Money Won't Give Success

Manchester City’s million dollar bid for Kaka has shocked many, including the revered Sir Alex Ferguson. There are many (and I must confess to belong to this group) who snigger at City’s attempts to attract the best talent in the world via the bucket loads of cash they now posses. It is indeed comical for a club which fights to avoid relegation every other season harbor illusions of being the best club in the world. The Sheikhs who bought City would have been no doubt inspired by the Abrahimovic story at Chelsea, but the Londoners had a number of world class players like Frank Lampard, John Terry before the oligarch took over; therefore, it was easier to convince players like Didier Drogba, Michael Ballack and the rest. In comparison, the only world class player in the City team is Robinho, and even he came to the club after the Arabs took over. Stephen Ireland and Richard Dunne are not in the same as league as these champions, while Shaun Wright-Philips is a perennial under-achiever.


So must there always be a hierarchy of a handful of clubs, and must only these clubs fight for glory? No, but the methods employed by the likes of City and dare I say it, Chelsea before them, are obscene. All the big clubs in the world (Manchester United, Barcelona, AC Milan, Real Madrid, etc) have history. It took years for each of these clubs to be in the position they enjoy today. Many of these clubs became what they are after starting with limited money; the millions we see today was a by product of the success, the money was not a cause for success. For many of the best players in the world, ambition and ability to back it up with tangible results is the main criteria, money is only secondary.


Modern Day football is big money business. In today’s globalised world, matches in Europe are followed with equal amount of passion by fans in Asia. Ticket sales alone do not contribute to the club’s coffers; TV rights, merchandise sales contribute just as much, if not more. This has resulted in a situation where a handful of world class players are chased by hundreds of clubs. The biggest beneficiary of all this is the player himself, and he cannot be blamed for wanting to earn as much as he can in the 10-15 years that he plays the game. However, after a point, money becomes secondary; the player seeks to gain recognition as a player. Thus, he invariably plays for a club which has history, ambition and the talent to supplement the ambition. The reality of modern day football is that a club which fulfills the above requirements can also offer the player the six figure salary he seeks. If a player moves to a club solely for the money (like Robinho), the arrangement is bound to be a temporary one, with happiness and satisfaction eluding both the club and the player.


It is therefore a relief that Kaka has rejected a move to the Eastlands. If the deal had materialized, football would have been the casualty, for there would then be no morals and ethics involved. We must therefore be thankful that money has not corrupted a fantastic player, and this would discourage similar stories from happening in the future. Indeed, it would have been fantastic for the Premier League to have a talent like Kaka, but this would be no compensation for the grievous harm caused to the game. Teams like Manchester City can seek success, but they must realize that success would mean a lot of hard work spread over decades. Money will play a part, but it must not remain the primary means for achieving success. Maybe one day we will see City in the Champions League on a regular basis, but it would be a shame if this were achieved by basically bribing eleven of the best players in the world.

Life Is Good!!!

Aah, Life is good. Seriously. I know this would seem a little out of touch with reality in this milieu of recessions and frauds and blackmail by a failed state, but I refuse to be sucked into this whirlpool of depression.

Therefore, I shall celebrate the good things happening around me, the best of which is that come May, I would officially be an Engineer. Yay Me!!! Srinivas Chandrasekhar Mandapati, B.E. Has a nice ring to it, no? As I continue to evaluate the endless wonder of my new name, as it were, I am reminded of another fantastic event- the end of George Bush’s presidency. If all goes well, we could even get mukti from the biggest challenge to our sanity- Himesh Reshammiya and his suroor. Definitely something to be happy about (I couldn’t care less for the sods who appreciate his music and his acting!). I am sure I am in a majority when I say that I will be over the moon if he sticks to the reality shows…for eternity.

Now the one thing that positively makes me giddy with joy (besides my degree) is the masterpiece Deshdrohi. For a person who turns to endless re-runs of Friends for comic relief, this is manna from heaven. A complete swadeshi mode of entertainment and if you ask me, it is also the best antidote to all those wallowing over the multiple crisis’s. Can you blame me for being contended when I have such fascinating events and modes of entertainment to look forward to? And so, life is good. It just got better, because Manchester United have thrashed Chelsea 3-0.

Liberalism-Still India's Salvation

The world economy is in shambles. This has prompted many to declare that this crisis marks the end of capitalism. What does this mean for India, where liberalism has been in practice since 1991? I am no economist, nor do I claim to be an expert on the subject. My understanding is based on common sense, on statistics and the experience of a 21 year old that has had the fortune to be raised in a middle class household. It cannot be denied that the middle class has been the biggest beneficiary of the post-1991 policies, for could a family like mine own a car, a house of our own and live in comfort if change had not been brought about? My story is similar to those of thousands of Indians, many of those studying in the best schools and colleges in the country. We are not elitist; we are just making the best use of the opportunities available to us.



However, I see the pain of the less fortunate everyday, and it makes my heart bleed. There are many who say liberalization has failed. Many who say the benefits have not reached the neediest. Just as this cannot be denied, a system which brought about 3 percent growth at an average cannot be seen as a substitute. Socialism is hypocrisy. We have practiced socialism for more than 40 years. What did we have to show for it? A nation that begged the international community for money? A nation, whose best sons and daughters left its shores disillusioned, convinced that their talents would forever go waste if they remained in the land of their birth? If India is respected, even feared by some, it is due to the massive progress we have made in the last 17 years. Otherwise, we would have forever remained a land of elephants and snake charmers in the eyes of the world. However, amidst all of the euphoria, we must not forget the story of the farmer who commits suicide because he cannot pay his loans; of the child who leaves school as his parents cannot afford the cost of his or her education. This presents an opportunity, for a system that worked for the 300 million bourgeoisie Indians can surely produce the same results for the millions in our villages.



Yet, liberal economics in itself is not a solution. No single ideology can claim to the only solution to all our economic woes. We will need to be flexible as rigidity will get us nowhere. We cannot remain prey to the insecurity that suggests that we need to protected, nor should we remain apathetic to the woes of the common Indian tilling his land everyday, hoping for a better tomorrow. The votaries of the old order say that the present crisis in the world and sectors of our economy is proof that our economic policies have failed. Common sense dictates that every ideology has its faults; what should be determined is whether the good outweighs the bad, and one must strive for improving upon the good and eradicating the bad. This is what these people fail to grasp. The crisis is not an excuse to fall back to the old incompetence; it offers us opportunity to identify the mistakes that have been made and improve on it. Competition offers a scope for improvement, not the “curbing of autonomous development” as many so called experts have so colourfully declared. If I am exposed to highly skilled people, I will only improve. This is not esoteric, expert mumbo-jumbo; it is plain common sense.



To be honest, I do not understand half of what experts talk about these days. But I am convinced that often the simple route is the best. All our problems have one simple solution, common sense. And common sense tells me that in every crisis lies an opportunity, because crises do not arise unless there is something wrong. This may be an absence or regulation or a case of too much government intervention. I am convinced that the policies we follow will take us to the development and self sufficiency we seek. Yes, there will be hiccups, but these will only mean that we need to improve on the foundation. The tallest tower in the world cannot be built without the strongest foundation. Similarly, the policies we follow today will lead to India being one of the biggest economies in the world. Would this be possible if we had allowed the old order to continue? The most obvious answer is no.