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I walk on a road lush with dreams,
a road of forgotten and veiled dreams,
sometimes slowly, sometimes gaily,
sometimes lost, sometimes profound,
I walk a road of unknown mysteries,
fervently finding my way through the endless path.....

Wednesday, March 2, 2011

CRICKET - country's pride or government's ploy ??



The season of hits and catches is back !!!
And India seems to be going bonkers on anything remotely related with cricket.. As the cricket mania sweeps us to our couches, do we care to know whats happening in our mainstream politics? or whatever happened to the 11% inflation ?


Cricket - no matter how esteemed or ecstatic it may appear, at the end of the day is just another 'sport' - a form of recreation and entertainment. then how can it kick back the economic and social happenings of a country? Who has to play a pivotal role in it? We, the government or the media?
It is actually a vicious circle of government and bureaucrats puppeting media person and the junta in turn being a silent , gullible puppet of the media's hullabaloo.


Media has always been the most influential tool for all sought of communications to and within the masses. what they show us is what we not just see but also believe and preach.
As Noam Chomsky , one of the greatest living thinkers alive puts it - 'media today is the channel which rules the minds of the people' .    


Not long ago, in the midst of CWG 2010 , India shackled and drenched in in numerous scams - from Prime minister or states minister, each one was caught to be a sinister. But what did the media show us? Uncompleted CWG sites, preparations that didn't speed up even as we watched them and disgusted ourselves 24x7. Did our respect degrade more when the bridges collapsed or did is collapse more when the genuinity and dignity of our dear PM was at stake?  Behind the media blitz of energetic sporting events lies governments dark curtains to hide off corruption and loot of wealth , peace and prosperity. Doesn't it sound peculiar that 'IPL buying and selling of players' can be a national headline when India was being tagged ( or was on its way to be tagged) as the SCAM CAPITAL OF THE WORLD?


History presents before us a classical example of the same. The Romans inaugurated a 150 days of games- the Olympics, at the time when people were being oppressed and killed, what was the need of 150 days of games in a year? It was in reality their tactics to loot the other civilisations , inhabitants and near by empires. These Olympics which were being played at the expense of the state.on the front they showcased youthfulness and bravery but behind it lay more darker objectives of repression , subjugation and economic loot.


Aren't we facing something similar today? Or what is the need for IPL, 20-20 , one -days and now the world cup?  Even the standard news hours of the day are not spared of repeated telecasts of each little petty issue on and off the field. Does it really make a difference to know who 'buys' whom and for 'how much' when on the real stage we are paying a high price for even our basic amenities? Do the glittering brand endorsements by a handful of players matters more than the bitter reality that 1/3rd of the Indian population continues to be below poverty line? Does Sachin Tendulkar's century come above the cost of loosing a child every 15seconds due to unhygienic health conditions? 


If it does than we deserve to be where be are even after 62 years of 'glorious' independence. but if it doesn't than we need to rip open those curtain and desire to seek something substantial rather than blindly going batty over ulterior motives of silly puppeteers !!

13 comments:

  1. Media shows us many things and then, it hides many things. It is true.
    But then, don't we see the rule of 'Survival of the fittest' everyday? Be it the Romans devising a plan to oppress the others or maybe the intentions of upholding world peace.
    Even media isn't pure too. And if we look into the enterprise and the promise that sport holds, the amount of foreign investment that flows in, the revenue that is generated, how much people could benefit from it?
    Why do you just see the bat ball game play and a child dying of improper hygiene. See in between too, how sporting centuries bring in funds which can then be transferred in the form of projects. Now if you believe that just feeding the poor free of cost would do us good, I think you are damning them already. Because anything that is free, is taken for granted, and when life isn't free, why should anything else be? From the budding enterprise, look how vendors have sprung up. The street hawkers, little enterprises, industry, employment, and all, there are many things that go on in between the two ends.

    Regards,
    Blasphemous Aesthete

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  2. emm okies no offence bt dere was plenty of spotlight on d budget factor too n dat DID concern d 'aam aadmi':o
    besides, d vital question stil remians unanswered....d media is wrong in ur opinion. not gud...so wat do we *n here i mean at a one on one level* do? :-)

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  3. @ blasphemous - There is no denying the fact that sports industry is a promising and ever prospering one and it helps generate income, and ofkors we all love watching cricket ( or any other sport)
    cricket as a sport is all good and youthful but when cricket is being used as curtain to hide off shabby scams, corruptions and wrong doing then how can we neglect it? And then we tend to blindly neglect all in between too. my problem isn't with the media, its with what the whole scenario being created and we unable to see it.
    as for the survival of the fittest, it would have been holding true in the Roman era but if now we boast of being the largest democracy we cannot let our hard earned be looted by 'our own' representatives..that wont be called survival of the fittest !!

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  4. @ sadiya - the budget always presents things for 'aam aadmi' nothing new! but only half of it is 'actually' implemented and a meager part of it continues to benefit us! see even u r getting it wrong, I m not against the media. Its the govt. thats making them show things that we enjoy ( or are being made to enjoy) and then doing notorious, shabby jobs behind it. and its we who are promoting and having fun at our own losses!
    as for ur question, we can first of all try and look behind those curtained reality instead of going crazy over IPL or t-20 or world cup. desiring to seek the reality and condemning whats not right or hidden is the basic and most needed action acc to me !

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  5. Kudos to you for writing this! Am impressed!!

    In fact, i would say, you wrote the way I think.... really happy to read this post!

    Time and again, we had been reading about media being selective about propagating some news, while covering up the other....although, am not too sure about it... may be I'm not a good judge that way.

    But, what you wrote about aam admi going gaga over sports, makes sense to me, and I agree with it completely. In fact I wonder, why who made so many runs, or who lost the game should be a news even.

    Very well written dear!

    RESTLESS

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  6. @ restless - am glad i could manage to impress u and make sense...Media hype is going on increasing day by day and i m sure darker motives lay behind when such things happen. thnks so much for ur comment :)

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  7. SCAM capital of the world? Well said but one thumb rule is the richer and the powerful a nation is , more the hidden skeletons in their closet.

    So India wont be the scam captial yet (If you have read world history the way I did).

    Also aren't we responsible teh state of media?
    Media does what public wants? So if anyone s to blame then the public comes in front of the firing squad

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  8. knock knock..India HAS already been declared as the 'scam capital of the world'!! ur rule maybe true for obvious reasons but those nations do not loose as much as a developing country like India does by the loot of some 13-digit figures!
    and i did acknowledge the fact that its all correlated being a vicious circle and whose solely blaming the media here? WE need to get up and unfold those cricket and sport craziness..even i said the same!

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  9. You have echoed my thoughts..anyways when did we have our priorities in place?

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  10. @ subtle scribbler - hi! do c my blog by tommorw!

    RESTLESS

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  11. @ alka - u r absolutely right in questioning this..v need to work upon some important governing areas of life..m glad i could strike ur thoughts..

    @ restless - i did! thnks!

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  12. good that you are not getting carried away by the cricket mania.

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  13. @ harish - its not that i dont enjoy the game but i prefer treating it as one and nothing more :) thnks for reading!

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