War. Some said. Biggest match ever, someone else said. Just a stupid colonial hangover cricket game, said others. And 2 days later, after innumerable cups of coffee to bring an extremely hoarse throat back to normal, I myself am not quite sure.
For most of us Indians, Pakistanis remain a group of faceless, nameless individuals. We don’t know them. We have never seen them. We don’t know much about them, except the fact they happen to be very similar to us in many aspects. But we sure as hell hate them. It is easier to hate them as long as they remain that bunch of people, who we have never met. We scream and jeer at the sight of every Pakistani on a TV screen. A different religion has got nothing to do with it. We just hate them because they are ‘them’. Yes maybe every single one of us hates someone we know, but our hate for Pakistan is special. Go to youtube and check out the comments section of any Indian cricket video. Every generation of every family of both nations has been cursed into oblivion. Maybe to continue the great rivalry there as well.
At least for me, this blindness is what this cricket match changed. I watched the match here with a bunch of around 40 Pakistanis. And suddenly ‘those Pakistanis’ were not faceless and nameless anymore. I saw them; I talked to them and even shook hands with them. The Indians outnumbered the Pakistanis by almost 5:1. Yet the rendition of the Pakistani national anthem captured me. It was the first time I had ever heard it sung with such gusto and in such close proximity. I was moved to the extent of checking it out on youtube and to my pleasant surprise, I was not the only one who had been moved. For once, the comments section featured comments from Indians saying they checked out the video as they really liked the anthem after hearing it during the match. The loudest collective cheer in the room went up when a banner showed up on the big screen, linking the flags of India and Pakistan together with the word friends. And when the match ended, instead of jeering, the entire Indian contingent went up to the Pakistanis and congratulated them on a great match. No blind hatred. No abusing. Just a healthy (and newly found) camaraderie. So definitely more than a cricket match.
But then again, does it change the fact we still fight over the Kashmir issue? Does it change the fact that both sides have innocent people of the other nation locked up in jails on the pretext of being spies? Does it change the fact that 26/11 happened and Pakistan admitted responsibility for it? The so-called peace talks continue to flounder with the regularity of an Obama vacation. Both set of politicians will resort to petty point scoring to curry favor with the UN and the US. So what tangible change did the cricket match bring about? Nothing other than a big photo-op. And mind you, I have not even considered the result of the match. So just a cricket match it was then.
Or was it? I leave you to wonder with this. Kyun itni nafrat (why so much hate) as Afridi says? I don’t know. I don’t even know what the fuss was all about. What was it?
P.S. The final is still to come for India. It is only to deal with the high anticipation and some extremely nervous energy levels which made me look back at the last match. Bleed Blue!
