Yet Another Point of View

It's supposed to be the summer of double tamaashaa - the general elections and the IPL 2. But somehow, so far, I have found both unexciting and bland. Polls finally ended today (13th May). It was the last day of campaigning on Monday. Thank God for that. Because, of all the campaign coverage I managed to catch on TV or in print, I can't recall one inspiring speech by a leader (whatever party) or can’t remember one election issue that moved me to any kind of action. And, I am tired of trying to keep track of who is wooing whom in the pre-poll season of political marriages and divorces. Seems to me, everyone is having clandestine affairs. Hopefully, when the electoral verdicts start trickling out over the weekend (May 16), I'll find some clarity about the relationships. Otherwise, really, the campaign has been humdrum. And, as always, the media made a lot of news of tidbits that shouldn’t have made news. I cringed from the whole drama of Sanjay Dutt's bid to contest and h...

It pinches to see a non-Indian captain walk away with the first IPL trophy but I can stomach that when I think how much his team deserves to win. The Rajasthan Royals were branded the underdogs when they started out gingerly at the tournament kick-off. But what a surprise the underdogs sprung - match after match. Soon, they were quite unbeatable. There is something heart-warming about watching a bunch of gawky, unsophisticated youngsters respond beautifully to strong leadership and perform together as a team. I even rooted for the Royals in their matches against Bangalore and my favorites, Kolkata. Much has been said and written about the Royals and how inspired captaincy can weave magic. Every commentator has an opinion on what made Shane Warne tick. Some said strategizing, some said role allocation; I even read someone talking about 'the human touch'(quite literally). This is not the end; we're going to see realms on this, if you care to read. It was a colorful closing ce...

The Bangalore skyline saw plenty of psychedelic hi-jinks when the IPL cricket tournament kicked off tonight. I cant help thinking this whole thing is more tamaasha than sport. Not that I am complaining. All that razzmatazz - dancers on stilts, fairies inside bubbles, trapeze artists swinging down to the field, it was one hell of a show! And the cricket-crazy Indian audiences anyway make it an electrifying atmosphere. But then I am one of those armchair audiences who watch cricket from the couch at home. So, while the tech city's Royal Challengers got clobbered, I tore my hair out frustrated with all that onscreen TV advertising. The screen splits up sometimes or shrinks in to a small window while multi-color graphic vines creep across the margins trailing "Godrej". Or worse, stick figure pop out from the edges and break into ridiculous jigs hoping to prompt viewers to subscribe for Vodafone alerts. I was expecting atleast one Shahrukh Khan sighting. He didn't come in ...