The Caretaker

"Disclaimer: this is a my thought for the week! I wanted to record this somewhere and found no other place than the public domain. This is still only a TIP ('thought in progress'). Please feel free to comment and/or ignore."

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This is a beaten and bruised thought. Everyone has spoken, written or at least thought about this at some point of time in their life. And after reading this piece, if you feel that you have not thought about it, spot on, this is precisely for you. For others, see if this will open up a new perspective. Tinker your thoughts and reflect upon an argument – “nothing is yours”.

When I was born, nothing was mine. Sourcing all I needed from my mother, I was a parasite. At the first site of light, the doctor cut my umbilical cord, and then I was set free, frightfully, with nothing.

Looking at myself I have felt that I am the center of the universe. I am complete and everything is mine. Everything I do should succeed. I deserve all that I wish. Little do I realize the person sitting next to me also undergoes the same emotional surge? Little did I appreciate that to him or her, I am non-existent, and if there is a center, that is that 'self'.

Introspection and looking at this world with the benefit of hindsight, I feel that all I have thought till now is just a fallacy of immaturity, something that everyone passes through. If someone has not, kudos!!! In reality, our presence in this world is just a passage of time – we happened to be here at this moment. Otherwise, nothing is created by us and nothing is ours. There were people before us and there will be generations after us. They will all enjoy in varying degrees what we have enjoyed. This truth is consistent across all wakes of life – be it the nature, relationships, career, and other processions. My parents enjoyed this world, so am I, though far differently than they did. Before I opened batting for my state and club team, there were other openers and after me, they still have. Before I married, my wife had others as hers' and one day; she will have someone else who is important when in between I take care of her. Before I joined my job, someone else did manage it and after I quit, someone else will replace me. This world existed before, now and in the future too. We only happen to be here and will perish. There will be generations after us and they will continue to live in this world.

I didn’t come to this world with processions; neither will I go back with any. I might build the largest empire. The empire will last, but not me. The richest man in this world will move on. The best he can get is a posh cremation, all alone. This makes me argue – am I only a caretaker to all I think I own. I thought I owned I am a care taker to my wife till someone else becomes important to her, my parents were my caretaker yesterday and my next generation will take care of me tomorrow. I am taking care of my job till someone fills in my shoes. This continues and extends to all wakes of life.

I am ONLY a caretaker???

Is it possible that I own something? Is there something that will live my life – and cease to exist with me? Am I a complete owner to something?

What about my thoughts?

India is in its Primetime

I remember the pre-cable era – we all had lot of time for the family. As a school going kid, I always wanted to engage in discussions with my mother and brother when my mother wanted me to study. She had nothing else to do but to ensure that her two sons were well fed while she waited for my father to return from office and be bored with the wait.

On my part, I used to wait for the clock to strike 9.00. At 9.00 PM, I got a break from my hours of pretension and could focus on watching the serials that were shown at the prime-time. I remember watching the longest ever serial of those days – Buniyad. I used to think when that serial would get over and something like a Nukkad replace it. Buniyad was out of my comprehension. Mostly serials lasted 3 months (13 weeks/episodes). A week would have 5 serials and hence I had my favorite days in the week (Sunday was never challenged for obvious and multiple reasons). The hope was that, however bad a serial could be, it got over in 3 months and you bear it only for a day in a week.

The open India saw the arrival for the ‘new normal’ – an India transformed by cable signals. Towards the end of the last century, the cable led India was dominated by TV ‘Soaps’. I used to think that only Kerala had the culture of long never ending soaps. The illusion was corrected when I got transferred to Pune where I saw my landlord watching series of soaps – all of them were Hindi. I was shocked to note that all languages in India have the same theme – long unimaginable hours of melodrama and that from 6.00 PM to 11.00 at night. House wives reaffirmed their understanding of these otherwise un-understandable soaps watching the repeat telecast the next day.

All these soaps had the same theme – highly disconnected from reality, played 5 days a week, for not less than 3 years. In effect, I wouldn’t have met my degree mates as many times during the course of graduation as many Indians meet the characters of the soaps. Statistics revel that heroines of these soaps wept for almost 73 % of the duration and were accompanied by their audience – mostly heroines in their own right. The characters needed less makeup as they in reality grow old along with the character. Most of the soaps had a female antagonist pulling the strings against the heroine. There have been cases where the director got so confused that in his story a wife ended up having an affair with her husband without his knowledge (hope you understood…I didn’t!!!).

The upside of these strings of endless soaps was startling. Research showed that the number of divorces in India reduced drastically – couple rarely got a chance to fight and when they did, they felt that their story was better than that of their ‘best friend’. The life expectancy went up enormously – old bedridden senior citizens would live an extra day to know what happened to a ‘Vidya’ or a ‘Jessi’.

Soon, the next generation interested in the fast paced life had obvious reservations to the domination of serials in their life. Food, prepared in the morning between the repeat telecasts and the original show, would be served only after 11. Their parents would realize their presence in the house only if they don’t break the 6.00 PM barrier. Parents insisted their children studied – which meant less of disturbance for them. Mood of the parents would be directly proportional to the mood of the episode – mostly sad.

The next generation persisted to win. Soaps gave way to something more interactive – the reality TV. Anything to everything in India had a reality show. To select the best dancer, to select the best singer, to select the most intelligent etc. The stake of reality TV shows rose with the arrival of the roadies and Big bosses. It reached its peak when Rakhi decided to find her partner for life through a reality show. Sources close to the Prime Minister confirmed that he was learning the art of innovatively wearing turban – an art he could master to win the next term in the post, provided he gets enough sms’.

The next wave of TRP record beater is Arnab Goswami and his News Hour – the talk show in Times Now at 9.00 PM. He has all of it to be the leader of the pack. His shows have the melodrama that soap would carry, it had an antagonist almost every day and the government fitted the bill. It had a victim everyday. Like serials, his show comes 5 times a day for - don’t know how many years. Like the reality shows, his shows are real, he asks for more and more sms’s to flow in. Though the topics discussed were very relevant unlike soaps – it ended in nothing other than the agenda he had in mind. Whatever the discussion turns out to be, the end would be what Mr Goswami had decided in the beginning.

My parents always cribbed about the stories in the soaps and promised not to watch it the next day. Yet, they would be the first to be in front of the TV the next day. Today, I watch this program, amidst resistance just like how my parents did, to get frustrated by the content, its conducted. Only saving grace - it reveals the hypocrisy of an average Indian politician every day. 5 characters are a part of my life now - Abhishek Manu Singhvi, Rajiv Pratap Rudy, Manoj Tiwary, Ravi Shankar Prasad and the irreplaceable – Aranab Goswami.

Yes, Prime Time Rules India!!!

Off to a Flyer !!!

World Cup 2011 got off to a flying start – at last. There has been so much hype around this mega global cricketing event that we have been waiting this occasion for ever. After the lack-luster edition of the world cup in 2007, where the two sub continent giants didn’t see through the first few weeks, this year has sounded more promising than ever for a couple of reasons. Firstly, this edition of the world cup is played in the sub continent where the passion for the sport is unmatched in the rest of the world and secondly, this year promises to be the best chance for one of the sub continent teams to win the coveted trophy.

Between the Over’s
Cricket is increasingly becoming commercial over the years. Kerry Packer saw the opportunity with the marketability of the game in late 1970’s when he introduced lights, color dresses and lots of speed in the game. Later, BCCI saw that an average Indian gave more importance to the basic necessity of life – Cricket, followed by the others - Food, Clothing, and Shelter. They saw enough opportunities to market this game and its players that soon they became one of the richest sports administration body in the world. Credit for this turn-around should be attributed to Jagmohan Dlamiya (TV rights) and Lalit Modi (IPL), both of whom incidentally could not come out with clean records of integrity. I wonder if the Harvards and the IIMs are noting the story of quick turn around that the BCCI has witnessed, creating case studies and including them in their curriculum.

Neo colonization
In 1990s, cricket turned out to be a commercial hit in the sub-continent and slowly the cricket associations of the region, led by India, became a strong lobby within the International cricketing body. The association has shown its influence in the governance of cricket globally and has arm-twisted the parent body and its representatives on numerous occasions. That, many believe, is the reason for the sub-continent to stake its claims in the quadrennial event this year. No doubt, the sub continent knows the business and has the support of a passionate public to convert this event into a success.

Learning from Mistakes
The fixture of this event has been discussed often – with many supporting the long gaps between the matches of teams in the pretext that these gaps will give players sufficient time for recover from injury and fatigue while others blamed this fixture to be boring and lacking rhythm and continuity. Contrary to all believes and reasons, I feel that the major reason why the tournament is so spaced is learning out of last edition. This year, even if India and/or Pakistan are out of the first round, the corporate houses and the associations will generate enough revenue to at least break-even though advertisements over a month. Last edition saw many Marketing heads in large corporate houses who had betted on a very strong television viewer ship during the world cup spin. To still ensure that the interest in the event lasts long, the format is also altered in order to give the higher ranked teams (read: India and Pakistan) better chance to qualify to the knock out stage.

Wishing the Best
As mentioned above, this edition of the world cup is going to be a big hit. I hope all the teams fare well and set high standards of skill and gamesman ship through out the next two months. All the best for all ! ! !