Suno bhai, hum bhi Indian hain!
[What led me to write this article was the recent controversy surrounding the IPL]
In the wake of Tamil Nadu government's decision to ban Srilankan players in matches to be played at Chennai, a lot of my friends, both knowledgeable and uninformed, have taken to Facebook and Twitter demanding these matches be moved to a different venue so that they can have the privilege of watching a handful of Srilankans sledging and slogging. While sports and politics are two different things, is this decision the first of its kind?
Hell no, is the answer.
During the apartheid era, ICC banned South Africa from International cricket. After the Mumbai attacks, our very own BCCI banned Pakistan from playing in its soil. And about a fortnight ago, it banned China, Myanmar and Bhutan so as not to form non-political connections with these countries.
None of the above were done for sporting reasons. Instead, all these are symbolic bans intended to bring the troubling political issues to the fore. If banning Srilankans is unacceptable and against the constitution, so are the others.
I wonder why my friends never raised their objections to these other bans. And why, one day, sitting back within the comforts of their home, slouching on their couches, the noble idea of rooting for the "victimized", which had never shown any signs of its presence, has suddenly started to wag its tail?
Is it because they are ignorant about the killing fields of Srilanka which has and continues to slaughter thousands of innocent civilians? Or is it because they are agnostic to suffering of a fellow human being? Or is it because the tortured don't speak their tongue?
Oh yeah, what happens in Srilanka is not your problem. It is not your country. But, what if your countrymen were subjected to the same torture that Tamils face in Srilanka?
That is what the thousands of fishermen lassoed by the Srilankan coastguard endure at the hands of their captors. Hundreds more have died.
Yes, they strayed into Srilankan borders, but just to feed their children and make a living. Is that so much to ask?
But of course, these fishermen don't speak your tongue, do they? Anyway, you wouldn't care less.
But we would tolerate you. Like always.
You wrote our history off of every textbook and we still endure. You broke our backbones with dams and we still endure. You treat us like castaways and we still endure.
We tolerate, not because we are weak, but because we are strong enough for it.
We are strong enough to remain secular when you kill each other in the name of religion and caste. We are strong enough to feed you when nature fails you. We are strong enough to fight for you when you are molested. We are strong enough to endure pain and death to guard your borders.
Most of all, we are strong enough to be who we are when you want all of us to be a mere shadow of thee.
A unity in diversity, this great country is called. So diverse and rich are its cultures and languages, losing one could mean a great loss to this country. When men try to preserve them, don't crush them to the ground. You crush one, you crush all of us.
For Tamils, their language is more than just a means of communication. It is God. For the men who founded it are the ones worshiped in our temples.
Killing one of us is killing us all. Suppressing one of us is suppressing us all. So, we will fight back. In any way we can. Be it through a massive student rally or through a poor man's puissant words.
Yeah, we would also ban the Srilankans from playing in our soil. We wouldn't care less if they ban us in theirs or not.
We fight for justice. For our slayed kith and kin, as we see fit. And if all you care about is a few dick heads playing in the IPL, I am ashamed to be an Indian.
In the wake of Tamil Nadu government's decision to ban Srilankan players in matches to be played at Chennai, a lot of my friends, both knowledgeable and uninformed, have taken to Facebook and Twitter demanding these matches be moved to a different venue so that they can have the privilege of watching a handful of Srilankans sledging and slogging. While sports and politics are two different things, is this decision the first of its kind?
Hell no, is the answer.
During the apartheid era, ICC banned South Africa from International cricket. After the Mumbai attacks, our very own BCCI banned Pakistan from playing in its soil. And about a fortnight ago, it banned China, Myanmar and Bhutan so as not to form non-political connections with these countries.
None of the above were done for sporting reasons. Instead, all these are symbolic bans intended to bring the troubling political issues to the fore. If banning Srilankans is unacceptable and against the constitution, so are the others.
I wonder why my friends never raised their objections to these other bans. And why, one day, sitting back within the comforts of their home, slouching on their couches, the noble idea of rooting for the "victimized", which had never shown any signs of its presence, has suddenly started to wag its tail?
Is it because they are ignorant about the killing fields of Srilanka which has and continues to slaughter thousands of innocent civilians? Or is it because they are agnostic to suffering of a fellow human being? Or is it because the tortured don't speak their tongue?
Oh yeah, what happens in Srilanka is not your problem. It is not your country. But, what if your countrymen were subjected to the same torture that Tamils face in Srilanka?
That is what the thousands of fishermen lassoed by the Srilankan coastguard endure at the hands of their captors. Hundreds more have died.
Yes, they strayed into Srilankan borders, but just to feed their children and make a living. Is that so much to ask?
But of course, these fishermen don't speak your tongue, do they? Anyway, you wouldn't care less.
But we would tolerate you. Like always.
You wrote our history off of every textbook and we still endure. You broke our backbones with dams and we still endure. You treat us like castaways and we still endure.
We tolerate, not because we are weak, but because we are strong enough for it.
We are strong enough to remain secular when you kill each other in the name of religion and caste. We are strong enough to feed you when nature fails you. We are strong enough to fight for you when you are molested. We are strong enough to endure pain and death to guard your borders.
Most of all, we are strong enough to be who we are when you want all of us to be a mere shadow of thee.
A unity in diversity, this great country is called. So diverse and rich are its cultures and languages, losing one could mean a great loss to this country. When men try to preserve them, don't crush them to the ground. You crush one, you crush all of us.
For Tamils, their language is more than just a means of communication. It is God. For the men who founded it are the ones worshiped in our temples.
Killing one of us is killing us all. Suppressing one of us is suppressing us all. So, we will fight back. In any way we can. Be it through a massive student rally or through a poor man's puissant words.
Yeah, we would also ban the Srilankans from playing in our soil. We wouldn't care less if they ban us in theirs or not.
We fight for justice. For our slayed kith and kin, as we see fit. And if all you care about is a few dick heads playing in the IPL, I am ashamed to be an Indian.
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