The Bigger Picture-Diseases ailing Indian Cricket

As is always the case,we need these kind of face-hiding defeats to reflect upon what went wrong.As is again the case always,cosmetic measures will be taken to evade striking at the roots.But one has to ask this question:Can such a pasting come all of a sudden?Or,was it a tragedy waiting to happen?If you are more inclined to ask the second question,as you should be,then the answer is Systemic Failure!

So what is systemic failure?Why systemic failure?Right from the administration,the selection panel,the players,IPL,the cricekting community.Tried to list some of the factors:

1.Conflicts of Interest:Well,these abound in Indian Cricket.Kapil Dev was sacked as chairman of the NCA as BCCI thought that him getting associated with the ICL was against the interests of the game in India.But then,Ravi Shastri is on the governing board of the IPL,Harsha Bhogle has assisted Mumbai Indians and they also have a million dollar contract from BCCI for commentary.And what about the king of them all,N Srinivasan and Krish Srikkanth!!One,Co-owner of CSK and the other,the brand ambassador of that team respectively.Grill Srikkanth, and he will admit that he favours players from CSK and Tamil Nadu.By the way,Shastri is now the chairman of NCA(Bangalore).I wonder how many times he has been there since 2007

2.The IPL:There was always a concern with the franchisee model as to wheteher the business interests of the franchisees co-exist with the interests of the game.As is evident by now,they cant, and we are seeing that it is the game that is losing out to the business-men.IPL teams want more and more matches every year,more ads between deliveries leaving very little focus on the game.When an IPL party ticket is sold for thousands of rupees to public,it is a kind of unsaid pressure on the player to be a part of it.Not that they are not willing to attend!Worse is, the effect the format has, on the players.When Dwayne Bravo was asked to rate his loyalties for the teams that he plays for,he rated Trinidad and Tobago,Mumbai Indians and then the West Indies in order.Chris Gayle,captain of a test playing nation says,Test Cricket should be scrapped.Am sure most players in India would echo similar feelings, but in a cricket passionate nation,they would be foolish to say that in public.So this is yet another disaster waiting to happen:India suffering in Test Cricket in the years to come

3.Lack of professionalism:In India,a batsmen is expected to bat well only,a bowler is expected to bowl only.Absolutely no effort is made to grow into all-round cricketers.By all round,i do not mean that every body should be able to bat and bowl,but there is simply no reason why a good batsmen cannot be a good-fielder and a good runner between the wickets.For fast bowlers,the norms can be slightly relaxed since they will be more tired in the field than other players,but no-where near the levels shown by Indian bowlers and by the way,they are not fast as well.A true professional would know the effect of a late night party on the next game.One very intriguing aspect of the IPL parties has been that players from both teams who played the game that day would be seen later in the party.Now, why would you want to party after you have lost a game? Commitment anybody?

4.Escapist cricketing community:This has been the bane of Indian cricket for a long time.It is very frustrating to see that people who hold some power in the game in India being silent to all the mess that Indian Cricket has found itself in .At a time when Sachin should have said that he will not play the IPL till it comes out clean,we instead hear him saying that IPL will be back,it is good for Indian cricket etc etc.When Gavaskar was asked whether Yuvraj was the biggest disappointment of IPL3,he deflects the attention on Yuvraj by saying that Gilchrist was more disappointing.Good lord,who cares about that aging Gilchrist!Point is everybody wants a good name for themselves.Nobody wants to talk about that elephant in the room!

So whats the way out?A systemic failure needs a major overhaul.For starters, drop players who have grown bigger than the sport.Make them realise what it takes to wear the tri-colour on the helmet.Make the adminstrators believe they are mere facilitators of this beautiful game and nothing more.

Shahrukh Khan-Neighbour's Envy ,Owners Pride??

The title of this article may suggest to you that this one is all in praise of the man-SRK and that he is India's pride.How i wish that was true!India is in desperate need of role models,people who are successfull in public and take pride in being Indians.SRK has often said that he is a proud Indian but his actions have always indicated something else.The latest being the IPL episode.

This is my analysis of the roles played by all those who matter in this issue:

1.The govt at Centre:After the November 2008 attacks in Mumbai,the sports minister MS Gill said that we should not have any sporting events involving Pakistan until issues related to terrorism are not resolved.As a consequence to this,Pakistani players were not allowed to take part in IPL 2009.We still have the same govt in power.Just what was the need to allow them this time??Whats the answer they give:Sports and politics should not be mixed,then why were they not allowed in 2009??What has changed so dramatically in the last one year that necessitated a flip-flop??The entire world including India boycotted South Africa as long as they practiced Apartheid as a state policy.No sporting contacts,nothing.Why cant we do the same to Pakistan??The Govt here thought that the feeling amongst the public this time around is not that angered as it was in 2009.Afterall 14 months have passed since Nov 2008.They mean to say that the ghosts of Nov 2008 have died down from public memeory.They are infact right.Look how many are supporting SRK and how many the Shiv Sena!

2.Now, coming to Shahrukh:Wah!! what sympathy for Pak players!If he really cared about them,why did he not chose them in the first place??Afterall he is the owner of one of the teams in the IPL.He himself says that nobody asked him NOT to chose Pak Players.They why did he not chose? Arey, i had only one slot is what he says.So what?You care a lot for them so go for it.By choosing a Pak player,you would have really proved that you care for them.5 Pakistan players were in the KKR squad in IPL2008.Umar Gul who was in the auction list this time was one of them.The least SRK could have done was to RETAIN him.He is a fine T20 bowler and records suggest that.

The truth behind all this is that all the 8 franchisees got together and decided not to chose any Pak player.They simply did not want them.SRK was a party to this.Then there was an outburst from the PCB,Pak players and some sections of the Indian media.SRK thought:Arey,i have a huge fan following in Pakistan.My relatives stay there.I must do something now to please them.So he comes out with this,'Pakistan is a fine T20 team,they are great cricketers' kind of rubbish statements.

Amidst all his selfish interests,Sharukh crossed the line when he said Pakistan is a great neighbour.Those like the Shiv Sena which are opposing him feel that Pakistan has aided so many bloodbaths in India and particularly in Mumbai,that there is no reason to show sympathy towards them.We really do not need reasons to say that Pakistan is not a great neighbour.Firstly,it is a crime to have views which translate to Pakistan being a great neighbour and secondly having held such views,he should have been a little sensitive in not airing them in public and stayed off the political pitch

3.Now the media:I'll tell how how the media could have changed the game with their approach.Ironically it was'nt to be but here is an example:

SRK was detained for more than 2 hours in a US airport and said his name being Khan was the reason.He seemed to be very annoyed at that moment.Within hours,media and people back in India contested his claim and felt that there are certain procedures in every country and you need to follow them.SRK then literally backtracked from his original position and said that he has no grudge against the US govt for the incident and will not seek any apologies.He realised immediately that he is not going to get any support from anybody if he plays such games in the US.
But India is no USA.You can hurt nationalist sentiments,play double games,sympathasize with a terrorist nation and get the media support as well."Put your comments here supporting SRK" were all over the news channels webpage.
If the media had atleast said that people like SRK need to think twice before giving out statements on such sensitive issues,i bet SRK would have apologised to the nation by now.Instead their support has emboldened him!!

If the physical intimidation of the Shiv Sena has to stop,then the mental violence spread by people like SRK needs to stop first.Freedom of expression does not give you right to wishful thinking!

"Namm Yajamanru"-A tribute to VishnuVardhan

It is difficult to explain the bond between a fan and a star.It is difficult to control the urge to jump into a argument when somebody points flaws in your star(Soldiers fighting for the king they have never seen you would say).It is difficult to explain why somebody would want to see him one last time, braving heavy security,mad crowds knowing very well that he would not come back.It is difficult not to pay tribute to your hero when he sets off for a journey into a land of unknown.More so when he is somebody of VishnuVardhan's stature

One reason why somebody gets so emotionally attached with a cine star is he plays all the roles you always wanted to play in real life.You always wanted to be a rebel,wanting to tie your principal to a lamp-post for the suspension awarded to you,showing anger towards the age old caste system as he did in NagaraHaavu.You always wanted to protect your country's frontiers till the last breath like he did in Muttina Haara.You always wanted to bow in reverence to the River Kaveri like in Jeevanadi.You always wanted to be a special commando who would bash criminals and save hostages holed up in a bank like he essayed in Nishkarsha.The list goes on...

Little known is the fact that VishnuVardhan was also into singing albeit occasionally.His simplicity and the character of his life is perfectly emphasized in the song Tuttu Anna Tinnoke which he sang for the movie Jimmigallu.It is said that he turned to spiritualism for all the pressures he faced in his life.One such incident was the "shooting controversy" involving him and the late RajKumar while filming the climax for GandhadaGudi(Somebody accidentally replcaed a dummy revolver with a live and loaded one and the scene had Vishnu pointing the gun towards RajKumar threatening to kill him and his mother.You can read more about this here http://churumuri.wordpress.com/2006/04/14/the-day-dr-raj-kumar-was-almost-shot-dead/).Though neither of them were responsible for what happened on that day,Vishnuvardhan was at the receiving end of Dr.Raj's fans outrage,given that RajKumar had a huge stardom by that time(That it was a surprise why VishnuVardhan chose to play a villain after the huge success of NaagaraHaavu and that too against RajKumar is another matter). The solace which he found in spiritualism resulted in a number of devotional albums sung by him

Some of the roles he portrayed may not be matched by any.Showing exemplary levels of service and dedication towards his profession and depicting what true love actually is, was his character in Bandhana.The 1997 movie Laali depicted beautifully the relationship between a widowed husband and his daughter.Some of the new age movies claiming to hold a mirror to a mother-son relationship, should take a leaf out of this movie's book.I cannot forget the sight of people from villages coming to towns and cities in trucks and tractors to watch him as an elder and a younger brother in Yajamana.If there was ever a movie which could be called a SMASH-HIT,this surely will be right up there

It is difficult to hold your tears when you come to grips with the fact that your MADIKERI SIPAYI is no more.It is difficult!!

Whats in a number?

Some say its just coincidence,some say it is foolish to think on these lines and some believe in it.Why does a David Shepherd hop when the score reaches 111 or multiples of the number thereafter?Why do most hotels in the US skip the number 13?Superstition?

Whats in a number you would think.Well, on careful observation it does lead you into a interesting pattern.Atleast this is what i found while tracking the (mis)fortunes of the Bharatiya Janata Party(BJP).The number 13 has always haunted the party.How many times?I can recollect these:

1.Atal Bihari Vajpayee was sworn is as the first non-Congress prime-minister on the 16th of May 1996.His govt lasted 13 days.He resigned on the 28th of May,3 days before the trust vote, conceding inability to prove his majority on the floor of the house.The vote of confidence was to happen on 31st of May(31 =~13).So you know the result anyway

2.The second time the BJP came to power was in March 1998.This time the govt lasted 13 months and a few days when Jayalalitha withdrew support from the govt

3.They were reelcted in Oct 1999 and looked like completing the full term.During this tenure,the parliament was attacked on the 13th of Dec 2001.They would have lasted the full term except for the fact that they preponed the general elections by six months.So instead of Oct2004,the elctions were held in Mar-Apr 2004.They received a shock defeat.The counting of votes took place on 13th of May 2004

4.This time around they lost more ground.There was nothing strikingly 13 about the election dates or the counting day.The counting took place on 16th of May 2009.So why am i still listing it?Go back to 1.Yes you got it!It has been exactly 13 years since the first BJP govt took oath of office

So what does this mean for the party?Does it indictate that the worst(starting from 13 days,months,years) is over,that they have reached the nadir as far as the seats are concerned in these 13 years and they only can move up from here on?Time will tell

Surely the actual reasons for these downfalls may not be the number itself,but it definitely is symbolic in a way