With elections and IPL coinciding , it seemed like a "smart" move to shift the IPL tournament to SA. I empathize (to a certain extent) with the Indian Govt. who clarified and stated in no uncertain terms that they could not provide security. But the likes of Lalit Modis and SRKs have to make do with my disdain! Agreed they managed to save the crores of investment made in organizing a tournament of this magnitude. The entire IPL fraternity is now sitting pretty in South Africa watching their money multiply or diminish, ball by ball literally. Didn't ANYONE in this entire mela of cricket fanatic freaks ever stop to think for a minute that they voluntarily chose not to vote this year for their PM??
There is no question of these cricketeers/other IPL associated persons to take the trouble of flying to their defined locations to cast their vote. Had that been happening, although I am not a fan of the game, I would have watched every single match ! So it is quite simply the case where a few hundred or even thousand votes were exempted. So much for MS Dhoni and his men parading as a role model for today's youth. For those people who argue that cricket is also just a game in India and not a religion, here's your answer loud and clear. I say , aur bolo..
** P.S - Whether casting your vote counts or not is NOT the argument here (that would be a whole new post in itself).
[Update] - I voted!!!! Pat on my back :-)
11 comments:
+1 for the post.
Cricket is indeed a religion.
But we have not understood the fundamentals of the religion, as always :)
I disagree on this post!
Venkatraman - Thanks
Sometimes one wonders - how a national obsession can transcend barriers and become a religion :)
Arpit - reasons?
I totally Agree .. And i'm wondering that why i have not thought about it .
Sonal - Isn't it unfair? It occured to me also only a week ago.
Depends on how you define 'religion'.
To me it is a set of beliefs - for eg. the followers of King Julien can form a religion - though they may do nothing more than self-grandization and spitting and dancing :)
nwayz, i stopped following crick after the ind tour to aus wherein we got spanked :P
PS: King Julien (as in, Madagascar, if it didnt occur as a flash!)
Religion to me is just a way/style of living. It is incidental for most of us. A few choose their own religion based on what it advocates. However, external factors always enrich a religion..
King Julien was a good ex ! :)
I was never a cricket fan. Find the games too long. T20 is a better version.
It is easy to blame the cricketers or the corporates but we fail to see it is only because our Govt failed to find a better solution. And sure the Govt agreed on this solution because the economy would have taken a big hit. It is becoming a debate, but it is clearly visible to me, that this has nothing to do with passion for cricket or it being a religion.
Arpit - I was only questioning why all the cricketeers were exempted from voting. The Govt. didn't chase them out of India, they asked them to shift a few games. I doubt you wouldn't blame the Govt. in case the matches were held in India and there was a crisis due to security lapses!! (probably similar to what happened in Pak).
It is a debatable Q. I guess you should read the Cricketing calendar to understand it was impossible to shift and eco crisis makes cancelling tough too.
Weigh the bigger picture - Voting of few hundred people vs Eco crisis and thousand people losing job!
Anyways, it's different people thoughts, we can't agree on this for sure!
I feel the same.. We may not agree but your point's interesting :) I admit I don't know about cricket calendars and the enormity of the situation in case dates were shifted.. But I felt in case all of us took the trouble of voting for a Govt. we believe in, sometime in future we would see a day when elections and tournaments can happen simultaneously without causing problems to either. It is a distant dream I know..
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