Inflation Vs IPL

Its Sunday, Sunny & Simran are enjoying their weekend at home. Suddenly, while pouring milk in tea cup, Simran says: Do you know milk price has gone up once again. 35 Rs. / Lit.

Sunny: Yes, I heard our cancerous agriculture minister predicting the same 10 days in advance. Such a nice minister he is!! Every time the price of any article is to go up, He makes sure all citizens are aware of it well in advance. I like the way he manages the prices.

Simran: Have you gone mad? Is he there just to tell what the next thing to blow up is? Should he not try to control the prices? Look at the prices of primary articles. Go to some mall, then you will understand.

Sunny: See, first of all you don’t understand what he is trying to convey. (Sunny cuts lose….) Why the hell IPL is on? So that people should stay at home, watch cricket, drink beer & sleep. Who has told you to go out & shop daily? Look at me; I don’t go for shopping, so I don’t feel inflation. It’s all how you take it dear. Perception you know!!!

Simran: Keep your crap jokes with you. We don’t have to worry about our tonight’s food, that’s why you have lost your feet from the ground. Look around. People are starving. Even income of 10k per month is not sufficient these days. Do you remember your father’s first salary? It was 500 Rs. /month. Still all were happy.

Sunny: Please. Don’t compare. These are just unfair comparisons. Our life styles have changed & rather improved.

Simran: Tell me what has changed? (Voice & temp both are rising with each passing second)
Sunny: When my father was on job, there was no IPL.

Simran: You are just hopeless. There is no point in having healthy discussion with you.

Simran gives a cup of tea to Sunny & goes back to her work. These days she is doing painting to keep her mind stable.

After taking in some sips of Tea, Sunny start fighting with his excited neurons.
What are the real issues? Inflation or IPL? Amitabh or Afzal Guru? Shashi Tharoor or Shoib Malik? Dantewada or Dance India Dance?

Nobody seems to be worried about daily perils experienced by common man. We have a load shading of immense magnitudes. Those who can afford put generators, inverters. Those on the margins mess up their day & night without electricity. But our politicians are busy in managing their own egos, interests. Media channels continuously for 2 days reported what tricks Maharashtra CM applied so that he won’t share stage with our “Actor of the millennium”. People watch it religiously. Overall none seem to care.

IPL is of utmost importance to India. Even if “Mr. Arrested for Drugs” sneezes, it becomes a Breaking News. These days “Mr. Arrested for Drugs” & “Mr. Class within the Cattle” are having their own IPL running. Kochi team has managed to come into IPL with the blessings of our MoS External Affairs. But “Mr. Arrested for Drugs” wanted something else. Already Minister has lost his wicket along with the stake in Kochi, other scams related to IPL have come to the fore now. While all this was happening, ISRO has failed to launch its GSLV, “Mr. Be the change” has praised our cross border friend once again for showing some action dramas against Kasabs, Our “Red friends” have attacked investigating team itself in Dantewada, & Mumbai University, is bored of printing Question Papers itself.

How come we are not able to understand what is important for our lives, for our future generations? Agreed, we can’t do anything to change all this. But we can help ourselves. “Jo Khud ki Madat karana nahi janata, usaki madat to Bhagwan bhi nahi kar sakata” – dialog by Kaveri Amma in block buster movie Swades. Government, Politicians won’t be able to do anything for common people. Politicians are totally immersed in making their own life good, so we have to change our lives for good too. Only thing which we need to keep in mind is “Our lives can be improved without degrading someone else’s life.” We should strive for this. We can’t expect that government will provide enough electricity; those who can afford should search for their own ways to keep their homes enlightened. Same is the case with all other needs. Government is just not needed. We are our own government!!!...

Umpires start walking into the middle. After them comes Kolkata Knight Rider’s Team – Prince of Kolkata leading from the front. Young blood from Delhi is to carry a new ball. And suddenly a well known roar feels the stadium, Master Blaster is about to face the first ball.
IPL is on. Today it’s MI Vs KKR. Inflation? What it is?

Prasanna Vaidya
Prasanna.vaidya@gmail.com