SIGHT & SOUND
Bowled over by cricket
Amita Malik

Considering all the hype, with 600 correspondents descending on Islamabad, and everyone doing their "exclusive" reports, chat shows, interviewing the common man on the streets and uncommon men and women at classy open-air cafes, one would have thought that the last cricket test in Sydney would take second place to SAARC for viewers. It, however, turned out to be exactly the other way round. The number of people who set their alarms at 5 a.m., who reported sick for office to catch everything from the first ball bowled seemed amazing. People who were so far known to be not even remotely interested in cricket seemed to watch the test as something of a patriotic if not a social duty. It became an occasion to wave the Indian flag. Even my maid, who caught me watching cricket every morning on TV while she swept around my feet, got into the act. When I gave her a rough description of what cricket was about and where the two teams came from (it was a bit difficult to explain to her where Australia was) and why it was summer there when we were shivering in Delhi, she came out with the gleeful 64-crore question: Were the goras being beaten? A draw was even more difficult to explain, but she looked very happy when I said no, we had not been beaten and we had done very well. Who said cricket is not a people’s game?

At the same time, I found it was amazing how many people, tired of the same old politics, did not even bother to watch the elaborate programmes on SAARC which all the channels were beaming from Islamabad. I had to watch for professional reasons although I am far from a political animal. And I found some distinct changes in the reactions of Pakistanis, particularly about India. Rajiv Sardesai fed quite a few leading questions to the young people at the caf`E9, beginning with the "Do you agree that..?" kind of phrases and ending with "I think we are agreed that..." Except that some differed about the priority or otherwise of Kashmir, most were very anxious to visit India, to have more Indian films at their cinemas and also placed more stress on sports, trade and other mutually beneficial aspects of interchange between the two countries. The younger generation seemed more relaxed, sophisticated, international-minded (many had studied at the best foreign universities or had lived abroad) and generally spoke with detachment and without hang-ups of the older generation.

This is more than what can be said of the old suspects from the media who had been extremely liberal-minded and open-minded during the Agra conference. Even Asma Jehangir was sharply critical when Rajdeep Sardesai, in The Big Fight, mentioned Indian democracy while her colleagues from the media strongly criticised Indian fundamentalists in the same tone as Indians criticised the alleged lack of real democracy in Pakistan. They could not accept Sardesai’s contention that Indian democracy might have its faults but was still a working democracy. Nor did they accept his argument that fundamentalism did not appeal to all Indians. In fact, one loud and shrill woman politician in Barkha Dutt’s programme We The People was so fierce and with an obviously closed mind that she did not give even a sporting change to the other point of view and gave Barkha a very rough time. It was, again, the young members of the audience who showed restraint as well as a constructive attitude and again brought in issues other than Kashmir and urged more interchange between the people of both countries. Pankaj Pachauri’s Hum Log from Islamabad fared a little better as Pankaj controlled the loud mouths and closed minds better. Perhaps it is time the young people of India and Pakistan met more often and showed the geriatric politicians where they get off.

There were also several lessons from the coverage of the fifth cricket test from Australia, which should give our dear old DD food for thought. For one thing, the profusion of advertisements were properly spaced and never interfered with the game. For another, the commentators were absolutely top class, mostly cricket legends from the UK, India, Australia and Pakistan who knew the finer points of the game, analysed the good and bad points of the youngsters, such as Irfan Pathan, Virendra Sehwag and Kartik with the same seriousness, constructiveness and fairness as they discussed the greats of earlier generations.

And last, but not the least, the Prime Minister of Australia sat quietly with the audience and the cameras showed him very briefly once or twice but otherwise left him alone. He was not given any VVIP treatment by either the media or the 22,000 other spectators. He clapped a good shot, like others, and did not come down to hog the limelight when the closing ceremony took place or when Steve Waugh was being affectionately cheered and carried on the shoulders of his team mates around the stadium, or when he was paid handsome and moving tributes from all, including our own cricketers, and given his farewell trophy. It was a strictly cricketers’ function and there were neither any netas or bureaucrats around nor any signs of security. One did not even know when the Australian PM left. But Steve Waugh’s lovely wife and three small children came down from the stands at the last to be with him and have their photographs taken. Can you imagine this happening in India or what Doordarshan would have done? Of course, it would have fixed its cameras on the PM and other netas and left out the cricketers.