When Sohail Tanveer says “Hinduyon ki zehniyaat aisi hai” or when Shoaib Malik thanks all the Muslims in the world for supporting Pakistan or when Afridi says that Muslims (by which he means Pakistanis exclusively) have much bigger hearts than Indians, I understand. I understand that for these people, Pakistan is synonymous with Muslims and India is synonymous with Hindus. You cannot blame the Pakistanis for that—-they have and are systematically removing their non-Muslim minorities (read this for a slice of minority life in the Land of the Pure) for which the equivalence they make between Muslims and Pakistan is not ridiculous at all. On the other hand, their refusal to acknowledge the presence of Muslims in India is natural. If they did, it would be a big middle finger to the basic premise of their existence—-that Hindus and Muslims cannot co-exist together peacefully. Being brought up in an educational system that teaches them that they beat India in 1971 (despite the small fact that they signed a document of surrender) and that Hindus (=Indians) are responsible for many heinous acts directed at the country including depriving them of water, I do not expect any different.
What though never ceases to shock me is how this same Muslims=Pakistan equation is made by so-called Indian “liberals” (I use the “” around the liberals because I think they are anything but liberals). Which is why anyone (like me) who doe not endorse Asha-Aman with Pakistan, because of the fact that they have refused to take action against 26/11 perpetrators and sheltered fugitives from the Indian law, is dubbed as an Islamophobe. (This comment was made on a previous post). The assumption is heinous—namely that not liking Pakistanis is same as not liking Muslims. It is an accusation, which if opt repeated, serves the purpose of shutting up any kind of opposition because no one likes to be considered prejudiced against a particular religion, particularly when they are not.
Now I have said before, many times, why I hold “Pakistan” in its entirety as the party responsible for 26/11 rather than the “misguided minority section of Pakistani youth” angle our Afridirals (prefer to use that instead of “liberal”) would like us to believe. (This explains why they want us to lay out the red carpet for the Pakistani cricket team and in general slide up to Gilani from the side and press ourselves against his hyper-active arms).
To summarize why I make this association.
1. 26/11 was implemented and financed by sections of the Pakistani establishment. This is beyond doubt.
2. The Pakistani establishment has steadfastly refused to bring to justice anyone associated with 26/11.
3. The government that protects the perpetrators is democratically elected and the reason offered by most Pakistan watchers as to why 26/11 criminals would not be brought to justice is that “popular reaction” to such a move would cause the government to fall. This shows very clearly where the public sympathy lies.
4. From even a cursory glance through Pakistani media and online boards, one would see that Pakistanis either 1) consider 26/11 as trivial or 2) consider 26/11 to have been done by Indians. Both of them are nothing but justifications.
5. From the overwhelming support for blasphemy laws, the murder of even “pseudo-liberals” like Taseer and the lionization of their killers, it should be fairly obvious that the Pakistani awaam by and large, are not very tolerant of people who are not of their “religion”.
6. Unlike Americans who also provide the most trenchant criticisms of their own policies of aggression with a sizeable section of their population strongly condemning their own policies, the voice of dissent in Pakistan for their supporting of terrorism in India is almost absent. Even when muted voices are heard, they are accompanied by hundreds of caveats and thousands of moral equivalences.
The reason why I have made this lengthy pre-amble is so that I can make my point. Large-hearted Afridi’s hateful diatribe against Indians has been justified in some quarters (by Pakistani liberals and Indian Afridirals) as a reaction to Gautam Gambhir’s dedication of the victory to 26/11 victims and his reference to the fact that he was inspired by an Armymen (I do not know exactly what he said but from chatter on Twitter this is what I deduced). Mr. Vikram Sood, former director of RAW, in his blog says: [Link]
This reaction was possibly to Gautam Gambhir’s silly comment that he dedicated the Indian victory to Mumbai 26/11. This meant terrorism, which meant Lashkar e Tayyaba which ultimately meant Hafeez Saeed. This was not going to be acceptable to some in Pakistan
So why is this a “silly” comment? Is it “silly” because we as Indians are not supposed to refer to terrorism directed at us? Is it “silly” to let a tragedy on innocents affect a sportsman so personally that he refers to it in the moment of his greatest triumph? The fact that referring to a human tragedy like 26/11 could be taken as provocation by those who financed it is, for the want of a better word, laughable.
Let us assume that Gambhir said something more “aggressive” namely that replying to 26/11 was an inspiration for his performance. I do not know if he said it but some people on Twitter hinted that was the gist of his statements. I find nothing objectionable in that also. No serious literary critic would ever interpret an author’s creations in a historical, sociological and political vacuum. Similarly to expect a sportsman to remove any historical context from his performances would be an exercise in futility.
On the biggest stages that can be thought of, in face of physical and mental exhaustion and the ever-present fear of failure, sportsmen draw on inner wells of strength to provide that killer performance. This may be anything—-the desire to overcome poverty or to become a millionaire, the urge to prove a point to those that have written him off, the ambition of attaining immortality in the record books or the junoon to be part of an ideal bigger and nobler than oneself. Gambhir was merely honest in saying what one of his inspirations had been. Just as had been Pakistani sporting greats, who now come as special guests on Indian shows, who in politically less correct previous decades had said they were inspired by ancient Islamic conquerors of India.
Nothing wrong in either case, since players are nothing but the product of their times. Like all artists.
Fischer vs Spassky. Miracle on Ice—USA vs Russia 1980. Sports/sportsmen and politics have always gone hand in hand. It’s a point I made in my previous post “Asha Aman Ki Aisi Ki Taisi” albeit in a flippant way. To expect politics to stay separate from sports, especially in an atmosphere that exists between Pakistan and India, is to exhibit a surprising level of ostrich-like naivete. So this is why I embrace with nothing but understanding amusement the “positive” coverage of India in Pakistani media—–Exhibit 1 (where a bunch of butchers cheerfully talk about imposing “violence” on the Indians of the types usually done to “goshts” with happy chomps of their machetes), Exhibit 2 (where a Pakistani pressman accuses Indian IT engineers of tampering with the DRS to let Sachin survive) and Exhibit 3 (where a cricket expert says that the final was fixed). Most of my amusement however is reserved for this massively forwarded article by Asha-Aman guys, a positive message from Pakistan, which now given Afridi’s rant, seems to read like a parody. What is interesting is that even here, in its first para (according to my understanding) it says that the match was lost more due to Misbah and Umar Gul’s bad luck and Sachin’s good fortune, without even once acknowledging the most important thing—- that India outplayed Pakistan on merit and not due to “luck”.
And this refusal to accept defeat in sports as anything other than conspiracy or bad luck, I would say is a natural defense mechanism built in by nations to purge itself off the humiliation that is brought on by the political context of a sporting engagement, a context that cannot be just wished away.
Given the political atmosphere as it exists, sports will be affected. So will sportsmen. It’s not their fault.
Finally a personal message. To Mr. Gambhir. You sir have been one of my favorite players throughout the years—dependable, smart, not amazingly talented like Yuvi but always keenly aware of your limitations and playing by them. By remembering 26/11, a personal tragedy to many of us, you have only risen in our esteem.
People die when they stop breathing. Peoples die when they stop remembering.
Thank you. And not just for the Cup.
The Greatbong Blog & Podcast 
haha. Nice one !
First
Why should we treat what afraid says so seriously? And get so outraged? He made different statements and was quite nice to India initially na? Best to ignore rather than waste lung power shouting and feeling outraged…
Well they started off 60 years back with 1 paki (brave, handsome, virile and muslim) is equal to 10 indians (coward, ugly, needle dick and hindu). Now it has come down to only a larger heart.
I am sure we ll catch up in that too in next 10 years. I thank Afridi for his kind comments!!
Ruchik,
I dont think he made a very different statement. Outside his house, he said “We dance on their music..etc etc…why should we hate them?” The underlying logic was “We are big-hearted and why should we hate? Let them hate us.” So I do not think there was any contradiction. His next statement was a bit too honest and one which I am sure shall soon be retracted as being “out of context” even though there is video evidence of what he said.
But again my point is it’s not Afridi’s fault. He and every other sportsman are products of their times and the larger context of which they are but a part. So let us not be “silly” trying to separate politics from sports because they are intrinsically linked.
Agree wholeheartedly.
So true…screw these “liberals”
@Ruchik- Shut the f up. Go and ask pseudo-seculars as to why they got so enamored by Afridi’s first interview and that massively forwarded article by Asha Aman guys. Go and ask them why they took that so seriously, will ya?
@pseudos- Come out you cowards. Those who were so abusive of GB in the asha aman post. But this time, you guys will just keep f-ing quiet wont ya?
Brilliant article greatbong. I was initially fooled by Afridi’s large-hearted comment as soon as he returned back to Pakistan. But his latest rant shows his true colours.
Whats more, I watched the video on FB, where a large number of comments were from Pakistani youth. The comments left a bad aftertaste in my mouth. I just failed to see why such a torrent of unreasonable anger was directed towards Indians there. It was as if they hated Indians for winning the match, and by all the transitive equations you mentioned above, somehow it is evil Hinduism which is responsible for all this.
But I take solace in the fact that behind all this politically and religiously divisive talk, cricket united India. Muslims in India (who outnumber those in Pak), celebrated India’s win and that should serve as a big middle finger to those unreasonable elements.
Coming to the topic of Aman ki Aasha, I do believe that until the perpetrators of 26/11 are brought to book by Pakistan, everything else is a sham. Period.
Just one note in this whole point.
I am sure you have kept track of a lot of stuff in popular media than I have. However, I have come across this piece of interview by Shahid Afridi where he lashes out to reporters who try to instigate some anti-India comments.
Ishita,
Did you read my comments above? I had seen it that day itself. I have explained in comment above why it is in consonance with everything else.
Dont worry Arnab da…the amount of these Indian-liberals is insignificant in comparison to the normal “conservatives” like us and shall remain so forever…
Ankit,
No they are definitely not insignificant.
Well said!
ok … I came across this video too (I guess this is what you are talking about)….
I was just listening two videos back to back. It seemed to me that the voice in the two videos were not identical (in the first one Afridi could be seen, and the second one he was not). It is just what it seemed to me, I might be wrong, since I do not work in forensic department 😛
Arnab
Why be defensive against the manufactured-in-2005 charge of “islamophobia”? Phobia refers to an irrational fear. There is absolutely nothing irrational about fearing or loathing Islam qua its political ideology. No one should apologize for it. Which is separate from bigotry against individual Muslims. The Quran is pretty clearly extremely hateful towards us kaafirs, and Muhammad the model showed future Muslims how to behave towards the “dirty kuffaar.” I will not for once apologize for reading what Muslim scholars themselves have written.
Enough is enough. Spades are spades and jihad is Islamic.
[edited] that are part of the Indian National Interest (INI) forum, such as Mr Vikram Sood need to take a hike. Who made [edited] the RAW head? Probably a Congressi.
thanks for the keen observation on vikram sood calling it “silly” . this word sums it up, if remembering or dedicating world cup to 26/11 is silly , we are a failed nation
Good point about Pakistan == Muslims. Karan Thapar in his recent interview said something like this IIRC – “I like Pakistan because I don’t hate Muslims”.
If Afridi’s first statement is praised then why not condemn his 2nd statement? Why ask us to ignore and move on?
@ greatbong
I was just posting comments in this space. The kind of language used by the above person in response to my post is abusive.
I am really sorry to post in this space. Will never do this mistake ever again.
Afridi made that dilwala comment TWICE.Not once. Two different interviews. A bit difficult to call a slip of the tongue.
Sure, it’s his opinion. Maybe Pakistanis want to defend it. But it cannot be denied. That reflects poorly on whoever tries to cover it up, and injects hypocricy into a discourse.
Ishita,
Have removed the comment. I missed it in the midst of all the comments.
@Ishita
Use Occam’s Razor
It is ludicrous for anyone to think that Gambhir’s comment is silly. I think it was very thoughtful of him to say that.
As far as Afridi is concerned, what can be expected from a guy who bites cricket balls?
Arnab
Afridi should be forgiven by all of us. After all he is only 17.
@head in the sand peace-nicks like Ishita, A Roy etc
[Sabalil: Ok please, let’s counteract with arguments. Let’s leave the “Islamophobe” type ad-hoc labeling for more exalted fellows.]
shallow mentality has no nationality.Indians and pakis alike.
US’s imperial attitude is also typical of a nation too self-obsessed.
…and kasab here,still on trial.
BAH!
Madame Aneela conspicuous by her absence.
Forget terrorism. Pakistanis don’t pay any income tax and therefore don’t have social schemes for their poor. Yep unlike us, no free health, no food power water subsidies, no SC ST college education, colour TVs etc. Their entire economy is black money and barter.
Their food has no export controls meaning farmers make handsome profits while shortages reign. To make up for that our Congress government sends them food, in exchange for their useless currency, which we can never redeem since they don’t produce anything of value; so in effect it is free aid to them.
They are entirely dependent on international workers and personal charity, the floods exposed this when Congress gave them a gift of $5 million. Yet they have a nuclear and space program while maintaining a higher per capita GDP and per capita much more aid. Large hearted? HA!
Very well written Dada. Love you. And yes my respect for GG has increased manifold.
Super like this one by you..!!!!
You rock!!!
imagine ashwin dedicating it to the lakhs of tamils slaughtered by srilankan army.will u feel the same or remembering victims of mumbai alone is great and others antinational whether one is gambhir or ashwin or arrehman(after oscar)they should remember only mumbai.
Not sure if this is the complete interview but there is no mention of religion. If this is the complete interview, then Afridi is correct. The media doesnt miss a single chance to sensationalize by feeding on the insecurities and ego filled sentiments of the masses.
All right, just saw this video now.
The lady is Asma Shirazi , ex-Geo TV presenter. She once interviewed Bal Thackrey as well.
As Pranab pointed out, Afridi is part of a system where Hindu is synonymous with India and Pakistan with Muslim. What Afridi forgets is that not only are there Muslims in Indian cricket team but eve a Pathan in the Indian cricket team.
As Paranab said
“But again my point is it’s not Afridi’s fault. He and every other sportsman are products of their times and the larger context of which they are but a part. So let us not be “silly” trying to separate politics from sports because they are intrinsically linked.”
Last of all Afridi has lost a game so he is now trying to find scapegoats to blame the defeat on.
@ganapathy
That was different. there were victims on both sides. Both sides had aggressors and victims. So selectively remembering the victims of one side would have been wrong. Hope you remember who killed India’s former PM. In any case, this kind of attempted moral equivalence is pointless. Gambhir has done the right thing. If only our corrupt PM thought this before extending a hand shake with people who have the blood of innocent civilians in their hands.
Junaid, my name is not Pranab.
gb – thanks for saying what most of us wanted to say.
have you had a chance to catch afridi’s redemption tour ndtv video (linked here – http://ht.ly/1c2rMr )
the video is misleadingly labeled – ” i like india and its people, was misquoted ” – shahid afridi
if anyone was misquoted, it was gambhir by afridi in the video above. afridi tried to draw parity with his racist remarks by claiming that gambhir dedicated the mohali victory as revenge for 26/11.
goes to show how sincere afridi was in his apology. while i can not say as to why afiridi felt the need to apologize [ ipl, bollywood roles or political asylum ] but in light of his gambhir comment, i do know that shahid afridi is an insidious and untrustworthy fellow, who is best kept at distance.
ps – proud to call myself a gambhhir fan.
ps2 – how great would it be if our team pools 1/4th of the monies received as gifts from respective states and creates scholarships for children of jawans lost on 26/11 and kargil. with at least one scholarship named for late capt. sandeep unnikrishnan.
0
“i like india and its people, was misquoted” http://ht.ly/1c2rMr
oops – please erase the last line in my previous comment and disregard this one.
Shahid tampered the pitch, chewed the ball, attacked a spectator…It does take a Big Heart Arnab!
Can you name another Country where you can do all this, then joke about it on the National TV when asked which tampering is his personal favorite by Ramiz Raja (Tampering the Pitch, Ball or the Spectator….in the very words of Ramiz)
and still expect to lead the National side??
Pakistan is truly unique and deserves a leader like Afridi.
@ Ganpathy
26/11 was not a religious or ethnic event in India. Pakistani sponsored terrorists murdered hindus and muslims on the day. They murdered the 2 children of the General Manager of Taj (Mr Karambir Kang). The Pak army controllers specifically asked them to murder the kafirs including women and children. Don’t.ever.forget.that.
We do not have to be apologetic about remembering the victims. I can understand Pak wanting to forget it quickly. They first denied Kasab was a paki, then they said both countries have terrorism – so please to understand only. Nice try – but won’t fly folks. Even now they come up with ludicrous excuses not to convict Lakhvi.
R Ashwin does not have a locus standii to comment on srilankans murdering other srilankans. GG can comment on pakistanis murdering his countryfolks.
ganpathy – think hard and think deep, there is a serious flaw in your analogy.
when you figure it out, feel free to apologize or even hide face for at least one whole day or comment using an alternate handle.
Amen!!!!!!!!!!To be clear headed enough when you are very angry, to think and express your opinion precisely is a gift. You have it. I have been fuming since yesterday until I read your post. Now that I have read it I can say, “Exactly” and it feels a little better.
Afridi retracted his statement this morning saying he was quoted out of context. But I give you no marks for predicting that one. What makes it disgusting is that the current crop do not even have strentgh of conviction in their opinion. Atleast with a Miandad or an Imran, you knew where you stood. Inspite of the being called silly and the supposed reaction by Pakistan to his statement, Gauti has retracted nothing. Difference between conviction based on being right and opinions formed based on mass hysteria.
I think the solution is to include them in the next IPL. Seriously, with no money involved, if this is the strentgh of thier conviction, imagine how nice they would be if money was involved.
@Comment directed at this post and previous …
In my opinion this limited overs triumph is only the 4th best by India. 1983 , T20 and 85 benson and hedges rank higher.
I was not interested in the tournament at all. Was sleeping during the Indian innings of the Indo pak match. Woke up with the thought that if Pakis were to win , some 15 pakistanis would be guests of honour of India in Mumbai and even the thought of crotch thrusting Afridi with the cup in Mumbai was too much to bear. Supported India like crazy for the match since then. Finals was pretty inconsequential after that.
Afridi’s comments are well expected. I was expecting a greater conspiracy theory to emerge and I believe the one about Indian software geeks from Bangalore tampering with hawkeye to give Ajmal’s ball the appearance of missing the stumps during Sachin’s LBW appeal , is the ultimate.
Any links to any similar stories from Bangladesh are more than welcome. I still love the youtube video on Nobojyot Singh Sheedhu !!!
I see that you need to be at home more often.
But then again almost all NRIs have a misplaced sense of patriotism and doing “good” for their country.
Poor Paki…sore loser. They would never grow up. The wave of fanaticism & hatred that they created will engulf them finally….already in the process. And all the ‘liberal’ Indians who were going weak in their knees after listening to Afridi at Mohali…will keep quiet for sometime…& then will be back to their old ways.
jack daniels…ROTFL
1. “Nothing wrong in either case, since players are nothing but the product of their times. Like all artists” and “Similarly to expect a sportsman to remove any historical context from his performances would be an exercise in futility.”
2. “What though never ceases to shock me is how this same Muslims=Pakistan equation is made by so-called Indian “liberals””
Cpl of good threads of thought there, GB!
I think there exists a predominant and perhaps fatalistic idea that India must not indulge Pakistan’s malignant narcissm and the deathwish their hah…. “nation” was born with. If the above ain’t palatable they think of it as not offering a chance to unify Pakistan by humiliating their Army or Allah. Also, cornering an immature “nation” who’s primal instinct is denial and refusal to accept responsibility for their actions might yield unforseen results….. or so the thinking goes.
I have heard about this line of thinking from some people who were part of the establishment. While this is understandable, the complementary angle to this thinking (i.e. Indian Muslims must be kept “contained” with sops and mollycoddling and trade-offs with remaining Mullahs and major interests) is somewhat unpalatable to me. The overriding fear, strong in the older khiladis ‘specially, is a repeat of the direct action-partition horrors on a larger scale. Knickerwaalah theories of “an enemy nation in the belly of the Motherland” is just the evil twin of this line of thought.
Maybe this explains why people from the woodwork like Mr Sood and Mr Raman (see the latest “spirit of Mohali”?) are making such comments. I understand it…. but I don’t like it.
Just my 2 paisas.
PS: What the F**K does the psychotic, sociopathic, putrefying, late unlamented LTTE got to do with this?
This adds up to one thing………they are jealous,only thing consoling them was that india and pakistan have won 1 wc each…………now that we have two…………they r unable to digest it
also blaming everything on india is their default answer….so the thing afridi says is nothing new
@arnie,septic-ali when it comes to victims and dedication who is to decide what is right or wrong.what about dedicating for the victims of tsunami in japan.will it be applauded the same.i never knew that the innocent unarmed srilankan tamil population where aggressors.for ur info muthiah muralidharan is married to a tamilian girl from chennai and i have no relatives who r gambhirs or maharashtrians.according to you gautam gambhir will bequeath all his property on fellow indians if his children settle abroad and become us/uk citizens.am i right.great to know that
what if a haryana dalit dedicates it to the poor dalits being murdered for skinning dead cows in jhajjar after being pulled out of police station.oh sorry these atrocities have to be forgotten or ignored as they where done by fellow indians.
how about ehsan jaffri relative being part of any squash team dedicating his victory to the victims of gujarat massacre. will it be applauded.WTF does this dedication mean to the real victims.its just to get the marketing pie in which he has lagged behind and has been brilliantly advised by marketing managers.
Shahid “Bhai” – obviously wants to join politics. Why else would he be preaching to the choir (the choir being the Pak aam junta).
It is indeed sad that such irrationality is not just the forte of the Pak politicians – it’s very much a common sentiment in Pak.
Aman and Asha just committed suicide. Mr. Singh hope you are taking notice.
“By remembering 26/11, a personal tragedy to many of us, you have only risen in our esteem.”
Touche’ “Paranab.” The little bad-ass pup with the vicious bite gets a carton full of brownies from me.
@Junaid: “What Afridi forgets is that not only are there Muslims in Indian cricket team but eve a Pathan in the Indian cricket team.”
Yeah, no shit. Seen that movie before.
“The media doesnt miss a single chance to sensationalize by feeding on the insecurities and ego filled sentiments of the masses.”
Seriously, if Afridi doesn’t have the alacrity or the spine to talk to the annoying media, let someone else do the talking. This is bullshit! Dhoni, Sehwag, Sachin, etc. have faced the brunt of the same media and dealt with them without throwing a hissy fit. Here’s an example:
OZ Reporter: But you don’t smell the ball with your teeth?
Lala: I don’t want to talk negative things.
Fabulous! You cheated and that’s why the negativity, Einstein.
“Last of all Afridi has lost a game so he is now trying to find scapegoats to blame the defeat on.”
NO HE ISN’T, especially since the backlash for this defeat hasn’t even been remotely close to what Akram described in the aftermath of the 1996 loss. People in Pak have almost unanimously declared this as a major accomplishment (haar kar bhi jeet hui hai), despite the loss to India and are fawning over Lala.
The reality is the indoctrinated hate for Hindu-India that keeps surfacing in such individuals, despite the cursory acknowledgment of similarities. He isn’t the first person to do so, just so you know. BTW, if truly 99.99% of Pakistanis are against terrorism, why should they have issues with dedicating a triumph to victims of a heinous act like that? THAT harmless dedication incited the ball-chewing dolt to make his “Hum Bade Dilwale” statement? How fresh!!! It isn’t like Gambhir made his dedication after the SF win, which still wouldn’t make it wrong, and he hasn’t blamed Lala or any Pakistani for it?
Pretty, please…try harder.
Completely agree with this post..
On a cricketing note, this was actually frustration.. Indians have larger wallets but smaller hearts.. Why can’t he take part in IPL ? Ajit Agarkar, Balaji, Ravindra Jadeja all do and get more money than he’ll make.
Well Afridi, enjoy the IPL !! Make more foolish statements.. Our media’s just waiting to give you free airtime..
@Ganapathy: Seeing how you’re being ignored, I gather you’re the resident village-idiot here?
LTTE, Japan tsunami, Mutthiah Muralidharan, etc. etc….LOL!
Yeah, sure…dedicate your life’s accomplishments to LTTE, Prabhakaran, Kuppusamy, Mayilsaamy, etc., if you so choose. Just stick to one frequency when you blabber. You’re all over the spectrum.
Lastly…”how about ehsan jaffri relative being part of any squash team dedicating his victory to the victims of gujarat massacre. will it be applauded”
I sure will. If Zaheer or Munaf had dedicated their contribution to the victims of the Gujarat riots, I’d have applauded them too. Honest.
Bade dil wala Afradi http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zd3K03CW7Rk (Tees Maar khan, Youtube)
thankyou anand for ur honesty and honest opinions about me and support for munaf patels failed dedication.curious on how great bong would have responded to yusuf pathan dedicating it to the victims of gujarat massacres or sehwag and nehra dedicating it to the struggles of the jats and their martyrs fighting trains and their tracks for the past 1 month.
@Ganapathy:
“how great bong would have responded to yusuf pathan dedicating it to the victims of gujarat massacres or sehwag and nehra dedicating it to the struggles of the jats and their martyrs fighting trains and their tracks for the past 1 month.”
This will be my last response to you, since you lack coherence or comprehension skills.
GROW A BRAIN!
The End.
Now go back to being the village-idiot.
He was misquoted by his own media. Sad.
Great article. Afridi ne apna fitrat dikha diya. I was surprised to see afridi speech during presentation ceremony. Glad that his true colors have come out now. He was never a good sportsman and always been a poor loser. Biting the ball, cheating about his age, announcing retirement and coming back – He does not have an iota of integrity.
Whole Nation including me are deeply hurt by what happened during 26/11. My blood boiled when I read that a jewish Pregnant lady was tortured for hours and her genitals were smashed. Hindus were selectively targeted and butchered. Gambhir as an Indian was hurt too and dedicated the victory to the victims. Salute to Gambhir for not forgetting the 26/11. To call this humanitarian gesture as silly and political is not only insensitive and inhuman but indirectly supporting terrorists.
Gautam Gambhir has won us two World Cups now…he was the only player who played in WC 20/20 final against pak and the one guy who stood up in this fimal…he is the one common link in all recent indian victories…superb, a giant, an inspiration
Great post again GB! Shahid Afridi has had a career of very high double standards. The ball chewer, pitch dancer got a lot of accolades from the Indian media and except the sensationalism that some new channels thrive on, he was very well received in India. That he had few good words to say about India were a result of the hospitality he received here.
I was proud to see Gautam Gambhir remember the martyrs on a day of high euphoria. What he said was that he was happy to be part of team which brought happiness to the heroes who are ready to lay down their lives for the country.. Speaks volumes about the man!
@ganpathy – If a player actually dedicated the win to the tsunami victims in Japan, it would have meant just that – a display of humanity. And no, just because Gautam Gambhir dedicated the win to the jawans does not mean he is obliged to give money to anyone. And he definitely owes no apologies to anyone. When you are playing for the country in such a big arena, the emotions that run through your mind and heart are very different. The emotions are for the people of the land who despite the pain they go through, come out each and every time and support you. The people see their own victory in the victory of the 11 men on the field. And if in Mumbai, after winning the world cup, in that glorious moment, a player remembered the pain the wonderful city of Mumbai went through, I only feel proud of the man! May there be 11 such Gambhirs in our team!
@Arnab.
I guess GB is more easy for me. Will stick to that. Great post once again.
At the end of the day, I would say lets wait till Afridi gets another offer from IPL. I would like to see if he rejects it or accepts it.
Nice read…however did you see this guy’s reply to Afridi’s rant? http://www.maati.tv/beta/to-india-with-love/
Arnab,
Here is another of our “Afridirals”, Mr. Vinod Mehta, editor of the Outlook magazine. This is what he has to say for the Indo-Pak match and India’s win:
“Am I for cricket diplomacy or against cricket diplomacy? How can any sane person be against it in the Mohali context?”
And this:
“That (if India loses) would not be a bad result either. Currently, Pakistan is bleeding, admittedly from self-inflicted wounds; it is a failed state. A victory over its old adversary would be a tonic for a nation down in the dumps. It would bind the country together, help lift its present sense of low self-esteem.”
And finally the gem!!
“On the other hand, we don’t need a World Cup triumph as much as they do. For us it would be the icing on the cake. For them it would be the cake itself which is in acute short supply.”
I am speechless!!
Here is the link to the article titled “Win Win Situation”: http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?271138
Gambir rose in my esteem when he dedicated the win to the 26/11 victims.
Infact the whole team should have done so, especially because the win was in Mumbai. It was very thoughtful of Gambhir as we, Indians have a habit of forgetting history.
Sorry, i hot the Submiit button before entering my name…
Arnab,
Here is another of our “Afridirals”, Mr. Vinod Mehta, editor of the Outlook magazine. This is what he has to say for the Indo-Pak match and India’s win:
“Am I for cricket diplomacy or against cricket diplomacy? How can any sane person be against it in the Mohali context?”
And this:
“That (if India loses) would not be a bad result either. Currently, Pakistan is bleeding, admittedly from self-inflicted wounds; it is a failed state. A victory over its old adversary would be a tonic for a nation down in the dumps. It would bind the country together, help lift its present sense of low self-esteem.”
And finally the gem!!
“On the other hand, we don’t need a World Cup triumph as much as they do. For us it would be the icing on the cake. For them it would be the cake itself which is in acute short supply.”
I am speechless!!
Here is the link to the article titled “Win Win Situation”: http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?271138
You hit the nail on the head – so tired of these “liberal” media creeps.Kudos to Gauti for not having forgotten the victims and heroes of the 26/11.
they might be hopeless cases but then we are eternal optimists .. better to hope for best and do things rather than doing nothing expecting negativity
Just to add some more context to Gambhir’s statement, even Sachin Tendulkar had dedicated his 100 and India’s win in the Chennai Test Match against England in 2008, which happened just after 26/11, to the people who lost their lives in the attack.
I think Gambhir never said anything against Pak…he only had dedicated the worldcup win to the 26/11 victims …he never said something like ‘it’s a fitting reply to Pak’s involvement in 26/11’…it’s Afridi who assumed that Gambhir made a statement against Pak…i wonder why!! why did afridi think Gambhir is talking up anti pakistani sentiments if he was sure that pakistan was never associated with 26/11….is it the case of “A guilty conscience needs no accuser”???!
Pak teaches their kids that they beat India in ’71? Is it true?
@ GB,
You don’t have to be so mouse-like about being an Islamophobe.
Everyone who can read between the lines, can sense, from your recent writings, what your real feelings are towards Muslims and Islam. There is no point trying to hide those feelings by trying to prove that you don’t believe in the “Muslims=Pakistan equation”.
As one of your chamchas said (I am paraphrasing him here): if you have to be a bastard, you might as well be an honest one!
@Saugata
Dude, its all rant and no logic. GB at least has explained his position. And all you have done is accuse him. At least try to explain why, what and when before you accuse someone!
Try this for a change: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WpilhTX6vc0 😀
This is not about what we think they think.
Indians of all political shades have this obsession of looking and judging Pakistan and their people’s thought process through the Hindu mindset.
The questions that need to be asked is-
1. What was the reason Pakistan was created?
2. Would Pakistan exist if there were no Muslims in the subcontinent?
3. Does Islam have a role in the the way people of Pakistan think about India (a Hindu majority Dar-ulf-Kufr)? Does Islam have a role in the way people of Pakistan look at their own non-Muslim population?
4. Does Islam have a role in the way many Muslims who live in India think about Pakistan?
World cup, no world cup….Mohali , no Mohali, Yusuf Pathan, no Yusuf Pathan….the crux of the debate lies in a better understanding of the answers to the questions above.
Btw, for the guy who wrote the Pathan comment, most “Pathans” who live in Northern India, are NOT actually migrant Muslims from the Frontier Agencies of Af-Pak, but children of converted Hindu Rajputs, who took the “martial” names of their conquerors once they accepted serfdom and conversion during the Sultanate period.
@Saugata: I assume you consider yourself not to be an Islamophobe. So let me ask you this, what does one have to do to be not considered an Islamophobe.
1. Ignore the fact that Pakistan continues to protect and shelter the perpetrators of 26/11, having completely ignored India’s cry for justice?
2.Ignore facts like the LeT continues to openly hold gatherings in Pakistan inspite of being “officially banned”?
3. Ignore the fact that there is no public forum protests from progressive muslims in opposition to radical islam?
4. Ignore it when a leading pak cricketer publicly proclaims that pak represents all muslim cricket fans of the world?
4. Ignore everything so as to not appear right wing?
@Saugata
Reading between your lines, I conclude that you are an anti-Semite, racist and misogynist. I’ll offer the same amount of justification for my statement as you did for yours i.e. zero.
Is this:
“Just as had been Pakistani sporting greats, who now come as special guests on Indian shows, who in politically less correct previous decades”
Because of this??
http://www.mid-day.com/entertainment/2010/mar/250310-Wasim-Akram-Sushmita-Sen-cricketer-actress-couple.htm
Amit, All i can say is no.
The great gigantic dilwala who likes munching cricket balls is also entitled to an opinion (which is redundant)… We’ve already done his cardiac surgery @ Mohali 😛
How does Saugata equates criticism of Pakistan to be the same as an Islamophobe is beyond comprehension. At best, he might just be playing prank.
@Saugata,
Continuing in the fashion of reading between the lines, I conclude you are anti-Bengali, anti-single women or by that extension just a misogynist , anti-wordpress, anti-Jadavpur alumnis, anti-Prabhuji,….
nice one @ D
GB: “You cannot blame the Pakistanis for that—-they have and are systematically removing their non-Muslim minorities”.
.
For those readers, who are genuinely interested in knowing about the tragic plight of Pakistani Hindus, I would recommend the online newspaper (updated daily), especially the archives of: Pakistan Hindu Post
.
@ Saugata
I look forward to your response…hope we can work together on this.
I definitely agree with the idea that Pakistanis are extremely disingenuous when they casually assume the support of Indian Muslims, and drop statements where they boldly equate Islam and Pakistan. What irritates me is that why don’t Indian Muslims repudiate such comments more often?
As for Gambhir’s comments, he dedicated the WC win and not the semifinal win to the 26/11 victims, so the Pakistani angle is not obvious here. Even if it was, it does not merit such a statement from Afridi.
On a complete tangent, my esteem for Gambhir will rise further still, if he can lead KKR to the semi-finals of this year’s premier tamasha
on a totally unrelated note-I don’t know if you saw this blasphemous piece. Its on rediff-but references an author who has not such nice things to say about Mithun Da
http://www.rediff.com/movies/slide-show/slide-show-1-extract-from-disco-dancer/20110405.htm
@ Saugata
“There is no point trying to hide those feelings by trying to prove that you (Greatbong) don’t believe in the “Muslims=Pakistan equation”.
You are very right Saugata.
The country of Pakistan is a country of the Muslims, by the Muslims, for Muslims- those children of the Hindus of the Indian subcontinent who were converted to Islam, by hook or by crook, over different periods over the past 1300 years. And now “Allah” has given them such a big heart that after they have removed the Hindus from their “pure” land, they are now removing the lesser Muslims too…those Ahmediyyas, Shias (or is it Sunnis), the Barelvis and what not.
Who the hell is Greatbong, a Kafir Malaoon small hearted Hindu, to question that?
I keep trying to explain that to him, but he, like so many other Indians just doesnt get it.
Instead, Greatbong like many Indians, insists on devising elaborate machinations and contortions to critisize Pakistan without finding culpability in Islam. Its like riding his single pedalled unicycle while trying to drink a Jello shot off his other knee.
We Saugata, you and me, have the difficult tast of exposing these politically correct people.
We Saugata, you and me, should expose all those who critisize Pakistan, as the true Islamophobes, that they are. And Arundhati Roy and likeminded people should be able to help us to do that.
We should also be able to say, that it is OKAY to dislike Islam, and help people who are Muslims, gather the courage to say that they dislike it too.
Why the surprise that a Pakistani Muslim has a negative stereotype of Indians and Hindus? Of course they have a negative stereotype of us – otherwise why would they have chosen to separate! We may think their stereotype is unfounded but if they really thought there was nothing wrong with Indians/Hindus then the only explanation of history is pure insanity.
Also, I’m surprised at the assumption that a professional has to love the place they work in. If an Indian IT worker goes for a project in Japan, is it so terrible for them to come back and say that the Japanese don’t have big hearts? I have heard worse criticisms from Indians about the country they permanently live in. Afridi is a professional cricketer from a country that has a low opinion of Indians and he shares those views. Who cares! If I went to work for a few days in Pakistan, should I never be allowed to criticize that country?
As far as the media, they will put whatever spin that helps them get advertisers or viewers whether it is ‘pro-peace’ or ‘pro-war’.
Excellent piece Mr. Arnab. You have summarized it all so beautifully. Almost as compelling as a lawyer’s testimony. Thanks!
Honestly speaking, I was never really awed by Afridi’s comment on India being the better team during the presentation ceremony, well India WERE better than Pak, so he never really did us a favor when he said that, even then Afridi said “Sachin was lucky” – really? And so were Zaheer/Yuvi/Nehra/Munaf/Bhajji who took two wickets each that day and rattled the Pak batsmen? Wow, luck must have been RAINING on us that day eh?! Bloody hell, we would have won against Pak even if we had scored only 200 that day – so, this was all to say that Afridi’s comments were never really AS impressive or wow-ing to begin with. Although I do agree with his comments about our media and also okay with him saying that we don’t have “BIG HEARTS” like them (in fact, I am glad we don’t , I’d rather have a small heart that mourns a 26/11 and take pleasure in the gesture of Gautam Gambhir to dedicate the win to the victims of that brutal attack than have a heart so large that it can so very kindly ignore the “silly” memory of the real horror that unfolded in front of our eyes…..) , what didn’t sit with me is his bringing up of religion amidst all this – what has religion to do with any of this? But then again, may be my small heart would never understand….
Couldn’t access your blog yesterday gb…but thumbs up for this post! and to all the bade dilwaleins- huh!
Hatred is a very powerfull emotion. It’s like an “Edmond Dantes Potion” that keeps you going even when your situation is near hopeless. There is very little goin right for the Pakistani population.
This feeling of hatred helps them cloud the reality that they want to refuse even exists ….. instread they direct this unfair and completely senseless hatred towards us.
Honestly guys..we are beyond the age of innocence. GB mentioned not worrying about the team’s performance and keeping track anymore..and then this victory bringing out the innocent kid in him after so many years..thats who this victory is for..inncoecnt kids and adults who are kidding themselves.
5 catches dropped in the semis, awfully ignorant batting by Misbah, sri lanka bowling fast cutters rather than spin.. and over the few years since Dalmiya and dada and other non -kangressi, non corporate folks have been weeded out, everything has happened to increase the brand equity of particularly MI and CSK and generally Dhoni, SRT and the sidekicks and cricket in India. The world cup is another stage where the same act has been played out and more perfectly so what with the ICC begging to be rechristened the Indian Cricket Council.
Cricket has gotten back its strength as the biggest aphrodisiac and land banks and cash chests are being thrown around like so many nickels and dimes.
Its tragic how dumb we have gotten to be but it feels oh so good to bask in this false sense of pride and egocentric bashfulness. This part of us Indians is certainly demeaning for mankind and prevents us from amounting to anything significant inspite of so much toil and blood.
hmmm…way to come back from the last few ones…well thought out, deeply felt article…salut! you speak sense and that is what often scares people who do not want to upset the status quo by stating the obvious
Its not just their hearts which are bigger.
After the a$$ F***ing the Pakistanis have received repeatedly from us, their a$$holes have also grown bigger.
Allah in his all-knowing mercy, may have given the Pakistanis “bigger hearts”,but he has also deemed it fit-in his infinite wisdom-to give them thicker hides and bigger mouths.
But I cannot help wonder whether Allah has granted Indians-at least those ‘mai-baaps’ who decide on the fate of us lesser mortals-thicker heads,as evidenced by Mr.Sood’s dismissal of Gambir’s dedication of his innings to the victims of 26/11 as “silly”.
@ Ganpathy
I find it strange that you find GGs dedication to 26/11 victims to be a marketing ploy but you would have appluaded if he had dedicated it to Japanese victims?? Why exactly? wouldn’t it be rank hypocrisy?
GG, SRT and Harbhajan actually visited soldiers guarding the Indo-Pak border a few months back (another marketing ploy perhaps). Pity we don’t hear much about these. Even today – I wonder how much media time GG has got with his ‘brilliant marketing ploy’. Finally your plea about ‘who is to decide who is right and wrong’ is also funny. Obviously the person making the dedication decides!! In the 2000 Olympics in Sydney Cathy Freeman paraded with her aborigenal flag after winning gold – so what is the problem here? Possibly Munaf / Yusuf did not dedicate their victory to the riot affectees in gujarat (both hindus and muslims) because it was a riot which began with godhra and not a premeditated mass murder.
Regarding ‘innocent tamil population being slaughtered’, I’m afraid the LTTE carried out quite few slaughterings on their own – so collateral damage and all that.
@ the doctor,
possibly RNIs (Resident Non Indians) need to travel abroad ocassionally to see how other nations remember their victims? 🙂
I think I am a liberal, but I do not get what we get by cozying up to Pakistani politicians. Let their team play in India, but why the bonhomie with their politicians. It is as if Indian prime ministers derive their identity from their relationship with Pakistan. It is bizarre.
Is it really beyond a doubt for Pakistanis that 26/11 has its roots in Pakistan (your point # 1)? It appears to me that the govt. will fall in Pak if they acted against their own people (your # 3) because the people genuinely don’t feel responsible for 26/11. Reasons can be many- they are misguided, delusional, in denial etc. Though Gambhir’s comments brought a smile to my face I wonder if he is making matters worse, *given* that Pakistanis feel wrongly implicated for the crime. He makes a point as he feels a surge of emotion (so do I) but is such a comment helping? If not then we should spend our energies on things that will because between the two countries we have more to loose from this conflict.
GB,
To be fair to the author of the ‘massively forwarded article’ you refer to in your post, he has come up with another post after Afridi’s comments – asking him to apologise to Indians (See here: http://www.maati.tv/beta/to-india-with-love/).
Yes, the ‘bad luck’ part is funny …but I thought it was a very fair post otherwise …and the follow up indicates that hypocricy is not a trait he shares with Afridi.
Correct link here: http://www.maati.tv/beta/to-india-with-love/
@Siddharth
I wonder if he is making matters worse, *given* that Pakistanis feel wrongly implicated for the crime.
They may feel wrongly implicated for the crime, but how does that matter? The indisputable fact is that our good neighbours to are up to their necks in it; it’s absurd that we’re supposed to be bothered about how they’ll feel about us mentioning that fact. Why are we not for a change asking them to think about how we feel about the Kasabs peppering our people with bullets? Oh no, that is a thought that never crosses the Aman Asha type naive peace-at-all-costs peddlers.
And in this case, GG didn’t even blame Pak. He only dedicated his win to the 26/11 victims. He dedicated a victory he earned with his hard work, to the victims of a tragedy close to his heart. If that is enough to offend our neighbours, it speaks volumes of the insensitivity and hatred they have in their massively large hearts towards us.
Always mindful not to hurt the khnati secular sensibilities of Bengali bhadra-folk, ABP purges all mention of Al Mighty’s cardiac largesse for ‘minorities’:
http://www.anandabazar.com/archive/1110405/5khela4.htm
@ganapathy: For once i agree with you 🙂
I found myself hoping Ashwin would play in the finals; and play a major part in demolishing the Lankan batting. I know its only a game, but I couldnt help feel its a small revenge on the genocide of Tamils by the Sinhalese
I think Gambhir was right in what he said; as would Ashwin be if he had played the final and made that comment
Though I too grieve over 26/11, but why always we refer to 26/11 and why not the Laalkila attach, parliament attack, Kashmir turbulence and other incidents where we have inumerable proofs against pakistan? Why we point to Hafeez where as Dawood and LET, JEM founders are still there?
OK, if just we want to raise a iconic or most recent incident, then I agree with referring to 26/11 always but it will be injustice to rest of the victims.
Dear Greatbong,
Most of the time your posts are spot on. However, this time I think there is at least one factual error. Having watched the TV interview by Afridi, there is no point at which he says that Muslims/Pakistanis have bigger hearts than Indians. All he says is “unka dil hamare dil ke jaisa nahi” which in no dialect of Hindi or Urdu means “their hearts are smaller than ours”. It means “their heart/mind is different from ours”, which is a perfectly valid point and not offensive (as far as I can see). If I don’t have the correct video link kindly do point it out to me.
Hari
Gambhir’s 26/11 reference is quite natural. The players stayed at the Taj – it was the first time they stayed there after the event. Is it any surprise that the event comes to mind? In fact, Gambhir mentioned as much when he made that statement.
Guys and girls, simply can’t understand the need for such ongoing rants on comments made by Shahid ‘main toh chhota sa pyara sa nanha sa bacchha hoon’ Afridi. Friends, pls don’t spoil the WC euphoria for yourselves. As for me I am elated with the comments, because this proves that the Cosmic balance has been restored!! All the ‘Afridi is such a good matured person’ feelings after Mohali were just too much!! Thank you God, now I can go back to my 7th heaven WC ecatasy knowing that All Izz Well with the Pak douchebag. 🙂 🙂
@Andy
“Why the surprise that a Pakistani Muslim has a negative stereotype of Indians and Hindus? Of course they have a negative stereotype of us – otherwise why would they have chosen to separate! We may think their stereotype is unfounded but if they really thought there was nothing wrong with Indians/Hindus then the only explanation of history is pure insanity.”
The Muslim majority provinces which voted for a united India make up most of the present day Pakistan. In my own province, KP, the gov of Dr Khan supported a united India, Balochistan supported a united India and so did Sindh. It was only Bangladesh and Punjab which supported Pakistan.
The bulk of support for Pakistan came from provinces where Muslims were in minority and feared a Hindu backlash. Whether the fear was true or not does not matter.
The fact is that it was this fear which caused the partition. And that fear came from provinces which make up present day India. The issue was never in the provinces of India which make up Pakistan today.
You may want to revisit the history of Indian partition.
i consider pakistanis have large hearts by afridi and gambhirs dedication as the same and done for increasing their marketing value as guided by their marketing geniuses(we can also remember the incident of sachin as captain forcing the entire indian team sorry bcci team to wear black arm bands to mourn the death of mascerhans).
its funny to see a liberal who doesnt mind a babri over RJM get orgasm on gambhirs dedication of his life sorry victory sorry cup for the victims of 26/11.a not so great bong amartya sen was criticized for setting up a trust to help both bangladeshis and indian bengalis after his nobel but terming silly of a useless dedication which is not worth a penny makes us deserve being butchered.
there r thousands of 26/11 (or is it special becos it involved inhabitants of taj)from guwahati to dantewada to pattan to keezhvenmanis(42 dalits where roasted alive for asking more wages),jhajjars and dedication to these are antinational but making pakistan and muslims the only enemy is the most nationalist act. for internet hindus real or pseudo, kashmiri pandit is the one and only victim and pakistan@muslims the only sinner.either u r with them or against them
Ganapathy….please take your Mao-ist rants elsewhere.
We are not exactly appreciative of future Pol Pot s
@Chiron
Allow me to clarify my point.
Imagine a clinically insane man who takes a dump in your backyard because he thinks it is his toilet. No amount of yelling will make him feel guilty, in fact it can make his condition worse because he thinks he has done no wrong. We as a nation cannot be held back by this conflict any longer, while our neighbor has nothing better to do.
I have no concern for how they *feel*. I only wish to solve the Pakistan problem for good. Trying to humiliate them (quite rightly so) is not going to make them change because they are blind to their own deeds. We need to set aside emotions and put our minds on the task, quite like a doctors treats a mental patient. Maybe through sheer political/economic dominance, luck or some clever ploy we can get there but engaging them in an emotional battle of words doesn’t seem like a step forward to me but one back.
extremely cynical article..to the extent of being fanatic…
why is it not possible that what Afridi said to Ravi Shastri in post match conversation were his true feelings since it was minutes after a high tension match in which most of the people would not have brain or IQ or whatever to call it,to fully concentrate on strategies one minute to save the match and cook up some statement other minute on a topic that involves deep dissapointment to them over losing to India.
Real feelings of being thankful to their fans to support them throughout this journey,where everyone expected them to crash out in league matches itself,were being reflected in the statement..and that of the good and gracious cricket that was played between the two arch rivals..were reflected in the statement..
As for Afridi’s turning back on his statement, everyone knows the political atmosphere prevalent in Pakistan and what happened to pro-liberal minister taseer for making a mere statement..so why is it not possible that he was threatened to make such a U-Turn on his statement with anything including his life being on the stake..
Afridi’s and pakistani team’s “dark heart”(as projected by a really demented mind) was quite evident throughout the match with the way players of both teams were reacting to each other and the way Afridi reacted to Sachin over all his dropped catches with a smile or at max a you-lucky-SOB expression or the way he reacted when he finally caught him..He was just happy to have got him out..a pure expression of exhilaration during a sport..and no hard feelings against Sachin (Hope you dont say that no one can have hard feelings against “The Sachin”..blah blah blah to divert the topic )..
But still its democracy and everyone is free to express their opinions..
@ Jaguar
Wow never knew that the atmosphere was so vitiated in pakistan that you are considered a ‘liberal’ merely if you praise non-muslims. Forget Taseer who was wajib-ul-qatl for ‘defending a blasphemer’!
Guys i am not surprised by afridi’s comments.I feel his statements were made because of the situation prevailing in his country.Though not for a moment i would say he is a sport or magnanimus enough to accept defeat.I can only pity the beleaguered pakistanis.Let’s leave it at that.If they win its an unspoken acknowledgement of jihad.If they lose its a conspiracy.Also they can hide behind the word ‘Talent’ as if only they possess it.By harping on talent they can match fix,field like school boys and blame eveything on India.If only talented amir had played..if only insanely talented asif had played,if only akhtar had played,if only talented pakistanis had played in IPL…and so on..Man this stuff suits indians whio light candles on wagah border.Especially the punjabis of the independence generation.A tamasha conceived and celeberated by this group along their state border is considered an exercise in patriotism and nation building.Ten thousand blistering burnacles! Arti …vindod mehta is one illustrious member of that group.He beams with pride about his pakistani associations and acquaintances that indians like me could not fathom.I would like to know his views on china,sri lanka or bangladesh.I think that would not matter since for him everything starts and ends with pakistan
Coming to cricket
Can we expect a change in sachin’s batting ? Will he bat like he did when he opened for the first time in 1994 ?
I think the test series between india and england is going to be more intersting than the one bewteen india and aus
@Junaid
This is not the correct thread to discuss the history of partition, but I could not resist responding to your comment. GB, please delete my comment if you find it inappropriate.
The Muslim League won 425 out 496 seats reserved for Muslims in Constituent Assembly elections of 1946, only on the plank of Pakistan. So while it is true that Pakistan was conceptualized in United Provinces, there was not much resistance to this idea from the regions of present day Pakistan.
IMHO the fear of “Hindu backlash” was unfounded or not does matter to this discussion.
@Jayant
“So while it is true that Pakistan was conceptualized in United Provinces, there was not much resistance to this idea from the regions of present day Pakistan.”
Just want to say that in NWFP, they voted for the partition only after the frontier Gandhi’s party decided to boycott the referendum. Until then, there was hardly any fervour for the partition. Of course, that didn’t stop the warriors of the religion-of-peace from annihilating hindus and sikhs in peshawar, manshera, haripur etc.
@Jayant
As suggested, go through the history of partition again. You have selectively quoted a particular event while ignoring others.
As mentioned by Sabalil, Muslim League only won after the Congress ally in NWFP boycotted the elections.
Read up on Dr Khan the frontier Gandhi, GM Syed and other leading figures who were opposed to the partition.
Folks, let us all learn to recognize a troll the moment we see one & then, sidestep him/her. The reference is, of course, to a gentleman who unfortunately, goes by the name Ganapathy.
I will make a hypothesis here. Ganapathy is a typical frustrated Commie/Maoist non-achiever who gets his daily high by visiting blogs of people he loves to hate and trolling there; he probably gets a kick out of watching the debate/discussion derail due to his trolling. I’ve come up with this hypothesis based on the range of topics he considers worthy of discussion(Dantewada, Haryana Dalits(), Lankan Tamils) and those, His Highness considers worthy of his royal contempt(Mumbai attack victims(b’coz as he says they weren’t Tamils or his relatives and, to make matters worse, SOME of them were quite rich) & slaughter of Kashmiri Pandits). It should be easy to connect the dots after this.
All his posts reek of the special kind of impotent hatred, one sees most typically from losers who almost always have nothing else in their sorry lives from they can derive satisfaction, happiness & a sense of achievement.
Trying to reply to the ‘issues’ such trolls raise, would be a mistake – an exercise in futility. It’s impossible to convince a person who DOES NOT want to understand. Whether one wins/loses in the argument that follows is immaterial – merely entering into an argument/discussion with him is enough to help him succeed – for, a pointless, fruitless argument that derails the original discussion is PRECISELY what he set out to achieve in the first place. So, at the cost of repeating myself, I say let us learn to recognize such trolls soon enough & ignore them totally. That would actually be the most hard-hitting response to ppl like Ganapathy.
It is true that till the ’46 elections the ML was in much weaker position than INC and the Agrarian parties of Punjab in present day Pakistan.
Three things contributed to the Topsy-Turvy; the communal violence vortex of ’46, the British machinations for a rentier state in that region and finally the powerful feudal families who found that Independence (with an INC publicly espousing Land and Social Reforms) would be a reality. BTW, the rural populace of W. Punjab, NWFP & Sindh were 400% reliable vote-banks totally controlled by the local top dog; a phenomenon which dented only in the 90s.
PS: The ruler of Kalat and the tribal chieftains of Balochistan wanted to join India as well……. we would have let it happen if not for Sindh lying in the way. Also, they had to depend on Punjab and Sindh for water and food and ports/rail facility was non-existent there.
Want to add; totally agree with GreatBong about Gambhir! I wasn’t aware of his dedication of the match victory to 26/11 victims – came to know about it only after Afridi’s ungracious (yet typically Paki) comments. He had won my admiration by the way he played in the World Cup final. In fact, I was a little surpirsed when he did not get the man of the match award; but, let me add, I don’t mean Dhoni didn’t deserve it. In fact, I certainly don’t have an expert’s understanding of the game.
When I later heard of his comment regarding the Mumbai attacks, it only increased my admiration…
Arnab,
I agree that our media made a great deal of Afridi being nice and his comments on big and small hearts are actually “silly”. I had watched Gambhir say on television after the final win that he would like the WC trophy to go out to army men. I also noticed these things are being hotly debated on the Sardesai comedy shows. I read your blog post and felt the same on the GG issue, that he was right. I began to feel we were such a small lot, unable to stand up for our own countryman who had after all made an innocuous dedication of his win to the 26/11 victims. However easily amenable to misinterpretation, every individual has a right to express pain and angst at 26/11 and remember the victims emotionally. I too stand behind my countrymen and I was almost ashamed of what had been meted out to GG for his remarks, until I read the complete interview:
http://www.hindustantimes.com/specials/cricket/world-cup-2011/I-play-for-India-I-play-for-people-of-my-country/iccworldcup2011-topstories/SP-Article10-680346.aspx
I don’t think I can maintain on reading this that I am proud of GG’s sentiments. Yes, I am proud of his winning the WC, his knock in the finals and other contributions on field, and his empathy for 26/11 victims. But I am hardly proud of his emotionally charged reference to an army man in Kashmir telling him never to lose to Pakistan and his tattooing these words in his soul. My problem is not that it rubs it into Pakistan; I will make no pretense of that. What is bad is that this equates winning in sports to winning the war against terrorism, or getting even with Pakistan for the crimes perpetrated in India. What if we lose to Pak in cricket in a match? Does that mean we all ought to be dejected that we’ve failed to avenge 26/11? Thinking we’ve meted out treatment to Pakistani terrorists or terrorism at large by winning a cricket match, or failed to do by losing, is juvenile. What used to differentiate the Indian cricket team from the Pak team (IMHO), may be even up to 5 years ago, was that our team didn’t see it as: We must win against Pak, whoever else we lose to. I thought this actually helped our team play better cricket than theirs on occasions. That GG and perhaps others on the team now have such a complex may not matter to the nation, but it will likely do their cricket no good. On this note, I agree with you that players are a product of the times they play in. Our society somehow seems to value ambition and winning, even if it takes crazily misplaced aggression, over sanity and keeping things in perspective. Someone compared Sachin’s statement on a cricket tour after 26/11 dedicating his man of the series/match win to 26/11 victims with GG’s. On the surface, it may seem that GG was being just as thoughtful and harmless. While Sachin was remembering the dead with sorrow, grief, and (perhaps) a sense of being let down, GG’s doing this as a way to remind himself that if he should lose a game against Pak, it would mean letting the Army and the country down. If GG had done it out of grief or remembrance, I’d say: Bravo! He has just lost perspective on what cricket is and what terrorism is, if this interview were anything to go by. Since GG never denied this interview, I assume it’s true. This is just sad for the Indian cricket team and GG himself. I think it would be sillier to make much of this vis-à-vis India-Pakistan.
Imagine a clinically insane man who takes a dump in your backyard because he thinks it is his toilet. No amount of yelling will make him feel guilty
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True. But neither will turning a blind eye and pretending that nothing happened make him feel guilty. And GG’s intention most likely wasn’t about making Pak feel guilty. It wasn’t an “emotional battle of words,” it wasn’t a condemnation of Pak, it wasn’t an attempt to solve the Pak problem, it was just his way of giving tribute to the victims. Tomorrow somebody would say expressing sympathy for the victims of Hiroshima is hurting Americans. Well, guess what. It matters not that it hurts Americans.
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If people of Pak feel hurt by it, well, maybe they can avoid the hurt by, I dunno, not sending terrorists next time? We can’t get them to grow up – any attempt to do so will be resisted because India is attempting it.
In the NDTV interview, Afridi made Vikram Chandra look like the guilty party (media is taking this negatively). Afridi’s strategy (and generally this is the Pakistani strategy) is to keep abusing us, and when pointed out, admonish us for taking everything negatively. Wah!
@ Junaid
The Muslims of India (most of whose children continue to live in India) primarily led the movement for the creation of Pakistan.
@ Skeptic
Why is NDTV stil interviewing Pakistani cricket players now?
@ Balal Sangh Parivar
The communal violence of 46 was the started by Muslim League to affect the demand for Partition, not the other way round.
If given a chance, Baluchistan would still want to join India, but thats a strategic nightmare to execute.
India cannot hold on to its own areas which have Islamic majority, without bleeding.
And Ananad, as a Keralite, I would you to educate me more on the Mooplah massacres of Hindus.
previous post..I mean Anand (not Ananad)…apologies.
Good article Arnab. But I dont agree with your last comment about the ‘massively fwded article’. Maheen actually apologised for afridi’s comments in his latest blog on april 4th, which you have ignored in your article. You should have taken that also into your consideration.
Here is the link to that http://www.maati.tv/beta/to-india-with-love/
Do you really have to keep pushing the same two pennies every time a Pak cricketer rants on television?
I know this is your blog, but I have been an ardent follower, and seen you really grow here. You wield not unsubstantial power in shaping the opinion of the small intelligentsia we have.
By repeating articles of this favour, you give that pesky imploding nation more importance in our own national debate than it has, and deserves.
What about Anna Hazare who’s on the verge of bringing a government on its knees, the likes of which has not been seen since Gandhi’s time? Even the TOIs are putting it as their national headlines instead of that inane debate on Tendulkar’s Bharat Ratna. ad much less ill-informed rants across the border.
Your articles like these are borne in the faith and love for the nation but I feel that they would be better directed in expanding to real national issues than counter-rants. you have the power and with power comes responsibility, doesn’t it?
Lol … Yuvraj Singh makes an unusually witty comment. Scroll down to the bottom of the interview :
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/sports/cricket/cricket-world-cup-2011/interviews/I-knew-no-force-on-earth-could-stop-me-Yuvraj/articleshow/7879953.cms
Evidently, there are those on the other side of the LOC as well who believe Shahid “I-am-a-pendulum” Afridi is suffering a bout of foot-in-the-mouth disease. Here are a couple of takes that I found interesting
http://tribune.com.pk/story/144239/leave-afridi-alone/
http://blogs.tribune.com.pk/story/5249/will-the-real-afridi-please-stand-up/
This goofball is best ignored..
nice song on the philosophies of cricket:
I fail to see your point. If you’re intent upon painting all Pakistanis by the same brush (i.e. not like any Pakistani), I guess that when someone comes along to say – Indian media & social commentary is just plain nuts & since no one seems to do anything about it, it reflects just as poorly upon all Indians! – you should be ok with it too. And especially being likened to Barkha Dutt, or worse, Sagarika Ghose!
Oh come on…who are we kidding! You know well enough that you’re just being facetious in saying that all policies adopted by the Pak govt reflect the true opinions of all Pakistanis…esp if you don’t believe that just because the UPA govt might have flawed policies (or reactions to proven flawed policies), it reflects failings on part of all Indians!
@Englishnote : Thanks for pointing out the link. So GG did say something silly. Comparing a cricket win to winning a war or battle against terrorism is indeed stupid.
Although our great RAW officers may find better use of their time doing their job, gathering intelligence rather than worrying over some Afridi and GG.
One thing that i have noticed in this melee is that it is very easy to impress indians.Praise Indian culinary, say a few nice words about sachin and we start to eat out of their hands.
I saw TOI running 3 days a video in which a pakistani girl is wishing well for Indian team. Correct me if I am wrong . They say “If a few pakistani’s commit terrorism it does not mean all pakistani’s are terrorists”.
Then doesn’t the converse also hold true? I think more importance must be given to justice than to peace. But their systematic denial coupled with victim mentality is going to hurt us and them a lot.
@greatbong: have you read somewhere that Islam is an offshoot of Hinduism itself founded by an irate Hindu rebel who felt overtly claustrophobic in the tough Hindu rituals? and that’s why you see Islamic tenets being completely at the other end of spectrum as compared to those in Hinduism
Why do i post this? Because i feel that fundamentally Muslims are not designed to be in agreement with Hindus. So chill and let these people justify their existence
This place is like Fox News without the blondes!
Nationalism is every bit as dangerous and stupid as organized religion, if not more. Both nationalism and religious feelings are aroused by people who want to emotionally charge poor masses and exploit them. Another class that frequently rants about nationalism is bollywood folks — but i need to explain to this enlightened forum why those mother-whoring class uses these terms. People, including the Afridis, are just victim of nationalism brainwash that they have been exposed to since childhood. And I say once again, fuck IPL.
@RadicalBong
Sour grapes !! Now, like a good boy, go crying to your godmother mommy Roy !!
@greatbong: Did Junaid just say that you are Parnab?
Gosh! Is this guy for real? The only word that comes to my mind is ‘bokacho**’
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/news/Dont-treat-us-as-untouchables-Afridis-appeal-to-BCCI/articleshow/7912808.cms
“Read up on Dr Khan the frontier Gandhi, GM Syed and other leading figures who were opposed to the partition.”
Is that the same GM Syed who introduced the Pakistan resolution in the Sindh assembly in 1943?
The same man who characterized Hindus as Jews (i.e parasites in his opinion).
Do these other “leading” figures iclude Hashim Gazdar and Yusuf Haroon who declared that Hindus will be driven out like Jews in Nazi Germany?
Me thinkts its you who should be doing the reading.
What utter drivel from bigotted Afridi and bigotted pakistan. These paki muslims have murdered, raped and maimed thousands of Sikhs and Hindus for decades and still wonder why we do not want to associate with them.
Gambhir is hero… he rightly recognizes these slimeball pakis for who they truly are and their role in 26/11. Wake up India…do you still want to bend over for your tomentors?
Beware pakis… the new/young India will set things right
Kamal, Don’t be a kid. We, indian hindus, are no saints either. So trying to seek moral high ground in indo-pak bullshit is exercise in futility. Not let nationalistic poison spewed by netas blind your eyes.
Gambhir is a hero alright, in that he might be a good role model because of his athleticism, being expert at what he does, and mental toughness. He is not a hero because he chooses to dedicate his performance to 26/11 or whatever.
Young india is not going to set any thing “right” (if there even exist such a thing that could be classified as “right”). Young India is going to be more materialistic, cold-blooded pragmatist and sensible — good for them I say.
And death to IPL.
Hey pessimist,
Identifying a terrorist nation as being such makey one a kid? Are you a twit?
What is wrong with the moral high ground? Maybe you do not understand what it is. You have no idea what the young dharamic India will do so stop mouthing off. Pakistan is a terrorist, bigotted nation that we can do without.
You dont do a Hindu-Paki muslim equal…it wont work – you can shove it where right up yours!!!
Kamal, this is what you said:
“These paki muslims have murdered, raped and maimed thousands of Sikhs and Hindus for decades”
You did not say that pakistan is a terrorist nation. You seemed to be implying that every muslim pakistani is a rapist and muderer.
@ eternal pessimist
“We, indian hindus, are no saints either. So trying to seek moral high ground in indo-pak…”
Well eternal pessimist. Thank Gawd. some of us Hindus are no Saints either.
We dont want saintly Hindus to go the way Hindus went in, Balochistan 1300 years back, Sindh and Afghanistan 1200 years back, Bangladesh 800 years back, Malaysia 600 years back, Indonesia 500 years back, and Kashmir 20 years back.
Do we?
I will give away my “saintly Hindu” status anyday, to turn the tide back in those places and might well achieve Moksha for that.
Utsav, Pillage and plunder my friend. Ain’t no one stopping you.
I just hope that future generations are spared from wasting their emotions on Pakistan. They should have higher goals than showing we are better than our neighbors. I thought we were getting there, but probably we still have a way to go.
@ eternal pessimist
There is a saying “people who do not learn from there past mistakes are condemned to repeat it”.
Losers like you epitomize that.
Utsav dude..proud of your work. Love you for all that you have done at this age.
If you want to know about Saintly Hindus, just ask the million Hindus in Pakistan and the 1.2 million Hindus in Bangladesh about Utsav.
pessimist,
I wrote and quote “These paki muslims have murdered, raped and maimed thousands of Sikhs and Hindus for decades” – is that terrorist enough for you? You wrote “I just hope that future generations are spared from wasting their emotions on Pakistan”… you are right we just want to waste pakistan…
Oh.. we already know that we are better than them… that doesn’t mean we should
stand by and be killed by them. You are welcome do do just that
“We dont want saintly Hindus to go the way Hindus went in, Balochistan 1300 years back, Sindh and Afghanistan 1200 years back, Bangladesh 800 years back, Malaysia 600 years back, Indonesia 500 years back, and Kashmir 20 years back.”
In everyone of these countries the remnants are treated like shit.
Bangladesh which was created with “kaffir” help is busy wiping out Hindus and Buddhists while sending millions of illegals into India to conquer more territory, all due to scumbags like “eternal pessimist” who is worse than the Taliban becuse he enables them.
Malaysia kidnaps Hindu women and forces them into Islamic “reeducation” centres (google Revathi Massosai) and demolishes temples.
Bali has been bombed twice by Muslims and is being flooded with Muslim immigrants from Java.
To idiots like “eternal pessmist” trying to play equal equal between Hindus and Muslims, it was Hindus who gave refuge to Parsis, Jews and now Tibetan Buddhists.
Here is a horrifying way of celebrating the semi-final win: Assaulting women.
http://www.hindu.com/2011/04/03/stories/2011040352860400.htm
I missed this part. Gambhir dedicating the win to 26/11 victims. That is a such a wow thing to do. Remember all those souls. Civilians, Police, Commandos.
Someone here, while commenting sounded upset (guess its someone called Ganapathy)that Gambhir spoke of high profile victims and not Dalits who were burnt alive etc. I mean was he not watching the entire attack? They had opened fire in various places. Its not about “people-who-stay-in-Taj-are -too fancy-to sympathize-with”, its about dedicating a win to people who have died just because our friendly neighbour thinks they can teach us a lesson by these well funded sick attacks.
It is dedicating a win against terrorism.
Hi Greatbong. good Article, only key pt that should have been highlighted is,
GAMBHIR DEDICATED VICTORY to 26/11 Vicitms and NO MENTION of pakistan.
How come Afridi considered this as a remark against Pakistan?