Elections vs. IPL

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The fact that India today is making the choice between conducting the Indian Premiere League(IPL) and the General Elections, boggles me. And the fact that popular opinion is, that the elections should be postponed (or even cancelled?), scares me further. Even though I’m one of those few Indians who may not be a personal fan of cricket, let me assure you that this write has nothing to do with that. I have nothing against cricket or people who enjoy the game. What I do have a problem with, is when we Indians let our passion take precedence over what should be priority. Is India truly thinking about this choice?

THE ISSUE THUS FAR:

The present Central Government has said that they cannot allow the IPL to be conducted as per the IPL’s plans, as it will clash with the poll dates. This security concern was magnified several times over when the Sri Lankan cricket team in Pakistan was targeted earlier this month. The IPL has submitted 3 revised schedules, but none of them were found to be suitable. Certain State Governments had stated that they can conduct both events with their local police force. But some of the States that had earlier agreed, later pulled out. Basically, a big mess.

The opposition has seized the opportunity to deface the ruling party, with plenty at stake with General Elections just around the corner. The opposition argument is that the Government‘s inability to provide security, is admitting inadequacy. Moreover, cricket fans and opposition alike believe that this admission is grouping us with other volatile neighbours, which is going to detrimentally affect western perception of the region, and of India.

THE ARGUMENTS:

I cant say I agree with the opposition arguments. And here’s why.

>> The Mumbai terrorist attacks, the global financial crisis and now the security inadequacy.. would have been much the same, whoever was in power. This Government is only doing what is best for us. Do you think they are not aware of how much there is to loose in terms of votes, from all the cricket fans across the country who are outraged and pointing fingers? Come on, give them some more credit. They’re not entirely stupid. At least they’re not stupid enough to play around with something as sacred as cricket, and lose out on votes. They are not here to deprive us of our fun.

This Government has its back up against the wall. They could either give in to popular demand, dispatch troops to the matches and jeopardize Election security. Or they could use the security for the Elections but risk losing the elections anyway, because of it. If they choose option 1, and if something goes wrong at the IPL, tables would turn on them, with the country and the international community questioning why the matches were held if there wasn’t enough security. This is hardly a devil and deep sea situation. The right path to take is very clear. And in this tight squeeze, I believe that this Government has worked in the interest of the people, and not in the way that the opposition is claiming it would have handled the situation, which would have only served to manipulate votes in its favour in the bargain. How convenient for Arun Jaitley to criticize the Government. How very very convenient.

>> Isn’t it better to admit that we may be stretching ourselves too thin by conducting both events simultaneously, than pretending that we had it all under control and then suffering an untoward incident?

>> Western perception about this region of Asia and the Middle East, is already skeptical. Its been so, since forever. A lot of them think Africa is a country. So hey, there’s nothing new here. And why… why do we care so much about what they think? Why are we fawning for their accreditation? This is exactly the state India was in with the movie ‘Slumdog Millionaire,’ when we were ecstatic because the white man patted us on the back.

And lets not forget: 9/11 happened in the USA. 7/7 happened in the UK. And even after all that, a year or two ago, yet another major plot was foiled in the UK (when fluids were found, that contained potentially explosive substances.)

Anyway no matter what the western perception of India is, they are still going to do business with us. As much as they may want to, they just cannot blot out this subcontinent. Have some faith.

With regards to this fear, that we are being grouped with our unstable neighbours and being painted with the same brush, let me tell you that the stereotypification would be exponentially worse if an attack was actually carried out, or even a plan for it was discovered and foiled. And what happens to ‘morale boosting’ then? When we are hit where it really hurts, we may never recover from it. THAT will be a real psychological depression. If we do fail to prevent an attack, that will be PROOVING we are unsafe, as opposed to now, when people may only be THINKING of us as unsafe, but taking precautions to be safe.

What if some of the foreign players sent us word that they refuse to play in the IPL due to security concerns (Of course they wouldn’t do that since they’re getting rich from this.)? We already know that several teams have refused to go to Pakistan in the recent past. Would that not be a huge and painful slap on our faces, if it happened? I actually wish some of the players had backed out, because I don’t think anything else would work, in rousing this nation from its sin of trivializing of what is important. Security, elections and democracy should be on the main course. IPL should be stomached only if there’s space after all of that.

>> “We must show the terrorists that we are not affected, by conducting the IPL anyway.” Indeed we shouldn’t let terrorism govern our lives and we must live them fully. Of course we should still continue to go to the theatre, drink tea at expensive hotels, go dancing, use the subway, etc.

Something like the IPL is almost sure of being targeted. What makes us think that there isn’t an attack planned for the IPL? This false sense of security that we are feeding ourselves is getting us no where. Its just brimming with potential for a terrorist- thousands of euphoric and dizzy fans, lots of media coverage, and the heart of the people as well. There isn’t anything more they could possibly ask for. But I definitely agree that IPL must go on.

However, this situation that we are in, is not a risk worth taking. Not at the cost of innocent lives. The Government did not say that IPL should be totally scrapped for the next 10 years till we sort out terrorism. The Government has only asked for it to not coincide with the elections. Is that so unreasonable? No, we shouldn’t cripple ourselves and live as a shut-in out of fear. A painting could fall off the wall and kill us anyway. But it doesn’t mean we live recklessly and without caution.

This philosophy that lot of people have, “I’ll live my life to the fullest, I don’t care what people think, I’ll do what I want to do” is one of the reasons we are in a perpetual mess. If you know your cord is frayed, would you still go bungee jumping? Shilpa Shetty when asked to comment said she prefers to be optimistic about terrorism in India. ITS REAL! Theres no ‘sunny side’ to it! Isn’t it about time we stopped living in denial and faced reality?

>> What makes us think we are so invincible? When the attack on the Sri Lankan cricket team took place, Imran Khan said that no one expected something so important to this subcontinent, to be targeted. He said that there could be a possible backlash for the terrorists now, since a lot of people who may have supported them, would probably be re thinking their choices. Did the terrorists not know that such a consequence could take place? They are not stupid either. Of course they knew. But they did it anyway, because they don’t care what we think. Terrorism is not new to us. Why do we still behave so naïve and nonchalant about it?

>> Its very easy for a cricket crazy person to make all kinds of justifications for IPL to be carried out anyway. They say it is a boost to our morale, and enables us to flaunt our stuff to the western world. I think it was the actor Rahul Bose who said, “We trust our Government and security. We need to have more confidence in ourselves.”

But the security of the country is not the concern of the cricket crazy person. And neither is it the concern of Lalit Modi, Preiti Zinta, Rahul Bose or any of those others. They will have bullet proof cabins to retreat into and will be surrounded by security at all times. Or do you think Lalit Modi actually ‘cares’ for cricket fans, and so the IPL has been created just to feed that emotion? Please be real. IPL is about money and nothing else. Its not about national pride. The Olympic Games is about national pride, because it is all inclusive. The IPL is about a few rich people who came up with a brilliant idea to get richer.

Apart from the loss of innocent lives, that doesn’t seem to be many peoples’ concern, imagine if Shah Rukh Khan was actually shot or even grazed by a bullet! Do you remember when the actor Rajkumar was kidnapped by Veerappan some years back? There were riots on the streets because he was worshipped. And I mean literally prayed to. This is a country where cricket and film stars are a religion. And conducting the IPL along with the Elections, has everything to do with the above.

>> Its common knowledge that the General Elections in India happen every five years. We knew it was going to happen in 2009. This is probably one of the most established characteristics of our country. IPL however has only been around since 2008. And if anybody is to be blamed, it is the organizers of the IPL because they should have known better than to schedule it for the same month as the once-in-five-years spectacle of polling.

>> Terrorism can happen anywhere, at any time. It could happen at the World Cup in 2011. But I’ll bet the UK isn’t conducting their Elections on the same days. And if they are, they will still probably have sufficient resources to do so. Remember they’ve had troops in Afghanistan for the last eight years or so, since 2001. There is no dearth of men to be sent to die on the front lines, in these ‘western and more capable’ countries. But there is a dearth of similar men, here.

TO CONCLUDE

For me, the issue is much larger than the smooth conduction of a cricket match. Its more than the fact that there are thousands of disappointed fans. For me, this raises a much larger question of, if our head is really screwed on our shoulders or not. Are we thinking in the interest of our country. Are we really capable of putting entertainment and sport ahead of security. We are the largest and one of the most successful democracies in the world. Are we really ready to give up on all that and compromise, because we want to watch a cricket match. Are we that stupid.

Millionaires off our own slums

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Slumdog Millionaire is all the buzz now. India is visibly excited about the movie. And the media hasn’t been helpful in distracting us from it either. If anything, they’ve been fueling us further on.

In the last 2 days running up to the Oscars, India’s most popular news channel NDTV, couldn’t get enough of it. The news reader today was unable to wipe the smile of her face, verging on coy at times even. All other national and international news was suspended for these last 2 days, with 15 minute bulletins, every hour or so. Instead, they repeated the same footage over and over, which their reporter in the US had sent them.

It wasn’t just the media who was celebrating. Several images and videos of families and random people, in a state of jubilation, because of the success of the movie, were being circulated.

Sometimes I feel so disconnected, and wonder if the problem is really me.

I wasn’t celebrating the success of the movie. And when it won the 8 Oscars that it did, I wasn’t happy. I was not jumping in my seat for the movie, because it is yet another white man making money out of us. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: the world thrives on disparity.

The success of the movie was not ours. Indians nothing. It was directed by a non Indian. The screen play was by a non Indian. The movie was financed too, by a foreign company. Its their creativity that has been showcased in the movie, not ours. It happened to be about Indians, set in India and used stumble-upon Indian actors in it.

And yes, thank goodness there happened to be an Indian musician and sound mixer on set, who were talented and got recognized. Of course I’m happy for Rahman, Pookutty and the kids. But what if they had not won? We here in India were celebrating the movie even before news of Rahman’s victory. We were celebrating the movie because we thought it a big deal that such an Indian flavoured movie should have made it so far in the Oscar race, when several earlier entrants by Indian directors, had failed to cut it.

I was very agitated today, with this news. I picked up a conversation with a bunch of friends, but was literally asking for a fight, and wanted to find if I was judging this situation wrongly. One of my friends said something which accurately summed up what was going on in India. He said that people in India are seeing this as a Bollywood/Indian movie making it to Hollywood, when really it is Hollywood that has come down to Bollywood. And Hollywood won, but we think Bollywood did.

Danny Boyle doesn’t ‘love’ India, and so came with the noble intention of taking an Indian story to America. He came with the sole intention of creatively challenging himself. And the movie got points not because of highly unusual concepts, amazing special effects or jaw dropping acting. Sure it had a good story with universal appeal, and hey, there’s a million bucks involved! But this movie got points for the novelty of it. I don’t think even Danny Boyle thinks he has done India a service, by drawing attention to our immense poverty. He’s just made a movie. There’s nothing wrong with what Danny Boyle did. Nothing wrong in directing a successful film, that makes a lot of money. So I have no accusations of him. My only accusation is of the Indian public, that is being so gullible and weak.

Why didn’t Lagaan, Taare Zameen Par, or a much older Malayalam movie called Kala Pani get this far? They definitely had better stories, and great acting too (presuming these are some of the criteria involved in picking Oscar winners).Were they too brown for someone's liking?

Everything about this movie was characteristically Bollywood. If a person who was unaware of the details of the movie had watched it, he would have presumed it was directed by some Chopra or Mishra. There was song and dance. There was even a train scene at VT, so dear to Indian cinema.

Any Indian could have made this movie.

It so happened that the foreigner was smart enough to make Indians act in a movie about us, but in English, so that it reached a larger audience, who were intrigued by a culture they had never been exposed to before. He mimicked us. The style is ours, the glory is his. The slums are ours, the millions are his. He is the millionaire, from our slums. The foreigners are always smart. That’s why I’m so sore.

And what’s also sad is, that Indians have made movies about the trash in our backyards before. But we failed to appreciate and encourage it. As another friend of mine said, we here in India are always quick to rush off to Switzerland to shoot, when we have so much here that we can showcase. And finally, a wise white man came along, who saw the potential in our slums, and used it to his advantage.

Yet another friend said that no matter what, she was proud because ‘India made history tonight.’ I can give the movie credit as a movie. But saying that it is of historical importance to India or has ‘put India on the international cinema map’ is naïve. I just don’t understand how this was an honour for us.

When the Namesake began to do well at international film festivals and awards, was Australia celebrating because Jacinda Barrett had played a role in it? Are we celebrating every time Kal Penn gets a role in an English flick? Also, in the hypothetical situation of an Indian making a movie about Guatemala, it would only be a cause of celebration for India, if the movie won big. However if only won of the Guatemalan actors won awards for his acting, it would not be our party. And in a role reversal, it would be the people of Guatemala who will be celebrating.

The movie wouldn’t have been as effective if a rich man had won a million bucks. It needed a poor man in squalid conditions to win it. And welcome to India!

I know I cant generalize, but a lot of the western world already thinks India is over populated, polluted and under developed. A movie like this, even though it has only depicted the truth (and I don’t have a problem that it did), has perpetuated this notion of India being Third World, in thousands of under developed minds. And we are dancing in the streets about it?!

What I want us to realize here, is that in this movie, India was only a subject.

What of those children who were recruited straight from the slums, Rubina and Azhar? They are going to grow up thinking that a white man changed their lives. And indeed he did. But when they think that the white man saved them, they’re also going to think their country abandoned them, thus perpetuating the cycle, of us coloured people constantly feeling subordinate to the ones without colour.

Why are we clamouring so? Why are we fawning for attention? Why do we need a pat on the back from the white man, to feel good about ourselves?

Some of the ideals that Gandhi built this country on, are Swadeshi: of one’s own, self sufficiency and self reliance. These ideals do not just pertain to not purchasing of foreign goods and wearing of khadi. It also urges us to take more pride in ourselves, and what we have. Nothing we are today is truly indigenous. Everything is a leftover from an earlier invader. But when are we going to have confidence to be original and take pride in our own Indian kichidi?

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