Of fixers and fixing…

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The cricket fixing scandals have shaken the world of sport. Righteous faced journalists, hyperventilating thwarted girl friends, holier than thou ex-cricketers and glum faced officials have all been seen 24x7 on multiple channels. However the undeniable fact is that fixing whether it be spot ,line ,match or series -- existed, is existing,  and will continue to exist—no matter what  steps are taken by the authorities.

Suraj Randiv bowled a deliberate no ball to deny Sehwag a century, apparently under instruction from Dilshan and maybe Sangakara. Teenager Md. Amir bowled a no ball under instruction from his skipper and senior colleagues. Both the no balls had no effect on the outcome of the game. Both of them did it for gain—one for psychological vindictive pleasure, the other probably for money—though there is no evidence it reached him. Look at the different fall outs. One is banned for an inconsequential match—the other is facing a loud howl for a lifetime ban. Cricketers take money to play like any other worker anywhere. If they do a little bonus on the side which does not affect the overall game—then what is the harm?? After all, everybody likes to make money on the side—don’t they? So if you cannot fix the fixers—then  accept them!!!

SURAJ RANDIV         MOHAMMED AMIR

Translate this into the commercial world.Look at the ‘facilitators’ and the ‘Commission’ fees. See the hangers on near all political personalities and government offices. Look at the sweat equities of millions of dollars before you sweat. Simpering ,tainted ex-ministers marry the anti-perspirant stake holder for which he ‘merely' picked up the telephone and had a chat in the IPL !!! Backdoor manoevuring was going on to legitimise auction fixing—and the players were the very same officials who sit on disciplinary committees. The  cricketer who allegedly made Rs. 220 crores is now a ruling party MP who speaks in  rallies exhorting youths to sacrifice their all for the country!!!! The man banned for 5 years now is an expert commentator from the studios, commentating on this current scandal for a hefty fee…Confirmed cocaine users are regularly seen on TV giving their comments with gusto. Bowlers with a clear illegal action gets the laws of the game changed to suit them, and goes on to create world records..

VEENA MALIK    MOHAMMAD ASIF

Which all goes to show that only the foolish get caught. The less powerful are paraded. The developed world cricketers say that it never happens in their country, though a couple were socked for giving information(sic), to bookies about weather conditions and quite a few were caught with their hands in the till!!! .These holier than thou countries used Vaseline, jelly beans etc with aplomb to swing the ball and were agitated when the Pakistanis did it better than them!!! This was however only ball fixing!!!

Cricket and all the other sports have become horribly tainted and we would forever be left contemplating that the great vagaries of cricket like a dropped catch or a No ball were fixed or not . Were the nail biting finishes contrived? Have all of us been taken for a ride again and again???

So how can we solve this? Simple, I would say. The cricketers are paid more than they are worth. Hitting a ball ensures jobs, fees, ads, film shoots,women, apart from match fees and contract fees-- in droves. Penalize them severely when they fail. Penalize them the amount that betting circles would give. That is all that is required. Too long have they taken advantage of the glorious uncertainties of the game. If Sachin scores a duck, he is penalized. If he scores a 50 or a hundred he gets more.If Yuvaraj drops a catch, penalize him. If Zaheer bowls a no ball, penalize him. You will then see the clear improvement in them. If they are getting paid handsomely for their achievements, then surely they should be penalized if they fail.That is what professionalism is all about.

If doctors, engineers, financial investors, etc can survive by these rules, so can cricketers.Sports Entertainment is not a an absolute necessity for living. These guys call themselves professional and calmly fail in game after game after game.There is no penalty except the prospect of getting dropped from the team.One good performance in 5—6 outings will ensure selection. Imagine if the surgeons had such a track record….One good operation in 3 cases??? If the anaesthetists failed in such a ratio?? If the bridges built by the engineers collapsed in such a ratio?? Disregard  the fact that a majority of  such professionals get a fraction of what the cricketers get. This type of performance would ensure that the surgeon will get no patients and will spend all his life in courts. Contrast this with how  the Indian cricketers behave after a loss.

This is the only way of stopping whatever-fixing making a mockery of our time , intelligence and our money!!!

Friends ,what do you say??

Independence Day and the Common House Sparrow

This Independence day, I suddenly recalled my childhood days.Waking up in the mornings to the chirping of the birds ,quickly getting ready, rushing to the rooftop to be one of the first to raise the National flag, and the singing of the National anthem,  with parents. cousins, aunts, uncles and the servants watching us with beaming indulgence. Invariably, we would turn to feed the birds, the common house sparrows and the crows, before diving into hot singaras and jilipis.

A familiar sight in our childhood

Today, as we descended to the lawn in front of our multistoryed building, there were a lot of pigeons and crows, but the house sparrow seems to have disappeared.

There has been a systematic decimation of this once-so-familiar bird all over the world.Europe and specially England have seen a significant reduction and a lot of theories have evolved as to why this happened.In India, the cities in the South and North have been particularly affected.

A disappearing sight.

Why and how did this happen?

The first reason was the changing nature of the buildings. There is no tiled roof, no hay covered bungalows. In an effort to utilize  every inch of the expensive land, covered crevices and corners have simply disappeared. Scattered grains from gunny bags are no longer available, as it is the age of sealed plastic bags. Old buildings with abundant gardens and bushes have disappeared.The sparrow simply does not have a place to breed.

Looking for a place to breed

Adding to this was the introduction of unleaded petrol. Methyl Nitrite was released all over, leading to the deaths of small insects which were the staple food of the sparrows.The increasing use of pesticides were another cause of the reduction in the number of small insects and worms.

Then came the mobile towers sprouting here and there. The introduction of 3G systems with higher radio frequency waves, played havoc with the sparrow’s breeding abilities and reduced their flying time. If the male bird sings less, mating cycles are grossly disturbed.Moreover eggs take more than a month to hatch (double the normal time) and some do not hatch at all.This has been scientifically proved by studies in Belgium.

Waking up to this problem, March 20 of each year has been named World Sparrow Day. The Postal department is bringing out a stamp on this disappearing chodai pakhi.

Meanwhile several pleas are being circulated that all ground and first floor residences lay out a shoe box filled with hay and a little water, so that this familiar remnant of our past can be resurrected.

One lady recalled that when she had a long illness and was confined to the house, her mother thoughtfully placed a wooden box on the window sill, and regularly sprinkled some grains there. It was the continuosly chirruping spunky sparrows which saw her through those difficult times.

Let us all come together in this difficult times for the Common House Sparrow.

Listen to this beautiful song by Simon and Garfunkel…..