
Eventually, this desire to see Ali succeed pushes Govind, Ish and Omi to first travel to Goa to meet with Australian cricket players and to get an expert opinion on the future of their young cricket prodigy. These experts then agree to bring Ali and his friends to Australia to train a week with a club in Sydney.
Ish and his friends are in awe of the fact that a country with Australia's population can constantly put together world class cricket teams. In contrast, India with 60 times the talent pool cannot do nearly as well. Therefore, one rationale for taking the foursome out of India on this journey to Australia is meant to show Indian readers how they need to reorganize their sports education better in the future. In short, Australia is portrayed as an alternative world of sports training and education, which author Bhagat uses as a foil to educate his readers about one possible future India could have, if it determined to use its human resources and educational system in a more productive and nationally supportive fashion.
LOVE OF MATH
Over the years, I have known many Indian math tutors who love cricket. They love the science and strategy involved. They support their national team but fairly even-handedly criticize national stars who fail to support good team ideals.
Mathematics is a way of bringing order to a world that might otherwise appear to be the domain of randomness and surprise. In short, conquering on the cricket pitch is equivalent to ordering one's universe most productively.
As noted above, Govind is the business savvy partner of the three cricket shop owners. At times, Govind is also a bit arrogant and often disregards his friends advice, especially Omi's warnings that Govind should stop trying to tutor Ish's sister.
Nonetheless, no one can deny that Govind is bright and he could likely be anything that he chose to be.
Govind's father died when he was young. He helped turn around his mother's small ailing business when he was still in high school, i.e. through his introduction of clear management and accounting practices.
Govind is also the only one of the three friends who had attended university--although he bailed out early to realize his dream of running his own business.. Like many Indians talented in math and science, Govind found a calling early on as a tutor in his neighborhood.
Even after the cricket shop opens on Omi's family land, rented to the threesome by the temple family, Govind continues to love tutoring, especially the subject of mathematics. He is fascinated by numbers, probability, risk taking, etc. However, he strives to have order in his world and, like Ish, tries to stay out of the fray of the rising Hindu nationalism around them.
Govind, in his first-person narration in 3 Mistakes, reveals this love for numbers. He can calculate costs and benefits at great speed. It is these very skills and overall wisdom and logic which partially endears him to his friends and their families
On the other hand, it is this very same respect for both Govind's math and tutoring skills that imperils his relationship with Ish. In a turning point in Govind's life, Ish begs Govind to tutor his sister Vidya, who is just getting ready to turn 18 and has plans to go off to college in Mumbai.
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