THE IPL TAMASHA

The politician understands something well that we don't. 

It's the old Roman funda of Bread and Circuses. 

Bread: Keep the population fed with just enough bread so that they don't riot. Too little, and they will break down the walls and enter the enclaves of the rich, too much and they will start dreaming about joining the ranks of the rich. 

Circuses: arrange entertainment for them in the Roman Circus, read modern IPL. 

Put some gladiators in the field to fight each other. Make it a blood sport so that the  aggressive instincts of the people are vented out. Make it a mindless sport, anything  intellectual will not work. Make them root for one team or The other, make them identify with the protagonists. Every victory or defeat on the field, every match, will drain out their emotional energy and they will be completely consumed in the pantomime being acted out on the field. 

The blood and killing part has been replaced now with more civilized "hitting a ball", but nothing else has changed. The teams can be totally artificial, there is not even a single Kannadiga in the IPL team. Even the players don't belong to any one team, they keep getting "auctioned" from team to team. 

The fans are still there, and they are as inane, as mindless as ever. They rush to watch their "heroes" and even die in stampedes. They follow completely useless statistics, and create virtual teams based on the already virtual teams. 

Companies and advertisers sponsoring this tamasha pour in billions of rupees to catch the attention of the cretins who are screaming their lungs out in excitement.

Riches are showered on the gladiators for providing the population with their escapist fantasies. Politicians vie for photo ops with them. 

All this is necessary and the ruling classes understand it well. Keep the population at the most basic level of physical and emotional development, keep them fed just enough, and keep them screaming their guts out at inane mindless tamashas like the IPL.

The Romans said it thousands of years ago. Every ruler understands it instinctively. Give the population Bread, and give them Circuses. 

And give them hope, always keep them fed with hope. The politician keeps feeding the people with promises of a better tomorrow in this life, and where they stop, religion enters. Religion goes one step further, it keeps the population fed on hopes of a better afterlife, but that is another post for another day...