Modi, media and the kingdom of crystal skeletons

I write this piece on a sultry Sunday afternoon, before a single ball of the much-hyped reality show grand spectacle, the IPL final has been bowled. In a well-respected and revered national newspaper, a perceptibly flustered senior editor has joined yours truly in openly condemning the double standards of India's now increasingly dubious media and it's blatant double standards. Welcome, Pradeep Magazine, even if some us will only be part of a " minority report". Elsewhere, an afternoon tabloid has written a pathetically pedestrian piece on 20 Reasons why people must be stuck in glue and watch the cricket travesty at 8 pm. Apparently, one of the reasons touted is " Because Lalit Modi does not want you to miss it". Oh, really? That is the ultimate disgrace in media sucking up which such tragic servility to the BCCI boss-man, who had just a few weeks ago threatened a total black-out of the entire non-sports media. Of course, the same afternoon tabloid (including several others media hot-shots who live with delusions of grandeur that they run a quasi-government of their own because of their "daring expose") conveniently sidesteps revelations on Modi's glittering skeletons in his a la-Christie's antique cupboard (his well-documented drugs, kidnap and what-not tale and the convoluted ownership of IPL franchise teams) , which has Magazine wondering about media doublespeak.

The Indian media also has an extraordinary trepidation bordering on lunatic paranoia when they have to write about Sachin Tendulkar. They are terribly fearful of even barely trying to call a spade a spade, forget a shovel a shovel, where the Mumbai master-blaster's indiscretions or an Achilles heel is concerned. It is shameful disservice to their own humble audience who would be keen to have a dispassionate appraisal of their own national heroes. I have waged a lone battle (literally) in attempting to expose Tendulkar's highly cultivated façade, which frequently reveals a man with an extreme sense of self-cockiness, and for whom BCCI has a different set of rules. In my last bog, I had vehemently protested against Tendulkar's churlish and un sportsman-like post-match comments after losing to the Kings Punjab XI. Obviously, no other media even bothered to cursorily report on Sachin's immature and impolite observations. Of course, our fearful media are eloquently silent, as they probably expect a TRP backlash. After all, what if they don't get those EXCLUSIVES with Sachin because of their honest opinions, which funnily enough runs simultaneously on all TV channels?

Mr Tendulkar has been apparently ruled out of the Bangladesh Tri-series because of the continuing groin injury. Wow, I though that he had fully recovered before he led his Mumbai Indians in the IPL circus! So, does it mean that Mr Tendulkar aggravated his injury for the sake of his franchise owners, the country be damned? After all, playing in sweltering conditions in Bangladesh for a few lakhs for your country would be an unwise financial investment as against earning Rs 4 odd crores for Reliance Industries; right? The only other explanation is that Tendulkar played despite the injury, in that case who approved the ridiculously shortsighted plan? His coach? Reliance? Tendulkar himself? If Sachin himself played despite being fully aware of his precarious physical condition, isn't that a gross violation of an ethical cricketer's code? Wasn't this the BCCI's responsibility, as IPL is an officially sanctioned tournament where stringent rules resulted applied in Harbhajan Singh's slapping incident; so how come a different yardstick for Sachin? And how can Indian media foolishly believe that discerning viewers cannot see the daylight prejudice in their coverage and presentation?

Magazine's newspaper had also hinted the other day that "a senior cricketer" from the Mumbai Indians team had lambasted his team-mates in the dressing room, using opprobrious language that had left the poor young boys in his team shell-shocked with disbelief and dismay. It seems this senior cricketer has been "a childhood hero" for several of these starry-eyed youngsters. Who is this mysterious senior cricketer? Your guess is as good as mine.

I think it is the non-sports news TV channels and print media that has repeatedly driven in the IPL fever, where even none existed. Check the front-page daily photos of IPL matches in a grand old newspaper, which made serious mockery of the thousands who died in the Chinese earthquake, the food crisis, and the plight of the common man. It looked so contrived, shallow and sub-standard content; it was downright tacky and trivial trash. At some point, you caught the whole match highlights on a 30-minute national news program on every conceivable TV channel. In fact, already a misinformation campaign has been assiduously unleashed which talks about franchise owners breaking-even in the first year itself, and Modi quoting with practiced arrogance, that the IPL franchise was " under-priced". Rest assured, he is already readying for another auctioneering round before actual financial results are really ever publicly discovered and transparently communicated.

So while you go and watch the IPL Final because " Lalit Modi does not want you to miss it" and the Indian media will tout about the extraordinary pyrotechnics in Salman Khan's dance-show in the closing ceremony, I will instead head for the Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull this evening. Happy viewing!