What is most fascinating about the whole rigmarole is that the IPL so perfectly captures India today. The economic reality of the IPL was all about tapping the tremendous and virtually limitless potential contained in India's massive urban middle class. Nothing sells in India as well as cricket and Coca-Cola, and Lalit Modi chose to exploit every last drop of blood from the former. He was an entrepreneur and a visionary (although most people would argue that he stole the basic idea from the ICL, let us remind ourselves that several of the most successful commercial ventures in history were not original ideas). He used the BCCI's long arms as a springboard to sell his idea. He pursued his goal with zest and determination. And he achieved staggering results of global proportions - the IPL enjoys unbelievably high TRPs in half a dozen countries, the advertising slots command astronomical prices and still there is no dearth of demand, the ICC has held several debates about carving out a "window" for the IPL in a packed international schedule and most tellingly, the IPL has become (by a rough and highly conservative estimate) the fourth most valuable sports venture in the world. Let us pause for breath and remind ourselves that the IPL is just in its third season and lasts for less than two months every year!
That, in a nutshell, is the economic face of India. We are determined to conquer the world. We stand on the threshold of economic greatness. This is a juggernaut that can conquer everything in its path.
The other reality of the IPL epitomizes who we are as a society and what we cherish as personal or moral values. There are allegations that may never be proved, but the stories are striking. Allegedly, Modi manipulated the rules of the game to suit his best interests. Allegedly, he interfered with the market by rigging auctions and fixing bids. Allegedly, he exposed his crass moral immaturity by unflinchingly branding a lady entrepreneur as a woman of loose character and by exploiting her sex to pronounce moral judgement about her closeness with a political rival. Allegedly, he laid bare his base craving for fair-skinned females by getting foreign models and professional call-girls into drug-filled, testosterone-driven post-match parties. Allegedly, he curried favour with powerful men who belonged to his caste.
How different is it from what we are? I am not referring to our business dealings alone here. How many parents will settle for nothing less than "fair and slim" wives for their sons? How many people would not use their near and distant relatives to get accelerated response from government bodies, right from getting a passport out of turn to getting a house plan approved to ensuring uninterrupted electricity supply for their immediate neighbourhood? How many of us think twice before offering a bribe to anyone and everyone in the hierarchy, whether post office clerk or High Court judge, to get "our" work done? We are still a strongly patriarchal and disgustingly male chauvinist society, as is evident in every stage of a woman's life.
And then there's the king of all hypocrisies - religion: we use the name of God to justify every otherwise-unacceptable deed or thought. I am waiting for someone to claim that their act of wrongdoing in the IPL was motivated by religious beliefs, or for Modi to convert to Buddhism.
