India's cup of joy and pride

     Yes!! It’s the world cup mania-the most riveting and happening spectacle in this cricket-crazy nation. The Gala tournament featuring a fair mix of heavyweights and minnows is  definitely not short of any fun, energy or excitement and the fact that it is being staged in India adds more color and spice to it. And no doubt that it is the most followed world sporting event  in the country, pushing behind the likes of Olympics and FIFA world cup.

      

       So what makes this game so popular in this country? Why is it that it is considered a religion? And why is that the cricketers turn national heroes when they triumph at the world cup stage? Why?

      Always when you are on the right side of a wrong thing(an accident), it just makes you feel excited and prompts you to propel your inclinations towards it. The accident that took place was of course the world cup in 1983. From underdogs to world champions, their success story has already been talked about umpteen number of times. It was this accident that turned the world’s view over India and since then its been kind of a curve. The world cup brings the best out of a team and there is no better feeling  for an Indian cricketer than donning India colors and performing with expectations of millions. Playing in front of their home crowds with the numbers easily exceeding 50000 is what every Indian cricketer dreams of and considers it a once in a life time experience. So one can imagine the sort of excitement and electrifying atmosphere in Eden gardens, Kolkata and that too on the day when India is doing well.

      Interesting thing about Indian cricket is that we tend to smell victory too early, we rate our cricketers highly, we take cricket not just as a game. That is probably why we find it difficult to digest the defeats and hence represent the other end of spectrum by targeting the cricketer’s houses, throwing stones and burning their posters. Year 2007 was the best example showcasing the two extremities of cricket following in India. The early exit from the world cup in the West Indies resulted in widespread anguish and hate from the Indian public but that mood took a drastic U-turn when the  ‘unexpected’ actually happened; from underachievers to world champions in five months. The cricketers once again became the apple of everyone’s eye and were the toast of the entire nation. 

     

      When we talk about Indian cricket and world cups, its not complete without including the  money factor. Lump sum of cash is involved in the management of cricket in the country. Its quite heartening to see the transformation the country has undergone. It is not the old India of sluggishness, dust, beggars and snake charmers. Now it is the power house of world cricket; the BCCI is the richest cricketing governing body in the world. The bulk of the revenues come from here and its big bosses dominate the proceedings in the decision making sessions of the ICC. Yes, its all happening here. Indian cricket has unleashed its power to scales which were undreamt of a couple of decades ago. The huge fan base,  inflow of corporate into the game, broadcasting rights have all contributed to this stature. There have been criticism too with the people lashing on some of the cricketers for their increased Ad appearances and they go on to say that sometimes the number of endorsements he does is perhaps exceeding the number of runs he scores.But that is the bitter reality of cricket in this country.

      Finally imagine the situation when India go on to lift the world cup in front of their home crowds. The people simply go cock-a-hoop, the game’s fame just takes an elevation. and what happens to the cricketers ? Well, they turn national figures, images of worship. A string of lucrative endorsements, high profile alliances, hot bollywood offers, cash awards, the fame…it goes on…..and the finally the cricketers say,” well, its not that bad, isn’t it!!!!” Let us hope this dream comes true.

uncle Assange and India cables!!!!

It was on this Tuesday that I found something unusual in ‘The Hindu’ .On normal days, reading newspapers in the wee hours of morning was just limited to glancing the sports pages and the front page. But Tuesday morning was not so. There was this special coverage on  Wikileaks- the India cables as assessed by ‘The Hindu’ . I thought,” yes !!  Assange uncle has arrived in India, all set to rock the nation, all set  to set the political lines on fire and moreover all set to be a sensation in the country”. What way was that eye-catching for me? I was never a big fan of scientific journalism and so what makes not only me but millions across the world to stand up and salute the works of Julian Assange and his associates? Well I knew that finding an answer to this question of mine is never a big deal. It is simple. What the rest of the world’s media could not achieve , has been achieved by a group of men with probably the most eccentric and meticulous planning of the order the world has ever seen.

        The furor over wikileaks’ publication of cables pertaining to the US army has caught the world by surprise. Even though there are eyebrows being raised over the heroic stature bestowed on them, one thing stands out. Assange vows for Change- a change in the way information is being is given to the public. In 1958, one of the leading Australian newspaper contained this famous quote,” In the race between secrecy and truth, it is inevitable that the truth will triumph”.  We live in an era where in we get the information from any source. But the question lies in not only its authenticity but also in the degree of secrecy involved in it. When we talk of wars and its coverage, people are more often deprived of the holistic information. The governments lying to its people about these wars and then asking the entire nation to participate in the war is quite absurd. Why not tell the truth and let people decide on it, if the war is justified. And that’s what Wikileaks has exactly done. They have published documents that contain these hidden and lesser known things about embassy cables on foreign policies, diplomatic and political dealings of governments and corporate corruption by using internet technologies in new ways to report the truth. The Wikileaks also ensures that there is absolutely no room for scapegoats as it is all about blaming someone for the fault of his own and not of anyone else’s.

        Although the wikileaks’ meteoric rise to fame was not primarily India-centric, now it has begun to create mayhem in the political ranks and is now nothing but a sensation in the Indian media and public. Of course the people’s burning desire to know the unknown and untold stories of certain diplomatic issues and also the governance is very much in view these days(with the likes of ‘The Hindu’ lending them a helping hand). The cables on the ‘cash-factor in south Indian politics’ is a much debated topic among the general public and politicians. So will we get to see yet another opposition disruption in parliament over the election policies of UPA govt. in 2004 elections or will we get to see those in spotlight being suitably questioned and let the cat out of his bag? Well for that we’ll need to wait a bit and in the meantime just exalt a bunch of exotic individuals who are ruling the roost in the world media and taking journalism to an unseen contour.