The news that India's Yuvraj Singh is being treated for cancer has sent shockwaves through the cricketing fraternity. Personalities from all walks of life — cricketers, former and current, sportsmen and women, past and present — came together to wish ‘Yuvi' a quick recovery.
India's Man of the Series in the World Cup has been accorded tremendous respect. It must be remembered, however, that there have been many Indian sportsmen and women who have been discarded by society in their hour of need and faded into oblivion. Yuvraj, however, is a cricketer and the rules for Indian cricketers are framed differently.
I cannot help but wonder what Yuvraj the person must be going through at the moment. Camaraderie has never been more culturally enmeshed than in today's social network-obsessed world — a star's worth is measured by how popular he or she is on Facebook and Twitter. It's tough to be lonely, especially when you are a celebrated Indian cricketer.
The great leveller
Cricket, like life, is a great leveller: It gives and it also takes away. Will the public, the corporate world and the advertising agencies, who put cricketers up on a pedestal, be forced to put their emotions in perspective? It is a lesson for the fans as it is for those who get paid to tinker with a cricketer's public image. Often the individual's private persona gets enmeshed in it.
They say that the Indian cricketer will do anything for money, which is why I was disappointed, despite his current condition, to see that Yuvraj had commercialised his illness to make an ad-film for an insurance company.
This film has now been intertwined with news updates (no longer running as just an independent advertisement) on his progress. Each time a channel focuses on Yuvraj, the ad-film runs as a sort of statutory warning on not having a life insurance policy. It is particularly revolting to see the correlation between life and death being exploited by all the stakeholders.
Traumatic phase
Yuvraj is one of the lucky ones. He is entitled to his fair share of sympathy in what is a highly traumatic phase in his life. While there is no doubt that he will return to the game and score tons of runs for India, what he should be prepared to do is make a difference. Not on the pitch, but to society and towards sportsmen and women who are less celebrated than him.
Even as he ponders his future, Yuvraj must realise that, galvanised by the news of his cancer, the government, the BCCI and team sponsors Sahara have promised financial help. It is a gesture that one seldom gets to see in Indian sport, especially when those with a slighter profile are at the receiving end. What can Yuvraj do to highlight their plight?
More than the lesson learnt from the life insurance ad, what India should do is show more compassion for athletes who have served the country with distinction but have fallen by the wayside, rejected by society. These people were undeniably proud to be Indian once but are now forgotten, thanks to our disconnected and selective manner of patriotism.