“Teri maa ki…”

Reports in some Indian nespapers state that Harbhajan may have said “Teri maa ki…” to Symonds, who heard it as “monkey” and got all hot and bothered. If this is indeed true (i.e. Bhajji did say “teri maa ki…”), it explains why Bhajji and Tendulkar have been so confident that what Harbhajan said was not a racial slur. I suppose “teri maa ki…” is as widely used in India as “bastards” is used in Australia (this word, by the way, is supposed to have been used by Brad Hogg in his “banter” with Kumble and Dhoni at Sydney). And I was told by a friend (who claims to have read it somewhere) that Symonds apparently called Bhajji a “f#$%^g homo”. If this is indeed true, I wonder who leaked this to the media….

Arguably, questioning someone’s parentage, making a statement about someone’s sexual proclivities, referring to someone’s parent’s anatomy or attributing incestuous tendencies to someone are in the same league. Ergo because Hogg or Symonds did not transgress the line of decency, neither did Harbhajan! Unless one accepts that different standards of acceptable behaviour are being used.

Did someone just say cricket is a gentleman’s game? Oh my! Such ignorance- either about the game’s modern version or the meaning of the word “gentleman”.

PPS: After all this row about bad umpiring, not playing in the spirit of the game, cheating, and the Aussies wanting to win at any cost, please let us not forget that we lost 3 wickets in one over. Or that if Jaffer or Yuvraj (both of whom have had a forgettable tour so far) had each played 3 more deliveries each, we may still have saved the match.