jEDI blogs

There was a time I thought sport being shown on Cable TV channels would be drastic for the Indian audiences.. India still being largely rural with 80% of the population having little or no access to cable at all. That was a long time ago! I’m not sure of the latest stats but that figure would have increased to 60% tops. Still there was hope that Cable TV could perhaps breathe new life into the already dead sports and interest the Indian audiences in other games thus breaking the death like grip Cricket has on us.

However, that never happened and all these new sports channels did was fight each other to the ground for Cricket contracts. Sure they showed other sports too, but just to fill the slots with no sponsors and no enthusiasm. That was until a couple of yrs ago.

In the last couple years, there’s been quite a change. Most people (who I know) now know who Theirry Henry, Christiano Ronadlo or Nistelroy is. Mention of names like Chelsea, Manchester United, Liverpool and Arsenal doesnt meet you with raised eyebrows anymore. Yes football is becoming big in India, only for viewing but still.. Good news. What is this post leading to and what has it got to do with Today? I’m not sure.. why does anything have to mean something?! read on..

Another lazy morning. I’ve spent most of it watching hockey. But its not some ordinary hockey, its PHL. Are we trying to match the Americans in everything along with their naming conventions?! If the yanks can have NHL why cant we have PHL? Apparently PHL or the Premier Hockey League has been around since 2004. I’m not sure why I didnt notice the birth of this historic league last time around but better late then never. So stand aside New York Rangers, Montreal Canadiens and the likes and make way for:
Sher-e-Jallandhar, Maratha Warriors, Chennai Verappans err.. Veerans, Hyderabad Sultans (how original) and Bangalore High-Fliers. There’s some more original names like Lucknow Nawabs and Bengal Tigers. The ones that amuse me the most are Chandigarh Dynamos (??) and Delhi Dazzlers. If what I’ve heard is true, soon to be launched are: Karachi Kebabs, Malyali Coconuts, Bengali Gulabjamuns and Afgani Khajoors. Ok I made that up but nice names dont you think ?

What made me really laugh was the cheerleaders! Listen people. Dont bring cheerleading to disrepute. Either do it properly or dont. Being fully dressed from top to bottom, moving no parts of your body, occasionally moving your pom poms like squatting flies on a deathbed does NOT count for cheerleading! Sigh! I know this is India but c’mon. Learn something from the ‘Kanta Lagaaaa’ girl. Ok, that was unnecessary but I got irritated. Cant help it! More on PHL later.

Tired of hockey wanted to see something else of interest. Sadly every third or fourth channel is a religious channel. Every year I visit I see a new bunch of religious channels on TV. Whats going on?? Is everyone suddenly *more* religious? This is the second proof on the same day that India is fast turning into America! Everywhere you see there’s Swami This and Mata That and Devi Philana and Acharya Dhimkana and God knows who? or maybe not.. I’m not sure if God really knows, but they all certainly claim to know God. All 99 million of them. Whats worse, its a known fact that many of these new found Swamis have a huge criminal record. Murderer one day, hunted by police the next and a new born Swami the third day. And yet people flock to these gatherings like flies to …. And I’m also talking about good educated people here. Faith really IS blind! Not everyone is a Valmiki.

What else? Yes India lost the third and final test today. I’d given up cricket but somehow get dragged back into it here. Why do I even bother?

jEDI