The case of IPL minus I

A lot has happened over the last 2 fortnights, to easily predict this month to be the most happening one of this year. To remind you all, this is the month, when

- Symbols like lotus and hand would go backstage, to pave way for the posters with bat and ball, even though the fate of the nation is waiting to be rewritten.
- Lalit Modi would exercise more powers than Manmohan Singh, the hon. Prime Minister of India.
- the portraits of Sachin and Dhoni would make its way into the pooja hall of every house.
- when the chief election commissioner Gopalaswami, has to plead to Srinivasan(BCCI secratary) and Lalit Modi, to free up some dates, for the Loksabha elections.

In spite of all these, if you still find that you are unperturbed by these commotions all around, the only reason that I can think of is the shift of the epicentre, that has made the tremors look like jerks.Though it is right on the part of the Government of India, to send the IPL on exile stating the security reasons, it wasn't realised by its organisers, the amount of glamour and hype that would be lost, by holding it in a different nation.The volume of money involved behind the tournament is what made people go crazy in search of venues - in fact the first month of every financial year(from when this IPL kicked off), is when people all around the globe are made to wonder if India is the wealthiest nation in the world.And with this amount of desperation, I thought of suggesting Mr.Modi, to hold the tourney in the basement parking of my apartment, if he was not able to finalize any other venue.Remember,this is not a joke by any means - millions can make even monkeys turn mad.. why not us? But then, a country, where the Parliament closes early for a cricket match, or the schools and colleges declaring a day's leave on the day of a match in their city, or the entire film industry waiting for a World cup to get over to release even the films of Superstars, cannot be denied of the basic right of worshipping their idols by going to the temple (I mean the cricket ground) directly.Though South Africa is a nation, which has done a lot to promote cricket in their country recently, one will still not be able to hear the orchestra made out of the pumping of a million hearts, when Sachin comes out to bat, or view the frames of girls going crazy, when Dhoni swings his bat for a sixer.When this is the case for Sachin or Yuvraj, the likes of Sharukh,Priety and Shilpa, does not even worth a mention.Despite them being Pharaohs in their own den, they would go unnoticed, like the shadows of a passing cloud.Just imagine - how many of you would dance in joy, if Russell Crowe comes to shake his leg, at a match in Hyderabad... Same goes the story for Shahrukh.The only respite for the players, that I could think of, is that they don't have to get roasted like tandoori chicken in the scorching heat, at venues like Delhi and Chennai.

Though I had said all these, I am still happy, to atleast watch the show getting on the television screens, rather than waiting for it to happen.But the only request I have for you, Mr.Modi, is that never think of replacing the queen 'I' in the beehive IPL, ever again - we as a nation deserve and love to watch it happen, in that spot on the world map, which has the highest literacy rate in cricket, though the English men can claim the honour for inventing it.