The back foot gamble

It always fascinated me how easy it was to save your wicket while playing cricket with a tennis ball (a tennis ball T20 would rock). All you had to do was to remain on the back foot, and thump loose deliveries to the square region. That is, of course, only a temporary recluse from the inevitable. Along came one fine yorker and you were bowled. But the back foot defense prolonged the eventual likeliness of having to warm the bench. Apart from the cricketing arena, one glance at the domestic and worldwide affairs would suffice to to confirm what Sehwag swears by- Attack is the best defense! The back foot gamble fails more than you would imagine.

Julian Assange has gained a lifetime of notoriety artists like Kanye crave for. First the Wikileaks and then the ongoing trial against him on the charges of sexual misconduct. While India has fared poorly on the Wikileaks-scale so far, a fine discovery by 'The Hindu' yesterday brought the repercussions of a breach in confidentiality to the global forefront. Apparently, during the contentious and politically volatile trust vote in the parliament over the Indo-US civil nuclear deal in 2008, the Congress party, while is slowly turning into the disgrace party after been embroiled in one scam after the other, had a war-chest of cash ready to buy out the opposition MPs. A good clue to future entrepreneurs, if bribery in the legislature does come out in the open, you might want to set up futures markets in this cash-rich sector. How has the government responded? In characteristic and firm style of yore, by going on the back foot and coming up with technical reasons, the likes of which only Pranab Mukherjee can conjure from his vast legislative experience. I mean, isn't he correct?After all, if a scam happened at all, it did during the 14th Lok Sabha term, and like all good fairy tales, that book is closed now for a new beginning in the life of Indian democracy. Similar acts of defense were witnessed during the government's stoic opposition to the popular demand for ouster of former telecom minister A. Raja, who might very well be conferred the title of a raja for amassing all the wealth he is alleged to have. In the end, the Supreme court stepped in and Raja was ousted. More shame for the government followed in the form of the Thomas affair, when the SC deemed his appointment to the post of CVC illegal. The UPA had gone to the extent of saying that Thomas' integrity is beyond doubt since he was empaneled as a cabinet secretary. Just like when Sibal stated in true Harvard educated lawyer-style that the media was fooling the country and no loss to the exchequer was accrued. They defended hard, but the evidence of misdemeanors found a gaping hole in their defense.

If these failed defensive exploits were not telling enough, the world leaders were on the backfoot for a while on the contentious issue of implementing a no-fly zone over Libya and saving the lives of thousands who dared to challenge status quo and fight for the vision of democracy. In fact, even the current endorsement by the UNSC of a potent resolution might be too late for the rebellion to stay afloat, with Gaddafi's army breathing down its neck. The US was wary of stepping in, and it cannot be blamed for doing that. After all, the Iraq and Afghanistan wars have left its economy in shambles, and both countries are still struggling to find their feet after the military efforts there have been downgraded significantly. But the vision of world leaders paying lip service to the collective uprisings in the Middle east has left quite some people anxious at what the future could hold. If countries like the US and India, which hold individual freedom and democracy in the highest honor, do not protect the rights of humans sharing similar aspirations elsewhere, things might get pretty easy for the more brash countries (India, incidentally, abstained from voting on the UNSC proposal to sanction military action over Libya). The back-foot guys, the back-foot!

It would be interesting to see how things shape up in India in the coming months when the election season gets in its full stride. How many back foot defenses would the Congress be rewarded for? I hope it doesn't end up for them like it did for the West Indian cricket team against England, when one innocuous back foot prod from Sarwan stuttered their chase and kept the maverick English team's hopes alive.

This video has apparently become the talk of the town since it hit the web (courtesy NYT)

Thank god for students at the IITB library being more tolerant!