What conscience are we talking about? Where is the con science? Do you think all the people sitting in Parliament are conscientious people? So many scams are taking place every day but cricketing scams are cricketing scams. They give the politicians a bit of respite though.
ON CONFLICT OF INTEREST, THE UNFAIRNESS OF IT ALL
Honestly, I am not qualified to talk on this subject. But, on face value, can't you tell is happening? How deep can we fall? How much more unfair can we get? If we are still not able to gauge that, I think something is wrong.
Something is seriously wrong with our eyesight. You don't need rocket science to prove anything.
DISMAYED?
I am not dismayed as much as I am annoyed. I am very annoyed.
I am annoyed with my own fraternity. Some of the giants are sucking up to officialdom. They are not taking a stand. I am not dismayed because these things have happened in the past also, in the sense of hanging on to the authorities. But now, so much money is at stake.
WHO IS TO BLAME?
I look at it very pragmatically and I blame the cricketers. Right from the time this game took root in India, how many cricketers have been at the helm in terms of administration of the game? Cricketers as a lot have lost. They suck up to anybody, whether it is a bureaucrat, a businessman or a politician.
Whoever gets the opportunity, he grabs and makes the most of it. I have said that money speaks but it also buys silence. The whole thing is stuck deep in your gullet. You don't have a voice as there is a huge amount of money stuffed into your gullet.
ISN'T THIS WIDESPREAD?
For a start, who allowed that situation to develop when we talk of clash of interest? Who allowed India Cements to be a party to the Indian Premier League? The Board of Control of Cricket in India. They allowed Rajasthan, Punjab and Sahara, too, but my question is, what is the locus standi of these franchisees in terms of cricket? You just can't be passionate about the game for a month-and-a-half and then forget about it completely . If it is happening elsewhere, it is not so blatant. I don't think it is happening anywhere else on the planet on such a large scale, where one board can afford to take on the governing body of the world and dictate. Now, this kind of dictatorial authority is not what cricket is all about. If ever there is a democratic sport, it has to be cricket, not football, tennis or hockey or golf. And, in fact, when cricket was invented in England, it was invented as a social do. That was the time of recession in England, people were so depressed. They took part in a game to share the joys of being alive. And anyone who did not play this game was considered an outcast. So cricket has a lot of social connotations.
ON FORMING GROUPS
Whether it leads to it or not, hypothetically speaking, or if you have to go by an old English proverb, birds of a feather flock together. Like these politicians, whether from the BJP, the Congress or the NCP, they are together at the board meetings.
But in Parliament, they go their separate ways. They can stall Parliament but would not do that at a board meeting of the BCCI.
ON NOT BEING A GROUPIE
I can't comment on that. But it is impossible to imagine today that A, B or C will not be connected.
But a player's career is short...
For goodness sake, you are talking about the life of a sportsman but I say that the life of a human being itself is short. If you want to do something good in life, then you will find that your job is never complete and you are gone.
In any case, when we are talking about excellence, not everybody can achieve it. When a professional gets promoted, he or she gets promoted on merit. You can achieve merit but the only basis for achieving it is your ability.
'SILENT' PLAYERS SPEAKING AT COMMERCIAL DOS.
Now, if that is not the clash of interest, what is it? You have asked a question and you have answered it too.
THE WAY FORWARD
I am at a loss. I think I have been saying since its inception that the IPL is evil. Why are we allowing the evil to flourish? Shouldn't it have been nipped in the bud?
This is gross miscalculation of our social values. Every young cricketer who is passionate about the game -as we would like to think -is only passionate about the money and not about the values of the game as such, and what it has to offer.
IPL AS A CAREER OPTION
No, that is wrong. You want me to believe that Ajit Chandila had cricket as a career option? What kind of career is that when your foundation is standing on corruption? You are bound to land in a mess, like he did. My point is when they are getting so much money, aren't they getting saturated too soon? They don't have any more ambition to play for the state, for the country . You want to grab the money, come what may . Is that any way to create a professional field? They will not get, on their ability, to the level the likes of Sachin Tendulkar or Rahul Dravid have reached. But the human tendency is, let's get hold of the financial part. Now, if that does not happen on the field, it happens off the field. I am talking about human psychology, this is how it works. You are sharing the same dressing room where someone is getting tons and tons of money and you are getting a pittance.
What are we learning? We are learning an unfair way to catch up. This is my main grudge against the IPL, that you are not giving the kids a fair chance to exploit their abilities. They are only exploiting the situation to grab money, they are not exploiting the situation to grab cricket.