Let me start by apologizing for my near 3 month absence. Last
3 months have seen, to put it in a word, “eventful”. End of a lovely chapter, preparations for a
new one; lots of partying and tears; two weeks break in City of Joy; old pals,
movies, shopping and IPL.
“She was all over me..”, “..didn’t behave like a future wife”,
parts of junior Mallya’s tweets that has created ruckus in the country. A country
of billions with million problems and the amount of coverage such tweets get surprises me. The scandal relates to the assault charges on an IPL player. IPL
once called the Indian Premier League is going through an entity crisis. The
biggest entertainment commodity in the world today, IPL is the perfect marriage
of entertainment and cricket. The glitter and glamour associated with the event
at times outweighs the serious game of cricket involved. Dubbed as the Indian Paisa
or Indian Problem League by the media, there are calls in the parliament to
discontinue with the games from the next year on accounts of money laundering,
culture misfit,etc, etc.
It’s very interesting to hear Indian politicians talk about
black money and their usage. The EC limits the maximum expenditure by a
candidate to 16 lakhs. However successful candidates in states like UP and
Punjab spends as much as Rs 5 Crore on elections. I wonder from where they get
the rest of money! And not far are days when all Hollywood movies would be
banned in India. If a lady ant in a sari, then its anti-Indian culture by
politician standards.
What these “clever” men who try to run cricket, without even
holding a cricket bat once in their life, fail to understand that IPL provides
an opportunity to young cricketers to showcase their talent and for old
maestros to relive their glory days. Ask a cricket fanatic like me, and you
shall be enlightened. Or ask Yousuf
Pathan or Shane Watson whose life transformed
post IPL 1. Ask the great Rahul Dravid who has again got a call for India probable’s
for the Nov’ 12 Champions trophy.
Yes there are a few issues and there always will be. But as a consultant would say,” If the pros significantly outbalance the
cons, deal accepted!”
