IPL 3

Third IPL is here, just round the corner and already controversies and accusations are flying thick and fast. IPL is a commercial venture. Organizers are concerned about turning a profit and they will do everything they can to make this year a success too.  Similarly team owners want players they want ; and players they can depend upon being available . It  is simply an economic decision. Now many players that were in the market were not bought and as it turned out none of the Pakistani players were bought by the owners.

So starting from Afridi to Pakistan Cricket Board   all  have got into overdrive. It is  seemingly a snub to them at  India's behest. As if IPL cares  about India!! Remember last time they removed the whole tournament to South Africa rather than play in India because of similar security and organizational reasons. IPL 2 was criticised severally for being anti India last time. It did not matter to them in the least. They want their Business safe and sound and profitable.

 This Pakistani outburst is typical of  the sub continental style emotional way of looking at things.  IPL is a business . It buys things it can sell  to public at a profit. It  is not a sport , just an  economic venture. Pakistani players were   considered too risky an investment. An asset that IPL may find hard to market  in their primary market (India) and  fears are that  this asset may not  even be available  when needed. Snub and politics is not in picture . Pure commerce is.  They don't care if  Afridi  plays or not . They care  even less about what he says. If he is not worth the risk , he does not get a buyer.  He needs to get a grip  on  this reality and move on. Fact is there are dozens and dozens of  other exciting players waiting in the wings  and they are cheaper to boot. Moreover if I was a Pakistani , I would not care to even react . This is a non issue. Even if you look at it from  a commercial standpoint. Which company shouts from the rooftops when their products are not bought ? No one is stupid enough like PCB .

To my knowledge even players from  Holland and Canada also did not find a buyer. Maybe Canada and Holland should recall their ambassadors  to  India as a mark of protest !!!! Childish-  but such is the sensitivity of Indo- Pak relations that anything and just about anything can snowball into an insurmountable problem.

Public activism ??

 Public has taken lots of matters in their hands lately. Sometimes by taking direct action like they did in Iran recently . Remember their street demo's  asking ' Where is my vote"?  They did not  find it , at least not yet. Sometimes Public uses a proxy like they did in Pakistan by using lawyers against the government high handedness . This time round they had limited success , since all that pressure was instrumental in getting rid of a dictator . It is another matter that his replacement is also not quite the paragon of virtue people would like him to be.

India is witnessing another such movement where public is using the media to put pressure on the system to respond. I am talking of Ruchika's case. Now without going into the merits of the charges against SPS rathore , one thing is certain that the system is so corrupt that it took an inordinately long time for the case to come to light. In that sense people are not only demanding justice for Ruchika they are demanding it for themselves too. She is a symbol of all the maladies that have taken root in the system. 

Human nature being such  that I do not think men will stop getting attracted to women anytime soon. Neither will they stop making advances ; at times inappropriately and illegally. However all  civil societies have rules regarding that and any crossing of lines is checked by these safety nets. First net is family, second net is your school or work place support structure, third net is police, fifth net is judiciary and the final net is the political administration. People which means the society has created these safety nets to check wrong doings. In a lot of instances these nets work and things are righted before   damage is done. Unfortunately for Ruchika her support structure failed her. I realize she did not have a mother but I am surprised that her school instead of being supportive at a very crucial juncture of her life decided to cut her loose.

I do know that Rathore is pleading innocence, claiming trial by media and is generally very remorseless about the whole episode, but as a society we must think how could we let any person wrong another person for years and still allow him not  to be even sorry.  When people are proactively taking such matters in their hands it shows that the systems have failed but it also shows that we are not going to sit  idle and do nothing about it. Which  feels  good!