Sunil Gavaskar Fortnightly Column
"I have a wife and three kids back in Melbourne and they are not impressed with the part of the world I am in" are the words of Darren Berry the assistant coach of the Rajasthan Royals after the bomb blasts that shook the pink city a few days back. One can understand the anxiety and concern of families who are miles away from India about their loved ones. Australia is indeed fortunate not to have the spectre of terrorism in their country and one can sympathize with them when they find themselves in a situation like the one in Jaipur.
But while sympathizing with Darren about the predicament he and the other Australians are facing, there is immense disappointment and not a little annoyance at the choice of words to describe India, "not impressed with the part of the world I am in." There were bomb blasts in India before too, so the situation in this part of the world is pretty well known and still Darren and his family did not think twice about it when the Dollar signs were flashed in front of their face to come down for the DLF IPL.
The solution is pretty simple as our common friend, the late doctor Jain would have said to Darren and that is for him to pack his bags and go home which presumably is an impressive part of the world. Never mind that it is where young Indian students, trying to earn an extra buck by driving cabs after university hours, get set upon by drunks when it comes to paying the fare or just for the heck of it. We are told that these attacks on Indian students are the result of the frustration that Australians feel about their jobs being taken by Indians. Just imagine if the cricketing fraternity in India were to look at it in the same way at the support staff of the various franchisees in the DLF Indian Premier League. Would that be justified?
The manner in which some people bad mouth India all the time but are the first on the plane to India when it is a question of making some easy money is well known and because we in India are a lot more tolerant than others it is being taken advantage of. Whenever there is an interview to be given to the papers back home it is invariably with a dig at India and Indians.
Why there are several who refer to India as "thats f-----g India for you" and still have the shamelessness to stay on and earn money here because they are pretty much unemployable back home. Indian cricket is like a river of gold and there are many who are dipping their hands in it with no loyalty whatsoever to India but only to their bank managers back home. There are some who are being paid six figure amounts in dollars but making occasional trips to India and not staying on for the duration of the tournament and will be the first to escape if the teams don't do well and the first to take credit if the team wins. What these guys don't understand is that the franchisees are not stupid. They haven't got into the prominent positions in their businesses and industry by fluke and they are all well aware of what's happening. This is the first year and so they are being a bit indulgent and watching it unfold and by the time the second year starts don't be surprised at the trimming of the personnel that will take place. They will want results and if they don't get them there will be wholesale sackings and not just of Indians as is the case at the moment. So enjoy it guys but just make sure you show some respect to the country that is putting more food on your table and allowing the family to buy designer stuff than the ones in the car boot sale.
The Harbhajan Singh episode is finally over and the BCCI too has pronounced it's punishment for him. It was surprising to hear that some felt that it was a rap on the knuckles. But hasn't he been punished by the IPL ? Yes, what he did was wrong but he didn't sell the country did he? More than criticizing the quantum of punishment what these critics should be doing is to help the spinner resurrect his career. The BCCI would do well to send him to an anger management course for that is where the problem is and while he is out of action maybe is the best time for him to undergo such a course. India has lost many players who were unable to cope with sudden fame and so we must ensure that a talent like Harbhajan isn't lost to Indian cricket. He is still young and has plenty to give to Indian cricket so it is the duty of all those who care for Indian cricket to help him find his way back to winning matches for India.
And to think that all this wouldn't have happened if his teammate had not burst into tears. It was the sight of Sreesanth crying like a baby that started the troubles for Harbhajan. What was worse was after that display of histrionics, the same guy says that it was ok as Harbhajan is like an elder brother and he has the right to do it and also adding that it is part of the game. Since when has physical assault become part of the game? Despite the coach Gary Kirsten's assertion that there wonÂ’t be bad blood between the two, it is not going to be easy for a person who has lost a lot of money and more crucially face to be able to regard the other in a favouarble way.
What Sreesanth did not realise is how he has exposed himself to the verbal taunts that are sure to come his way especially from teams like Australia and South Africa whose batsmen are not going to let him forget his flood of tears every time they hit him for a boundary. "Sorry about that shot. Hope you don't cry" is going to be the common comment that Sreesanth will have to face for the rest of his international career. Bhajji will surely chuckle at that.
Reproduced from http://www.dreamcricket.com/dreamcricket/news.hspl?nid=9150&ntid=4
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3 comments:
India shows the huge chip it still has on its shoulder with over the top critical diatribes like this .
I noticed the inappropriateness of the comment made about India as well but Gavaskar should have just noted the comment as insensitive and ignorant and stopped. The team management could have had a polite dignified private talk after this. .
Positive assertiveness is more effective than this going for the jugular whingy "didn't the world know we are not at ease yet with success and will read the worst into anything and will be overly reactive in our responses " This guy is in reality a very junior person not an enemy who shows at worst he is naive and needs to be culturally sensitive.
By the way the comment on the taxi driver situation in Australia was totally wrong in its argument that violence to drivers had anything to do with being Indian. Where the hell did that come from definately not from Aussie Indians. This kind of distortion is actually a very big concern I wonder if there has been an embassy response to the writer.youth violence is a huge concern taxi drivers are now getting safety screens installed.
Who cares anyway he should have not been making comments on another country this series is meant toencourage healing and acceptance not hegemony.
It's as simple as "you do not kick the hen that lays the golden eggs for you". The point made with the drunk discussion is that Australia is not perfect either (which I believe, holds true for any country). If you stay at a place, you WILL be exposed to the good and the bad. If you highlight just the bad, conveniently forgetting the good, it's unfair to that place. I think it's difficult for you to understand the sentiment behind the piece as you can not fully appreciate the inappropriateness of Berry's comment. I'm sure a ton of international people were in NY at the time when 9/11 struck the United States of America. If they were to crib about the US as a nation 'coz of the terrorist attack, it'd be silly and immature. It is a choice that they made for their own career/future and it got them $$$. As soon as something goes wrong, you can not just blame it on the nation (and not on your choice). If they were to crib about the 9/11 terror attack in media, I bet you that it'd have created a public furore (much greater than this solitary article). And, what makes this situation different is the fact that such attacks have happened before in India (so it's not a novelty) whereas 9/11 was a novelty. So, in this case, there's all the more reason why Berry has no right to make such a comment as he fully well knew what he's getting into.
Guess WG'10 is quite correct about Berry's comment...i do agree that terrorism is a matter of concern for foreign cricki pros on Indian tour and their families, but I am sure they knew beforehand about these threats, and so we expect pros to talk like pros, and understand that India is facing a proxy war......as far as Bhajji slapping Sreesanth goes, I think clapping is done by two hands.....it was definitely not pro of Bhajji to slap a team mate during the match, rather changing room wud have been a better place to settle scores or for any compromise.....but since I blv in law of Karma, thus I blv Bhajji paid aptly for his actions.....but I guess he shud be given a strong warning and allowed to play gracefully again.......and poor Sreesanth too shall face this blot forever in his career...may be he stretched Bhajji too much or overacted......after all we all are human's to err and do get emotionally overtaken by a difficult situation (as in Bhajji's case)......we must understand our and other person's limits, and then its allll smooth....finally no country has a perfect law & order situation...anti-socials can b located in all countries. The point is that its a dark age where man is preceded by exorbitant desires, and underachievements by many leads to frustrations,which are revealed as homicides , suicide, divorces etc......we can't control anti-socials but we can check our selves....so there lies the key.
tc ~ Gitanjali
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