RCB : An inspirational story….

Ages have shown that story telling is inherent to human nature and forms an integral part of the human psyche. Messages and morals are communicated effectively through stories and hence, history is a living evidence that story telling is widely employed as a medium to communicate certain life lessons.

Well, I am trying to capture the story of a team, a city and a flamboyant owner as I see it. Why am I writing this? Because, in all the hullaboo of the celebrations around, one should look at the lessons left behind in this tremendous gala called IPL.

This is the story of Royal Challengers Bangalore a.k.a. RCB as seen by an unabashed fan.

As the saying goes, “When the going gets tough, the tough gets going“. Well this couldn’t be more true as in the case of RCB. Languishing at 6th spot in the table, the team was facing potential bottom half finish and wooden spoon if not for consistent performance. Reaching the pinnacle of being 2nd in the table is the testament to the team, the leadership, the support system and overall, harnessing the potential to the maximum.

Virat Kohli’s leadership is exemplary and his consistent performance should stand as an example for the times to come. The dedication and commitment shown is inspirational, especially considering that he has 9 stitches on his left hand webbing. I am not gonna go gaga over VK as there are better pundits and experts to comment about it.

But this the RCB saga. “Major on majors, Minor on Minors” was the mantra shared by the CEO of a startup I worked in almost a decade ago. Nothing could have been a better example than RCB’s resurgence from the dead this year. Harnessing their batting to the maximum, they have risen in the table on the back of some solid performances across the spectrum from their batting arsenal.

Not that the bowling is far behind, considering that 2 of the top wicket takers are from RCB. When both batting and bowling get going, it is pure JUICE… (P.S.: Watch Million Dollar Arm to know what’s juice :))

Coming out to the field and consistently applying their skills day in and day out has taken the team to the zenith it has reached. The finals await and all RCB fans are praying that we should be third time lucky.

As a fan, I am very proud of my team, with their application, their dedication and their progress in the latter half of the tournament. Obituaries and Memes were floating around when the team was down 6th. However, excellent performances have converted the most hardest of critics into fans of this great team.

As a city which loves cricket and supports all teams equally, I guess RCB has given us a lot to be proud about. I am sure in the days to come, the reason called RCB will leave a warm glow in our hearts.

RCB was the brain child of one of the most famous and flamboyant businessmen from Bangalore. He has been in the news for the wrong reasons and I am not saying that this should be reason to empathize with him. As a shareholder, I can feel the pain of losses and as an investor, I have my own perspectives of what is unravelling.

However, what is commendable is that the team is able to shut out the noise around them from this business angle and focus on their core strength i.e. Cricket. Human nature is to be a victim and RCB could have gone completely into this vicious negative cycle. However, Kudos to the team management to isolate the team from this noise and deliver to their potential and come out winners in life..

The finals beckon.. Prayers are reaching a crescendo.. Prayers galore for one night without rain…

Let the games begin.. let the best team win…

Let’s celebrate the reason called RCB as they are the true champions !!!

Cricket, Celebrations & Cash

Yipeee.. We are the champions.. Reminds me of the famous song by Queen. India did the unimaginable, the unthinkable and the unexpected. We won the Cricket World Cup. I guess the euphoria of winning cricket’s premier event will take some time to die down. The celebrations have begun and no one is planning yet to stop it. Lo! behold .. you have IPL-4. I guess the magic of Indians will spill over and am bracing myself to hear a lot about them in the coming days.. Oh just a rejoinder.. We have a few more matches.. I think 90+ matches

True that a sporting event success is unparalleled and as a society, we need to celebrate the same. However, what amazes is the tune of gifts, showers, plots, awards.. phew… one looses count of them.  Everyone’s patting each other’s back and there is no dearth of ballad singing of maestros and legends. All said and done, one needs to look at the fundamental questions arising out of these situations

1. Celebrate Cricket History – BCCI is mandated with running the sport and is definitely a cash-rich body. As an organization, it can felicitate the cricketers and reward them handsomely. However, why are the individual state governments jumping onto the bandwagon of announcing crores of rupees? Is the tax-payers money so cheap or do we intend to request more money from IMF or ADB?
2. Cricketers are already paid handsomely. There used to be a time (when yours truly was young), when cricketers played the game for passion and the payoff wasn’t handsome. Liberalization and Capitalism ushered in a new wave of contract oriented cricket coupled with Advertising. This meant that the cricketer went from being just a player to player and brand ambassador. The payoff was excellent and today’s cricketers are literally making the moolah. What is the point of giving them more money? Isn’t recognition in terms of awards sufficient?
3. In the corporate industry, the relatively senior guys (10+ years) quote a famous phrase during their interviews, “Organizational Parity“, which means everyone at a particular level (and performance) are treated at par. As a society, there will not be an ideal state where this would be achieved, but one should strive for the same. The recent turn of event throw up a valid concern. Do we celebrate others sports in an equal manner? Atleast, I couldn’t see similar awards or plots (wow) being handed over after CWG? C’mon.. India came second in a major sporting event, yet we didn’t celebrate. Is cricket the only sport we would like to advocate as a country and society?
4. Bharat Ratna: Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar is an amazing human being and crickter par excellence. Majority of us like him, some may have issues with him, but none of us fail to acknowledge his batting prowess. These days, media carries stories of people mentioning or lobbying for Bharat Ratna to be awarded to him. While in a general sense, he is worthy of it, why do others want to be too suggestive? Why are we putting our federal setup in an embarrassing situation? Neither can they announce immediately nor ignore. Each of them has a cost attached and I guess we can do less with more pressing issues at hand. Last, but not least, do we want SRT to be felicitated after asking so much? Won’t it be plainly better if he was acknowledged independently without any of us asking for it

The choice of path is an individualistic one and we have been endowed with the power of choice by our maker, God. However, we human species have been blessed with an equally potent power, the ability to think and reflect. I guess God wanted us to think, reflect, analyze and then make a choice. I guess the time exercise the power has come….

Postscript: To the external world, I may come across a frustrated individual who couldn’t make money. On the contrary, I am a huge fan of sport and passionate about my idols, to the extent that I follow Pura Cup games, Under-19 games, Zimbabwe vs Bangladesh Games, First class cricket in England and the Associate countries tournament.