What is intercultural sensitivity?

Intercultural sensitivity is all about-
• Leads to instant recognition of cultural different behaviour
• Generates empathy during intercultural encounters
• Leads to asking clarification and verifying cultural misunderstandings
• Is focused on the individual level
• Sensitivity creates mutual beneficial personal relationships
To quote an example of how important is intercultural sensitivity I would like to tell the episode that happened between an Indian cricketer (Harbhajan Singh) and Australian cricketer (Andrew Symond). Harbhajan had referred Symond as monkey in a fit of anger during the cricket match. This angered Symond and the Australian team very much, as in Australia if you call somebody monkey it amounts to racial abuse. It seems to me that the whole incident was because of cultural insensitivity on the side of Harbhajan. As for calling someone monkey in India is no big deal.