Aussie fans threatened with jail
If this is as controversial as it gets during Australia's tour of India, consider ourselves lucky. Several Australian cricket fans were arrested for wearing offensive T-shirts and threatened with jail time. After a press conference where the fans thoroughly apologised for the shirt and promised to never, ever wear them again (at least while sober), they were released. The damning words on the shirts?
Beers with Mahatma, bets with Gupta, dancing with Indira and still getting the runs
I could understand Indians getting huffy at these words even if they aren't designed to offend. I could even see fans getting evicted from a ground although such a reaction is a bit extreme. But are these words so offensive, they warrant jail time? Is political incorrectness a criminal offense in India? I confess I'm having trouble understanding the depth of such a reaction.
Perhaps my confusion is because I just can't see something similar happening in Australia. For starters, I struggle to think of any famous Aussie as venerated as Gandhi that isn't involved in sport or movies. Whatshisname, the eye surgeon... Charles Kingsford Smith... Dick Smith... nope, drawing a blank.
But there is one crime that deeply offends Australians. Our batting in the 2nd Test. Our batsmen scraped and crawled their way over two innings to 460 runs while India amassed 783 runs for the loss of only 13 wickets. While some credit must go to the Indian bowlers, the pitch was as flat as week old coke and yet we made it look like a minefield. Now that's offensive. I'd be willing to entertain some jail time for our batsmen if they give a repeat performance in the 3rd Test.
| Posted by JC on Wed 22 Oct | 12 comments |
In similar bizzarro-newsa, by all accounts that dill Harbhajhan got in trouble in his own town for dancing 'too provocatively' on some Indiani TV show...
Posted by virtualgaz on 2008-10-22 20:04:42
Posted by JC on 2008-10-22 21:40:27
Posted by jatinder on 2008-10-23 05:27:40
The report you have linked to says
"The fans were then detained by the police and were asked to offer an explanation. The fans then offered their apology and said they did not intend to hurt Indian sentiments. They also agreed not to wear the T-shirt anymore for the rest of the series. "
Arrested? Jail time? where?
Cheers,
Posted by Homer on 2008-10-23 06:22:16
Throw in culture, personal icons, a dose of the mystical and the political - a pot-pourri of belly laughs!*%@
It was actually a healthy day for test cricket - the mighty Australia being toppled, while there was a fascinating contest between Bangladesh and NZ - with the Kiwis chasing down over 300 on the last day. Harry Potter with whiskers ie. Danny Vettori - showing the guts that Ponting usually gives us.
Looking at the bigger picture - it's good that the struggling (Bangladesh) did well, and the high and mighty (Aussie) got hammered.
It begins to create a more competitive group of playing nations - with hopefully more interesting test match cricket coming up.
Posted by Perky @ cricketmystery.com on 2008-10-23 06:43:19
Posted by JC on 2008-10-23 12:43:02
It was on all Indian channels and the story was the same - these guys were picked up and asked to change their T-shirts.
Which is why I was surprised to hear jail time :)
Cheers,
Posted by Homer on 2008-10-23 13:46:14
Posted by virtualgaz on 2008-10-23 17:43:52
@Jatinder - Its not Indian or Subcontinental thing. The 'Cartoon' issue and emotions provoked by the movie ' passion of christ' and book Da vinci code are recent example that cultural sensitivity is same everywhere, the Objects of reverence may vary from country to country culture to culture.
Another instance that comes to mind is few year back we had performed spoof on Indian Epic Ramayana out here in the US and some of my American friends who attended the show, made a point to mention they couldn't have done something similar using any biblical character for the fear of emotions that it would evoke among people.
Posted by unsuidojo on 2008-10-24 04:23:20
If I was there, I would personally apologize for this behavior by my country to the Aussie fans - such actions discourage foreigners from visiting the country and emancipate the stereotype of India as a very conservative place - which is really not the case when you speak with Indians of my generation and younger (<30 yrs of age) and some older people who are broad minded. A major reason why these things happen is that there is a huge group of politicians who just sit around all day and look for issues to incite the people - yes, people should know better - but when you earn 100 bucks a week and some politician gives you 200 just to say that you were offended by something, you will say it if that means you can have a square meal. And then there is the Indian media that devours all the neegative stuff that is out there, and neglects the good news. Since cricket is so big in India, anything negative related to cricket is completely bloated out of proportion.
So, apologies to all of you Aussies - if you ever come to India, just remember all of us are not like this - such incidents do happen, but they are the exception and not the rule - please do not judge the whole country because of such acts, now that I have explained the context of why these things happen.
Posted by Jeet on 2008-10-25 14:37:38
Just forget all that. Something more hilarious here...I hear that an Australian ex-cricketer is writing a book an honesty and integrity:)!!
Posted by Amit_Sharma on 2008-10-25 20:03:19
""The t-shirts’ slogan "Beers with Mahatma, bets with Gupta, dancing with Indira and still getting the runs," was apparently misinterpreted by local fans. Warren Livingstone, the Fanatics’ founder, explained that Mahatma referred to the former Test cricketer Greg Ritchie’s “Mahatma Coat” Character; Gupta is Mukesh Gupta, the bookmaker in the infamous Shane Warne and Mark Waugh match-fixing scandal; and Indira is Indira Naidoo, a former Australian journalist of Indian origin, who they described as their “schoolyard sex symbol.” ""
So before we start digressing to culture, clergy, libertarianism and the like, a more engrossing topic would be the crucial Delhi test :-)
Posted by Ajesh Nag on 2008-10-28 04:08:42
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