Interesting Conversations In Istanbul...

As we headed back to Kennedy Caddesi from the jetty at Kabataş Motor İskelesi, quite by chance, we met a few interesting people.

There was a young couple with fair and sharp Caucasian features on the bus. The lady was in black Islamic attire and kept staring at us. And then she spoke - "Hello! Where are you from?" in perfect English.

"We are from India, Mumbai. How about you?" Neeti responded.

"Ohhh! India! We love India. Bollywood is great. We are from Baku, Azerbaijan."

Bollywood, I discovered on all my travels, is one cultural aspect of India people abroad easily identify with, alongwith Indian cuisine and yoga. And that clearly is India's incredible soft-power!

"O really, Azerbaijan! We have heard Azerbaijan is a very beautiful country and would like to visit there someday", Neeti exclaimed.

The entire Caucasus region - Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan is an area that has fascinated me for long. Not only is it stunningly scenic but it has a great deal of cultural and historical heritage. Besides those mountains (remember the photos of Mount Ararat that I had spotted on the flight to Paris) and rolling green meadows, I remembered that Baku, in Azerbaijan, is home to the Baku Ateshgah or "Fire Temple" is a castle-like religious temple located in the Surakhani suburb, that has a fire burning for a long, long time now. Natural gas or naphtha from a natural underground reservoir fuels the fire. While a lot of history on the temple is lost, certain inscriptions have been found which indicate that the temple was used as a Hindu, Sikh and Zoroastrian place of worship. Incredible.

And then a Pakistani family got on to the bus. They looked quite Indian. The man was beefy and grumpy. The lady was a bit plump and fair, clad in a salwar kameez. The couple had two sons - one would have been in his early teens while the other was either 7 or 8 years old. The younger kid was quite mischievous and was bothering his mom, who in exasperation chided and then said in chaste Urdu "These people here understand that you are being scolded. Does it look nice?" 

We were then convinced that they were Pakistanis.

She realised that we understood what she had told her son and was a bit flustered, and asked Neeti "Aap kahan se hain?" (Where are you from?)

"Hum Dilli se hain, Mumbai mein rehte hain! Aap kahan se hain?" (We belong to Delhi, but live in Mumbai. Where are you from?)

"Hum Lahore se hain! Main India gayi hun - Dilli, Agra, Lucknow, Mumbai. Mujhe Dilli bahut pasand aaya! Merey wahan rishteydaar hain"  (We belong to Lahore. I have visited India - been to Delhi, Agra, Lucknow, Mumbai. I loved Delhi. I have relatives there).

The smart-aleck teenaged son joined in the conversation. "Meri teacher Chennai se hai." (My teacher is from Chennai).

We wondered how come an Indian teacher in Pakistan? How weird can it get? 

The father of the kids looked straight ahead, ignoring us completely, as though we bothered, but the lady was quite cultured and perhaps understood the weird thoughts running in our minds. "Mera beta boarding mein padta hai London mein. Hum Lahore se yahan chutti pe aaye hain." (My son studies in a boarding school in London. We live in Lahore but are here for a vacation).

Ohh, moneyed Pakistanis - they are far too rich to afford to send their kid to the United Kingdom, probably because they don't want him to go the terror way. Frankly, I have never heard of Indians sending their kids abroad to study in school - they might send them to college abroad for higher, specialised studies, but that's a different matter. Or perhaps schools in Pakistan aren't really that great.

The smart-aleck son butts in again. "Aapka Modi ke baarey mein kya khayal hai?" (What do you think of Prime Minister Modi).

This was tricky, we didn't want to get drawn into a debate, especially because Modi is regarded as controversial in Pakistan. Also he had responded resolutely, retaliating to unprovoked Pakistani firing on the border, killing quite a few Pakistanis, raising a storm, We paused a bit.

Neeti in her diplomatic best responded "Kaam karne wala banda hai aur humen kaam karne wala banda hi chahiye tha iss samay" (He is devoted to his work and we needed a guy like him at this stage).

I was happy Neeti responded as I couldn't have been so diplomatic.

"Merey school ke Indian doston mein wo bahut popular hai" (He is very popular among my Indian school friends).

The lady was quite embarrassed again and tells her younger son "Yeh pata hai Viraat Kohli se shehar se hain" (They are from the city where Viraat Kohli comes from). For those who read this blog from countries where cricket isn't played, Viraat Kohli is an extremely popular, astute and flamboyant Indian cricketer.

The lady looks at us and says "Mera beta Viraat Kohli ka bahut bada fan hai!" (My son is a big fan of Viraat Kohli). And the cute son looks at us, blushes turning his cheeks rosy red and we smile back. But the dad seated in front seems to fume. And that made us wonder he is from the establishment or the army or the ISI - the architecture that created the whole anti-India, and now anti-world terror network.

But think of it, this little kid loves and adores an Indian player, a pure and innocent human emotion. The big and dirty world of terror is so far away from him, but for how long? And that is the real tragedy, if you raise and unleash a genie like terror, it will consume you, one day. But we prayed this kid remains safe from all the masla (trouble) Pakistan has and grows up to be a sane and logical human being...

The Future of Cricket?

I must admit this that it was the first time I watched a match from the first to the last ball after that famous quarter final encounter between the Indian and the Pakistani side during the 1996 Wills World Cup!

After gorging on Kangaroo steaks and pulping the Pakistani greens into a spicy chutney, the Indian team was a worthy entrant into the finals. And before the match, I tweeted that India deserved a good cup of Ceylon tea after the match.

But we all were disappointed to see Sachin and Sehwag get out in the first few overs, courtesy, the killer blonde, Malinga. Isn't it true that our countrymen have created a major hype around these so called "stalwarts"? How is it that despite their calibre, they always fail to deliver when they are most expected to?

Had this scenario played out a decade ago, the whole team would then have fallen like a pack of cards, but leading from the front is what mattered this time. Captain Dhoni's unbeaten knock alongwith the stabilising partnership of Gautam Gambhir and Virat Kohli silenced the lion's roar.

The rest was history! The cup was ours!

Yes, I said "ours" and not Sachin's. This team played for India, under India's tricolour and not for Sachin, so was it fair for the to be termed as Sachin's cup (is Sachin bigger than India?), especially when his contribution was a big naught in the victory?

But full marks to Dhoni and Gary Kirsten. It was Dhoni's maturity to take all this crap about this being an individual's cup in his stride, obviously he knew the cup was India's.

Isn't it true that the IPL was a game changer for Indian cricket - exposure to international players in franchisee teams helped us learn from their techniques, strategies, training techniques, etc. making them more confident and less dependent on the so-called biggies? We cannot take away the credit that is due to Lalit Modi for this.

The celebrations that followed the cup victory were spontaneous and lusty. The streets in Bombay were clogged with revellers on bikes and cars, with vuvuzelas, waving the tricolour (I had never seen so many tricolours in one place), with bystanders enthusiastically cheering those on cars and bikes. The festivities went on till early in the morning.

The spontaneous outburst of joy erupted in Delhi too, with a crowd as big as the Holy Ganga that flowed in and around the India Gate. And that was a great opportunity for the "First Family" of Indian politics to attempt to wash off all the sins of this government -- corruption and inaction and lethargy in this flowing Ganga of humanity!!!!

This is the popularity of cricket in the Indian sub-continent, but it isn't the same elsewhere. Rugby is more popular in Australia, football is more popular than cricket in England.

For cricket to be an commercially viable game, internationally, it has to take on soccer - today it isn't. Television viewership proves this. The 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa had a viewership of 400 million per match, as against only 67 million for the finals of 2011 ICC World Cup. That speaks a lot about the global popularity of the game.

That is because cricket, internationally, is a game of the "bada sahebs" with only 10 nations entitled to play test matches (and world cups), despite having 105 members - the remaining 95 "minnows" have to compete amongst themselves to earn their right to participate! In the long run, this apartheid is not good for the commercial success of the game.

Let's not forget being a "minnow" does not mean that the teams are weak or don't have any potential, as ICC's apartheid makes it out to be. Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe were associate members or minnows once. Sri Lanka went on to win the cup in 1996, while despite the talent, cricket in Zimbabwe got messed up in the Mugabe tangle.

What gives these 10 nations the birthright to participate in World Cups and tests, despite some of them pathetically performing, like say Zimbabwe, in this World Cup? Even the minnow, Ireland, was better than Zimbabwe this time around.

Should cricket not evolve like football, where regional qualifiers would determine who goes into the world cup? That way the minnows would get exposed to the so called biggies and this would also boost the popularity of the game in the countries where cricket is still evolving.

So if, say, Brazil has to play a Suriname in the Latin American qualifiers to earn a berth in the FIFA World Cup, India could do well to play against say Singapore or Afghanistan, or say, even Australia compete with the minnows of the Pacific, Papua New Guinea or Fiji to earn their respective berths in the ICC World Cup. The future of cricket lies in making it an inclusive game.

We did win the cup, it was a joyous occasion, but cricket still remains the opium of the masses, the intoxicant that stops the nation in its tracks (some of India's biggest corporates had an unofficial half day on the day of the most emotional, India-Pakistan encounter). Is that not a waste of valuable resources?

But for now, let the feel good factor last, till the next scam breaks out! And let me enjoy my cup of Ceylon tea!

Off The Cuff

Recently, I came across this anecdotal, "in your face", inspirational and witty speech delivered by the late Sri Lanka Foreign Minister, Lakshman Kadirgamar, to the Sri Lankan cricket team in the United Kingdom during the World Cup of 2003.

I sometimes wonder whether our sissy politicians would be savvy enough, or rather would have any time from their innumerable scams to take time out to inspire Indian youth. I would imagine no. But it appears that India's engine of enterprise, be it civil service, business or sports, would go on and on, despite or inspite of the government and our senseless politicians.

I can never imagine our "esteemed" external affairs minister ever taking a principled stand on supporting sportsmen on doubtful decisions. Knowing fully well that India is high on cricket now, as the World Cup in on right now, I have reproduced the speech in full over here, as these emotions are what all Indians would have:

"Captain Atapattu and members of the Sri Lankan team, Members of the Sri Lankan community, Friends of Sri Lanka, Ladies and Gentlemen,

Some historians say, I think uncharitably, that cricket is really a diabolical political strategy, disguised as a game, in fact a substitute for War, invented by the ingenious British to confuse the natives by encouraging them to fight each other instead of their imperial rulers.

The world is divided into two camps - those who revel in the intricacies of cricket and those who are totally baffled by it, who cannot figure out why a group of energetic young men should spend days, often in the hot sun or bitter cold, chasing a ball across an open field, hitting it from time to time with a stick - all to the rapturous applause of thousands, now millions, of ecstatic spectators across the world. The game has developed a mystical language of its own that further bewilders those who are already befuddled by its complexities.

In the course of my travels I have a hard time explaining to the non-cricketing world - in America , China , Europe and Russia - that a 'googly' is not an Indian sweetmeat; that a 'square cut' is not a choice selection of prime beef; that a 'cover drive' is not a secluded part of the garden; that a 'bouncer' is not a muscular janitor at a night club, that a 'Yorker is not some exotic cocktail mixed in Yorkshire or that a 'leg-break' is not a sinister manoeuvre designed to cripple your opponent's limbs below the waist.

Ladies and Gentlemen, let me see whether politics and cricket have anything in common. Both are games. Politicians and cricketers are superficially similar, and yet very different. Both groups are wooed by the cruel public who embrace them today and reject them tomorrow.

Cricketers work hard; politicians only pretend to do so. Cricketers are disciplined; discipline is a word unknown to most politicians in any language. Cricketers risk their own limbs in the heat of honourable play, politicians encourage others to risk their limbs in pursuit of fruitless causes while they remain secure in the safety of their pavilions. Cricketers deserve the rewards they get; the people get the politicians they deserve. Cricketers retire young; politicians go on for ever. Cricketers unite the country; politicians divide it. Cricketers accept the umpire's verdict even if they disagree with it; politicians who disagree with an umpire usually get him transferred. Cricketers stick to their team through victory and defeat, politicians in a losing team cross over and join the winning team. Clearly, cricketers are the better breed.

It is said that the task of a foreign minister is to lie effusively for his country abroad. That may be true, but it is certainly true that he has to fight for his country and defend it at all times. Our cricketers may recall that in the run-up to the 1995 World Cup , Australia refused to play a match in Colombo, citing security reasons. Shane Warne said he wouldn't come to Colombo because he couldn't do any shopping there. The press asked me for a comment. I said "shopping is for sissies". There was a storm of protest in Australia. A TV interviewer asked me whether I had ever played cricket. I said I had played before he was born - without helmets and thigh guards, on matting wickets that were full of holes and stones, and I had my share of broken bones to show it. My friend the Australian foreign minister was drawn into the fray and phoned me. We decided to cool things down. A combined India/Pakistan team came to Colombo at very short notice to play an exhibition match in place of the Australian match. It was a magnificent gesture of South Asian solidarity.

Against strong security advice I went on to the field to greet and thank our friends from India and Pakistan . When the whole episode was over I sent a bouquet of flowers to my Australian counterpart. Flowers are also for sissies.

I remember vividly the incident that occurred in Australia when Murali was called for throwing and Arjuna led his team to the boundary, in protest, but cleverly refrained from crossing it. I was watching TV in Colombo. As a past captain I asked myself what I would have done in Arjuna's place. In my mind I had no hesitation in supporting his decision. A few minutes later the phone rang. The President of the Board called to ask for advice. I said Arjuna was right because a captain must, on the field, stand up for his men and protect them, but the consequences must not be allowed to go too far; good lawyers must be engaged and a reasonable compromise must be reached. That was done.

During that tour I paid an official visit to Australia. My friend the Australian foreign minister in the course of a dinner speech invited me to go with him the next day to Adelaide , his home town, to watch the final day's play. I knew what the result was going to be. In my reply I said that at the end of the match I did not want to be the one to tell him that Australia had "won by a Hair". Accordingly, I went back home, as planned, to maintain the good relations that we have with Australia..

Foreign ministers sometimes find themselves in very difficult situations. Take the case of the Foreign Minister of Uganda. President Idi Amin told him that he wanted to change the name of Uganda to Idi. The minister was asked to canvas world opinion and return in two weeks. He did not do so. He was summoned and asked to explain. He said: "Mr. President, I have been informed that there is a country called Cyprus. Its citizens are called Cypriots, If we change the name of our country to 'Idi' our citizens would be called... “Idiots". Reason prevailed.

A story goes that a shark was asked why diplomats were his preferred food. He replied "because their brains being small are a tasty morsel, their spines being supple I can chew on them at leisure - and they come delightfully marinaded in alcohol."

Ladies and Gentlemen, as I approach the close of this brief address I wish to speak directly to our Sri Lankan team. Today we lost a match. But you lost to the rain and Duckworth and Lewis. You did not lose to England. Only a few weeks ago you had a resounding victory against South Africa. You will win again tomorrow. What is important is to keep up your confidence and spirits.

All of us, your fellow countrymen and women, have been enormously impressed in recent times by the commitment, discipline, athleticism and determination that you have displayed in the field. The people are with you. We all know that each and every one of you, are constantly busy honing your skills. We can see that you are maintaining a high standard of physical fitness. When the people see this it gives them not only immense pleasure but the moral upliftment that Sri Lankans are capable of in rising to the challenge of sustained performance.

Every team loses. It takes two to play a game. One has to lose. It is the manner in which you play the game which gives the promise of success to come. It is a great pleasure to see how youngsters are being drafted into the national team. Our team is united; it reflects all the races and religions of our country. Cricket, like all international sport today, is highly competitive; and so it must be, and so it must remain. It must always be regarded as a very high honour to represent one's country at any sport.

All of you are role models for our youth. They will be looking to see how you take defeat. To exult in victory is easy, to remain well balanced in defeat is a mark of maturity. Do not allow yourselves to be disturbed by the armchair critics who will no doubt engage in a display of theoretical learning on how the game was played. Many of these critics have never put bat to ball. It makes them feel good to indulge in the past time of amateur criticism. They do not know what it is to face fast bowling in fading light; to engage in a run race against daunting odds; to find the stamina and sheer physical endurance to spend concentrated hours in the field of play. They know nothing of the psychological pressure that modern sportsmen are subject to. Therefore, my advice to you is - ignore them. Go your way with customary discipline and methodical preparation for the next game, the next series in different parts of the world under different conditions.

For me it has been a great pleasure and an honour to be here with you tonight. When I was invited to be the Chief Guest at this occasion on my way to New York for the General Assembly of the United Nations, I accepted with eager anticipation of meeting our cricketers and relaxing for a moment.

Nobody told me that I had to make a speech, until last night when it dawned on me then that there is no such thing as a free dinner!"

India: The New Minnow in Cricket?

India's second loss, in a row, to Zimbabwe is quite shameful indeed.

The Indian tigers now just seem to be purring like pussy cats in front of the Zimbabwean lions.

Surely, the politics and sleaze associated with cricket in India has taken its toll, a very heavy toll indeed. Very soon we could see a repeat of what happened to Indian hockey decades ago if nothing is done to arrest the downfall down.

I was never a big fan of the game nor do I still claim to be. I am not an expert on the game, but there are a few things that I am absolutely convinced about.

Firstly, we need to get the basics right. Cricket is a game. If played well, success will come and so will money. But, the business aspect is secondary and subservient to the sporting aspect.

Secondly, fitness and technique is something the players should focus on or rather should be made to focus on. Post-match parties, drinking binges and brawls, chasing pretty chicks and soliciting commercials are secondary to the game.

Thirdly, attitude is everything. The Aussies have shown it time and again. We simply seem to lack it.

Somehow, we seem to lack a vision in cricket as well. And it seems all is well as long as the BCCI is able to rake in the moolah.

Sad but true. If things don't change, twenty years on, India will be a minnow in international cricket.