The office is screening the match right now and I hear cries of "Pakistan Murdabad" and "Bolo Bharat Mata Ki Jai". Can't put my finger on the exact reason why, but this irritates the hell out of me.
:))) can feel the irritation haha...but when I think about it, if I watch a match(cricket,hockey, football whatever)in a stadium played in real time I might really 'loudly' root for India!
i dont know why patriotism should come into the picture in sports. its just the skills of 11 players against another 11 (well i am not counting the extra and the others in the team) and "pakistan murdabad" sounds so lousy... i mean its not a war we are fighting.if only we realise how much of energy we are wastingon the anti-pakistan rhetoric ans providing such a nice platform for the politicians.
The word you're looking for is jingoism. There's a woman in my office (she plays cricket for the office team and such) who is an avid follower and refers to all the Indian players with cutesy nicknames; veeru, yuvi, etc. So, I said in some random conversation, "So maybe I should call you Afridi, you are a strong hitter in your team." And she leaned in and hissed, "Please, call me anything, but don't brand me a Paki!" I thought Paki was a very derogatory term that we wanted the skinheads in the UK to stop using.
Another completely, unrelated story: We were watching match 4 at a friend's house and his grandmum says, "See. We have Zaheer Khan, Mohammed Kaif and Irfan Pathan in our team. They don't have a single non-muslim in their team." So, my friend astutely pointed out that Yousuf Youhana is a devout Christian. This made the old woman reply, "But he is still Pakistani no? How does it make a difference?"
I have begun to think that there is a deep seated need for humans to have outlets to their basal instincts, lust, hate, greed. So, we've just rationalised these things for some specific situations. It's ok to feel lust as long as you feel it for your wife. It's ok to feel greed as long as that greed feeds teh family. Similarly, it has become ok to feel hate as long as it's felt against our political adversaries. Infact, it has become suspect to not feel hatred towards the Pakistan team. No wonder the Muslims in our country have to jingoistically support the Indian cricket team even if they feel Pakistan deserved to win.
Thankfully , such pseudo patriotic displays only seem to be restricted to within the subcontinent. My bred-in-bahrain pakistani roommate was always torn watching India - Pak clashes with his idol being Tendulkar and home being home. A game is a game is a game, he knew understood that bit, wish more of us would.
Incidentally being bred in bahrain he could speak pretty decent mallu *cringes* , which was a constant source of embarrassment.
I couldn't see the match. but I hear the spectators at Karachi displayed great sportsman-ship - cheering good play whether it came from Indians or the Pakistanis. Whatever be the reason and however they got this done, I am certain most Indian venues can't return this gesture. Sad! Jinogism i love the word and hate it's meaning.
nothing like an indo-pak cricket match to arouse our latent 'patriotism'
ReplyDelete:))) can feel the irritation haha...but when I think about it, if I watch a match(cricket,hockey, football whatever)in a stadium played in real time I might really 'loudly' root for India!
ReplyDeletei dont know why patriotism should come into the picture in sports. its just the skills of 11 players against another 11 (well i am not counting the extra and the others in the team)
ReplyDeleteand "pakistan murdabad" sounds so lousy... i mean its not a war we are fighting.if only we realise how much of energy we are wastingon the anti-pakistan rhetoric ans providing such a nice platform for the politicians.
Oh, I was rooting for India all right.
ReplyDeleteThe word you're looking for is jingoism. There's a woman in my office (she plays cricket for the office team and such) who is an avid follower and refers to all the Indian players with cutesy nicknames; veeru, yuvi, etc. So, I said in some random conversation, "So maybe I should call you Afridi, you are a strong hitter in your team." And she leaned in and hissed, "Please, call me anything, but don't brand me a Paki!" I thought Paki was a very derogatory term that we wanted the skinheads in the UK to stop using.
ReplyDeleteAnother completely, unrelated story: We were watching match 4 at a friend's house and his grandmum says, "See. We have Zaheer Khan, Mohammed Kaif and Irfan Pathan in our team. They don't have a single non-muslim in their team." So, my friend astutely pointed out that Yousuf Youhana is a devout Christian. This made the old woman reply, "But he is still Pakistani no? How does it make a difference?"
I have begun to think that there is a deep seated need for humans to have outlets to their basal instincts, lust, hate, greed. So, we've just rationalised these things for some specific situations. It's ok to feel lust as long as you feel it for your wife. It's ok to feel greed as long as that greed feeds teh family. Similarly, it has become ok to feel hate as long as it's felt against our political adversaries. Infact, it has become suspect to not feel hatred towards the Pakistan team. No wonder the Muslims in our country have to jingoistically support the Indian cricket team even if they feel Pakistan deserved to win.
very well put.
ReplyDeleteI was getting my kicks out of cheering for Pakistan yesterday and people were just staring at me wondering what in the world was wrong with me.
Very well put indeed. Thanks.
ReplyDeleteThankfully , such pseudo patriotic displays only seem to be restricted to within the subcontinent. My bred-in-bahrain pakistani roommate was always torn watching India - Pak clashes with his idol being Tendulkar and home being home. A game is a game is a game, he knew understood that bit, wish more of us would.
ReplyDeleteIncidentally being bred in bahrain he could speak pretty decent mallu *cringes* , which was a constant source of embarrassment.
fine.
ReplyDeleteI couldn't see the match. but I hear the spectators at Karachi displayed great sportsman-ship - cheering good play whether it came from Indians or the Pakistanis. Whatever be the reason and however they got this done, I am certain most Indian venues can't return this gesture. Sad!
ReplyDeleteJinogism i love the word and hate it's meaning.