By Ananya S Guha
I geared myself to go to what I thought would be a very promising and entertaining debate. For after all aren’t they the two extreme ends of the Indian reality, with the letters PL as the common indicating factor? And moreover with IPL underway I was sure the debate would add excitement to the ongoing series. I thought of all the BPL certified people and dreamt a chimerical dream: suppose they could turn into IPL heroes, favourites and maestros? They could also display their skills as specialists in cars, toothpastes, motor bikes, population etc. Yes I thought excitedly there would be chances for them to turn into actors, ad men, singers, dancers, reality show specialists. There would be a manifestation of skills; not soft skills but hard, hard core skills. And with all this talk of skill development this would be a show of prowess and skills from dancing, jumping, driving to discourses on birth control. Wow, I touched all matrixes of our social problems.
It is calculated that the construction industry needs man power to the tune of 2 billion people by 2025. What a demand, and with the population rising every second there would be enough people to cater to the construction industry. Plus we need more plumbers, more welders, more masons, more carpenters… Now we don’t need IIT Graduates, we need solid ITI products. But first, I concluded they have to run, dance, jump, drive, box, for initial skill training. And only the IPL can provide that! The first agenda would be to transform society from an inegalitarian one to one of egalitarianism – justice, equity and access.
First speaker: Mr. Speaker Sir. The BPL is the face of our country. How can we ever think of the IPL protagonists? Now we have to improve that face…
Second Speaker: Sir, my worthy opponent is unworthy, contemporary thinking is anathema to his soul, body and mind. Look at IPL, it is a cosmos, the entire universe is assembled in our country. The poor have overnight become rich, the rich have been upgraded. It is earning and learning he exclaimed.
Third Speaker: Chairman Sir, the two polarities are IPL & BPL. They are antithetical. Surely the IPL beneficiaries can help the BPL, donate some money, have shelter homes… for them.
Fourth Speaker: Ridiculous Mr. Chairman. Without the IPL, we would not have cricket, cricket everywhere like water. It is because of IPL (and cricket) that India is showcasing one of the world’s most in-demand-sport. In fact, look how instant we have made cricket into. From test matches, to 50 overs, to T-20. Now we should have T-1. I am a strong votary of this, muscle-power cricket! He paused, grit his teeth.
The time had come for me to go home. The debate was dragging on. I would have to rush, to watch the next T-20 in the evening. My daughter had already sent an SMS.