Monkey business in Sydney

‘Monkey’ as a racist term is something new to me, probably to most Indians who don’t know much about racism as is dealt in the international level. Frankly I have lost the count of being called a ‘monkey’ as a kid. It was never meant to be taken seriously, it was partly in jest ‘oye bandhar’ (in Hindi), ‘eda korenga’(in Malayalam)

is more common than probably ‘why you monkey?’. Also consider that monkeys are considered sacred. At one point I used to think monkeys are strongest and wisest animals!!. In my early teens just before exams I used to miss my lunch on Tuesdays (the day reserved for Hanuman-the monkey God, the way things are seen nowadays it does sound quite irreverent). I still can recite hanuman chalisa ‘jay hanuman gyan gunn sagar, jay kapis teeno log ujagar….!!. to recite these was real fun. In English these lines roughly translated mean…praise the lord of monkeys- the ocean of knowledge and character, praise the monkey the enlightener of three worlds!!. Beautiful lines these.

The globalised world of 21^st century is quite a different place. As cultures of different societies meet we need to acquaint the biases and prejudices prevalent in other parts of the world. Any transgression that brings out these fault lines should be dealt seriously. If the Indian player is found guilty of referring an Australian player as ‘monkey’ should be severely punished, I am sure the players are aware of the context and repercussions. That is of course if there is sufficient proof. The so called gentlemen’s game (endearment by colonial left over, a case of self justification) is nothing to do with any gentlemen, it is game of monkeys (I refer this in Indian context and not to be mistaken for Australian). The guy who is closest to monkey is an embarrassment going by the name Sreesanth (he is a living proof of Darwin's theory), our kid is market smart though. More exposure, better for you- a mediocre player’s day out, his histrionics is disgusting. Another budding gentleman in the block!!.

Frankly any kind of bad behavior (referred to as aggression by media) shouldn’t be tolerated, it is an excuse for incompetence. Uncivilized posturing cannot be packaged as ‘part of sport’. It might give armchair imbeciles some cud to chew or potency to dreary lives of commentators (Why dreary??...well what else when half your life you are talking about “condition of the ball”. Take a break dude!!).

Another rule in game of Gentlemen is that you don’t question the wrong- as part of conduct. The Britishers were quite strict on that, the minions have taken it to the heart. It is now part of the culture, there is also nostalgia of servility. I am told it also makes the game ‘interesting’. Don’t know about that but one thing is sure a bad decision is good for TRP. The nothing-much-to-do media is ecstatic, the boy with leaf growing out of his ears can wait. Just what the spin doctor prescribed. The same reason they are so euphoric about ‘aggression’, it meets all that they cherish- it is low brow, gives images that rivets and can be played again and again, most importantly there is a scope for some talk. Small talks are now referred to as discussion. Howzzat !!