Lalit Modi's only regret, and alien insurance | #47
What connects JFK, They Might Be Giants, & Constantinople
Pam pam pam pam pam pam paaamm 🎺🎺
Did not recognize this? Well I am sure you will be hearing this across all TV channels over the next month - this is the famous IPL trumpet which for roughly 2 months in the year, will be an earworm for all. Incidentally, did you know that the tune was lifted from the opening bars of a Spanish tune by Pepe El Trompeta? El IPL, indeed.
This week’s newsletter is all about India’s favourite summer pastime - the IPL.
Things we learnt this week:
Some say the IPL started in 2008 as a response to the now defunct league - ICL. But the IPL can trace its origins back to the mid 90’s with more characters and of course money involved. Madhav Rao Scindia, the late Congress party leader is said to have commissioned a study into a league. Some attribute this to US-return Lalit Modi who wanted to create India’s NBA. Modi, along with Arun Lal, Piyush Pandey, Amrit Mathur did a feasibility study but the BCCI scuppered it as it refused to take ideas from individuals and wanted to do the sarkari thing of taking decisions from state associations only. The IPL in the 90’s would have certainly had better jerseys.
Lalit Modi truly made IPL the commercial behemoth that it is today, he even got a freakin’ blimp near the stadium and found someone to sponsor it. He even got someone to sponsor an ad break in the name of strategic timeout. But he did have his share of disappointments - he couldn’t get someone to pay up 15 crore a year to sponsor the Orange and Purple Caps.
Mustafizur Rahman had a sensational IPL 2016. He became the only foreigner to win the Emerging Player of the year award. Mustafizur though had a problem communicating with his team. He spoke only Bengali and barely understood any English. Ricky Bhui, another cricketer for the Sunrisers Hyderabad team, was on hand to help him then. But when he transferred to the Mumbai Indians, there was no native Bengali speaker on the team. Solution - Mumbai Indians hired Nafees Iqbal on its coaching staff, former Bangladeshi cricketer, as a translator. Trust Reliance to pour money on a problem to solve it.
From IWTK, with love
While filming 2001: A Space Odyssey, Stanley Kubrick tried to take out ‘alien insurance’ for fear that actual aliens would be discovered in the future.
What connects They Might Be Giants, JFK, and Constantinople? Here’s the answer:
Sometimes we're here to bring you content that'll magically fill up gaps in conversations! We're no Sherlock Holmes but our content team is takes its work seriously. 😤✨
Things we’re reading / watching / listening to:
Pagglait - Watch this one for a cracking performance by Sanya Malhotra and for a mind blowing soundtrack composed by some newbie called Arijit Singh. A nice take on the grieving family, and a wife who never really connected with her husband.
Quiz Announcement:
IWTK is collaborating with Harper Collins for a series of quizzes - the second of which is today live on Instagram. Head over to Harper Collins Instagram at 6PM for a quiz on all things Space. Just a few hours for launch.
Share this newsletter on WhatsApp
Join our Telegram channel
Stay safe, carry a towel
❤️ IWTK