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Dear All I appreciate the views expressed by Mr. George Mathew. Politicians from either sides have been trying to cash in on the sentiments of the masses. But all said and done, the statment of Pakistani President Gen Musharraf some time ago that we (India) are not playing with Pakistan because we are afraid of loosing is certainly in bad taste. Our President or Prime Minister for that matter have never made such statements and therefore this historic win has more significance. I hope henceforth Gen Musharraf will never make such statements. Regards Alex >>> [EMAIL PROTECTED] 03/04/03 11:41AM >>> **************************************** For more information/links, see http://goanet.netfirms.com **************************************** (Attn Eds: Following is a special article written for IANS by George Mathew, the director of the Institute of Social Sciences, New Delhi) India-Society/Sports-Cricket* (750 words) Where politics has failed, cricket may succeed (SPECIAL ARTICLE) By George Mathew India's overwhelming victory over Pakistan in the Cricket World Cup in South Africa has been received back home with unprecedented enthusiasm and fanfare. People from all walks of life have joined the celebrations. For about eight hours or so, urban life in India came to a standstill on Saturday when the match was on. In New Delhi and other cities, it was like Diwali with the bursting of firecrackers when the team won. The celebration continued well into Sunday. The euphoria bordered on hysteria, treated almost as though India had won the World Cup. Defeating Pakistan meant more than winning cricket's biggest tournament. Cricket between India and Pakistan is war by another name. The hysterical crowds couldn't care less if it amounted to proclaiming a war victory. Cricket is a wonderful game, but victory or defeat should be taken sportingly. Few messages could be seen on the electronic media to that effect. Many ordinary people whom the electronic media interviewed praised Sachin Tendulkar's marvellous feat, India's batting sensation and so on. What was, however, lost sight of was the fact that Pakistan captain Waqar Younis too praised the Indian team. It was refreshing to see each Pakistan team member shaking hands with Indian players on the field as well as in the dressing room. Sociologically, two trends are evident. First, distorting the sport for one's own political, ideological, religious advantage. These distortions take an ugly turn when a leadership with a narrow mind and obscurantist worldview tends to degrade a sport or a game. In the present case, a diabolic image of Pakistan is being sought. Pakistan is being projected an evil-incarnate. Cricket is only an alibi. What is worse is the effort to sully the image of all those who are advocating a revival of people-to-people contacts. The short-term goal of the political class may be winning an election. The primordial identity like religion is being misused to the hilt. Media is not without blemish. With the present technology, all the negative things get better publicity, affecting the outlook and mental attitude of the masses. How else can one explain victory processions attacking your neighbour who belongs to another religion? How do we explain killing of a fellow citizen in Gujarat when we celebrate cricket victory just because the victim belonged to the majority religion of the country we defeated? What would have happened to Muslims had Pakistan won this game? Another Gujarat-like situation? Do our leaders realise this? Today India cannot play cricket in Pakistan and the vice versa. A party on the lunatic fringe destroys cricket pitches, "bans" entry of the Pakistan team into the cities where they can take law into their hands. But look at the double standards. India can play against Pakistan in Durban and even the prime minister is glued to a television set and sends congratulatory messages to the Indian team. One could interpret that the Indian team deserves congratulations because they defeated the enemy, Pakistan. The positive factor about cricket is that the game has gone deep into our psyche. Waving national flags is symbolic of this. It has replaced even religious identities for national identities. Cricket is a great leveller. The country was united and thrilled by the victory. India is slowly but steadily moving away for divisive identities. We tend to forget that some of the best cricket players this country has produced belonged to the minority community. Zaheer Khan's and Mohammad Kaif's contributions to our victory were equally significant, although one should not look at the game that way. The sum and substance of the argument is that several primordial identities like religion, caste, language and region disappear through cricket and the identity of nationhood for the game comes to the fore. But one cannot take it that all those who watched the game and celebrated the victory were suffering from the "war" or "defeating the enemy" psychology. All knew that Pakistan was a strong team and defeating a strong team was a matter for celebration. Cricket unites our two peoples. Resumption of cricketing ties would be the best way to reduce tension between India and Pakistan. Where politics has failed, cricket may succeed. (The writer is the director of the Institute of Social Sciences, New Delhi) --Indo-Asian News Service _______________________________________________ Goanet mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.goanet.org/mailman/listinfo/goanet _______________________________________________ Goanet mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.goanet.org/mailman/listinfo/goanet
