Cricket in India is a religion. Our fascination with the game is world renowned. It’s been fun being here in Australia to see this very controversial tour of India unfold. The saga reached its climax (hopefully) when Harbhajan Singh was acquitted of the racism charges against Andrew Symonds. The media in India, people in India and Indians here celebrated it as a victory for the rising Indian power. The Australian media screamed “naked display of power by Indians”, “Indians muscle their way out” etc. I can tell you the Indian community here was very pleased to read these headlines. “Finally Indians are getting the respect we deserve” they say. True India is a super power in cricket. We generate more money than rest of the cricketing world put together. Why only cricket I think Indian is a rising brand in terms of economic potential. You can see it in the foreign media, in the perceptions of non-Indians. Today’s India is associated with rising economic potential, IT , technology… and eventually we will play a leading role in world politics.
The friendly neighborhood Spiderman once told me “With great power, Comes great responsibility”. Gaining power does not make one great. The history is littered with fools with power. Does Hitler, Idi amin, Pol pot ring a bell? Tyrants, dictators they were called. And this is what I see us as in the Harbhajan Singh case. Quoting from an article I read “
India is a nation bursting with energy and bristling with confidence. But it also faces the risk of losing its humility, which some confuse as weakness. There is a fine line between assertiveness and arrogance, between firmness and being rigid, and between standing up for what is right and bulldozing”.
“Humility” is the word….. It was with humility we asked the British to leave and won our independence. We gave the world a lesson in Humility which has no parallel in history.
Being humble may be seen as weakness when you have no power but it’s a sign of greatness with power.
I hope we keep this in mind.
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