My writers block has lasted one and a half years approximately. Meanwhile I have been sacrificing inane reports and presentations by the dozen with every passing week, at the altar of a monster. Anyways about time I wrote something else, so that my professional life does not screw up my personal life.
I read an interesting article about Lalit Modi today, funnily titled “A Tale of Two Tweeters” obviously talking about the on-going war between Lalit Modi and Shashi Tharoor. I have had the highest regard for Tharoor ever since his tryst with the UN and his very well written articles in The Hindu, not to mention his somewhat intellectual handsomeness. Lalit Modi on the other hand I know as the mastermind behind the IPL and a marketing genius who redefined sporting entertainment internationally with a relatively tame sport like cricket. Now as we all know, the recent controversy opened a can of worms for both parties concerned and led me to think about how scandals and controversies form a perfect excuse for the media to give a low down to the parties concerned.
An apt example in this case is Tiger Woods who transformed overnight from the greatest black sportsman in the world (unquote Oprah Winfrey) to a wife-cheating lout, sex addict, and what have you. His murky sex life has now become the focus, with his golf success incidental, while clearly it should be the other way round. Similarly for Modi, his vision for sporting entertainment is being over-shadowed by news about his previous criminal convictions, cocaine habit and allegations of corruption. Now one may argue that Tiger Woods’ case is different from Lalit Modi’s since while Woods’ sex life is unquestionably private, Modi’s corruption might very well be criticized because we as audiences and consumers are being manipulated. Our emotions, time and even our money is being toyed with and used for personal gain. To summarize, Woods’ flaw is personal while Modi’s is professional and hence deserving of our wrath as audiences/his consumers. Here is when I pose a crucial question to myself and every one of you that is reading, Is there really a distinction between one’s personal and professional lives? What we do professionally is just to fulfill a personal need or desire. The device is professional, the objective is always personal.
Next time when someone criticizes your work in office, slap him! Don’t worry about professionalism!!
