WHO WON THE INDIA-PAK CONTEST, TODAY?








Pic.: Indu Varier

Well, India won the first World-cup contest against Pakistan, today... and, won it handsomely. There were several high-points during the contest. The solid batting power of Kohli, Dhawan and Raina, the sensible bowling by Yadav, Ashwin and others, the inspired fielding and, above all, fine captaincy by Dhoni…

Yes, these were the visible and obvious high-points. Everybody has duly acknowledged them. But, to me, there was a high-point even before the first ball was delivered today in Adelaide. I do not know if many had noticed it, leave alone acknowledge it…

It was the customary line-up of the two teams for their National anthems. Lined up in front of the players were pretty little-children, most probably from the host nation, Australia… The first to be played was Pakistan’s national anthem. The moment the first note was heard, I saw all the children standing before the Pakistani players took off their caps as a solemn mark of respect… Even though it was not their national anthem and even though they didn't understand a word of it. And, as the camera moved over the Pak players one after one, I was surprised: more than half of them did not do what the little children had done!

I am not writing about it to make an issue out of it. Fortunately, all the Indian players had taken off their caps when Jana-Gana was played. I am not trying to tell through this, that Indians – including myself – showed more respect to their national anthem than the Pakistanis showed to theirs. Certainly, there is much more to respect for one’s national anthem than taking off one’s cap or standing up erect. What I want to drive home, here, is, that the best time to instill values – including respect for our national anthems – is when we are little children…

Today, in the midst of this ‘high-point’, I was left a lot humbled by those little children… I had never been so inspired, before, to show respect to others’ national anthems... I was never been so alive, before, to such ‘little’ values… yes, as I was, today!

So, I stand up and take off my cap, one more time… this time around, for those lovely Australian children!


GERALD D’CUNHA


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