It has been 17 seasons, countless heartbreaks, and still no Indian Premier League (IPL) trophy. Yet, every year, as the summer heat rises, so does the roar of the Royal Challengers Bangalore’s (RCB) faithful fans. Clad in red and gold, with voices hoarse from chanting “RCB, RCB” and hearts full of hope with slogans like “Ee Sala Cup Namde” (This time, the cup is ours), RCB fans return match after match, season after season, undaunted by the scoreboard. In a world where loyalty often hinges on success, the RCB fan base stands out to be resilient, passionate, and endlessly optimistic.

RCB, currently playing its 18th season, is one of the most popular and passionately supported franchises in the IPL. Based in Bengaluru, the team was founded in 2008 and is owned by United Spirits, a subsidiary of British beverage company Diageo. Despite boasting some of the biggest names in cricket over the years, including Anil Kumble, Virat Kohli, AB de Villiers, Chris Gayle, and Faf du Plessis, RCB has never won an IPL title, which has often made them the subject of memes and heartbreak in equal measure.

The team had reached the finals three times in 2009, 2011, and 2016, but narrowly missed the crown each time. Their tagline, “Ee Sala Cup Namde, “ has become a rallying cry and meme rolled into one, capturing both the hope and humour of the RCB journey. And for their fans, the journey has always mattered more than the destination. 

Passion and team spirit

We spoke to the “12th man army”, as RCB fondly calls its fans from across the State, questioning why they continue to support the franchise despite not bringing home a cup.

Speaking to The Hindu, Rakhi Chadaga, a 29-year-old HR professional, said, “For us RCB fans, it is not about winning the cup. Of course, that would be icing on the cake. But it is more about how RCB plays each game, the thrill of it. From the good old days of Anil Kumble, Rahul Dravid, Chris Gayle, ABd to the forever favourite Virat, we support RCB for the B (Bangalore) not the C (cup).”

Tejas Narayanappa, a data engineer, said, “I am an RCB fan because, let’s face it, if you are born in India, you are pretty much destined to support cricket, and if you’re from Bengaluru, RCB is the team you are drawn to! It’s almost like a rite of passage. Growing up in the city, watching matches at M. Chinnaswamy Stadium, and cheering for the team, it’s part of Bengaluru and our identity.” 

Fans during the match between Rajasthan Royals and Royal Challengers Bangalore in Bangalore on April 20, 2013.
| Photo Credit:
K. BHAGYA PRAKASH

Inspiration to many

Veeresh Badiger, a 27-year-old video editor, has been a fan of RCB since 2013. “For me, it all started with fantastic players like AB de Villiers and Chris Gayle. As I grew up, I realised RCB is not just about star players, but it is about passion, team spirit, and giving your all every season. Watching them over the years taught me a lot – staying loyal, never giving up, living in the moment, working hard, and believing in yourself.” Veeresh added that these lessons helped him become mentally stronger and apply the same in my life. “RCB has become more than a team for me; it has played a big role in my personal growth,” he added.  

“From watching Karnataka’s legends like Dravid and Kumble to witnessing Virat Kohli grow from a young under-19 player into a symbol of loyalty and passion, RCB has always felt personal. With ABd and Chris Gayle redefining T20 entertainment, this team did not just play, they inspired. More than anything, RCB stands for the spirit of never giving up. No matter the season, no matter the odds, they fight till the end. And every time I see that red and gold jersey, I believe in them all over again,” said Anurag Sharma a theatre artist.

Srinivasachari G., from Nangali Village, Kolar, said it always feels like he is part of the RCB family. “I’m emotionally attached to the team, and going to Chinnaswamy feels like home. Every year, we carry a lot of emotions, every win, every loss, every game we feel and enjoy wholeheartedly. Yes, we don’t have a trophy, but the team with zero trophies has the highest number of fan following across the country, RCB is the Heart of IPL,” he said.

RCB fans during the match between Royal Challengers Bangalore and Sunrisers Hyderabad at M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore on May 4, 2014.
| Photo Credit:
K. MURALI KUMAR

Fans of all ages 

While RCB is known for having fans who have been following the franchise since 2008, older and younger fans have also been growing for the team. Ravi Subramaniam, at 72, is a die-hard RCB fan.

“I have seen cricket from the days of B.S. Chandrasekhar and E.A.S. Prasanna. But there is something about RCB that keeps me young at heart. I have not followed RCB from the beginning, I started watching the matches a couple of years ago with my children and grandchildren just to spend some time with family. But they had me hooked. We may not have a trophy, but we have heart. And as long as there is a match at Chinnaswamy, I will be there, with my flag, my whistle, and my hope,” he said cheerfully.

RCB fans during the match between Royal Challengers Bangalore and Sunrisers Hyderabad at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bengaluru, on May 29, 2016.
| Photo Credit:
K. MURALI KUMAR

Huda Syed, at 15, is as passionate a fan as Subramaniam. The 10th grade student said, “I have been an RCB fan literally since I was born, not because of the trophies, but because of the passion and energy this team brings to the field. Supporting RCB is more than just backing a team, it is about believing in potential, loving the game, and standing by your favourites through every high and low. Watching legends like Virat Kohli give their all every single match, win or lose, has been nothing short of inspiring. Yes, we have not lifted the IPL trophy yet, but the loyalty, the Chinnaswamy roar, and the unwavering belief of the fans make us champions in spirit. RCB is a feeling, not just a franchise. And we will always say it loud ‘Ee Sala Cup Namde.”

Our bodies are made of cells. Each cell is a soup of smaller components, all working together to execute the body’s various functions. Perhaps the most well-known of these components are proteins — long chains of amino acids that cells make with instructions from the DNA. When the DNA changes, the cell is able to make new proteins, sometimes with new functions, and in this way proteins are understood to be an integral part of evolution.

But new research is finding that this may also be a narrow view that misses other ways in which we evolve.

“Lipids make up to 30% [of the dry weight] of living cells. But people think of them only as shells,” Sven Gould, an evolutionary cell biologist at the Institute for Molecular Evolution in Düsseldorf, said.

Time for an updated view

Lipids are fat in cells. A textbook image of the cell membrane (which is what Gould meant by “shell”) shows proteins jostling in a bed of lipids. Scientists know a lot about these membrane proteins. About 25% of all human proteins are estimated to be located in the membranes. They carry out many functions: as receptors, they bind to specific molecules outside the cell; as channels, they allow specific molecules to enter and leave the cell; and as catalysts, they help speed up chemical reactions.

On the other hand, scientists’ understanding of lipids is limited to their role as a packing material, as things that hold proteins. In fact, they’re often imagined to be arranged in a homogenous layer made of round heads and long, flowy tails — readymade for proteins to just be dropped on.

A study published recently in Nature Communications from Swasti Raychaudhuri’s lab at the CSIR-Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology, Hyderabad, challenges this view.

The RC1 complex

The team’s study focused on a group of membrane proteins called respiratory complex 1 (RC1). RC1 and other similar complexes are essential for cells to produce energy when the body breathes oxygen. They are found in the mitochondrial inner membranes of all eukaryotic cells that require oxygen to respire — including ours.

RC1 is the largest of these respiratory complexes. In humans, it is an obtuse-angled complex made of 44 proteins in humans. Some of the proteins are made in the cell’s cytoplasm and some inside the mitochondria. They find their way to the mitochondrial inner membrane to form the complex.

To study RC1, the scientists divided it into three parts: one that faces the inside of the mitochondria and catalyses reactions for energy production during respiration; one that moves through the lipid-rich mitochondrial inner membrane and acts as a canal for hydrogen ions; and one that extends into the space between the inner and outer mitochondrial membranes and whose exact roles are not yet understood.

Since RC1 is essential for respiration in living cells, mutations in it are expected to cause diseases. When looking for known RC1 mutations associated with diseases, the research team found something unexpected in the inter-membrane RC1 part: half of the mutations were in regions that interact with lipids in the mitochondrial membranes.

Proteins and lipids together

Upon investigating further, the researchers found that the inter-membrane parts of RC1 as well as lipids in the membranes are not the same in all life forms. Plants and animals have different versions. Using precise biochemical techniques, the researchers examined the lipid variety in cells and found that plant lipids have a kinkier structure than their animal counterparts. They attributed this to plant lipids being rich in polyunsaturated fatty acids.

Using computational models, the team then compared the affinities between inter-membrane proteins of human and plant RC1s and a human and plant lipid called cardiolipin. It is the most prominent lipid found in the mitochondrial membranes.

They found that the proteins in human cells preferred human lipids over plant lipids, and vice versa. Similarly, in cultured cells, when team members inserted a part of plant RC1 that faces the lipids in the membranes into human mitochondrial membranes, they found that the complex disintegrated. In other words, the RC1 complex needs cardiolipin from organisms of the same kingdom for it to maintain its physical integrity. The team concluded that certain details in the structures and composition of lipids decide which proteins can exist with them.

Going a step further, the researchers have suggested that membrane lipids have evolved over time to suit the survival needs of different organisms. The kinkier tails of plant lipids offer greater structural flexibility in the membranes. This could have been because plant-like organisms have faced variegated environmental stresses through history, like drought, heat, and salinity, and benefit from having structurally flexible lipids.

Importantly, the proteins would then have had to co-evolve with the lipids to function correctly.

Need for new tools

In fact the new study may be the first to support the idea of lipid-protein co-evolution in mitochondrial membranes. Of course, it also holds up previous research that has demonstrated how lipids and proteins cross-talk in other membranes inside cells.

“Most labs study the roles of DNA, RNA, and proteins in evolution because a large community has grown around it,” Gould said. “However, evolution happens through all kinds of molecules that make up living cells and we need to study them.”

Not just in evolution: the study also opens up the possibility of understanding human health better. Drugs like statins are commonly used to control cholesterol — another prominent lipid — in cells. As scientists develop a fuller understanding of the roles lipids essay, they may assess and optimise the long-term use of substances like statins. The role of lipids in controlling the entry of pathogens into cells also demands attention.

However, these studies also require more sophisticated biological tools that don’t yet exist. Lipids are more complex molecules than proteins. While proteins are well-understood polymers consisting of 20 amino acids arranged in different ways, lipids are made of fatty acids that vary in length and chemical composition both. Their composition in particular is only partly controlled by an individual’s genes; the rest is influenced by diet and other environmental factors. Existing tools to study lipids also fall short when accounting for these complexities.

“It is extremely difficult to reconstitute lipids in labs. And membrane proteins are the toughest. But computational methods have developed faster than the biochemical tools,” Gould added. “Will these inspire more scientists to take up lipid biochemistry? That remains to be seen.”

It’s nevertheless clear that textbook images and the scientific imagination both need to change their attitudes towards membrane lipids. LDL, HDL, triglycerides, and cholesterol are already part of our daily consciousness. Studying these and other lipids further can thus help improve medical care as well as enhance our view of evolution. It’s a win-win.

Somdatta Karak, PhD heads science communication and public outreach at the CSIR-Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology, Hyderabad.

Lablu Mia, a 50-year-old local leader of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), was known as a devoted activist in Badarganj upazila of Rangpur district. But on April 5, his loyalty to the party meant nothing when rival BNP factions turned on each other in a vicious clash over control of a business near the upazila central Shaheed Minar. Stabbed repeatedly in the clashes, Mia became the latest casualty in a growing wave of internal clash tearing through the BNP.

The clash, which left at least 15 injured — nine critically — spiralled so out of control that police and army personnel had to be deployed to restore order. The BNP swiftly suspended eight of its leaders, including a former MP, in connection with the incident, but the damage was already done.

Mia’s death is not an isolated incident. Since the fall of Sheikh Hasina’s government on August 5, 2024, the BNP, arguably the most dominant political force in the country, has been torn by internal divisions. With the Awami League’s influence diminished, BNP factions are now frequently locked in clashes for influence.

Just two days after Mia’s killing, another deadly clash erupted in Raipur Upazila of Lakshmipur district, between rival BNP factions. Two activists were killed, and 15 others were hospitalised with stab wounds.

According to the Human Rights Support Society (HRSS), a rights organisation in Bangladesh, at least 23 people were killed and 733 more injured in over 97 incidents of political violence across the country in March. Of the deaths, 17 occurred in 64 clashes between rival factions of the BNP. These incidents left 502 others injured.

The rights body said that most of the violence was driven by efforts to establish dominance, political vendetta, extortion, and the occupation of various facilities. Although the number of political violence incidents slightly decreased last month, from 104 in February — the number of deaths more than doubled from nine. Of them, five died as result of infighting between BNP factions.

Political violence

January also witnessed alarming levels of political violence, with at least 15 people killed and 987 injured in 124 incidents. The bloodshed predominantly stemmed from internal party conflicts, particularly within BNP, which accounted for 68 violent incidents resulting in 677 injuries and five deaths. However, inter-party clashes between BNP and Awami League activists turned deadly in 22 instances, leaving 106 wounded and four dead, while three confrontations between BNP and Jamaat-e-Islami supporters saw 60 casualties and one fatality.

According to data from Ain o Salish Kendra, another rights organisation, at least 36 people have been killed in political violence over the past three months, including 24 who were killed in infighting between the BNP and its affiliated organisations. Besides, at least 1,415 people were injured in clashes between BNP members and their affiliated wings during the period, while 189 were injured in clashes between the BNP and the Awami League, and 262 in clashes involving the BNP and Jamaat-e-Islami.

In 2024, following the fall of the Hasina-led government, violence within BNP circles intensified, leading to at least 1,697 injuries and 31 deaths. While the BNP has long positioned the Awami League as its primary rival, after Ms. Hasina’s fall and the Awami League’s political decline, internal instability appears to be the BNP’s most pressing challenge.

Although the BNP’s top leadership has consistently warned its leaders and activists of stern action if found involved in wrongdoings, including extortion, such warnings have largely gone in vain. Suspension orders are frequently issued when allegations surface against party members; however, these measures have failed to prevent the recurrence of such incidents.

Asked how the BNP sees the infighting, party organising secretary Shama Obaid told The Hindu that internal competition is common in big political parties. However, BNP Acting Chairman Tarique Rahman has instructed party leaders and activists to always stand by the people.

When asked about the deaths reportedly caused by infighting within the BNP over the past three months, Ms. Obaid said, “Each incident needs to be examined individually to determine whether it was truly an internal conflict or part of a conspiracy against the BNP. In many cases, members of the Awami League and their fascist collaborators infiltrate the BNP to create unrest and sabotage the party from within. These isolated incidents are often the result of such conspiracies.”

“While competition exists in large political parties, it doesn’t usually lead to these many deaths. These fatalities are happening because outsiders are orchestrating plots and blaming the BNP for the consequences,” she added.

Amid such incidents, politicians from different parties have called on BNP Acting Chairman Rahman to take decisive action against leaders involved in extortion and violence.

Ariful Islam Adib, senior joint convener of the Nationalist Citizens’ Party (NCP), a newly formed political party of students who led the anti-Hasina protest, said: “I urge Tarique Rahman to take immediate action not only within the party but also through legal means against those involved in extortion and criminal activities. Merely expelling them from the party is not enough. If these individuals are not dealt with firmly, they won’t just target opposition activists—they will eventually destroy the BNP from within.”

The law-and-order situation in the country is yet to be fully restored, as incidents of extortion and deadly violence occur unabated.

However, Home Affairs Advisor Jahangir Alam Chowdhury warned that strict action will be taken against police officials who fail to maintain law and order. “Clear and firm instructions have already been issued to law enforcement agencies to further strengthen control on the ground. If any police officers fail to bring the situation under control, they will face severe consequences,” he said.

According to the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), a total of 390 individuals involved in various criminal activities — including robbery, extortion, mugging, and fugitives with multiple arrest warrants — were arrested across the country between April 10 and April 17 during joint operations conducted by the Bangladesh Army and other law enforcement agencies.

Changed situation

Advocate Saidur Rahman, chief executive of the Manabadhikar Shongskriti Foundation (MSF), told The Hindu that although the BNP has been out of power for nearly two decades, in the changed and favourable situation its leaders and activists are now involved in extortion.

“When they were completely out of power, we didn’t see such infighting among them. But now, driven by financial motives, they are clashing internally. When one faction tries to take control of an area, another group wants to dominate the same territory, leading to violent confrontations,” he said.

“We rarely see any concrete action from the government (against such incidents). Authorities seem to treat these internal fights as outside their jurisdiction. Even the police, despite being aware of the potential for violence, often refrain themselves from intervening out of fear for their own safety. There’s also a clear lack of coordination among different ministries; they don’t know what the others are doing. The government has largely taken a hands-off approach, as if to say, ‘Let the BNP fight among themselves; we don’t need to get involved’,” added Mr. Rahman.

(Rabiul Alam is a Dhaka-based journalist)