Ball, Bat & Brotherhood

Shahid Afridi and Ahmad Shahzad. Kumar Sangakarra and Mahela Jayawerdene. Yuvraj Singh and Zaheer Khan. Shane Warne and Kevin Pieterson. Shoaib Akhtar and Brett Lee. Viv Richards and Ian Botham. Imran Khan and Kapil Dev.
From Barbados to Brisbane, there are numerous examples of brotherly camaraderie both on and off the cricketing field.
In this day and age of verbal altercations, graceless gestures, bat stomping and blatant disregard for the umpire’s presence, a lifelong, respectful friendship between teammates or rivals should be cherished rather than chastised.
During the Pakistan-Sri Lanka tour of the UAE in 2013, post-net practice at Sharjah stadium was refreshing as the younger Sri Lankan players made physiotherapist Steve Mount bat. They then took it in turns to commentate, pretend to be Hawk-Eye and just rib him good-humouredly. The fact that he withstood the onslaught with a few contagious laughs, made all the difference to the ambience in the team.
Personal dynamics change the way sportsmen play on the field too. On the rare occasion when two friends off the field are batting together – the most recent example being that of current top-scoring Sri Lankans Kumar Sangakarra and Mahela Jaywardene – one senses there is a feeling of trust that allows one batsman to hit freely, knowing he has a safety net at the non-striker’s end. It is common knowledge that these two batsmen have invested in the same seafood restaurant, showing a level of faith in one another that will extend far beyond the twilight of their cricketing careers.
In 2014, Imran Khan hosted a Dubai fund-raiser for his Shaukat Khanum Hospital. His electrifying presence coupled with then-interim chairman of BCCI, Sunil Gavaskar, resulted in both Indians and Pakistanis coming together to contribute to a noteworthy cause.
Within the current Cricket World Cup squad, Pakistan’s magnetic bowling all-rounder Shahid Afridi has nurtured many a younger player such as Ahmad Shahzad, Umar Akmal and Sohaib Maqsood professionally and has even gone so far as to enourage them to sign with his own agent, knowing their careers needed an initial push to direct them towards the correct trajectory.
When controversial England batsmen Kevin Pieterson was released from the England team for his allegedly unruly behavior, former Australian spin great Shane Warne defended him. He did this, knowing it might be at the detriment of the goodwill he had fostered whilst playing for English counties.
Why then are these friendships dissected by social media critics? Perhaps only a fellow player can understand the cut-throat ranking rivalries, merciless media pressure, former cricketers’ ruthless criticisms, monumental fan expectations and other daunting complexities of professional sport. A player facing these many obstacles on tour, would understandably turn towards a friendship that has no twists and turns, no manipulation but just old-fashioned, brotherly bonding away from the comforts of home.

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Dolly Ki Doli mein Cricket Ka Mela

Arbaaz Khan-produced and debutant Abhishek Dogra-directed film Dolly Ki Doli has three relatively unknown male actors starring it, leaving actress Sonam Kapoor to carry it  on her delicate shoulders.
In a press conference organized by Dubai’s handlers of most Bollywood events, Dreams Advertising, it took a while for the media to get to the desired location. This was purely because it was in a relatively undeveloped area, albeit in a well-preserved hotel. But Arbaaz’s easy demeanour and crooner Rahat Fateh Ali Khan’s stoic charm soon melted the hearts of the largely-female journalists.
The star attraction of the film, Sonam Kapoor spoke at length of how proud she was that 2014 was a watershed year for female-centric scripts in Bollywood.
Co-producer Malaika Arora Khan gave the impression she was the lady in charge, answering difficult questions with ease and directing the press to be prompt in their one-on-one interviews.
It did not escape the Pakistani press’ attention, however, that Rahat Fateh Ali Khan seemed a bit more subdued than usual. He enraptured everyone with a beautiful rendition of his hit song from the film, ‘Mere naina kafir hogaye.’ As always the musical collaboration between Rahat and Arbaaz Khan Productions, appears to have hit the target.

The most enjoyable part of the press meet, was when the ARY News crew requested a light-hearted cricket chat with Arbaaz and Rahat and they gamely agreed. Taking advantage of the moment, we asked if they ever get into a verbal spat with one another, during India-Pakistan matches. Laughing at our audacity but taking it all in good humour, they both insisted that their friendship overcomes all other confines.
Rahat did not appear to entirely believe that all-rounder Shahid Afridi will retire after the upcoming Cricket World Cup, but he did say that he would be supporting him wholeheartedly.

Arbaaz showed his sporting spirit by speaking glowingly about the Pakistani team’s chances in the tournament and saying that as Pakistan have won on those shores previously, India will have to be alert.
The camaraderie between the two and the subsequent talk of ‘On D-Day – February 15^th- the losing team supporter has to order the biryani,’ showed a professional comfort that goes beyond country contests or opposing film industries.
Dolly Ki Doli is releasing globally on 23 January and is being touted as the desi version of ‘Runaway Bride.’

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Salman Khan – Double Take

At times scintillating, at others, sedate. Whatever the fancy of this superstar’s many a myriad mood, he-who- needs-no-introduction, Salman Khan, is always bewitching.
As selected press gathered for an intimate press conference, they were informed that he had only just left for a gold store appearance in Dubai’s desi area, better known as Meena Bazaar. The thought of waiting a few hours for him to return in heavy weekend traffic, did not bother a single scribe, because the Dubai myth is that someone high up shares a good friendship with the actor and he would be given a police escort back to the venue.

Obama Warns India on Minorities Rights

President Barrack Obama’s recent visit to India has been dubbed a “bromance” by India media, as both Obama and Modi enjoyed tea together in a lotus garden, broadcast-ed a radio show together, and spent two hours conversing in a rain-splashed military parade. However, on the concluding day of his visit, President Obama pleaded for freedom of religion to be upheld in India. Although President Obama made no direct reference to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) or its auxiliary fanatic Sangh Parivar, whose rise to power has encouraged the Hindu fanatics to work on the agenda of Hindutva – Hindutva a clear agenda of Hindunization of India.

Obama warned India not to divert from its constitutional obligation to allow its citizen to freely “profess, practice and propagate” religion.  He said ‘Your Article 25 (of the Indian constitution) says that all people are ‘equally entitled to freedom of conscience and the right freely to profess, practice and propagate religion. India will succeed so long as it is not splintered along the lines of religious faith, as long as it is not splintered along any lines and it is unified as one nation. He added “In both our countries, in all countries, upholding this fundamental freedom is the responsibility of government, but it’s also the responsibility of every person.”
President Obama may not have known that the explanation of the article 25 of the Indian Constitution itself is considered to be controversial. The explanation of article 25 curtails the religious identity of Sikhs, Jains and Buddhists of India by not recognizing them as separate religious entity and treating them as Hindus.
Prior, Obama’s visit to India, human right activists initiated an online petition to the White House, urging Obama to stress upon Modi to “preserve and promote the religious freedom” of minorities and raise concerns about reports of violence against Christians.
Only days after warning in New Delhi about the need to promote religious forbearance, Obama pleaded the same during a speech in Washington. He described India as a place where “religious faiths of all types have, on occasion, been targeted by other peoples of faith, simply due to their heritage and their beliefs”. He added, ‘Mahatma Gandhi would have been shocked by communal violence in the mainly Hindu country.’ Obama’s comments came on the same day that a protest in Delhi by Christians to condemn a sequence of attacks on churches ended in clashes with police that saw a nun knocked to the ground in the violence.