The other day when I asked my colleague on what he generally does in his free time , I was taken aback by his reply.He said - "Nothing much.I have two room mates.One generally goes out with his girl friend , the other one who has been my child hood friend for the past 20 yrs just while away his time watching TV.We don't have much to talk about or share anything as we knew each other too well .On weekends, friends from other areas come and we booze.Right now , we need not think much about passing time since IPL is there.We pass time watching every ball of the match and once the match is over , we call it a day."
He is an example of an average young educated Indian who completed his graduation,got a safe job as a software developer and thus put and end for his quest for personal excellence.I found this typical mentality in some of the people I came across and this is actually making them less productive in the work environment since they "just do for what they are getting paid and not an iota more than that".No reading of books, no socializing with people from diverse back grounds, doing the same work every day , meeting the same people every day and whiling away the time in the same old manner. This is just killing their creativity and shutting down the doors for their progress.It is pretty sure that after few years , this monotony reaches a level that he would be unable to bear it and by the time he wanted to act upon it, he would have been left behind for couple of years.
Watching IPL for entertainment per say once in a while or to get relaxed during weekends is fine but following it continuosly for two months dedicatedly indicates a deep routed social issue. By preoccupying themselves to the IPL, these people are trying to distance themselves from their anxieties and worries without acting on them or confronting them.This would inhibit any other creative thought process that comes to their mind , make them post-pone things indefinitely and lose any golden opportunities that they might come across.
This is exactly why Colosseum was built in Rome. To divert the attention of citizens from more serious issues like corrupt senate, inefficient governance and personal problems. Emperor Vespasian who started building that great stadium thought if he was able to give people , a bang on entertainment channel , they would forget everything and cheer the king irrespective of his in-competencies. History says he and his son, Titus ,the next Roman emperor succeeded in doing so.
Times changed but the plot remains same.The television channels and global brands are benifitted with the steady rise in TRP's in our cricket crazy nation.IPL Franchisees and players got richer.Government is happy as people just ignored the rising inflation and offered little or no resistance to the rise in fuel prices.
The average young educated Indian now raises from his couch as the IPL ends ,ignorant of the fact that he is a pawn being used by various players making money , realizes that his problems got piled up during the entire season and starts thinking...whether to act upon them or look for another IPL-like entertainment which makes him forget the already existing problems, again ignorant of the fact that his decision has an impact of India's growth story.
Friends, feel free to air your opinions on this subject.
