Ok...It doesn't matter that I loathe Lalit Modi....doesn't matter either to him or to me! The IPL, at this point of time, is just absolute crap. 45 days of random teams playing 'hit the ball out of the ground' for all silly reasons- read mainly money. Fan loyalties be damned. How does one explain the crowd in Bangalore 'booing' Kris Srikkanth when he's shown on the screen, while Vijay Mallya got the cheers? For one, personally there is no real emotional connect watching these teams play, though I might cheer or jeer some of the teams. The emotional connect of watching the Indian team play against other teams-that's what has made what cricket and cricketers are in this country.
It was really sad to see Srikkanth being booed. The oft repeated statement in India 'Cricket is a religion' is becoming true. Becos, in India we believe in discriminating people on the basis of caste, creed and religion. Lalit Modi is slowly getting there. Remember the first India Pak tour in 1998, when India lost the match by 12 runs? The whole Chepauk gave a standing ovation to the Pakistan team, that decided to courageously take a victory lap. That was sportsmanship from the crowd and that's what we are known for, except a few incidents here and there- mainly in Kolkata! :P
Now, no one cares if the team that is playing opposite the one they are supporting plays good cricket or not.. No standing ovation, no cheering them. Soon, it will probably come to a stage, where, (hopefully not), fans will come to blows- typical of what happens in England during the football season. And Bangaloreans gave a typical example of that, in words and chants during their match against the Chennai Super Kings. As much as they claim they are forward looking, well educated, the Kannadiga emotions over language seem to come to the fore often, even though chief ministers of both the states might put up statues of poets. Statues are just symbols, they do not reflect the actual situation that exists on the ground. I shudder to think what would have happened if Deccan Chargers matches were played in AP this time around.
On the positive side, there arent many- I was there watching Chennai throw away a quite simple game against the Punjab team at the Chepauk last Sunday. Seated next to me were a couple of senior citizens who had come with their son, daughter-in-law and grandson. I am not sure if their son celebrated every four, every wicket. But the grandmother and the grandson were in full spirit. What amazed me was the way the elderly lady jumped with joy for every possible reason that CSK gave in the match. And that, to me, is probably the only success of the IPL. It has brought senior citizens to the grounds. A simple matter of spending just about 4 hours at the ground, rather than being confined indoors.
Thursday, March 25, 2010
Thursday, March 18, 2010
The shutterbugs
Scene 1: Trident Hilton opp Meenambakkam airport
5.20 p.m- We make our entry... people are lingering around the conference hall. To be specific, reporters and photographers. Some are inside the hall setting up their cameras and checking their equipment for their 'OB Live'telecast
5.35- A group of executives make their way through the corridor...everyone rushes into the hall. In a moment, the corridor outside is deserted.
5.38-5.40(approx)- Everyone's seated. "He ll be here in a minute," says one of the 'coated'men.
A few minutes later- Carlos Ghosn, Renault Nissan CEO walks in and takes his seat at the table to address the press conference, on the eve of launching their plant at Oragadam, near Chennai.
He talks for a few minutes. And then deafening silence followed by a splash of sounds. The silence lasts for may be 5 seconds. It's deafening cos everyone was listening and the sounds that followed was more overpowering than anyone trying to talk.
If a picture could speak a thousand words, that moment defined it for me. The 5 seconds of silence, rather a pause by the speaker, accentuated by a movement of his hand, had about 30-40 cameras go 'Click, click, click, click.......' each one clicking away a minimum of 10 pics, in single moment.
In another age and another decade earlier,when film rolls were used as the only way of taking pictures and camera's had to be rolled to rotate the film to next empty film and shutter speeds were way way below what's available now, the clicks might have been sparsely and scarcely distributed. That single moment, in a way symbolised how much technology has grown over the years. At the end of the day, just about one picture might have been published by each photographer's respective newspapers. But then, this is what technology is all about. The more number of frames per second probably gives a photographer a wonderful opportunity to showcase his skills and gives him/her a shot a capturing a better moment within just a second later.
Or is it just abuse of technology? Has technology given even people without enough talent to just go and make use of it, to eke out a living? A cameraman once told me that the real cinematographers were the ones who lived and worked in the age of 'black and white' films where lighting was the most important aspect of cinematography. While the new age hi-def cameras are boons of technology, may be the cameraman had a point. Probably, some of them survived on sheer talent, some by pulling others down...but nevertheless had to have a basic idea.
However, the age of 'crouching tehelka...hidden camera'and the camera mobile has changed everything. Tehelka was ahead of the times. But a few years down the line from now on, they might not have had to spend whatever they spent on buying spy cams and setting them up. May be the camera might move from a mobile phone to the pen in your pocket...or to even your shirt buttons. Anything is possible! But the 'click,click, click, click...' of the shutterbugs will go on... 'A second's pause might be deafening to the ears in the presence of a few tens of cameramen'!!
5.20 p.m- We make our entry... people are lingering around the conference hall. To be specific, reporters and photographers. Some are inside the hall setting up their cameras and checking their equipment for their 'OB Live'telecast
5.35- A group of executives make their way through the corridor...everyone rushes into the hall. In a moment, the corridor outside is deserted.
5.38-5.40(approx)- Everyone's seated. "He ll be here in a minute," says one of the 'coated'men.
A few minutes later- Carlos Ghosn, Renault Nissan CEO walks in and takes his seat at the table to address the press conference, on the eve of launching their plant at Oragadam, near Chennai.
He talks for a few minutes. And then deafening silence followed by a splash of sounds. The silence lasts for may be 5 seconds. It's deafening cos everyone was listening and the sounds that followed was more overpowering than anyone trying to talk.
If a picture could speak a thousand words, that moment defined it for me. The 5 seconds of silence, rather a pause by the speaker, accentuated by a movement of his hand, had about 30-40 cameras go 'Click, click, click, click.......' each one clicking away a minimum of 10 pics, in single moment.
In another age and another decade earlier,when film rolls were used as the only way of taking pictures and camera's had to be rolled to rotate the film to next empty film and shutter speeds were way way below what's available now, the clicks might have been sparsely and scarcely distributed. That single moment, in a way symbolised how much technology has grown over the years. At the end of the day, just about one picture might have been published by each photographer's respective newspapers. But then, this is what technology is all about. The more number of frames per second probably gives a photographer a wonderful opportunity to showcase his skills and gives him/her a shot a capturing a better moment within just a second later.
Or is it just abuse of technology? Has technology given even people without enough talent to just go and make use of it, to eke out a living? A cameraman once told me that the real cinematographers were the ones who lived and worked in the age of 'black and white' films where lighting was the most important aspect of cinematography. While the new age hi-def cameras are boons of technology, may be the cameraman had a point. Probably, some of them survived on sheer talent, some by pulling others down...but nevertheless had to have a basic idea.
However, the age of 'crouching tehelka...hidden camera'and the camera mobile has changed everything. Tehelka was ahead of the times. But a few years down the line from now on, they might not have had to spend whatever they spent on buying spy cams and setting them up. May be the camera might move from a mobile phone to the pen in your pocket...or to even your shirt buttons. Anything is possible! But the 'click,click, click, click...' of the shutterbugs will go on... 'A second's pause might be deafening to the ears in the presence of a few tens of cameramen'!!
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