There has been a storm on some blogs about how much importance should Indians give to Bharat-Pakistan matches. People who live in an alternate dimension where all economic assumptions are actually true and the value of anything is the tangible utility that can be extracted from it fail to understand the feelings that rise in the collective Indian bosom when Tendlya hits a four, and the difference when Tendlya hits a Paki bowler for a four. If we were playing Australia, which is a far better team and beating who would make us more respected in the world cricket arena, most people would care less.

It's interesting, how the human mind works. Mike Tyson might enjoy beating the crap out of people in the ring [i mean, he does that for a living, doesn't he?], but if Lennox Lewis's brother called his mama names and slapped his younger brother a couple of times and Lennox stood by and laughed, he is going to enjoy beating the crap out of him more. It's that simple.

It's like The Godfather. It's not personal, it's business. Or in this case, dispensation of justice. We had to beat Pakistan sometime on our way to collecting the World Cup, so it might as well be annihilation. Let Tendlya be the messenger of the nuclear innuendo. People cheer when Anwar whacks Zaheer and when Tendlya whacks Akhtar because they are doing what Musharraf and Atal cannot do. People look at it as vengeance wreaked for every Pakistani or Indian life lost at the border. If the relatives of the people who have lost their lives in Kargil feel avenged by Tendulkar thrashing Akhtar like a rag doll, so be it. What's your problem? You haven't lost anyone to a terrorist car bomb, have you? So it might be hard for you to comprehend.

People who have lost dear ones in Kashmir, they see in every Pakistani the person who contributed to that bullet that took the life of their son, father or brother, and they are right in thinking so. I mulled over why educated wealthy individuals decided to crash planes into the WTC, and I can't say I blame Palestinians for treating suicide bombers like heroes. I don't see any reason why Pakistanis should hate India, but for helping out Bangladeshis when Pakistan used the "All Muslims are equal, but some are more equal than others" on them. I mean, a good Muslim would be all for upholding the equality in Islam, even if an army of mostly kafirs was doing the upholding. In opposition to that, as citizens of a democratic country, Pakistanis are personally responsible for every Indian soldier that is killed by a terrorist sponsored by Pakistan.

And this includes the 11 men who could do nothing to stop Tendulkar yesterday.

In summation, a Bharat-Pakistan match is not a match, it's more. And this is not just cricket, you will see this rush of pleasure when India beats Pakistan in any contest. And I am sure the same holds true for Pakis when Pakistan beats India.

I love imitating Atal, so here goes:

Aur kisi ke liye yuddha bhumi ho na ho, parantu samasta bharatiya janagano ke liye yah ek aisi vijay ka pratik hai, jisase vah antarrashtriya dabav ke karan vanchit hain. ham naitik rup se aise bhavo ka samarthan nahi karte, aur hamari kamana hai ki yah sangh akhil bharatiyon ka shir abhiman se uncha karega.

Afterthought
If people can move from irrational outrage to civilised hatred, why can't people move from this panzoid emotion of irrational tolerance to the same? It's not like tolerance is the best solution we have here, is it? At least I was brought up thinking that as long as dharma is being upheld, establishment of peace and brotherhood is a foregone conclusion. But then, there are miscreants disturbing the peace, and there is an entire nation behind them, and this cannot stand. There are some things that just cannot be tolerated, the abortion of babies for example, but that makes for another interesting discussion.

Abhay sent me this link last night after we returned from Rohan's place, jubilant.

OK. So the GOD played for the devil once. But remember, even the alleged son of god, saviour to many simple people, lord god Jesus Christ walked through hell and that experience just tempered him and so I am not surprised that the GOD did play for the devil once.

But kindly remember, that was 87-88, and the Kashmir militancy was just beginning. Vast numbers of Kashmiri Indians weren't streaming into the rest of India, beleaguered, homeless, with minds scarred with terror that had been known only to their ancestors many centuries ago as the hordes of Mughals, Afghans and Huns kept ravaging their beautiful and peaceful land. Prozac Rajiv was the Indian premier, genial Imran was the Paki captain and we had just hosted a World Cup together.

Today the story is different. Not content with killing Indians in just Kashmir, terrorists who are fed by the Paki taxpayer are killing Indians in mainland India. They have struck at our Parliament. They have attacked wives and children of Indian military servicemen. We did nothing, lack of evidence it seems. But let me put it this way, the average Indian today hates everything the Pakistani constitution represents more than he did 15 years ago.

I am sure Pakistanis have their fair share of people worth befriending, as do we. I respect the ones I did befriend, and I support Indians forming friendships with Pakistanis as I support Pakistani sportsmen and artistes seeking asylum in India, but on no day will I stand and watch while some Pakistani tries to justify what his government has wrought upon us. So, like Churchill said, if you are going to kill your enemy, it doesn't hurt to be polite.

On another note, special thanks go out to the all merciful Allah, for listening to the prayers of kafir-loving Indian Muslims, that was really a nice gesture, man, what with the nasty rumour going around that you require and empower Muslims to hate their kafir neighbours and all, surely perpetrated by some war-mongering mullah from Pakistan.

You know what the best thing is? Pervez Musharraf, who said that Indians refused to play in Pakistan because we were scared of a beating, has been slapped square in the face. I hope Nirupama Rao takes a crack at him on this line, pretty much like how Zaheer took one at Latif's head.

There is no GOD but Sachin, and he has no messenger. He delivers his message himself.

This is the only canon in this religion of cricket.

"We have beaten them fourth time in a row, and it felt good", GOD said, after giving the fastest bawler in the world a thrashing that his mom should have given him years ago, and the crowds cheered wildly.

Watching Tendulkar bat is better than having sex, people say, and though I cannot testify that right now, I must admit, watching Saching is very enjoyable. A friend remarked, "If the ball took 10 minutes to reach the cover boundary, I would have no desire to have sex." I concur, wholeheartedly.

So let Jesus and Kalki take a hike on their white horse, GOD has descended to be with us, to show us the path of upholding the good while punishing the evil without getting involved in the very act. His dominance over the Paki bowlers who were sweating bravado before the match, was never in question. Akhtar was taken off the attack after his first over. I hope he is permanently scarred because of that.

The demi-gods flashed their scintillating blades and thundering volleys as well. Zaheer made short work of Latif and Anwar. Who said Bharatiya bowlers did not have khunnas? Yuvraj showed the Paki pace trio what their real worth is.

This is all I want now, and I will be rolling in delight. I want Atal Bihari to make a call to Musharraf tomorrow and say, "Cricket mein to haar jeet hoti rehti hai. Khair, agli match jeetne ka prayas karna. Varna jo Kenya jaisa sadharan sangh bhi kar saka, vah tum nahi kar sakoge, aur ye ati sharm ki baat hogi." Click

PS:

Friend: everyone has posted only on indias win, everyone.
Friend: hehe
I: It's not about India's win.
Friend: It so is.
I: It's about India's win over Pakistan.

Narayan Vaman Tilak: Christ through Tukaram

Some work done by a Columbia Univ. guy about him

This describes him as a revivalist Marathi poet.

I found a poem written by the dude, unfortunately in English. I reproduce it here. I liked it.
One who is all unfit to count

One who is all unfit to count
As scholar in Thy school,
Thou of Thy love hast named a friend
O kindness wonderful!

Thou dwellest in unshadowed light,
All sin and shame above
That Thou shouldst bear our sin and shame,
How can I tell such love?

Ah, did not He the heavenly throne
A little thing esteem,
And not unworthy for my sake
A mortal body deem?

When in His flesh they drove the nails,
Did He not all endure?
What name is there to fit a life
So patient and so pure?

So, Love itself in human form,
For love of me He came;
I cannot look upon His face
For shame, for bitter shame.

If there is aught of worth in me
It comes from Thee alone;
Then keep me safe, for so, O Lord,
Thou keepest but Thine own.

The introduction here is indeed right. I am intimidated, intimidated by anyone who tries to tell me that my shell of unrealistic escapism, religion that is, might be wrong, and the only way to save myself from the consequences of this blunder is to adopt his shell of unrealistic escapism. Brrr....

By the way, isn't "Zo ze vaanchhila to te laaho" [Who what desires, he that may get.] better than "To all men all things"? I mean, they appear quite similar to the lay man. To the techie, though, it's clear that the former has a smarter client, while in the latter, the server takes major load in dispense. Also in the former, there seems to exist no dispensing authority like it does in the latter, which might change it's mind one fine day and set up privileged access to resources. But in the former system there is nothing to prevent one from desiring something that might cause harm to other systems. But then all systems have this privilege, eventually the clients will realise the merit of co-operation and we will have a perfect world. D. Kulkarni, you the man!

There are many more poems of Tilak on the TAMAT site, in case you liked the one here.