INTERVIEW
Follow UsChennai Super Kings’ku Periya Whistle Adinga (Whistle aloud for Chennai Super Kings)
Enga Ooru Chennaiku Periya Whistle Adinga (Whistle aloud for our city Chennai)
Enga Thala Dhoni’ku Periya Whistle Adinga (Whistle aloud for our leader Dhoni)
This theme song popularly called the Whistle Podu has been reverberating in every corner of Chepauk for the last few years during the IPL matches. Well, this year the pandemic has meant that Thala’s (as Dhoni is referred to in this part of the world) boys won’t be playing in their fortress and the fans will not queuing up to be in the stands. So, does that mean there won’t be any Whistle Podu?
Zoom meetings with the fans
Thanks to the digital age and social media, the whistles will go on even this year, if not in the stadiums, then at the homes of the fans. “We have our own zoom meetings where we interact with enthusiastic fans like us during and before the match days”, said Prabhu Damodharan, a 42-year old textile businessman based out of Tiruppur and the co-founder of the Whistle Podu Army, the official Chennai Super Kings Fan Club. Although their plan this year was to increase presence in matches outside Chennai as well, the prevailing situation has clearly not deterred their spirits.
Also, it’s not the first time that they won’t be witnessing live matches of their team. In fact, this fan club’s birth took place when CSK was banned in 2016 and 2017. “Obviously when the team was suspended for a couple of years, we felt a kind of void. Till then we were an unorganised group who used to go together for games. Once the team was not there, we felt a vacuum in our lives and wanted to have an official presence”, recalled Prabhu. He was one among the many crazy fans who went ahead and registered the group as the “Chennai Super Kings Fan Club” under the Tamil Nadu Societies Registration Act, 1975.
If it's Chennai, there has to be a Rajnikanth connection
Now you might be curious to know that how the name Whistle Podu Army came up. So, if it's Chennai then there has to be a Rajnikanth connection. Imagine watching the first-day first show of the superstar’s movie and one would whistle at the first sight of him. And that’s how the name came up. When the group had done a poll with its followers, this name got the maximum votes.
Fans would recall that this group had embarked on a trip to Pune on the Whistle Podu Express in the 2018 season when matches were moved out of Chennai due to the Cauvery protests. They whistled all the way and cheered the team to win the trophy. Similar to the CSK team, the Whistle Podu Army’s journey has been extremely heart-warming. “It’s not just about going to the game and supporting. We want to do more than just fighting over players. Yes, we also enjoy banters, but we want to connect as a community and spread happiness”, stated Prabhu. I would say that it’s a wonderful thought which brings out the essence of sports.
The Whistle Podu Army is active beyond the two months of the IPL as well. Be it having meet-ups on the birthdays of CSK players or on other significant dates, they don’t miss any such opportunities. They do also get involved in social causes. Last year, they had distributed masks to the fans. Then, for the past few years, they have been organising blood donation camps across the country as well as in Sri Lanka on July 7th, which is MS Dhoni’s birthday.
“We don’t know when this legend is suddenly going to disappear out of action”
They all just adore Dhoni, so this celebration on his birthday isn’t a revelation. As per Prabhu, the best thing about the former Indian captain is that he treats everyone alike, be it the security guard, the chef at the hotel, the ground staff, players or the officials and gives them due respect. This is something that he has seen first-hand. He added that Dhoni is not the guy who will just get a photo clicked with the fans and get done with it. On most occasions, he would engage in some conversation with the fans. So, not seeing Dhoni live on the ground this year has been one of the biggest disappointments for this group. “We wanted to see him play as we don’t know when this legend is suddenly going to disappear out of action”, Prabhu chuckled.
Whenever that happens, the Whistle Podu Army would definitely miss their Thala, but the support for the men in yellow would always continue. This community has been rapidly growing and has a strong social media presence with around 1.5 million fans. They limit the actual membership to around 2000 people and have roughly 100 people in the core team. The CSK management does provide them with the required support from time to time, but they operate separately.
Nevertheless, they are part of the CSK extended family whose whistles will always continue to lift the morale of the players.
