The Crestfallen King and the Rotten Regime

The once much adored and revered Captain Cool by virtue of his sheer presence in the invincible Srini-Dhoni regime delivered a lot of things that catered to the needs  and aspirations of a  Cricket frenzied nation  like India. Coupled with the power of position, the fortune of being destiny’s favored child along with his personal ability to direct a game’s fortune bestowed upon him the tag of being India’s most Successful Captain.  Starting with the 2007 T-20 World Championship, followed by the ever favorite 2011 Cricket World Cup Victory or even winning the 2013 Champions Trophy, MSD has been a rare character of winning major titles. It was under his leadership that India secured the No 1 spot at the ICC Test Ranking for the first time ever in history. But did all these feats steer India to a positive direction aimed at a brighter future of Indian Cricket? Sadly enough, the answer is not affirmative.

    One of Dhoni’s earliest moves as the India Captain was breeding a whole new generation of youngsters. This was in tandem with the policy of one of his predecessors, Ganguly. This is the reason why players like Raina, Rohit, Jadeja, Ojha,Ashwin,Mohit,Rohit,Bhuvi,Yusuf bloomed in a span of half an era or so. Some of them still remain in the purview of favoritism of the Captain while some failed earning his favor even whilst performing well at the domestic level. A policy of favoritism has hardly worked in any sports. The result was obvious and obnoxious, too. While players like Raina, Bhuvi or Mohit secured their positions and some of them even played Nth number of matches despite failing to achieve any remarkable success at the International level, some of the players  like Ojha, Yusuf or even Irfan failed to get even any chance to prove their merit. Players like Kohli,Ashwin,Jadeja or even Rohit could shine under any captain by virtue of their superiority in terms of talent showcased. The latest ODI Series against South Africa was a documentary evidence of how much such policy of favoritism can bring danger to an International side. MSD’s knack of trusting his obedient mediocre soldiers did exactly what was being feared of since the 2015 World Cup Semifinal against Australia or the matches preluding the Tournament.

    A look at Pragyan Ojha’s Test career will tell you how much disfavored he has been in spite of having a scalp of 113 wickets in the 24 test matches he has played. Yet he played his last Test match 3 years back. An arsenal of talent like Irfan Pathan, the second Indian to record a hat-trick in Test Matches was dumped into oblivion for obscure reasons. Guys like Maneesh Pandey, the first Indian Centurion at IPL should be mentioned here,too. This tells us about a sad autocratic regime which never looked beyond sycophancy. Same was the fate for the likes of talented and successful individuals at the Domestic level like Manoj Tiwari, Wassim Jaffar,Kedar Jadav or Robin Uthappa . Did not they deserve chances while India was in a dire need of a specialist batsman, or an all-rounder?

   Another policy of MSD that worked against the national cricketing interest was culling some of the stalwarts who were potential candidates of captaincy while being in their prime. Thus even Virender Shewag with his blitzkrieg knocks or the ever fascinating chutzpah perished and eventually he called it an end of his illustrious career. Any wise captain would have been more than happy to use his services when he was just 31 and was dying to play for the national side. He was never called back. A sense of insecurity of the apparently charming captain thus ended the career of a person who holds the record of scoring 2 triple centuries and having No 1, 2 and 3 spots in terms of scoring highest individual runs in an innings for India. He was not even given a chance to write the swan song of his career. Even Gautam Gambhir with impressive career records in all the formats of the game was gradually culled and sent to seclusion. Few people will remember his 97 in the World Cup Final of 2011 against Sri Lanka as it was completely overshadowed by a brilliant 91 off 79 deliveries from the Captain. Sooner or later, the world will see an end of his career which could have been more dynamic than the present figures show, had the Captain Cool been more merciful. Same fate waited for the Yuvraj Singh, another engineer of the famous 2011 World Cup Victory and an enigmatic talent. His talent coupled with his knack for speaking what the truth was became his biggest enemy and he lost his path in the mid-way. Even though he could battle Cancer, he failed earning Dhoni’s confidence. Had Ganguly been the Captain, would the same fortune await him?

  The way the modern day great duo of India in Cricket- Zaheer Khan and Harbhajan Singh were handled, foretold of a bleak fortune for India in cricket. This is a classic example of how arrogance still spoils national interest .One, after much fanfare made his return to the national side just with a vision to make his quit call early. The other, Mr.Singh is still searching his entire cricketing lexicon on what went wrong with him. Getting a call back for the ODI series against South Africa and performing well does not even concrete his fortune. Any other nation would have respected these two individuals with sure entry in the national side while they were young and were raring for kills. MSD was quite unsure of his manifesto about these two seniors. So one was paved the way gracefully while the other does not even know his future. Thankfully Sachin was way ahead of MSD in terms talent. Had he not been so, MSD would have doctored his early quit as well. Who knows what was instrumental behind his call for quit in the ODIs while he was in still his prime?

 Finally coming to terms of his brilliant record of winning, MSD won a career record of 27 Test matches out of the 60 matches he captained with 18 loses and 15 draws with a win/Loss ratio of 1.5 In this comparison, Saurav Ganguly another successful Indian Test captain, had 21 Wins out of 49 Test matches with Win-Loss ratio of 1.61.Do not forget MSD had  consecutive series white washes against Australia and England followed by a pathetic Series loss against England at home, a figure which is unmatched in history.

History with its generic submissiveness, gives in plenty to the humble ones. Thus Rahul Dravid will always be remembered as the one who stood as the unbreakable wall against the opponent bowling attack or for captaining the side in ODI matches for 17 consecutive times where his team successfully chased the opponents. VVS Laxman will be reckoned as the manufacturer of the famous knock of 281 not out against a mighty Australian attack and the merchant of a dream win against the invincible Aussies back in 2001 at the Eden Gardens . Saurav will be remembered for his uncanny character of tossing his shirt around at the conservative pavilion of the Lords and for steering India to a failed Final venture against the mighty Aussies in 2003 World Cup Final or for the Series defining knock of 144 against the same opponent at Gabba back in 2001.Dhoni did much more to bring the nation to prominence in terms of achievements. Yet history will always scrutinize him for the things he failed to achieve. This was the perfect career sunset for a King who never looked beyond personal ambitions and who after a series of failures rightly chose the path of exit, to abdicate the throne.  This just might be a wonderful case study for the new Captain Mr. Kohli to select his paths. One thing the nation will pray for while Mr.Kohli is at the helm of the affairs is that sycophancy unlike the previous regime will be shown a way of exit, much to the delight of every cricket loving Indian. And many deserving individuals will get back their positions the nation is relieved of favoritism and fortunate to have someone who looks brighter to perform a national duty.
 This article was penned nearly a year ago.So some of the facts may sound wrong and outdated.

The Wild Cat- finally a ray of hope

Adhocism in the policy matters has been a constant worrying factor in India. Be it population control, Aadhar Card, disinvestment or even defense-country’s stance has changed dramatically over the change of the political baton. This is a deep rooted problem and it has been the single largest contributing factor in segregating a developing nation from a developed nation. All said and done, it is a heartwarming fact that the conservation of the wild cat- India’s most prized animal possession in the world, has seen a tremendous growth over the last ten years despite the fact that there has been change of governance in the center over that period. India with a tiger population of 2226 as per the latest national survey of 2014 tops the list of the countries with this endangered species. This is a remarkable jump from the figure 1710 in 2010. The world population of the wild cat has also seen an increase of 22% over that period and it presently stands at 3890.

This can be viewed as a wonderful case study how much the good will of the government can do for the betterment of a nation, plagued by corruption, sectional interests and petty politics. Also, the positive role of the cooperation from the state governments, NGOs, local communities, conservationists and environmentalists alike cannot be ruled out. In the recent past, there has been constant surge in anti-poaching patrols. Forest guards or other officials showing laxity in their duties have been exemplarily punished. The officials with commendable work done in the field have been rewarded with lucrative incentives. There are plenty of schemes to provide compensation to the families suffering losses from Tiger or other wildlife attack. This has to an extent ensured decline in the retaliatory killings of the wild cats. India has also invested in sustainable tourism around tiger reserves, a model that seems to be working so well that officials are talking about expanding the reserve system. In popular tiger destinations like Bandhavgarh, Corbett, Kanha, Sundarbans, during peak season, it is difficult to get the tickets of tiger safari. The interest of the general people, coupled with good governance in saving the regal animal has done a tremendous job hitherto unseen since independence.

I fondly remember the commercial of a reputed telecom brand about a decade back with the skipper of the Indian cricket team appealing to the people to raise awareness about declining number of tigers in India and the means to conserve them. It made an instant impact upon the Indians. With the growth of Social media and increasing number of groups demonstrating wild life photography, the awareness about tiger conservation has suddenly seen a positive growth. Younger Indians have taken the leading role in generating popular awareness campaigns to save tigers through social networks.

(In photo- Subedar Ali of Jim Corbett National Park)

Let’s not forget the dynamic role played by some of the wonderful individuals devoting their life for this cause. Subedar Ali who was once mauled by a tiger violently and now works in the Corbett National Park for anti-poaching measures is one such gem of a person who has made us belief saving tiger is not impossible. The tiger which tried to kill him was later sent to the Kanpur zoo. But Subedar still laments “He belongs to the jungle, not in captivity”. What a wonderful way of thinking! Mr.P.Surendran of Periyar Wildlife Sanctuary, Mr.Ramesh Thapa of the neighboring country Nepal have also taken praiseworthy initiatives to augment the awareness about tiger conservation.

One of the finest things done by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) in the recent past is a brilliant project named 'Adopt a tiger'. Just imagine, you donate funds for a specific tiger and in return, you get the photos of the tiger growing along with an information card. You can even name the tiger. And the WWF will ensure that the money you donate goes in raring that tiger, to stop poaching of tigers and also for the betterment of the reserves meant for tigers. What a simple idea and yet so thought provoking, isn't it? Very few people are aware of this project but we can very much take some time out of our social networking activities to spread this information.

Lastly, the success of the 'Project Tiger' as a part of the 'Wildlife Protection Act 1972' must be hailed for every achievement through the aforesaid means. The more we think seriously about the implications of this program, the less is our degree of mockery aimed at the Government. The initial lukewarm response it received has been combated with brilliant progress in the past decade. Let us not forgo the spirit. Let us not stop striving hard from saving this graceful animal. Who knows, we ,too can experience what Pi did in his life. Richard Parker may hold the key to our future, you never know.

THE HOLY COW

Apart from various politically injected dogmas, one of the key issues acting as a watershed in the Indian demography is beef eating. This country, perhaps the pearl of the Oriental World, is often ridiculed over its prejudice on this issue, more so in the recent past thanks to the prehistoric propaganda of parties that have much to do with moral policing and little with things that make sense. Thus although nearly 70% of the Indian population thrives on a non-veg diet, three quarter of this mammoth figure is deprived of the palatable and nutritious dishes like beef steak, picadillo, bandeja paisa etc.

   The so called moral guardians of the nation, garbed in saffron yet often caught in compromising situations or immoral activities demeaning their sadhu or saadhvi status, bark a lot over the issues which majority of the educated Indians shuns with disdain. They on numerous occasions preach on what should be the length of the skirt of the heroine dancing on the silver screen, or the duration of a kissing scene in a movie. They prefer blocking the Websites with adult contents nationwide to inculcating sex education in the school education. It’s awful but it is the only reality. More so because, the party in power with a thumping mandate, owes its bread and butter to these sadhus and sadhvis. It’s like a double headed monster, where one speaks of breaching the digital gap by creating Digital India while the other leads the nation to an age of primates, voodoo and black magic. When one card fails, the other makes an ugly entry. And politics finds a way into innocent man’s kitchen, drawing room or even bed room.

  It is presumed that Indian history has been antagonistic to beef eating. As least the advocates of shunning beef eating say so. Now let’s explore the realm of truth.’Gau’ as cow was referred to, was the most important possession during the Rig Vedic era. Most of the terms associated with Rig Vedic age have connection with cow. And if the society was cow centric, how could the food habit of individuals shy away? The most revered Brahmin guests were served with beef meat and they were termed as ‘Goghna’. Isn’t this a fascinating piece of history? Indra has been described as a connoisseur of bull meat whereas Agni was referred to having special affinity for cow meat. In the Mahabharata there is a mention of a king named Rantideva who achieved great fame by distributing food grains and cow meat to the Brahmins. The Manusmriti, the strictest of the scriptures was lenient towards beef eating. The Taittiriya Brahman or Yajnavalkya Smriti of even the later Vedic age advocated beef eating for health and virility.Even Chanakya’s Artha Shastra categorically mentions that those draft cattle, not fit for milching or ploughing should be savored as meat. Swami Dayananda Saraswati, the illustrious founder of Arya Samaj was of the opinion that beef eating even among the Brahmins was common in the ancient India.

 Ignorance is often bliss. But when it tends to divide a nation, it is definitely a curse. And those fanatics, who harvest the benefits of common man’s ignorance and use it for propagating venomous propaganda, must be banished. India has been a prey to such war mongers. Whether to eat beef or not, that can never be a dictum. One may even have disliking for even mutton or venison. But if someone uses religion, or Indian history or rather misleads people by falsifying, it is rather a sin. I am a Hindu and I love beef and it is neither a matter of pride nor is something to be ashamed of. It is my personal choice and when, an entire part of my country’s constitution talks about fundamental rights ( Part III of the Indian Constitution), it is definitely intolerance when the ugly card of religion or a false base of history is played to prohibit me from relishing my plater. So, before you use the anti-social network, sorry social network to share or like or comment on any selfish propaganda of the fanatics, it is better you turn the pages of documented works on history or the pages of your GK book. And if you can’t, at least be tolerant towards those who prefer cow meat to cow dung.

This article is based on Historical documents and does not intend to hurt any religious sentiments.