Let your game do the talking

Once again, Indian tennis icon Sania Mirza is in the midst of a sordid controversy. Is it the fifth in her short but superlative career? Or is it the seventh or eighth?

There have been so many, minor and major and lurid and laughable, that it is difficult to keep count.

But the latest one should take the cake. A picture showing her sitting with her feet up and close to a miniature Indian flag was blown out of proportion. She was accused of showing disrespect to the national emblem, and even a case was registered in a court in her hometown Hyderabad.

Talking of the cake, even Indian cricket star Sachin Tendulkar was not spared after he cut one made in the shape of the Indian map. But that controversy died before it became a drama unlike in the case of Mirza.

But that is hardly surprising in a country where Mirza's mini-skirt-index (MSI) is as keenly discussed as the stock exchange figures. Add to it the innumerable fringe religious groups who can't seem to get Mirza out of their minds.

To begin with, the latest controversy is preposterous, just like the racism row raging between the Indian and Australian cricketers. If there is absolutely no evidence in the cricket row, the evidence in the tennis ruckus is inconclusive. The picture may have been easily doctored.

On the other hand, even if Mirza did sit with her feet close to the flag, it may have been done inadvertently. It is difficult to think of a 21-year-old, educated and a ranked tennis player who spends the best part of the year traveling the world could be so silly.

The real problem I suspect is not Mirza, but her success, her good looks, her ability to draw huge crowds and make huge sums of money, on and off the court. She is not the stereotype, but a very saleable and prize product. She does exactly what she likes, and more crucially lets others know about it.

Basically she has no qualms about flouting either her natural good looks or acquired wealth. She has built a palatial bungalow in her hometown, wears the latest fashion accessories, be it tops, nose rings, sunglasses or lip gloss, and speaks her mind without fear or favour. That, many say, is her real problem. But in my book, that's no problem at all.

In many ways, Mirza is like former Indian cricket star and poster boy Ravi Shastri. Like Shastri, Mirza has toppled many taboos. Shastri also liked the good things of life. He dated celebrities, drove fast cars, took expensive holidays, and was outspoken. But he was also a very hardworking, honest and useful cricketer.

The crowd envied his success and his critics wrote with a forked pen - praising him when he was successful and tearing him apart when not. Mirza is in a similar boat, but that she is also a woman is weighing her down in a country where gender bias still exists and people view everything in the prism of dogma.

Take Mirza's previous controversies for example. She was first criticised for her tennis attire. They said it is too 'skimpy and un-Islamic'. But the issue was not just that. The issue was that Mirza was doing what she was doing with an in-your-face sort of manner.

Where her detractors wanted her to be meek and apologetic after the controversy broke out and a fatwa issued, she was daring, dashing and different. She also played championship tennis in what she wore, rocketing to No 31 in the world, the only Muslim girl in the top 50, reached the fourth round of the 2005 US Open, and more importantly, drew huge crowds wherever she played.

To date all those against her attire are yet to 'fashion' a dress that facilitates a woman player to play as well, if not better.

Then there was the 'Khushboo case' when Mirza agreed with a top south India star who advocated safe pre-marital sex. It made national headlines and sparked a raging row. Mirza later claimed she was misquoted.

But my point is what's wrong in supporting safe sex, pre-marital or post-marital is left to the concerned people, in a country where Aids is a major concern. It is a physical and emotional issue worth a national debate. Mirza could have been used as a role model to propagate safe sex. Instead, it was lost to empty rhetoric.

Mirza moved on with her tennis, but controversy did not fail to follow her. This time her choice of doubles partner kicked up a storm as it happened to be Shahar Peer of Israel. The usual suspects surfaced again issuing renewed threats.

The duo, however, continued and even won a doubles title.

Coming back to the flag controversy. It is reported that Mirza is worried and even mulling over her future. The Indian tennis officials meanwhile have asked that she be left alone.

My simple advice to her is to do exactly what she has been doing all these years. Keep quiet and play your game. And remember the old saying that barking dogs seldom bite. It is not difficult to get the drift. Right.