Just two months back, they were the heroes - the world cup champions of cricket - tests and one-dayers. The Golden boys.
Two months later, they are the villains of the country with choicest abuses -traitors, betrayers, money-minded, spineless.. I have left out some of the more colorful ones out.
What makes us so fickle minded? is it our own insecurity? Is it our own national lack of a sense of achievement? Is it that we derive our greatness from the shadow of the great and hence when the supposed-great fall, we feel naked, in our own smallness?
It is important that we understand this phenom a little bit in detail. Sometimes, I also feel that we don't really 'own' the people that represent us. Consequently, when they win, we take them to a pedestal but when they are down in the dumps, we trample them even more so. A pendulum that knows no way to come to the center.
I mean, come on, don't we have our off days? As business people, don't businesses have one year when they do badly (I know several which have converted the art of poor performance into an art form), as Individuals, don't we have seasons (weeks, months, years..) when nothing goes well. How will we feel if during those times, the people who were supposedly your supporters and well wishers turned vicious against you? Would you ever feel anything for them? Why should your earning more or less make any damned difference to how you are treated?
When it comes to our Cricket team, why do we have such polarized reactions? What is even more astounding is that we justify it by saying 'they are making so much money that they SHOULD be ready to face the flak for poor performance! Nothing can be sillier than that. You and I retire at 65 or work till 75 (it is our choice). They retire at 35 (unless you are a Mr Tendulkar, when you retire when you want to), and then have another 40 odd years when they earn nothing. Secondly, I have not known a cricketer to have earned his millions by stealing from you and me. They are making that money in the market, so why does that make us so angry - that we are not and they are? In my books that is called Jealousy - plain and simple.
What is amplifying the problem is the media - newspapers and TV channels, which have relinquished the role of a copy editor! Consequently, we have a liberal usage of adjectives - 'abject, miserable, shameful, absurd, spineless...' both in the newspapers as well as channels, that are prefaced when talking about the Indian team's performance.
The second argument is that when they do well, we put them on the pedestal. Are they asking for it? Sure they will like it, but you are doing it on your own. does that give you a right to hammer them when they are down? I don't think so.
They are our children, our boys. If we come down so hard on them when they are down, don't expect them to go all misty eyed for you when they are up. In fact they will know that given our fickle-minded swings of mood, their penchant for being more aligned with the monetary issues will go higher and higher.
Support them when they are down. They have enough guys out there (Boycott, Nasser Hussain etc) who are anyway baying for them.
At the end of the day, they are our children, right
Two months later, they are the villains of the country with choicest abuses -traitors, betrayers, money-minded, spineless.. I have left out some of the more colorful ones out.
What makes us so fickle minded? is it our own insecurity? Is it our own national lack of a sense of achievement? Is it that we derive our greatness from the shadow of the great and hence when the supposed-great fall, we feel naked, in our own smallness?
It is important that we understand this phenom a little bit in detail. Sometimes, I also feel that we don't really 'own' the people that represent us. Consequently, when they win, we take them to a pedestal but when they are down in the dumps, we trample them even more so. A pendulum that knows no way to come to the center.
I mean, come on, don't we have our off days? As business people, don't businesses have one year when they do badly (I know several which have converted the art of poor performance into an art form), as Individuals, don't we have seasons (weeks, months, years..) when nothing goes well. How will we feel if during those times, the people who were supposedly your supporters and well wishers turned vicious against you? Would you ever feel anything for them? Why should your earning more or less make any damned difference to how you are treated?
When it comes to our Cricket team, why do we have such polarized reactions? What is even more astounding is that we justify it by saying 'they are making so much money that they SHOULD be ready to face the flak for poor performance! Nothing can be sillier than that. You and I retire at 65 or work till 75 (it is our choice). They retire at 35 (unless you are a Mr Tendulkar, when you retire when you want to), and then have another 40 odd years when they earn nothing. Secondly, I have not known a cricketer to have earned his millions by stealing from you and me. They are making that money in the market, so why does that make us so angry - that we are not and they are? In my books that is called Jealousy - plain and simple.
What is amplifying the problem is the media - newspapers and TV channels, which have relinquished the role of a copy editor! Consequently, we have a liberal usage of adjectives - 'abject, miserable, shameful, absurd, spineless...' both in the newspapers as well as channels, that are prefaced when talking about the Indian team's performance.
The second argument is that when they do well, we put them on the pedestal. Are they asking for it? Sure they will like it, but you are doing it on your own. does that give you a right to hammer them when they are down? I don't think so.
They are our children, our boys. If we come down so hard on them when they are down, don't expect them to go all misty eyed for you when they are up. In fact they will know that given our fickle-minded swings of mood, their penchant for being more aligned with the monetary issues will go higher and higher.
Support them when they are down. They have enough guys out there (Boycott, Nasser Hussain etc) who are anyway baying for them.
At the end of the day, they are our children, right
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