Beijing has wooed the world

Deadly riots and a crackdown on protests in Tibet in March this year not withstanding, all the World leaders will squat in the 'Bird's Nest' to watch the spectacle of the Opening Ceremony of 2008 Beijing bOlympics. The ethnic unrest in Western China, brutal clampdown on resenting voices will not perturb Mr Bush and Monsieur Sarkozy as both of them have warmed up considerably to Comrade Hu.

During the torrid times of the torch relay, through a volatile Paris and San Francisco (followed by a farcical “run” in New Delhi), all and sundry cried foul over almost everything, starting from Tibet to Darfur. Nicolas Sarkozy almost threatened to boycott but later climbed down from his high horse. Maybe selling Airbus planes and nuclear equipment to Chinese customers ranks higher on the agenda of the French President. President Bush is travelling down to Beijing because he doesn't want to displease Chinese people. Maybe he doesn't count Tibetans amongst the “Chinese people”. Well there's at least one similarity between Comrade Hu and President Bush!

At the end of the day all the leaders have their reasons for not 'displeasing the Chinese people' and 'glitterati' of world leaders will be in Beijing on the 8th of August.

Sitting inside the 'Bird's Nest' watching the spectacle orchestrated by Zhang Yimou (of House of Flying Daggers fame), the 100 odd world leaders who are touted to attend the gala will hardly be bothered about what goes on in the rough terrain of Tibet.

China's regime has seized on the Olympics to boast about its development and portray itself as a 21st century global power. The Opening Ceremony will be enough to prove, as the fleeting glimpse that has been systematically leaked shows that all the artists, technicians and producers who have been working on the ceremony for years, encapsulating 100 year old Chinese history and tradition in a hour long show, that the Chinese have done a creditable job.

By attending the Opening Ceremony, will the world leaders give a sort of legitimacy to all the actions taken by the ruling regime of China? Only time will tell whether they will end up becoming some sort of props in the hands of the Chinese Communist Party.

This blog first appeared on the Expressblogs.

Why do we need a window?

This blog first appeared on expressblogs, my source of mutton, chicken & shahi panner!

All this talk of ICC creating a window in the ‘Future’s Tour Programme’ (FTP) for tournaments like IPL to flourish doesn’t make any sense to me. The basic premise of the Indian Premier League is taken from the highly successful soccer club competitions across Europe where international players play in various clubs but whenever they are required to join their international squads, the clubs have to let them go. There are no two ways about it. FIFA rules make it very clear that international fixtures hold priority over club clashes. But they make sure that when important matches are held, like knock-out matches of tournaments like Champions League in Europe or the tournaments in Latin America, soccer bodies don’t fix any game during that particular time.So it is a fine balancing act that keeps the multi-million dollar/pound/euro club soccer system going without harming the importance and relevance of international FIFA matches. Here the International cricket body, ICC, is mulling about stalling international fixtures to allow the ‘big players’ to earn more by playing in tournaments like IPL. To me personally it sounds preposterous to say the least. Whatever maybe at stake financially in tournaments like IPL, nothing can match the edge in clashes like India-Pakistan or Australia-England and that is what a true cricket fan wants.
Not a war minus bullets and slaps but a hard fought game in which cricket comes out as the winner. I am all for IPL and other tournaments like it and personally I love the Twenty20 format but frankly stalling international cricket matches for a period of time to facilitate cash-driven tournaments is just not done

Will sworn enemies kiss and make-up?

This blog first appeared on expressblogs, my source of mutton, chicken & shahi panner!

All of us have heard about great cricketing rivalries of the past, Gavaskar vs Lille, More vs Miandad but none of them had to face the dilemma of sharing a dressing room. Now Graeme Smith and Shane Warne aren’t exactly great mates but it will be rather interesting to see them put their head together to scheme an opposition batsman’s downfall. Similarly any opposition captain to have played against Sourav Ganguly will not wax eloquent about him and if it is a certain Mr Ricardo Ponting then the camaraderie shared between the two individuals is well, not exactly great to say the least. After sharing such a tense relationship on the field for so long its hard to fathom how these two players will gel inside a common dressing room or how Ponting is going to take orders from Ganguly on field! Your guess is as good as mine, but it will ensure that the paying public gets value for its money.