Why I hate IPL?

During a recent discussion, I had a heated argument with some friends over IPL. 
I was (and certainly am today) of the opinion that the whole IPL things is the worst thing that could happen to Indian cricket and I hate it. So, here's why.

At the outset, I would like to clarify that I'm not against T20 cricket format. Its great. Test-One Day-T20 is like Vilambit Khyal- Madhya lay and Drut lay of a bandish. Times change and the game has to change accordingly. People like to watch a smaller version, so be it.
In more than one ways, T20 carried forward the passion, in a quicker way.

So, Its fun! Indian winning First T20 World cup was really great. Specially as we won against Pakistan. Had it not been the ba**ard Shrisanth to take the fatal catch of Misbah, it would have remained as the great memory.

But when BCCI came up with this idea of IPL and the way it has progressed, the thing has done more harm to cricket than anything else.

Everything, art or sport, music or film has an intrinsic value associated with it. 
Along with the intrinsic value, there also is an element of Entertainment. Both should be in appropriate portion.
A sad reality about the Indian Classical Music today is the lower proportion of entertainment for the masses. So very few actually are able to enjoy it (fortunate me!).

Cricket has that inherent intrinsic value. 

A game of intense stamina, intelligence, sharp reflexes. Its a combo of Chess and Rugby requiring the precision of a Shooter. The flexibility of game allows it to be played from Eden Gardens to Municipal Gardens with equally intense emotions.

I'm sure everyone remembers their best 50/100 s or hat-tricks taken, may be with a plastic ball. The run outs when bicycle Tyre worked as stumps. 2 Batsman playing, the one on non striker end just having a plain stick for the want of a bat. 

A billion hearts missing a beat when a off swinger would pass off the bat of Sachin. 
Watching a clever trap set by Anil Kumble to get a experienced batsman. The cameras panning from top of the stadium when bowler starts and focusing on batsman just at the right time. It was all related to the game, to the sport, to the anxiety, to the passion, to me and to you.

What IPL has done effectively, is amplified the entertainment part a million times and completely neglecting the Sport part.

In our country, any Batsman is generally more famous than Bowler, as Batting is adored more than Bowling.  Agreed. 
So, what you do is put on rewards for every single hit Batsman makes. Then you change the rules of the game to suit big shots being hit. Even that wasn't sufficient, so you curate the pitches suitable for batsman.

That's like playing a great computer game with cheats on. So, you just keep on shooting. Never mind ammo or you getting hit. Ridiculous!

Even when that seems inadequate, you start fixing the matches.

I am not against the money flowing in IPL. There are many players who have a stable life out of IPL income. It has also widened reach of cricket. But at what cost?? 

The game itself!

Its a plain truth now that a lot of black money (and perhaps the Underworld) is involved in IPL. And when the manager of a winning team in implicated in fixing scam, what else is required to ascertain the integrity of the game. 
The cricketers are no different than Gladiators fighting each other, for money now, for their sport means nothing.

The sad part is the way IPL is put down our throats.  99% of us are ignorant fools (Thanks Justice Katju). The way we accept our politicians quietly over the morning tea, we just accepted and swallowed what was fed to us. When you are being shown a 3 hrs fantacy everyday every summer, why bother whats in there. And we would have turned on TV to watch a  saas-bahu opera. 

So it hardly matters what we watch. Its the 'masterly inactivity' of our minds that makes sure such phenomenon become popular.

Harsha Bhogale is my favourite Commentator/Columnist. His book is titled, ' Out of the Box: Watching the game we love'

God save us from this IPL. Else his next book could be 'Out of the Mind: Watching the game we used to love' 

300 Rise of an Empire (omg!. but WHY??)

Imagine Plato on the day they killed Socrates. Filled with rage, he was walking down when he met Ram Gopal Varma. RGV saw him and offered him to do a movie to take on his rage through spoiling the blood. Searching for a script writer, they finalized Chetan Bhagat. While they were discussing the plot, Vrinda Karat approached them and put down the view that such a bloodbath can not take place in the absence of Women (Her view, not mine!)

So all of them went to Romila Thapar to seek truth, who opened her Pandora's box and helped them all.

All of that eventually resulted into a fabulous piece of movie making, i.e. 300 Rise Of an Empire!!!

My dear Thyliptous, why on gods earth would you do that?

I hadn't seen a ridiculous movie in ages. Thank god. My wish now stands fulfilled! 

Before I begin to describe why I am criticizing the movie, I want to confess. I had liked prequel of this movie i.e. 300 pretty much. The special effects, an idea for which 300 soldiers gave their lives, excellent acting skill and a genuine piece of History.

This new piece of shit, sorry bloooood has nothing to with history. Ok, understood. You wanna create new history. Fine! But please, you better create something meaningful.

The worst part of this Romila Thaparization of history is addition of two women. I am not anti feminist and I do like to see Women centered movies. But why do you add two women who have excellent Sword skills and only revenge to serve upon. I mean, if Eva Green was so good at sword, she should have applied for job at Rambo Circus.

Last but not the least, the hero Thermoleptics of Thermophylics whatever his name is, also is deeply saddened first thinking why he shot an arrow, then why only one arrow. He could be an excellent inspiration for Kumar Vishwas to write a patriotic poem.

To be precise, its like watching 3 Sunny Deols combined in one, with barrels of blood descending from sky. For it hardly matters who is getting blooded as long as some semi naked guys are waving their swords, while a god king watches all that from a height. I could not understand till the end, whose rise do they mean and which empire are they talking about?

The worst part I felt in the movie was the loud cheers those bloody shots were getting. Dear Freud, after all, you are right. Maybe we want to do all that happens on screen by ourselves. We even do it partly in video games. We just come here to see a real life, magnified form of our inspiration of violence. To like bloodbath on screen is a purely personal choice (to which I am not against). But cheering to such meaningless filming is nothing better than the Romans cheering for Gladiators. 

Original or Graphical, I'm sure blood spill still instills the same Adrenaline rush...

National (Con)Science Day

We Indians are unmatched at creating new ideas. We were the ones who solved many mysteries from Zero to Yog.
But we do posses another brilliant quality. That is, to institutionalize the whole idea, and (conveniently) forgetting the original idea.
Ex: The whole idea of democracy has deep roots in Indian history. Post independence, we accepted the Westminster democracy. In 65 years we have institutionalized it, and to a great extent successfully as well. There are elections being held periodically, power transfer is smooth and parties do have to accommodate public outcry. But the soul is lost. Unfortunately, Gandhiji's India does tolerate when a senior national leader declares he spent Rs. 8 Cr in the election. We also tolerate the people implicated in corruption, misuse of power and even sex scandals, to contest again, win and rule over us. That means we have a ritual of the democracy, not the soul.

Perhaps the root cause of this 'Ritualisation' lies in the way we are.

During the Ancient time, Indian religious thought was based on Vedas. They were deemed to have all the knowledge in the world. We did accept it and a great era of 'Ritualism' and stagnation began.
It took a Buddha to come out and rediscover the original truth and put it in new form. He opposed all sorts of rituals, giving us the path of salvation. That path has to be traveled alone, and by one's own act, without any rituals. He also told us 3000 years back to be one's own guide (अत्त दिपो भव् )
The forces of 'Ritualism' proved powerful again and the whole teaching of Buddhism was transformed into 'Ritualism' by Hinayana sect.
Rest, as they say, is history.

There are countless such examples why we tend to forget the soul and 'Ritualise' the whole idea. 
Indian Democracy and Administration, by far, is the epitome of that 'Ritualism'. What do you call a system that requires a person to bring a 'Living Certificate' showing that he is not dead indeed! And what sort of people are we, for whom the whole system needs to be established?

Europe witnessed a fabulous phenomenon of 'Enlightenment and Renaissance' 13th century onward. What it did was to encourage 'Reason and Humanity' against the dogmas.
We, who were flourishing by the time, lost the tide of Reason and fell down  to the dark trenches of 'Irrational Exuberance'

That's why, Dozens of former Prime Ministers, Presidents, National political leaders and athletes find it necessary to bow down to a proven thug disguised as a Baba, who has amassed fabulous wealth. We also tolerate a Godman accused of multiple sexual violations, and the protests against his arrest, when in the first place he is supposed to be practicing 'Brahmacharya'.

We behave so irrationally, and that too often even to count. Milk drinking Ganesha to Online Horoscope, there is no limit to our foolishness.
The worst part is we don't even acknowledge our foolishness. We disguise the irrationality under 'Faith, Belief and sometimes Complicit Ignorance'
Complicit Ignorance means even being aware of it, we choose not to pay attention to that.
The same Godman accused of  Sexual Molestation, has not seen any considerable loss in number of followers.

The question here is not of having faith or believing in god. I believe that is a personal choice and everyone is free to exercise that without forcing someone else into that. My objection is to the blanket refusal of Indian mindset to critically look into their lives, faith, belief and most importantly their, our future.

We are just proud of our culture. How many would actually be able to define it?
Further, how many of them have bothered to study it?
In Maharashtra it is pretty common to evoke Dnyaneshwar/Tukaram. 
But hey, have you read them? 9 out of 10 haven't.
Same goes with Ambedkar/Gandhiji/Shivaji and countless others. We keep on forgetting the soul, focusing only on the simplistic rituals. Its pretty easy to wear Khadi than to practice Gandhi's principles. Its very beneficial to keep saying 'जय भीम'  rather than bothering oneself to read Ambedkar and Phule.

One of the great excuse of Indian mind says "चार किताबे क्या पढ़ ली, चले अकल सीखाने"
We don;t agree that the knowledge is something that one can learn. We want someone to teach it it to us.

This may not be a true analysis and I mean no disrespect. But the 'Bhakti Marg' of salvation has come indeed between the 'Dnyan Marg' and certainly is leading the 'Karma Marg' to inappropriate direction.

We oppose to Wendi Doniger for some obscene analysis of the Hindu gods. But we don't bother to answer them by studying and bringing the other side to light. We are happy to give a bullshit and lame duck excuse of 'Disrespecting the Belief' using a draconian Colonial provision of law. Do we say," Hey is it really so? If yes, let me see it. Let me check it out"
NO. We Don't.

Every society has contradiction and so do we. But we are known to resolve those contradictions and to establish the 'Samyaq Marg'. 
What exists today is our refusal to accept that there are contradictions. If at all one accepts there are contradictions, we are not interested in resolving them. We insist of having our side to be the only side, to end the contradictions.

To substantiate, a fool Chief Minister (thankfully Former), who took oath, didn't anything to correct the wrongs in the system, rather he went on to demolish the existing one and impose his new version. And what a great way to do that, by protesting on the Rajpath ahead of the ceremony to celebrate India's Democracy!!

Even during his movement (or fiasco whatever one wants to call), it was 'either my way or the highway'. All of that based on some irrational ideas not open to discussion.

Can we really call ourselves the nation defined by Gandhiji/Vivekananda? There is not a single incidence when they approved or disapproved anything without the test of reason.

Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore was aware of our devotion to Ritualism.
That's why he must have wrote :

"Where the  clear stream of Reason has not lost its way 
Into dreary desert sand of dead habits"

We do have grand success in Scientific developments as a Nation. Its only a mirage at individual tempers.

Today we are again celebrating the National Science Day with a theme 'Fostering Scientific Tempers'
May this be a small step for us, the Indians, which lets work together to make a giant leap for Mankind...

The Lunchbox, as delicious as it actually is!

What would happen if a small feather touches your forehead. Taken by its simplicity you start to stare at it, without knowing that you are being lifted up. You continue staring at the beauty and then after two hours realize that its middle of nowhere, no land no sky. Trapped above clouds, you see two starts moving at the horizon. A light musical note appears in background. You are not able to find out whether they are moving closer or apart. They just seem moving, unknowing or perhaps knowing. The music become more definite and eventually takes you away..

That's what happens after watching Lunchbox. 
I had not seen a good movie for long. Not a one so touching, perhaps after Sophie's Choice starring Merryl Streep. 

An about to retire clerk facing a new recruit who would take his place.
Nawazuddin Siddiqi shines as always.
A dialogue is worth mentioning.
While buying cigarette, Nawaz. " सर सुना है आपने एक बिल्ली को लात मारी  थी और वो बस के निचे आ गयी थी."
Irrfan Khan replies, "बिल्ली नहीं, आदमी था. बच के रहना तुम!"
The movie has few exquisite scenes and dialogues.

Deshpande aunty (So nice to hear the name!) sending in Mirch to Ila. Ila deciding to go to Bhutan cause people seem to be happy there... It just touches you deep inside and feels no pain.
A particular scene also reminds you of the fact that you are also are ageing. Perhaps, the same way Mr. Sajan Fernandez does....

Those who are interested in watching a good movie that leaves you spellbound, do not forget to watch Lunchbox.

As the title says, The Lunchbox is as delicious as it actually is!

निर्लज्जपणाचा कळस

म्हणजे आता खरोखर हद्द झाली. 

इतके निर्लज्ज राजकारणी महाराष्ट्राच्या विधानसभेत कधीच बसले नव्हते. 

हा मूर्खपणाचाच नवे तर निर्लज्जपणाचा कळस आहे. 

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पहिल्यांदा एक आमदार गाडी वेगाने चालवल्याबद्दल पकडला  जातो. मग तो (नेहमीप्रमाणेच) पोलिसांना शिवीगाळ करतो . प्रकरण वाढते.  

आमदार जागृत असतात. त्यांना अपमान सहनच होत नाही. मग ते थेट विधान सभेचा 'हक्कभंग' दाखल करतात. त्या राज्याचे गृहमंत्री अतिशय कर्तव्यदक्ष आणि गुन्हेगारांना सोलून काढणारे वगैरे असतात. म्हणून तत्काळ त्या अधिकाऱ्याला दीर्घ मुदतीच्या रजेवर पाठवले जाते. 

माननीय आमदार नुकतेच दबंग सिनेमा पाहून आलेले असतात. म्हणून कायद्याने शिक्षा वगेरे क्षुल्लक गोष्टीवर विश्वास ठेवण्याची त्यांना गरज वाटत नहि. मग ते थेट त्या अधिकारयालाच बेदम मारहाण करतात. 

मग भलताच गोंधळ होतो म्हणून शेवटी त्या कर्तव्यदक्ष आमदारांना निलंबित केले जाते . (काय हा मूर्खपणा! कोण मुर्ख लोक बिचाऱ्या आमदारांवर कारवाई करू शकतात ?)

असो. कधी कधी कायद्याच्या चौकटीत निरपराधी लोकही भरडले जातात.  काय करणार, लोकशाही आहे ना!!!!!

पण विधान सभा अतिशय नैतिक आणि लोकशाही मानणाऱ्या लोकांनी भरलेली असते . मग त्या बिचाऱ्या आमदारांना तुरुंगाची हवा खायला लावणाऱ्या दोन क्रूर आणि खलनायकी संपादकांवार 'हक्क भंग' ठराव आणून तो मंजूर केला जातो. बरं झालं . हे संपादक स्वतःला समजतात तरी काय? अरे हे दोन क्षुद्र लोक निवडणुकीला उभे राहिले तर यांना पाच मते तरी मिळतील का? (नारायण राणे साहेब शब्द चोरले. माफ करा. मला तुमच्या कोणत्याही हक्काचा कसलाही भंग करायचा नाहीये. कृपया मला तुरुंगात टाकू नका). 

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म्हणजे सगळ्या भारतातला नालायकपणा एकत्र केला तरीही तो कमी पडेल अश्या प्रकारच वर्तण आज महाराष्ट्र विधान सभेमध्ये काही लोकांनी केल आहे. लोकशाही, कायद्याच राज्य या सगळ्या संकल्पनांचा पार चुरा करून त्या फुंकून खाल्ल्या आहेत या लोकांनी. लाजा कश्या वाटत नाहीत तोंड वर करून त्या पवित्र सभागृहात बसायला. 

खरंच बरं झालं आज यशवंतराव जिवंत नहित. त्यांना हे बघवलच गेल नसतं

विनोद तावडे परवा ओरडून सांगत होते कि राग मलापण आलाय. आता काय तो राग खुंटीला टांगून ठेवला?

आणि माझा सगळ्या राजकीय पक्षांना प्रश्न आहे। तुम्ही अजून या पराक्रमी आमदारांना निलंबित का केलेल नाही? राज ठाकरेंची प्रकृती इतकी अस्वस्थ आहे कि अजून राम कदम यांच्यावर काही कारवाई त्यांनी केली नाही? आणि भाजप चे काय? माफ करा. भाजप म्हणजे Party With Difference आहे ना....

सर्व महाराष्ट्राला काळिमा फासणारा हा प्रकार आहे. 

त्याची जेवढी करावी तितकी निंदा कमीच आहे. आणि तशीही मुख्यमंत्र्यांनी घोर निंदा केलेली आहेच. म्हणून आपण ती करायची काही गरज नहिये.

असो!!!!!!!

Bible says that "Evil prevails when good men fail to act". we can see that now.

महाराष्ट्राचे बिहारीकरण

The legislatures in India in past few decades have something incredible.

If Gopal Krishna Gokhale and Nehru were alive today, they would have committed suicide out of the shame of  their incompetence. 

The legislatures have seen  dreadful criminals sitting on the benches, even occupying ministerial posts; members beating up each other, ruckus with violence and bloody battles inside; watching pornography and so on.

These legends now have been dwarfed by Maharashtra Asssembly. The MLAs of Maharashtra Legislature, a day ago, beat up and thrashed a Police Sub Inspector for allegedly misbehaving with them for a traffic violation offence. There are no words to describe these heroic acts of our beloved lawmakers and they must be honoured with none other than 'Maharashtra Bhushan' or 'Bharat Ratna'. 

There is only one thing remaining to be done on the floor of the Legislature, i.e. 'Rape of a Woman'. And don't worry about it. Our beloved representatives will strive hard enough to achieve this task and one day they will get it. After all, democracy is for the people. Isn't it?

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I am angry. Not only angry, but boiling with anger. Mary Antonnie would be very happy today that she has finally found her worthy descendants. They include the five MLAs of Maharashtra Assembly. 

This is Biharization of Maharshtra.. And I'm sorry. Why Biharization. Its insult to the state of Bihar. So sorry.

I am angry over the full issue. But I do have some serious questions.

Where the hell 'Breach of Privilege' comes in? 

Violating traffic laws? Is it a breach of privilege? Then why not killing someone? Let Mr. Kshitij Thakur go on to kill someone or for that matter rape someone? We'll use the Privilege power then. Why not? And if someone takes any objection, mind you. Mr. Thakur has a six pack body ( i mean personally, not today's pack of five), and he is looking at you.

Here I have a questions to a dignitary.

Mr. Raj Thackeray: you seem to be vociferous against such incidents. 

आज दातखीळ बसली का?

नाही…........

ते बोलले.

काय म्हणाले? 

"फक्त विरोधी पक्षावरच कारवाई का?"

माझा प्रश्न आहे कि हे बोलताना जराशीदेखील लाज वाटत नाही?

एकदाही म्हणजे एकदाही वाटत नाही कि तत्काळ तुमच्या आमदाराला निलंबित करावं?

Even if we see the incident and even accept that it was a mistake on behalf on the PSI. Lets even accept it is his mistake alone and the MLA is very innocent (as for always). 

Then, should this be the way to behave? Should MLA thrash everyone who just opposes him? 

And where the f*ck other five came from? What was their issue? 

Gearing up for National Boxing Championship? 

And what about Senior Police Officers? Are they so indifferent to the plight of their junior officers?

And I genuinely missed R R Patil's statement that "No one will be spared. Everyone found guilty will be punished". That fool home minister sent the officer to a long term leave? Even before setting up an inquiry? Is he even worthy of being the Home Minister? Oh, please recall. "बड़े बड़े शहरों में छोटी छोटी घटनाएं होती रहती है"..

The Chief Minister being a clean man, and junior to another great mute Prime Minister, gave a nice round n round statement.

Mr. Sharad Pawar was outright in criticizing the incident. Its good, but his own MLA are not very much known for respecting rule of law. 

Never before in the history of Maharashtra, such a heinous and reprehensible incident happened in that building. It is after all a building that once was lead by none other than Yashwantrao Chavan saheb. If he were seeing it from heaven, I'm sure he would have been crying for his despise would have been far greater.

Are these people so disconnected from common man? 

यांना जनतेच्या प्रश्नांची अजिबातही चाड नाही?

यांना स्वताच्या सत्तेचा इतका माज आलेला आहे? 

आ. राम कदम यांना तर त्यांच्या अभूतपूर्व आणि ऐतिहासिक कामगिरीबद्दल 'विधानसभा श्री' द्यायला काहीच हरकत नाही. नाहीतर त्यांना पुढच्या ऑलिम्पिक मध्ये पाठवा. 

तिकडे दाखवा म्हणा तुमची ताकद…

[Here I have insulted Mr. Thakur and others deliberately. If he has guts, let him file a 'breach of trust' against me. Also Hon. Speaker may also order me personally to come down to the Assembly]

The Anatomy of 'Bandh'

              
           If one has to study the changing context of Indian Polity from independence, one aspect that could hardly be forgotten is the culture of 'Bandh'. In past few decades it has become integral part of almost every political party, specially with the one in opposition. 


There are logical reasons why Bandh is so popular among the Parties.
 First, it is more effective than conventional struggle as the Government can not ignore the protests. 
Second, it  is a swift action as of any military operation, so it doesn't take long drawn out battles, which the parties are clearly unwilling to fight.
Thirdly, in the age of media overreach, it attracts immense publicity. 
Last but not least, the sheer nuisance value parties possess to disrupt the everyday life of people, protects their irrationality from uncomfortable questions. 

In the analysis of outcomes, Bandh are equally effective and grossly ineffective. They are grossly ineffective in finding solution for the problem. But, they are far more effective in providing mileage to the political parties.
A 'Bandh' for day solves no problem, seeks no solution, rather it blocks any consensual and democratic solution. Bandh arises from a mentality of blackmailing the government to yield to and threatening the people to yield in. 


The very nature of Political ideologies of parties, from far left to far right, has an element of intolerance and irrationality as the core basic. So, when a party is in power, it prefers unilateral decisions rather than consensual, and the one in opposition seeks Bandh than cooperative struggle.  


Babasaheb Ambedkar, while describing Civil Disobedience called it 'Grammar of Anarchy', which has no place in constitutional India. Perhaps, his India does not believe in his grammar of constitution and the Disobedience is not Civil.


So, the very basics of Bandh is the underlying 'Anarchy' just to prove your point. It undermines all the constitutional and democratic tools available, it legitimizes the intolerance and it adds more misery to the already suffering poor, who loose a day's job as well as a day's meal.