In a day and age where we hardly get time to read the papers every morning, I was at work early and started my day with a quick rush through of the morning headlines. A leading Indian website had a screaming headline quoting Obama say “I Screwed up”. Home page, First link and highlighted, I clicked on to read and only in reading realized what the real issue was. The article was written in such a hurried manner with intent to let the world know that Obama said what he said.

I managed to get sometime later in the day and went through print media! Sania Mirza is upset! – that’s what the sports page reads and why? Because a couple of guys went to a movie without taking her!! Give me a break!

It was the same day when India played Sri Lanka for the 3^rd time and Sachin was adjudged leg before. I am not exaggerating here, but in exactly 30 minutes from the time the event had happened, an award winning Indian news cast site with the biggest names in the news business ran an opinion poll on whether India must complain because Sachin was a victim of bad umpiring!

I think the media is certainly missing the trees for the woods here. I firmly believe the role of any media is to make a meaningful impact to society. The reason I say this is because they choose to put the old adage, the pen is mightier than the sword in front of them at all times and hence I’d like to logically assume that their profession comes with responsibility.

If that is the case, why didn’t most media houses choose to dwell on the fact that the world’s most powerful man confessed to making a mistake and did it without much ado? Isn’t this a lesson for most leaders around the world? How many leaders have the guts to go in front of the world and say they made a mistake without batting an eyelid?  Likewise with Sania! While I certainly believe they overdid the victory coverage to make me believe that this is the greatest thing that had happened to Indian sport (while I think this is probably the stepping stone), they chose to ignore the young kid who won a juniors on a world stage! The poor kid came up for review in a corner in fine print! I understand he does not have the glamour that a Sania has, but is that fair to the kid who did what he did?

It’s not over! The cricket story that day had India seal the series in clinical fashion. A series win overseas is a big deal and this probably went to the backstage with the focus on the reviews being how Sachin was penalized. Spare a thought for Yuvi and Sehwag who literally took the Sri Lankans to the cleaners in facilitating that great win!

In a glaring reflection of the state of the media, I pause to wonder how the media can be very selective in what they report and often times pick on trivial events to make the news? Is this the need for eyeballs or one of those fancy 3 word abbreviations that define viewership?

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In the 1990s when Bollywood was ruled by the likes of Govinda, Anil Kapoor, Jackie Shroff and the like, a lesser known star emerged from the theatre circles of Delhi. His dream was to make it big in Bollywood. In his hunt for the glitz and glamour, he took very calculated steps. One of which was a short stint on Television which turned out to be a massive success. While Circus was the launchpad of his career, the serial Fauji was the stepping stone of a long lasting and illustrious career in films. No prizes for guessing, we are talking of the one and only Shahrukh “The King” Khan.

In the next few years what followed was a series of blockbusters in Baazigar, DDLJ, Karan Arjun etc. Shahrukh Khan went onto become the King of Bollywood – a success story that will always be written with golden letters in history books .

Shahrukh, in his true style carried his success story to cricket. An ardent fan of cricket from his childhood days, he could not fulfill his vision of playing cricket at a professional level but he certainly had the wherewithal  to be the owner of a popular cricketing franchise, Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR). Incidentally, KKR was one of the two IPL franchise that made profit during the first year of operation. With the IPL second season coming along, Shahrukh Khan taking his franchise to the next level is only anybody’s guess.

There is no doubt that Shahrukh Khan is all about winning, leadership, passion, exuberance and what not. True – he is a hero to many. Amidst all the success attributed to Shahrukh there is also some element of negative shade the man carries – call it the “ego” or the “shades of success” . Of course, one can argue that everyone has some shades of negativity around them and rightfully so. After all, we are mix of the good, the bad and the ugly. Isn’t it ?

Speaking of Shahrukh and his negative shades, he has taken his verbal fight with Aamir a bit too personal. Although I am not privy to what transpired between the two, making it public wasn’t the right way of tackling it even if it meant, a hint. And this is not the first time he did so. Remember his public spat with Amitabh Bachhan a couple of years ago or his tiff last year with his erstwhile pal Salman Khan. Shahrukh Khan seems to be picking on his Bollywood colleagues more often than he should.

As Priyanko said in his article “The Dilemma of Being Sachin Tendulkar”, it is the predicament of the great to forge a path of greatness without harping too much on it. Greatness is not just achieving money and fame, it is also about gaining respect from all quarters – the fans and the critics alike.

Despite all this, Shahrukh Khan continues to be the King of Bollywood. He has shown what can be achieved with the sheer power of will and I hope he continues to be written in golden letters in the history books. I also hope success doesn’t get onto his head, for we like Shahrukh – The Winner.

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Watching India win the series in Sri Lanka has been a visual treat. The smiling faces, Dhoni’s unwavering focus, disciplined bowling, the proud shoulders and the teamwork have been super to see, barring one aberration. Sachin’s dismissals in all the three matches.

Much has been written on the unfairness meted out to Sachin. Hindi news channels (led by Star News) even attributed Yuvraj’s ton in the last game at the RPS stadium as a befitting reply to the nincompoop umpiring against Sachin, apart from it being one big saazish. I myself thought it was very sad to see human errors plaguing the game even with the introduction with new error-proof technology in the wings. Whatever happened to the third umpire referral system the ICC had introduced not too long ago?

Sachin is the greatest batsman currently playing cricket but remember this: The withdrawal of the referral system has hit him the hardest, he was the first batsman to be declared run-out when the system was outsourced to the third umpire, largest number of times to have gotten out on 99 and many bowlers can claim to have clean bowled Sachin on their debuts. That may be sheer bad luck, but Sunil Gavaskar’s column in Times of India (3rd Feb 2009 edition) made me wonder if indeed it was bad luck that the Little Master is against. In his piece, Gavaskar briefly but succulently mentions that umpires don’t hesitate to give Sachin out because it shows that their decisions are not daunted by the greatness of the batsman whom they are judging. For the first time, I agreed with Gavaskar simply because the facts prove this. Gamini Silva has only just started umpiring and knows that Sachin is too gentlemanly to protest against being given out (unlike a Yuvraj who showed the umpire his bat when he too got an unfair decision).

It is the predicament of the great to forge a path of greatness without harping too much on it. Sachin, as usual has been quiet on this entire matter, letting other greats of the game and his billion disappointed fans do the talking instead. It must surely hurt when you know you can do better than the last time you were here (Sachin had a terrible series against Sri Lanka the last time around) and you are not allowed to do so.

His advancing age and aggravating injuries are signs that the body will give up on him sooner rather than later. A source at the BCCI office at Wankhede Stadium once told me Sachin will not even think of quitting before getting back  the World Cup in 2011. Traces of his fierce competitiveness were on display in the same match when his smile had the same opposite effect of watching Federer cry after losing the Australian Open.

So, what can he do? Since he’s not at fault at here, nothing much. But for starters, he should play along the line of the ball, so as to minimize LBW chances. And keep himself motivated positively. This is a bad phase which too shall pass, as he would well know.

Looking at him, no one ever thinks the amount of burden and pressure he carries. A chat with Ishant Sharma before he departed to play the u-19 World Cup in Malaysia in 2007 gave me an insight into Tendulkar.

“Everybody loves as well as respects him. He rarely gets angry and if he does, he tries to focus his anger on improving his game. Which other player in this age can do that?”

Indeed, who can?

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Last week we saw a spate of controversies. Ranging from Raj Thackeray’s jail, bail and hail – all in a few minutes to the emergence of Hindu terrorism, a concept which many of us believed was non existent. Amidst these controversies, there was another controversy which started burgeoning. Thankfully, it had nothing to do with violence. Adam-ant Gilchrist threw some potshots at the media. First he showed the media glimpses of his forthcoming biography, called True Colours. Media chose to read the fine print and report what it felt will get them some content.  These days, anything is a controversy – right ? Some say it is a tactic to get some cheap publicity by Gilly and some said it was the otherhood of Adam. Our very own Colonel and the erstwhile Chairman of Selectors chose to give his two pennies to the cause – As per him, it was a bid to boost the sales of his forthcoming book. As per IBN Live, the retired wicketkeeper took a dig at Tendulkar, revealing he was “hard to find for a changing room handshake after we have beaten India”. Gilchrist wrote in his biography,

In the Australian mentality, we play it hard and are then quick to shake hands and leave it all on the field. Some of our opponents don’t do it that way. Sachin Tendulkar, for instance, can be hard to find for a changing room handshake after we have beaten India. Harbhajan can also be hard to find

After hearing all these, Sachin Tendulkar – true gentleman that he is, chose to ignore the media, the hype and the hooplah created from a Silly Point from Gilly.

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We at India Special, studied the actions and reactions of almost all those involved. This is our two pennies to a  long story short

Adam-ant Gilly, You’re very Silly

You showed your True Colours

And you thought you’d get flowers

You showed to the media, first Danda

Then you backtracked and became Thanda

Now don’t blow your own trumpet

India is the home of cricket

Disclaimer

This article was written in pure humour and should be taken in that spirit only. We respect Adam Gilchrist for his achievements and Sachin Tendulkar for the gentleman that he is.

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