There is still hope

Spiderman's uncle, Benjamin Parker, wrongly said that with great power comes great responsibility. He clearly was not acquainted with the Indian government services. But all good things have to end (see my post about the evil Right to Information act) or do they?

It seems that my lament about the death of babudom was a tad premature. I was thrilled to bits to discover that there exists an organization which I could join whose functioning (or non-functioning) lies outside the purview of the Right to Information Act.

The organization I speak of is the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) whose very name promises so much. Ever since the godforsaken Right to Information Act, babus like me have had to forego all that control we used to have. Filled with hope, I decided to find out more.

I found out that BCCI is the perfect haven for someone like me. It is the governing body for cricket in India, which means that it is immensely powerful. BCCI enjoys an income tax exemption despite being the richest sporting body in the world. Why you ask? Well, because they are performing a service to the nation by governing cricket in an opaque manner, obfuscating all the trivial details from the petty minds of the plebs. (The Income Tax Department is reviewing whether this tax-exempt status needs to be revoked, but since the IT department is filled with babus like me, I am sure that a suitable arrangement will be reached. )

And shouldn't the BCCI be answerable to the hundreds of millions of Indian cricket fans who spend their hard-earned non-taxfree rupees? Banish the thought. The BCCI is answerable to only its members, who are nothing but smaller clones of the BCCI (not unlike the mathematical property of self-similarity), who will be satisfied as long as their coffers are kept full.

After the Indian cricket team's miserable performance, the players were inconsolable, the coach may be fired, the fans are devastated, media companies have lost money, but the babus in the BCCI live on. So great power and no responsibility. Take that Uncle Ben.

Paraphrasing Wordsworth, "A babu could not but be gay in such an indolent company."

P.S. Could someone let me know how I can apply for a job? I tried looking for their website but they don't seem to have one ( or is under construction) much after they announced that it would be ready. I think I'm going to love working for the BCCI.