Off the beaten path...

...I'm Not.

I finally succumb to the great Indian (with a capital I) entertainment extravaganza called the IPL. For the as yet uninitiated, and there shouldn't be many, since even the NY Times is carrying the news on the IPL these days: IPL stands for the Indian Premier League - a cricket league where the franchises, with fantastic names like the Kolkata Knight Riders and the Bangalore Royal Challengers, battle it out in the Twenty20 overs version of the cricket. Best part - it's like the English Premier league: there's sick amounts of money (SICK - and the salary cap is coming OFF next year), there's international stars (as usual, the Aussies rock), and an international TV following. Unlike the EPL, there's cheerleaders (which, btw, are probably what people come to watch the matches), every match is studded by Bollywood stars (who are bigger than the sport at these games), and the skill level isn't all that high. Well, that's for snobs (like me?) who think that this "version" of the game highly dilutes the skill quotient. It does. There are none of the orthodox drives, the patience, the timing of the ball etc etc. It is बिंदास गल्ली किरकेट (bindass galli cricket ~ No worries alley cricket).

Which is probably why it touches the heartstrings of so many Indians. Finally, you get to see people being paid your entire life-earnings in 3 hours for doing EXACTLY what you do for free in your own alley. There is no skill involved, बस धन धनाधन देते जाओ (just keep whacking at the ball basically). And you have to admit - it IS entertaining. It's just like baseball (for those uninitiated to cricket itself "gasp, horror"): nobody comes to watch the pitchers pitch well, non? People come for the batting, the runs.

And runs are in ample supply at these games. There's just something exciting about this bite-size version of the game that you'd wanna just eat it up. This recent tendency of gobbling up bite-size anything is probably the reason behind my recently expanding waistline (if you haven't noticed from all the pics yet).

So yah - I go tomorrow with 4 others at GDL to watch this match. A respite from a busy week at GDL (is there any other? Well, this one didn't START busy at least). Between the Rajasthan Royals (go team Rajasthan) and the Delhi Daredevils. In celebration of Radhika's b'day (but, alas, she'll be at home preparing for her GMATs, along with our brand new English trainer and his wife).

And as I sit there in mighty expensive seats (I pay more for that 3 hours of entertainment than my Teaching Assistant gets in half a month), undoubtedly a part of my guilt-ridden mind (uff, how do I get rid of this negativity) will be thinking about the precise subject of this post: how off the beaten track is this?

And does it matter? I mean, isn't intentionally doing something different just an ego boost that says - I'm not like the others, I'm special, Better?!? Or as every smart businessman will tell you, it's the only way to sustain a business - what's your differentiator? Couldn't I be spending this time finding a way to make सांगरी का अचार (sangri pickle - sangri being a famous Rajasthani vegetable that grows on the khejdi tree), as I had planned. Where I'd get this stuff, find some women to make it, market it, and give 'em the money? Or maybe actually paying a visit to Swami uncle to see how he's doing after his fever? Or going to the wake of my Teaching Assistant's grandfather?

No, those are not questions of the beaten track. Those are not even just questions of a busy schedule and/or prioritizing (remind me to write long about that one day). These are simply questions of a guilty and confused mind whose integrity is being called into question. And that question of integrity, of what I believe I am, what I say I am, and how I act, is because of the central theme of my entire life: shifting identities.

I came, I saw, I became Indian. But with two months before I go back to the US, I will now leave, I will now see and re-see, and I do not know what I will become.

I guess you could say I'm just On The Cusp ;-). Welcome to the blogging world my friend.

Good night.