Tuesday, May 29, 2012

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….