Of racism and other demons

I'm not going to be the first to blog my thoughts on the recent controversy that's dogged International Cricket. As a recent Australian citizen but primarily an Indian(sorry, can't help it; you can take a person out of India but not India out of a person), I feel there's a lot left to be desired with the way the Australian team's faux pas has been handled.

To enlighten reader(s) of a few statistics:
Glenn Mcgrath, was one of the most prolific wicket-taking bowlers of recent times. He was besides that, also a prolific sledger. I'm going to give in to the temptation of narrating a few of his many on-field indiscretions:

• Fined for spitting at a player of the opposing side when an appeal was turned down.
• Lost his temper when his innuendo of "how's Lara in bed" backfired on him when Ramnaresh Sarwan of West Indiies responded with "how should I know, ask your wife!" The reason ? his wife was suffering from Cancer and that thinned his blood.
• Got back in proper measure when he asked former Zimbabwe player Eddo Brandes "hey Eddo, howcomes you're so fat" mocking his batting style and his portly gait. Eddo's response ? " Because everytime I f*** your wife, she gives me a biscuit!"

Oh and did I mention Mr Andrew Stevenson, author of this article, Glenn doesn't know what the insides of a University lecture hall look like, lived in a trailer park van when trying his luck breaking into the Australian team. Oh dear! I just insulted to a legend of a player! Well guess what ? Stuff your "Aussieness" up your A***! He is but one statistic .... and I have no problems citing more; and let me tell you... amongst us educated Indians, such credentials hardly, I mean hardly even make for an "educated" person; Australian or otherwise. Do we then, as Indians judge him on that ? No Way!

Here's another article written by a David Sygall which only makes me say ask: Dude do you even know the meaning of the word "boor" ? As far as boorishness goes, I don't think it gets any better than Merv Hughes standing next to the late Hansie Cronje, letting out a fart and telling him to hit that for six after being hit for boundaries all over the park. Oh, and did I mention that Merv Hughes is on the selection committee for Cricket Australia ?

And now on to Ricky Ponting; he has the gall to stand his ground and say "My integrity has been questioned!". May I ask how someone who does not even possess an iota of what that adjective means, can make such a claim ? This man, ducked at a Srinath bouncer a few years ago, and when the latter out of sportsmanship asked if he was alright; got the response "go and f***ing bowl".

Australia has for too long got away with anything and everything under the sun. To be honest, the only people standing in groups and supporting what they've done so far are their own team-mates... and ofcourse former cricketers of the likes of the depression-prone Michael Slater, the Chappell geriatrics, Bill "Irritant" Lawry and other former cricketers. A case of "birds of a feather" more like.

Yes bastard is a term of endearment in Australia; no its not ideal to call someone of Indian origin that...because the term has a literal meaning and sentiment attached with Indian culture. This however, does not mean that I subscribe to what happened in Mumbai with the "monkey" chants. I know this much for sure; Harbhajan has an irritating personality at times; but racially abuse someone ? No, its not possible... and Mike Proctor, himself being South African and all too familiar with the "R" word should know better than to take Symonds's team-mates words as prima facie evidence when basic common-sense will reveal that in times of dire situation, no matter what your head says, you will stand up for your team-mates because you're not representing yourself or your mate, but a collective whole called "Australia". In the light that neither umpires heard a thing nor did the stump mikes pick up anything, how is "word-of-mouth" evidence even admissible let alone believable ?

I can tell you that despite having lived in Australia for nearly 5 years, I am not unfamiliar with racism. In fact, the incident of June 2003 is still fresh in my memory. Hungry, tired and unwilling to cook a meal after a long day at uni, I got out of the bus two stations before my destination to grab a quick bite at a leading fast-food joint. After being consistently overlooked for service despite having arrived a good 10 minutes before a couple of elderly gents of Caucasian appearance, I was finally asked what I wanted; only to get what looked more like bones and entrails rather than pieces of chicken. When I made a mild fuss about it (hell I was entitled to; I was a student afterall; and at the time every penny I spent was precious), the guy serving me muttered under his breath "f***ing choco...". As soon as I heard that, I spat out "What did you just call me ? Listen to me you f***ing white bandicoot, NOBODY CALLS ME A CHOCO... as for my order, why don't you just shove it up your sorry a*** ?" and stormed out. I was still hungry, $6 poorer but I had proved a point; that no one was going to get away with making racist jibes at me. So dear all(and this includes my colleagues at my workplace), please don't give me that sob-story 'bout "Oh I feel so sorry for Symonds, how does he cope with all this crap ?" and try to make me feel guilty about being of Indian origin and supporting my cricket team.

Like many Indians overseas and in India, I don't know what the final outcome of all this will be. All I know is this; if there's any team that needs to be closely scrutinised; its Australia. Someone's got to stop their verbal juggernaut and give it straight back to them. We did; and you know what else ? Even in the worst case scenario that BCCI ends up coughing out a few millions to reimburse lost businesses, the world will finally come to terms with the fact that Australians are not invincible. And I'm glad that Amrutha despite being a mellow cricket fan, supports my fury on this issue.