Independence Day? For Whom?

Today, the world’s largest democracy enters its 68^th year. A week before this landmark day, people suddenly realized that they are citizens of this country. Their facebook and WhatsApp profile pictures suddenly turned into the national tricolour, their pages began reflecting of patriotic songs, TV Channels suddenly began playing patriotic movies, and News Channels suddenly realized our brave heart soldiers exist as well so let’s do a show on them. Nothing can be as insulting to our country than this.

We live in a country where patriotism exists only on two days; today and 26^th January. We sport the flag on our shirts, sing the national anthem with wrong pronunciations, express sadness on the state of affairs of the country and go back to cursing the same country for the remaining days of the year.

Let us be really honest; we are not an independent country. We do not have the right to express ourselves; if we do so, we are branded anti-national, sent to jail and we are treated the same way a terrorist is treated. I do not need to give you examples; we are smart enough to figure it out.

Our tolerance levels are absolutely zero. We get offended at the drop of a hat. Someone makes a movie on a community; get offended without even watching it. Someone shoves you in a crowded train, get offended. Someone is an atheist and does not agree to your religious beliefs, get offended. However, if someone asks us for a bribe, we are quiet. Women are treated like garbage in our country, we are quiet. Our soldiers die an unknown death every day, we are quiet. We always end up at the wrong side of the spectrum.

The late Rajiv Gandhi once famously said, “Development is not about factories, dams and roads, it’s about the people.” It holds true for a simple reason is that until we change ourselves, we can’t crib about the rot in our system and neither can we dream of changing it ourselves. We have not changed is evident from the fact that Khaps still exist, ruling their village with an iron fist, women are still burnt alive in the name of dowry and that rusted rituals still form a part of our so called ‘customs and traditions.’

When people talk about these customs and traditions, they say our forefathers instilled this in our society. Too bad that they did not have a ritual of making a sad soul smile, they did not have a ritual of giving women the respect they deserve, they did not have a ritual of not spitting like sprinklers in the middle of the street, pass by the same place the next day and say “bahot ganda hai yaar.”

It is only when the power of education reaches the poorest of the poor in the society, only then we can dream of building an independent and self-reliant India; free from the bondages of caste, society and traditions and not influenced by hate mongers who only have their own motives fulfilled in the name of religion. Only then we shall be able to achieve true independence.

And last but not the least, my humble salute to our soldiers who in almost inhuman conditions are constantly there with a smile on their faces protecting their homeland. It is only because they are awake that we can sleep here in peace and mumble all the rubbish that we do all through the day.

I wish you all an Independence Day. Whether you wish to add happy or sad as a prefix is for you guys to decide. 

  

The Value of a football match referee in Mumbai: Rs 100

Our professor in college always told us, “Journalism can only be learnt when you step onto the field and not through books.” So as a part of our college assignment, we set off to Cooperage football grounds to cover the Mumbai School Sports Association (MSSA) U-16 final match between Bombay Scottish and St. Lawrence School.

Reporting for the match was a common task so we were asked to take various aspects of the game as our angle. When I walked into the ground I saw the linesman doing his job. I decided to base my story on him. Before the match commenced I had a word with him requesting him to meet me post the game for a chat. He was kind enough to agree to talk to a rookie like me. My initial angle was only to project how thankless their job was. What followed left me in shock as well as in shame!

After the game I managed to catch up with the three match officials and asked them about how it felt being a linesman in a sport that is not very glorified in India. “The generation has changed young man. We are not linesman anymore. People call us Assistant Referees.” one of them told me. I would not like to name the officials as secrecy would be ideal in such a case.

I broached the subject of them being in a thankless job. They admitted to this fact but also mentioned that they loved the game to such an extent that they did not mind not being thanked for the duties they imparted. During the course of the chat they also mentioned that their training is of extremely high intensity and it is only after clearing these tests that they are allowed to officiate in these games. They also agreed to the fact that they ran more than the players did during the 90 minutes and also joked that they cannot be substituted either if they are tired.

It is a true fact that they do not get the respect that they deserve. Football has a decent following among the youth of the country. People remember the names of players, goal scorers and to a certain extent even managers and coaches. But no one remembers who was the match official and who were his assistants. One quote from the official brought out the harsh reality of the treatment meted out to them. He said “When a team wins, it’s their calibre, when a team loses; it’s the referee’s fault”

What would you end up doing if you had only Rs. 100 on you? Have 8 Vada Pav’s? Have 20 cups of cutting tea? Or travel in a cab from Byculla to Colaba? I guess none of the above. You can use them to buy one kg of tomatoes these days. You may wonder why in the middle of this I asked you about Rs. 100? It is because THAT IS THE AMOUNT THE OFFICIALS GET PAID PER GAME ON SCHOOL LEVEL! Yes, only Rs. 100.

I would like to add that before the final commenced, the three officials were also officiating the Division II final played earlier in the day. So they were running for almost three hours at a stretch from one end of the ground to another. The reward for their effort? Rs. 100.

I was appalled on hearing the same and could hardly muster courage to ask them as to how did they make ends meet. To my relief, one worked at the Naval Dockyard, one had a travel agency while the other was a Cop with the Maharashtra Police. They did this only and only out of love for the game.

I once heard the legendary Kadar Khan say in an interview. “Har koi agar actor banega to writer kaun banega, director kaun banega.” Similarly, if everyone wants to be a player, who would want to be an official with such appalling pay scales!

Football may not be a glorified sport in the country, especially at the school level. But the administration has put all of us into shame by paying the heart of the game a measly sum of Rs. 100. But they can be proud of the fact that they are better than Raj Babbar or Montek Singh Ahluwalia, who said that we can survive on Rs. 12 and Rs. 28. In that comparison, Rs. 100 is a huge sum.

While the day was drawing to a close, we were figuring out as to where do we head for a snack and the school teams were busy celebrating their achievement on the field, the three officials, just like every unsung hero, walked into the sunset with their envelope that may have contained Rs. 100 as a reward for their services.