Sticky wicket | Tanmoy Mookherjee
Ignore the picture on the blog. I'm not liking the IPL at all. One and a half months of constant cricket equals no end to work. The most dreadful part: it's not even started!
Now I know what being on a sticky wicket really means. New designs are up and running, new functionalities, new way of work - forced by the blackout of most news sources for cricket websites. You're going to see this face crop up very often from now on, often 'analysing' and forever ranting. Continue reading below
Do these IPL honchos realise the manifold increase in work that people unrelated to the league have to endure? Mr Modi will tweet about the latest additions to their brand and multiplications in their bank accounts, and we'll haplessly 'follow' him like bloodhounds on a trail which never ends. Only the IPL ends, but by that time the damage has already been done.
As if working on Sundays wasn't terrible enough. Imagine having to do without holidays at all. We're the new CA's on company audits at every quarter end. Now I know what my friends feel (without the feeling of a hefty bank balance they are left with). But oh, I can't express these rants as I'm going to be here, following each game by the ball, which turn pink and white from next season.
Entering sports journalism was a reason to be making a living out of the simple passion for it. What better way to make money. Surely, the CA pals (I have friends in other professions too, but I choose to take their case for now) have a penchant for numbers, but calling it the passion they grew up with would be taking it too far.
Surely I cannot imagine them wearing custom t-shirts they made for chartered accountants. Or having endless debates on who has a better leader, KPMG or E&Y, similar to our growls over Ganguly's leadership or Dhoni's charisma. They can't even get on YouTube and look for the best ever equivalent of Paul Collingwood catches.
But with the IPL and the never-ending cricket season, it's made these guys look better! When are you ever free is a question I'm frequently confronted with. Too much work doesn't even sound cool any more. We can't go to the games, but friends are mostly there; we're frantically stamping the keyboard when they're on the freaking TV waving stupid banners: 'at least carry some ideas from us, damn it!'
It's turning out to be Rise of the Machines all over again, in the cricket world. The IPL, which is to be followed by more T20 at the World Cup, has taken over the world. I don't need to say who's the bad guy in this, there are far too many articles pointing that out, but who's going to be Schwarzenegger? I'm grounded in the office.
The burden wouldn't look so obvious if it were for catching up all the games at the Feroz Shah Kotla nearby. Sure, it would mean viewing from the press-box and not holding out banners and clicking pom-pom girls with shabby cellphone cameras. But the IPL people don't find websites friendly enough. Hence the extra motivation when even a small controversy flares up. Ha! Take that!
Until then, it's going to be long hours writing on games (whoever said T20 was short should come in for a quick chat), turning down friends for movies and weekend getaways. Oh wait, IPL has double games on weekends. Wish I took up accountancy? Nah, this too shall pass, until two new teams are added to the list. I'm dreading it already.
