No Bhajji, No Match-A complete Miss-Match

I was going to attend a discussion on ‘democracy’ in the American Centre, where I was one of the invitee, as a student. I saw a banner hanging near the Pragati Maidan- “No Bhajji, No Match”.
As the auto was creeping towards the kasturba Marg, a month old drama was flashing in my memory. The incident that took place on the Sydney Cricket Ground, on roads all over India, and more so on Indian ‘News’ channels. Yes, I m talking about the Sydney Test Match between India and Australia, which unfortunately would now be remembered for all the wrong reasons- poor umpiring, sledging; despite some good show of cricket by Sachin, Sourav, and Kumble. Symonds abused Harbhajan (our dear poor innocent Bhajji!!!). Bhajji hurled back “Big Monkey”; which was latter changed to “Mother fucker” in the “Special Court”. Media, especially the electronic media took great pride in informing the “informed and awakened” citizens that Our Bhajji is innocent and Un-racist. Obviously the poor guy only called Symonds a “mother fucker” and not a “monkey”. It was also a personal “Victory” for all media houses, for it was due to their active campaign that the “three match ban” from Bhajji was ultimately lifted and “let go with only certain amount of fine”.
I am a proud citizen of this country, but the “Great Indian Tamasha” that happened between the “Monkey” business and the “fucking” affair was embarrassing and shameful to me at least, if not anyone else. I am in no way suggesting that what Mr. Bucknor did as right, or the behaviour of Ponting, Clarke or Symonds were very appropriate. But all I am saying is that the way we Indians react to certain things is laughable. No doubt India produced some great social thinkers and men, who did opposed caste-division, class-division, etc. But does that make us all Indians “naive”? The rigid caste-system exists only in India. One has if ever opened a ‘Matrimonial’ section; he must have noticed that everyone wants a “fair, beautiful” spouse. The very first requirement is being “fair”-the rest is considerable. What is it if not racism-a kind of racism which is deep-embedded in our ‘social-psyche’?
Initially girls only, it seemed, wanted to meet the required demands of their counterparts; and so we had an entire range of beauty products, from fair and lovely to Shehnaz Hussain’s Herbal products.
Some even claimed of purely Ayurvedic formulae. (I wonder why Indians are still dark skinned!!!) The self-conscious males are too now gearing up to be fair and handsome.
Forget these, I have many friends in our University, who like me are not themselves the “fairest” of creatures. But they look down upon South-Indians, merely because they are not “our-types” that they are darker and speak different language. And, what about the Chinkis- our cousins from the North-eastern states? Whether they belong to Assam or to Manipur, they are all Chinkis for us. And the way we pronounce Gora and Gori, the very tone; isn’t it derogatory? And has one ever heared the commoners speaking on roads of our dilwalon ki Dilli, or in the interiors of western U.P., and the conductor of our “lovely” Blue-line buses, or for that matter rowdies in the streets of Chennai? They all have their set of colloquial-slang, which have become quite a norm in that part. Hindi or other versions of mother/sister ****** can be heard even in our campuses when there is some brawl.
And all these continue without any eyebrows being raised. But the day Shilpa Shetty self proclaims herself as a cultural-ambassador of India and accuses her colleagues of a reality show of racism entire country (read the media) boils up. One is not really concerned about poverty, illiteracy, falling ratio of females, rapes, domestic violence. One just has to respond to every media-gimmick. In a country which proudly declares guests as gods- Atithi Devo bhava, foreign tourists (mostly goris) are raped in various parts of the country.
In the backdrop of all these, the Sydney Test has labelled the gentleman’s game of cricket with racism charges. Well, I don’t see much wrong in that though. I mean, when one hardly come across a gentleman in that gentle sense of the term, why expect our poor cricketers to behave in sober manner all the time. Let’s accept the fact cricket is no more just a sport. It has become a profession. And all is fair in love, war and work.
Anyways, let’s look at the Bhajji case for now. Whether Clarke or Bhajji said those words or not, or whether Symonds actually instigated him is a different matter. One can not deny that be it football, or cricket, or any sport, one can not expect sportsmen to behave and act in the manners our forefathers did. Do we behave in similar fashion? Why expect something that we ourselves fail to comply with?
What is laughable though is the behaviour of the “media”. They all have one single agenda-TRP. And so while they may leave out important issues they are quite willing to show a Vishesh on any trivial matter that they are sure would attract some audience. Obviously the audience, the citizens too are to be blamed for this. But at least we expect better treatment from the so called “sophisticated, educated” editors, and the fourth pillar of democracy- Media.

BCCI was in a mess, as encouraged by the media, the people has made the Bhajji issue a matter of pride. And when you have a shrewd politician like Mr. Pawar at the helm, one can only expect poltics, political statements (and some close door diplomacy as well). And so there were calls like- “Tour is over, if Harbhajan is not freed of all charges”. The issue was ultimately resolved after compromises between ACB and BCCI, initiated by ICC. And what all happened after it was a different ball game- and some of our board members are from the best lot of the country, cutting across party lines.
But do we ever think that such outrageous behaviour on every little matter make us the laughing stock??? We seriously need to introspect before we raise fingers on anyone. I remember a moral science story, which ended with the moral that before raising finger on anyone see that other three fingers are pointing towards you only.
Activism, whether by media, court or by citizens of the country, is commendable. But it should be ‘positive’ activism, and not directed towards some menial end. Else what happens generally is people seem confused, and ignore some important issues, while highlight and fight for trivial matters.