Show- shaa di duniya

Once again my view that it's all a business, it's all a show is strengthened. show doesn't necessarily mean hype, but also the sheer impact and usefulness of audio-visual impact. sample this, me and my family together watched the Austrailian Open men's singles finals. Roger federer, no 1 seed vs maverick Marcos Baghdatis. now, as it happens, a loadful of people have no knowledge of tennis, the scoring, the players etc. so the conversation was limited to- arrey red wala jeet gaya (red one won- which actually meant baghdatis got the point), yeh marks to hamesha gadbad dete hain (their scoring system is all screwed up). here, the importance of both wearing different colour clothes, the loud and clear calling of the umpires, though minor details become oh so important.
women's tennis is also interesting, apart from watching the game, the 'visual' impact can be quite pleasing. there's nothing wrong in making a fashion statement or a beauty statement out there on the court.

• Coming to India, specifically the Republic Day parade, which seems to have become a rather hot topic to debate. i don't see why there should not be an extravagant display of weaponry and jhaankis and fly pasts and the likes, in fact i quite liked the motorcycles and the fly past. it always gives a sense of pride. it's a show to the outside world, an expression of joy, more than an assertion of strength.
• To revive hockey, the nearly obsolete IHF(Indian Hockey Federation) infused new life into the 'national' sport by introducing PHL. modified rules, aggressive advertising, commentary but what struck me most was when the teams were walking out onto the field, the stadium was ringing with 'dus bahane karke le gaya dil'.
• one day cricket was the new avatar introduced by Kerry Packer, who passed away just recently, bless his soul! now, to keep up with busy schedules, and want for excitement, we have things like 20-20 cricket coming up.
  

it's a clear message, move aside veterans and connoisseurs, everyone is interested only in customers and more customers, which comes from more excitement.
one thing though, the people who manage all this, handle everything are NO different from anyone else, believe you me. the world is not surreal, nothing's a fantasy, it's all business acumen, and people power.