The other name Of cricket is tragedy
Till the other day perhaps most Indian parents would have dreamt that their sons could one day emerge as cricketers. The name, fame and glory – the three elements of modern day achievements came to these mortals rather easily and a few of them also attained almost immortality in the process. Look at Sachin Tendulkar; fans and journalists, writers and netas do not hesitate to treat the master blaster as ‘God’.
But not any longer maybe. The rare ignominy about ‘disgraced cricketer son’ has been now first echoed in the painful voice of aging Santhakumaran Nair, whose son S Sreesanth has been arrested and is cooling his heels behind bars, his offence being: he played ball with the bookies and fixers and tried to manipulate the sporting event. Sreesanth has played for India and thus when the Delhi police announced his arrest along with two other players, the cricketing fans across the country and beyond were anguished and hurt.
IPL star Sreesanth and his two Rajasthan Royals teammates, Ankeet Chavan and Ajit Chandila were arrested by Delhi police after a month long vigilance on them under the personal supervision of Delhi Police Commissioner, Neeraj Kumar.
“It’s a black morning for me and for those who have played this gentleman’s game,” came in terse regret from former Indian wicket-keeper Syed Kirmani, who also wore the Indian cap in the 1983 World Cup winning team. The lid off this shameful chapter of Indian cricket, a great national unifier otherwise, was taken out by Delhi police.
Every monsoon, hilly states like Mizoram often bear the brunt of nature’s force in the form of landslides. During the rainy season, the young and unstable topography, heavy rainfall, the rapid pace of rampant urbanization, deforestation and denudation of hilly slopes are potent factors that make nature’s time-bomb tick faster. Aizawl, which unlike other capital cities of North East India is spread across the spur of a hill range and Gangtok that too, is built on a hilly slope though the altitude and terrain being different are much more prone to such acts of nature. While the monsoon brings a sigh of relief and a fresh lease of life in the rest of the country; in the hilly states of the North East it often brings forth uncertainty and destruction.The monsoon here is the most trying time as landslides cut off vital roads snapping all links with the world, sometimes for weeks. Earthquakes are another Damocles sword that hangs over the region as the entire North East region falls under Zone 5 on the seismic scale referred to as the Very High Damage Risk Zone. Sikkim was put to the test in 2011 when an earthquake struck it.
The issue of the age old perse cution of Hindus in Pakistan ever since its inception ranging from loot and arson of their houses, desecration of temples and shrines, forcible seizure of their business premises, kidnapping and ravaging of women has reached a stage where their lives have become totally insecure. So far, 480 Hindu families who came on visas from their native land of Pakistan for the holy Kumbha Mela have sought political asylum in India. Their statements before the media reveal the well-designed move of Islamic fundamentalists to drive them out. The population of Hindus which stood at 22% in 1951
Let us turn back the pages of time to the august day of the 15th of August 1947, the day on which India shed its shackles of bondage and exploitation to free itself from the oppressive rule of the British. For many an Indian, that 15th day of August is a day in which hopes were born and the power of self determination was taken into our own hands. Momentous as the occasion was and however great the promises it held for us Indians, these promises of a better tomorrow have today been sabotaged by our own hands.
Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh came to Assam on the 15th of May barely for two or three hours. He came here not to stem the growing dissidence in the ruling Congress party threatening the stability of the Tarun Gogoi – led ruling establishment that has nowadays been the hackneyed subject in the print media in particular across the State. The question here is – Why did he come here on a whirlwind trip? He came here purely on his personal assignment, that is to file his nomination papers for the May 30th Rajya Sabha elections.
