Making Peace with Chaos - Pakistan Cricket

Try explaining Pakistan cricket to a newcomer – the second-largest population of cricket fans in the world, but with an ostensibly terrible infrastructure that makes it profoundly unsuitable to success at international level. The same Pakistan that shook the world with their World Cup win 20 years ago. The same Pakistan that turned cricket upside-down with a spot-fixing scandal.

This is cricket, the Pakistan way. For years, Pakistan has been a lightning rod for controversy within the cricketing fraternity, a country of cricketing juxtapositions. A country where politics and religion divide, and cricket unites.

Put simply, Pakistan cricket is chaos in flux.

There is a splendid uncertainty unlike any other team in cricket’s history. Naivety is at the heart of its cricket, leading to a simmering volatility. For fans, this is an irresistible combination, a fatal attraction that sucks in the most hardened neutral.

The best example of Pakistan’s chaos is, of course, Shahid Afridi. Though a senior statesman in terms of sheer experience, he is impulsive and incorrigible. Afridi is a Pathan by heritage, a fact often used as a way to either rationalise or justify his most irrational behaviour. His consistent disappointments are punctuated with periods of virtuoso brilliance, and, as a result, fans retain faith in him. Again, this is hardly unique in international cricket: Indian fans would call it the ‘Rohit Sharma Syndrome’.

In 2009, Afridi was Pakistan’s star player as they won the World T20. Yet, months later, Afridi said: “I shouldn’t have done it. It just happened. I was trying to help my bowlers and win a match, one match.”

This was in response to video evidence that found Afridi guilty of ball-tampering – by putting a cricket ball in his mouth, gnawing at its seam, and then casually tossing it back to the bowler.

The same man who inspired Pakistan’s greatest limited-overs success since 1992 is also the same man who, as a child, you imagine teachers would scold for running with scissors.

It is unlikely that Afridi would have played over 400 international matches in any team other than Pakistan. To this day, he continues to get himself out with the same, ill-advised caveman slogs that pre-date Glenn Maxwell by well over a decade. And, to this day, he excites and infuriates.

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“I’ve said it many times that everybody remembers the last shot of the WT20, but nobody remembers who brought Pakistan to the end.” – Misbah-ul-Haq

We take it as a given that Pakistan are uncoachable in the traditional sense. There are myriad external and internal factors that can knock even the most competent coach and captain sideways. Political interference, favouritism and fickleness from the media are present in many countries, yet they are all dialled up a notch in Pakistan. Highly regarded coaches and captains have tried, and more often than not failed, to exert control over this disparate group.

In stark contrast to Afridi, Misbah could have been mistaken for milquetoast with an MBA. If it was an act of divine intervention to freakishly guide Misbah’s paddle-sweep into the hands of Sreesanth in 2007, then seven years later, it was a fittingly karmic rebalancing of the universe for the same man to smash records. Misbah has attracted more unfair criticism than one man should endure, often for a perception that he was batting too slowly in a team where he couldn’t trust the batsmen around him (paging: Shivnarine Chanderpaul). Misbah has been a professional scapegoat for the last few years, taking so much flak that he must have felt like the only sane man in the asylum.

In what must go down as one of cricket’s greatest feats of man-management, Misbah has guided Pakistan through a period of on-field prosperity, and a lack of off-field controversies. He recognised that a hands-off approach works best with Pakistan, allowing plenty of room for his players to breathe.

This is not, however, a novel strategy for Pakistan. In 1999, before their World Cup semi-final at Old Trafford, Pakistan went on a team outing to Alton Towers instead of holding a training session. A fairly common occurrence in Pakistan cricket – and no, I’m not referring to Inzamam-ul-Haq on the log flume. Eyebrow-raising unorthodoxy, shoulder-shruggingly effective.

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At some point, masochism became an ingrained part of the Pakistan fan’s identity. Post-mortems of numerous unthinkable collapses have taken on a ritualistic nature. No longer a forum for venting, but an examination of a fan’s inner contentedness. How quickly can you make peace with Pakistan?

These days, chaos is no longer lamented. It is embraced, all part of Pakistan’s joie de vivre. Pakistan are the antidote to sterilised, factory-line cricketers.

In Afridi and Misbah, we have polar opposite characters, and through this near-comical contrast, it’s easy to see why so many Pakistan fans are in an abusive relationship with their team. Afridi is the hope, the let-down, the pay-off. Misbah is the expectation.

“In October, Pakistan summoned our incredulity as they lost to Australia in an ODI by two runs. Weeks later, they had thrashed Australia in a Test series, and Misbah had equalled Sir Viv Richards’ record for that fastest-ever Test century.

Perhaps the true fruit of Pakistan cricket. In its unpredictability lies its greatest glory.”

Nishant Joshi's article in Wisden India

http://www.wisdenindia.com/cricket-article/pakistan-cricket-making-peace-chaos/134230

TO BE OR NOT TO BE

"To be, or not to be..." from Shakespeare’s play Hamlet is the perfect way to describe the dilemma of Vishal Bharadwaj’s recent film “Haider” – A film he claims to be adapted from Shakespeare’s , arguably the best play, “Hamlet”.  Clearly in the trilogy of Makbool, Omkara and Haider (all films adapted from Shakesphere’s play), the third installment is the weakest.

Before you read further, a couple of disclaimers. I am a big Vishal Bharadwaj fan. The 2^nd disclaimer being, I love Kashmir. I have been to Kashmir in 1990, 2008 and earlier this year April 2014. I simple love the place. Hence I had great expectation of “Haider”- A Vishal Bharadwaj film.

I would love to interpret  the film as Vishal would have expected us to believe- An Adaptation of Hamlet. While I am guilty of not reading the original play (which I am sure, I am incapable of), what I understand is that, it was a great story of “Dharamasankat”. A lot of tension, rivalry, undercurrent of passion and revenge would be expected of the story. Unfortunately the intensity expected out of  film was absent. In fact knowing Vishal’s body of work….. He can create that intensity when there would be none. While Hamlet did provide him the plot to do the same, the film was flat in terms of that anxiety, tension, etc. The performances in the film reminded me of Indian Cricket team in the late 90s. We used to have brilliant individual performances but the team would lose anyways as they combined effort did not come across. While individual performances were brilliant from all the leading actors of the movie including Shahid Kapoor, Tabu, Kay Kay, Irfan Khan, etc., the chemistry between Tabu and Kay Kay was missing. So was the chemistry missing between Shahid and Tabu. Chemistry between Tabu and the other two characters had the potential to turn this 2 hr 40 min drama into a potboiler. Imagine a sensual track between Tabu and Shahid (mother and son) to counter that between Uncle and mother. That is was a weapon Hamlet actually used in the original play. It is obvious that Vishal did not have the courage to depict that in Haider. While in Dedh Ishqiya (a film produced by Vishal), another "taboo subject" of  Lesbianism was touched upon, here he lacked the courage to test Indian sensibilities. A missed opportunity!!!

It is difficult though to take “Haider” on its face value. Hamlet was a dramatic revenge saga of Hamlet against his uncle.  Haider on the other hand seems disillusioned by the Indian establishment more than his uncle. Vishal was unable to explain the transition of a clean shaved Shahid to the typical beard look of Shahid. I could not understand what Vishal was trying to show, that, if one gets disillusioned you start looking in a typical way? Or was he trying to show that separatist look in a certain way. In either case, he could not pull it off well. Also I did not understand as to why Haider gave that Chutpaz Speech at Lal Chowk. Was he against his uncle or the Indian establishment?

This brings me to the 2^nd point. I think the movie was not so much about Hamlet than it was about Kashmir. So to view it from the perspective of an adaptation of Shakespearian drama would be unfair.  Vishal chose Barashat Peer to write the script with him. It is obvious that Mr. Peer had his own separatist propaganda and that shows in the film. Mr. Peer was hardly interested in "Adaptation of Hamlet".  The film is totally biased account of the Kashmir insurgency during 1995- 96 where the Indian army was shown as a conspiring evil force who uses torture and abduction as a weapon. It cannot be expected of Mr. Peer, that he would give Indian Army’s point of view on the issue. In fact any attempt on the same was more sarcastic than real. One more thing that baffled me was all of senior Army officers were shown as South Indians (and not Sardars!). I did not understand the subtext there.

Having said that, I also acknowledge the fact that it was the expectations from the film, that spoilt it for people like me. I went in to see an adaptation of Hamlet and I saw a separatist point of view movie instead. Political films … even the documentaries are  supposed to be biased. Otherwise they are not raunchy enough. In fact they are used as a propaganda and this film should not be seen any differently. The irony is that just before the release of the film, the same army which is accused of all the wrongs in Kashmir by the film worked selflessly to save hundreds of thousands of Kashmiris. Perhaps, as an afterthought, as a notion of acknowledgement of the blunder, Vishal did praise the role of Indian Army in the floods. The damage was already done by then though. A day shall come when he will regret “Haider”.

Another point I want to make here is that we as a country should be proud of ourselves in the way we handled the movie. It was no doubt anti Indian, anti Indian Army and yet the film was cleared by our censor board. Compare that to the actions of Pakistan. The film had hardly anything which was anti Pakistani and yet they have a ban. Clearly our democracy allows diverging, infact in this case views almost amounting to Sedition, to be tabled. So much can be said about the claim of the film "Haider" which tries to propagate a myth that India does not allow freedom of expression. 

“To be or not to be” from Hamlet perfectly describes Vishal’s state of mind in Haider. Till the end he could not decide if “Haider” was an adaptation of Hamlet in the backdrop of Kashmir or it was story of Kashmir in the backdrop of Hamlet. It was neither.........  and hence a disappointment!

THE JOY OF MODI SARKAR

I would be understating if I said I am happy with Modi’s Win. I am overjoyed. Yes the success of Modi is also success of RSS but then whats the big deal. I, as a child, attended many of the Sunday Shakhas of RSS in my paternal town of Etha in UP. What I still remember is being impressed by the discipline and sense of purpose towards the society. A RSS expects the society to follow the higher ideals that they are preaching. This is what gives the PM designate that zeal. The Pracharak appeals to the patriotic fervor first, culture second and religion follows much later. People overreact on RSS BJP connection. If anything RSS brings a sense of discipline in BJP

Here are some of the reasons that make me happy

END OF NEHRU GANDHI ERA IN POLITICS

I’m overjoyed that the Congress got hammered. We are close to seeing the end of the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty in politics, which is fantastic. This vile family has caused incalculable damage to our country with its destructive economic policies, which has kept our country poor for the seven decades since independence. It’s impossible to quantify the effect of this, but I believe that this family has orders-of-magnitude more blood on its hands than, say, a Narendra Modi would even if all the allegations against him were true. I’m glad to see them finished as a political force, though it is likely that they will continue to be a political spectacle for a while yet, which I welcome. Pappu provides much amusement.

DECISIVE MANDATE

On economics, Modi can’t do worse than the UPA did. Modi has done a lot to create a conducive environment for small businesses in Gujarat, and his main campaign slogan, ‘minimum government and maximum governance,’ is music to my ears. But it will take a lot of doing, and this is why I’m glad his mandate is so overwhelming, and he is free of the constraints of coalition politics. He now has the power to get the job done, and no scope for excuses. He can carry out the measures that are essential if we are to be the manufacturing superpower that he has said he aspires to make India. He has the power to do; we will now see if he can walk the talk.

YOUTH HAS CHANGED THE POLITICS FOREVER

Do you know why so many first-time voters exercised their mandate: These people are shrugging aside considerations of identity and symbolic politics: caste or the Gandhi family do not matter to them. They want progress, development …. Vikas (Yes the entire youth wants me ;) Even if Modi doesn’t deliver, and these new voters, and other new voters to come next time, abandon him, we can see the parameters based on which they are making their choices. Those won’t change. The parties that don’t adapt themselves to this new political marketplace will be rejected. The same way they were this time around.

MODI HAS NO OPTIONS BUT TO PERFORM

 It will nevertheless not be easy for the BJP to replicate this performance the next time around. Consider that a big part of this wave was the party winning 71 out of 80 seats in UP. Now, one can expect the BJP to also win the next UP assembly elections. So at the next Lok Sabha elections in 2019, they’ll face double incumbency in UP. They’ll be fighting on the basis of performance, not promises, and perceptions. The results then will not depend alone on Modi’s governance. It will also depend on extraneous factors like the last monsoons and the state of the world economy. A few percentage points could lead to a huge swing in terms of seats. Surely Modi will understand this and hence he has to give this chance his best shot.

AAP DECIMATION

I am also Happy that Kejriwal’s AAP failed. AAP, under the pathetic leadership of Kejriwal has failed and I am sure all will agree that’s an understatement. . I wont even touch upon the 49 days Delhi disaster. Maybe only history might forgive Kejriwal for that, I cant. AAP separated from Anna Movement as they understood that in a representative democracy, if you need to make your voice heard, you need to win seats in Assembly and Parliament. Hence as a political party it is your duty to win as many seats as possible as you can. What did AAP do. It is famously known that Kejriwal said that anyone who stands on the ticket of AAP will win from Delhi. Result is in front of us. AAP was defeated in every single seat of Delhi by more than 10% votes. Kejriwal more than the AAP needs to realize that they are not the only people who have sacrificed and joined politics. Also they need to realize that  governance and Politics has more to do with working at Grassroots that to be in Media studios.

I say I am happy with debacle of AAP, but actually I am not. I had hope that they will bring newness to the political scenario but the 49 days of disaster…. I mean how on earth could you give Free water…. Give free electricity to your followers ….. I still fail to understand how their Left of center politics different from that of a Mulayam, Laloo or Mayawati. They have hurt me as I had hopes with them. Now I want to see them washed…. Kejriwal definitely.

CONCLUSION

In conclusion I must say, I believe, Modi acts purely out of self-interest and not ideology. At the centre, he will do whatever he believes will increase his political capital. I don’t think communal violence will be part of that equation. I think development will. That gives me hope.