IPL Discoveries - Cricketing Tharoor Vs Tweetering Modi!

The IPL 2010 series has been doling out high doses of thrilling moments in the lives of cricket lovers from all over the world. With its on-field smashing performances and uncertainty of the results, IPL matches have arrested the undivided attention of cricket buffs and hooked them on to the most gripping, high profile, fast buck churning event in the history of sports. With controversies burgeoning out of IPL series each year, the sensation quotient never seems to take a dip!

Off the field, IPL is scoring equally high on titillating factor – Two mild bomb blasts in Bangalore and formation of two new teams for the 2011 series have kept the interest and focus of people, in this king of entertainment, entirely intact. Adding on to this sensation is the sordid word of war between IPL founder Lalit Modi and Shashi Tharoor, the tech-savvy twittering politician of modern India. While the war has gone far beyond the arena of tweets, into a state of utter clutter, it has also sparked up tales of foul play, match fixing and mud slinging between the various parties closely or remotely connected to cricket!

Modi and Tharoor, each have collected some brownie points for doing their bit in their associated fields. While Modi has redefined the concept of cricket by fathering one of the most glamorous, extravagant and thrill flicks of our times, Tharoor has modernized the face of Indian politician with his suave looks, immaculate English, articulate demeanor, accessible approach and display of a taste for connectivity with our tech savvy aam-junta. Both had brought along with them a change, which was resisted, protested and then gladly accepted by the critics. Bringing them together again, is the current controversy, which puts them at loggerhead with each other seemingly assuring of delving some nasty details about their unseen aspects. Whatever is the outcome of this slander, IPL has highlighted one trend, which is to stay here for sometime – Internet Social Networking.

For those of you, who believe in sharing the ins and outs of your life with the rest of the world, it wouldn't be a surprise to know that the root cause for this entire controversy was mooted through the platform of Twitter! Ah so much for being socially hyperactive internet buffs.

It is quite amusing the way certain information was tweeted on this social networking site and then replied back between these two celebrities. I often wonder, had Twitter not existed in the first place, how would have these celebs lived their moments of glory, agony and dullness? One thing, which stands out tall amidst such mayhem, is that with the overzealous social networking sites, media is getting deprived of uncovering scandals and ignominy which was its forte once upon a time. Facebook, Orkut and Twitter have made “living life, publicly” a style statement. Every tom-dick-harry wants to share what he thought, ate, felt, wore, saw in each moment of his life including burping and farting. With movie stars, politicians and sports champions joining the bandwagon, twittering/scrapping/posting has become only more contemporary and upbeat. Whether it’s Shilpa Shetty asking for what she should be wearing for her next show or Yuvraj Singh applauding his fellow cricketer for his brilliant performance or Rajdeep Sardesai commenting on the recent news updates of our country, all have resorted to the mesmerism of these networking sites.

The Kochi team franchise has dragged many names in the IPL controversy making it one of the worst hit scams in the cricket history. Shashi Tharoor's personal relationships have been tossed around in public by the media while Lalit Modi's sudden wealth amassment and extravagant lifestyle have come under the I-T scrutiny. Tharoor versus Modi saga would soon come to an end and the twittering cricket paramours would know who is neck deep in s**t and who come out with clean chit. One is a politician and the other is a rich influential man, so it would be quite interesting to know who weighs heavier in this tug-of-war. Ironically even during such animosity Modi and Tharoor share the commonality of "B-factor" bête-noire with Modi being sacked by the BCCI and Tharoor being stripped off his portfolio on the ruckus created by BJP! Both the men have lost their power and kingdom on which they were thriving… solidarity of fate?!?! The war which burgeoned from Twitter and involved just Modi and Tharoor has now engulfed the politics and cricket board of India, the two most murky, bureaucratic and lucrative systems of our land. 

So what if IPL still continues of rake big moolah even today, its prime attraction for our people would always be the numerous scandals, which get simmered in it each year. This year in particular has been a tumultuous year for IPL with its creator being dethroned followed by Sachin’s team’s debacle in the IPL finals. Unlike the earlier champions, Rajasthan Royals and Deccan Chargers, who had swept away victory in all matches played till the finals, Mumbai Indian’s became a fiasco, which fell flat right in the final match! Media is abuzz with talks of the unexpected new IPL champions with some murmurs of match-fixing, result rigging et al.

Three years of glory has turned Indian Premier League into a Midas touch, which promises to shoot you into fame, albeit good or bad is not guaranteed by it. Dhoni leading his team to winning trophy has once again reaffirmed his exuberance and panache of being the most successful Indian captain. With the finals of IPL 2010 coming to an end, cricket fever might have began to subside, but sacking of Lalit Modi by BCCI has further generated enough heat to keep the show going on.

All we now have to do is to stay glued on to our television sets and watch the fate of the man who built the most entrancing empire in the world of cricket. While I write this line I get sudden flashes of Ramalingam Raju’s face in my mind and the unnatural comparison between the two now appears very natural to me. We have to wait for the verdict to be out to see if Modi trails in the footsteps of Satyam’s founder or comes out clean to lash back at BCCI. In the meantime, IPL kept its side of promise of sensation by revealing the twittering mania in Modi and cricketing fever in Tharoor! Long live the grandeur of IPL and infectious ramification of Twitter.

IPL - India Pakistan Ladaai?

While the whole world has been complaining about the change in climate due to global warming, it is hard for me to not notice the very obvious change in the seasons of India. In our country, we celebrate four main seasons with zest – winter, summer, rainy and spring. However, past two years, this festivity has embraced a new season. A season of cricket. A season of IPL. The India Premier League has caught many eyeballs since its days of inception and continues to drive the world of sports, into a historic frenzy each year. IPL gave birth to another star in the galaxy of cricket, albeit not on the field but off the field. Lalit Modi – The founder of Indian Premier League.

In its maiden year (2008), IPL embarked upon its journey with a debate on whether the 20-20 pattern is a flash in a pan or a long lasting phenomenon. In the ensuing year, it kicked off a row of arguments when its venue was shifted from India to South Africa. Despite public apprehensions, IPL managed to generate highest TRPs amongst all other sports at that time and catapulted the status of IPL ceremonies only second to Olympics. It continued to grow bigger and better each time. Glamour and fortune have surrendered themselves to the feet and fate of IPL. It wouldn’t be wrong to call IPL, a controversies’ child. No wonder, even amidst many controversies the popularity of IPL has not seen a dip. As they say, any publicity is a good publicity. And so the IPL enters into its third year. With this month seeing the auctioning of players, the controversies have again draped IPL 3 in it.

The latest news to rock the auctioning procedure of IPL is the total outcaste of Pakistani players. While all the eight IPL teams have lapped up the best players for themselves, none showed interest in bidding for a single Pak player. Media is abuzz with gamut of reasons behind this news. Be it straining Indo-Pak ties, an embargo by the Indian government or a mutual seclusion of Pak players by the IPL franchisees, speculations are rife.

With zillions of money and security of nation on stake, the Indian government and the IPL organizers appear in no mood to take risks, if there are any risks at all. There are too many arguments for and against this move, and it is almost a herculean task to justify any side with little or no information on it. The whole episode appears very tacky when one looks at the past attitude (initiation and tolerance) of India over Pakistan. However even the Indian government has very little options to choose from when Pakistan believes in non-cooperation tactics. With the recent terror attacks on India, the government has to be extra vigilant to ensure such tragedies do not hit the lives of millions of innocent people. The stance may be harsh this time, but sometimes harshness acts better than friendliness, especially when one’s own people are in danger.

I know.. I know.. common man of both these countries wants peace! But, hello! How would peace prevail when so much of hatred and fanaticism is blinding the visions of deciding powers? Anyway, before I digress into politics once again, let me focus back on the IPL.

If rumors are to be believed then the cable operators in Pakistan might boycott telecast of the IPL matches this year. An act of solidarity, fair enough! I am not even surprised at this rumor. Tit-for-tat has been their age-old technique. Grow up!

Had the Pakistani players being included in the IPL teams, no dramatic progress would have been achieved on the India-Pak relationship. When sixty years of efforts from our various governments couldn’t thaw the ice between the nations at loggerheads, I wonder what good this little inclusion would have done? Maybe, it might have not added more bitterness to the already dissolving ties. But who can guarantee that? I am not writing this blog to justify the acts of IPL bodies or the Indian government. I only intend to enjoy IPL 3. Right or wrong, good or bad, IPL still promises to enthrall its viewers like in the past. We all had thought, that shifting of IPL to South Africa would significantly reduce the viewership of IPL in India, but to everyone surprise, the enthusiasm was way beyond the IPL season 1. Haven’t we heard that everything is fair in love and war? This however is Cricket ;)

I am just being an optimist fan this time as well. Pak or no Pak, IPL season is bound to cause hysteria across the length and breadth of the nation. Like all other times, IPL 3 promises of more fun, more excitement, more glamour and more surprises in the months to come. So while the two nations indulge themselves in further ego clashes, being a cricket fan I am looking forward for a spectacular and undeniable adventure saga. Let the game begin roger err.. Modi :) 


...and yes!.. keep watching this space for more updates on the IPL 3 grapevines :D

Potpourri...of Rain, IPL and Politics

And the driving season embarks with full ardor…..while the little showers of rain in Bangalore makes the drive even more pleasant, the entire nation is getting driven by IPL and Political commotion….yes all over again !!!

It creates a sense of déjà vu, when you read and hear about the hoopla created around the IPL matches. The recent decision to host the IPL matches in England/South Africa has driven the entire country into frenzy of disappointments. The Indian fans back home would definitely miss the cloak of heat and the excitement which this season is known to drape the entire nation in…not to forget the big bucks pocketed by franchisee and sponsors. All the big drama with tears and emotions would take a miss to a larger extend, this time. Right from the cricket icons to the layman, everybody has expressed the burning desire to let India host this mega event…after all it’s an Indian Premier League or do I hear Inthe Political Loggerhead….

Any issue which could churn the sentiments of public at large becomes the cynosure of Indian political arena and what better than cricket, which is most widely accepted religion in our country! Nothing else binds us Indians together, as much as cricket , which gets the unanimous vote of people across the length and breadth of the country…and our political big-wigs know how best to milk the situation. It’s become a tug-of-war between the Hierarchical Legacy party and the Sycophant Hindutva belching party. This issue is also spinning huge money for media which is busy airing the so called big-debates involving the who’s who of the two parties and mustering all the TRP ratings. So who is complaining? Everyone seems to be basking in the glory (read hue and cry) of IPL hosting. The only sect which remains non-benefited is the common man who can just follow the policy of wait and watch and keep nurturing her/his love for the game, while the world around capitalizes on the pain point itself.

On one hand where IPL is thronging the popularity chart, on the other hand the hatred speech by the latest young face of one of the two big parties of our country is also raking moolah for the media. A quick read through the speech reveals that it’s not a battle for campaigning but a ground for belching hatred and wrath which has been developing within the same dynasty for decades. Mud slinging has become order of the day for Indian politics, but such vendetta should definitely be kept in check by the Election Commission with stringent penalty. I wonder if these people with crowd moving potentials ever think of the impact that their speeches and promises have on the young minds. Maybe not!

With IPL and politics hanging heavy on my head I desperately need something refreshing, some thing which would not make me think and turn bitter….and what better than the cool and soothing drizzly sprinkling rain of Bangalore. So while I soak myself in this magic of nature, you keep watching this space for some more fun and some more gyaan :-)