Judicial redress

Social sins

In my alma mater, St Xavier’s College, Bombay, I had enlivening discussions about sin with the Jesuit fathers, especially Father Esteller and the legendary Fr Duhr. The starting point was St Auguestine’s definition of sin as a word, deed or desire in opposition to God. Then there was classification of sins into mortal and venal sins. The seven deadly sins were broadly laid down in the 6th century by Pope Gregory the Great and popularised in the Middle Ages by Dante in The Inferno. They were: lust, gluttony, avarice, sloth, anger, envy and pride. Mind you, envy is not the same as jealousy. Dante defined it as “love of one’s own good perverted to a desire to deprive other men of theirs”. Thomas Aquinas described envy as “sorrow for another’s good”.

On March 9 this year, the Vatican added seven new sins, ‘social sins’. These are: environmental pollution, genetic manipulation, obscene wealth, infliction of poverty, drug trafficking, morally debatable experiments, and violation of the fundamental rights of human nature. The Vatican’s intent, apparently, is to highlight the fact that sin has a social dimension. According to Bishop Gianfranco Girotti, head of the Apostolic Penitentiary, mortal sins included taking or dealing in drugs, and social injustice which caused poverty or “the excessive accumulation of wealth by a few”. In view of these definitions, the number of sinners in our country will be pretty large, especially the filthy rich, the tribe of billionaires and trillionaires, who ostentatiously flaunt their wealth.

No trivialising cricket

Cricket is undoubtedly the most popular sport in our country. Cricket fans range from village schoolboys to CEOs of powerful corporations, from judges and ministers to the Speaker of the Lok Sabha. Our boys in the field deserve cheerleaders. They have them in plenty from the avid spectators who throng the stadia and cheer lustily when a sixer is hit or a difficult catch is taken or a bowler makes mincemeat of veteran batsmen. Our cricketers do not need as their cheerleaders scantily dressed foreign females with sexy voices and accents who have no clue about the finer points of the game or the ethos and spirit of cricket. It is not a question of morality. I have no prudish qualms about models displaying abundant skin and swirling their hips in a fashion show or a beauty parade. It is a question of time and place. No doubt cricket provides entertainment and in a sense is fun and games but it is after all a serious game. Let us not vulgarise or trivialise it.