PILGRIMAGE
Read the Passage Carefully and answers the Following Questions: –
1. For the faithful, a trip to Germany is like a pilgrimage. And for the next few weeks, soccer is the only truly devotional activity in many temples and monasteries around the world. Faith and football sometimes seem inseparable. Goal scorers often kneel down to give thanks and some winners routinely form prayer huddles. The game upholds its own values, invocations and fellowship. It has rituals, sacraments and exalted halls of fame. With deities, devotees and scholars, soccer is a religion in its own right. An astute clergy acknowledges its prowess. Throughout Germany, Catholic, Protestant and Orthodox churches are offering assembly line confession booths and foreign language services, all in the vicinity of live-action. The puritans regret that the multitudes swarm the nearest pub rather than the chapels customized for them. But frankly, who needs religion after a great game?
2. Baseball and basketball in the US, cricket in the subcontinent, kung fu in China or sumo wrestling in Japan, all enjoy comparable devotion. Throughout history, places of worship have patronised martial arts. Nike, Apollo and Hermes are the Greek Gods of victory, archery and athletics. Indians, Romans and Chinese have their own deities of leisure and sport.
3. But twenty-first-century sports are raring to break free of that old bondage. The functional unity between a temple and games is under threat. The archetypal Indian akharas, once patronised by the temples, mosques or gurdwaras, are thriving under corporate sponsorships. Sports have
not replaced the need for religion as yet, but they are shaking off their dependence on the church to emerge as a parallel cultural force. Modern sports demand so much perfection of body, so much strength of mind and so much spirit of teamwork that the end product blurs the dividing line between leisure and worship. Sports compete for cultural space with communions and congregations because they are also about the elevation of the mind, body and soul.
4. Sports, like religion, promote a moral community of their own. They bring people together and offer them relief and motivation. The stadium and the virtual arena reinforces patriotism and nationalism, once a preserve of `civil’ religions. Children come into baseball, cricket or soccer, just as they inherit cultures and religious beliefs. That’s why the two superpowers showcased their political systems in the Olympic arenas during the Cold War. Cultural battles are still fought in the playground. The waning groups treat victory as a reinforcement of their ‘national values’ but take defeat in their stride!
5. During the Cold War, the US churches helped the government in its fight against the ‘atheist’ USSR that was rising as a sporting power. Many countries are successfully using sports as a hook to keep the minority youths from indulging in antisocial activities. It has been established that team sports for teenagers offer many qualities of ‘gang activities’ such as risk-taking, a celebration of triumphs, acceptance of losses and psychological fulfilment.
Word-Meanings
Para 1. 1. Trip (noun): tour 2. Pilgrimage (noun): religious journey 3. Kneel (verb): bend 4. Huddles (noun): groups 5. Invocations (noun): call for prayers 6. rituals (noun): rites 7. Sacraments (noun): religious ceremonies 8. Exalted (adjective): held in high esteem 9. Astute (adjective): very clever, shrewd 10. Prowess (noun): skills 11. Vicinity (noun): neighbourhood 12. Puritans (noun): people strict in religious matters 13. Regret (verb): lament 14. Multitudes (noun): the great number of people 15. Swarm (verb): crowd 16. Pub (noun): an establishment for the sale of wine, beer etc. 17. Chapel (noun): church-house 18. Assembly line (noun): conveyor 19. Customized (verb): built according to personal preferences
Para 2. 1. Devotion (noun): deep affection and loyalty 2. Patronized (verb): to support and encourage 3. Deities (noun): gods 4. Leisure (noun): recreation
Para 3. 1. Bondage (noun): restriction 2. Thriving (verb): growing 3. Emerge (verb): come out 4. blurs (verb): dims 5. Congregations (noun): groups, collection 6. Elevation (noun): advancement 7. Functional (adjective): utilitarian
Para 4. 1. Promote (verb): to boost 2. Arena (noun): ground 3. Warring (adjective): fighting 4. in their stride (idiom): to successfully cope with 5. Reinforces (verb): to strengthen
Para 5. 1. Atheist (noun): one who does not believe that there is God 2. Triumph (noun): victory, win
Questions:
1. Choose the correct option:
(a) …………….. plays the role that was played by religion once.
(i) Common festivals (ii) Common holidays
(iii) One language (iv) Sports
(b) The best way to keep youngsters away from anti-social activities is to …………..
(i) give them money (ii) get them jobs
(iii) engage them in sports (iv) produce social films
(c) What do sports do?
(i) Elevates body (ii) Elevates body and soul
(iii) Elevates the body, mind and soul (iv) Nothing
(d) Which of the following is not a Greek God?
(i) Apollo (ii) Nike
(iii) Plato (iv) Hermes
(e) Write the word similar in meaning to ‘neighbourhood’ used in paragraph 1 of the passage.
(i) nearby (ii) vicinity
(iii) congregation (iv) area
(f) ‘Prowess’ in paragraph 1 refers to:
(i) being skilled (ii) being shrewd
(iii) a hunter (iv) the prey
2.Answer the following questions briefly:
(a) What do Puritans regret?
(b) Which games are enjoyed with almost religious devotion in China and the subcontinent?
(c) What is the demand of modern sports?
(d) How are some countries using sports to tame minority youths?
(e) One who does not believe in God is called an
(f) ‘Taking defeat in their stride’ means
Answers:
1.(a) iv (b) iii (c) iii (d) iii (e) ii (f) i
2(a) Puritans lament the fact that people go to the pubs after the football games rather than the churches customised for them.
(b) Kung fu and cricket are enjoyed with almost religious devotion in China and the subcontinent respectively.
(c) Modern sports demand the complete alignment of body, soul and mind and spirit of teamwork.
(d) In order to tame the minority youth, some countries give full support to the youth to take up sports, thereby keeping them busy and away from anti-social activities.
(e) atheist
(f) accepting defeat good-naturedly
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