Sunday, June 1, 2008

Super Pawar in 2020 : The secret story behind IPL


When Abdul Kalam , the last President of India narrated his vision that India will become a superpower in 2020; Sarat Powar , the minister for agriculture, was having his lunch at Nagpur with the onions that the farmers threw at his dais during a rally. The farmers were angry because the “sarkar (meaning government)” had failed to raise the minimum support price for a bumper production in that year. There were tears in their eyes. Tears also were in Powar’s eyes as he sliced the raw onions before eating them free.
When Kalam’s statement was narrated to him by one of his numerous aids, he leaned closer to verify whether what he heard was right.

“Super Powar in 2020!”

Why hadn’t this idea come to him before ?

Immediately he had 4 of his aids dial 4 numbers on 4 different cell phones to 4 different cities calling IS Bindaas, Laleet Moody, N. Srinivision & Ratnakar Shedtea.

“I want to stand for BCCI President this year”, he barked to each one of them , 2 at a time holding 2 phones to his ears.

“But , why sir ?

“Haven’t you heard of Kaala-aam’s vision : Super Powar in 2020?”

“We have , Sir. But what’s that got to do with BCCI?”

“Will explain to you once I become President!”

The minister switched off the phones. This time, all 4 together .

He picked up one large-sized onion from his plate , walked two steps outside and ran towards the gathering of farmers. He swung his right arm round and hurled the onion at the turbaned leader of the farmers. Before the leader could react, the onion bounced on the ground in front , kicked up lots of dust and hit him smack in the face. The leader and his followers beat a hasty retreat.
That was some bouncer!
As the minister’s face twitched and broke into a now-permanent smile , the concept of Twenty-twenty cricket league in India was born

The rest is history.

As Sharad Pawar presides over the IPLT20 final tonight at the DY Patil Stadiun, Mumbai , he will be pleased as BCCI President to have successfully unfurled a new form of cricket entertainment to cricket fans not only in India but all over the world.

The IPLT20 have had viewers glued to their television sets leaving aside all serials & news channels for the last 45 days and the viewers will have to undergo withdrawal symptoms from tomorrow.

The games were good, fast & slam-bang-thank you ma’am kind. There were hardly any moments of boredom as the balls flew all over the ground and the bells flew frequently, too. Commentators had little time to discuss silly points over fine legs of the cheerleaders. Some of them reportedly had stiff necks watching the ball fly frequently outside the stadium.

Bollywood shootings took a back seat as Sharukh Khan & Preity Zinta, two of the eight franchise owners , decided to hug & kiss everybody on sight at the grounds they visited. Shahrukh even looked very happy & gay when he climbed on to Shoaib Akhtar’s lap. Vijay Mallaya , another franchise owner, had a hangover plastered on his face perpetually as his team happily lost one match after another, till there were none to loose.

Tonight as Rajasthan Royals led by Warnie , the captain that never was (for Australia), take on Chennai Super Kings led by Dhoni , the present Indian captain; everybody in the stadium (including Dhoni himself ) will wonder what made Deepika Padukone ditch MS Dhoni when Bollywood and BCCI gelled so well together in this new form of cricket entertainment.

Shed a tear for Dhoni. And that’s not because he doesn’t start as favourite in today’s match . If tears are in scarcity, take the help of some onions and remember it was the onions in a farmer rally that started it all & fulfilled Kalam’s long cherished vision , twelve years in advance.

For once, BCCI led by Sharad Pawar gets both the commercial and critical acclaims.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I am not sure how I got here, but what a wonderful way to start a Sunday. -How does one stop smiling?

Raul Bermudez
toymaker@parodicegames.com

JAS said...

Hi Raul,

Its equaly wonderful to start my Monday reading your kind comment. I am all smiles too.
Thanx.

Salty