"The Board flexes its muscles", screams one headline. "BCCI takes populist measures", screams another. And yet another says "Sachin, Sourav dropped; BCCI shows players who is the boss". In India, everything is an overkill; everything has to be dramatised; everything has to be a oppressed vs oppressor story. I am sure most of the channels that clutter up the Indian airwaves today stand prepared with two-three stories, all different from one another, whenever any newsworthy event has to happen. When something does happen, pick the most appropriate, read catchy, from the selected ones and keep the others for later; heck, there is bound to be another controversy tomorrow or day after.

Let me stick to cricket here. Imagine the recent board meeting when the BCCI invited some former captains and at the end of which came the details of the contract system getting scrapped, sending a younger team to Bangladesh etc. Of course the media went to town portraying our millionaire-cricketers as having gotten the short end of the stick. Seriously, one might get the impression on seeing the news channels that the cricketers would soon be sitting in front of India Gate and Charminar with bowls in their hands because of the bad, nasty board.

Leave aside the money factor. That is a separate discussion in itself which I do not want to mix with other topics. What I am sure of is that had the BCCI actually not gone for the drastic measure it did, populist or not, the channels would have been ready. "Under-performing cricketers count their millions as BCCI backs them", one would have screamed. "BCCI bends knees before player power", another would have shouted and the third would have wailed "No accountability for stars; BCCI brushes the world cup farce under the carpet". I am very sure all channels would have been ready with such headlines on the same day and at the same time as they were giving the stories about the BCCI's high handed behavior. It is just that these stories won't be used today; hey, Indian cricket is a circus; there is always another day when the clowns come to town.

The problem with the media, however bad or poor it might be, is that it cannot be ignored. Millions of viewers watch the programs over their dinners and finally, all said and done, you can't watch NDTV (Hindi / English), Star News, CNN-IBN, Headlines Today, Aaj Tak and DD News at the same time. So which do you watch; Obviously the one that gives the maximum masala. We work hard during the day; we want to watch something entertaining when we relax before turning in for the night; the channels are ever-ready for that.

Just like SET MAX has turned cricket broadcasts into a terrible hash of a soap opera, with its tarot card readers and noodle strapped anchors, Indian news channels are following suit. Day by day, the quality of news broadcasting goes down and the rhetoric goes up; cricket becomes a by-product.

There was a time when cricket was a game. Sometimes I wish I could turn back the clock.