March 3 , 2025

 

  I remember this day every year. It happens to be Tata Founder's Day- and it reminds me of my roots in a very direct way. Often, I reflect as to which place I call home. And while I have lived in different places right through childhood and subsequently adulthood, the town I call my own is Jamshedpur. My folks live there still and so I get to visit often enough. The lack of an airport makes it a trek, but it's all good. When I am home, I am home. Of course, living as I do in Dubai, the desire to visit India is not nearly as strong as when I lived, say, in the US. Not only is it not far to India from here, but culturally Dubai has all the trappings of India- and then some. Jamshedpur, for me, is not just India though. And today is the day when it was formed. There is a delicate fondness and a funny feeling when I think about going there. There really is nothing much to do- in any case, every waking hour is spent online anymore. Each location has little to offer that is so compelling as to deserve a trip. There are some special things to eat, but that in itself is not it. It is just something that brings about nostalgia of a happy time. The funny thing is, it isn't that I didn't realize at the time that I was having a happy time. So many pressures on so many levels, days full of self-doubt and days full of self-criticism. And yet, those were just extensions of my personality and they continued for the rest of my life. But the envelope of Jamshedpur somehow covered all of this tribulation like a warm blanket. It does not anymore but it does bring back the feeling.

There is another talking points that is ongoing at this time. The first is around the question of the Indian cricket board bullying the international board into submission. The fact is, India refused to play in Pakistan for the Champions Trophy event in 2025- which is currently in progress. The International Board ( ICC) could opt to leave India out of the contest altogether. It didn't, and neither did the Indian board even for a minute think it would. India brings 1.3 billion eyeballs to the sport, it simply cannot be dismissed for pure commercial reasons. As a result, the equilibrium option was that India would participate in the contest but would play all its games in a neutral venue- namely Dubai. The optics of this decision is not great. Every other team ( including erstwhile colonisers like England) would be made to toil in developing Pakistan, shuffling around three different dusty cities by plane and car- while the Indian team remained ensconced at the Taj Dubai- and only occasionally drive up 15 minutes to get to the ground for its games and practice sessions. It does seem grossly unfair and a blatant abuse of power. The thing is, I would be pleased to be shared an example of any nation that has chosen not to misuse their power in any context. Everyone does it all the time- this is the very point of power. There are no Godly men and women in real life that rise to power in an ambition-fuelled frenzy to dominate the hierarchy- using every means at their disposal and sometimes means not at their disposal- but then, magically, after realising the power become gentle, kind and considerate. The irony of this somehow seems lost on the folks making a song and dance about this. Not to defend the BCCI behaviour, but the larger point is that this is now a commercial sport so the laws of capitalism are bound to prevail. This is like harassing Elon Musk or Mike Zuckerberg for misusing their power. Go ahead and do it- who cares? These guys are all our Daddys- and nothing will change this. The revolution needed to swing this away from them would make the French Revolution look like a Pub Brawl. And it will not happen, because the world has seen that any other option will eventually lead to the same place in a different way.

However, I would argue this Indian Board position from a purely geo- political view. While we hear the hackneyed refrain that we should not mix sports with politics, the fact is that it is all politics. Nothing is not politics- and happy to argue this point of view with anybody. So, the rational response to Pakistan sending terrorists to kill Indians in a brazen way was to have invaded Pakistan or to have used nuclear weapons to decimate them and damage ourselves in so doing. I am not sure this would be a favorable option for Pakistan- but neither for India.  Since this is not feasible as an option, India can surely use any and every other means at our disposal to make their lives miserable. And India can do it forever- and it still would not be enough of a fair retaliation for what their nation has done to us. For some reason the average Pakistani citizen (who is probably a very sporting gent or lady that does not bear any ill-will to Indians) does not get this. They would rather India responds to their attacks by doing absolutely nothing or simply let bygones be bygones. How or why they have decided to dream this dream is anybody's guess. All I can say is- Dream On.

It is what it is- one can understand why other teams are aggrieved, but from a political standpoint one fails completely to understand why Pakistan is aggrieved. In any case, as Gavaskar pointed out, you can have all of these opinions if you also simultaneously have the spine to say no to lucrative IPL contracts handed out to you. Then we could at least accept your position with a modicum of respect. Otherwise, everyone should take it easy- it is just a few more days of toil and purported humiliation. What lies beyond is gold- so much gold!