Talents for Auction and Sale

J.N.Manokaran, KalimNews: For bowling six aimless balls a person can get a gift of Rs. 600000 which is illegal and immoral. Cricket mania grips the nation when the national cricket team plays international matches.

It is high during one-day matches and reaches its peak when the match is against Pakistan. Now newer version T-20 has gripped the nation. The IPL has become a new ‘mania’ in the cities in India. 

But, is all the hype made by media is worth it? The television channels devote huge chunks of prime time to report about the players while on the field and as well as off the field. Cricket occupies bulk of sports space in newspaper and magazines. Web publication are not left behind in this rat race, they even have blogs and polls on some silly (not silly point) aspects of the game. 

Cricket became a very high status in 1983 when India became the world champions in the one-day version of the game under the legendary skipper Kapil Dev. With television occupying the primer position in media world, cricket started dominating the life of the nation than ever before. 

Suddenly, cricket heroes became demi-gods. 

Advertisers roped in the cricketers to sell their products. There was competition to sponsor cricket matches. There was huge money in this game and politicians wanted their share so got into elections of State Cricket Boards and the national board. War between television channels for telecast rights became the order of the day. With millions of rupees at stake, the fight went on all areas for control including the judiciary. 
National Loss 
Cricket brings the whole nation to a standstill. 

When one day matches happen, Government offices becomes a centre for watching cricket through television, students fake sickness to watch matches at home, business houses are deserted, shop keepers stop looking for customers and watch match and even traffic in the city breathes easy. The number of man hours that could be profitably invested for the progress of the nation is wasted in futile exercise of watching cricket matches. While the players, advertisers and sponsors make huge money, but the nation loses precious time that could otherwise produce wealth. 

Elitist or Egalitarian 
Is the game a preserve of elite class in India? Is seems so. The game is an expensive game when compared with football or hockey. The game needs a lot of infrastructure, specialist training and consumes lot of time and space. 
Commercialized 
IPL has effectively converted cricket from being a sport to commodity. As in medieval slave market in Africa, the players are auctioned. When the players are auctioned, why can’t the players auction their talents? Cheer leaders have made the game into cheap tamasha. 

Drugs allegation is also very common. The whole system is backed by people with dubious reputation. It is widely reported that a lot of black money is being used. 
Gentlemen game to Gamblers game 
Slaves have limited options. IPL players are like slave who could be exploited by one and all. The owners extract their pound of flesh. 

The players are just like pawns in the chess board. Unfortunately, the ‘invisible hand’ of gamblers, underworld mafia also dictates how they play. These players have auctioned or sold their talents to the highest bidder. Sure, the players are not bond slaves, but, they cannot escape the lure of money. 
Purpose of talents 
People are endowed with the talents and trained with skills that could be used for common good. 

Now-a-days, talents are for just personal gain. How can I amass wealth and live in luxury is the only question in the minds of the people. When noble professions like teaching (education) and health services (medicine) is commercialized, how can the games like cricket be immune from this malady? 
Why IPL during exam time? 

It is a pity that IPL happens during exam time for school children around the country. None of the politicians or educationalists or journalists question this. No PIL is filed in Supreme Court. Why not they have games during some other season? Let the nation be exorcised from the possession and passion of IPL