Sant Kabir once said “Guru Govind Dono Khade kake lagun paya Balihari Guru aapne, Govind diyon batay”
Roughly translated it means that my Guru and God are in front of me, and the dilemma is : in front of whom should I bow down and touch feet first? Then Kabir gives the answer… I choose my Guru before God because it’s he who showed me God.
Since eternal times the importance of a Guru in our Indian culture has been great. Students left the comfort of their homes to go and stay with their Guru- to learn, to get educated. This is also the same land that boasts of students like Eklavya, who did not think twice before cutting his thumb and giving it to his Guru, when asked for it.
And yet what BCCI (Board of Cricket Council In India) did the other day went unnoticed. We all were too happy, excited, on the top of the world, celebrating our victory over the world-cup to pay attention to such a miniscule thing.
Its pouring money, ads, houses, roads, and what not on Dhoni and Corp.
I wonder what BCCI was thinking when it announced spot prizes of a crore each for each of the players and 50 lacs to the coach and the support staff.
Was is that “Yeh toh waise bhi jaa raha hai…” Why spend on him now?
With the kind of money that BCCI earns it cannot even say- we were short of funds!!
A spot prize is the best way of motivation- is what any theory of motivation will tell. Yet what it does not say is that unequal distribution (whether real or perceived) will cause more harm later on.
Gary Kristen’s contribution as the coach of this Indian team is huge. Everybody agrees to that. Definitely more than Sreesanth’s, Piyush Chawla’a or Ashwin’s. (even put together for that matter!!)
My question here is what image of India is BCCI trying to portray?
The person who will be considered for this job next knows instantly that although he is expected to work as hard as any player (even more!) and the country will blame him for a poor show, yet he should not expect to be treated on par with players when getting rewarded??
Why? Because in India we celebrate players? What about the people who worked constantly behind the scenes? Does the fact that a coach and the support staff leave their families in some other country to come and serve you for around 3 years, to make the dream of 1.2 billion people into a reality mean nothing to all of us?
Some people may try to argue that Gary Kristen was the only player apart from Sachin to be carried on the shoulders, which shows how much he is respected. Yes. But why did the players not stand up together and say that to the BCCI while cashing up the money? Why did they not demand equal rewards for their coach?
And to top it all, some of the so- called- cricketing- experts go to the extent of expressing that Gary Kristen should be retained in some form or the other..
BCCI seriously needs to learn from this faux pas and stop putting all of us to such shame…else people (Read : ungrateful Afridi) will keep saying “The people of India do not have a big heart….”
Only saying that we respect is not enough…it also needs to be shown.
Ashamed…
Abha Deshkar
09/04/2011
10 comments
What respect are we talking about here?
We do not even respect our players. Or for that matter – Legends…
Don’t forget how Kapil Dev is many times given that step motherly treatment by the BCCI, a Captain who led the Indian side to WC ’83 victory.
And are we also forgetting the criticism which Tendulkar received in between?
All BCCI respects is money…Hell it does not even respect Cricket for that matter…
Look at IPL 🙂
Thats a Cricket Bazaar…A money making profit centre for BCCI
Coaches ki to baat duur…
I agree.. kapil dev ko bhi toh rulaya tha inn logon ne..
With soo mch money riding on these ppl..i.e the players n coaches..least they can do is respect them..
The way they conveniently forget the past players is also a shame..
IPL was created only to make money..dats an open secret
Watch football 😛
Much better 🙂
Abha, I would slightly disagree on this ( not completely , its partially true )
What I would like to say here is , Yeah, Gary C has given his contribution and he must be retained by Team in one or the other way.
But on the other side, Do you think He might have given lessons to Sachin on how to Bat ? Or to Zaheer on how to throw a ball ? Or to Dhoni on how to manage team on different situations i
You will agree , lessons on ground does nt work much when actual war needs to be faced …. It jst gives you an overview of the situation.
( I am nt offending Gary , but enlightening the darker side ). Its dhoni who needs to judge the fielding when opposite player starts hitting sixes, or its Sachin who decides on time which cut needs to be played when Shoaib delivers a short pitch ball, goes above the shoulder…. Not the Gary…. And they all did it . That is the reason they are getting ‘everything’…..
When I came across word ‘Eklavya’ , many thoughts ran through ma mind . Remember, History also says that he learnt everything by his own because he had a stong will & dedication to do that . It was his hard work which achieved a level of skill far superior to that of Arjuna. Dronachayra was just a ‘name’ behind this all. Same is applicable here as well.
And yeah, I do agree the way BCCI behaves . When a 250 bucks worth “Student ticket” was sold for average of 1L and when total 20000 tickets were sold in such way, Its not hidden from India how much money BCCI has made here. ( For ICC , the ticket price was the same old 250 bucks here on paper, they might have made it through media and all , not in the topic ). It was jst one way BCCI made it , there are lot many better left unmentioned.
Here, they would have given the money to GC as well ,but it was the person behind the game who could nt make it happen. Reason is quite simple and obvious ( that is the one we Indias are famous for and the same one for which Anna has left his food ).
Players were having so called ‘Money Rain’ here and others were standing in a crowd watching the scene. That is something which needs some light & focus…
But more or less, BCCI wil never change its face. Its the same it was earlier. Now the wait is for a legend who can change this old writing and creates another history by turning impossible into one ‘easy go’ feast …
Cheers !!!!!
Don’t see much wrong with that. While Gary Kirsten’s contribution cannot be overlooked, at the end of the day it is the players who perform. If Gary Kirsten was coach of Bangladesh he wouldn’t have won the World Cup.
And the people who’ve really ‘coached’ these players are the ones who taught them the basics when they were growing up. If anything, those people should get some recognition. And the coach and support staff getting 50% of the bonus players get is not bad at all. Especially in a game like cricket, where most of the on-field tactical decisions are taken by the captain.
@Sharan
I cant help but say I agree with your comment…but not fully
Although you are right about the basics part and the 50% bonus we must also not forget that a coach instills discipline in the team,
may it be training schedule or the behaviour of the team.
And the coach does take major decisions in the dressing room/pavilion/prematch talks n also other times…and the captain, the coach and the team discuss and dissect and then decide the strategies. Remember the coach is not there to teach how to play cricket to players…he is there to guide them using his experience and his ability to observe and understand playesrs abilities. Coz no matter how much you have played, you always have something new to learn, dont you think so?
So a coach does play a lot of role in influencing the captain’s onfield decisions. And I think for that they deserve praise and respect from the BCCI more than the money.
I agree, I’m not underestimating their contribution, it’s true, you can always do with a guiding hand….. in fact, I was going to write that they should be rewarded in some way other than just monetarily….
but point to note : John Buchannan was coach of Australia when they were almost unbeatable, and then coach of KKR when they didn’t win anything….same coach, different set of players, different results….so my point about players being more important
And it is different for other sports…in football almost all the tactical decisions/formations are decided by the coach/manager and his support staff…the young players at a club brought through the youth system have the coaches and training facilities to thank…..so there the coach assumes a greater role….
Even here, I said that the ones who coached these players when they were young have played a greater part in their development…that’s not to say that Gary Kirsten and his team have not played a part…I just felt that the bonus they received was good enough….I’m sure the BCCI will felicitate/ thank them in some other way as well
@sharan
I hate to do this…but I have to agree with you! 🙂
@pranjal and Sharan : i think all has been said by the 2 of you…
Thanks! 🙂
i agree with u