The case dealing with the investigations into Sister Abhaya murder case is one of the most long standing and of paramount importance to the state of Kerala. The crux of the case is, "Sister Abhaya Murder case concerns a nun, who was found dead in a water well in St. Pious X convent in Kottayam, Kerala, on 27 March 1992. She was twenty one years old at the time of her death and was a member of St. Joseph's Congregation for women under the Knanaya Catholic diocese of Kottayam, Kerala in India." The case associated with this murder has moved to and from Kerala Police and Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). Though this case has been a long standing one (almost 16 years in fact), nothing much moved substantially until recently. The most significant movement forward with this case is that on 19 November 2008, two priests of the Knanaya Catholic diocese diocese, Fr. Thomas Kottoor, Fr. Jose Puthrukayil, and a nun Sr. Sephi were arrested by the CBI. Following this significant arrests, a lot of theories have emerged from various quarters.
The Action council associated with this case stated that this was one of the most noticeable move towards cracking the case. The substantial thing to be noted is that the people who were arrested were arrested on the charges of murder and not just for questioning. As a response to the latest developments with the case, the Knanaya Catholic diocese of Kottayam released a circular dated 23rd November, 2008. In the circular, the 'sabha' urged the believers to be united against the so called CONSPIRACY and PRAY for the people arrested who the 'sabha' still thought to be innocent souls.
The current situation of the case suggests that: "On Dec 02, 2008, CBI made certain revelations before P.D. Soman, Chief Judicial Magistrate, Ernakulam. According to CBI, their brain-mapping investigation revealed that Sister Abhaya woke up on January 27, 1992, early in the morning, descended the staircase and went to the hostel kitchen for taking drinking water from the fridge. She was hit with an axe ('kodali') twice on the back of the head, near the right ear. She then collapsed. After the murder, the first accused, Fr. Thomas Kottoor, and the second accused, Fr. Jose Poothrikkayil, assisted by the third accused, Sr. Sephy, lifted Sr Abhaya's body, took it out of the kitchen and dumped in a well behind the building." After the crime was been committed it seems the accused planned meticulously to hide the crime. The planning goes to the extent of Hymenoplasty procedure on Sr. Sephy, apart from the remodeling of the construction of the hostel in which the crime was committed.
I personally do not have anything against any 'Sabha', but I was really taken aback with the stand the Knanaya Catholic diocese took in this matter. They now stand a chance to swallow their own vomit after all this revelation. What surprised me was the urgency shown by the diocese to come to the defense of the accused and make a mockery of the investigation procedure. I wonder what stand they will take now, when the accused have admitted to the crime they committed. I hope the "sabha" realizes that they are no more INNOCENT SOULS.
It was very immature and hasty for the 'sabha' to come up with that sort of circular. It would have made a whole lot more sense if they silently supported and assisted the investigation body to understand and make valid conclusions of the crime committed 16 years back. Why on earth should a responsible 'sabha' try to defend criminals and how would they describe the rationale behind the hymen restoration surgery procedure done on Sr. Sephy? While the sabha acted too strongly to shield these 'innocent souls', I wonder did they ever recognize that Sr Abhaya too was part of the same 'sabha'. What sort of respect and acceptance has the 'sabha' meted out to the DEAD Sr Abhaya?
I am not trying to take any sides in this event, that is least of my interest. I would like the real truth to come out soon and also that people from all walks of life appreciate and acknowledge the real truth. To be in a state to appreciate and acknowledge the truth, let us be patient and wait till the final verdict is out on the issue. The pace at which this case is moving it should not take long.
And while we wait let us pray for Sr Abhaya. Yes indeed, let her soul rest in peace.
Disclaimer: The views expressed in this write up is completely personal, and the only source of reference is 'en.wikipedia.org'.
Sunday, December 07, 2008
Sunday, October 12, 2008
God on the off-side announces retirement!
This write-up of mine is dedicated to one of the biggest Characters in Indian cricket. Sourav Chandidas Ganguly, announced in public that this test series (India versus Australia, Oct-Nov 2008) is going to be his last. Effectively, ending all speculations about his future with on field Indian Cricket. Going by his nature (as I have observed), I am forced to think that he will be involved with the game in some way or the other. He has been an astute observer and learner of the game, a pretty effective communicator and a tremendous motivator. The quality he possesses in cricket, will make him a pretty sought out figure even after his retirement.
I should admit that I am not a big fan of Ganguly's batting or bowling. Though there have been times when I have been in awe seeing this batting. His wonderful flowing cover drives, his fierce square cuts and the way he steps out against the spinners it is just a treat to watch. But above all this, it is the Character of Ganguly that fascinates me. There has been quite a few stories doing rounds, about Ganguly's inclusion in Indian cricket. None of this story could hold any water after his test debut series in England. Indian cricket was going through its toughest phase when Ganguly was handed over the captaincy. There were clouds of match fixing allegations, there were people who had turned down captaining India in cricket as captaincy was having a terrible impact on their own personal performances. In walks Ganguly, and with him a wind of change crept into the attitude of Indian cricket team.
The change was not noticeable in a fortnight, it took some time for the change in attitude to be visible. Indian cricketers were always considered to be perfect Gentlemen for the game on the field. And the teams across the world, and partly the media too, had the habit of taking this attitude of Indian cricket team as granted. With the inception of Ganguly as the captain, there was a growing sense of self esteem in the team. This team was not shy of wearing this attitude, they were no more willing to take things lie down. A fighting spirit, a growing sense of camaraderie and a feeling of being safe about their positions in the team was discernible. With the captaincy in his had, Ganguly played a pretty strong and significant role in selection too. He used to back his players to the hilt, and this in turn reduced the fear of failure(and subsequent omission from the team) among the team members. He backed a set of youngsters like Harbahajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, Virender Sehwag, Yuvraj Singh, Irfan Pathan who have carried on and have become the cream of the Indian cricket team. This phase of Indian cricket saw legendary players like Sachin, Rahul, Anil, VVS prosper and develop themselves as icons of Indian cricket. Every individual in the team started enjoying the success of other players in the team. And with this grew the confidence of the team, and they started winning and competing series played in home and more importantly abroad as well.
Every time people start writing Ganguly's cricket obituary, he has come back fighting like a phoenix. I might have to dedicate one complete write-up to describe his comebacks. He has been one of the most consistent ODI batsman from India, and quite a good number 6 batsman in tests. His gentle swing bowling can be termed more than useful. It is because of his habit of speaking his heart out, that the media seems to have never had enough of him. Apparently, because of this quality, controversy (some self imposed and some forced) has never remained separated from Ganguly. The board and the media have equally exploited this to their benefits.
Post his announcement (retirement), I had a final chance of witnessing Ganguly on cricket field as a player in the Bangalore test match. We went this Friday (10th October), most part of the day Australians were batting, and we saw some spirited performance from Ishant and Zaheer with the ball. Towards the end of the day we also saw some delightful batting by Sehwag and Gambhir. Ganguly's inning (first) in this match was a typical portrayal of Ganguly's character, a fine fighting and gritty knock of 47. Hope this series brings with it some more good performances from him, which can go on to help India win this coveted series. I just wish this series throws more challenges to him and he faces that in typical Ganguly way. Wishing him all the very best for his post retirement life.
I should admit that I am not a big fan of Ganguly's batting or bowling. Though there have been times when I have been in awe seeing this batting. His wonderful flowing cover drives, his fierce square cuts and the way he steps out against the spinners it is just a treat to watch. But above all this, it is the Character of Ganguly that fascinates me. There has been quite a few stories doing rounds, about Ganguly's inclusion in Indian cricket. None of this story could hold any water after his test debut series in England. Indian cricket was going through its toughest phase when Ganguly was handed over the captaincy. There were clouds of match fixing allegations, there were people who had turned down captaining India in cricket as captaincy was having a terrible impact on their own personal performances. In walks Ganguly, and with him a wind of change crept into the attitude of Indian cricket team.
The change was not noticeable in a fortnight, it took some time for the change in attitude to be visible. Indian cricketers were always considered to be perfect Gentlemen for the game on the field. And the teams across the world, and partly the media too, had the habit of taking this attitude of Indian cricket team as granted. With the inception of Ganguly as the captain, there was a growing sense of self esteem in the team. This team was not shy of wearing this attitude, they were no more willing to take things lie down. A fighting spirit, a growing sense of camaraderie and a feeling of being safe about their positions in the team was discernible. With the captaincy in his had, Ganguly played a pretty strong and significant role in selection too. He used to back his players to the hilt, and this in turn reduced the fear of failure(and subsequent omission from the team) among the team members. He backed a set of youngsters like Harbahajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, Virender Sehwag, Yuvraj Singh, Irfan Pathan who have carried on and have become the cream of the Indian cricket team. This phase of Indian cricket saw legendary players like Sachin, Rahul, Anil, VVS prosper and develop themselves as icons of Indian cricket. Every individual in the team started enjoying the success of other players in the team. And with this grew the confidence of the team, and they started winning and competing series played in home and more importantly abroad as well.
Every time people start writing Ganguly's cricket obituary, he has come back fighting like a phoenix. I might have to dedicate one complete write-up to describe his comebacks. He has been one of the most consistent ODI batsman from India, and quite a good number 6 batsman in tests. His gentle swing bowling can be termed more than useful. It is because of his habit of speaking his heart out, that the media seems to have never had enough of him. Apparently, because of this quality, controversy (some self imposed and some forced) has never remained separated from Ganguly. The board and the media have equally exploited this to their benefits.
Post his announcement (retirement), I had a final chance of witnessing Ganguly on cricket field as a player in the Bangalore test match. We went this Friday (10th October), most part of the day Australians were batting, and we saw some spirited performance from Ishant and Zaheer with the ball. Towards the end of the day we also saw some delightful batting by Sehwag and Gambhir. Ganguly's inning (first) in this match was a typical portrayal of Ganguly's character, a fine fighting and gritty knock of 47. Hope this series brings with it some more good performances from him, which can go on to help India win this coveted series. I just wish this series throws more challenges to him and he faces that in typical Ganguly way. Wishing him all the very best for his post retirement life.
Sunday, September 21, 2008
My world this week
It has been a pretty hectic week this, in terms of official work. As usual we (a group of like minded guys in office) thought of ending the hectic week with a few games of cricket. We followed up the game with a casual get together in one of the restaurants. After dumping in a few beers and some food to go with it, headed back home. And it was pretty late, reached home at around 12:30. The next day, spent most of the time at home (trying to compensate of being late on Friday night ;) ). Rather quite unusually, saw a couple of movies in a single day. I would like to say that I am not at all a movie man, and by movies I refer to Hollywood, Bollywood and Mallywood movies. The first of the movies were 'The sound of music' an old English classic, winner of five Oscar awards early in 1965. The other movie which I saw was 'A Wednesday', a contemporary movie and quite a good one too. Most of the part of the remaining day I was more or less contemplating on the view points of the movie 'A Wednesday'. Sunday morning, as usual, I went to the Church near by to attend the Holy mass. Perhaps for the first time in my life I attended a Sundays mass with police protection. Post mass, I thought of penning down my views about a few things that happened and about which I have made a brief explanation before.
I will start off with the happening in the restaurant, post the game of cricket. I would like to state here that I am a kind of personality you can easily infuriate. I get excited perhaps way too quickly, and to top that off if I am kinda drunk no one needs to put any effort at all :). Over the drinks, the topic of terrorism and its effects on our society came up. The views expressed by my friends across the table was that it was a certain community which has to be blamed. They tried to substantiate it with examples and quite naturally there were no dearth for the examples. The notion that came up was that, it is this particular community which is aiming at disrupting the communal harmony and breaking the secular fabrics in a country like India. And from some oblivion a statement came up, and it went like this: 'All terrorists are Muslims'. So then what about the disturbances caused in Orissa and Karnataka by 'Bajrang Dal' was the next question. To me personally, the group which aims at forceful conversion, the set of people who aim to tackle that by violence pose equal animosity to the communal harmony of the country. Now don't these groups also be termed as terrorist. Why do we have different yard sticks for different situation, different people? Terrorism is literally defined as 'The calculated use of violence (or the threat of violence) against civilians in order to attain goals that are political or religious or ideological in nature; this is done through intimidation or coercion or instilling fear'.
The group of people who aim at forceful conversion, use their violent thoughts to instill fear in the mind of poor and ignorant. They get them converted promising (and perhaps giving) money, food or shelter. These people are anything but the victims of their ignorance and poverty and there are fair number of people to exploit this condition. The sect of people who wants to tackle this social issue use brutal force and violence to spread fear among the entire community, cause damages to the property they own and also their health. Yet another group of people, perhaps the most established and systematic, aim to win the religious war by killing people and spreading fear around. To me all of them are terrorists, it is only the kind of impact they have vary, but they all of them cache in on spreading fear.
Hmmm... Now the movie 'A Wednesday', it is one of the intelligently made movies and the guy Neeraj Pandey has really done a commendable job (I am no one to commend him though). I saw the depiction of 'The common man' in a pretty effective way in the movie. I could sense and share the same sort of helplessness, frustrations and stigma of a common man. Though most of the Bollywood movies claim to be of the common man, I perhaps always witness the uncommonness of common man in all those movies. Typically Hindi movies are so much lost in unusual, fairytale love stories and they still claim it to be close to reality and DIFFERENT. The film maker here has to a great extent shared the sentiments of real common man in the country. The statements like: "Jhagda chahe kisi kaa bhi ho.. marta main hi hoon" and "We are resilient by force, not by choice" echo the reality to such an extent that is hardly seen or heard in Hindi movies. The (stupid) common man is being pushed against wall, his patience is tested day in and day out. Khuda na khaasta, the patience fades off...
There was a pretty subtle mockery of the entire establishment, system, governance of the country and man wasn't that effective. I saw the common MAN in Naseeruddin Shah, not the uncommon kids, frauds and superheroes of general Hindi movies.
Coming to the third and final story, as I told earlier this was the first time in my life that I attended a Sunday mass with police protection. I am not all feeling great about it, rather I am feeling pretty embarrassed. Who am I being protected from, is it from the same set of people with whom I live, with whom I COEXIST. Or am I protected from some foreign forces. Who am I to blame for this situation. The people who does the conversion ( I would be blatantly lying if I fail to acknowledge that there is nothing like forced conversion) or the set of people who have jumped to streets against conversion. For me both are responsible and to some extent the former group the more responsible. In a country like ours, you have freedom to preach and follow the religion of your own choice. Preaching a religion does not mean, disgracing the other religions, it does not necessarily mean that you exploit the poverty and ignorance of people just to create a few more (so called) Christians. More importantly, you have law here to catch and punish the people who are objecting this by violence. But we do not have law to stop the people who are actually doing the forceful conversions. Are we supposed to remain happy about this sort of lame law. We should aim to tackle the problem by identifying the root cause and the cause here obviously is forceful conversion. By doing forceful conversions you are just providing a perfect opportunity to anti social elements to take to violence and in the process become more visible.
Apparently these were the three different but related things that I witnessed over this weekend. These incidents sends down a feeling of apprehension in my mind. I feel that the divide in the country on the basis of community is widening. The identity of our country lies in the fact that it is a place where many people from different religion, CO-EXIST. The cultural crux of this country lies in the fact that we have been hospitable and open to different cultures across the globe. Off late, it seems we are creating different silos and we exist only in silos. We have a political system that thrives on the division of the society. Not one political party exists in our country, which actually does not exploit the social division in the society, every one of them is equally responsible in deepening the divide that exists. The sentiment of aam aadmi has to be heard and addressed, and this could happen only if the aam aadmi get more involved in the social processes. Hope we all do.... ( I am in the process of determining a way)..
I will start off with the happening in the restaurant, post the game of cricket. I would like to state here that I am a kind of personality you can easily infuriate. I get excited perhaps way too quickly, and to top that off if I am kinda drunk no one needs to put any effort at all :). Over the drinks, the topic of terrorism and its effects on our society came up. The views expressed by my friends across the table was that it was a certain community which has to be blamed. They tried to substantiate it with examples and quite naturally there were no dearth for the examples. The notion that came up was that, it is this particular community which is aiming at disrupting the communal harmony and breaking the secular fabrics in a country like India. And from some oblivion a statement came up, and it went like this: 'All terrorists are Muslims'. So then what about the disturbances caused in Orissa and Karnataka by 'Bajrang Dal' was the next question. To me personally, the group which aims at forceful conversion, the set of people who aim to tackle that by violence pose equal animosity to the communal harmony of the country. Now don't these groups also be termed as terrorist. Why do we have different yard sticks for different situation, different people? Terrorism is literally defined as 'The calculated use of violence (or the threat of violence) against civilians in order to attain goals that are political or religious or ideological in nature; this is done through intimidation or coercion or instilling fear'.
The group of people who aim at forceful conversion, use their violent thoughts to instill fear in the mind of poor and ignorant. They get them converted promising (and perhaps giving) money, food or shelter. These people are anything but the victims of their ignorance and poverty and there are fair number of people to exploit this condition. The sect of people who wants to tackle this social issue use brutal force and violence to spread fear among the entire community, cause damages to the property they own and also their health. Yet another group of people, perhaps the most established and systematic, aim to win the religious war by killing people and spreading fear around. To me all of them are terrorists, it is only the kind of impact they have vary, but they all of them cache in on spreading fear.
Hmmm... Now the movie 'A Wednesday', it is one of the intelligently made movies and the guy Neeraj Pandey has really done a commendable job (I am no one to commend him though). I saw the depiction of 'The common man' in a pretty effective way in the movie. I could sense and share the same sort of helplessness, frustrations and stigma of a common man. Though most of the Bollywood movies claim to be of the common man, I perhaps always witness the uncommonness of common man in all those movies. Typically Hindi movies are so much lost in unusual, fairytale love stories and they still claim it to be close to reality and DIFFERENT. The film maker here has to a great extent shared the sentiments of real common man in the country. The statements like: "Jhagda chahe kisi kaa bhi ho.. marta main hi hoon" and "We are resilient by force, not by choice" echo the reality to such an extent that is hardly seen or heard in Hindi movies. The (stupid) common man is being pushed against wall, his patience is tested day in and day out. Khuda na khaasta, the patience fades off...
There was a pretty subtle mockery of the entire establishment, system, governance of the country and man wasn't that effective. I saw the common MAN in Naseeruddin Shah, not the uncommon kids, frauds and superheroes of general Hindi movies.
Coming to the third and final story, as I told earlier this was the first time in my life that I attended a Sunday mass with police protection. I am not all feeling great about it, rather I am feeling pretty embarrassed. Who am I being protected from, is it from the same set of people with whom I live, with whom I COEXIST. Or am I protected from some foreign forces. Who am I to blame for this situation. The people who does the conversion ( I would be blatantly lying if I fail to acknowledge that there is nothing like forced conversion) or the set of people who have jumped to streets against conversion. For me both are responsible and to some extent the former group the more responsible. In a country like ours, you have freedom to preach and follow the religion of your own choice. Preaching a religion does not mean, disgracing the other religions, it does not necessarily mean that you exploit the poverty and ignorance of people just to create a few more (so called) Christians. More importantly, you have law here to catch and punish the people who are objecting this by violence. But we do not have law to stop the people who are actually doing the forceful conversions. Are we supposed to remain happy about this sort of lame law. We should aim to tackle the problem by identifying the root cause and the cause here obviously is forceful conversion. By doing forceful conversions you are just providing a perfect opportunity to anti social elements to take to violence and in the process become more visible.
Apparently these were the three different but related things that I witnessed over this weekend. These incidents sends down a feeling of apprehension in my mind. I feel that the divide in the country on the basis of community is widening. The identity of our country lies in the fact that it is a place where many people from different religion, CO-EXIST. The cultural crux of this country lies in the fact that we have been hospitable and open to different cultures across the globe. Off late, it seems we are creating different silos and we exist only in silos. We have a political system that thrives on the division of the society. Not one political party exists in our country, which actually does not exploit the social division in the society, every one of them is equally responsible in deepening the divide that exists. The sentiment of aam aadmi has to be heard and addressed, and this could happen only if the aam aadmi get more involved in the social processes. Hope we all do.... ( I am in the process of determining a way)..
Friday, February 08, 2008
Human - inhumane
I have always tried to believe that there are good and bad faces associated with every human being. It is highly unlikely that you can remain good to everyone you know you come across in your life. Yes we do have a few exceptional cases (one such example that comes straight to my imagination is Mother Teresa), one perhaps needs very special blessings from the almighty to remain good to everyone all through out the life. Even when human beings generally have a darker side associated with them, the brighter side tries to overpower the other side. After all that is what is desired out of a human being.
The goodness and the other side in a human being is controlled by many factors, the two most significant factors to me are :
While we do have a fair control over the second aspect, I do not know who and how the other factor is controlled. There might be many theories associated with that as well, but to my naive mind its baffling. It is always pleasant when one tries to concentrate only on the positive aspects of a human being. And believe me it is far more peaceful too. But living in todays world can we completely ignore the sort of crime existing here. I number of crimes committed is not the worrying factor to me, but it is the changing nature of crime that is worrying me. May be it is because we have started ignoring the almighty. May be... How else can one think about or justify the acts of Nithari or the recent kidney scam in India. I have pointed out the cases in India as I am part of this country and it hurts me the most when I see this sort of crime committed in my country. The case is no better in other parts of the world. We had cases where one fine day a young man opens fire in the University campus because of some crazy love failure, we have acts of terrorism happening almost everywhere in the world. In these cases a class or sect of people of certain caste/religion/race are being targeted by people of a different caste/religion/race. I am not sure how one can justify these sort of acts, how can one think of toying with lives of other human beings. Either people do not realize the value of a human life or they have lost their own conscience. Thinking about the well being of you and your loved ones is a pretty normal thing. The well being as such can have many parameters like wealth, health, pleasure etc etc. But when these things come at the cost of lives of other human being it is damn appalling.
How can a country ever thrive when the people who are supposed to take care of human life and health are themselves toying with human life. How can a country prosper when the very future of the country (the kids) are treated like objects to satisfy ones lust (perhaps the Nithari case is more than a story of lust, the more I think or hear about it the more disgusted I feel). The positive side to these stories is that the common man of this country understands how horrendous these crimes are and at every given opportunity people have voiced there concern over such issues. The way the Nithari convicts were (man)handled in jail and the court just shows the amount of frustration people have over the same issue. But perhaps the entire society needs to step up to promote and preach the significance of nobility in a human life. Everyone has a right to grow, grow to whatever limits but the growth should never be at the cost of other human beings and their lives. We might have to rake our conscience to see where we want to take our life, our society and our country to. And hopefully we all can move into the right (and noble) direction.
The goodness and the other side in a human being is controlled by many factors, the two most significant factors to me are :
- Conscience
- Upbringing
While we do have a fair control over the second aspect, I do not know who and how the other factor is controlled. There might be many theories associated with that as well, but to my naive mind its baffling. It is always pleasant when one tries to concentrate only on the positive aspects of a human being. And believe me it is far more peaceful too. But living in todays world can we completely ignore the sort of crime existing here. I number of crimes committed is not the worrying factor to me, but it is the changing nature of crime that is worrying me. May be it is because we have started ignoring the almighty. May be... How else can one think about or justify the acts of Nithari or the recent kidney scam in India. I have pointed out the cases in India as I am part of this country and it hurts me the most when I see this sort of crime committed in my country. The case is no better in other parts of the world. We had cases where one fine day a young man opens fire in the University campus because of some crazy love failure, we have acts of terrorism happening almost everywhere in the world. In these cases a class or sect of people of certain caste/religion/race are being targeted by people of a different caste/religion/race. I am not sure how one can justify these sort of acts, how can one think of toying with lives of other human beings. Either people do not realize the value of a human life or they have lost their own conscience. Thinking about the well being of you and your loved ones is a pretty normal thing. The well being as such can have many parameters like wealth, health, pleasure etc etc. But when these things come at the cost of lives of other human being it is damn appalling.
How can a country ever thrive when the people who are supposed to take care of human life and health are themselves toying with human life. How can a country prosper when the very future of the country (the kids) are treated like objects to satisfy ones lust (perhaps the Nithari case is more than a story of lust, the more I think or hear about it the more disgusted I feel). The positive side to these stories is that the common man of this country understands how horrendous these crimes are and at every given opportunity people have voiced there concern over such issues. The way the Nithari convicts were (man)handled in jail and the court just shows the amount of frustration people have over the same issue. But perhaps the entire society needs to step up to promote and preach the significance of nobility in a human life. Everyone has a right to grow, grow to whatever limits but the growth should never be at the cost of other human beings and their lives. We might have to rake our conscience to see where we want to take our life, our society and our country to. And hopefully we all can move into the right (and noble) direction.
Monday, January 07, 2008
God must be an Australian!
Today is 7th day of January 2008, and I write this article a day after the second test between Australia and India ended in Sydney. This match is going to remain for a long long time in my memory, not for very pleasant reasons though. To me personally, this test match was marred by pretty bad umpiring and poor sportsmanship. If my maths and cricketing logic is fair, Indian cricket team was in the receiving end of poor umpiring decisions at least eight times. Eight poor decisions in a test match is a stuff that is pretty hard for me to swallow. Of these eight decisions, most of them were apparently very simple decisions. The Indian team showed quite a character in over hauling the Australian first inning total and to remain in the game. They were not helped a bit by the ridiculous umpiring decisions, bland gamesmanship by their counterparts and not even a bit by the supernatural power. If you do so many things right, and tend to follow the noble path with so many adversities falling upon you and still be on the losing part then you cannot help but believe that God is on the other side. This is the reason why I say, 'God must be an Australian'.
Poor umpiring started off in the very first day of the match, when Mr. Integrity (Ricky Ponting) was given not out on a very clear catch down the leg side by the keeper. Nothing in this world was between the bat and the ball, and there was a big nick which went unnoticed by the umpire (though it was apparent to everyone else). Mr. Integrity stood his ground, and he has every right to do so. India still managed to get on top of the game with crucial blows and taking the score to 134/6. The game was very much poised in India's favor. The next poor decision was made when Mr. Abused (Andrew Symmonds) was playing on 30, and he later went on to score 169. This again was an apparent nick to the keeper and all in and around the stadium heard it but Mr. Umpire failed to do so. Next to follow were three other umpiring bloopers, and in all the three cases the reward were reaped by Mr. Abused. The other three victims for the subsequent poor decisions were Wasim Jaffer, Rahul Dravid and Saurav Ganguly. I do not intend to explain those bloopers here. The more I think about those the more disappointed I get.
Cricket is always said to be a gentleman's game, but if I am to believe what I saw in this match then its a blatant lie. I have been an ardent follower of cricket since last 20 years at least and I do not remember seeing a more dishonest, crooked and deceitful team than this. Its a known fact that no one should expect a fair approach from this current Australian lot, but in this match they were quite below their own standards. Mr. Integrity went on to claim for a catch which the entier world knew was grounded (and mind you still no one should question his INTEGRITY). I have been a staunch admirer of Adam Gilchrist for his talent and more for his sportsmanship. But after the caught behind appeal against Rahul Dravid in the second inning, I feel like being gutted. The one person who had the complete view of the delivery was the person standing behind the wickets, and he appealing for a catch was very appalling. I am sorry to say this but Mr. Gilchrist you have disappointed me big time. Then there was this new found leader, Michael Clark, who either does not know what a clean catch is or does not want to understand. This Australian team is so hungry to win that they can go to any extent to do so. I felt as if the umpires were made to dance to the Australian tune.
For me there is only one team that has come out victorious, and that is India. The character these guys have shown in the field makes them perfect ambassadors for the game. I do not know though, being so RIGHT is a good thing against a team like Australia. My man of the match is Anil Kumble, not for his bowling but for his batting in the second innning and his post match talk.
Poor umpiring started off in the very first day of the match, when Mr. Integrity (Ricky Ponting) was given not out on a very clear catch down the leg side by the keeper. Nothing in this world was between the bat and the ball, and there was a big nick which went unnoticed by the umpire (though it was apparent to everyone else). Mr. Integrity stood his ground, and he has every right to do so. India still managed to get on top of the game with crucial blows and taking the score to 134/6. The game was very much poised in India's favor. The next poor decision was made when Mr. Abused (Andrew Symmonds) was playing on 30, and he later went on to score 169. This again was an apparent nick to the keeper and all in and around the stadium heard it but Mr. Umpire failed to do so. Next to follow were three other umpiring bloopers, and in all the three cases the reward were reaped by Mr. Abused. The other three victims for the subsequent poor decisions were Wasim Jaffer, Rahul Dravid and Saurav Ganguly. I do not intend to explain those bloopers here. The more I think about those the more disappointed I get.
Cricket is always said to be a gentleman's game, but if I am to believe what I saw in this match then its a blatant lie. I have been an ardent follower of cricket since last 20 years at least and I do not remember seeing a more dishonest, crooked and deceitful team than this. Its a known fact that no one should expect a fair approach from this current Australian lot, but in this match they were quite below their own standards. Mr. Integrity went on to claim for a catch which the entier world knew was grounded (and mind you still no one should question his INTEGRITY). I have been a staunch admirer of Adam Gilchrist for his talent and more for his sportsmanship. But after the caught behind appeal against Rahul Dravid in the second inning, I feel like being gutted. The one person who had the complete view of the delivery was the person standing behind the wickets, and he appealing for a catch was very appalling. I am sorry to say this but Mr. Gilchrist you have disappointed me big time. Then there was this new found leader, Michael Clark, who either does not know what a clean catch is or does not want to understand. This Australian team is so hungry to win that they can go to any extent to do so. I felt as if the umpires were made to dance to the Australian tune.
For me there is only one team that has come out victorious, and that is India. The character these guys have shown in the field makes them perfect ambassadors for the game. I do not know though, being so RIGHT is a good thing against a team like Australia. My man of the match is Anil Kumble, not for his bowling but for his batting in the second innning and his post match talk.
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