Pass the ball around

Pass the ball around

The Indian hockey team is understandably miffed at the (predictable) outpouring of largesse for the Indian cricket team. I have no qualms with Commerce, with one unwavering eye at the return-on-investment column, showering its gifts on any product that it sees as being investment-worthy - their money, their choice. However, criticism is completely valid when it is a question of maharaja-like patronage being showered by politicians dipping from the state coffers. It is a commercial act for them - to be associated with events that enjoy the greatest eyeballs, and gain something from their "benevolence" by being in the same frame. I suppose other sportsmen could do with a hoarse shout or two too.

It is a sad state of affairs all-round: what positive effects this week has on Indian cricket remains to be seen, forget Indian sport. Sure, hockey is not a patch on the marketability of cricket, even in the latter's leanest periods, hit movies notwithstanding. For a nation that still has hardly any real sporting culture, and therefore no real appreciation of sport, masala will rule.

Mellow and Green

Just watching Pakistan complete an impressively mature win over Australia in the World Twenty20, it struck me that I'm no longer routinely anti-Pakistani as I used to be as a kid. Back then, when it came to sports, I would vigorously root for a Pakistani loss. Such a venom sometimes got in the way of seeing the quality of the likes of greats Imran and Wasim Akram. Of course, Javed and his kind didn't help matters :-)

I remember being bitterly disappointed when England were bundled out in the finals to a rampaging Pakistan, who were so lucky to get to the finals. It seemed they had the kind of luck that India never ever seemed to get (and still don't!). Getting our noses rubbed in the scorching sands of the Sharjah desert meant that I didn't quite miss not having cable television those days!

Things have changed. I can watch Pakistan play sport and appreciate their good performances. It was often conjectured, especially in the immediate post-Kargil atmosphere, whether more India-Pak matches would in fact assuage tensions. I don't know about that, but I attribute my own mellowing down to a larger vein of downplaying the impact of such sporting outcomes on my own life. So occasionally the adrenalin pumps at a close match, but on the whole, a certain detachment has helped.

The first time I can remember actually appreciating a Pakistani sporting performance was in the 1994 Hockey World Cup, where the men in green, led by the legendary Shahbaz Ahmed took the crown. Chak De Pakistan, perhaps.