TELEVISTA
Aussie ki taisi
Amita Malik

We often tend to say that we Indians are not very good at laughing at ourselves. I disagree. Though I would qualify that by saying we are more good at regional jokes, the Punjabis, the Bengalis and the Tamils are known to be good at making fun of themselves, although we are all touchy about others making fun of us. On the non-regional level, I find charming the phrase which has cropped up in Hindi with all the sports action going on in Australia. I think Aussie ki taisi is the best fun phrase to have come up in Indian sport after Chak De, which has not only given us a lively slogan but also an apt song to accompany all sports events, although it started with hockey.

Be that as it may, and in spite of the PM’s visit to China, the race for pushing assorted and sometimes unlikely leaders for the Bharat Ratna and other political events, the small screen, as also the press, has been dominated by what is happening to Indian sport in Australia. In cricket the BCCI is playing the role of good guy. We have magnanimously forgiven Hogg for the alleged insult to Kumble and Dhoni. But judging by the angry comments which have been sent to almost every TV channel which has asked for audience reactions, Indians in every part of India think we have caved in to the goras, and had no business to make that gesture while Bhajji’s fate is unknown.

In that sense, we must give full credit to Indian TV not only for involving audiences in big decisions but sometimes actually influencing that decision. One angry viewer commented that it is all very well for Kumble to be a soft-spoken gentleman but Ganguly would have taken them head-on and brought the Aussies to the ground.

Much more pleasant has been watching the first week of the Australian Tennis Open from Melbourne where the best players in the world are participating. One of the surprises of the big tournament has been the exit of Britain’s much-fancied Andy Murray in the first round, thanks to some fine play by a burly Frenchman.

Sania Mirza has not been doing too well although her Indian supporters are giving her noisy support and even commentators have complimented her on her fashionable frilly white tennis dress, not to forget her nose ring. However, the men are not being left behind and Nadal’s snazzy pedal-pusher pants and his name Rafael and a Spanish bull engraved on his shoes have also caught a lot of attention from the cameras.

In the non-sporting sphere there is no doubt about which item has caught the most attention on TV and everywhere, including the foreign media. The delectable People’s Car, the Nano, excitingly low-priced, lovely to look at and not too small for the six-foot-odd Ratan Tata to drive it on to the podium and make that witty remark that he had hesitated between naming it Mamata or In Spite Mamata made for very pleasant viewing.

Nano caused stampedes and traffic jams near the Pragati Maidan in the Capital and is likely to be the top news for some time. Even my maid says that her son is thinking of buying one rather than carting his wife and two kids on a motor bike.

On a much more serious level is the daunting sight on TV of the devastating fire in Kolkata’s Burra Bazaar. The flames have been seen on the screen for three days and all the channels are carrying angry protests from Kolkatans against the delay in dousing these. As is usual in India, fire-fighters are handicapped by lack of adequate water supply, and angry residents have been asking why, with the Hooghly with ample water flowing within a kilometre, the civic authorities of Kolkata have not thought of finding a way to utilise that vast supply of water to cope with fires such as these.

Not only Kolkata but other parts of India which have suffered similarly will continue to question the lack of proper damage-control measures not only in case of fires but also other emergencies.