When you ask a staunch cricket fan from Tamil Nadu if they know Srini Mama, all of them would say yes. But their nod could mean two things. Either, they are referring to the N Srinivasan, former BCCI Chairman and perhaps the most influential strongman in the world of cricket, or it could be his online parody that goes by the moniker ‘Srini Mama’. Uproariously funny, rooted in Chennai’s culture, mouthing Tanglish (Tamil+English for the uninitiated) and with perceptive analysis of cricket, Srini Mama is the best online entertainer a Tamil cricket fan could ask for.
In the two years Srini Mama has been operating online, the parody has garnered more than 54000 followers on Facebook and nearly 19000 on Twitter. His followers are mostly from Tamil Nadu, but also include Tamils from all over the world.
And all of us have wondered - who is the real Srini Mama? What does he do? Or is it a she?
Your wait is over. The News Minute has all the answers for you, except the exact identity. So here is a character sketch of Srini Mama.
Srini Mama is a male in his early 20s based in Chennai, and yes, he is an engineer.
He is a typical Chennai-ite speaking a mix of Tamil and English. He likes Batman, and you cannot hear everything he says because he is busy laughing at his own jokes.
Srini Mama spends all his time on cricket except while he is at work or is sleeping. He claims to be inspired by his grandmother who from her young age went to every cricket match in Chepauk stadium in Chennai, something not many women in the 1950s did. He is a huge fan of South African cricketer AB de Villiers.
He started the page in May 2013 during T-20 IPL finals between Mumbai Indians (MI) and Chennai Super Kings (CSK), a match which CSK lost. However, he claims opening a page was an impromptu decision and so was naming it “Srini Mama”. The page remained idle until IPL 2014 when it came into full swing. He mostly did a pre-match forecast about who would perform and who would not.
Sometimes he’d be so accurate that his followers would think it was the original N Srinivasan behind the parody account’s post.
When asked about his tongue-in-cheek humour, he says he was not always funny and is often embarrassed of how drab his posts are. Even though he has tens of thousands of followers, he claims to be not pressurised to be funny or script better jokes every time. Sometimes cricket fans make posters of his jokes and display it during matches.
He claims that he gets ideas while discussing with his friends, but most times writes as ideas come to his mind.
As far as cricket goes, this Srinimama does get on the ground and loves fielding. He absolutely loves Kamal Hassan movies and is apparently an Agatha Christie fan.
His Tam-brahm tone, and friendly usage of “Pasangala” (Boys) and “Badava” (Bloody fellow)” to address his followers, hits home with his target audience.
He says that though he has a huge fan base on Facebook, he is mostly active on Twitter as he gets to connect with more people instantly, the idea being “more engagement, more influence”. He has had Indian bowler Ashwin Ravichandran reply to his posts and a conversation on Twitter with Sri Lankan cricketer Russel Arnold.
Being anonymous and running a parody account is purely out of love for cricket and entertainment, he says.
So what does he do when he hears a random person speaking about his parody accounts? “I sit quietly, eavesdrop and smile to myself,” he says.
Reporter's note: With great power comes great responsibility and hence Srinimama's identity has to be kept secret.