Yeh Dil Mange More !

I have been wondering, if there could be a correlation between the slump in the performance of Dhoni, Pathan and Sania to the amount of corporate endorsements they have accumulated after their meteoric rise in their respective sporting arena. Sania, the WTA newcomer of the year, hasn't gone past the 2nd round in any singles event this year and all she had achieved is to reach the 4th round of a grand slam and win couple of WTA tournaments within her home country amongst a depleted rank of players, besides the desultory wins over players ranked above her. Pathan, one who promised to be the pace spearhead and the much vaunted all-rounder of the men in blue has in the recent past almost mysteriously lost so much of his whiz and confidence. Kumble is not that far behind Pathan in pace, only that he generates it in few hops compared to Pathan’s long and gasping run-up. During the recent Caribbean tour, Dhoni's appearance was more predominant riding a bike in the TV commercials than his stay at the crease wielding his magic willow. True, it is not easy to be a Sania, Dhoni or a Pathan to a billion people watching every move of theirs and to stand up to their expectations and even worse to face critiques who question every single offbeat.

Celebrity endorsement is not new to the Indian masses. Right from the days of Kapil's 'Palmolive da jawab nahin' to Sunny Gavaskar's 'Take the world in your stride - Dinesh Suitings', it sure is a definite pay off for both the parties. No wonder in a buzzing economy with such a wide market audience like India, every corporate entity, especially in the consumer goods arena is fighting its way to romp-in these celebrities with their ability to add a glowing image to their product. The efficacy and institutional advantage of personality marketing is indubitable and what any consumer tend to look for is an instant association of a product with a well-known celebrity and this tends to improve the brand name of the product. The more famous you are, the more you transcend the sport you are in and this lasts a long time as it did with Kapil, Sunny or Sachin. This is the case even with the multi-million dollar endorsements that revolve around either a Tiger Woods, a Michael Jordan or a David Beckam; they had the personality to hold fans in a thrall even when they had an off day. But this can only be true when the marketing centers around a unique personality, like that of Tiger, Mike, Sachin or a Beckam - the list is very short. Gatorade's famous line of 'Wanna be like Mike' was such an instant success story across the US cutting across age groups. The same could be said about Sachin's 'Boost is the secret of my energy' to a major extent, for he stands out and brings-in a larger-than-life role to the product as an individual than just as a cricketer.

But, do we as a nation of pitiful sports achievements react too pronto to confer the status of gods on sports personalities. Put in perspective what a Sania, Dhoni or Pathan had achieved in their forging career to that of a Gilchrist or a McGrath or Pietersen. No question about their potential on what they can deliver and also the immense pressure they need to surmount to handle the unreasonable expectations of more than a billion people. But do we or the corporate world react too swiftly and over qualify individuals pushing them to celebrity status all in a hurry to achieve instant success. Expectations are treacherous - but expectations also get fuelled-in by the hype created by the media and the corporates that go after these athletes dangling the carrots of money and celebrity status - a bit too soon!

It has been good for cricket that we are not anymore just limited to a Mumbai or a Delhi to locate stars. Thanks to the pathans, dhonis and munaf patels, talents are emerging from every corner of this country, battling every odds and adversity in this ever so competitive gamut of getting your way into the playing eleven. The real strength of any individual lies in in how you manage fame and how you handle yourself in this sudden spike of notoriety. Look at the number of products carrying a dhoni or sania label these days. Right from a bath soap to motor bikes, from a carbonated drink to a four wheeler. How much of this quick money and instant famedom would these stars be able to manage in their young career without compromising their faculty?

Time would tell and it would only be a humble wish of any ardent sports fan to pray that these stars shine a little longer. A Sania, Dhoni or Pathan represent more than their respective sport - they reflect the verve and buoyancy of the youth, the new age India. I would love to see a Sania hold aloft a Wimbledon trophy at the same time driving away in a Getz or talk about the fancy couplets in her t-shirt. I would still like to say 'Yeh Dil Maange More' to Sachin for he has not led the nation of frenzy cricket lovers to a world cup victory yet.

Ideologies, anyone?

With all the news media switching base to the more sensational story of an youth snorting coke and the man who was in centre stage taking a breather at the Saudi; perhaps to take a cue or two from the monarchical way to implement policies of convenience, did anyone realize where are those doctors who were shouting their heart-out against the reservation and the media which had been blamed as the propaganda wing of those anti-reservationists. Of course, life goes on and how long can someone lie down on the streets, drinking mineral water, playing games in their mobile phones while the government had literally turned deaf ears to all their salvo. Instead the nation’s supreme legal institution had to step-in and wag the wand of social responsibility to the agitating doctors and came down heavily on the suffering meted-out to the patients who were caught in this tussle between the pro and anti.

In this entire melee I was thinking why dint the renegade medicos get a patient hearing from a single political party or a celebrity. When Medha Patkar went on a hunger strike against increasing the height of the Narmada Dam, there was the stream of Arundati Roys, Aamir Khans and the communists behind her. Why dint a single political party, be it the pro-forward or the pro-backward class, make its stand clear on where they are with this issue. What made the striking medicos such anti-nationals or untouchables; there were support for their cause from various knowledge champions, but not a single political party or a celebrity from the tinsel world came forward. Even the BJP which is supposed to be the most pro-forwrad than any other, seemed caught befuddled in the loose sand of double speak and had to eat its own words trying to explain their position – if at all there was any. Perhaps ambiguity is the hallmark of politics. This raises the question – can any political party dare to be anti-reservation? It is not just the issue of reservation; take the case of the recent TN government’s ruling to allow anyone – of course, qualified - to be a temple priest. Even here the BJP, a party which is still trying to get its feet wet in the southern states, had to toe the government’s line pushing its ideologies to the backstage or changing it to that of convenience. With the all important UP elections in the horizon and while Mayawati is busy conducting a ‘upper-caste mela’, no wonder the congress and the BJP had to resort to the Mandal way. Sure it is the survival of the fittest in the world of politics.

Is this frailty of the opposition that gives credence to the mission the HR minister has taken up, even if it is anti-constitutional? Political unanimity may not necessarily correlate to constitutionality! Or, is it like populism begins where rational thinking ends. Think of the slew of populist measures that were strewn on the people of TN in the recently concluded elections that defied any basic laws of economics. It was over the sheer strength of one freebie versus the other that the elections were won – rather one idiocy over the other. But, if legitimizing a cause for the mere reason of political survival with pitiful disregard of their ideologies and shameful ignorance of rationality, is the way forward, it soon is going to be a tussle between wickedness versus righteousness and the fruits of what we claim to be our forte, democracy, is going to turn very sour!

May be it is the affluent urban society to be blamed, for they are the ones who continue to shun the elections and alienate themselves from the political clan with a fear of getting dirty, for who care a zilch about coming out and voting on an election day rather prefer to stay indoors comfy in their mansions. Contrast that to the villagers who come out in numbers to be part of the democratic process and vote – it is quite irrelevant whether they have a reason to vote one way or another or they have the mandal or the freebies in their mind.

"The people is a very heterogeneous and confused mass of the wealthy and the poor, the wise and the foolish, the good and the bad. Before we confer on a man, who caresses the people, the title of patriot, we must examine to what part of the people he directs his notice. …if his first or principal application be to the indigent, who are always inflammable; to the weak, who are naturally suspicious; to the ignorant, who are easily misled; and to the profligate, who have no hope but from mischief and confusion; let his love of the people be no longer boasted.” -- Samuel Johnson: The Patriot