racism and India??huh??

A lot of space in the sports section of our newspapers have been dedicated to the racism controversy surrounding the Australian cricketer Andrew symonds. The ICC 's even launched an official compliant against the BCCI,asking them to investigate. I thought it would be appropirate to begin my first blog discussing this very issue,what with cricket being very close to my heart and all...Now, the BCCI administrators hardly receive any sympathy from the common indian populace, due to all their non-cricketing activities(as in rigged elections,favoritism etc etc),which i suppose will always be prevalent , because of cricket being such a huge money churner in a large middle class nation like ours.Yet our Cricket babus do deserve some sympathy,this time around as they ponder over the ICC ultimatum to investigate "monkey antics and racism" amongst the Indian crowds. "huh?? "or rather homer simpson's "d'oh!" seems to be the automatic and the logical response. Social prejudices have always existed in India.But they were more along the lines of religion,caste,regional.racism??nope.Yes,there are the occasional jokes that one encounters about the madrasi or the sardar..yet they have never been very high on the list of what society considers uncouth or unacceptable.
Racism is a dreadful thing to happen on a sporting field.After all sport,is meant to improve relations and friendships amongst the peoples of nation not bifurcate them. you generally associate racism in sport with football,where there have been instances of the western crowds jeering and mimicking apes in games that involve brazil or any of the african nations.In the west,such behaviour is clearly considered racist in nature and the crowds are aware that they are asking for trouble,if they get caught on camera.Yet some of the boorish ones amongst the crowd do continue to jeer,clearly aware of the consequences of their actions.This is indeed horrid, and the authorities have done the right stuff in enforcing strict rules,and punishing those spectators who happen to cross the line of civility.
Now,Indian crowds do behave badly.Some dreadful things happen in our stadiums. This is because Indians tend to get emotionally involved whenever they witness any duel thats representative in nature,be it college cultural festivals, or a cricket match involving India. At such high voltage charged atmospheres,monkey noises are a standard part and parcel of crowd behaviour. they aren't considered uncouth,though they do fall in the line between bad and vulgar.Ya,so my point is, the Australians have to get their complaints right!bad crowd behaviour ?yes.racism?a big no.
India's always loved the champions. The west indian cricket team of the 80's a bunch of gentle cricketers ,who dominated the world cricketing scene not unlike the australians of today, were very much loved and respected.Indeed very often when our elders discuss cricket,its about the west indians and you do detect warmth and fondness,as they discuss viv richards or clive lloyd.
Kolkata's always been very volatile when it comes to sporting passions,yet you dont hear any complaints about racism amongst the black footballers,many of whom are key members of football clubs like east bengal and mohun bagan.Yet why have the australians had such a rough tour?
The reason's culture. ICC and Australia have certain pre-defined notions regarding culture,regarding civility,regarding racism.Yet India is different.Culturally. Steve Waugh( he's a wise guy,this fella..hv very high regards of him) said that one of the reasons for their loss in 2001 was the culture.He stressed on how important it is for international players to adjust to cultures.He did mention as a matter of factly,that many of his boys just complained a lot throughout the tour about the noisy crowds,the security,and all that excessive mobbing whenever they tried to venture out on the street,which arouse not because of animosity but due to the adulation.The west indians perceived the cultural differences and adapted.The aussies did not.They never really understood the Indian crowds, and thats the reason why they are getting booed throughout the nation.
ya..so to conclude,Cultural adaptation's important.Racism 's never been a big problem in India.There are scheduled tribes in this nation as well like in Australia, but discrimination in terms of religion,region and caste are considered far more provocative in Indian society.Hope the aussies do their homework of understanding indian culture and the indian way of living before coming here the next time around.