Rowdy

‘Sabse Bada Hindustan’

‘Bhosad me Gaya Pakistan’

As I sat in my friends car at approximately 2:30 in the night in the middle of nowhere in Mahim these were the words that I heard enthusiastically chanted out by the testosterone-pumped youth of my city who were parading the streets waving the flags of India (and not so surprisingly) that of the MNS.

So what was the occasion?

Well such completely uncultured sentiment and obscene language cannot be justified by any occurrence but sensing the strong anti-neighbor sentiment you would expect something extremely violent and momentous to have occurred. We won a war? The Pakistani government unjustly killed Indian fishermen? POK problems? Ok its Mumbai, small things flare up and communal undertones are omnipresent. So lets say a riot? Maybe even a fight in a volatile area that got out of control? It is hard to control the crowd’s emotions and communal feelings are always lurking near the surface. The smallest trouble and someone is bound to bring up the Pakistanis. But there was not trouble on April 2^nd 2010.

For on that particular night Mahim was not erupting in anger, rather it was outpouring with joy. The momentous event that had driven us so mad was a sporting victory. And it wasn’t just any sporting victory.

India had won the cricket world cup after 28 years, an event that could revive the stock market and even reduce pressure on our faltering government (not to mention provide my family with cheery and conveniently un-awkward dinner conversation for the next 2 weeks). So the abuse was not justified after all. The match wasn’t even against Pakistan. Now even the fiercest of sports fans amongst us cannot argue that insulting Pakistan when we had defeated (sorry calmly, convincingly taken care of) Sri Lanka is not really called for. ‘So why the angry chanting?’ you wonder. Mob mentality. Partially true, but before we get right into the issue lets explore the whole situation a little.

Any public gathering in India either involves dancing or shouting (usually adorned with a little eating in the middle). So my advise to any budding entrepreneurs out there – start a liquor store, fuel our country’s vocal chords and enable them to enjoy in a manner which seems decent only when one is intoxicated. With Daaru profit is guaranteed (and if you are having problems getting a permit call me, I know this junior minister…). Another national pastime of our country is being unruly. We love to be rowdy. I have often behaved in this way and whenever I look back at my foolish actions in hindsight I feel a very painful shame. And this shame is exactly what most of Mahim should be feeling right now. Indians are often racially targeted abroad because we are perceived to be boisterous and unruly. I hate people who take indulge in such racism, but we cannot deny that we are often over-the-top.

You may argue that we like to have fun, to ‘enjoy’ ourselves. I think this ‘enjoy’ is a very misunderstood word. You can enjoy a cricket match by admiring the maturity with which Gambhir and Dhoni batted and being elated by the fact that the best fast bowler at the world cup is actually Indian (let me remind you, Saurav Ganguly has opened the bowling for us in a test match and VRV Singh was once a regular on our squad so seeing Zaheer get wickets against the top batsmen in the world is a very heart-warming sight). Or you can enjoy cricket by loudly beating Dhols, screaming for sixes when caution is required and dancing a lot. Before you think I am pseudo-firang let me inform you that I have enjoyed cricket in both these ways and have come to see the merits of both. I have danced with my boarding school Dhobi when James Hopes lost his nerve and India won its first ODI series in Australia. I have (unfortunately) screamed when Sreesanth dismissed Gilchrist in the T20 world cup, I was intently following the hindi commentary on the radio when Bhajji got that final wicket and we defeated South Africa in the 2^nd last over of a test match. (I was with a Hindi teacher so the ensuing celebration was inevitable).

I have gotten into enough trouble for being boisterous, being unruly, being loud and generally being a nuisance. So it’s fair to say that I know what am I talking about. I understand the urge to have fun, but what we often construe to be ‘enjoyable’ is often at someone else’s expense. I feel very ashamed and embarrassed when my behavior has caused others discomfort and always think that I have become a ‘rowdy’. That’s a little how I felt on the night that we won the world cup.

So lets get back to Mumbai. How did the transition from ‘Jeeteyga bhai Jeeytega’ to ‘ Bhosadi mein gaya Pakistan’ occur? Well it must have been something like this. We won so understandably 95% of India (including me) was jumping around in pure happiness and disbelief. ‘Go India’ would have quickly given way to Hindustan ki jai. Let me make a quick diversion here to point out that India always becomes Hindustan when we are playing ‘shout-shout’. I don’t think it is a coincidence. Ever been to the Wagah border? The marching is amazing, but seen that DJ/host/sentiment-promoter there. He plays ‘India is better than you’ songs (not best, better than you), praises Hindustan a billion times and even slyly promotes the crowd to boo Pakistan. Do we really need we enjoy like that? I am patriotic, but isn’t that jingoistic? The same logic applies here. ‘Jai Sachin’ would have become ‘Jai maratha’ and soon the streets were covered with cars waving not just the Tricolor, but also orange flags.

I do not write this piece to tell people to stop enjoying or supporting India. I love my country and have spent a large percentage of my schooldays watching or listening to our team play. But I think it’s time we realize that we need to mature a bit. We usually mean no harm, but a few anti-social elements tend to get the better of us and make us look foolish and rowdy. Indian crowds used to appreciate a good shot from the opposition; that is another trait that seems to be disappearing. When Australia (I mean Steve Bucknor) defeated us in the infamous Sydney test the world (including ex-players) shunned them for their unruly behaviour. We don’t want our country’s sports-fans to be given the same label. I would have liked to make a much larger point regarding herd mentality and our drop-of-the-hat communal tendencies but I was not comfortable enough writing about such an intense topic. Yet it is important for use to see how this mentality is manifesting itself.

So lets stick to ‘Jeetega bhai Jeetega’ and chuck all the ‘Sabse aagey hoonge Hindustani’ nonsense. After all we are the number one team and there is no need to feel insecure about it.