Firing In USA Gurudwara: American Society Becoming Intolerant?

A peaceful place of worship for the Sikh community, called Gurudwara or temple, in a serene location of the Midwest district of the US, Wisconsin. Over 300 hundred Sikh Americans had assembled there for morning prayers on August 5, 2012, and preparations were also going on for a meal after the rituals. Understandably a lot of women and children were also there. Suddenly a bald and stocky white man with two handguns walked in and started firing indiscriminately. At least six people got killed instantly with scores injured.

But for an exceptional promptness and bravery by an American policeman who attended to the SOS call immediately and got critically injured in the ensuing encounter, the toll could have been much bigger. As the FBI took up the investigations speculation was rife about possible motives.

Was this horrific incident a case of domestic terrorism as suggested or hate crimes or antics of a trigger-happy psychopath? Since the killed gunman was identified as an ex-US army man with tattoo marks the possibility of hate crime was not ruled out.

USA has a long history of hate crimes and since the catastrophic 9/11 terror attack there has been a marked rise in such incidents. There had been maniacal firings in educational institutions over the years involving killing of Indian students in stray cases. The worst crime was the Virginia Tech massacre in 2007 when a lone gunman killed as many as 32 people. The 9/11 attack had unleashed a wave of hatred in the country against the perpetrators belonging to a particular community and in the process the Sikh community has been increasingly targeted due to mistaken identities. This Gurudwara crime is the worst so far.

If it is accepted as a hate crime, then what about the massacre in the premiere of The Dark Knight Rises only last month in Colorado when a mysterious gunman shot down 12 innocents?  Maybe along with hatred economic and social pressures are being felt by the American society due to a host of reasons like recessionary trends, rising unemployment and the outsourcing syndrome. With such pressures intolerance could possibly be growing stronger and the targets naturally translate into the immigrant communities. 

Indian people and the Sikh community here in India are shocked and angered. The Prime Minister of India, himself a Sikh, has expressed his deep anguish and resolved to pursue the matter at the highest level. The US President Barack Obama and his wife have also conveyed tremendous regret and condolence over the incident.

Such horrible crimes against mankind cannot be justified by any kind of reality and must be condemned universally.

London Olympics-2012: After Fixing Now Cheating!

London Olympics-2012 is also going to be remembered for an entire set of wrong reasons! The fixing charges in Badminton Women’s Doubles matches created waves of consternation throughout the globe. The charges were proved to be true as all eight badminton players from China, South Korea and Indonesiainvolved in fixing tactics were disqualified. At the same time a whole lot of cheating charges had been coming slowly out in the open.

The cases of cheating somehow seemed to affect mostly Indian athletes, particularly the boxers. While a vast nation stuffed with over a billion human beings still search hungrily for the first Gold medal some Olympic officials were hell bent on denying them even the deserved honors.

The first anomaly was noticed in the London Olympics inauguration ceremony itself when a mysterious lady in red was seen accompanying the Indian contingent for no connected reasons. She was not a part of the contingent and still was devouring prime focus. Later it was sorry-sorry and no-no from her side and the Olympic organizers apologized too.  This incident possibly gave an inkling of the things to come for the Indian contingent.

The Indian Hockey coach cried cheating when a penalty stroke what he thought rightfully due was not given and Indiawent on to lose their very first and closely fought game to Netherlands2-3. And then Indialost next two games eliminating itself from medal contention. Though that alleged cheating could not be a jsutification for the team’s lackluster performances it did indeed affect the morale.

The Indian Badminton women’s doubles pair, Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa,  appealed against a group match of Japan and Taipei, but it was summarily rejected. They alleged of fixing in that game. While the specter of fixing was officially confirmed valid the Indian pair’s complaint was found invalid. As a result the pair crashed out of the Olympics. And then the boxers.

Indian boxer Sumit Sangwan in 81kg category appealed against the result of a match with a Brazilian rival that Sumit thought he had won. Appeal rejected. Indian boxer Vikas Krishnan in 69kg category had been declared winner in a bout against an American. The American’s team management made an appeal with AIBA citing foul tactics adopted by the Indian. Appeal upheld and the boxer was denied of a quarterfinal berth and possible medal hopes. The Indian team filed a protest appeal against the decision. Appeal rejected. This issue of great injustice has still been raging in Indiadisheartening millions of fans. Then yesterday Indian boxer Manoj Kumar in 64kg category cried cheating in a thrilling pre-quarterfinal bout against a home favorite from Great Britain. Manoj alleged that points were not given to him on most of his attacking moves and that the bout seemed like to be of a district competition, not Olympics. Maybe fearing one more rejection no appeal was made so far.

It was indeed a case of heavenly justice when Indian Badminton star Saina Nehwal was awarded a Bronze medal after her Chinese rival had to retire due to injury. Saina thus created history by winning the first ever Olympic Badminton medal for India and became only the second Indian woman ever to win an Olympic medal. 

One must understand the craze for Olympic medals as winning one involves tremendous national pride as well as unmatched individual success. So the desperation is natural and that in turn could tempt any mortal being to try fixing cheating and all that. But the organizers must be ever ready for such acts and must try to render justice on a neutral and objective basis. This is very necessary for a spot event of the magnitude of the Olympics. One must also consider the inequalities in terms of medal harvesting and the top medal getting nations should not be allowed to turn into bullies.

Fortunately, doping or drug cases are being controlled effectively so far!

Cricket: India Win Micromax Cup-2012! Beat Sri Lanka 4-1!

India beating Sri Lanka 4-1 in Sri Lanka is indeed music to ears. India have won the fifth and last one day international cricket match against Sri Lanka by 20 runs today in Pallekele. They have won the Micromax Cup-2012 winning the series 4-1. With this series win India climbed to No.2 position in the ICC one-day rankings. They could have regained the No.1 spot had they won 5-0.

Powered by Indian skipper Dhoni’s quick-fire 58 off only 38 balls India set a challenging target of 295 runs before Sri Lanka for a victory in the fifth and last one day international cricket match of the Micromax Cup in Pallekete today. Dhoni was ably supported by all-rounder Irfan Pathan in a decisive partnership. Earlier, winning the toss and electing to bat first India banked heavily on Gambhir’s solid knock of 88 runs to build the innings. Virat Kohli started well, but could not last long. Rohit Sharma failed for the fifth time and Suresh Raina, the stylish unbeaten finisher of the last two matches, fell for a first ball duck. Manoj Tiwary (65) gave Gambhir good support and the duo crafted a fruitful partnership of 110 runs to put India in relative comfort. The Indian innings folded up for 294/7 in 50 overs. For Sri Lanka, Malinga was the pick of the bowlers with three wickets.

Chasing a daunting target of 295 the Sri Lankan innings progressed in fits and starts. Dilshan fell in the 6^th over after a brisk start and then Tharanga and Thirimanne took the score to 61 when Tharanga fell in the 8^thover. Three more wickets went down in a hurry and India looked to take full command of the match with Sri Lanka reeling at 102/5. But the most rewarding partnership of the innings evolved then between relatively inexperienced Thirimanne and Mendis adding 102 runs. The duo brought Sri Lanka within striking distance of victory when Thirimanne was run-out for 81 runs. They needed 91 runs off 85 balls at that juncture with four wickets in hand. As Perera started extending a fitting support to the free flowing Mendis the match headed for an exciting finish.

With Indian bowlers lacking penetration to finish off the Sri Lankan tail the huge target of 295 runs suddenly looked easy with asking rate coming below run a ball. The wickets of Perera (18) and Mendis (72) in quick succession finally prevented Sri Lanka from running away with an exciting victory. Pathan took these two crucial wickets and increased his tally to 4 wickets. But Sri Lanka refused to give up the chase and made the World Champions sweat for their victory. It was Pathan again who bowled the ninth wicket in form of Senanayaka to reduce Sri Lanka to 266/9 still needing 29 runs to win. Dinda finished off the last man and Sri Lanka were all out for 274. The Scorecard:

Irfan Pathan was adjudged the man of the match for the second five-wicket haul of his career and also for his sound contribution with the bat. Virat Kohli was rightfully awarded the man of the series trophy. 

 This has been a fruitful cricket series for India with many positives coming out in batting from Gautam Gambhir, Virat Kohli and Suresh Raina. But the Indian bowling continues to be a worrying factor with the new pacers yet to find line and length. Irfan Pathan and Manoj Tiwary have shown all-round abilities, but they have to be consistent enough to allow Team India to solve the dilemma of going for 4 or 5 bowlers. The Series had been overshadowed by the London Olympics, but in the end it proved to be an exciting event with the rewards going India’s way.