Unity in diversity! Where is it?

World cup!
I just can't get enough of it. Can I? Of course, not. The whole of India is still reveling in the joy of a victory that was eagerly awaited. It is the first time the youth of this country is witnessing India win the most coveted trophy. And they want to make their earlier generation take notice that they too, can brag about their generations' cricketing victory just like they did in 1983. It's no more about Kapil's Devils. Of course, you can never forget the achievements of those yesteryear's superstars. But this generation, has never seen most of them play in their youth (in live I mean). And, this apparently explains the jamboree surrounding the triumph. Oh yeah, I completely forgot about what I started off saying. Wasn't I speaking about Diversity? Don't ponder over what diversity I am speaking about. I know this brings together the whole Nation. But here, the diversity I am speaking about is brought in by a younger sibling of the game. Call it a dwarfed clone of the ODI format. Yeah, you got it right. I was hinting about the T20 extravaganza. The buzz it has created is phenomenal! Right, if it is such a huge hit, then how does it diversify a country? Read on, to know more.
It was on 24th of September 2007, that Mahendra Singh Dhoni led Indian team, won the first ever T20 World cup event held in South Africa. And the announcement of the format was made in a grand furore. The win meant that, the country with a population of 1.2 billion had something else to worship apart from the "Run around the trees" Bollywood, and "Starting to get boring" Odis. The T20 win came as a reprieve for the worshipers of the game. The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), the board that controls the game in India, struck the iron hot, and decided to make some fast money out of this new trend, and in turn, give something back to the community which held high stakes in help running the board, the fans. Thus came into existence the multi-million entertainment brain child of the BCCI, the Indian Premier League aka IPL. That's enough of beating around the bush I guess!

The IPL started off in 2008 as an 8 team league, where teams from different parts of the country represented a city or a state. The cities were auctioned off to the stalwarts in business and any other industry, where people could afford a few million dollars. India as a country had only seen regional battles which were limited to the domestic circuit, the Ranji trophy. But, come IPL, the cities got better hold of it and the esteem and pride of the city was at stake. Each one wanted their city’s team to fare better than their arch rivals. Yes, rivalry between cities is not new in India. They have been existent since long, albeit only in healthy competition. Losing to their rivals meant more than any other disappointment. A country that was united by the game was completely ripped apart by the very same game. It just got worse, when players were auctioned off to different franchises (rather cities). Someone’s favorite cricketer was playing for the rival team! And when the home team and such rival team clashed head on, more was at stake apart from just pride.

There was confusion, as to who to pitch for! The country was divided even more finely, in all possible cricketing angles.

Alright, but why did I even have to speak about unity? Where is the unity? Well, that is the beauty of this game. If it divides the country on a few fronts, it unites it in many other ways. There is something like a catchment area in and around the franchise city. These areas come together and unite for the team’s purpose, there by achieving unity at the grass root level. Furthermore, fans of a cricketing giant across different regions group into one and show the unity amongst them, despite being from different cities, despite playing against each others cities. This crisscross unity which could never have been achieved in any other aspect has been brought in by this new fantasy called IPL.

With India winning the world cup in 2011 and players being auctioned off once again and now even better with 10 teams in all, means the whole of India will be totally perplexed. No matter what, India is a country which can be totally flexible when it comes to backing their cricket team. The country which is all split up completely will get back together as one, when it comes to the national team in an international competition.

All said and done, it’s now time to put your party shoes on, go out and enjoy the game T20 style. Come 8^th April, it’s all chaos and wham bam smacking (the T20 fever has got the better of me). India is still a country with much diversity and still united as a great power (I intend to speak only in regard to the game).

A boom or a down hill ride?

The world cup has been won by India after a gap of 28 years. And if you ever thought I was speaking about the win or the future of Indian cricket, it's no where related to it. And I'm sincerely sorry to have disappointed you folks. The reason I started off the way I did, was to make you all aware of my devout efforts towards writing this. I helped India win the world cup, albeit in tiny magnitude, but I still did. I never moved out of my place, never changed my position for the whole of the Indian batting. And goodness me, I hadn't even chosen a comfortable position for me to sit. And that, sends to my bums a very scary signal every time I rest it!

Putting all that pain, and all those sores behind(i didn't mean to say on my back), I am sobering about something, that is not certainly on the right path! That makes you take even more seriously, a serious note of my serious efforts(That was quite "Serious".Seriously!).

On that note, let me give u a preview of what the down hill is, actually. Being a fervent Indian that I am, there were dreams of driving around in a luxury "Indian made" sedan, equivalent to or slightly above par with a BMW X6 or even the Audi Q7. The term Indian made, was solely for the love that I bestow for my Motherland. Forget about driving such a luxury car. We, the people, the citizens of the country, including the top honchos from the Political, Cinema and the Sports fields, who run the Circus called India, are not blessed with the joy of a luxurious journey on road. By this, you must have also noticed that it is not the politics/politicians that i am making my soft target as. Then what the heck is this post all about. If you actually had read between the lines, you would have guessed by now. The topic that I chose today, is the Indian ECONOMY.

Tagged as one of the top upcoming Economies of the world, let us have a look at what makes this huge country, still an upcoming economy and not an established one. Please, for the sake of the holy heavens above, just get out of that prejudice that it is because of those blood sucking bugs(Read as Politicians) that we are still growing. No. For heaven's sake, it's not them who are hampering the growth of the country's economy. It is you and me, the "Mango People", the "Aam Junta", that is hampering the growth. I know you are feeling irked about me, and you feel like banging the monitor assuming it was me. But can't help neglect the fact.

Just go back in time.Perhaps your dinner for example. When was the last you dined at a restaurant? What was on the menu that day, and how much of it made it to your table? I'm sure you left out many choices that were available. And how much of the food that arrived at your table, made it to your digestive system? Once again, not everything was consumed. There was a larger chunk of food left out. Yeah, there are helplines available, which gleefully accepts your wasted food and feeds it to the needy and the hungry. The problem we are fighting here is Economics and not hunger. So, you wasting your food was not the cause of the state of our Economy(jeez, you can breathe now.). The problem was, your greed. The food, you didn't fall in need of, was consumed by someone else. But think about it. Not every time you can feed them. Come on, they too have a life and they are not waiting for someone like you to waste food, to fill their stomach. So, you may say, "What's your problem mate? It's the money that I have earned, that I am spending today.", well, that precisely is my problem. You are not spending your money. You are Wasting resources. And you definitely haven't earned the resources. It's the country's resource that u wasted. In a country of over a Billion people, even if half of it turns out to be wasting resources, where will the economy end up? You know your math better.

So, even if half a billion people, went around wasting resources the way they do, then all that would originate, is utter chaos. Which way would our economy grow? Will it end up being an established economy, or will it still struggle with the tag of an upcoming economy, or will it go down in a spire, down hill all the way?

I would keep it to this, assuming every one of YOU, can take it forward from here on and do your bit for the lovely Circus. Here, I rest my case.

Ps 1: Your dinner was just an example. Please don't stop going to the restaurants. Because the hospitality wing is a very big money churner in India.
Ps 2: There are many more serious things than just food that we amass due to our greed. If all the gold you never used regularly was not mined at all, then you would have done your bit to save a dying economy.
Ps 3: The post script carries most of what I wanted to say, in short.
Ps 4: This post was inspired by an incidence(fictional/Real life), in Germany. Wasting food, is one the list of Offenses that can be FINED.
Ps 5: This post was also inspired by the argument I had with my mom, about a brand of Saree which she buys for the sole reason that it has a thin line of pure Gold/Silver at it's border.
Ps 6: You should really appreciate me and my sore back. It still hurts :P
Ps 7: This post might seem incomplete to you. But the fact that you are so intelligent, you just need something like this to provoke you and get you started.
Ps 8: All the "You"s and all the "I"s are the Mango People of India. Not anyone in particular. If You find any resemblance to yourselves, it is solely because of your GUILT. I am not Responsible for that :)

And Finally

PPs: Money is yours, Resources aren't. Use them wisely and help India grow!