Changing Lanes

India vs Pakistan meet in the semi final of the world cup. Nothing could be bigger than this (apart from them meeting in the final obviously), a cricket freaks wet dream coming true which meant people from India and Pakistan had lost it. Both the countries came to a halt at around 9am GMT with plenty of other countries including UAE affected with their huge sub continent contingent.

I was thrown out of my house by my beloved sister as her friends were coming over to watch the match. I ended up watching the match at ‘Fruit shop at Greams road’ to find some peace (which luckily I did) from all the madness that ensued around me that I mildly witnessed when I did drop by at B&B sports (non-alcoholic) bar nearby where the Pakistani crowd were busy doing their usual chants with ‘Allahu akbar’ thrown into the mix because they can and because they’re idiots (I have a certain dislike towards people who mix religion and sports). Pakistani people can be quite patriotic, but that’s usually booked for matches with arch rivals India and nothing else seeing what state the country is in today. Indians usually (from my experience) are a little subdued (must be the lack of meat in their diets) in comparison unless they’re drunk, then they’d give hooligans a run for their money which is what happened last night after India won that meant someone today in the municipality had a really bad morning cleaning up the mess.

Sports were created to keep the Men busy from killing each other because they always need to vent out their aggression either on their spouse or on each other due to their obvious need to be the Alpha male; we are animals in the end however civilized we may pretend to be. Yesterday was an explicit display of this trait but not by the 22 or so men on the field competing who honestly won a few praises for their sportsmanship but by the millions around the world who will brag about doing nothing because their country won?

Somewhere last night; a father must have beaten his kids, a kid abused by some teenagers, a drunken driving accidents, a suicide, a rape…in the name of jubilation or sorrow. I know it’s been statistically stated that all of these things happen on a daily basis but I wonder if there is a slight spike in it after such epic (?) events. And I am not just talking about people doing stupid things in the moment of it because the next day and possibly the whole next week, thousands of people will be subject to taunts bordering onto abuse in schools, work places and anywhere else that they might meet irrespective of their social or educational background. ‘Its fun’ would be the perfect justification but how often is it fun when you’re on the receiving end…it breaks your heart, doesn’t it?

In the end, it’s not about the sport; it’s about the bragging right which in this case is by pretending to be patriotic. And yes I am being judgmental because that is what I saw, in person or online and WYSIWYG. There might be a few exceptions, but I failed to see any yesterday.

I love cricket, but this is why I prefer playing it and not watching it….