Spoo!

It’s a season of FIFA 2010 and the fever has definitely caught up all parts of the world. It also has caught up the young guys who play in the play ground near my place. Each evening when I went out for a walk in the ground, I used to see them play with the cricket bat and ball. But this week it was all different. I saw five teams play football and was amazed and amused. What caught my sight was that there was this team of boys of around 12-15 years of age. The image I got after seeing them was that they came from one of the posh schools in the locality speaking the “cool” form of English and naming each other with the most famous footballers of today. I saw a “Rooney”, a “Ronaldo” and a “Beckham”. I was taking my usual path and when I was almost near the goal post, I saw a poor child all of 6 years staring at the ball. All he wanted to do was just pick the ball when it went out of the court and give it to the boys. He was also cheering them in the language he knew and the game went on…

After I finished a couple of rounds, I saw these boys hit a ball outside the goal post and within a blink of the eyes that poor boy went running behind the ball. Well, that was expected, but what I did not expect was this! As soon as he caught the ball, he called out for another four guys to just feel the ball. And they all came closer to see the ball and played with it for a few seconds until one of the boys in the team asked them to hurry up and return the ball. This was not uncommon in our country but I felt a strong comparison with that of capitalists and the poor, the policies, the law and everything else. Let me explain how.

Let’s go back to a decade earlier when the United States ruled the world in terms of technology and economy. (It’s not that they don’t do it now, but it was stronger before the recession). And the developing and underdeveloped countries were aplenty in the world, which waited for help from the riche rich. So comparing that with the football team, here is what I saw. I could compare the rich boys with these strong countries who have the money to buy whatever they needed and be always joyful. They had their own limits to cross and formed a different cult. That poor guy at the goal post was one of these poor countries who always waited for a missed opportunity at the goal post. And of course try and utilize every missed opportunity along with other fellow mates. Was this not how outsourcing started? Not that we are slaves or so, but that we had the knack of utilizing someone else’s opportunities waiting for it all the time. And that’s what put us where we are today! I was completely lost in these thoughts for few minutes. And when I came out of it I saw that the football team was continuing their game and the poor boy’s team started cricket on their own and of course indulged in the same! Is this inspired by today’s way of the world? I gave up thinking!