ianstone
10-09-2010, 03:18 PM
INCREDIBLE India. Ugly Australia. Two subjects have jostled for attention in the local media here for the past couple of days.
The celebration of VVS Laxman's marvellous match-saving innings on Tuesday is something to behold. It's Diwali come early (Christmas is the closest translation).
His name was reportedly the biggest trend in tweeting on the planet in the finals stages of the first Test against Australia.
Somebody commented wryly that half of America was googling "Laxman" to find out what on earth one was. Another twittered that when he retired there would be a national holiday in Australia. Smartarse!
To put the Twitter explosion into context, our Queen's thing in Delhi rated 10th at the time.
As to the other business.
If Indians complain about stereotyping, maybe those from the great beige land might have recourse to do the same.
Start of sidebar. Skip to end of sidebar. (http://www.theaustralian.com.au/sport/commonwealth-games/ugly-ugly-ugly-say-indias-media/story-fn66fst6-1225935680254#sidebar-end)
End of sidebar. Return to start of sidebar. (http://www.theaustralian.com.au/sport/commonwealth-games/ugly-ugly-ugly-say-indias-media/story-fn66fst6-1225935680254#sidebar-start)
Australians have a terrible reputation on the subcontinent and there's no shaking it.
This is poo that really sticks to the thongs.
When first a wrestler and then a cyclist does their rag over our monarch's little athletic carnival, it gets front page attention. And rightly so, but the stereotyping is relentless.
Alongside the Laxmania (the punning was relentless) Indians found room to put their chappals into Australians.
One paper began its bold and prominent story: "Ugly Australians aren't just confined to the cricket field. There are Ricky Pontings in every sport."
In truth, Indians have every right to be hostile and suspicious toward us, when they regularly read of their countrymen being bashed in the xenophobic lowlands of Melbourne.
An urbane, attractive and well-educated Indian girl in the team hotel at Chandigarh said on the night the Test match finished that she liked the Australians she met, and wanted to visit, but thought it was too dangerous.
It was pointed out to her that she sounded a bit like those nancies scared to come to Delhi. She was more likely to get whistled at than beaten one wit said (ugly, yes, but in a more appreciative manner).
Still, the papers' front-page stereotype must be deflating for the cricketers and Ponting. It was a harsh assessment of an Australian captain who had just played a wonderful Test match and fulfilled his commitment to help re-establish the game's credentials after they had been sullied by recent events.
The cricketers know the public here rates them very highly. Don Bradman is the game's equivalent of Gandhi. Brett Lee, Steve Waugh, Adam Gilchrist and Matthew Hayden are legends.
Shane Watson is the star of a new hair gel campaign (Google it, it is hilarious) and the IPL sides fall over themselves to sign up Aussies who they know are big drawcards.
Many Indians in the media, however, love to hate Australians and love to malign Ponting.
He'll live with that and keep working hard to get a young team over the line, and he'll do it knowing that every time one of his players puts a foot wrong, they will be buried in a monsoon of bile and criticism.
To some extent it is a rod the Australians created for themselves with some unfortunate incidents over the years (rightly or wrongly he 2008 SCG Test grates with Indians more than many of the atrocities committed under Raj), but it frustrates with the Australians that other sides that err more often escape without being given a similar stereotype.
The match referee had cause to drag two players in for a dressing down during the Mohali match and neither wore the baggy green.
Neither incident was serious, and both were handled sensibly by Chris Broad.
Ponting was gracious, generous and perfectly mannered in defeat.
He said such a wonderful Test match should go some way towards restoring the public's faith in the game.
The attention it got was, indeed, incredible.
Cricket was the most-read story on The Australian website for 36 hours after the match. During the last session international attention was so great the enormous Bangalore-based, ESPN-backed Cricinfo web servers collapsed from exhaustion.
Anyway, there is a wise story about a war hero, philanthropist, inventor, champion athlete and all-round high achiever who has sexual congress with a goat. The man complains that no matter what he achieves he will always be known as a goat f . . .er.
Perhaps we had better get used to the ugly Aussie tag. It could be worse.
The celebration of VVS Laxman's marvellous match-saving innings on Tuesday is something to behold. It's Diwali come early (Christmas is the closest translation).
His name was reportedly the biggest trend in tweeting on the planet in the finals stages of the first Test against Australia.
Somebody commented wryly that half of America was googling "Laxman" to find out what on earth one was. Another twittered that when he retired there would be a national holiday in Australia. Smartarse!
To put the Twitter explosion into context, our Queen's thing in Delhi rated 10th at the time.
As to the other business.
If Indians complain about stereotyping, maybe those from the great beige land might have recourse to do the same.
Start of sidebar. Skip to end of sidebar. (http://www.theaustralian.com.au/sport/commonwealth-games/ugly-ugly-ugly-say-indias-media/story-fn66fst6-1225935680254#sidebar-end)
End of sidebar. Return to start of sidebar. (http://www.theaustralian.com.au/sport/commonwealth-games/ugly-ugly-ugly-say-indias-media/story-fn66fst6-1225935680254#sidebar-start)
Australians have a terrible reputation on the subcontinent and there's no shaking it.
This is poo that really sticks to the thongs.
When first a wrestler and then a cyclist does their rag over our monarch's little athletic carnival, it gets front page attention. And rightly so, but the stereotyping is relentless.
Alongside the Laxmania (the punning was relentless) Indians found room to put their chappals into Australians.
One paper began its bold and prominent story: "Ugly Australians aren't just confined to the cricket field. There are Ricky Pontings in every sport."
In truth, Indians have every right to be hostile and suspicious toward us, when they regularly read of their countrymen being bashed in the xenophobic lowlands of Melbourne.
An urbane, attractive and well-educated Indian girl in the team hotel at Chandigarh said on the night the Test match finished that she liked the Australians she met, and wanted to visit, but thought it was too dangerous.
It was pointed out to her that she sounded a bit like those nancies scared to come to Delhi. She was more likely to get whistled at than beaten one wit said (ugly, yes, but in a more appreciative manner).
Still, the papers' front-page stereotype must be deflating for the cricketers and Ponting. It was a harsh assessment of an Australian captain who had just played a wonderful Test match and fulfilled his commitment to help re-establish the game's credentials after they had been sullied by recent events.
The cricketers know the public here rates them very highly. Don Bradman is the game's equivalent of Gandhi. Brett Lee, Steve Waugh, Adam Gilchrist and Matthew Hayden are legends.
Shane Watson is the star of a new hair gel campaign (Google it, it is hilarious) and the IPL sides fall over themselves to sign up Aussies who they know are big drawcards.
Many Indians in the media, however, love to hate Australians and love to malign Ponting.
He'll live with that and keep working hard to get a young team over the line, and he'll do it knowing that every time one of his players puts a foot wrong, they will be buried in a monsoon of bile and criticism.
To some extent it is a rod the Australians created for themselves with some unfortunate incidents over the years (rightly or wrongly he 2008 SCG Test grates with Indians more than many of the atrocities committed under Raj), but it frustrates with the Australians that other sides that err more often escape without being given a similar stereotype.
The match referee had cause to drag two players in for a dressing down during the Mohali match and neither wore the baggy green.
Neither incident was serious, and both were handled sensibly by Chris Broad.
Ponting was gracious, generous and perfectly mannered in defeat.
He said such a wonderful Test match should go some way towards restoring the public's faith in the game.
The attention it got was, indeed, incredible.
Cricket was the most-read story on The Australian website for 36 hours after the match. During the last session international attention was so great the enormous Bangalore-based, ESPN-backed Cricinfo web servers collapsed from exhaustion.
Anyway, there is a wise story about a war hero, philanthropist, inventor, champion athlete and all-round high achiever who has sexual congress with a goat. The man complains that no matter what he achieves he will always be known as a goat f . . .er.
Perhaps we had better get used to the ugly Aussie tag. It could be worse.