Money GROWS on TREES!!!

Yes, you read the title right…..and I promise I haven’t missed any word there!!! Whoever said that money doesn’t grow on trees, surely hadn’t heard about the IPL!!!

Cricket, an age-old game gathering its roots from the British who took their favourite game to all their colonies along with the iron hand that they used to rule them, our beloved India included!

Cricket, which has ever since been the pet sport of the nation, commanding precedence over and more importance than even our national sport of hockey; a matter which has long been a subject of heated debate and criticism.

Cricket which has evolved over time to increasingly convenient formats; from the original test-match which lasted 5 whole days to the more feasible and time-saving one-day format and more recently, it has given way to a format that almost eliminates all the drawbacks that were associated with it – that even at 50 overs a side, it was still far too long a sport demanding investment of a large chunk of the viewer’s precious time, that it was a slow game, that it lacked glamour, so on and so forth. Well, twenty-twenty, as the nomenclature suggests, has twenty overs per side packed with such an enormous punch that tables turn before you can say “whoa”!! It is the flavour of the season, that has the nation strongly in its grip and promises to retain its hold over wonderstruck viewers for some time to come. The investment of time in it has reduced from a day to a few hours, wrought with excitement and action. And whoever said cricket has no glamour can forego his lunch and dinner for a while for he has his words to chew!

If the heat of the summer was not enough, you have some -hot-bods adding all the oomph to the game and raising the glamour-quotient to giddying heights! The brightly coloured uniforms of the eight “premier” teams scream style! The almost war-like countenance upon the faces of the players who, until yesterday played with each other but suddenly find themselves on opposite sides, the responsibility on their sturdy shoulders weighed down by the money riding on them…..oh, the game has come of age!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And HOW???!!!!

But the point is not how fast the game has suddenly become so HUGE. Going by the far-reaching changes in every conceivable field, you don’t exactly need Einstein’s brains to deduce that a modernisation of the game was inevitable; it was always only a matter of time. The point in question is how the unimaginable, the unbelievable and the almost miraculous is now unfolding in front of our very eyes.

The money…..yes…..that’s the most unbelievable part of this whole new drama. The sums that the rich and famous (read film stars and businessmen) are willing to stake in this venture borders on a mania that words will only serve to dilute. What we consequently witness is a marriage of business and entertainment; or cricket and bollywood, two staunchly followed religions of our country! Cricket is now serious business. “Buying” the players for astronomical sums was just the beginning of it, the amounts expended on the marketing and promotional aspects are figures having so many zeroes that if we counted them, we’d employ fingers of both our hands! And as far as the prize money goes, the less said about the proposed sum, the better (mainly coz we need to get on with our lives without fainting!)

But contrary to what you may be thinking, my article, at least when I started it, was not intended as a weapon to spit fire on the evolving nature of the game. By all means, I welcome the change, even appreciate it. I have only, for want of a better word, “used” the game as an example to my title.

Until recently, we were counting millionaires in the world and then we grew at a pace that would put Michael Schumacher to the gravest disgrace….before we knew it, we had quite a few billionaires pacing the planet and taking giant strides ahead. And then there was never time to look back. The fortunes of people grew and grew….and then grew some more! There was just one glitch in this picture which at first glance looks so merry and rosy that we’re scared to believe it for fear of bursting the bubble! And for good reason…..the glitch - the rich kept getting richer and richer and the poor continued to survive amidst the same squalid conditions, if not worse! And that is still the case. And the beauty of it is that the rich never need to spend!! They almost always travel free of cost in the charter flight of a fellow millionaire, receive expensive automobiles as gifts on trivial occasions and enjoy fully sponsored accommodation wherever they go (unless of course, they are on a private holiday). So essentially, they basically part with their earnings only to acquire personal stuff, like designer apparel, jewellery, gadgets and the like – basically their wants and never their needs (as an economics student must word it!).

I may seem to be a minimalist, an anti-progress sort of person. I’ll clarify that I’m far from it. My best wishes to those who can afford that sort of a lifestyle and my congratulations to those who can ENJOY the fruits of their labour; for, more often than not, that is the most difficult aspect of high income groups. Nevertheless, I really can’t help thinking on behalf of those who seek but a meagre fraction of the amount that the people-with-stuffed-coffers expend. In all probability, the daily spendings of the latter group would satisfy the former for a month. It is the sheer irony between the two extreme groups that so blatantly exposes itself in our country (and possibly in others too, but I’ll feign ignorance on that).

My article is not a backlash against the rich-and-famous. I am sure they are only spending their hard-earned money in way that catches their fancy. They are probably just giving vent to their latent entrepreneurial skills. And to give them the benefit of the doubt, I’ll assume that they pay their taxes in good time. But this is a blog and it’s just my way of commenting on the stark contrast between those who can splurge (and big time!!) and those who can’t. The scene would be a lot rosier if a small part of money spent on modernisation (of the country, of sports, of cinema or whatsoever) went to those who needed them rather than to those who simply employed them. Just so that…even if the poor still say that money doesn’t grow on trees, they get to see, for those whom it does, how the seeds are sown!!!! It would be a beginning, if nothing else and a few people would go to bed with fuller stomachs!

A little serious….the subject today, though it didn’t begin so……But I promise the next will be as much as in contrast as the two groups discussed herein above! Take care all of you.

Till next time, this is slo signing off! Tally-ho!!!!!