two recent events force me to write the above words, and as can be easily deduced from the title, one of them concerns cricket, the other a movie.
before the india-sri lanka match started, though my heart wanted india to triumph, my mind was telling me it will not happen, and more importantly, it was clear that for the greater good of indian sports, we needed to loose. we seem to be turning into a country of baniyas, the only things that seem to be important is to earn money and spend it on "consumer goods". nothing else matters, not good sports, not good science, nothing! a billion people, are asked by a multinational company to CHEER (no one asks you to go out and play, except a recent 'nike' ad) for their national cricket team (while drinking their cola of course) and fulfill their destiny. we simply don't have a sporting culture, and yet inevitably like all nation states we look up to our national team (i couldn't add an 's' to the last word, and that tells a story by itself) for a sense of pride in our national identity. the era of globalisation has instilled this belief that we can also belong at the world stage. but due to the virtual non-existence of any other sporting representative(s) in the international arena, the enormous pressure on the cricket team is simply too much. the overdose of cricket in not only killing any chance of other sports coming to the forefront, it is killing off cricket itself. for, the majority of the so called 'fans' never comprehend the grandeur and beauty that lies at the heart of cricket, and i am of course referring mainly to test cricket, the 'real cricket'. a majority of indians simply lack (or are starting to loose) a taste for good things (i will come back to this point in the next section). and of course, to the multinational companies, these 'silly' sentiments don't matter, they are here to sell. they are the parasites, who are slowly but surely starting to control our thoughts, our actions. forget the television, forget the ads. for god's sake, just go out and play......and if possible play anything but cricket....believe me, it will help india win the world cup (maybe i should add an 's', field hockey has reached it's nadir, it can only go up. and maybe someday, even rugby or .... football?!!).
to the second incident now. i watched the hindi movie 'eklavya' today. my opinion: it is an EXCELLENT movie. now here comes the thing that troubled me. i heard some people's (even one of the RJ's) views about the movie on 'radio mirchi pune'. they seemed to be well educated young people. but the words that were used to describe the movie were 'boring', 'incomprehensible', etc etc. i can very well comprehend what the 'layman' would have made of the movie. hard luck mr chopra, you are in india. i understand that an indian has to face so many hardships, that he/she goes to the theatres for a few hours of escapism. but in these globalised times, this can't be true for a large fraction of india's population, at least the upper and middle monetary classes (400 million strong!). why is it then that if some movie demands a little bit of cerebral effort, it does not get it? song and dance routines in our movies are a reflection of our culture, we say. but if the rest of the world can appreciate realistic movies which require lesser suspensions of disbelief, why can't we? we simply don't want to put in the effort, for even appreciating (leave alone creating) high art requires effort.
let me digress and theorise on what can be the reason. hundreds of years of exploitation has left the common man of india in a sorry state. he is afraid to look beyond, he is afraid to exert his mind. it is a fact that not a single revolt/revolution succeeded in india (independence came, at the gruelling cost of partition, due to a war weakened britain not having the resources or the will to rule over india any more). i wonder whether Plato was right, there should always be an elite who lead the way, and the masses should follow, for the masses do not know what is good for them. or whether this statement is true: "when the masses follow the elite, it is progress. but when the elite follow the masses, it is stagnation." by that token, we are a pretty stagnant society today!
before the india-sri lanka match started, though my heart wanted india to triumph, my mind was telling me it will not happen, and more importantly, it was clear that for the greater good of indian sports, we needed to loose. we seem to be turning into a country of baniyas, the only things that seem to be important is to earn money and spend it on "consumer goods". nothing else matters, not good sports, not good science, nothing! a billion people, are asked by a multinational company to CHEER (no one asks you to go out and play, except a recent 'nike' ad) for their national cricket team (while drinking their cola of course) and fulfill their destiny. we simply don't have a sporting culture, and yet inevitably like all nation states we look up to our national team (i couldn't add an 's' to the last word, and that tells a story by itself) for a sense of pride in our national identity. the era of globalisation has instilled this belief that we can also belong at the world stage. but due to the virtual non-existence of any other sporting representative(s) in the international arena, the enormous pressure on the cricket team is simply too much. the overdose of cricket in not only killing any chance of other sports coming to the forefront, it is killing off cricket itself. for, the majority of the so called 'fans' never comprehend the grandeur and beauty that lies at the heart of cricket, and i am of course referring mainly to test cricket, the 'real cricket'. a majority of indians simply lack (or are starting to loose) a taste for good things (i will come back to this point in the next section). and of course, to the multinational companies, these 'silly' sentiments don't matter, they are here to sell. they are the parasites, who are slowly but surely starting to control our thoughts, our actions. forget the television, forget the ads. for god's sake, just go out and play......and if possible play anything but cricket....believe me, it will help india win the world cup (maybe i should add an 's', field hockey has reached it's nadir, it can only go up. and maybe someday, even rugby or .... football?!!).
to the second incident now. i watched the hindi movie 'eklavya' today. my opinion: it is an EXCELLENT movie. now here comes the thing that troubled me. i heard some people's (even one of the RJ's) views about the movie on 'radio mirchi pune'. they seemed to be well educated young people. but the words that were used to describe the movie were 'boring', 'incomprehensible', etc etc. i can very well comprehend what the 'layman' would have made of the movie. hard luck mr chopra, you are in india. i understand that an indian has to face so many hardships, that he/she goes to the theatres for a few hours of escapism. but in these globalised times, this can't be true for a large fraction of india's population, at least the upper and middle monetary classes (400 million strong!). why is it then that if some movie demands a little bit of cerebral effort, it does not get it? song and dance routines in our movies are a reflection of our culture, we say. but if the rest of the world can appreciate realistic movies which require lesser suspensions of disbelief, why can't we? we simply don't want to put in the effort, for even appreciating (leave alone creating) high art requires effort.
let me digress and theorise on what can be the reason. hundreds of years of exploitation has left the common man of india in a sorry state. he is afraid to look beyond, he is afraid to exert his mind. it is a fact that not a single revolt/revolution succeeded in india (independence came, at the gruelling cost of partition, due to a war weakened britain not having the resources or the will to rule over india any more). i wonder whether Plato was right, there should always be an elite who lead the way, and the masses should follow, for the masses do not know what is good for them. or whether this statement is true: "when the masses follow the elite, it is progress. but when the elite follow the masses, it is stagnation." by that token, we are a pretty stagnant society today!
