McCricket146;s Happy Meal

Well-known New York Times columnist and globalisation guru, Thomas Friedman, came up with a significant proposition in his The Lexus and the...

Well-known New York Times columnist and globalisation guru, Thomas Friedman, came up with a significant proposition in his The Lexus and the Olive Tree: Understanding Globalization, his Golden Arches Theory of Conflict Prevention. No two nations, he said, have gone to war with each other ever since both acquired their first McDonald8217;s. It wasn8217;t as if societies hooked on junk food and rendered obese and lazy no longer have the stomach for a fight. His point was, once a nation embraces globalisation, accepts the multi-national way of doing business, acknowledges transnational brands, products and services and joins the international financial system it loses the luxury of using military power as an option to further its national interest.

Now, Friedman is an unabashed admirer of India, and has recently spent a fair bit of time here writing a series of columns out of Bangalore available at https://indianexpress.com highlighting the successes and challenges of a rapidly globalising India. But it is unlikely when he spent time visiting Wipro, Infy and other symbols of this new India, somebody in Bangalore told him about another management graduate called Rahul Sharad Dravid and the game of cricket. Or, he might have found a corollary to his Golden Arches theory. Yes, two nations that have McDonald8217;s cannot go to war with each other. But does it also imply then that they cannot refuse to play cricket with each other?

Today as a proud India welcomes this remarkable team home after winning the series and the hearts, it is interesting to revisit Friedman8217;s idea 8212; incidentally, both India and Pakistan acquired their McDonald8217;s in the past decade. Friedman argues that once a nation joins the global financial, market and trade system, it puts on, what he describes as the Golden Straitjacket. Your interests, focus, motivation, are now economic, for bettering the standards of living, helping your corporations compete in the global markets, your people get the best jobs around the world, attract FDI and portfolio investments to fire your stockmarkets and, particularly if you are not so rich, in ensuring that your ratings do not fall in the international bond markets, or your corporations8217; on NYSE and Nasdaq. Moody8217;s, S038;P and Fitch, Morgan Stanley and Merrill Lynch then become formidable voices for peace and sanity, certainly more effective than Kofi Annan.

He also has a view on why India and Pakistan particularly India pulled back from the brink of war in the summer of 2002. He explained this in detail at a discussion at Davos earlier this year in the company of Samuel P. Huntington Clash of Civilisations and Hernando de Soto The Mystery of Capital: Why Capitalism Triumphs in the West and Fails Everywhere Else. He said the moment the subcontinent8217;s leaders began talking loosely of nuclear exchanges, travel advisories came and e-mails began flying to all the big outsourcing companies in India threatening to cancel orders. It was then, he says, that reason sunk in: you cannot afford to talk of war if you want your country to become the back office of the world.

India saw the downside of a never-ending 8220;war-like8221; situation just when its economy was beginning to zoom. Pakistan saw itself slipping back a couple of decades, shunned internationally as a difficult, violent, anarchic and sullen nation, carrying the threat of loose nukes and terror and no promise of investment or growth. The first move came from Vajpayee and Musharraf, too, responded with a sense of relief, even enthusiasm. And while they haven8217;t yet solved any of the outstanding issues yet, at least they decided to resume playing cricket with each other. The rest, as they say, is history. But can it also be the future?

Consider the manner in which this series has been played. Our earlier cricketing contacts were almost like proxy wars for Kashmir. There was so much hostility on and off the field that your most enduring images of the past unhappy. Rival crowds abusing each other, chanting religious slogans, bent, or hands raised 8212; or folded 8212; in prayer, zindabads and murdabads. Now you had crowds in Peshawar 8212; of all places 8212; conjuring up that ditty on their new star, 8220;Balaji zara dheere chalo8230;8221; that will endure right through the young paceman8217;s career. I spent an afternoon at the Qadhafi Stadium in Lahore in the winter of 1989, watching Sanjay Manjrekar, score a double century. Every time a Pakistani fast bowler came in with the new spell, the crowds would chant, 8220;Hilti huyee diwar hai, ek dhakka aur do it8217;s a shaky wall, give it one more push.8221;

Around the same time the hockey World Cup was on in Lahore too and each time Pargat Singh8217;s team took the field, the chant was, 8220;Kashmir hamaara hai, saare ka saara hai.8221; Much of the same was heard in our stadiums when the Pakistanis came in, besides indeed the bitterness over match-fixing, ball-tampering, the Sharjah phenomenon. How come all that disappeared this time? Fans from both countries shared the same stands, there were no insults exchanged, no bottles were thrown on the fields even when the home team was losing, and even the media were only full of appreciation for the other side8217;s stars. Imran and Wasim were giving Irfan bowling tips, Ganguly was happy to chat with Miandad and, really, your heart would go out to Inzamamul Haq. Even in defeat, his equanimity, the calm on his face, the quiet joy with which he celebrated the series, his generosity in complimenting his rivals, complete absence of any excuses, alibis, anger and bitterness. There were handshakes on the ground, centuries were acknowledged by the rivals, smiles were exchanged more than glares and none of this was because your foreign ministry had instructed you to do so.

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These boys represent our post-reform generation, almost all born after the Simla Accord was signed, certainly after our last real war in 1971, and went to school and college, or into competitive cricket in years of reform and globalisation, and prospered in it. They play for fame, future and endorsements and not for match fees. Some of them are just 18 or 19, with so little connection or nostalgia for the past. But overall, these cricketers are at least a generation ahead of our policy-makers and, possibly two-generations ahead of our Track-II warriors. They represent the new generation of Indians and Pakistanis who are more inclined to look at the future rather than remain trapped in the past. That is mostly true of the spectators as well. I may be guilty of over-optimism. But does this explain the absence of murdabads? Something must.

It is certainly too early yet to hail it as the arrival of some Neville Cardus-meets-Tom Friedman phenomenon. Nor is it yet like somebody plucking out the first chunks from the Berlin Wall with bare hands. But there is a little bit of that there, and it has happened because even while establishments, haven8217;t yet fully figured it, our peoples8217; minds have after globalising. Television on both sides sells the same brands, through the same stars. A Pakistani is as likely to buy a shampoo Dravid endorses as an Indian is to drink a cola that Shoaib plugs. Our respective diasporas meet, interact, and join hands around the world, making common cause against the white or the yellow man, shedding all hostility. Our businessmen, professionals, artistes set up linkages in a space that was earlier monopolised by the mafiosi and rival spies and spooks. So many Pakistani stars 8212; Wasim, Waqar 8212; are roaming around shooting commercials in India. In fact one of my great regrets is that Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan died so prematurely, just when India had begun to discover him, or he would have become the greatest singing star of the subcontinent since Lata Mangeshkar. This series was not just about two cricket teams clashing, it was about two rapidly globalising societies meeting, brought together by their shared sporting obsession.

Change is now in the air. It is riding the winds of free markets and globalisation. But it is early days yet. Who knows, with the summer approaching, and snows melting, old issues of infiltration, terror and diplomatic name calling will be back again. But chances are, they won8217;t. Unless, indeed, our policy-makers are still caught up in a time warp of prejudice, distrust, and lack of imagination.

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