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Tuesday, January 11, 2011

Indian Premier League - Auctioning Men Like Slaves

The figures quoted by the Indian Premier League auctions do not hint at India being a poor country. By God, they don't. See the swish set snap up the macho guys with shapely butts at fancy premiums. For some time it seemed like auctioning of slaves in the American South. How can they do it when most of India is poor and the team owners are throwing money down the drain. And, damn it, most of the money is going to foreign men with thunder thighs and biceps like tree trunks. 

This is an unholy alliance, me thinks. How can players struggle for the country's pride when they are playing with their opponents (in the World Cup for instance) in the same team when playing in the IPL? How can you avoid a match being fixed when your friend asks you to throw your wicket with, "Hey pal, there's Georgekutty (that's the colloquial Mallu terms for cash) in it, man." Such alliances do exists as does that of a pretty girl and her estranged neurotic lover, a luscious and willowy sex-kitten and her Non-resident Indian boyfriend, and heaven help the pretty girl who is known to be a front for a top politico?

Ah, the whole thing stinks to me as does the game. I hold my nose in disgust. I look at those white-clad guys swaggering in Azad Maidan and wonder if they have a future. With big money everything has become elite, affordable only to the rich. Yes, I can make that out by the smooth faces and chocolate cheeks of the boys in flannels. They reek of wealth and of greed. No more can a Chandu Borde, a Chandrashekhar, or an Eknath Solkar ever come into Indian cricket. They worked their way up, while these guys "kiss ass" the way up. 

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