National Flag: Don't wear your patriotism on your sleeve

 How much do you love your country? And to what extent would you go to see its honour upheld and to ensure no one disrespects symbols that represent your motherland? This is a tricky one. Now try answering this one: Are you more patriotic than the person sitting next to you? Or than your neighbour?
The Supreme Court's order on Monday asking the Centre and the BCCI to reply to a petition that the officials had failed to protect the honour of the tricolour during cricket matches held in Kolkata raises these questions.
The apex court was reviewing an appeal against an order of the Calcutta High Court. A petitioner had moved the high court complaining that spectators had dishonoured the national flag during two matches that were played at the Eden Gardens ground in Kolkata.
Spectators, in various photographs that were presented as proof, were seen using the flag as a turban or putting it over their shoulders. This, it is contended in the petition, was a serious violation of the Prevention of Insults to National Honour Act, 1971 and the Flag Code of India, 2002.
While there is no standardised metre to measure patriotic fervour, we have many informal ways of grading it. You're different from the 'others' if you have a thumbnail-size tricolour brooch pinned to your breast pocket.
It is still, however, unlawful to 'wear' the national flag and to display it anywhere south of the belly button. If you have a beach shirt with the Union Jack design on it or a stars-and-stripes undergarment and thought of getting its desi version, hold on to that thought.... or even better, just forget about it. Such spontaneous outbursts of patriotism need to be exorcised as the misuse of the tiranga could land you in jail.
Honour and respect are intangible, superfluous social constructs that cannot be defined in definite terms. Attempts to give them a definite boundary, as the national honour Act and the flag code does, often end up creating confusion. Until there's more clarity on this, don't drape yourself in the tricolour on a cold winter night while cheering for Team India.

(This article appeared in the Hindustan Times on September 12)

The premium bad boys pay in the league

Cricket lost its innocence in the summer of 2000 when Saleem Malik and later Hansie Cronje were found guilty of match fixing. Ever since then when any team or player in form suddenly underperformed it was thought to be a ‘fixed’ performance. So when S Sreesanth, Ajit Chandila and Ankeet Chavan were picked up by the police for their alleged involvement in spot-fixing of matches in which the Rajasthan franchise of the T20 tournament was part, it did not surprise many. The spot-fixing allegation levelled against the trio points to a greater malice in the handling of the tournament and certainly robs billions of its fans the enjoyment with which it is savoured. The Dubai-Karachi-Mumbai betting nexus that is suspected to be involved in fixing many matches in the tournament points to a larger network behind this illegal activity. The presence of such betting rackets have not only turned the game into a farce but has also led to consequences outside the stadium like when a 13-year-old boy was kidnapped by his cousin after he lost money betting on the game. The Delhi Police, which has been at the receiving end of the flak recently, and rightly so, should be appreciated for bringing to the fore the dark underbelly of the Indian Premier League (IPL).

That the three players have been named a day after a one-year ban was lifted on three other players — Mohnish Misra, Amit Yadav and Abhinav Bali — shows that it is not the first time betting and cricket have found mention together. One of the problems is that the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has not done enough to ensure that such events are prevented. This is not the first time the taint of match-fixing, and the various forms of it, is being alleged with the game. The IPL, right from its inception in 2008, has been under the scanner for different financial irregularities. The income tax department has been investigating cases of tax evasion by certain team franchises, the CBI had taped conversation between bookies and IPL officials in 2010, teams have been accused of money laundering by sending funds through tax havens, etc. 
The BCCI has been quick to suspend the three players. The question is: Will more names come out in the open or will the trio be the fall guys while the actual rot in the system remains unmasked only to later appear at a convenient time and place? Will the ongoing domestic T20 tournament, or even cricket for that matter, be ever seen just as a game and continue to enjoy popular support? A lot of it depends on the fate of the current investigation. A thorough probe with proper action is essential to ensure that there is still love and respect for the ‘gentleman’s game’.