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India - News
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News Updates - 31
March 2001 Tendulkar creates world record - Reuters Cricket as a cure for national depression - TIME magazine Aussie fans protest "rude bahaviour" - TOI Triumph over tragedy - TIME magazine India beat arch-rivals in Dhaka - BBC Thousands join in colorful Indian festival - San Francisco Chronicle
INDORE - Sachin Tendulkar became the first player in the world to score 10,000 runs in one-dayers and struck his 28th century to set up India's 118-run victory over Australia on Saturday. Tendulkar hit a well-paced 139 to guide India to 299 for eight from 50 overs after being asked to bat first. Australia slumped after a good start and were dismissed for 181 in 35.5 overs, losing their last nine wickets for 79 runs. The victory gave the hosts a 2-1 lead in the five-match one-day international series.
"What do they of cricket know who only cricket know?" In that simple rhetorical question the legendary Trinidadian patriot and historian C.L.R. James summed up the significance of a game somewhat incomprehensible to outsiders, and yet of immeasurable collective psychic significance to the nations where it is played. A significance that was on display in India this week, when one man appeared to single handedly (to the extent that this is possible in a game that is the very model of team effort) lift the nation's flagging spirits. The name VVS Laxman dominated that country's headlines all week. In Calcutta, India's cricket XI were faring no better in their attempt to stop the Australian juggernaut. The arrogant, swaggering Aussies had won 16 straight test matches (a remarkable achievement in a sport whose test matches, which pitch country against country, are played over five days and as often end in a draw as produce a result), and struggling India was expected to put up only modest resistance. Being forced to "follow on" is usually a prelude to a humiliating defeat. And that's how the Indian press were calling it at the end of Day 2 in Calcutta. At best, they hoped, India could avoid the ultimate humiliation of an innings defeat. Laxman
had other ideas By nightfall on Day 4, Laxman and Dravid's achievement had seized the imagination not only of the whole nation, but also of the wider cricketing world that has long suffered the domination of the obnoxious Aussies. And more was to come. Putting Australia in to chase a target of 373 on the final day, India bowled out Australia for 212, becoming only the third test team in history to win a match after having been forced to follow on. Where Laxman had put steel into the spine of the Indian batting, a lanky young Sikh off-spinner, Harbajan Singh, claimed the honors with the ball - having dispatched seven Australians in the first innings, he added another six scalps in the second. With bat and ball, skill, timing, determination and courage, Laxman, Harbajan and Dravid had changed the mood of a nation. Aussie fans protest Indian team's `rude behaviour' CHENNAI: Relations between the two teams have been tense during the three-Test series, with rival captains Ganguly and Waugh making no effort to disguise their animosity towards each other. Waugh has twice been kept waiting on the field just before the toss as the Indian captain took his time to emerge from the dressing room. When Ganguly batted on Tuesday, Waugh donned the helmet and stationed himself close by at silly point, exchanging words with his counterpart. Australian cricket supporters have lodged a protest over rude gestures by Indian captain Sourav Ganguly and other players after winning the second Test last week. The fans, travelling with Steve Waugh's team, wrote to the Australian Cricket Board (ACB) that Ganguly, Harbhajan Singh and Venkatesh Prasad raised their middle fingers in an obsence salute during the lap of honour after their 171-run win at Calcutta. The ACB passed on the letter, which demands an apology from the players, to Indian coach John Wright on Wednesday. Indian manager Chetan Chauhan said the fans had misintepreted the thumbs-up gesture by the players. "There was nothing rude about it," Chauhan, a former Test cricketer, told AFP. "But I must stress that Australian fans are welcome on any Indian ground. They are our guests and I will take steps to ensure that a good atmosphere prevails in the stands. "I will speak to the players and see what needs to be done," Chauhan said when asked if he planned to tender an apology. Top of the page
India's press the next morning made it amply clear that for millions of Indians, cricket is inextricably linked to national self-esteem. New Delhi's leading daily, "The Hindustan Times," front-paged the victory with a banner headline proclaiming "A LOST FAITH REGAINED." As that other great Sikh bowler from Punjab, Bishen Singh Bedi commented after the Indian team's triumph: "A cricket win for Indians is the ultimate celebration, putting aside all political and religious differences. The common man will sleep well tonight." India
beat old rivals in Bangladesh Dhaka - India have beaten arch rivals Pakistan to win the Prime Minister's hockey Gold Cup in Dhaka in Bangladesh. It was the first time in two years that the two countries had met on the hockey field, having emerged top of their respective groups in the tournament. In a closely fought game, the teams were tied at 3-3 at the end of normal time, and remained tied at the end of extra time. The game then went to a penalty shoot-out, with India finally winning 3-2. "Times of India" reported that there's no gainsaying that Cedric D'Souza's return as national coach has had a positive impact on the team. His knowledge and appreciation of the game has always been much respected and he has been one of the very few coaches in the sub-continent who have kept themselves abreast with the recent advances in coaching techniques.
Stanford - It was a colorful spectacle: throngs of college students danced in the sunshine as families with small children reclined on a grassy lawn. All of them were smeared - faces, hair and clothing - with bright pigments in red and orange, green and blue, purple, pink and yellow. Most were also sopping wet.The crowd of almost 1,000 revelers on the Stanford University campus was celebrating Holi, the ancient Indian festival of colors that marks the beginning of spring. Those who weren't dancing to the strains of Indian popular music, or standing in line for plates of curry and samosas, were squirting water pistols at friends and strangers alike and sprinkling them with colored powders. "We celebrate like this in India every year," said Netika Raval, 30, a business development manager for a Silicon Valley Internet start-up. "Everyone has water guns and water balloons. You go from home to home and sometimes when you're at the front door, someone will sneak around from the back and catch you." The Stanford event was put on by a student charitable group, Asha for Education, which funds literacy projects in India, but it attracted South Asians from all over the Bay Area eager for a taste of home. "We're trying to create an ambience very similar to India," said Asha member Khyati Shah. "When we started two years ago it was a very small event, but this year it's colossal." Shah said she expected the daylong festival would raise about $10,000 to help build schools and improve the lives of poor children in India. With the help of corporate sponsors, Asha imported 600 pounds of traditional pigments, called gulal, from India. The colored powders, packed in small plastic bags, were distributed freely to the crowd to "play Holi." The festival of colors has its roots in Hindu mythology. Traditionally, it begins with a bonfire the night before, using dried wood and branches left over from the winter. The fire signifies the destruction of evil, through the burning of Holika, a mythological figure. In the morning, statues of the god Krishna are lovingly smeared with gulal, and his virile, playful spirit is honored in the exuberant festivities that welcome spring. Holi, not unlike Carnaval and Mardi Gras, is a time to let loose and go a little wild. Flirtation and inebriation, normally frowned on, play an integral part. And the celebration brings together people from all cultures and classes. "In Bombay, where I grew up, people forget all types of rivalries," said Shah. "Even if you don't get along with your neighbors, you still play Holi with them." And with that, Shah beckoned her friend, Vidur Bhandari. Another friend doused him with a pail of water, then she smeared his face with green powder and shouted, "Happy Holi!" Bhandari just laughed and smeared her back. "I would set myself in my house and hide," said Mohini Kar, 59, who drove down from Fairfield with relatives and was trying to keep her sari clean. "But over here (in the United States) we don't have that many Indian people and we feel homesick. So we said, 'OK, we should go to this.' " "It's my least favorite festival," added Nripendra Singh Dhillon, who teaches medicine at UCSF. But Dhillon and his wife decided to expose their 6-year-old son, Karun, to his roots. Karun, his face and shirt a rich magenta, had caught the Holi spirit and was gleefully drenching everyone in his path with a Super Soaker. Muktesh Meka, 32, who grew up in Hyderabad and came to the Bay Area nine years ago, had fond memories of Holis past. "It was a huge thing for us as kids," he said. "We'd be out buying the colors the day before. As we got older, we'd go on the road on motor bikes with our friends. When you'd stop at a traffic light, anybody could run up and put colors on you." His wife, Indira Meka, 28, said Holi was a more subdued family affair in the village where she grew up. Then, without warning, as this reporter sat on the grass talking peacefully with the Mekas, four young men raced up with an enormous tub of water, dumped it on the reporter, smeared blue and purple pigment on her face and ran off in search of another victim. Happy Holi! |
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