The IPL and more

I'm back baby!
Well it does sound very cheesy but what the heck I really love saying that! So here I am ten months older and a lot less wiser after two semesters of computer engineering at NITK. This blog is the outcome three dragging months of vacations, a dead end project and just plain boredom.
The end of our even semester coincided with the beginning of a phenomenon which has taken the cricketing world by storm. Unless you've spent the past month and a half locked in a dungeon, you would know what I'm talking about. Yup, the IPL has certainly been a huge hit mainly because it has all the masala that we Indians crave for. Sky rocketing TRP's, packed stadiums for every match and loads of money through sponsors and what not. Looks like Lalit Modi is one happy chappy.If you're nauseated by all the hoopla surrounding the IPL, then relax I'm not going into the cricket or sardar's with itchy palms. Neither am I interested in King Kong getting what he deserved.
As I said before the TRP's for the IPL games have sky rocketed and in the process knocked off the saas-bahu epics from the top spot. When our mom's and aunties give up their daily dose of soap opera's for Dhoni and co. , you know things are changing. But not all change is good though. The vast viewership demograph means that there is a mad scramble for advertising slots. Advertising can be lucrative(for the broadcaster) in cricket and T20 in particular as there is a gap after every over is bowled ad the broadcaster can squeeze in as many advertisements as possible. Compare this to other sport broadcasts where there is a gap during half time or a quarter and voila, cricket broadcasting looks like a goldmine. While the broadcasters lick their lips at the prospect and companies with products to advertise are happy to pay crores for a few minutes of ad's its the viewer who suffers. We're bombarded with countless moronic ad's. How about the ad for a fan where the chick called bijli is prancing around and suddenly passes out. It don't make no sense! The one that really gets me pulling my hair out is the the Insurance company ad where the lady calls out "sanjuuuuuuuuuu" in the most nasal voice possible. I mean hearing it once is bad enough but four times in a minute is asking too much from one's nerve.
Even during telecast of the action we don't get reprieve. As my dear friend Sheki points out,even guys like Greg Chappel and Sunny Gavaskar announce DLF maximums and what not from the commentary box. This just goes to show how much they're willing to sell out for a few bucks.Well alright there are a few good ad's but they're too few and far between. The Hutch ad's are brilliant(yup,all of 'em) and so it the Moto Yuva one. I'm certainly not calling for a ban on ads between telecasts. That would be ridiculous. What I ask for is fewer ad's and even more than that,it is imperative that companies replace the four year olds who are obviously coming up with such mind numbing ideas!