It may be because I am, what my patriotic, un-parochial section of readers (the same kind who gloated in the previous post when Sourav was dropped—-which shows that not all of us belong to their concept of India) call an oxymoron. (Yes at least one of them in a comment on a post started calling me that and soon my other “Indian” friends picked it up. Of course that’s because my “Indian” friend understands that oxymoron means someone who is more than a moron—an oxygenated moron or a cross between an ox and a moron).
In any case, I accept my low scum-like intellect in front of these fine men/women/something else. Because I am thoroughly confused now.
Okay here’s the deal. I believe everything More says. Kiran More has always been my idol—-ever since he dropped Gooch after which Goochie went on to make more than 300 runs against us. I have always been in awe of his rotating-round-and-round-like-a-ballerina hook shot and his sublime keeping skills.
Most importantly, I have always admired his cricketing acumen—–like when he allegedly called Kirmani (whose wicketkeeping we all know was way way below More) a “goalkeeper” while arguing for the selection of Parthiv Patel (who hails from Gujrat—the same state where India’s greatest keeper was born) [Thanks Yuvraj Dodia for pointing out the mistake —Parthiv was not born in Baroda but More and Parthiv are still State-mates.]
Which for all of us, who have seen Parthiv keep, just goes to show how much premium Kiran More puts on performance and how much “Indian” he is—where the word “Indian” is a synonym for region-blind.
[An aside: There is a commenter on my blog who berates me, in unparliamentary language, for not being region-blind and not being “Indian”—all the while calling himself North Indian]
Putting my trust in More, I believed that the reason why Sourav was dropped from the ODI side initially was because “noone wants to disturb a winning combination.” I kind of like that—putting performance over superstition.
However what bamboozled me was when More dropped Sourav Ganguly from a winning Test combination this time round. Surely, the important thing is “performance” and not “let’s get rid of this guy whom we hate at all cost”—right?
And the confusion continues. In a team where as Chappell and More says—past does not count; what counts is IMMEDIATE performance, I was a bit perplexed (from my knowledge of the theory of integers and their total order) that 79 (Ganguly’s match aggregate) is lesser than Dravid (77) and Yuvi (77).
To be honest, I believed there was little to choose between Ganguly(79), Dravid(77), Yuvi(77), Laxman(80) —but evidently not.
I also thought that when Sourav had made a comeback after performing in the domestic circuit and then had gained the trust of our Supreme Lord Greg (he said that Sourav had done “all that was expected of him” ), Dada had redeemed his sinful past tarnished by “being his own man” and for “arrogance with the press”.
What he did from now on would count as his “performance” on which his future selection would depend.
Again evidently not.
I also thought that Dalmiya was parochial (the Rediff article which reported Dalmiya’s defeat in the elections called him so) and that Sharad Pawar and Kiran More are as fair as Solomon—-and that the new board president and chief selector would usher in a new age of region-blind selection. An encouraging first step was made when they, hours after coming to office, removed all the selectors who had voted for Sourav. These selectors also, according to More-Pawar, had not performed.
When Wasim Jaffar from Mumbai comes into the team after being kept in cold storage for many years, my faith in More shakes. Just a bit. Not much. He is still the “Give me More” man. But as I said I am a bit shaken.
But what confuses me most of all is this line from Rediff—in an article sympathetic to Ganguly.
This time, one wouldn’t fault Bengali cricket fans if they come out again in support of Ganguly. Certainly, he doesn’t deserve such humiliation after leading Indian cricket to dizzy heights.
Was Ganguly only the captain of Bengal? Am I the only person who feels that dropping Ganguly is a bit inconsistent and might not be motivated by that grossly misunderstood word–“performance” ? I am of course not suggesting that More and Pawar are parochial —woe betide me for even thinking of that. But are Bengalis the only ones who are going to “come out” in his support—does no one else feel that injustice has being done here?
I dont want to say “I told you so” but this article is precisely what I have always claimed—-the association of Ganguly with Bengalis is so ingrained in the popular consciousness that the injustice meted out to him should be, according to Rediff, visible only to people who (again according to my non-parochial, “INDIAN” commenter-friends) pronounce “save” as “shave” and do no work ie Bengalis.
However I would like to think that what Rediff says is wrong. That people, regardless of where they come from, will see that there is something wrong going on here. At least, I hope so.
Many Indian cricketers have been given bad farewells but has anyone faced such humiliation and targeted, vindictive vitriol?
I doubt it.
But then of course, as a few of my visitors (who call themselves different flavors of “Indian”) , say—Sourav deserves the worst kind of humiliation possible and so do Bengalis.
Of course we do. No confusion there.
The Greatbong Blog & Podcast 
Hi Arnab,
I am not a regular here, but have read and enjoyed most of your posts ..
I think you got this part wrong
“…arguing for the selection of Parthiv Patel (who hails from Baroda—the same place where India’s greatest keeper was born)”
Parthiv Patel was born in Ahmedabad and plays for Gujarat in Ranji where as More (born in Baroda) played for Baroda.
Cheers,
Yuvraj
PS: Do you still participate in any quiz/trivia contests on east coast ?
@Yuvraj:
Heyyy great to see you post a comment on my blog ! I accept my “bhool” but its still true that they both hail from the same state—right? (Baroda and Ahmedabad are still part of the same state—though not Ranji team).
Alas, the last time I participated in a quiz was the Asha quiz @Rutgers—wish there was something in this area on weekends.
Yeah I agree, More isn’t a best example of a ‘Fair and Impartial’ selector, and I too feel it was completely unfair to drop Ganguly now, if Ganguly had to be “let go” of, it should have been at the end of the SL series. But alas !! More and Co. do not ve balls when they are needed …
anyways ..I find myself nitpicking again ..
“..Parthiv was not born in Gujrat but More and Parthiv are still State-mates.]”
I guess you meant, not born in Baroda 🙂 ..
Cheers,
Yuvraj
Indian selectors are a bunch of Jokers allrite – I am quite stunned that ganguly was dropped… yet again. OK, he deserved it for ODI, but if he is trying to make a comeback, why not give him an oppurtunity.
Our team is full of selfish money minded bastards – not one player wants to stand up and say against this whole drama ever since mr. greg-fu*#*#-chappell has graced Indian cricket. I think if anyone that needs to be dropped from the team, its Greg pronto. His politics is worse than our selectors themselves – quite a bunch we have there.
Good post.
Cheers!
Arnab:
1. I agree that Ganguly’s omission this time round is unfair. I guess Mumbai/Maharashtra players will get precedence in the Pawar play: Agarkar vis-a-vis Zaheer another case in point (along with Jaffer’s inclusion)?
2. “..the association of Ganguly with Bengalis is so ingrained in the popular consciousness..” – even if we assume that finding a couple of online articles (it seems you’re always on the lookout for them) are sufficient to substantiate that claim – merely in the interest of being objective it still begs the question: is that solely because non-Bengalis associate Ganguly with Bengal.. or perhaps it also has something to do with Bengalis tending to look at Ganguly as a symbol of Bengali pride? I am not suggesting that people in other states do not take special pride in the success of their players.. but perhaps Bengalis indulge in it a little more than others?
3. Former Test players have expressed displeasure, saying that this was not the way to treat a successful player and captain. Most news reports take the same tone, public sentiment also seems to be with Sourav.. (these are merely my observations from cursory browsing of online news).
@Yuvraj: Sorry a typo again !
@Supremus: Right on.
@Debashish: Last time I looked, Rediff was a fairly regular haunt of desis especially for its cricket reporting and so I do not need to be on the “lookout” in order to get that bit of Bengali-Ganguly association in my face.
Are we Bengalis more passionate about Sourav? No. Maybe some people are but there are “moderate” people like you who balance things out. So I think we do pretty good.
Personally I find nothing in pride in a son of the soil’s achievements as long as we do not indulge in hate speech against people from other regions/communities.
Its however interesting to see where you vanish when so-called Indians come and pour abuse on me for being a Bengali and a Dada-supporter. I sure do miss your voice of exalted moderation then—-not that I need your help but because it would be good if you could see (despite your best efforts) how tough it is for me not to feel the hate when it comes on my doorstep
[Just wait till day dawns in India for the “Indians” to come rushing in].
Wonder where you will be “looking” then.
(And oh do read my post—I said I am confident that leave aside a few nutjobs most Indians (as opposed to simply Bengalis) will feel that something horribly horribly wrong has happened here.
Arnab,
Its a lost cause now. Those bunch of jokers have made cricket to the gerat indian comedy show. We have seen this parochial attitude going on. He deserved a bit MORE respect.
Its dirty politics. There was the ‘D(almia) company’ earlier and now ‘D(ungarpur) company’. They speak of transparent and yes they are transparent and translucent and they are in all sorts of trance to show their naked character, bunch of puppets.
Mr.MORE & Co has made him a tragic hero. He has been my hero not for his batting but for the uncanny knack to prove millions and zillions of his detractors wrong at each time of his careerer. DADA you were the best thing that happened to Indian cricket. Kudos.
Shocked & humiliated
Partha
Agreed, this time around, dropping Dada from the test team was unfair.
He came in through a backdoor entry courtesy some strings pulled, and he was booted out through the same backdoor again courtesy other strings being pulled.
About the rediff article, associating Ganguly with only Bengal is not misplaced. If West Bengal’s spectators can boo their own country and cheer the opponents, it shows with who they want to be associated: just Ganguly or the whole India.
Laxman’s fans in Hydrebad and Kumble’s fans in Bangalore have an equal right to being angry about their heroes not being included in the ODI team. But they don’t boo the whole Indian team and cheer for opponents. Only Kolkattans do. Go figure.
Very few people are talking about the role of Dravid in this pathetic – shameful drama. Dravid’s body language in the field and in press conference said it all. He could not stand by the presence of Ganguly. It was not possible for Oxymorons like More to take such decision without active support of Dravid. I always knew Dravid was a great cricketer..I never knew he is such an insecure person!
You only quote Rediff here, but earlier you have referred to an obscure Cybernoon. Anyway, that’s a trivial point..
Maybe some people are but there are “moderate” people like you who balance things out. So I think we do pretty good. I am not saying all Bengalis are too passionate, the question in my mind is: are Bengalis significantly (and here I am talking about statistical significance) more passionate about Ganguly than, say, Telugus about Laxman? If so, might that explain some of the Ganguly-Bengali association in popular consciousness (if that’s true)..
Personally I find nothing (I assume you missed the word ‘wrong’?) in pride in a son of the soil’s achievements as long as… Neither do I, but if you overdo it, don’t feel surprised if you detect some level of Bengali-Ganguly association in people.
Your blog having become very popular, there is bound to be some hate speech, which I have noticed. If I ‘vanish’ its because I dont know what I can say in response to that (apart from “hate speech/abuse is intolerable and not constructive” etc.) which you state anyway.. I dont know if it serves any purpose for others to repeat the obvious. And I disagree that some anti-Bong people should make you feel “I support Ganguly because he is Bengali” (as you said in an earlier post). As an aside, note that many of the hate speech writers are anonymous which only shows they are themselves embarrassed to reveal any identity since they know its undignified..
And I did read your post.. what I should have said was: since you think there’s an anti-Bong attitude prevalent, how come this time you expect the people to agree that Ganguly was treated unfairly? Is it because this time that assertion has more merit..
I don’t know why people get so emotional on these things. Why do people have to give these issues a color of regionalism? If one man in very questionable form has not been selected in Indian team, is that such a big cause of concern? Have people run out of issues to write or is it that writing about cricket is sure to garner some attention.
Franky, far bigger “injustices” have been done in Indian cricket on which no one has raised a whimper, for example, dropping of Kumble from the one day side , dropping of VVS from one-day side but I would like to believe that no politics was involved in these just like I believe none was in dropping of Ganguly. It is a happy situation that we have problems of plenty in this Indian team and in such a situation somebody is bound to be left out, however “talented” he may be. After all, it is a team-game.
Put your hands up and say yo!
Beer belly Sehwag, his scores->(tend to)30 in 10 innings. But whoa, what are you thinking?? He deserves a chance. Form is just a matter of time, once in a while when a team will be gracious enough to drop 5 sitters.
I am thinking of performing a limit on Sehwag. Will get back when finished.
Anonymous: I would be careful of saying that Ganguly’s was a backdoor entry.. at most, the “politics” in that case just ensured that a talented player was not kept out because of other people’s politics. And the “backdoor entry” managed to score a century on debut in England?
Arnab: Here’s some “exalted moderation” 🙂 but then this wasn’t exactly hate speech although it was still anonymous.
I didn’t mean his debut as a backdoor entry. I meant his selection for this particular test series. But once he was in, he did do moderately well in the second test.
Why should Dravid always remain in the shadows, playing the best supporting actor? It’s time for him to get his due now that he is in his batting prime. Earlier, Ganguly was a better player and now Dravid is.
Once someone has had his share of limelight, it is time to pass on the mantle to others. Dravid should be doing so in 2-3 years. Hope Sachin also doesn’t dangle too much. He has got his records and should make way for others now. At most, retire after World Cup 2007.
I agree Ganguly deserved better treatment and not such humiliation. They all should have come to a graceful way out of this.
Dont you think More and gang have actually done a favour to Ganguly for dropping him when he shouldnt have been…for once everyone thinks Ganguly has been wronged… whatever the circumstances its better to go out when everyone thinks you shouldn’t have…
Not commenting on whether Ganguly should be kept in the team or not, Yuvraj should be thrown out or not …. No, none of that.
I want to comment on the tone of your post. It started with a fantabulous sarcastic tone and it was very interesting to understand the latent meaning, but then the tone swayed just a tad – i guess the actual emotions perhaps took over there – but it was back to the same sarcastic tone.
Anyway, overall, enjoyed it as always. Bhalo likhechho dada…
greatbong
I pity ur ignorance and ur knowledge of english… if you dont know what an oxymoron is, you shd rather stop writing these blogs…
looks like lotsa ppl don’t really know the meaning of the term oxymoron..as u say they seem to think it is something like a moron++. anyway that apart, Ganguly sld have been out of the team long ago based on his performance as a player. He survived for so long thanks to board politics and now he has fallen victim to the same. So it is tallied!
Hi Arnab,
I am a regular reader of your blog and am commenting for the first time here.
1) I totally agree with you that Ganguly has been shabbily treated here. He should’ve been given more opportunity to make a come back. I also agree that More and company do not make decisions on fair play and performance. I would also like to be a non-bengali to come out in support of Ganguly and oppose this injustice.
2) However(I felt this after reading your earlier post too), I do feel that this entire hate-ganguly-coz-he-is-bengali thing is overrated(atleast nobody I’ve talked to about this ever thought like that). I, personally, like Bengali people. Also, as a Maharashtrian, I can never dream of supporting Tendulkar because he is a Maharashtrian. So, my humble advice( which, considering your passionate and I mean that as a compliment, temparament, you would promptly throw away. But doesnt matter :-)) would be to not bring the Bengali factor into this. I know you would show me the articles on rediff. But, by and large, I still feel that those ‘Indians’ who are baying for Ganguly’s blood are not doing it because he is Bengali. I’m sure that performance and fair play are not the only reason they have, but this ‘Bengali’ thing is surely not one of them. Maybe, as some reports suggest, he was getting egoistical and behaving like a prince with Indian cricket as his own kingdom to rule.
To sum up, I reiterate that Ganguly has been meted out injustice but it is not because he is bengali(am not saying the reason is fair play, it most definitely is not)
Keep blogging!!
Nilesh
greatbong, despite ur amazing style of writing, i often find ur logic very stupid…ur questioning of Kiran More’s credentials does not help Ganguly’s case, mister…i don’t deny Kiran More is a jackass anyway ….and u think the selecors are a bunch of jokers only now and not when they persisted with ur “Dada” for so long when he failed with his bat….
i think that is end of the road for ur Hero…make him the lifetime captain of the bengal cricket team and be happy guys…
greatbong
I am sure you did not feel the same way when Ganguly was brough in through backdoor as an allrounder… LOL… but when he is chucked out the same way, you cry conspiracy… just speaks of parochial bong hypocrisy…
hi Anon
a very good suggestion… make ganguly the lifetime captain of the bengal cricket team… that will boost his ego and keep him happy…
As a NORTH-INDIAN, Punju and Elite Blogger to boot, I’d just like to come out in support of Ganguly too. Although his performance has really blown in recent times, so has half the Indian team’s. He has been the most successful captain so far, and he definitely deserves better.
But my question is, are we all SO sure this is The End for him?
BTW, I’m considering being “inspired” by your name. Do u think GreatPunj sounds good? 😉
oxymoron
let me start by explaining to you and Patra and others what an oxymoron is… it is a combination of contradictory or incongruous words… like greatbong… or working-bong… hope that now you perfectly understand what we ‘Indians’ were talking about… I said “we ‘Indians'” coz u bongs consider urselves a Bengali first…
you will always remember More dropping Gooch… more so coz he has dropped ganguli now… but you will never talk about the admirable and enviable fielding skills of ganguli… who has let go of more runs than the rest of the team put together… and again you conveniently forget this point, when you compare his runs to Yuvraj n Dravid…
and More was always good when he was persisting with ganguli’s infinite failure with his bat and his balls… but now that he has been dropped you start doubting his credentials…
and when you mention Wasim Jaffer… just look at his recent performances… all your brethren would hang ur heads in shame for supporting ganguli against him… and not that he’ll get a chance to play… what you fail to understand is ganguli has been dropped for Yuvraj, who is a much better player coz Sehwag has to be accomodated… but I am sure your parochial mind sees no logic just a conspiracy…
I rest my case…
and also look at the support for Ganguly this time…of course it has got to do with us being a sentimental lot…but the point is he has got support from all over the country this time not just from bengal…so pls don”t try to bring in the regional factor into play…i don;t like anyone casting aspersions on us on this factor…Nilesh! well said….
also Greatbong, u just play with words like “immediate performance” and seem to fight for ur dada’s case…it makes a very good reading but ur choice of words according to ur convenience does not justify ur point…i am convinced this is the end of the road for ur dada..i am sure u r dreaming of the day he wud make a comeback and u can make a reference to this post of mine…
‘Rahul Dravid Hatao, Desh Bachaao’
that is what kal-kata mob was shouting outside airport… now please will the oxymoron tell us how do we react to that???
Whether More & Co were fair or not, whether gb is parochial or not; whether those signing themselves off as `Indians’ have three balls or not; whether Chappell is a bastard or not, or whether Dravid is a slime or not, no longer interests me as much as one question – whether we as a people can bid goodbye to our heroes with a modicum of grace.
Alright, Sourav isn’t a Gandhi, Nehru or even a Kalam. But as cricketing heroes go, he is among them with three exceptions – Sachin, Kapil and Gavaskar – who all were possibly greater than him. Do we kick him out unceremoniously, like a flicking out a makhhi from doodh? Or do we give him the chance to fade out as a happy man with sufficient enthusiasm to take up other assignments in his life which is only 33 years old?
The question is relevant not only for Sourav, but will become relevant one day for Dravid, Kumble or VVS. Or has this sorry pass come to him because he’s acted like a ‘limpet’, not taking the hint when it’s given and thus leaving guys no option but to give him the heave-ho? I think not. Remember the way Patuadi was dropped after Australia walloped India and Wadekar was brought in as captain? And after Wadekar failed after two stunning series wins in West Indies and England, remember how he was dropped and Pataudi brought back? Only then to show him the door again?
Why do we do this and then like a demented lot get bogged down in a dabate on whether the ignominy was deserved or not. Of course, it wasn’t. Frankly, no one who has served the game or the country well should be humiliated and then turfed out. Okay, Sourav wasn’t fitting into the scheme of things in the new order. Okay, youngsters were pressing to enter and middling performances by seniors were holding up opportunities for them. If this was, indeed, the case, why not tell Sourav that Ahmedabad is his last Test and, in fact, announce it publicly so that when he walks back after scoring a century or a duck he at least walks back to a standing ovation? Can’t we, as a people, make our heroes happy?
Or are we like crabs always trying to pull back those who succeed? Or do we relish our neighbour’s misfortune more than our own success? That gives us our kicks? These are some disturbing thoughts in my mind which I think should be answered before we call ourselves a civilised people. After all no civilised country will treat it’s heroes this way.
I was a bit perplexed (from my knowledge of the theory of integers and their total order) that 79 (Ganguly’s match aggregate) is lesser than Dravid (77) and Yuvi (77).
you must not forget that 79 is lesser than 5 (gambhir’s match aggregate) as well.
Again the dirty politics inside the BCCI is exposed. After the election, I anticipated that the team of Sharad Power would try their best to clean up everything where Dalmiya’s name is associated. They were pretty successful in removing the selectors who were the Sourav backers (read Dalmia’s supporters!) hours after assuming the office. So it was expected, the actual target is Sourav. So I didn’t surprise, when I see a bunch of clowns headed by More (By the way, who are these people in this selection committee, whether GREG CHAPELL’s performance criteria didn’t apply to them! Did they ever play cricket…did they know the passion..oh, I sorry, they know politics and Sharad Power is their godfather and that only matters to become a selector)wrote his death certificate even he had a part to win the test match for India..Now don’t be surprised, if you see the Indian team composed of players who are specific from a particular zone. Come on, man..don’t you know the dirty indian politics, where it only matters where are you from and who is your godfather. The performance, pride those are terms used to fool the common people. Sourav tried his best to eliminate those regional biases from cricket (who was beside Yuvi,kaif,bhajii when they were in a lean patch) and now the reward time, right! Sourav you are not the loser, we are, our system is and our societies are.
Greatbong,
I read your blog regularly but this is my first response to your ‘recent’ blog.
I agree with Nilesh mostly. Ganguly is probably not synonymous with Bengali.
Ignore ‘another Indian’, I think he probably was royally screwed by some Bengali at some point of his life and still holds the grudge. Don’t be shaken. Your words are mightier than the selectors’ axe. 🙂
When you have free time, please write a blog about ‘Mamata di’ our fiery-girl.
OK, something needs to be said about the role of Rahul Dravide here. You ask him a question about Sourav, his response has been and will be:
“Yeah, the team has been performing well and we have bonded together during this series.”
Aha! Our captain has never hear about the word “Sourav”.
As if he was an illusion or some non-existent entinty that the ‘bangaalis’ would cheer to death.
Mr.Pawar is an honorable man. So is Mr.More.
http://cricket.expressindia.com/fulliestory.php?content_id=83993
Hi Arnab,
That was a graet article and i fully aggree with u.
Now,I would like to ask one thing..does our Mr.More get paid to lick Greg’s white arse!!!
Mr.Dravid,please focus one series win instead of equalising them.
Mr.Chappel,first get your appointment letter before indulging into politics
Kele Panchu
@Anindya: dont say “Sourav you are not the loser, we are, our system is and our societies are.”… we are not losers…
say “Sourav you are not the loser, we bongs are, our system is and our society is.”
@Kele Panchu: I disagree with you. Ganguly is synonymous with Bengali and bongs are resposible for it.
What purpose is this blog serving? There is no fun here only fighting. That too with absolute idiots like this one.
At 12:54 AM, an indian said…
greatbong
I pity ur ignorance and ur knowledge of english… if you dont know what an oxymoron is, you shd rather stop writing these blogs…
But then comes ynot with his moron++ comment and makes my day. Thanks ynot.
If the purpose of this blog is to convince idiots like “indian” that it was wrong to drop Ganguly, then I think that you are doing huge injustice to your special talents. It is not a worthy cause.
No matter how much I like your humour and your ability to get the point right, I believe in Ganguly posts your emotion takes over your sense of reason. I must admit that Debashis makes a much nore rational argument here.
no shubhendu… the purpose of this post is to glorify bengal and bongs and morons like u n oxymorons like greatbong…
Rediff: Ganguly cried on being dropped
what a kiddo… I bet he did that in his wife’s lap…
I couldn’t read all the 35 earlier comments in ur blog, but there was one stupid ass who commented on Dada being made the life time captain of Bengal cricket team. Anyways coming 2 the point, I 2 am not a die hard Dada fan and had in fact supported Chappell’s decision 2 keep dada out of the ODIS. But chucking him out of tests 2 is a joke on our selection committee. And they have gone and replaced him with Wasim Jaffer, an opener. Why an opener 2 replace a so called All Rounder? (Kiran More’s justification 4 bringing him back 2 test team). Are we not weakening our middle order by such a lopsided replacement? Yes Dada’s a liability in ODIs, but 4 a player of his class and experience, its a tragedy 2 b shown the way out in such a fashion. These r the logical explanations, but what about dada’s committment 2 the team uptil now? Can we forget his 124 n.o V/S pakistan in Dhaka, or his heroics in Sahara cup 8 Toronto or his epic battle against the arrogant B—ds (Aussies)in 2001? No sir ! Its not a case of Bengalis being targeted, but now its an issue of naional pride. How can Chappell dictate terms to us. Why was Dada not given a fair chance 2 prove his credentials again? Scores of 40 & 39 are not justifiable 2 remove Dada out of a test team. So “JAGO HINDUSTANIYON” and show the middle finger 2 Greg Chappell !
Around 300 people blocked the Behala Chowrasta crossing on the busy Diamond Harbour Road near Ganguly’s residence shouting slogans demanding that the left-hander be recalled to the Indian team.
Vehicular traffic came to a standstill at the intersection during the 15-minute long agitation, but those stranded were in no mood to complain.
seems like people in kal-kata have nothing better to do… half of them are agitating… and the other half who are stranded are not complaining as they have no work to do… city of joy… amen
Sorry Arnab, I generally do not comment on someone else’s comment. But this time I simply cannot control my outrage.
@indian: How in the whole world can you be so stupid to make yourself a fool in public? It’s like dropping your pants at Hutatma chawk and shouting your ass off at midday! Inredible stupidity. People of your intelligence should not be even allowed to roam freely in public. You should go to London zoo as a speicial exibit.
Mr Sundeep Bhagwath and fellow Kolkatans
now its an issue of naional pride. How can Chappell dictate terms to us.
be a bit rational… what has Chappell got to do with this??? even More??? Ganguly came in because of Dalmiya and is going out because of Dungarpur/Pawar… a man propped up by the system is always brought down by the system… unlike Sachin or Dravid or Kumble who earned their place and stayed because of their performances…
Shubhendu
London zoo is crowded with bengal tigers… no space for me… 😦
and dropping pants at whatever chowk… that is what ur fellow bongs r doing in kal-kata… making a mockery of themselves infront of the whole nation…
and people of ur IQ should not be allowed to leave bengal… u r decreasing the average IQ of Maharashtra n the rest of India…
well said indian
with decreasing the average intelligence of Pune Shubhendu has also decreased the average IQ of Bengal by leaving that state where he was among the more intelligent ones… hahahaha
Hey Subhendu and Indian,
Stop it guys!!! You are not even talking about Saurav Ganguly!!
Like I said, this is what happens when Ganguly is associated with Bengal.
So, both sides-stop it and talk about cricket, if you have to.
Peace!!
Nilesh
This has been a very confusing situation for me. I do not watch cricket from the time Azhar was proven to be involved in match fixing and I felt that other people are involved too. But I always admired the two – Dravid for his consistent batting and Sourav for his right captaincy.
I felt bad when I heard Sourav has been dropped but, I am sure it is justified given his low performance for a consistent period of time.
The mood in the BCCI is very much like “Amchi Mumbai” out there, but let’s be OK with that. If regarding football we bengalis make lot of noise, people out there will enjoy that we are crazy about football.
One final thing: I personally do not want to tolerate any bit of regionalism, because that promotes people like Sonia Gandhi to become leaders as Sharad Pawar could not accept Madhav Rao Sindia or vice-versa. So when two cats cannot agree, monkeys rule them!!!
Kaushik
take a bow… the most sane comment on this blog…
Is “Anonymous” mentally deranged, a psychopath or just simply a nincompoop?
dr sundeep, i am that stupid ass u r talking abt ;-)…u sound more stupid with ur post…u don’t want to forget dada’s heroics in sahara cup 2001?? extend the same logic to Kapil’s 175 at Turnbridge wells and Gavaskar’s 236 against the WI. Bring them back!!!
u sound like a real ass with ur jingoism…i can only empathize with dumb idiots like u, moron
Hi Arnab,
Firstly let me tell you that it has been a pleasure reading ur blogs… I have just taken to blogging (since y’day). You got it absolutely right mate.. even I am appalled at the number of people who hate Dada. I am a Bengali too but not a Kolkatan and I realise Sourav’s flaws but I “want” him to succeed. For some reason, be it his being a Bengali, or his open handedness or his I-Don’t-give-a-damn attitude, he has more enemies that you would expect India’s most successfull cricket captain to have . The fact that he was time and agin left out of the HUDDLE in the last test match was simply unbelieveable. C’mon he was the man who invented all this huddle and team India along with Wright. I just hope he makes one final comeback for the sake of aal those who love his silken cover drives and lofty sixes..
Arnab, maybe you should start comment moderation. (Starting with mine, of course) A lot of the comments here are undergrad level shouting. Irksome, to say the least.
There are certainly inconsistencies in the Board’s line/s on Ganguly. Why do you hope for consistency and transparency from the BCCI or its selectors?
Ganguly has been in indifferent form for a long time. Did he MERIT a place in the team? Food for thought.
Why couldn’t the ‘jokers’ just leave him out when he was under-performing? Why did they have to bring him back and then drop him when he performed? Morons.
Up-side – they’ve made him a martyr. If that’s an up-side. Rani has a pretty good take on that. And on how they could have given him a graceful exit.
I would say (with some trepidation) that you have over-emphasised the Bangali angle in this post. In any case, 80% of a national sample surveyed on telephone last night believed Ganguly should NOT have been dropped.
He had to go some time. He was losing it. But all said and done, this is not the way to drop a captain of India. Especially the most successful Test captain we’ve had.
Finally, check out my take on the matter. I had expected you to comment.
J.A.P.
Hi,
I guess my peace appeal went down the drain!!
Go on guys, bash each other up some more!!:-)
I will enjoy!!
Nilesh
I have a feeling that very soon we would start using filthy language against each other than discussing cricket (we have actually started).
@Kele Panchu: yes Kele;) another indian probably was royally screwed by some Bengali at some point of his life… thatz the only things bongs r good at… screwing people (remember moonmoon, riya, bipasha etc etc) n screwing bongland…
It is precisely because of Spineless Cowardly folks like Indian, Another Indian and Anonymous that people go in for comment moderation and take the fun out of what is supposed to be an engaging debate.
@You three cowards: If you have to make a point, why are you so scared of giving your names. Why hide ? What are you scared of ? In case you have a point to make, make it like civilised people and accept criticism, instead of showing the world how goddamn xenophobic you are. Nowhere was Arnab being regionally offensive like you. You three suck. And yes, just in case you forgot, you are cowards.
@Greatbong: I enjoy your writing a lot, but in this case I would agree with Subhendu that you let your emotions get the better of you when it comes to Ganguly. Anyways, you have the right to do that, as it’s your blog. I guess the best way to look at it is that these jealous losers will always be there in the world, and it’s best to ignore their barking.
“But then of course, as a few of my visitors (who call themselves different flavors of “Indian”) , say—Sourav deserves the worst kind of humiliation possible and so do Bengalis.
Of course we do. No confusion there.”
Hear Hear! After all, us Bongs need tyo bashed up and kept on being reminded of our sins all the time. This doesn’t augur well for Indian cricket. Not at all. So easily people forget the captain who led India to its best WC performance since the fluke of 1983. I’ve got a bad feeling about 2007.
Arnab, Tumake akta post ey Mimoh (tomaar Idoler chele) er opore korte hobe?
Plus, I think you should disable anon comments or start moderation. Some people over here are acting like they were in Class IX or worse, someone injected a dose of good ol’ South Dakota Hillbilly-ness into them!
Tanks K…
A refreshing (my be unwanted) diversion. Arnab my vote goes with ‘K’… a post on Mimmo. Tomar idol ek kaley aamar o idol chilo…aamar der khana pa niye khub nakol karar chesta korechi ek samay..
(Indian & Anonymous – believe me I am not saying something against you in a secret language….)
I am glad I stopped folowing the game after the match fixing scandal.
I remember a time when there were 6 players from Karnataka(my home state) in the Indian team and every body used to call it the “Deve Gowda team” :p.
Soham
stop being a hypocrite parochial bong… behave like a civilised human being… you suck n being a bong u r the biggest coward… I’ll tell u why???
Indian Army has a sikh regiment, a garhwal regiment, a maratha regiment even a madras regiment… ever wondered why there is no bengal one??? I’ll tell u why…
once upon a time a bengal regiment was formed when war with pakistan was going on on bangladesh front… all bong soldiers were loaded in a truck and taken to the frontier… along the way they kept on asking their leader Palabo??? ie should we run now???
the leader was impressed with his lot as to him they seemed eager to attck the enemy… finally on reaching the war frontier they again asked their leader Palabo??? the leader said yes and all the bongs ran back to kal-kata…
and thatz what makes you a coward Soham
Now oxymoron… do what u do the best… delete my post…
Only for bong readers.
Three well written articles on the topic.
http://www.anandabazar.com/15edit5.htm
And a pathetically emotional one.
http://www.anandabazar.com/15khela2.htm
Once again, Oxymoron is no Moron++ guys!!!
Please read the link below to understand what it means –
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oxymoron
pl ban anon comments. they’re taking the fun out of debates. name calling is moronic. there will always be people with angularities, but you can enjoy them if they don’t descend to abusive nonsense. worse, this kind of name calling can trigger regional chauvinism. guys learn to smile and accept different opinions – that’s the essence of democratic debate.
Dear Cowardly Irrelevant Disgusting Anonymous,
I don’t know where you got that little fairy tale from. And I won’t start telling you about the contributions of Bengali’s to the Indian Army, and give any importance to your impotent attempt to bring a totally irrelevant topic into the discussion. That too by an irrational lie for an ‘arguement’.
All I will say that is I have seldom come across individuals who are so sick as yourself.
You are a disgrace to yourself and your community. You should be ashamed.
Arnab,
Slam the selectors as much as you want, but not Chappell or Dravid – they had nothing to do with the selection or dropping of Ganguly.
Please also see my post here http://squarecover.blogspot.com/2005/12/indian-selectors-need-to-be-proactive.html
Hi Great Bong.Have been a reader of ur blog for sometime now.
I am from Pune,Maharashtra have been a fan of Dada over the years, and really am always amused when people say that only Bengal has been “hurt” by his exclusion . This is what I think[sidestepping from any regional remarks]
I think the situation is this, in the second test there was only 1 opener in the 11. Now to get the second opener in who do u drop?
Laxman has been good in the tests, Dravid,Sachin obviously make it .
I think it practically came down to Yuvraj and Ganguly. And the selecters-team mngmnt wanted Yuvraj.Now I think the decision the selectors had to make was this, “keep Ganguly out of the playing 11 but in the squad” or “Simply drop him”.
It seems they chose to do the latter. I wonder what is sadder for Ganguly sitting in the dressing room or sitting at home.
I just think he deserved the decency that the Board atleast ask him what he was most comfortable with. Dada being a pro that he is probably would not have felt hurt then.
A Different Perspective
A victim of dirty politics::I strongly feel that he was included at first so that BCCI could get its money from the Kolkata Ind-SA match. I am sure had dada not being included india wud have played infront of an empty stadia.
What say ya ??
Arnab..
I am a regular reader of your blog but commenting the first time..I tend to agree with you more often than not…and this time I agree with you 100%. I cannot believe the lame reasons More and Co. have provided for dropping Ganguly. He is a great player and has given a lot to Indian cricket. Nothing can justify him being treated like this. What pains me more is this incidence provides an ideal example of how much regionalism is practised among Indians.
“Personally I find nothing in pride in a son of the soil’s achievements as long as we do not indulge in hate speech against people from other regions/communities.”
Coudn’t agree more with the above statement.
-Alpa
And I won’t start telling you about the contributions of Bengali’s to the Indian Army
Soham you can’t coz there aint any…
a very sane and logical article here…
http://cricket.indiatimes.com/quickiearticleshow/1333428.cms
From your sane and logical article (ooh idiot who writes in bold)
“As for Ganguly, it is clear the selectors didn’t want the embarrassment of him succeeding in the third Test”
Jaffer: Gets bowled by straight balls (it has not been “happening” this season).
The Maratha hero is wow. Just like the other clown—Agarkar who has taken 2 wickets in 2 tests.
There are too many comments here and let me answer a few of them. However because of the inevitable regionalistic name-calling that has already started, I have had to close new comments.
Some specific replies:
@Vivek: Why do you think that greater injustice has been done in dropping Kumble from the ODI side than dropping Sourav altogether? And the fact that you would like to believe that there was no politics may be admirable but it just somehow defies logic. Which may not be a problem.
@Debashish: Thank you for stepping in. However I needed your voice of exalted moderation when the real anti-Bongos who true to their form have cast aspersions on the character of bengali women (exactly what I said in my previous posts), our record in the army (Air marshal Subroto Mukherjee) and of course mudslinging at me—only so that you can see that I dont need to seek anti-bengalism out: it comes looking for me. Cybernoon is the official website of Afternoon,a Mumbai publication, that carries by and large jingoistic news targeted at specific sections (their headline today is Tata Dada….bursting with glee). Now I wonder what you would say if a Bengali newspaper did that when Dravid leaves. Silence now. Moderation then. Right?
@Mobius: The emotion is of course there—-I would be lying if I would say that Dada’s humiliation does not hit home. Again as I said I find no problem in feeling an attachment to someone who comes from my State as long as I do not go and abuse people who have attachments to people from their state.
@Nilesh: I am not saying Ganguly has been meted out injustic because he is bengali. Oh no ! There are 2 angles here:
1. There is a whole lot of anti-bengalism in India (and just look at the comments section for proof) and ganguly acts as a lightning rod for all that hate.
2) More and Pawar are going after ganguly because they hate Dalmiya. If Dalmiya was Tamil and so was Sourav they would have gone after Sourav—no doubt there. Pawar and More however are regionalistic—thats why the alternative is Wasim Jaffer, that is why Agarkar plays despite the presence of Zaheer, Nehra and my personal favorite Balaji (who let me say isnt a Bengali the last time I looked).
@TTG: But Punju means only Punjab…the Bong means both Bengali as well as receptacle for smoking illegal substances.
@Rani: I dont agree that telling Sourav that this was his last test would have helped him any. The thing is Sourav does not want to go and I dont think it is his time to go. In such a situation, I dont think things would not have helped if the selectors had said “No matter what you do we wont select you”. A person cannot be forcibly retired amicably—–dropping Sourav was the only way out considering the mentality of all people concerned. The humiliation is in not telling him face to face that yes we have dropped you, the humiliation is not telling him face to fase that yes we will never select you again and the humiliation is spreading lies that Sourav was a bad captain who played politics in the team.
@Teleute: Gambhir and Dada were never in contention together: thats why didnt mention his name. In any case, Sharad pawar will be opening in his place during the Pakistan series…ooh sorry did I say Pawar—make that Jaffer…Wasim Jaffer.
@JAP: Comment moderation is a kind of censorship—I try to avoid it as much as possible.
@Partha, Soham and rest: Aaah well. Such is life.
*Comments closed*
Dear Arnab,
So it happened once again (Sourav Ganguly dropped from test team). Seems the agenda of Greg Chappell has been successful. Expecting Sharad Pawar to nominate Greg for Padmashri or higher awards for making such patriotic decisions.
On a different note, Munaf Patel has not been included in the squad after taking 5 wkts against the same England team which India will face in Nagpur. VRV Singh (wicketless with economy rate about 7.00) was given preference to him.
Confusion, isn’t it.
Arnab, In fact it was your piece on your grandfather that moved me to write in to you, though I am doing so on a cricket thread. The reason I write this here is because of some activity I noticed here and I thought I should contribute with a little information.
The information is relevant because I have personal and incontrovertible proof of the notion that Bengalis are lazy and cowardly, just as Rudyard Kipling rightly propagated for non-imperialistic and non-divide-and-rule policy promotion reasons, and many of our non-slavish countrymen have correctly repeated over the years. You cannot deny that Bengalis have not contributed significantly to any aspect of our country’s progress, and especially not in the area of national defence.
A Bengali soldier, seaman or airman? Never! Proof? The proof lies in the fact that General J.N. Chaudhuri, Chief of Army Staff, did not exist, neither did Air Chief Marshal Subroto Mukherjee, and nor Rear-Admiral Chakraverti (my Jethamoshai). Another Jethu, Flying Officer Purnendu Chuckerbutty was not killed in action at the age of 25, nor was Brigadier (later Lt. Gen) D.K. Palit left alone to guard NEFA in 1962 and taken POW by the Chinese.
One can’t forget that entire Bengali families like mine never contributed their sons to the forces, that we didn’t fight and die, that we didn’t contribute heavily and at great personal opportunity cost towards building the Indian Air Force, Indian Army and Indian Navy. You see, people like my grandfather, Wing Commander S. Chuckerbutty (Subroto Mukherjee’s teacher) didn’t exist, my Mama, Air Commodore A.K. Banerji, didn’t exist, my Pishamoshai, Group Captain G. Mukherjee didn’t exist. General Dr. Chakraborty, Army Medical Corps, you can guess, just didn’t exist. I can go on and on with long lists of imaginary people, all of whom didn’t exist. Leave alone the non-existent swadeshi fighters like your grandfather. Leave alone the Bengali officers and men not killed in every single conflict. They too just didn’t exist. The families of these Bengalis are not insulted and offended by what such countrymen of ours say. Because we just don’t exist, and we don’t exist in unthinkably large numbers. You and Debashish stand corrected, the popular stereotype is absolutely correct and fully justified.
@Anirban: Surely.
@Ranjan: You truly belong to a great family–if of course as you point out had they existed.
y soo much hate guys???????? Just put ur opinions across….dont insist that everyone else has to be convinced abt it
looking for information and found it at this great site.
At times i deleberately search for anti Bengali comments on the web and every time i realise that how racist Indians are , particularly when it comes to India vs Bengali factor. Indians & jews are THE MOST RACIST people in the world which makes them so unpopular around the world.It is no wonder that a country which has so much narrowness & venom stored against at its core for intercommunity strife that surfaces at Sourabh Ganguly & any other issues big or small that the matter confirms well enough India has never become a de facto country.Indianness only exists on paper & we live in a “country” that is actually a illegitimate child of the British empire which has no cohesion at its base.It perfectly proves why India has the largest number of communal riots in the world & maximum number of people killed globally as a prey to it.Incidentally Bengal has the best record for communal harmony inspite of partition,repeated anti Bengali riots & severe inflitration problems.We once produced Rabindranath & the Bengal reneissance & now we at least produce some leesr known people who at least do not incite bomb blast or communal riots.We still have Bhadralok politicians & that respect for women which is almost absent in other Indian states.Is it we are ” lazy” & “cowardly” enough not to produce a Bengali version of Shiv Sena or Bengal liberation organisation? Will Indai respect us if we take to violance like Kashmir , Assam & Nagaland?I am greatful
to Mr Ranjan Chakrabourty for citing the names of the Bengali Armymen. Someone Mr Annonymous ( how perfectly Indian) has kept his identity concealed has gurgitated anti Bengali fictions like how Bengali soldiers are only
interested in PALABO ( run away).We among ourselves often
joke about brainless nonBengalis who can only drive taxis & serve as security guards . But we never take these jokes seriously.For more serious appraisal of Bengalis History has enough proof to establish that Bengali were never a martial race but best example of extremist revolutionaries. Bengalis were the foremostIndian community to fight the Englishmen with bombs & guns , in an unGandhian manner. Bengal’s naxalites shook the very foundation of Indian republic.The unfortunate fact is that a hollow country like India is only pacing up its extermination by fanning anti Bengali hatred – Sourav Ganguly or not & Indians are making the same mistake as the Englishmen in undermining the Bengali rights.Bengal once made India , & if events go on like this Bengal will break India.
To hell with all the negativity here. How does it matter if Ganguly is from Bengal? How does one generalize that bengalis are “lazy” and “cowardly”? How does it matter whether the captain of the indian team is from Jharkhand or Tamil Nadu as long as performance is the only criteria?
What happened with Sourav was wrong. Yes, no doubt about it. And BTW, I have stayed in 8 Indian cities in the last 20 years of my life. So unfortunately I cannot take sides for a particular member of the Indian cricket team based ONLY by the region he hails from.
Its a little sad to see GB supporting ganguly because he is from Bengal. But yes, its perfectly fine because of all the “bengali” backlash, one tends to do that. No issues.
So one last question to all the people attacking Ganguly and Bengalis? Tomorrow if Praveen And Raina don’t perform in a match, will there be a backlash for UPvalas?