Horrid adaptation to the Wify's mode of Shopping!

Few months earlier shopping to me meant buying of bare minimum things in life, like clothes, footwear,watches,eatables and occasionally some gadgets like cell phone, cds and laptop. And none of these buyouts took more than half and hour or so, 20 minutes for googling and finalising the model or the variant and 10 minutes inside the shop for completing the transaction and coming out with the desired item. But things have changed drastically for me in the last few months, no need to mention this change is again attributed to my change in status not the financial status because that has become even more miserable,I was living with the hope that my salary will automatically double in due course but things have rather taken an altogether sad turn, earlier I used to pay for 1 credit card bill but now by default I am paying for 2 (unfortunately the 2nd is not by my name), earlier (most of the times) I used to pay only for my clothes, watches, foot wears and gadgets but now by default I am paying for hers too, earlier I used to at least get some tranquilizers by means of occasional gifts but now such inflows have virtually ceased rather the outflows have almost doubled, needless to say I am paying for two mobile bills now, earlier when the flat rent used to be shared by 5 guys, I am paying the entire sum now, so with the Internet, maid, electricity and numerous other routine things. Understandably the financial status has changed the other way round, but the status change which I am emphasizing on is the marital status, undoubtedly life has become beautiful and pleasantly different after this marital status change but still these little, funny and financially aching things are worth mentioning:).

So when few days back Mi lord expressed the desire to visit the near by pottery shop to buy some articles I thought it won't be a big exercise but will limit only to buying some flower pots and clay water containers. However as always she proved me utterly wrong and it turned out to be an exhausting affair, but thanks to my learnings from past experiences I applied all my skills to weather this storm in the most prudent way I can and I think eventually I came out with a minimal damage. When we reached the pottery shop, I realized that it is injustice to call this a shop because the size and diversity which that outlet possessed, it was a virtual pottery supermarket and also the beginning of my miseries. No wonder the expected 20-30 minute affair turned out into 2 hour long excursion in which Mi Lord analysed, en-quired and bargained on all the items present in the store. She spent ample amount of time on almost each of the items present there, while I was cursing myself all the while but still wearing that plastic smile of a very sensible and accommodating husband accompanying her patiently in all her scrutinies.

In another 90 minutes of time she finalised two show pieces which looked grossly ugly to me, but I couldn't gather the strength to express my true feelings and I opted for the safe path of patience and admiration. She then picked up a handmade clay tortoise, which was probably a keyholder or a fruit holder or a coin holder, infact I still don't know what it is meant for but by the look of it that certainly seemed to be a useless object at that point , but Mi-lord was so enchanted by it that I preferred to keep mum. Then amidst her own calculations and logics behind buying that article she murmured that keeping a tortoise (type article) in the house brings lots of money, naturally hearing this me being a typical man started feeling for that lifeless tortoise and all of a sudden that ugly tortoise seemed to me the most beautiful creation in the world by man. Awe-inspiring ! Thereafter I praised that tortoise to such extents that even she became sure about buying that tortoise. She eventually went on to buy as many as 5 useless show pieces in that 2 hours span but I was very content with my conduct during this otherwise stupid and meaningless shopping session, though admittedly that tortoise was also one of the reason why my irritation and cribbing quotient was remarkably low that day:).

But this was not the only instance with her highness when I have to operate out of my '30 minute shop anything funda', it had happened quite a few times earlier also. When we were setting up our house immediately after marriage, I tactfully decided upon all the items to be bought by the same '30 minute shop anything funda' through the aid of google and various other comparative websites and I was pretty sure that we will go into a electronic megamart, book the items, pay for them and come out in the minimal time. But expectedly enough the story wasn't this rosy and tables were turned upside down the moment we entered the store. Where according to me a 180 or at max 210 litres refrigerator was quite sufficient for two of us, she straight away booked the 330 litres variant without letting me even ask the logic behind such an act. Now, that refrigerator stands taller than me and atleast 3 gals of my wife's size can easily fit in that, but then you don't have the luxury of doing things by logic and reasons. The same happened with almost every item, be it the super wide, flat and theatre-esque Television set on which the leading ladies of Television cry religiously for 4-5 hours every night and I have to tolerate these melodramatic scenes every single day and that too on that ultra huge television set; or be it that extra fluffy sofa set, 501 functions microwave, ultra complicated food processor or those irritatingly gigantic wardrobes. Initially I tried to force my way by means of my own logic, rationale and sensibilty theories but her simple advice to me was - 'you should only be concerned about the bigger issues of life and leave the smaller ones to me', at the face of it I became very happy with opportunity of handling the bigger issues but she was quick enough to clarify the bigger and the smaller issues. By bigger issues she meant Indo Pak Peace process, when should Tendulkar retire, should Mayawati strike an alliance with BJP in the upcoming elections and etc etc and by smaller issues she meant all the issues related to our household. Understandably I had no choice hence now I try to just concentrate on the bigger issues of life by writing some stupid blogs:).

But the most painful moments are those everyday rendezvous with each of those objects at home, be it those ugly showpieces, be it that giant refrigerator or be it those various other wify's choice items. Every time I stare at them or walk pass them they seem to be laughing at me, virtually teasing me and making a cacophonous chorus dig at me. I some how feel so lonesome at times that it actually seems to be a 'me vs my wife and her troop' battle to which I have surrendered conveniently by now, rather I am trying to make friends with those dead but strong foes. But yeah this has become a part of life and I have accepted Mi Lord's diktat of handling the bigger issues and letting her take charge in the smaller ones, though my only hope and companion amidst all this chaos happens to be Mr. Tortoise:).

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Collapsing Bridges, Ceilings, Beds & National Pride, its CWG 2010!

Common Wealth Games 2010, New Delhi! A lot has been said on this and a lot more will be said on this in the coming few weeks, most of which has been sad and most of which will probably be sadder but the matter of fact is every ounce of this intriguing story is far more exhilarating than one might have thought of. Initially the entire nation was gasping for some fresh breath after knowing about the huge corruption and misuse of tax payers money by the organizers and the extent of financial muddling they have done. But honestly speaking it is nothing new, we have had a rich heritage of scams, scandals and buffs involving mammoth sum of money, though this one has surpassed all its predecessors by a huge margin, still the essence remains the same.

So even if keep these financial killings aside there are still some serious worries in store. The attitude which the organizers of the event are flashing is nothing short of outrageous. Well, you delay the delivery of the final product by a few weeks or at max by a month or two, its acceptable, but if you delay it by months and almost by a year its far from tolerance, in fact the lackadaisical attitude of our authorities have brought us in a scenario where the nation is just a week away from the opening ceremony and still some of the event sites are still giving a picture of a construction arena. GOSH! And still these shameless authorities are not willing to accept the fact that they have messed it up big time around, the chief minister of the state brazenly says, these things are part and parcel of any big event and things should be ready by 3rd of October (the opening day). Which eventually means no time for trial runs which were scheduled to start 6 months before the event and all this is happening in a setup when we have taken the responsibility to host a global event. Thanks to these shameless authorities, India Shining has transformed into India Whining!

And even if we trust these ministers and organizers that the infrastructure will be ready by the opening day, though logistically and statistically it seems a mere impossible task, what about the quality of infrastructure and services they have finally come up with. When you have taken more than double the time to get the infrastructure ready, the least one expects is a good quality facility setup and some really high and world class standards of services for the foreign delegates and participating players, but after delaying things for so long have we eventually placed ourselves in a position to deliver such high quality infrastructure gems? The collapsing foot over bridges, falling ceilings in the games arena, dog sh!t laden service apartments for the international players, security arrangements are such that an Australian media crew easily enters the games village with tons of explosives and a lot more similar debacles just days before the event hardly puts up a rosy picture on the global front for our Nation as a whole. And the icing on the cake are the justifications given by our ministers and organizers for these fiascoes; the collapsed foot over bridge wasn't meant for the players it was meant for the common man, thereby blatantly declaring that for them the lives of common man counts for nothing; the falling ceilings shouldn't be considered as a fiasco as it is a routine thing and can happen anywhere, wish these ceilings fall on their heads if not anywhere else; on the dog sh!t and the filthy state of service apartments meant for players the argument is that the hygiene standards for westerners and Indians vary strikingly, so these things should not be blown out of proportion, I wish even these ministers are forced to stay in such unlivable conditions at least for one day. So instead of taking the moral responsibility for the awry state of affairs, they are still passing the buck to each other and behaving as if its not a big deal at all.

These ministers and organizers have become the laughing stock of the entire nation, the daily infrastructure debacles, consistently missing deadlines, most of the countries threatening to cancel their participation in the event, major sponsors unwilling to continue with the event's sponsorship, even the Indian sports star are openly condemning the mess that has been created by the bureaucrats, organizing committee and politicians and over that the humorous and unwitting excuses offered by these mess mongers. Its entertainment unlimited, it couldn't have gone this interesting, enthralling and fun filled if all the things would have been in place and without an ounce of disarray, in such a scenario it would have been a just another low profile event with nobody even bothering to take notice of this event. But thanks to the mess created by our esteemed organizers, this event is already rocking and its surely gonna give the likes of KBC, Big Boss and the most anticipated Bollywood flicks a true run for their money and will definitely top all the TRP charts in the coming weeks.

So if Kalmadi's suicide attempt fails due to a ceiling collapse; thanks to Guernsey and Jersey threatening to pull out of the Games, we now know these countries exist; three terrorists caught with several cans of dog-food and a premium laxative in the CWG village campus; also seeing the sorry state of preparations organizers are planning to place 'GO SLOW, MEN AT WORK' board at the 100 meters race track ; and looking at the brighter side as more countries pull out, the higher India will be ranked in the final medal’s tally. Amidst all these light banters and funny jokes floating across the nation on the CWG mess, there is a lot to worry about. Worry about the prospect of never getting the hosting rights of any global event, worry of being pegged back by at least 10 years in the race of being the superpower vis-a-vis China, and last but not the least the worry about our nation's name being badly maligned in the international arena due to these corrupt and reckless politicians.

Though the government might try hard to pass an undercover directive to all the 24 hours news channels and media agencies to not telecast too much on the CWG debacle, with an intention to stop the further fueling of dissent in the hearts of common man but unfortunately this mess is too big to be wrapped by such means. And there is not much which can be done now but the least we can expect from these mess mongers is an acceptance of their negligence and recklessness in organizing such a prestigious event. Now that the entire world knows that neither Kalmadi, nor Bhanot, nor Dixit or nor any other mortal can save this debacle from happening, the only hope we all can have is from the almighty GOD, but probably they have messed it beyond HIS repair too.

Post Script- Kalmadi takes the responsibility of the CWG debacle, minutes later world champion wrestler Sushil Kumar's bed collapses in CWG village.

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Ganpati, Yuvraj and Morality checks...!

Ganpati Bappa Morya!

The 10 day long ganesh festival marks the beginning of festival season in India, and if you happen to be in either of Mumbai or Pune these 10 days are undoubtedly the most happening, colorful and chirpy 10 days of the year. Ganesha being the lord of knowledge and the one who is at least remembered before the start of any new task, is undoubtedly the most popular deity across all faiths. And by my good fortune I again happened to be in this part of the country this time too and got fully soaked up in the Ganpati spirit. Though being away from my native home has its own disadvantages, primarily that I unable to be a part of the Ganpati festivities at home, especially the delicious 'modak treat' twice a day for 10 days straight, all this apart from being actively involved in decorating and lighting up the entire house, but being in Pune you sort of make up for not being at home by enjoying an altogether exhilarating environment all across the city. Huge Ganesh Pandals in every 50 meters throughout the city, and literally every single of them unique in their own way be it their size, be it their shape or be it their theme, another interesting thing about Ganesh Pooja is the fact that the atmosphere is not heavily clad with those religious mantras and shlokas; the mood is very joyful and in a sense its a period to enjoy and celebrate by all means, so one hardly gets to hear those religiously poised devotional songs sung by Anuradha Podwal or Anoop Jalota, in fact the entire town transforms into a virtual disco-theque with each of the Ganesh Pandal playing the latest bollywood dance number in full venegance; Munni Badnaam being the flavor of the season in almost all the Ganesh Pandals this year. Luckily enough for me my very close cousin who stays in the city celebrated the 10 day Ganesha worship cum celebration at his place and I tried my best to be a part of the festivities at his place as much as I can. But amidst all this fun and frolic the most touchy moment came on the day of idol immersion when I accompanied my cousin on the banks of the local river, and the moment we arrived at the banks a group of fully drenched lads came to us and offered that one of them will swim till the deepest part of the turbulent river and do the immersion right there, it was obviously in lieu of some monetary incentive but we found the deal quite alluring and exciting and were about to finalize that before being interrupted by three school guys, probably from the nearby DAV school, as there uniform read so, who told us not to go with those local swimmers but to immerse our idol in the municipal corporation water tank constructed strategically on the river bank with an objective to minimize the river pollution and contribute towards various other benefits arising from such a step. Though the other gang of boys were swearing ominously against those school lads for directly hampering their business prospect but we were so moved by the dedication and intent of those little school boys that there was no second thought about going ahead with the idol immersion in the water tank. I literally hugged those guys for devoting their time for such a valiant cause and congratulated them for their efforts, and what I got in return from those three ebullient guys was a loud chant of - Ganpati Bappa Morya!

Yuvraj Singh tu laukariya...!

From the cricketing perspective and in India's term we are about to play one of the most sought after, interesting and competetive series in recent times which involves playing 2 test matches along with 3 ODIs against our fiercest competitors, Australia. The mercury will drop technically in the coming few weeks but certainly it will trace the opposite path for the hard core cricket enthusiasts. And amidst such an exciting setup if the Indian selectors don't pick one of the most mercurial and flamboyant player of the current decade, Yuvraj Singh for the 1st test match between the two top sides, it is bound to fetch varied reactions. Infact the man himself reacted very strongly to this piece of news and openly expressed his displeasure with his omision and so did most of his fans and some cricket experts. But I don't see any injustice in this move, no doubt Yuvraj is one of the most talented batsman we have today, arguably one of the best finishers in the game,he has one of the best timing in game, he posseses a choreographers footwork, he hits the ball really hard and easily clears any boundary convincingly on a regular basis, he has hit six 6's in an over in the International arena which not many have even dreamt of doing, so what is that which holds him from being a regular name in the Test squad? Consistency? Attitude? or Temperament? I guess all three of them. But the irony is he posseses all three of them and still lacks all of them, he has been a consistent performer and most of the times the sole match winner in both ODIs and T20s, there is no denying on his credentials in either formats, but is he able to replicate the same in THE format i.e the Test matches, sadly NO. Its not that he hasn't got chances, he has been around for over 10 years and has played as many as 34 test matches but he still averages a meagre 35 odd runs per innings, which is way below the acceptable mark and also way below what he is capable of, so these long string of failures have to eventually cost him his place in the Test squad some day or the other, because not many get to play even half of what he has played without performing exceptionally well. Temperament wise, he has got the coolest head on his shoulders when it comes to finishing those humdinger ODIs and nail bitting T20 contests, but temperament in THE format (read Tests) means converting those 50s and 60s into big 100s and virtually batting the opposition out of the contest, hence unless you do so, howsoever big a star you might be in other circuits you are a NOBODY in this arena. And lastly Attitude, well not many risk the chance of confronting Yuvraj Singh on the field and whosover has taken the risk of doing so have paid very heavily for this, ask Flintoff and Broad about this. But there is very thin line between being positive and being rash or aggressive, which probably this guy crosses more often than not and is pretty clear from the fact that every time he scores a 100 he makes it a point to celebrate in a way that it seems he is literally abusing everybody present on the ground, which ultimately creates a very sorry picture. But when will this prince of Mohali understand that the likes of Sachin and Bradman have succeeded in the long run not just because of their talent and hard work but more so because of their humbleness, conduct and ability to handle success in the most graceful way. No doubts Yuvraj will make a comeback and in all certainity a strong one, but that should be by the virtue of his changed and Sachin-esque attitude and a string of strong performances in the domestic circuit and not by the means of his laurels in the ODIs or T20 format and certainly not by his 'I don't give a Damn' attitude because for India to a be a potent power in the world cricket we definetly need a very strong, grounded and flamboyant Yuvraj Singh!

Morality checks against an Investment Banker!

By virtue of my odd office timings (UK hours) I normally leave for home after 11pm and the normal mode of transport happens to be the office provided cabs. Naturally I am not the lone warrior working in this insane shift, there are many others of my breed, some being from the other gender too. But what compels me to put this particular incident over here is the latest directive which was being passed across to all the employees working and commuting in these shifts. The directive reads - every woman employee working in shift and commuting through the office cab will be provided with a security guard in the cab. The new rule seemed absolutely fine until the part B of this directive came into picture which said or which meant even if there are other colleagues in the cab, the so called private body guard will still accompany the woman soldier( read employee). So if the part A conveyed a message that this directive is being brought with a motive of providing safety to the female employees against the mischievous cab drivers in the odd hours, the part B very soon clarified that this directive is probably passed on with a motive to safeguard the female warriors against the atrocities of their male colleagues. I don't know what misdeeds some of my fellow male bankers did which led to the implementation of this new rule, but to see that security guard sitting on the front seat beside the cab driver every night while going back home makes me feel a little ashamed and also very furious that my character and morality is being questioned every single night. Though the employers are doing the righteous thing by implementing such a directive which eventually goes on to provide the much needed security which is very essential in creating a fear free environment of working for the fairer sex but they could have also done this by thrusting this responsibility on the shoulders of their male colleagues, which would have made this process seamless and wouldn't have created an awkward situation for the male colleagues too. Because by this logic all the woman employees should also be provided with a private security cum body guard inside the office premises at the work desk too, but since this is not done the employers probably assume that the carnal desires of an Investment banker shoots up after 11pm, thereby its imperative to safeguard the female employees by means of security guards after that time. But unfortunately for the employers the security guards also happen to be the male souls:).

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MP's Pay Hike - Justified! *(conditions apply)

There can be only one issue on which our ever so petulant politicians can form a consensus amongst themselves despite their varied ideologies and selfish vested interests,and that is hiking of their own salaries. Never can one see a group of employees fighting so vehemently and shamelessly for a salary hike. In fact under normal circumstances nobody can dare to even think of such an audacious campaign but our ministers being their shameless self can do anything to fill their already overflowing cash sacs. So if an IT engineer,Mr Verma was satisfied with a 15% salary hike; Mr Agrawal working for a leading Investment bank was more than satisfied with a 20% salary hike; and accountant Mr Bajaj who was not so happy with a hefty 25% salary hike switched over his employer for a desired 30% pay hike, all of a sudden felt bad for themselves when they found out that the members of parliament of their regions were not at all satisfied with even a 200% salary hike their employer (government of India) proposed and in fact were far more agitated and aggravated than a hardworking employee working diligently for his employer without any hike for last 5 years.

And this is all in a scenario where a major chunk of the minister cadre falls in the elite bracket of multimillionaires who would hardly get impacted with such salary hikes or for that matter the monthly salary which probably forms only a minuscule of their huge assimilation of wealth. So what is that which our not so beloved politicians will get as remuneration from the Government of India after this astounding hike? A basic pay of Rs 50,000 per month, for which I don't understand the basis at all. A daily allowance of Rs 2000 on each day when the parliament is in session or when the house committees meet, so this is basically for throwing chairs and hurling shoes over each other. A constituency allowance of Rs 20,000 per month in addition to an equal monthly office expenses allowance of Rs.45,000 each month, this one as a reminder that they are all responsible for a particular constituency. A conveyance allowance of Rs 4 lakh, which might be most probably used as a maintenance amount for their hi-tech imported cars. And a revised pension apportionment of Rs 20,000 to former members, who have already looted the people of India to an extent which is beyond any calculation.

But this is not it, apart from such monetary benefits our tainted ministers also get a plethora of other rewards too. They themselves along with their spouse can travel any number of times in first class in railways, no wonder Indian Railways is still struggling to post significant profits, they can also claim road mileage for any of there road travels, no wonder being unaware of the fuel prices they hike it every other month much to the chagrin of a common man. They are also entitled to 150,000 free phone calls a year on 3 landlines and 2 mobile phones, probably to perform all their black deals seamlessly. They are also provided with a rent free housing in the most posh localities of national capital, where rents lie in the range of Rs 25-40 lakhs per month and the real worth of those bungalows (in the Lutyen's zone) is over Rs 100 crores. And over that the government also pays rent on furniture up to Rs 60,000, provides free washing of sofa covers, curtains, bathroom tiles. Gifts them with 50,000 units of free electricity every year and provides them 4000 kilo liters of water to splurge where a good chunk of Indian population is struggling for these basic amenities of water, shelter, electricity and clothings. But probably our government's rationale lies in the premise that unless these ministers are well equipped how can they serve the people of their constituencies. So the current state of living of a common man proves that even with all these unimaginable amenities our ministers are still not well equipped. Alas!

And if we talk in terms of CTC or CTG (cost to government) for each of these ministers it will comfortably overshoot the Rs 60 lakh per annum mark and might even touch Rs 1 crore per annum peak. And if we compare these remunerations and perks globally, our ministers beat the CTG's of their counterparts in the most developed nations too. But on the flip side if we think that these democratically elected members of parliament bear the responsibility for a huge population of people and they take care of the well being of these huge population, they well and truly seem to deserve every ounce of it. In fact if we talk in corporate terms where a CEO of a multinational company who heads say approximately 1 lakh employees receives a renumeration of Rs 1 crore per annum on average, is considered to be well deserved pay package trade off. So by that logic what these ministers are getting is still below standards. After all these ministers are serving and are responsible for on average 50 lakh people vis-a-vis 1 lakh employees in case of a CEO, so by that logic these ministers should ideally receive 50 times that of what a CEO is receiving. But these logics and calculations are all of an ideal case scenario and a lot of star marked conditions apply to them. The CEO of a company invariably takes his company forward by leaps and bounds in terms of turn over and assets year on year basis, in a totally transparent and corruption free environment, which certainly is not the case with the ministers of our country. The ministers in India harp on the very principle of making as much wealth as they can in their tenure of 5 years by means of scams, scandals and corruption of all means and thereby they hardly contribute to a year on year growth, rather by doing so they push back the growth and development of our country every single year. And eventually all this raises eyebrows and questions over the rationale of such a huge salary hike for our ministers.

Though statistically it can be proved that the remunerations our ministers are getting is a well deserved pay off taking into account all the constraints. But these statistics,logics and constraints don't take into account the factors of performance and corruption and hence this is a flawed system. Nobody will question any amount of perk or hike being awarded to these ministers if they attach the attribute of 'Performance' and detach the vice of 'Corruption' from their biodatas but this seems to be a far stretched imagination. So what can work in such a scenario is a performance based pay package for ministers, but the setup and environs in which we live who will decide the parameters on which the performance will be adjudged, because in due course they(ministers) can frame, manipulate and corrupt even that to suit their benefits.

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A multi million 'no ball' : Innocuous or Shameful?

It's match fixing time again folks! So naturally there will be lots of drama, lots of revelations, lots of twists and turns, lots of shattered fans and last but not the least lots of Pakistan amidst all this. Honestly howsoever shameful and disheartening the latest match fixing saga, or spot fixing as they have termed it this time around, may be, but not many are shocked with the involvement of Pakistani players in this dirt. It has happened before, it is happening consistently and with the state of governance in Pakistan, it won't be farce to say that it will happen in future too. Many Pakistani cricketers have committed graver crimes and have been let off rather easily, no wonder not many are surprised with such brazen acts of impropriety.

But why Pakistan time and again? Either players from other teams are too skillful to get caught or their is something wrong with the grooming and mushrooming of raw talent in Pakistan. Though there is no guarantee with anybody's conscience but one can safely assume that post Azharuddin and Mongia era and in the cash rich environs of IPL, the chances of an Indian player indulging in such acts has minimized to a good extent. But bowling no balls to become a millionaire! Isn't it rather too cheap? Well, if we think of the overall atmosphere in which the Pakistani players are playing these days, it won't appear so cheap. No international cricket being played on their home soil for over 18 months, despite of being the T20 World Champions they don't get a chance to play in the cash rich T20 leagues like IPL,an average Indian cricketer earns more in one season of IPL than his Pakistani counterpart earns in almost a decade. No wonder it breeds an environment where Md Amir is forced to think that ' this damn Malinga guy, not half the cricketer I am and yet he merrily munches on a million bucks every year, so what's the big deal in making some bucks by bowling an innocuous 'no ball' or for that matter makes Md Asif envious of Praveen Kumar who flashes a garish gold chain dancing around his neck every time he comes up to bowl despite not being a patch on him as a bowler, naturally pride and honor can take a back seat and a multi million 'no ball' can do the honors instead.

So does all this converge to a moot point that Cricket today is all about money? You either make it by burning yourself playing non stop cricket or you assimilate it by wrong means. At the face of it, it seems so, but when we think of the cricketers of the class of Tendulkars, Dravids, Kumbles, Gangulys, Laras and Ranatungas, the grace, humility, dedication and integrity with which they have played every single match in their lives, our faith in this beautiful game still remains strong. But certainly such acts of dishonesty which crop up every now and then actually aches million hearts. The recent match fixing fiasco can't be simply treated as a Pakistan centric failure, we are no saints or intolerable marshals of such crimes either. The tendency to forget and forgive is the one which is causing the maximum damage. When the government itself decides to make the tainted cricketer of his time Md Azharuddin as the member of Indian parliament and when other such suspects of the biggest match fixing fiasco of the last decade are making a hefty living out of their new found and well applauded commentary and coaching careers, we can't preach the lessons of integrity and lawfulness to our neighbors. And rather all we are doing is using the lack of legal evidence as the smokescreen to avoid proper accountability.

Such shameful incidents will keeping on happening in the future too and no level of moral policing or extreme punishment can curb them because it eventually boils down to the morality of every individual. Money or no money if the individual is playing the game or pursuing a career for the sole sake of representing his country to the fullest of his integrity, he will always be a trustworthy representative but a(n) Asif otherwise. No wonder if the Commonwealth Games have lost their sheen, it is because the organisers have failed to provide a moral compass to their team. Likewise, if the Delhi Metro, another gigantic government enterprise, has proved remarkably free of sleaze, it is because its chairman is a man who has zero tolerance for corruption. And if Sania Mirza is winning her first round match at the US Open, people are not crediting her for this rare feat but are suspecting Shoaib for this fix:).
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