Yours truly. tsk tsk.
Just read an article on some of the biggest spoken gaffes of 2007 on wired.com - http://www.wired.com/science/discoveries/news/2005/12/69904. Can't help thinking i have not one but three very recent instances to put forward my candidature. Following is the hallowed list -
1. 'Foot-in-Mouth' Gaffe # 1 - AR Rahman's concert in Delhi was his first in India.
I had written the above line in one of my earlier blogs - no you won't find it now, it has miraculously disappeared :). I would have swore, that was what i was told. The truth revealed itself when i happened to Google my own name ( i believe everyone should Google his/her name, trust me you'll be surprised to see some of the stuff written about you). On googling my name - i was directed to a site for ARRahman fans with the following comment -
"To this blogger Anand Phene (Mumbai/Gurgaon) Delhi Concert is ARR's first performance in India? Why he blogs with wrong information?"
The other comments in the forum following the above one further confirmed my ignorance. Clearly, it wasn't ARR's first performance in India. It so happened that I was told that it was his first live concert. That "in the Capital City" was conveniently left out. Having said that, i wouldn't even vouch for the fact that this was his first live concert in Delhi.
That apart, I never thought of my ramblings on this blog as a source of "authentic information". And that people should look upon it as one. Looks like i am dead wrong. It is, i guess, assumed that the author of the blog has verified the authenticity of the information and is reasonably sure of what he is publishing. Can almost hear blog readers whispering 'Make that dead sure'.
2. 'Foot-in-Mouth' Gaffe # 2 - Mumbai is safe for women.
I have lost count of the number of times, i have used the above line to defend Mumbai to fellow north-Indians (read as allegiance towards New Delhi). The debate on claim to a 'better city' has never been settled successfully with both sides parroting the same age-less points. But the incident on New Year's Eve has laid hollow any such claim of mine. What a shame for a great city!!
And i guess, saying that the city is safe in general, except for some stray incidents like the one on New Years Eve, is at best denying the presence of an elephant in the room. It wasn't a case of one or two miscreants indulging in eve-teasing, but a mob attacking women. That is just crazy. This is not some third-world country. This is aamchi Mumbai, we are talking about. I hope the punishment to the perpetrators befits the crime and that punishment is swift enough and aimed at setting a precedent. And for those who claim that the perpetrators are not from mumbai - i would just say that even if this was the case - just like we celebrate achievements of say an Amitabh Bachchan or a Dhirubhai Ambani, who relocated to Mumbai, as a feather in Mumbai's cap, this incident sadly should go down against us as well.
3. 'Foot-in-Mouth' Gaffe # 3 - India winning Test series in Australia.
This one is the mother of all. In one of my earlier post - You are going down (December 13, 2007), i had predicted that India might just surprise the home-side. I couldn't have been more wrong. Agreed that the basic premise for the prediction was that India avoids losing the first test, which didn't happen, but still, this qualifies as the mother of all gaffes.
Hours ago, I just saw the Indian side lose three wickets in the space of 5 balls to lose the Sydney test. The score-line after two completed tests reads 2-0 - Australia cannot lose the series and hence will retain the Border-Gavaskar trophy. Saying that the two B's - Benson and Bucknor - played a huge role in ensuring the sydney result - is nothing more than an excuse.
I have followed India's fortune on the cricketing field for as long as i can remember. For years, i have seen glaring umpiring errors turn the course of the match against India. Remember, Steve Bucknor giving Jonty Rhodes not out.. who went to score 80-90 odd runs and saving the match, or steve bucknor giving Steve Waugh and Damien Martyn reprieve for Australia to draw the sydney test - denying us a certain series victory in Australia last time around.
Yes, any Indian fan will agree that umpiring errors harming an India cause - to - errors benefiting India over the years have not evened out and that somehow the errors have miraculously done more harm, than an odd bad decision normally does, such as turned the outcome of the match or even the series. Kid yourself whichever way you want, but the fact of the matter, is we lack the mental strength to slug it out when things don't go our way and we let the decisions affect us more than the decision should. Australia in this series have clearly been a superior side and i don't blame the almighty for siding with them.
It is 2008, and the above gaffes are history already :) Hopefully ARR will perform again in Delhi and that Mumbai will be safe for everyone once again and India will start winning test matches...and hopefully i will keep both my feet at a fair distance from my mouth.... amen to that!!
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