Win-win match

Ask Amit Aggarwal. It was a cold month in January 2005 when he crossed the Wagah border to watch a one-day international between India and Pakistan in Lahore. “We went as part of the Punjab and Haryana High Court delegation and were apprehensive about what to expect on the other side,” recalls Aggarwal. But the moment the delegation crossed the border,they were greeted with great warmth. India won that match,but nothing changed the Pakistani people’s attitude of hospitality. “We hardly paid for anything; shopkeepers and restaurant managers didn’t charge us,” adds Aggarwal,who stayed with Chaudhry Sawad,a lawyer from Lahore.

It was now time to return the favour. “Sawad’s brother,Faisal,will arrive any minute with his friends,and my mother has been preparing a traditional Indian welcome for them,” he said on Wednesday. The outcome of the match didn’t worry him as he believed a game must be taken with sportsmanship.

He wasn’t alone. A smiling Reeta Kohli,Additional Advocate General,Punjab who also hosted Pakistani guests,distributed Indo-Pak flags to fans. “Some of us have surrendered our tickets so that our friends from Pakistan can enjoy the match,” she said. As did Pramod Sharma,coordinator of Yuvsatta,an NGO. He hosted a delegation of nine Pakistani friends with whom he distributed 20,000 mini flags of India and Pakistan bound together. “It is like a homecoming,” said his guest Aisha Aarif,a filmmaker from Lahore.

These sentiments soon went viral,like loose electrical wires igniting uncontrollable sparks. Deep Saeeda,a peace activist from Lahore,admitted as much. Booked to stay in a hotel,she had to change her plans due to a surprise call from her friend Prof Kawaljit Kaur Dhillon from the Government Post Graduate College. “Dhillon is in Canada but she insisted we stay at her house,” she said.

Some even opened their homes to strangers. Like Vipin Yadav,director of Wow Marketing,an event management firm in Chandigarh. “It’s a matter of pride to be associated with our Pakistani brothers and sisters,” said Yadav.

Harjinder Singh Talwar was excited too. Inspired by the bonds they had nourished with Pakistani guests during the last Indo-Pak match in Mohali,they decided to repeat the experience. They never lost touch with the families who with them the last time,and believe this will happen this time,too. Before the Mohali match,their breakfast table was laden with goodies,with Talwar’s wife fussing over the guests. Truly win-win.