IPL: When irony becomes metaphor

IPL is a metaphor on what is wrong with Indian society. Indeed cricket is. IPL is what cricket was before 1960. Elitist, corrupt and self serving system, that is out of touch with reality of a nation but celebrated with gusto. The sediments of feudal yesteryears reflected in knights, royals, superkings….Manipulated by a coterie of unscrupulous money bags it rarely rates competence, indeed some mediocre ‘sport people’ get money that is way disproportionate to their talent and skills. That is how crony capitalism gets defined I believe.  It is a swindle that sucks everything on its path- the once respected cricketers reduced to mumbling orangutans; media/journalists are now but lost teenagers fed on some IPL glue. It is clear from the “success” (few millions is a success in country of billion) that there really is substantial numbers of buffoons in India.  This is where market niche target is. That is the hoopla of young India power -that thought itself is scary. You could see them enjoying themselves. One wonders what are they are enjoying. There is no sport here. Is it a celebration of morass that this society is slipping into?? The degradation has never been so stark. The irony finally is the metaphor. 

Whereas the sport leagues in Europe (football, say) are professionals who are highly talented and the event is a meeting of tremendously skilled players. It defines what is good about sports. IPL stands for all that is obnoxious. It is a celebration of mediocrity that is wrapped in emotional swindle. It is the death of subtle art called sport. It is again the typical Indian manipulative elite, who thrive on as simple as “you should be proud that we are among you”. “Our presence is enough for celebration”. It is a reflection of how mediocre and seriously wrong this society is. This society is so flawed that any system whether capitalism or communism or humanism or whatever gets apportioned in the mesh of manipulations. Networking is how nepotism has metamorphosed. The capitalistic framework has seen to it that filial links are extended to include the idea of professional in a much cruder understanding. This is networking. This is how the world – that is India -is run. It has overwhelmed all the system.  

Frankly one cannot blame the society as such, it is elite who create these. It is quite clearly the neo-Brahmanical context. The crude framework that is part of collective tradition, that simmers up at every opportune moment. What a shame….  

     

           

Representation from NE

The North East part of the country has about 40million people that include some extremely vulnerable sections of society -over 160 Scheduled Tribes and 400 other sub-tribal communities and groups. This region doesn’t have much representation in national politics or mainstream discourse. It is unfortunate that secularism in India is reduced to pseudo secularism that is hinged on minority appeasement (read muslims). And this symbolism gets further reduced to pandering to elite muslims at the expense of majority of marginalized millions of muslims. There is a vast section of society that is extremely marginalized and nothing is starker than the situation of people in North East part of the country.  

If this blogger had a say in the choice of next President (..well as a citizen of this country we all have a say) then it definitely would be someone from North East. President’s position in Indian context is largely symbolic, the plight of people from NE does call for ameliorative steps. Symbolism is a good beginning.