Neeraj Kumar must be a very sensitive man. A week after policemen from his team arrested three Rajasthan Royals players and a few non-cricketing men on suspicion of spot-fixing matches in IPL, the Delhi Police commissioner says he has stopped watching IPL.

In an interview to the Hindu newspaper (read the interview here), Kumar, whom the news report calls a “cricket lover”, says: “Any cricket fan, in India particularly, who idolizes these cricketers, will feel betrayed. I would say this is breach of trust by cricketers who are worshipped like gods. It’s really a big let down. I have stopped watching the IPL.”

I barely ever watch IPL — no, not because I do not “idolize these cricketers” (I do not, and no reason why I should), or that I “feel betrayed” (I do not), or even that it is a big letdown (why, for life’s sake?). I rarely watch it because I have never liked the 20-over blast-’em-all-outta’-park version.

So I did not watch the match yesterday (Rajasthan Royals, them of the tainted variety!, and Sunrisers Hyderabad) or the one before that (Chennai Super Kings, them of the tainting variety!, and Mumbai Indians). Which, though, does not mean any which way that I would not watch the final, or the games that come before or after that. It only depends on my mood, what (if any) I am doing at that point of time and space, the timing of sun, moon and stars and the degree and pace of rotation, revolution and evolution of earth.

Which is a lazy bum’s way of saying, “Will watch it if I feel like it; now buzz off and don’t bore me.”

So what stops Neeraj Kumar from watching it any longer? Besides the fact that his men caught the men (allegedly) plotting to spot-fix and blot the game, very little. If you ignore his drivel about how “distressing, disappointing” it is.

Come on, sir. Loads of things in life are. Your men in khaki, for instance, are the worst nightmares for many motorists in Delhi, but it does not mean the motorists stop being motorists. The traffic in and around Lutyens’ Delhi whenever a VIP decides to come calling is a nightmare for most, though it does not mean people just stop venturing toward ‘VIP Delhi’ for fear of VIP daze. Expecting the police to act human also comes a cropper on a regular basis for most Indians, which does not mean distressed and disappointed Indians stop going to the police.

And since you also felt “betrayed” by the (alleged) conmen in the garb of cricketers, you surely felt the same betrayal over the scam that’s assumed a proper name – Coalgate – these days. And since the coal blocks were allocated unfairly (again, as per the CAG) and money (allegedly) fattened some wallets, one hopes you have not stopped using electricity generated by coal burrowed from other mines in your feeling of “distress” and “letdown”.

Get a life, sir. And I can wager my next month’s salary that you – and most others feeling similarly betrayed etc in hindsight – would not be able to figure out a spot-fixed over even if you are told about it. If Rahul Dravid, the skipper, did not see anything amiss from a distance of a few yards on the field, it’s anyone’s guess how many of us watching it on the box, and even from the spectators’ galleries, would be able to figure out anything amiss. (In retrospect, now that he is being TOLD that sundry overs might have been fixed by his own players under his watch, Dravid feels the “blow” is like “bereavement in some ways”, as PTI reported this morning.)

Don’t wail looking in the rear-view mirror. Enjoy IPL for the tamasha it is (as Bikram Vohra put it much better, Cricket is cabaret, old chum, and we are the suckers, and let me stay off it precisely for the tamasha it is. Keep your morals and scruples at home, else you might have to stop using cellular service as well, since the 2G spectrum allocation scam was not exactly very far off being “distressing, disappointing”… a “really big letdown”.