Click to play videoNew Delhi: Mahendra Singh Dhoni, the 26-year-old, long-haired poster boy of Indian cricket has been named the captain of India's Twenty20 team for the inaugural World Cup in South Africa in September.
Dhoni is from Ranchi and is the first captain in Indian cricket who does not come from any of the major metros. In fact, in every sphere of activity, be it in sport or Bollywood or talent contests or even industry, it is increasingly the talented young men and women from outside the big cities who are rising to the top.
Small town India is is becoming the hip and happening India. The Buntys and Bablis of these small towns are all set to conquer, while the babalog of the big cities are fading away.
The question that was being debated on CNN-IBN's Face the Nation with Sagarika Ghose was; Dhoni as Captain: Does the future of India lie outside the big cities?
On the panel of experts to try and answer the question were: TV host and Indian Idol anchor, Mini Mathur; former cricketer, Shishir Hattangadi and Jawaharlal Nehru University Sociology Professor, Anand Kumar.
The Essence of Dhoni
There was a time when cricket was dominated by Bombay, by Madras, by Delhi, where the clubs and the boys' networks in the same school and same colleges dominated the game, but it seems as if the essence of Dhoni has ended all the elitism in cricket.
To this Shishir Hattangadi said, "It sure has and I am proud that it is so. Being from south Bombay, I'm proud that cricket has gone back to Lagaan and the Lagaan boys, because I think they dream better, don't they? Move over Shishir Hattangadi, time's up."
He stated that this phenomenon was not unique to cricket and that it was spreading across India in every sphere of life. Take for example people like Sunil Bharti Mittal or even Narayana Murthy who made it big in the IT sector, or even talented young men and women who were taking part in the popular show, Indian Idol. Most of them were not necessarily from metropolitan backgrounds and there seems to be a fluorosence of talent from the smaller towns.
Professor Anand Kumar said that phenomenon is nothing new.
"I think it's more an example of deeper phase of penetration, a deeper phase of connectivity of the metro culture into the small-town India, because whatever the examples, they are examples of all that which is represented by metro India. If you had good news coming from small towns in entrepreneurship, in the traditional sector, good news coming from rural India in terms of indigenous health system, indigenous technology, then I would have said that there is really great news to celebrate about," he stated.
"This has been going on since colonial times when there were great centres of so-called West-oriented modernisation, and there was a magnetic influence on small towns of great centres like Calcutta, Chennai, Mumbai and Delhi. So I wouldn't be really so surprised. We had Kapil Dev earlier coming from a normal to background and bringing us the World Cup. We had many other small town people from Kishore Kumar, Ashok Kumar," Professor Kumar added.
Metropolitan Culture Fanning Outwards
Professor Kumar however, stressed on the fact that this was not something that could be seen as an alternative culture, which was growing in small towns. It was in essence, the metropolitan culture that was spreading outwards, seeping into smaller towns.
"There used to be this India versus Bharat divide, but now it seems like India is reaching towards Bharat in many interesting ways," he said.
Mini Mathur however said that people from smaller towns had more of a hunger to succeed and wanted their talent to be recognised in a big way.
"There was this saying, 'India lives in its villages'. I think that can now be changed to India lives in its smaller towns. If you see the show Indian Idol, we have reached a stage where we have got eight or nine finalists and all of them are from small towns. The kind of passion, the longing for success, the willingness to work hard that I see in these people is not there in the talent that is struggling to make it big in the metros," she added.
So does this mean that the people in metros are becoming soft and they do not have that hunger and determination to succeed that is there among small towners, say for example someone like Dhoni?
To this, Shishir Hattangadi said, "If you see youngsters in metros, they always have an alternative. If they think a certain profession is not working for them, they will chose an alternative. However, small towners do not have that luxury. They chose one profession and they know that is their aim and focus and that they have to go and get it."
They also said people in metros were distracted by things like multiplexes and Internet, something that the small towners lacked, making them much more single-minded.
Shishir Hattangadi said that people living in small towns were getting opportunities to showcase their skills, newer platforms were opening out for them, things that were not available to them, things for which they had to earlier shift to the metros. He said that was what made all the difference.
Ironically, a few months ago, Dhoni's house was ransacked by angry fans, after India's shame-faced defeat at the World Cup. However, today, Ranchi is celebrating as one of their own has been chosen to lead the Team India. Since Tuesday morning celebrations have been on in full swing, not only at Dhoni's house and on the streets of Ranchi, but also at the Secretariat.
In fact, a Cabinet meeting was stopped when the news of Dhoni being chosen as the captain came in. The Chief Minister and the entire Cabinet joined in, in wishing Dhoni good luck in his tenure.
Talent Or Immitation?
It seems that small towners coming out into the big wide world, out of sheer desperation because there is nothing happening in their towns, because the economy is not providing them with what they demand anymore. They are coming out in the open because they realise that the only way to come forward now is to pursue the talent within.
However, there is a voice of dissent which says that there is nothing original about these small towners and that they are coming into metros, in a hope to try and imitate the stars and stalwarts that already exist -- that there may not be any talent in them.
Mini Mathur, however, completely disagreed with this saying, "Indian Idol basically showcases voices from all over India and yes, the chosen ones might just want to emulate the bigger stars in metropolitan India, but that does not mean that they do not have original talent. Once they get the platform that they are looking for, they are out there on their own and they shine without any outside help."
She also said that a lot of these people did not have access to facilities and courses, which they would be able to avail of in bigger cities.
So has our system been unjust for many decades and only a thin elite has been ruling all fields, leaving out a vast majority?
To this, Professor Anand Kumar said, "We are a country with 60 years of freedom and 30 per cent illiteracy, a country which has 2/3rds of the provinces declared BIMARU, a country which is marginalising people who live in the neighbourhood of metro towns, a country of suicides and infant mortality. What is happening today is a transferring of dreams."
He said that small town people who were coming up in various fields were extremely dynamic and stretching themselves that extra bit. However, he added that out of a million, only one made it to the top.
He said that because of lack of urban-ness, problem of language, problem of the English medium and lack of money were all the areas where the system was failing to support the youth and the talented people.
"On the other hand, there is this growing capacity of this non-metro India to enter into the vital parts of the metro system as it has been with the Blacks in the US. They are entering all fields in spite of the system," he added.
Shishir Hattangadi jumped into the debate at this point saying that it was not necessary for a person to know everything about a field to enter it and be a success.
"I know about cricket and cricketers because I am interested in reading about the history of cricket. Someone like Dhoni may not be interested in reading about the subject as long as he can play the sport and be good at the game. I am not too emotional about the fact that Dhoni does not know the names of some cricketing legends like Farukkh Engineer," he added.
Professor Kumar added, "The definition of talent has to be democratised. Talent and opportunity are two sides of the same coin. It's no longer talent first and opportunity later and one must learn from examples like Dhoni and Priyanka Chopra."
In the end, all the panelists concluded that talent was not the way one spoke or looked, but what one made out of his or her life.
Final Results of SMS Poll: Dhoni as Captain: Does the future of India lie outside the big cities?
Yes: 55 per cent
No: 45 per cent
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