A proverb comes not from nothing. Proverbs come from the experience of life itself. I have always advocated linking learning to life. So what better opportunity than IPLgate that has opened a can of worms?
Here is a crash course in understanding proverbs and their meanings in relation to the grandmother of all scandals.
All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy: Obviously, play is important. Cricket is play. Then cricket became so serious that they need to play to get over the work of cricket. So instead of players, they get film stars and cheerleaders who all play for the cricketers.
Appetite comes with eating: So the more everybody made merry, the more they got greedy.
Actions speak louder than words: What they said and what they did were not the same thing. In fact some chaps misread auctions for actions. As a result, auctions become louder.
All that glitters is not gold: All the razzmatazz, the sparkling wine and sparkling women appeared to be gold. And where there is gold, gold diggers will come.
A watched pot never boils: Nobody looked at the melting pot of politics, money, actors, cricketers, glamour girls/ boys and the media. The melting pot began to boil even as those in Pawar, sorry power, looked the other way.
A man is known by the company he keeps: Tharoor can write novels but does he not know this simple proverb?
A chain is no stronger than its weakest link: The chain of money, politics and power is a strong one. But hit it where it’s weak and it comes undone. Members of the opposition thought that IPL had nothing to lose but its chains and went at it with hammer and tongs.
A fool and his money are soon parted: As a result, everyone started running for cover. We stand nothing to gain was the refrain. What? With figures that could feed a hungry nation? Tch, tch. Poor fools.
A friend in need is a friend indeed: This is the time when you come to know about your friends. The media discovered Lalit Modi’s college friends while Modi began to run to find one.
All roads lead to Rome: Tharoor ran to 10 Janpath. It didn’t help because Rome is no longer home.
All’s fair in love and war: Now all kinds of leaks have sprung between emails and conversations as everyone settles scores (not on the field, of course).As you make your bed, so shall you lie on it or as you sow, so shall you reap: It’s a bed of nails if you take the former proverb and it’s a cactus plant if you take the latter one.
A good conscience is a soft pillow: So only those whose definition of sweat equity was what you got after a hard day of honest work can afford to smile and sleep.
All good things must come to an end: All that glamour, glitter, excitement, all that made the IPL more exciting than the Cannes awards ceremonies, suddenly disappeared in smoke greater than the volcanic eruption of Iceland. And I could only cover proverbs beginning with ‘A’ with the IPLgate!
The nation is amused watching other people’s dirty linen washed in public. They say a scandal a day keeps the doctor away.
The above article was published in the Ahmedabad Mirror on 24/4/2010