Indians hit new low over Sharapova

All it took to offend 'patriotic' Indians this time was ace tennis player Maria Sharapova admitting that she did not know who Sachin Tendulkar was. 

Tennis player Maria Sharapova

What hypocrites we Indians are! It turns into a life and death situation if a top Russian tennis player does not follow cricket and has no clue about Tendulkar, but it is all right if more than 90 per cent of Indians don't know what their national game is and who captains the team. 

Some of our Bollywood actors have no clue who the country's President is! 

The outburst on social networking sites including Twitter and Facebook is less about Indians being hypocrites than it is about the patriarchal mindset of Indian men, who have all the time in the world when it comes to demeaning a woman. Any woman, even Sharapova. 

Sharapova's Facebook page was bombarded with such horrid comments that most aren't even print-worthy. 

If cricket is religion and Sachin is God, then all of his followers who went after Sharapova seem to be imps from hell. 

As much as Indians believe that cricket is the only sport being played out there, it is a fact that football, rugby and tennis are watched and loved far more worldwide. 

How many of us know anything about tennis? 

Let me only count our cricket players and keep the rest of the population out of this one - ask any Indian cricket player who Sardara Singh is. I am certain most would not know he is the Indian hockey team captain.

You may even have something to say to Virender Sehwag, an Indian, who did not know who legendary cricket players Vinoo Mankad and Pankaj Roy were, even though they played the same sport for the country. 

If Sharapova's confession was honest, the Indian cyber-reaction to it was pure filth.

© 2014 Nasreen Ghani

Published in Daily Mail and Mail Today
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/indiahome/indianews/article-2682471/WHIPLASH-Indians-hit-new-low-Sharapova.html