Oh, the great Indian culture!

It is still sinking in! What happened in the world cup was a travesty of sport. There is no way that one team could be called a loser. Yet, life, like sport is like that. Not fair and Just. Sometimes even cruel. Well, I will have to stop blabbering at some point and so I stop here.

I suddenly had this random thought on what would have happened had India played in the final instead of New Zealand. We should have played anyways. But, that is for another day of rambling. What if the great MSD was run out instead of Guptill in the last ball of the super over and the English were declared winners over India on the basis of more boundaries scored? How would we have reacted? 

I'm sure the ICC would have been lampooned. Effigies of English players burnt. Everyone including the umpires would have been called cheats. Some random buildings would have been broken. Few people of the Caucasoid race would have been beaten up. The ICC would have been made to apologize publicly. Social media would have used every available bad word to mouth every random individual remotely linked to the ICC or English cricket. For sure we would have declared ourselves victors. 

Alright, let us imagine another counterfactual. What if the match had happened in Wankhede, Mumbai? What would have happened to the players and the umpires? Will the stadium be left back in the same condition as it was before the match started? I won't be surprised if the stadium was set on fire as happened on the lines of the 96' semifinals and stones thrown. 

Compare it to the way Kane and his followers behaved after the defeat yesterday. Cultured is the word used to describe them. They were hurt too; But then they were so graceful, that the travesty of the result almost seemed an afterthought. 

Every time when we use the word culture to a nation-state, it should reflect the way the people of that country behave. So when we use the word 'Indian culture', it actually should denote our behaviour. The tragedies of life show one's true behaviour and hence the behaviour of the people during tragic times will show the true culture of the country. 

In that sense, we are far from being the 'Great Indian culture' we call ourselves to be! Far from it.