Wednesday, May 25, 2011

27-storey temple


[Quote, unquote - Business Standard -New Delhi - May 24, 2011
Ambani makes a lot of money from his business and he is entitled to spend it as he sees fit. Even so, there is something curiously insensitive to splurging on an over-the-top, 27-storey home that has no redeeming architectural qualities, in a country in which many Indians are homeless— even in Mumbai.]

Some say that he is being too greedy, but Tendulkar is merely cashing in on a mad craze for cricket and cricket luminaries. In India, it is only film personalities and cricket stars who attract the crowds, and, by extension, the advertising big bucks.]

[If you rob the idols, you ruin the temple Stars are key to cricket’s future, don’t knock them out LOKESH SHARMA The Indian Express Thursday, August 15, 2002
A cricket star earns well, lives well and is loved by everyone if he doesn’t lose his balance along the way. These stars are the wheels of an entire economy: administration, advertisers, sports goods manufacturers, marketing agencies, broadcasters, television channels, commentators and journalists and so on. They attract audiences to the benefit of the entire industry.
Yes, cricketers can earn lakhs — a couple of crores, maybe — in match fees. So do many middle-level MNC executives. But they usually don’t set pulses racing, adrenaline flowing across the country and through the world. The cricketers do; they are the reason people support a game. 
Take away the purse of these cricketers and you stand to rob the entire cricket economy. Children are inspired seeing Sachin in a Ferrari; how will they react if he rides a motorcycle? Take away the idols and you ruin the temple. Sachin in a Ferrari November 23, 2005 12:40 PM]

Like spectacle or carnival, celebrities exercise an uncanny attraction over the mass mind. They are the living legends and walking mythologies, besides being the engines of economy. From Britain to Bhutan, royalty is a roaring reality show now. Ergo, no complain if India generates a dozen or so wannabes. [TNM]  

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