Misbehavior by Ponting & Martin

It was annoying to see in the Zee TV news, the actions of Ricky Ponting and Martin of the Australian Cricket Team at the time of the award ceremony.

Was it arrogance or racism or both?

That is for every individual to asses.....

The way Ponting gestured Mr. Sharad Pawar to come over to handover the Champion's cup, was in sheer bad taste and horrifying. we do not know for sure but he would probably not dare to do this to his own Prime Minister or to George Bush, Tony Blair, Chirac , Putin, Merkel or any such person.

Likewise, the way Martin pushed Mr. Pawar was also abominable. The Australians behaved like teenager hoodlums & goons rather than the dignified national players of a country like Austrlia. Did they think that that playing with the dignity of a brown man does not matter?

A person is racist if he thinks that the honour or dignity of other perosn of different race, nationality or colour is of lesser value than his own.

May be what was exhibited was the normal behavior of Ponting and Martin. May be that is the way they would treat Mr Howard or any other dignitary. In that case it is not racism. But certinly the actions were not gentlmanlike. The actions were rude and not in keeping with norms of good behavior. They certainly had the responsibility to maintain certain decorum in award function. Their behavior was in such contract to the lovable Steve Irwin who had won the hearts all over the world with his humility.

We should not jump to conclusions about the personality of both Martin and Ponting. But at the same time we should not condone such behavior. Government of India should seriously consider denying visas in future to Ponting and Martin.