A Bit of This and a Bit of THAT

Wow! That was quite a busy month! Resulting in a very Manmohan-esque radio silence. I must admit though, that it has not been all work.

The IPL has started and today’s post is like our typical IPL player. I was too intrigued trying out some Jumping Jhapaking followed by some Thumping Thapaking to actually put my brain to some work. Farah Khan is a genius. Even bigger than the late Steve Jobs if I have to be absolutely honest. 10 years back I would have been delighted to have a phone where I could call without it dropping every 10 minutes. Come to think of it, I would be happy for a phone like that even now. But then now when my call acts truant, I can check my email, my calendar and throw in some quality games to kill the time. I never knew I needed those things. But now I do. Anyway, I digress. Back to Farah Khan. 10 years back, dancing at a boundary being hit or a wicket being taken was supposed to be the sole preserve of Billy Bowden. Not anymore. Now I do it. And I am sure in sometime I wouldn’t be able to do without it and would desperately need some backsides to Thumping Thapak when Tendulkar got out.

I love how the IPL has made us de-sensitized to things which would have been unthinkable a decade back. DLF Yes Bank Maximums. The Zoozoos. The Double Ds. Danny Morrison. The MRF Blimp (sniff! Where art thou?). A bellowing RAVI SHASTRI!!!! Sanjay Manjrekar calling a run rate of 8 runs per over slow. They have all seeped into our consciousness and as much as the Englishmen deny it, into test cricket as well. We no longer think it is a big deal to score 400 runs in a day of cricket. Geoff Boycott and Aakash Chopra are appalled at the run rates we see in Test cricket these days. And Chris Gayle is the ultimate Anti Christ for them.

Speaking of Chris Gayle, the man was on a mission (Yes I regularly read The Ravi Shastri Guidebook to Clichés). He may have congratulated Manchester United on winning their 20th title. But his ego would not allow an innings of his to be out-commented on Facebook by some wee football team. And so he went on a rampage to rid Facebook of all Champ20ns posts. Success. And how! Reports of poor Mitchell Marsh and Aaron Finch being coaxed out of the dressing room with free bottles of Fosters may not be entirely off the mark. As if the willow bashing wasn’t enough, Gayle also returned to do some Gangnam Style by picking a couple of wickets. He literally carried the RCB team on his shoulders. Actually I see now, why he might have wanted to congratulate Manchester United **cough Dutch slimeball cough**.



Aside from all the frivolous stuff, it has not been a particularly happy time for Facebook posts. Rapes and bombings don’t really make for pleasant reading. And I do think people have been taking all the Facebook activism a little too far as well. Post after post blames the government for the rapes. ‘TAKE ACTION, THE ELECTIONS ARE COMING’, they scream. Cut it out folks. Voting out a government isn’t going to stop anything. The government is not responsible for these reprehensible acts. Moral depravity cannot be cured by tougher laws. The laws are in place. Speedy and tougher justice can be demanded for. But demanding a change in government does nothing. Protesting against the government for corruption and red tape is justified. They are responsible for it. How is Manmohan Singh responsible for a random fully grown man thinking it is right to sexually assault a 5 year old girl? A change in mentality is brought about by better education. Not tougher laws. This isn’t North Korea. And even they need education to brainwash their citizens into thinking what is acceptable.

We cannot blame the government for everything. That is what will stop them from acting on issues which they can really do something about. And then who will we blame? Until next time then.