What about IPL?

Its looks like Facebook's activity has died down in the past three weeks. Not because of the security concerns, which by the way people shouldn't expect once you create a profile on a social network. You are basically giving up privacy on any content that you post. Going back, it was because IPL had ended. All the swearing, praising of teams and live score card updates were all gone. Somehow I saw updates mostly for the Chennai Super Kings team. Part of the reason could be that I have a lot of friends from the same Idli Sambhar/Idli Vada city. I never knew we were referred to those terms until I saw the finals between Vada Pav and Idli Vada.

This is the third year since the league/spam began, so I thought I'd write about it. Please excuse me for any erroneous information as my knowledge about cricket is the same as Bush's knowledge about.....hmm let's say anything! For the first two seasons of IPL, I never cared a damn about it as I has better things in life to do. Like sleep or in fact, sit and do nothing. This year for a change, I noticed a cricket match on TV. It was weird. Some Australian players were so dark and looked very Indian. Only later my friend told it was the Chennai Super Kings team and not Australia's. The Team uniform gave me the benefit of doubt. So my knowledge about Cricket wasn't bad, I just didn't bother to update myself.

IPL turned out be the next phenomenon in India after the IT boom. The IT boom which went bust last year and is now heading for another boom. IPL was churning in money like never before. Lakh's was considered tips. Rather, everyone spoke in Dollars and in hundred thousands or millions. Advertising was at its best. Parties and fashion shows everyday. They played ads between every ball instead of every over. It was also played at times when the bowler is rubbing the ball on his crotch or about to scratch his nose. They were doing so, as the entire match would get done before a Yash Raj or Karan Johar's movie reached its intermission.

Lalit Modi who is better known to us as the Desi who got caught while smoking pot, used the best ingredients for this tasty dish called IPL. Only two, Cricket and Bollywood. The major source of entertainment in India. No movies were released during this period, as the film film themselves were glued in front of the TV or were in the TV. Big film stars were the owners of the Teams, even though they themselves were from another city. When so much money is involved, they don't care. Royalty has a higher priority than loyalty in IPL.

It was almost perfect except for one thing. Cheerleaders. Why in gods name do they think cheerleaders are needed? And why foreigners? I think a lot of Indians look and dance better than those foreigners. The Desi mentality of inspiration (politically correct) from the west or blatant plagiarism (being frank) had to happen. They wanted to add glamor quotient which in my opinion did not work out. In fact some Cricketers were so mad that they started hitting the boundaries towards them. That, or they totally misunderstood the concept of 'hitting on'.

The CSK team was the only one who did not have their bosses with them in the stadium. They had no celebrity team ambassadors this time around. The only person remotely close was the actress Trisha. Again, Cheerleaders? But after a few matches even she disappeared as they lost every match when she was around. There are rumors that she was paid not to show up at matches.

Thanks to the money involved in IPL, there were some serious betting going on. And like everyone suspected, towards the end of the series there were talks about the legality of the team's owners and match fixing. At that point people were confused what to watch. IPL on Star Sports or IPL on NDTV. Again, cheerleaders? Suddenly people associated with IPL started saying they hold a minor stake or none. Shilpa Shetty said the only thing she owned as a part of IPL was the team's shirt she was wearing.

Lalit Modi turned the final presentation ceremony to a 'Save my butt' essay reciting contest. He was the only one contesting, and he lost badly. Lalit Modi is no saint .He used every loop hole to become the president of BCCI, stole the IPL concept from ICL. Deliberately blocked ICL from being a success. But for making IPL what is it right now, he definetely needs a pat of the back. He tried exposing the Cochin minister through twitter. And the repercussion was him loosing his President position at BCCI. What he missed was the fact the fact that India has a different version of Newton's third law. Every action has a earth shattering reaction.

With the excitement around IPL, no one seems to care about the T-20 world cup which started as soon as IPL got over. Including the cricketers. India is already out of the world cup. Pakistan seems to be gaining ground. But again, nobody cares so not worth the effort. Lets hope IPL sticks around and not doesn't with the conspiracies around it. Again, cheerleaders???