07 January 2008

Guess who's back?

Yes, him, the Ugly Indian Cricket Fan.

The effigy burners were out in force last night. On a talk show, one proud participant claimed that Steve Bucknor would not last a walk on Mumbai's streets, and was loudly cheered. Nationalists, regionalists, centrists and all manner of scum were on hand to extract their measly mileage from some dangerous ideas of 'national pride'. The killers of Rizwanur and religious extremists only took this warped logic a step further.

The Hindi newsmedia had no pretence of balance. The English media had that, politely wiping the froth at the edges of their mouths. As a society, we need to introspect. On the same day that eight died in a fire tragedy at a Delhi slum and a historic Himalayan village fell victim to another, it was a game in faraway Sydney that seemed to find more use for the term, 'disaster'.

5 comments:

Jrod said...

Perhaps he wouldnt last on the streets on India, with his eyesight he may trip and break his neck.

Viswanathan said...

John,

Let us not grudge the ordinary Indian fan(man) his 5 minutes of fame.

BTW, which himalayan village was it? I seemed to have missed that news.

John said...

Malana in Uttaranchal, which claims descent from Alexander's army and makes the finest hashish in the world.

But Ottaya, we need to mature into a responsible sporting nation. Hysterical reaction, on either end of the spectrum, is no good. It takes away from level headed assesment of what went right or wrong. Jingoism cannot make us a better sporting nation.

Viswanathan said...

John,

I agree.But I take the path of least resistance.:)

You cant stand beore a hysterical crowd and lecture them.

Move with the flow and try to coo down the passions as it goes.

What do you say?

Soulberry said...

Life is difficult now in India John.

It is possible that the rabids could ask for an Indian style loo on all airlines flying in and out of the country very soon or they'd threaten to shoot them down with their slings. I don't discount that.

I'm at work so I misswed the news...will look it up now on the net.

Let's face it, the marketing managers in every media house (I take it you are an Editor yourself?) must know which story is saleable and manipulable without much liability.

To manipulate a tragedy (it is probably done) may also blow up in their faces.

Our life these days is a showbiz of mountainous trivialities. If we walk differently, we walk almost alone. While that may be agreeable to some for a large part of our lives, and even possible to apply, we cannot help having to cross a peak or two even in our meditations!