“Sold!” said the auctioneer and some people clapped politely. “Now, number 215…. We open at 20 lakhs. Anyone for 30?” This has been the high drama on television for the last two days, literally, running for hours, with the usual ad breaks in between. The biggest auction of all times, the high point of the cricket business, the IPL auction is on. Prices are being called, crores of rupees are being pledged within minutes, and men are being sold. And that doesn’t see to bother anyone at all – neither the sellers and buyers, nor the men themselves, who are being sold in this glitzy open market. What amazes me more is that people actually WATCH the show on TV, and the channels vie with each other for the exclusive rights to telecast this live.
I wonder how different it was, when people were bought and sold in the markets around the world in the olden days? Of course, they were slaves, and these men here are celebrities. But then, if it is only the “treatment” being meted out to them is a matter of concern, then not slaves were tormented and illtreated. After all, we do have examples of slaves who went on to become even kings! So the fine line is between one agreeing to be auctioned, and another being auctioned without consent. I guess, even many of those auctioned without consent would have taken the offer of slavery over imprisonment or death, as prisoners of war. Of course, we do not endorse slave trade, or trading of humans for any purpose, for that matter. But we are completely happy to participate, actively or passively, in the auctioning of humans, because that suits the current business model for a very small set of people.
Every time I hear the sums of money being called, I flinch. I can’t help imagining how many hungry mouths could be fed for a year, how many children can be given an education, how many people can be provided basic healthcare, with that kind of money. And the poor scientist in me, selfishly wonders, how many research projects could have been funded with this amount of money!
Entertainment is important. I agree. But whose entertainment, and at what price? And, not to forget, all of this money gets pumped into a sport that a handful of countries engage in, while our country cannot afford to back sports personnel enough for us to make a mark at the Olympics. Imagine, the land that boasts of legends like Arjuna, Karna and Ekalavya, Bhima and Duryodhana, cannot win gold in archery and wrestling, and we are okay with it. We are okay with a handful of medals we earn every four years, we are okay with our Olympians fading away to oblivion, we are fine with not making a mark in football, we are okay with watching men being auctioned on television.
I often wonder, what does one do with that kind of money? Buy the next expensive car, throw insane parties, buy more property, spend the equivalent of an average person’s yearly income on one item of clothing, contribute to humanity’s carbon footprint extravagantly? And then, one of then donates to the PM’s fund during a crisis, a miniscule amount from these millions they make, and that becomes news. After all, this donation must have cost them a suit or a pair of shoes!
kathaykathay 