Money talks... so does bullshit

Heroes- The Wallflowers

I, I wish you could swim
Like the dolphins, like dolphins can swim
Though nothing, nothing will keep us together
We can beat them, for ever and ever.

We can be Heroes, just for one day.

I, I will be king
And you, you will be queen
Though nothing, nothing will drive them away
We can be Heroes, just for one day
We can be us, just for one day

I, I remember standing, by the wall
And the guns, shot above our heads
And we kissed, as though nothing could fall
And the shame, was on the other side
Oh we can beat them, for ever and ever

Then we could be Heroes, just for one day

We can be Heroes
We can be Heroes
We can be Heroes
We can be Heroes
Just for one day

Bring out the pom-poms, wave the jhandas and yell at the top of your voice: victory is sweet. Savor it, for it may be another false dawn, much like what several sporting memories have been for this harrowed nation. For all the double-digit growth this country has had economically (and demographics-wise), India as a sporting nation is starved of success. As a nation, we perhaps stand for the exact opposite of success breeds success. All it breeds is a burden of history, a burden weighing down many a mighty career. But, that’s not the issue here.

It was nice to hear the Pakistanis, each to a man, acknowledge the opposition in defeat. It’s the true hallmark of close sporting challenges that the vanquished opponent stands up and says, “Well fought. You were the better man today.” To that, I doff my cap, but put it firmly in place for the ensuing events. Money has for long been the name of the game, and just how big a name was shown today. In a show that can be described as farcical at best, and a PR fiasco at worst, the BCCI announced a $2 million bonus for the Indian cricket team, this on top of the $1 million that the organizers were handing out as prize money. That’s $3 million split 22 ways, unless you are named Yuvraj Singh, because if you are, add another 10 million rupees on top of that. Not a bad effort for 2 weeks worth of bashing the ball around. Alarm bells are ringing. While it is undoubtedly a stirring riposte to all those who wrote off the Men in Blue (yes, remember those ad campaigns for the world cup?), $2 million?? 10 million rupees for bashing six sixes in an over?

Granted, they played out of their skins. It’s not like they did it for free. Granted it was a backs-to-the-wall job, but then again, if you play shit, where do you expect to be? The bookies aren’t going to place you as odds-on favorite unless you are odds-on favorites. Wonder what would the extra prize money would be if India lost? Now, I may seem like the-cup-is-half-empty but all I ask is for realism. It’s a victory and let it be a spring board for more. Compensating them with twice the prize money of the tournament is just plain stupid. It’s like your boss walking up to you and saying: I hired you as a troubleshooter, you shot out all the troubles, here’s thrice your salary for doing the job that I promised to pay you a fair salary for in the first place. And it could’ve been announced at any other point, not at the presentation ceremony in front of a gallant team that played its guts out and lost by a whisker. I bet there are a fair few in the green and yellow of Pakistan wondering what it would take to get that sort of money in their lives.

Money talks, bullshit walks. I remember Danny DeVito telling this line to Arnold Schwarzenegger (damn name is so hard to spell) in a movie. I never understood it then (I was a kid) but it has to be modified today: the bullshit talks as well. The BCCI is well known for knee-jerk reactions, and this could very well be another one in what is already a very long list. The nonsense that has come out of that office in the last 2 decades leaves people wondering where the next fiasco will come from. Yet, when they talk, everyone else listens. It’s a pity they don’t listen to themselves.

But for now, the streets of Delhi, Bombay and Bangalore will still be awash with people and color singing to ‘Chak De India’, dancing in gullies and streets, sharing the joy. And they should mirror that sentiment in Peshawar, Islamabad, and Karachi, because there is no shame in Pakistan’s performance. It takes two to make a match, and if the coin flipped the other way, no one would begrudge the winners then, as no one does now.