Renaissance

This is what exactly I felt and I am no Vinod Mehta to articulate it so nicely. Extract from Delhi dairies in Outlook by Vinod Mehta.

Watching television is at the best of times a dangerous activity. Last week, however, I felt physically sick. The spectacle of international stars and our own icons being “sold” was a nauseating ordeal. It was both vulgar and tasteless as hundreds of crores were thrown around in the name of jazzing up cricket. Of course, people like me will be dismissed as old-fashioned purists refusing to come to terms with the natural evolution of the sport in the era of globalisation. We are told this is progress, this is what the public wants, this is post-modern club cricket poised to break the shackles of narrow nationalism. So, put up or shut up.
Vulgarity, moreover, is a subjective response. After all, it can be argued that the ladies and gentlemen who “bought” the players were nothing more than shrewd businessmen. Thus, my righteous indignation is misplaced—and I should not forget, as so many “experts” point out, this crude bazaar is the “revolution” the game has been waiting for. Greed, as Gordon Gekko informed us, is “good”.

I have no problem with the sale or even the offensive manner in which it was staged. My anger is directed at the BCCI which conceived, organised and presided over this prime-time rape of the game. The men who run the BCCI, past and present, have much to answer for, but president Sharad Pawar and his cronies are especially culpable. They must explain how this terminal perversion of the game is in the best interests of cricket. The richest board in the world must explain why it needs even more money—to do what? Certainly, not to promote the game across the country. Certainly, not to aid and abet other sports sorely strapped for cash. And can you imagine how a Baichung Bhutia or the Indian hockey team feels when they read about a crass Page 3 auction in which mind-boggling sums are squandered?

The BCCI is a destructive body determined to kill cricket. If anyone is planning a coup d’etat against it, count me in. The present lot must be removed before they inflict further damage. Meanwhile, all cricket lovers must hope the IPL is a complete and total flop. And the people who conjured up this dreadful scheme are badly burned.

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World cup - Australian for Habit.
(Ad for Fosters)

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Reliance mobile features a service in which the subscriber can hear the score in Sachin’s voice. Why would anybody want to hear score on his voice ? Sachin can sell a product, provided he doesn’t open his mouth. Once he starts speaking the entire ad turns out be comical. Given this I wonder why would Reliance launch such a service in the first place.

To me India is not worthy enough to be second round. All the hype on the Indian team turns just hot air. I think it is pretty tough to beat Sri Lankans, they are not Bermuda.

Meanwhile, Female Soothsayers of north are pretty beautiful, modern and very fluent in English than their counterparts in south. They deal only with Tarrot cards and not on parrots, lucky stones.

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