Tuesday, March 15, 2011

From the archives...

This was written in 2008 and now almost three years down the line I see so much more deterioration that leaves me astonished and speechless
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Cricket is such a lively subject. Never short of controversies, never short of glamour and above all never short of what everyone aspires for. Big money. And the game India is nuts about has always been improvising. It is so wonderful to see life flowing through the sport for as far back as I can remember and I am convinced after all the latest developments on and off the field that there is never going to be a dull moment in the game for many more years.

Take Harbhajan-Sreesanth controversy. I am inclined to believe that Cricket and politics can now be safely compared and equated on a similar level, where might is right seems to rule the day. Harbhajan was in the news earlier too for a fight with an Australian player, but at that time we as a nation rose to support and defend him as if there was no other way to register one's love and loyalty for India. Now when Harbhajan has allegedly slapped an Indian who is his team-mate on one occasion and on another they stand on the opposite sides of the fence, separated by a well-calculated business transaction, India stands divided on the issue. However it is good to see the majority having spoken in favour of admitting that Harbhajan has indeed gone too far this time. The conclusion as per my simple logic therefore
is that we do have different sets of morals, and discrimination, specially if "national pride" is made the centre of a controversy.

Take another instance. Vijay Mallaya's gift to IPL. The cheerleaders. Supposedly beautiful semi-clad females swaying their made-to-order bodies whenever a four or six is hit seems more of a cartoon than anything worth watching by mature adults. Even if one does not cry for saving the Indian culture, it is quite evident that such an absurd, unnecessary "borrowed" idea of entertainment is degrading for the Indian masses in general. Do the likes of Vijay Mallayas feel that every little piece of entertainment must essentially involve dumb item-girl-like characters to be really appealing. Such male chauvinists must bear in their small minds that women have proved that they are much more than just sex objects. However Vijay Mallya has a reputation of treating women like sales-promotion-gadgets. Its a wonder that in this era of women's emancipation the liquor baron is exalted for his vulgarity.

In our earlier days we were told that money cannot buy happiness. Now we are advised "Whoever said money can't buy happiness didn't know where to shop"! And our Cricketing fraternity has proved time and again that they have their shopping details well etched out. They know exactly where to shop and do not mind becoming commodities themselves!!

The question that comes to my mind after taking stock of the situation is whether this much commercialisation is right or are we going out of bounds and whether a retrospection is long overdue? From a gentleman's game Cricket has to the gully and mohallah, which is very good indeed. Infact as one sees the common man getting opportunities that were in the earlier days reserved for the so-called blue-blooded elite the Indian democracy does seem to be vibrant fro once.
Is that the reason then for the deteriorating morals? The common man is so determined to jump ranks in the social heirarcy that he does not mind a couple of skeletons in his closet in the process?
Cricket is just one field of human activity, but when an entire social setup begins to turn topsy-turvy its better to pause for while and look back for reasons and solutions.

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