Mr.Hussain -Please spare the donkeys .

In another controversial remark  the Chennai born former England Captain Nasser Hussain in his role as a commentator compared some of the Indian fielders to donkeys recently in the only T20 match between England and India.He was obviously refering to the agility of some of the Indian fielders .He made this comment when Parthiv Patel missed a catch.He said the difference between the two teams is in the fielding ."While there are 3 or 4 good fielders in the Indian side ,I see a couple of  donkeys too " .Adding insult to injury another former England captain Vaaughan wrote in his blog that he saw not a couple but 4 of them are donkeys.The Indian media was infuriated over this remark of Nasser Hussain and Vaughan.Hussain was involved in a spat with Shastri over DRS review in the on going series. Vaughan also accused VVS of using Vaseline to dump the Hotspot Technology .one can understand the outrage over Hussain's comments. But it is a fact that Munaf Patel and Rohit Sharma are poor fielders.Gavaskar had commented derisively about Munaf's fielding abilities many times.Probably it is the time for reversal of cricketing honours between  England and India.India was once the T20 World Champion.But the current reigning T20 world champion is England.We have also lost the number one position in Test ranking to England by losing the series 4-0 to England.But the 'donkey' remark is surely a barbing jibe.Former Indian cricketers and BCCI expressed displeasure over Hussain's remark as expected. I agree with Anshuman Gaekwad that there  should be a code of conduct for commentator's too.Few years back Dean Jones former Australian player turned commentator called South African Player Hashim Amla as a "terrorist " in a match between SL and SA at colombo.Hamla took a catch to dismiss Kumar Sangakara.Jones said the " the terrorist has got another wicket" .Any amount of explanation by Jones did not help him save his commentator's job.He was sacked as a commentator by the TV channel which employed him.Another commentator to make blunt comments is Boycott.When England lost 5-0  Ashes Test series to Australia Boycott said the team does not deserve to have the 'Most Excellent Order of the British Empire'(MBE) honour  and added he is going to tie his MBE on his cat's neck.Those days commentators used to be neutral and graceful.They were never biased.Our Indian commentators Bhogle and Gavaskar were also guilty of biased commentary during the 2007-08 Australia -India Test series.Comments by them regarding the controversial catch of Michael Clark was certainly prejudiced.During the radio days the commentators brought before our eyes vividly the action through their commentary.Be it  cricket,soccer or hockey,People glued to their radio sets used to visualise every move of the player .But today we see the action live as it happens in TV.So the commentary becomes a commonplace remark.The audio commentary is a suppliment to the real time  video and does not excite a listener like a radio commentary. But that is not a good reason to make the commentators insensitive and make controversial remarks.

But one thing I don't agree with Hussain is that  he has not paid any respect to donkeys.Donkeys are the most maligned animal in an unjust manner throughout the world.The popular belief that donkey's are dumb animals is a misconception.Donkeys are highly intelligent and stronger than a horse of the same size.The donkeys have astounding memory.It is believed donkeys can  recognise areas and other donkeys they were with  25 years ago.Donkeys are not easily startled like horses and have a keen sense of curiosity.Donkeys have a reputation for stubbornness.In fact there is a saying “That which is called firmness in a king is called obstinacy in a donkey”.Unfortunatley even in protests, donkeys are being ridiculed by protesters with a bad and cruel sense of humour.Donkeys are subjected to cruelty in processions against corrupt officials and politicians in India.But these guys don't know that roughly 1.6 million donkeys in India do hard labour.Even during the recent Lokpal agitation by Anna Hazare an appeal was issued to him to " spare the donkeys" by the Federation of Indian Animals Protection Organisation.Mr.Hussain Please spare the donkeys.To the tardy Indian fielders I would like to say “If one man says to thee, ''Thou art a donkey',' pay no heed. If two speak thus, purchase a saddle.”