Greatest sporting icons Muhammad Ali, Pele and Sobers: Heroes of an Indian sports lover; coincidence all three of them are black!

In a conversation with a friend over the greatest sports icons, I instantly took names of three names--Muhammad Ali, Pele and Sobers.

The names just came out without giving much thought. In fact, I later thought over it again, but I couldn't find anyone else who fits in this league.

When I and those in my generation (who were born in seventies and began appreciating sports in the 1980s), these three sports stars were already icons for decades. We grew up with elders talking about them and reading about their heroics.

For the sports crazy, it's an exhilarating thought, something not easy to explain, that one just feels happy with the thought we have lived in this era and have the honour to see the sports persons. All of them are now septuagenarians.

Icons--they are in an altogether different league, those who are simply incomparable with other players or sports stars. In other sports, like Tennis, you may have Rod Laver, Bill Tilden, Don Budge or the Jordans and Johnsons, in Basketball, but none of them come close to my idea of an icon.

You may personally love a McEnroe or Roger Federer or more, but icons are different. An icon is an sportsperson who not only enthralls the world but inspires entire generations with their actions, both on and off the field, and the mention of whose name evokes respect.

While Pele and Ali are great sportsmen, for the cricket crazy Gary Sobers evokes similar respect and passion.

In our childhood, we heard that there was the incomparable Sir Don [Bradman], who hit 29 centuries in 52 tests, with an average of over 99.

But it was Sobers, who was almost an equal legend, in the second half of the 20th century.

Garfield St Auburn Sobers excelled in every sphere of the game. He amassed over 8,000 runs in his test cricket with more than 200 wickets, apart from nearly 100 catches, and his impact on cricket world was tremendous. For ages, his 365* was the highest individual innings of a batsman.

And, in the twilight of his career, it was he alone who could score 254 and demolish Dennis Lille, who was in his prime. Boxing legend Ali had the guts to speak up and take a strong [and highly controversial in those days] stand on the Vietnam war.

It is a strange coincidence that all these three icons are black. In the era when Apartheid existed [till late 80s in South Africa], they were role models and heroes for youths and sports lovers across the world. Ali is now 72, Pele is 74, and Sobers, 78.

Like Ali, Sobers and Pele also played an important role in confronting the racial prejudices and the idea of White supremacy. Great men, inspirational figures and statesmen, there is no one close to them in the world of sports.

Long Live, Pele, Ali and Sobers, my heroes.

READ: Story of Muhammad Ali, how he became symbol of resistance and hero of the world

Taliban are NOT HUMAN, surely NOT: Islamic world, leaders must stand up, go beyond condemnation to tackle the monsters and their ideology

The Taliban are NOT HUMAN.

SURELY NOT.

Which ideology, belief or motivation can turn humans to become monsters and kill innocent children with such brutality.

They are not MUSLIMS
They are not HUMANS

The world must shun Taliban and their ideology.
Muslim world must stand up and take a decisive step.

Taliban are MONSTERS
Taliban are not HUMANS

Ulema, citizens, should say loud and clear, that all these groups are outside the pale of humanity and religion. After the attack in the school in Peshwar in Pakistan, that's the smallest first step which is needed. If this doesn't wake up everyone in Pakistan, against the Taliban, what else will?

Taliban MONSTERS. You have shamed us all. 

Media's excessive, hysteric coverage of Australia hostage crisis led to worldwide panic: Is one madman enough to scare us all?

The Australian hostage crisis was no doubt serious but the amount of coverage it was given--live reporting across the world, for nearly 14 hrs, created panic across the globe.

Is it fair? Is one madman or a criminal [and his actions] in a city [Sydney] enough to create scare in the entire world?

No one says that it was a minor incident. But it is also a fact that it is not the first such case. Hostage situations regularly take place in cities across the world.

The amount of live coverage and the publicity given to the incident, is astonishing. Aren't we terrorising ourselves?

Isn't it that any nutcase or delusional person or a hardcore criminal--who either wants attention or is lunatic, can now do a criminal act, and know that he would be able to create scare in the world for a day.

Media's high-pitched coverage across the world led to such a panic that everywhere people were discussing this incident. Even heads of states in other countries were being briefed about it, TV channels reported.

Aren't we giving too much attention and publicity to criminals and giving them ideas? Media must introspect. There are incidents of much bigger magnitude--in terms of abductions and deaths, but they were never played up in this manner.

Is it because it happened in Australia, and incidents in particular countries get more attention. Just like incidents in Africa, Latin America, East Asia are ignored! However, by any standards, the coverage was excessive.

Incidents of gunmen who have killed dozens in US in recent incidents, never got this much coverage. The Sydney siege and the manner in which media played up, is definitely disturbing. For the sake of eyeballs--for getting more viewers, an unfolding story is reported live and it creates paranoia all over.

Australia government, officials' role praiseworthy

The Australian government, officials and their people must be praised for their role. They dealt with the situation deftly.

Their maturity level was clearly visible. Australia's prime minister Tony Abott on TV said that it appeared to be the work of a 'politically motivated perpetrator', however, in India, a leading Hindi TV channel was translating it into 'Aatankwadi', even when not a single bullet had been fired.

The hashtag #illridewithyou on Twitter to show solidarity with Muslims, must be praised. It was no small gesture, given the kind of coverage and its possible backlash. We Salute you my Australian brothers and sisters for it. 

In comparison, in India, TV channels suspended other stories and throughout the day, aired it. In fact, a bomb blast in Manipur in which a person was killed and five were injured, was not even mentioned. See LINK

The world has definitely shrunk but in process, have our brains, especially of those in the media, shrunk too?

Hindi shouldn't become India's national language, says eminent Hindi author in literary festival in Raipur

When renowned Hindi poet and author Ashok Vajpeyi, said that Hindi isn't India's national language and should not be one, the newspapers lapped it up and published the statement in a big way.

Vajpeyi, 73, was speaking at Raipur literary festival in Chhattisgarh.

He said what is not commonly spoken--the fact that Hindi is not Rashtriya Bhasha.

No wonder, some newspapers tried to sensationalise the statement.

Vajpeyi said that Hindi was never India's national language, but it was often termed as a national language.

"Nowhere in constitution, it is written that Hindi is national language", he was quoted in Patrika newspaper. Aajtak reported, "It is a foolish thought that why Hindi is not our national language. After all, why should it be the national language.

If Hindi has to be national language, then why not Tamil, Malayalam, Telugu and Kannada--languages in which wonderful literature is being penned". [SEE LINKS of the reports HERE & HERE]

"India is not just a country but one of the most ancient and composite civilisations of the world. The beauty of India is in diversity", he was quoted. Dainik Bhaskar carried the story as a lead in the paper.

SENSATIONAL HEADLINE!

It quoted  him saying that when one language is made the sole national language, it becomes a 'tanashah' [dictator]. LINK

There are many languages in India and all of them should be celebrated."

Vajpeyi is a poet, intellectual and a recipient of the Sahitya Akademi award for his poetry. He was also chairman of Lalit Kala Akademi. The Raipur Sahitya Sammelan concluded in Chhattisgarh recently.

INDEED INDIA HAS NO NATIONAL LANGUAGE

What Vajpeyi said may shock many people in the Hindi heartland, but it is true. Hindi is an official language along with English [Rajbhasha, not Rashtriya bhasha], but not national language.

In fact, all the 20-odd languages listed in the eighth schedule have equal status in the country. The Gujarat High Court had also held that there is no national language in India. See another report in The Hindu and a blog post on IBN website.

Bengaluru woman's race slur charge turns out to be fiction: She had attacked burqa clad women, then played the victim card

It is a sad story that how an educated and privileged woman, who is the daughter of an ex-MP, falsely claimed that she was racially abused but it turned out that she was the aggressor and her lie was exposed thanks to CCTV footage.

Rachel Sangliana's allegation that two women at a supermarket racially abused her, drew instant attention. The reason was that her allegation that she was targeted for her looks, struck a chord. There have been many incidents when people from North East, have been targeted.

Hence, it was taken seriously. Retired Supreme court judge, Markandeya Katju, who has a huge following on Facebook, also expressed concern. Rachel had claimed that the women told her that, 'We are Indians, you go to China", as per media reports.

She claimed that she was also assaulted. Outrage was expected and it happened. The incident had made headlines. Firstpost wrote, "The image of India's I-T capital Bangalore as 'one of the most cosmopolitan cities' has taken yet another hit..."

TV channels, newspapers were also quick to take up the issue. But the other side of the story came out soon. The supermarket staff testified that it was Rachel, who had used provocative language against the burqa clad women and told them to go to Pakistan.

Also, camera footage showed that the women didn't use racial slur, and it was she who did it. This was the reason, apparently, that she wasn't keen on filing an FIR earlier. But the later developments didn't lead to any outrage. In fact, it wasn't covered in media well.

Rachel Sangliana's father was police commissioner in Bangalore and also a member of parliament (MP) later. The burqa clad women's trolley had dashed her leg but the women had apologised. Still, she shouted, raised her hand at one of them and even asked them to go to Pakistan or Afghanistan.

Further, she made a false claim of being a victim of racist attack. While the incident shows how people who have connections, can play the 'victim' card, and create sensation. Thanks to technology (camera), the entire episode can be seen and other side of the story can be probed.

Else, the one who shouts and plays the 'victim' card well, gets away, despite being at fault. Hopefully, a proper police investigation will reveal the truth.

See links

1. CCTV footage shows Sangliana's daughter slapped first

2. Twist in tale: Bangalore cop's daughter told burkha clad woman to 'go back to Pakistan'