The first cricket testmatch between India and Australia started this morning and is being broadcast on Star Sports. Since it is being transmitted from outside the country our very own Doordarshan is unable to steal it. Neo Sports, a private channel, bid for and secured the rights to broadcast all cricket matches played in India but the government passed a law which compels the company to share its feed with Doordarshan. This is done apparently in public interest because the aam aadmi is unable to afford cable or satelite connection. Fact is the aam aadmi is so busy keeping his skin on his bones by slaving all day that he has no time to watch cricket. Not having paid a paisa for the broadcasting rights Doordarshan shamelessly makes huge money from commercial often missing the last and first balls of succeeding overs. If this is not an example of grand larceny I do not know what is. Up until about fifteen years ago Doordarshan had broadcasting monopoly in India but chose to dish out so much garbage on its two channels that apart from Ramayan and Mahabharat there was nothing to watch all day. Once private channels came in it has expanded to over fifteen channels some broadcasting 24/7. Still its filthy habits have not gone. About ten years I went to pay my telephone bill in Delhi. It was half past ten in the morning and at least twenty people stood sweating in a queue but the counter was closed because the fellow had still not come. When he arrived he sat under a tree and had a cup of tea before deigning to take our money. Today with private telephone channels offering better customer care the sarkari fellows are scrambling to save their jobs. Filthy habits die hard. If you try to phone one of the sarkari numbers from a private line you will find it almost impossible to get connected possibly because they block it on purpose. Politicians and sarkari fellows, hard to imagine a more evil collection.