It is eerie how disparate news items are — if you examine closely — related to each other in a manner that provides interesting insights.

First came the news about how iconic athlete P.T. Usha was ill treated at Bhopal where she was present as the manager of an athletics team. It was sad to see the great athlete break down before TV cameras at the humiliating treatment she received. She quickly regained her poise and asked that the matter be closed.

This incident reminded us of the callous manner in which sports is administered. It also brought our attention to the almost total lack of professionalism in all walks of life that is our bane.

Moreover it called to attention the country’s lack of readiness to host the Commonwealth Games round the corner. But I wish to make a larger and far more critical point after I point the following news item out:

What the IPL has succeeded in doing is create a new generation of half-baked players with faulty techniques who strut around like superstars based on their dubious performances in the IPL.

This year in South Africa, Manish Pandey became the first Indian player to score a century in the IPL. He is nowhere in the ‘national’ reckoning. But in a recent interview he glibly explained how he has attained celebrity status due to that century and proudly stated how he now wears tight shirts with buttons open, low waist jeans, and spikes his hair.

The contrast between the way we treat our cricketers and the manner in which we treat stars from other sports is glaring enough. But the point I make is this;

We cannot but think along caste lines on any subject. When we think about any person, institution, event, activity, profession, game, dress, style — anything at all - we think along caste lines often without consciously being aware about it.

The Usha incident when contrasted with the Manish Pande attitude demonstrates how cricket is the ‘upper caste’ sport and how athletics is the ‘lower caste’. It is impossible for Pande to be treated the way Usha was even though Pande has yet to establish his credentials at any high level

I have one more provocative point to make. If Usha hade been fair skinned and good looking to boot she would have got much better treatment. We classify good looking people as’ upper caste’. In our ethos it is absolutely necessary to be endowed with white skin in order to be considered good looking. Usha unfortunately is no Sania Mirza in terms of skin colour and good looks and hence attracted adverse attention.

Look at the way the much touted India International Film Awards [IIFA] are held in exotic cities all over the world. If you notice closely, shorn of the glamour, you will find something outrageous the awards are given ONLY TO BOLLYWOOD personalities. Why is that so? Here is a guess—Southern stars - to take just one region of India - are too dark skinned to be seen on stage with the ‘good looking’ bollywood stars irrespective of the talent of ‘madrassi’ stars.

I was shocked at the response Amitabh Bachhan gave when he was asked to name the 100 best movies made in India since Indian cinema began.. He did not name even one southern film!!

I believe there is more than ignorance at play here. I also cannot believe that he sincerely but erroneously believes that southern films are not good enough. It is no coincidence that he is the Brand Ambassador for IIFA. Many readers may be executives who read business magazines. I ask this provocative question; Why is it that the front covers of such mags over the decades have been adorned by marketing, finance, CEO’s, CTO’s. CFO‘s but not project managers, materials managers, production managers?

There is a caste system here too! Do we treat the Middle East NRI with the same awe and respect as the US or Canada based NRI? Think about this.

It is true that people everywhere tend to resort to classification but for sheer contempt with which we treat those who rank ‘low’ we take the cake.I have more to say on this topic but I suggest you wait for my new book Can Indians Think?
K.R.RAVI