Playing it to perfection

Few sporting encounters have been invested with as much political meaning and diplomatic baggage as the Indo-Pakistani limited overs series that has just concluded. In recent memory only the 1936 Olympics 8212; where the athleticism of a solitary American black, Jesse Owens, blew apart the 8216;Superman8217; theories of Adolf Hitler 8212; or the Nixon-era Sino-American ping-pong diplomacy bear comparison. For a more evocative analogy, one perhaps has to revisit the Ancient Olympics, the quadrennial event for which warring Greek city-states ceased hostilities and adhered to the Peace of Zeus, to compete as sportsman, not warriors. The past fortnight in Pakistan was a similar high-risk, high-gain venture. Limited overs cricket, unlike the sobriety and detachment of a test match, is often the amphitheatre of hyper-nationalism. It lends itself to passion, base instincts, impulsive bravado, invective, you name it. One mad moment in this series could have set back the subcontinental peace initiative considerably. Equally, a series played in amicable circumstances has the potential to propel public mood into the realms of hitherto unknown camaraderie. In the end, that8217;s just what happened.

Consider the evidence. Saurav Ganguly8217;s team has just won a closely-fought five-game series. Some 10,000 Indians have visited Pakistan to watch the matches, ranging from businessmen to movie stars to plain vanilla cricket fans. Lahore hasn8217;t seen so many Indians since the Wagah border was thrown open during the 1954-55 cricket series, a full half-century ago. As sponsors and advertisers, Indian companies have been a visible presence on cricket grounds from Karachi to Peshawar. Pakistan8217;s hotels haven8217;t hosted so many genuine tourists 8212; as opposed to American war correspondents 8212; since 9/11. The Indians have played hard and partied hard. If Ganguly8217;s team was an ambassador of goodwill, the 8220;Swami Army8221; 8212; as the itinerant Indian cricket cavalcade has been nicknamed in some parts 8212; was a showcase of all that India is proud of: an open, outgoing society, happy to let the past rest, wearing its economic success with gusto.

The Pakistanis played their part to perfection. An Indian performance was cheered 8212; though the applause was probably louder in Karachi but that8217;s only detail. Indian tourists were welcomed, not as distant cousins but as guests, potential friends, customers, people to do business with. This series will not solve the Kashmir problem, it will not even cause mutual distrust to evaporate. Yet it will be held up as a microcosmic model of how the India-Pakistan equation can be sensibly managed: with respect for the rules of the game, with the rational logic of money overriding the emotionalism of history, with a good time being had by all.