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However, loyalty to ones roots and the feeling of nationalism can also result in unnecessary aggression, ugly behavior and downright hostiliry among fans. This I realised in Sharjah. In the eighties, just like now, India and Pakistan had stopped playing against each other in their own countries. Sharjah was the neutral venue chosen to milk the huge profits which are generated when India play Pakistan.
I would have to say that I never saw such a hostile crowd before. It was as if people were waging war against each other. They were chanting slogans and throwing obscenities at each other. Unlike the warm reception the crowd gave to their rivals in their own countries, here the waving of national flags seemed like using weapons against each other. It was, to quote George Orwell, war minus the shooting.
India and Pakistan have a bittersweet relationship. Whenever both teams play against each other, it becomes a top national agenda. Political atmosphere is responsible for this. Relations between the two countries are contentious and it translates sometimes into hostility between people of the two countries. In 2004, when the then Prime Minister, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, visited Pakistan, he said it was a 'peace tour'. The entire acceptance of this tour was different. People from both sides were cordial and saw it as a way of mending the complex relationship. So these politicians have always have a manipulative role to play as they manoeuvre people's emotions and beliefs in ways that can feed their vested interests.
But I have seen a different and mellower side of the relations too. When Pakistan had a test match in Chennai in the late nineties, the entire crowd stood up and applauded their team's performance.
(As told to Sanya Tyagi)
To be continued….
To get book:
(NOT JUST CRICKET: A Reporter's Journey through Modern India https://amzn.eu/d/3yp6NXc)