Walk a mile in his shoes

*** Added as a note on Facebook on 9th April ***

A very good friend and a fellow foul weather fan of the Indian cricket team recently coined a term called AICF&M which stands for "Average Indian Cricket Fan & Media". Among many irritating qualities of the AICF&M is an extraordinarily short memory and a tendency to forget that the Indian Cricket team players are actually human beings.

The recent target of the AICF&M is Yuvraj Singh. The man who was the most critical player in the last two World Cup triumphs of the Indian cricket team had a forgettable outing in the 2014 final against Sri Lanka. He scored 11 off 21 balls at a crucial stage in the innings and deprived Virat Kohli of the strike. Now anyone who has played and watched cricket knows about its 'glorious uncertainties' as the commentators like to call it. Who knows, Virat might have got out when given the strike or MS Dhoni who scored 4 off 7 in the last 2 overs would've struggled more or India would have collapsed and scored even less. Even if India had scored 20-30 runs more, Sri Lanka were more than capable of overhauling the target.

As it turned out, Yuvi's slow innings played a hand in India losing the final. Was it as bad as Chris Gayle's 3 of 13 and Marlon Samuels' 18 off 29 in the semi final of the same tournament or Mike Gatting's reverse sweep in the 1987 World Cup final or the collective failure of the Indian bowlers in the 2003 final? Maybe, but the main question is that do we really need to punish the man so heartlessly?

No one is denying that Yuvi played badly. He had a bad tournament definitely and should be dropped from the team too. He will also be the last person in the world to ask for any kind of sympathy even though he has come back so admirably from a life threatening illness. But this is no reason for the AICF&M to ring the death knell on his career. If he does perform in the IPL and domestic tournaments, there is no reason why he cannot make yet another comeback in the team.

They say that you will never understand a person until you walk a mile in their shoes. Anyone who has played team sports competitively should be able to empathize with Yuvraj. I remember two instances in my school days vividly. We were playing an inter school two day test match tournament called the Fram Irani Trophy. As is the case with domestic tournaments in India, the first innings lead was of utmost importance since there was a big chance of the match being drawn. We had batted first and hadn't scored much but our bowlers bowled magnificently. The last wicket was at the crease and both teams were trying desperately to get the vital first innings lead.  I was fielding at cover when the batsman drove uppishly. I got my hands up in time but inexplicably the ball went through my fingers, triggered an over throw and we lost the vital first innings lead. I was distraught to say the least. My team mates and coach were livid and it was the most horrible day in my life ever. The second incident happened during a handball tournament. I was the goalkeeper and we were playing against a really good team with great forwards. They were really accurate and come what may I couldn't even get my hands to touch the ball let alone stop a goal. We lost by a huge margin and I was extremely depressed.

In both the matches, there were hardly any spectators on the ground. There was no press coverage whatsoever. No television and whatever came in the local newspapers was limited to a score summary with horribly misspelled names. So why did I feel so distraught? It's because in a team sport you know you have let your team mates down when you don't perform well. You know you have let yourself down when you make silly mistakes. If you have been in the same situation or somehow understand how I must have felt, just multiply that 10,000 times and you may get a sense how Yuvraj Singh must be feeling. This was a World Cup final played in front of at least 30,000 people and watched by more than a billion people around the world. Yuvi is an emotional person who plays with his heart on his sleeve. One look at his face after the match told you everything he was going through.

It is a harsh world we live in where news travels so quickly. Maybe 15 years ago Yuvi's performance would've been dissected and judgments would have been passed in prime team news and the print media the next day. People would've met the next day to discuss his future. But in this day and age the jokes started circulating around the world on Twitter and WhatsApp even before the presentation ceremony started. Some of them like the ones comparing him to Laakha in Lagaan were ridiculous. Some people who met him at the airport passed snide remarks. The most deplorable incident was the stone pelting done at his house.

There is no point in bringing up Yuvi's awesome debut against Australia, his Natwest innings, man of the series winning performances in the World Cup 2011 and his six sixes against Stuart Broad. It should not be because he played well earlier that he should be treated with respect. I wouldn't want even a debutant to go through the treatment meted out to Yuvraj right now. As a sportsman representing India, Yuvraj deserves our sportsman spirit, respect and humanity.

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P.S. God was kind to me after both my disturbing incidents. In the Fram Irani Trophy, I took a simple yet crucial catch in the second innings of the match which we won outright thus negating the first innings deficit. In the succeeding handball tournament I was able to save a few goals in final match as well as the penalty shootout which gave us the championship. I hope and pray that Yuvi will also make a fantastic comeback soon!

The Secularist's Conundrum

On Monday, 7th April 2014, India will begin it's longest and according to many people the most important election since Independence. The pre-election opinion polls have confirmed the 'Modi wave' and the lotus seems to be blooming. 

There is no doubt in my mind that from the point of view of development, economics, jobs etc. BJP is the best party for India. The Congress, AAP and Third Front don't even come close. Narendra Modi's Gujrat model, track record and proven credentials as mentioned very nicely in this article cannot be doubted. Sure there are questions about health, education, inclusive growth etc. but there is no doubt regarding the development. People who have been visiting or staying in Gujrat since the last decade and dealing with its extremely efficient bureaucracy say the same things. Unlike Rahul Gandhi who is just talking and that too sparingly and Arvind Kejriwal who is only interested in activism, Narendra Modi has shown his merit time and time again. It is not easy to win 3 elections on a trot. I think that the Indian voters are quite clever and they always support development. I'm sure people of Gujrat wouldn't have voted for Modi unless there was a reason even leaving aside the polarization of votes. Even Modi haters (and there are many) need to appreciate these facts just like Modi lovers need to appreciate the fallibleness of their beloved leader. So the real and only question which remains is whether you can forgive or ignore or brush aside or neglect the incidents in Ayodhya 1992 and Godhra 2002? And that is the big conundrum faced by the secularists.

I have thought a lot about this and have gone back and forth, but I don't think I will be be able to just blank out the pogrom of 2002 and horrible riots of 1992. Recently Cobrapost released videos of a sting operation about the Babri Masjid demolition in '92. Basically, it proved what was known all along that BJP, Shiv Sena, VHP and Bajrang Dal leaders had planned the demolition and it was not a mob gone crazy as they claim. While BJP has cried foul over the timing of the sting, Pramod Muthalik is confused why BJP are denying their involvement and says the sting is completely true. Sanjay Raut has defiantly said that the fact that Shiv Sena and BJP had conspired to demolish the mosque is nothing new. Some of the details really shocked me, like the fact that there was a training cum brainwashing camp a month ago and they wanted some Hindus to die at the hands of the police so that it will prove to be a catalyst. Apparently Shiv Sena were planning to blow up the mosque using dynamites if petrol bombs and other techniques failed. More than 2000 people died in the resulting communal violence. This does not include loss of property and the tremendous blot on communal harmony. The 1993 bomb blasts were also done as a revenge to this incident.

Godhra and the resulting communal violence is another issue. It is true that the SIT appointed by the Supreme Court haven't been able to prove anything against Narendra Modi yet. But the fact remains that Modi has not shown adequate remorse nor did he take adequate action to stem the riots. It was a political move to polarize Hindu votes or worse a planned revenge. There has been a sting operation by Tehelka on this too where in people have confessed saying that the state helped them and supported them. Maya Kodnani, who was convicted and sentenced to 28 years in prison was till 2009 the Minister for Women and Child Development of Gujarat in Narendra Modi's BJP government. Whatever be the situation, the 2002 riots will be a huge blot on Modi's efficient governance.

India does not have a direct democracy so let's take Modi out of the picture. So the real question is whether you want to vote for BJP or not. My stance is that I am not willing to vote for BJP even though I think that they are the best party for India at this moment. The reason is that I cannot bring myself to vote for a party which came into prominence and power based on planned communal violence and a publicly anti-secular policy. Leaders who instigated the violence like L.K. Advani and Uma Bharti are still very much active in tihe BJP. Their ideology and hunger for power has cost thousands of innocent Indian lives and a double digit economic growth is not enough for me to forget that fact. Shiv Sena who came into prominence by beating up innocent South Indians, planned to blow up the Babri Masjid and have done everything they can to spread communal disharmony in India are the long term ally of BJP. There is no way I can vote for these kind of parties whatever be the big picture.

So what're the options while going for voting? Congress is definitely not one. Their shamefulness while dealing with scams, only populous moves and "convenient" secularism is not worth voting for. Plus, they have also actively contributed to the pogrom of Sikhs in 1984. The AAP is the biggest disappointment of the year. For me in Pune, the only option seems to be the People's Guardian Party whose candidate is Arun Bhatia. A clean and incorruptible guy who gets things done.

The reality is that Arun Bhatia won't win. I think that he will get even lesser votes than last time when many young voters voted for him and his campaign was really active. There is almost a certainty that the BJP and its present and future allies (new ones always come up after the results) will form the government. I am optimistic that the Indian media, the opposition and our leaders in and outside politics will keep the BJP in check. They might have no other option than showing inclusive growth and development to ensure that their government stays in power. So all is not lost. But in the end your vote is your choice. You have to make the choice whether you can forget the deeds of BJP in 1992 and the pogrom of 2002. If yes, go ahead with BJP. I cannot.