Goodbye Steve!

Just heard that Steve Bucknor is going to retire as umpire next March. Am instantly reminded of a college assignment I wrote at the height of the Sydney Test fiasco last year. Reproducing it here again.

(Warning: For those of you who hate anti-media rants, ignore this post)

The second cricket Test match played between India and Australia at Sydney will be remembered for the controversies it generated rather than the cricket which was played. Umpire Steve Bucknor, member of the International Cricket Council’s Elite Panel, made as many as 11 blunders against India. And to make things worse, the Australian cricket team alleged that Harbhajan Singh made racist remarks against Andrew Symonds.

Given the undue attention that is paid to cricket in our country, it was but natural that the media would devote reams of newsprint to this story. In its article that appeared on Jan 6, 2008 titled “India laid low by Benson-Bucknor duo”, the Indian Express called Bucknor “blind”. The Hindu which is normally measured in its reportage carried a front page story on January 7, 2008 confirming a three Test ban on Harbhajan Singh. News channels went on a “Breaking News” blitzkrieg and certain sections of the electronic media alleged that Steve Bucknor held a grudge against the Indians.

Being an avid cricket fan, I saw most parts of the match and shared similar sentiments on the quality of umpiring. But to say that India lost the Test only because of poor umpiring is hard to digest. On the last day, our team which boasts of such cricketers as Tendulkar, Ganguly, Dravid, Yuvraj Singh among others could not bat for 70 overs. It shows that besides poor decisions, it was a batting collapse that contributed to the loss at Sydney. Says Pradeep Magazine of the Hindustan Times “Despite all the wrongs done to them on the field, India could have still salvaged a draw and been in a much stronger position to take a high moral ground and tell the umpires and the Australians of what they thought of them”

Also, I think the media is wrong when it says that Bucknor holds a grudge against India. The argument presented by the press is that the umpire, on numerous occasions, has repeated his mistake. To substantiate this point, it has been repeatedly stated in several debates (such as The Big Fight on NDTV 24X7) that an ICC enquiry found Bucknor guilty of incompetence during the 2007 World Cup final. However, there has been no official enquiry which can prove that Buckor bears a grudge against India or any other team. Hence, to say that an umpire of this stature, who has officiated in over a 100 matches, bears ill will towards a team is false.
In addition, a leading Hindi news channel Aaj Tak, in one of its programmes committed a factual error. The anchor said that Steve Bucknor is a Be-Imaan (cheat). This is a very serious charge as it questions his integrity. And before making such a sweeping statement, one must take into cognisance the age factor: Bucknor is 61 years old. He may be past his prime but there is no evidence to suggest that he is a cheat. This is yet another example of the media getting its facts wrong.

In the aftermath of this controversy, the ICC replaced Bucknor, who was to officiate in the third test at Perth. The Times of India, in its January 9, 2008 edition, carried a front page story titled “India wins Sydney test” with reference to this development. In its editorial the newspaper writes “The ICC has hit the right buttons by initiating action against those who were on duty at Sydney. They bungled and an exciting Test match ended in a mess.” In a country where cricket has achieved cult status, the media ought to have acted in a mature manner. This decision by the ICC was not a victory for India. Instead, it was a sad day for the game of cricket. And inspite of being aware of Bucknor’s sloppy umpiring in the past, why didn’t the Indian cricket board appeal to the ICC to replace him before the start of this series? The board owes an explanation to not only its players, but to millions of cricket lovers in the country.

In conclusion, it was an episode that saw a high quality Test match being reduced to a mere controversy. What was even more appalling was the coverage by the Indian media which was mediocre, to say the least. Instead of being jingoistic about this issue, it could have shown a sense of maturity.

In Conversation with Mukul Deva

It's tough describing Mukul Deva. You could call him a former army officer turned author whose writings span such different genres as short stories, business leadership, women in Indian cinema, corporate warfare and crime fiction. But then, he's also an entrepreneur who runs a security firm in New Delhi. In addition, Deva is also a corporate trainer on disaster management and business continuity. So, who exactly is Mukul Deva? 

"At heart I am a writer. But in India writers starve so I have to run a business to sustain my passion hence I am a businessman. Deep down, I am still an army man because you can take a guy out of the army but not the army out of the guy." Finding time to write amidst managing all the roles is a tough task, but not for Deva. "I have a two-hour window where I only write. I need six hours to run my business and four hours to be with my kids and family. I sleep, watch movies and read during the remaining 12 hours!"

Born in Lucknow in 1961, Deva is an alumnus of the La Martiniere College, Lucknow, the National Defence Academy, Pune and the Indian Military academy in Dehradun. He was an army officer until 1981, after which he took premature retirement and started his security business in New Delhi. 

Although Deva's writings span a various genres, his most widely acclaimed book has beenLashkar, an action thriller based on the 2005 blasts in Sarojini Nagar in New Delhi. And his latest offering is its sequel Salim Must Die with terrorism as its central theme. 

About his books Deva says "I wrote Lashkar because I was angry at the way these terrorists were striking at us. Also, given my army background I had a potent story to tell which gave me another reason to write it. While writing Lashkar, the principal characters — Anbu and Iqbal — were literally crying to be taken forward which is why I am doing a four-book series of which Salim Must Die is the second." 

Despite his anger, Deva prefers to confine to writing and not be in the fore to assist investigations given his army credentials. "You know, the Indian government, over the last 30 years has proven its inability to think strategically," he says. "They think in tactical, short-term methods. They are trying to cure the symptom and not tackle the disease. So, I thought writing a book which would actually tell the public about other alternatives to the government's actions" reasons Deva. 

On his books, Deva says that both his works are completely different from each other. "I found to my horror that, a lot of what I wrote in Salim.. a year-and-a-half back, is coming true already." He sounds like a soothsayer when he says he "wishes he would have also been able to foresee the sensex falling"! On a serious note, Deva attributes his predictions to logic and history. He says "History has a habit of repeating itself and whatever I have written is firmly grounded in reality and in history. And although these are fictional books, even they require bedrock somewhere.

For instance, Deva says he wrote about the newly-formed National Intelligence Agency a year-and-half ago. "So when you read it you will realise how uncannily it's coming together now." Research, he adds, plays a very important role in writing such potboilers. "For the last four years, I spend a few hours reading and understanding the smallest terror incident in the world. Else you cannot write military action thrillers. So, I have been breathing and living terror in all its forms!" 

Deva is part of a new breed of Indian writers whose works stem from incidents in everyday life. More often than not, they are criticised for not being too 'literary' (a la Chetan Bhagat and Vikas Swarup). Simple storytelling and interesting plotlines — sans highbrow language — is the key. As a result, these novels are often labelled as 'pop-literature'. 

This Delhi-based author, however, refuses to accept to be classified under these media-induced jargons. "Terms like pop-lit, chick-lit really don't matter," says Deva. "Not every story has to be Shakespearean or an Arundhati Roy," he explains. "People like Chetan Bhagat and Vikas Swarup have great stories to tell. These are stories which happen all around us and people from different backgrounds narrate them." 

And what about the highbrow language? "Dude, when you quit school in class 10, how many big words do you really know?" laughs Deva. The author deliberately chooses the potboiler narrative tool over a scholarly one as it would ensure more readers. "It's like making a movie: do you want to make it for the masses or do you want to make it for the Cannes film festival?"

Deva's reading tastes are as eclectic as his writings and he ranks Chetan Bhagat and Advaita Kala amongst his favourite authors. But his all-time favourite book is J.D. Salinger's Raise High The Roof Beam. And Deva's works are not just restricted to literature. 

About his future plans, Deva is writing a crime thriller The Shades of Black "which explores the dark side of the human mind. You know who the killer is and you know how he did it but you have to understand why he did it." Despite a prolific 'literary' journey, Deva is still unsure of any other genre he plans to explore. "I am growing as a human being and evolving in my own head. I don't know which way I will go."

This was an assignment for BusinessWorld Online. You can also read it here