Bajji Speaks Out On Wada Code
Monday, August 10, 2009
Bajjis speaks out in his blog on wada code :
Breaks don’t come easy to us and right now we are savouring one such rare break from cricket by spending most of the time with our families & friends, giving rest to our jaded bodies, trying to recover from small niggles, following fitness programme prescribed by our team management and doing simple things in life which we often miss as cricketers. In between we have some odd sponsor commitments and franchise events along with the few famous meetings for the WADA issue. Apparently, we are still the top newsmakers and are featuring in the newspapers and TV channels for all the reasons, portrayed as villains for not signing along the dotted lines suggested by WADA.
It seems like everyone and anyone has a view on it and the majority blaming us for creating much ado about nothing. It has become such a huge crime, that the intellects from all walks of life have obliged us by making us realise how irresponsible we are as a sportsperson and as a citizen of this civilised world. The general outlook is that we are spoiled brats who want doping to continue in the chaste world of sports or hardly care about this serious issue.
In the last eight years I have been tested at-least 15 times (the recent one being the one in the World-T20 in England along with Dhoni) and every time I bowed gleefully to the demands of the circumstances. I would like to clarify one thing here that we are responsible sportsmen and completely understand that proper measures should be taken to uproot this menace from the arena of sports. We support the cause and are up for it. Personally, I am against any kind of drugs and that is what I would recommend to all the upcoming youngsters.
Let me utilize this opportunity to tell the world that we have no problems with entire contract but we do have serious issue with one of the ‘whereabouts’ clause in the contract. This clause in particular breaches our privacy and freedom which is very rare and special for us. To elucidate it further, I would like to mention our schedule from 20th of August 2009 onwards. Round about this time we will have our preparation camp for the upcoming season. After that we have to participate in the ‘BCCI Corporate Cup’ and straight from there we have to go to Sri lanka for the Tri- series. We come back from Sri-Lanka by the third week of September and straight away leave for South Africa to play in the Champions Trophy and when we come back most of us will be playing in the Champions league at home, where some of us will get a small break. Final of the Champions league is on the 23rd of Sept and on 25th of Sept we start a seven match series against Australia. Straight after that series, we play against Sri-Lanka followed by another series against Bangladesh in December-January. We come back and find ourselves eagerly awaited by South Africa at home for a full series followed by Asia cup in the next year. And then there is IPL and world T-20 in West Indies. So that takes us to May 2010 , and then a tour to Zimbabwe followed by Sri Lanka. This is my cricketing where about for the next one year and during this time I am available for testing anytime and anywhere. Just read it carefully and you would find breaks are rare and we have to attend too many family and personal issues during these breaks. Most of the times we get four to 7 days break in between series and at that time we have to play so many roles and fulfil so many responsibilities. Role of a son, husband, father, friend and I dare to mention some little time and peace with yourself. During this time someone has to give attention to his mother’s prolong illness or someone has to get his house repaired or re-done. Someone has to take his kids out for holidays or someone has to find suitable boy for his sister. If you ask me, my plan in these breaks is to have no plan. I can be at home or suddenly pick my friends and go for a long drive. One fine morning my mother would wake up and would like me to accompany her to the Golden temple and what would be my reply… Apologising for my non accompaniment as someone from WADA is expected today. Or God forbids, I have an emergency situation. What would you expect me to do, address that issue or worry about WADA people who may come or not. I have to be at home or at a given location for this hour or at that moment I need find an internet connection or send an sms, which may deliver or not. And in the process of all my personal commitments, if I am not available in their prescribed radar, I have a ‘missed test’ label against my name. Three incidents like this and a ban of one to two year waits gracefully for me. And going by how efficient Indian media is, it will find way in some newspaper or another, questioning my integrity and commitment. In a nutshell, this clause is like an iron chain around my valuable time which belongs to me, my family and my close ones. We never go out and preach other sports their code of conduct and that is what I expect from my respected colleagues from other sports too. At no point I feel that we are doing more for our country then them or we are at a higher platform from them. I feel we all try our level best to bring laurels to the country in our chosen field. But at the same time, I would humbly request the people to understand that in India, we, as cricketers, are more in public eyes than others. Trust me, we don’t ask for it and yes, it’s a double edged dagger. We are privileged to have this kind of following but at the same time this also brings too much intrusion in our lives. I would ask other sportsman that how many times they have been questioned on petty personal stuffs like owing a new house or attending a public function in a particular manner. How often have they been tagged by the media like we have been? Is there any other sportsman in this country who, not only has to answer his on the field performances but also has to explain his off the field conducts. Trust me, at times it’s a very choking experience and that’s why these breaks are rare and private where we don’t want anyone to disturb us or chase us. We would like to live our life like normal human beings and attend to our other commitments apart from cricket. All these issues are as vital as our cricket.
Breaks don’t come easy to us and right now we are savouring one such rare break from cricket by spending most of the time with our families & friends, giving rest to our jaded bodies, trying to recover from small niggles, following fitness programme prescribed by our team management and doing simple things in life which we often miss as cricketers. In between we have some odd sponsor commitments and franchise events along with the few famous meetings for the WADA issue. Apparently, we are still the top newsmakers and are featuring in the newspapers and TV channels for all the reasons, portrayed as villains for not signing along the dotted lines suggested by WADA.
It seems like everyone and anyone has a view on it and the majority blaming us for creating much ado about nothing. It has become such a huge crime, that the intellects from all walks of life have obliged us by making us realise how irresponsible we are as a sportsperson and as a citizen of this civilised world. The general outlook is that we are spoiled brats who want doping to continue in the chaste world of sports or hardly care about this serious issue.
In the last eight years I have been tested at-least 15 times (the recent one being the one in the World-T20 in England along with Dhoni) and every time I bowed gleefully to the demands of the circumstances. I would like to clarify one thing here that we are responsible sportsmen and completely understand that proper measures should be taken to uproot this menace from the arena of sports. We support the cause and are up for it. Personally, I am against any kind of drugs and that is what I would recommend to all the upcoming youngsters.
Let me utilize this opportunity to tell the world that we have no problems with entire contract but we do have serious issue with one of the ‘whereabouts’ clause in the contract. This clause in particular breaches our privacy and freedom which is very rare and special for us. To elucidate it further, I would like to mention our schedule from 20th of August 2009 onwards. Round about this time we will have our preparation camp for the upcoming season. After that we have to participate in the ‘BCCI Corporate Cup’ and straight from there we have to go to Sri lanka for the Tri- series. We come back from Sri-Lanka by the third week of September and straight away leave for South Africa to play in the Champions Trophy and when we come back most of us will be playing in the Champions league at home, where some of us will get a small break. Final of the Champions league is on the 23rd of Sept and on 25th of Sept we start a seven match series against Australia. Straight after that series, we play against Sri-Lanka followed by another series against Bangladesh in December-January. We come back and find ourselves eagerly awaited by South Africa at home for a full series followed by Asia cup in the next year. And then there is IPL and world T-20 in West Indies. So that takes us to May 2010 , and then a tour to Zimbabwe followed by Sri Lanka. This is my cricketing where about for the next one year and during this time I am available for testing anytime and anywhere. Just read it carefully and you would find breaks are rare and we have to attend too many family and personal issues during these breaks. Most of the times we get four to 7 days break in between series and at that time we have to play so many roles and fulfil so many responsibilities. Role of a son, husband, father, friend and I dare to mention some little time and peace with yourself. During this time someone has to give attention to his mother’s prolong illness or someone has to get his house repaired or re-done. Someone has to take his kids out for holidays or someone has to find suitable boy for his sister. If you ask me, my plan in these breaks is to have no plan. I can be at home or suddenly pick my friends and go for a long drive. One fine morning my mother would wake up and would like me to accompany her to the Golden temple and what would be my reply… Apologising for my non accompaniment as someone from WADA is expected today. Or God forbids, I have an emergency situation. What would you expect me to do, address that issue or worry about WADA people who may come or not. I have to be at home or at a given location for this hour or at that moment I need find an internet connection or send an sms, which may deliver or not. And in the process of all my personal commitments, if I am not available in their prescribed radar, I have a ‘missed test’ label against my name. Three incidents like this and a ban of one to two year waits gracefully for me. And going by how efficient Indian media is, it will find way in some newspaper or another, questioning my integrity and commitment. In a nutshell, this clause is like an iron chain around my valuable time which belongs to me, my family and my close ones. We never go out and preach other sports their code of conduct and that is what I expect from my respected colleagues from other sports too. At no point I feel that we are doing more for our country then them or we are at a higher platform from them. I feel we all try our level best to bring laurels to the country in our chosen field. But at the same time, I would humbly request the people to understand that in India, we, as cricketers, are more in public eyes than others. Trust me, we don’t ask for it and yes, it’s a double edged dagger. We are privileged to have this kind of following but at the same time this also brings too much intrusion in our lives. I would ask other sportsman that how many times they have been questioned on petty personal stuffs like owing a new house or attending a public function in a particular manner. How often have they been tagged by the media like we have been? Is there any other sportsman in this country who, not only has to answer his on the field performances but also has to explain his off the field conducts. Trust me, at times it’s a very choking experience and that’s why these breaks are rare and private where we don’t want anyone to disturb us or chase us. We would like to live our life like normal human beings and attend to our other commitments apart from cricket. All these issues are as vital as our cricket.
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