There is this fabulous boxer called Manny Pacquiao. He is a Filipino. I wonder if Saina Nehwal will be able to recognize him. Why am I asking this? When Maria Sharapova, an icon in her native Russia for her tennis, could not recall who Sachin Tendulkar was it triggered a furore in social media by Indians who felt hurt and angry at the “disrespect”. So what does the completely unnecessary and cringe-worthy Sachin-Sharapova incident tell the world about Indians? Quite a few things. For one, our online crowd is boorish, obnoxious, with a sense of self importance that is utterly embarrassing. And as if that wasn’t bad enough, the English is as bad as the language that is used to curse, berate, vilify, bully and bombard dissenters and non- conformists. Often, one is in for some serious abuse merely for not toeing a majoritarian point of view.The manner in which we react to any Sachin-baiting is to a large extent a factor of our utter lack of sporting heroes. In a country that doesn’t like playing any sport – and which has a deep disdain and fear especially of contact sports (our idea of fun, unlike in the west or even large parts of Asia, is eating samosas and namkeen in front of the TV on weekends) – cricket has convincingly overshadowed everything else. We have lost our hockey prowess, we languish at the bottom of the FIFA heap as far as football is concerned (at number 147 in the world!), and aren’t good at much else, whether it is tennis, volleyball, basketball, wrestling or shooting. No wonder a nation of 1.2 billion erupts in collective ecstasy when an entire Olympic squad returns with one gold medal. All our stars, superstars and sporting gods, like Sachin, are therefore from the world of cricket. Because that’s all we have. That’s where all our sporting pride is concentrated. One more thing. Indians need to stop taking themselves with such severe solemnity. It’s OK, really, if the world doesn’t grovel before our one and only champion, doesn’t worship our many gods, can’t place us on the map or jokes about our compulsive need to litter, bargain and break traffic laws. We can’t keep protesting at the slightest hint of criticism.
Posted on: Sun, 06 Jul 2014 02:52:37 +0000
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