Holding One's Head High

With or without religion, you would have good people doing good things and evil people doing evil things. But for good people to do evil things, that takes religion - Steven Weinberg
 
The above irreverent quote rings true in times like these when literalists rule the roost in every religion and every conceivable form of atrocity ranging from banning books, killing non-conformist bloggers, ethnic cleansing, car bomb explosions and beheadings gets done under the banner of religion.
 
But what this New Zealand based Sikh guy did came as a breath of fresh air. Have no idea as to how religious Harman Singh was, but from appearance he looked like a practising Sikh. And what he did left the social media awash with praise for his humanitarian gesture, though he self effacingly claimed anybody would have done that. He happened to see an injured child lying on the road after being hit by a car. He rushed to his rescue, took off his turban and wrapped it around the boy's head to stem the blood loss. This gesture saved the boy's life.
 
Newspapers in New Zealand and Australia were guarded while describing his gesture – in their online editions some said he 'set aside' religious protocol while helping a child, while Sydney Morning Herald even said 'Sikh man Harman Singh acts against religion, removing turban to help injured child'. As if saving a life is against religion! Probably they were expecting the poor chap may attract the Sikh equivalent of fatwa for this unusual act.
 
However the kind of praise Singh attracted from Indians in general and Sikh community in particular made them realise that though the turban is very dear to Sikhs (they may even fight long legal battles to uphold their right to wear it), it does not come in the way while carrying out humanitarian gestures. There is much more to Sikh religion than dress codes.
 
Because of their beard and turban, Sikhs often get mistaken for Muslims in most parts of the First World. Right from 9/11 to the most recent terror attack at Lindt cafe in Sydney many Sikhs became victims of hate crime out of mistaken identity. Hope the above gesture would go some way in enhancing their reputation in these countries, even after discounting the fact that public memory is woefully  short on such positive news.

Also Read: Bangalore Beat

Pup Comes of Age

Amidst all the IPL tamasha and the detention of Shah Rukh Khan in US, what the Indian media had missed out was Australia's heroic and historic win at Barbados against West Indies. For a quick recap West Indies had amassed a decent total (thanks to a century by Chanderpaul) of 449 and declared after 9 wickets in the first innings. But what the Aussies did may seem absolutely bizarre. They decided to declare their first innings after reaching 406 for 9 wickets.

To many it would seem they were handing over 40 runs and an assured win to the West Indians in a platter. Thankfully Indian bookies were busy with IPL, or many would have burnt their fingers betting for West Indies. Days 4 and 5 proved quite a revelation. The youthful Aussie squad proved its mettle, turned the tide in their favour and captain Michael Clarke had the last laugh.

For them the time and not runs was the main factor. Hence they cut short the first innings chase to make room for bowling the West Indians out in the second innings and chasing the total. Clarke thus earned the rare distinction of being the second captain in the history of Test cricket to win a match after declaring behind.

Ever since Shane Warne, Glenn McGrath and Matthew Hayden retired, the Aussie team was on a 'work in progress' mode. They even seemed vulnerable, especially against teams like England. But now it looks like the boys have turned into men, ready to dominate cricket the way their preceding generation did.

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Now cut to July 10, 2011, India was touring the same West Indies and was already leading the series. On the final day of the last Test at Dominica, India had a fair chance of making it two-nil. But surprisingly, with 15 overs to go and 86 runs required and seven wickets at hand, M S Dhoni decided to call off the match and opted for a draw. Probably he feared the Indian batting may crumble and he would lose the much coveted credit of winning an overseas tour. Sadly, for Indian cricketers chasing an individual statistic takes precedence over winning a match. I need not recall how for Sachin Tendulkar's hundredth-100 we ended up losing to Bangladesh. It is not a new trend either - have been seeing this right from the days of Gavaskar.

Mind you this is the same Dhoni who comes in a TV ad (proxy for a liquor brand run by Vijay Mallya) and brags how he thought 'differently' and helped India win T-20 and one-day world cups. He always wore his small town upbringing on his sleeve and used to project himself as a street smart guy who came up the hard way. But sadly on July 10, 2011, all that professed derring-do was missing. 

After this 'feet of clay' performance, it was one free-fall for India with nightmarish thrashings, first at the hands of England and then Australia.

Whimper Down Under

Let me confess at the outset that I am no cricket buff. I mean, I do not sit glued to Neo Sports to watch how our Men in Blue are doing or listen to what cricket pundits have to say at the end of the day, nor have I bookmarked Cricinfo site on my computer. But since I flip around TV news channels a lot  and the way they cover cricket,  I just can't help its corrosive influence. In fact I chose the headline as a spoof on CNN-IBN's ‘Thunder Down Under’.

The hype in news channels began much before the tour began. The hoopla over the eternal wait for Sachin Tendulkar's 100th century keeps TRPs on the roll. I feel the marketing guys may be secretly wishing that “May this suspense continue - Let him reach his milestone after a drought of 50 innings!”

At the outset I did feel the Aussies were not all that formidable as they were licking their very recent wounds caused by a humiliating defeat to New Zealand in the second Test, and that too in their home soil. For most Aussie blokes the feeling was similar to what cricket fans in India may feel if the Men in Blue lost a series to Kenya at home. These Victoria Bitter guzzling folks may grudgingly accept their neighbour's supremacy in Rugby Union, but definitely not in cricket. And, of course, the records also prove that their cockiness is not out of place - the Kiwis have never tasted a Test victory on the Australian soil since 1985.

The Melbourne Test began on a promising note with youngsters like Umesh Yadav and Ravichandran Ashwin making impressive debuts, though our middle order made us painfully aware of what the expression Achilles’ heel was all about. Each day brought surprises with the Test proving to be a cricket equivalent of neck-and-neck races we witness in Formula One or MotoGPs. No team seemed to have and edge and even on the night before the fourth day I went to sleep feeling it was anybody's match as two days of play were left.

But by the time I switched on the TV next day, the Aussie speedsters had Indian batsmen on the ropes and it was only a matter of time before the Test ended up with a bloody nose for Dhoni's men. But surprisingly the usual lemon squeezing Indian media gave them a kid glove treatment - all thanks to a Bihari politician Rajniti Prasad. His hideous act of tearing the Lokpal Bill in Rajya Sabha diverted the spotlight from the humiliating Melbourne defeat. On hindsight I think it won't be a bad idea for Dhoni and his men to give 10 per cent of their match fee to this Lalu Yadav protege!

The attention later shifted to Sydney and newspapers started predicting that since Tendulkar has a good batting record there, he may have his tryst with destiny on the SCG and even some Aussies like Hussey felt so. Glenn McGrath came off with spoiler remark that the Indians are in for a 4-0 whitewash (he initially said 3-0, assuming it was a 3-Test series) and Tendulkar won't reach his milestone in this series. This set the Indian Twitterati alight with many running down on him and calling him 'pigeon-headed' an allusion to his nickname pigeon.

But as the Test began the Aussie pace legend had the last laugh. On day one itself Team India's fate was sealed. The much famed batting line up meekly capitulated and from then onwards it was one free fall. Like Melbourne this one too got decided on fourth day. Looks like this series is going to be more nightmarish than the England series. Then at least we had Rahul Dravid who did manage to put up a fight, but here he too seems to have joined the ayaram-gayaram batting line up. Same seems to be the case of VVS Laxman, who used to play well in Australia, is now struggling even to reach double figures! And guys like Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir anyway never did well beyond the pitches of Indian subcontinent. Sadly we seem to have totally run out of alternatives.