Err...?

A lot of heated debates and discussions of virtue are going around about the 'Mankading' of Jos Buttler by R. Ashwin in one of those IPL T20 Cricket Matches, yes that evolved form of Great Indian Royal Circus extravaganza organised to entertain the Elite-Upper-Middle class of Indian society. I just fail to understand why so much hullabaloo about a Captain's legitimate act to win a crucial game when everybody else is doing the same leading from the front (or top)...? I mean, why so many concerns about 'sportsmanship spirit' while every other trick – in the book or out-of-the-box – is not just accepted but presumed in every other form of contests? When every bowler is balling all no-balls, wide balls and even Bodyline when it is restricted long back as illegitimate, and every batsman is attempting all the unconventional, improvised at the very moment, including ‘Reverse Sweep’, shots to score as many votes... err runs, as possible, why R. Ashwin is to be blamed for doing something extremely dutiful to its country... err Team, with complete selflessness and full integrity? Moreover, he is at least playing by the rules of the game! So what if this is happening outside the Cricket ground... its election time, you know! Election in India is the Mother of all National Festivals as it is rare than even a Leap year that happens every 4 years; it occurs every 5 years and hence could be called as a Flip Year... On the flip side, err...!

Whenever it comes to the debate about Moral vis-à-vis Ethics, I resort to a story that I use in 'Corporate Governance' Sessions of my CSR Workshops.

A man purchased a box of very rare, very expensive box of cigars and insured it against fire among other things. Within a month he smoked his entire stock of cigars and without having made even his first premium payment on the policy, the man filed a claim against the insurance company. In his claim, the man stated the cigars were lost “in series of small fires”.

The insurance company refused to pay, citing the obvious reason that the man had consumed the cigars in the normal fashion. The man sued and won. In delivering the ruling, the judge agreed that the claim was flippant. He stated nevertheless that the man held a policy from the company in which it had warranted that the cigars were insurable and also guaranteed that it would insure against fire, without defining what is considered to be, “unacceptable fire,” and was obligated to pay the claim.

Rather than endure a lengthy and costly appeal process, the insurance company accepted the ruling and paid the man $15,000.00 for the rare cigars he had lost in the “fires”. After the man cashed the check, the insurance company had him arrested on 24 counts of ARSON! With his own insurance claim and testimony from the previous case being used against him, the man was convicted of intentionally burning his insured property and sentenced to 24 months in jail and a $24,000.00 fine.

It is for the Conscious-Keepers and Culture-Police of the Society to debate about what this Man’s Act should be termed as – Ethical but Immoral or Unethical but Moral or something else; we sure have this mentality approaching us with the intent of buying our rare, precious and invaluable ‘Vote’ and burning it in smoke of the factories of ‘development’ without even appreciating, let alone insuring it. And this intent is both Unethical and Immoral for sure. 

American Film Director Chuck Russell known as astute maker has stepped into Hindi Movies with ‘Junglee’ that released today. There is more to this film apart from Live Real Breathing and Running Elephants and Vidyut Jammwal’s Kalaripayattu skills but Atul Kulkarni once again takes the cake with his cunning poacher Keshav who ‘loves’ the animals for their ‘value’ that he can put a price on, for example Bhola’s 6 feet long Tuskers. Now, no matter how appealing, convincing and powerful Keshav’s expressions seem and lure, it needs to be remembered that he portrays a villain because of his commercial intentions that are equivalent to camouflaged agenda of crony capitalism.

Meanwhile RaGa seems to have struck a right chord, no, no not with the Rangeela Girl Urmila, that is a causality (or would be, sooner or later!) but with NYAY based on the principles of but different from UBI in execution. This Nyuntam Aay Yojana – Minimum Income Scheme is neither a boon nor a magic wand but, no prizes for guessing, is an election tool, a poll vow as it is generally referred to, but still it has definitely helped to bring a Real Issue (at least one) to the surface as the election momentum garners the heat. That way RaGa has surely taken an advantage by touching upon an issue that is close to Majority of the Indians who are too underprivileged to enjoy IPL T20, with or without its intrinsic controversies! Now the Billion Dollar Question (literally!) is, with 3.4% fiscal deficit, where all this money would come from? While Congress has claimed that it will reveal its ‘PLAN’ with details in its Manifesto, it could be safely assumed that owing to the unprecedented risen levels of income inequality in India in the post-liberalization era, the over-privileged(?) would be taxed creatively to fill the gap which seems possible with counsel of hardcore Economist and International Academician and Expert like Raghuram Rajan!

I have written about Social Justice in my Blog-post CSR is not about Profit but Justice! It is easier said than done, I know and understand but there is no other way to co-exist peacefully and thrive for inclusive sustainable development. And nobody said that it would be a piece of cake and whoever assumes it to be so is certainly overconfident or living in a fool’s paradise. It’s high-time for all the contenders as the People are well awake and aware now than ever and with about 10 Crore First-time Voters who are presumably uninfluenced by political views and focused more on ground realities dear to them, it doesn’t get any tougher. No Jos Buttler should make an advance by taking it for granted for, there is one R. Ashwin for every Buttler who can catch the later on wrong foot and send him home by Mankading! Vinoo Mankad couldn’t have imagined in wildest of his dreams that his simple spontaneous ‘thinking-on-the-feet’ act would go deep in history to change the course (and narrative) of the game... May His Good Soul Rest in Peace! Be it R. Ashwin’s legitimate but supposedly un-playful act or the Propaganda by the political parties prove to be the Pandora’s Box, it remains to be seen who succeeds in grabbing the Vote... err Genie and lock it in the ballot... err bottle!

Way to go...