I am not much of an “Aman ki Asha” enthusiast. I am not opposed to it either, just indifferent. But the two media houses involved in this initiative must certainly be feeling that months of bonhomie generated by them is in danger of being extinguished in one fell swoop by Mr. Large Hearted Shahid Afridi. The crass political incorrectness and stupidity of Afridi’s remarks are a throwback to the Javed Miandad era when such sentiments on and off the cricket field were commonplace and defined national pride. Upwardly mobile Indians had started becoming less Pakistan centric in the 2000s until 26/11 brought all that back in a brutal way. That it happened in the heart of India’s biggest metropolis, covered live by media, once again galvanized public outrage against Pakistan. Afridi’s comments will only serve to cement that divide, much to the chagrin of liberals who will be smarting from the gigantic eggs thrown on their face. Criticism of Afridi through words such as ‘unnecessary’ and ‘untimely’ coming from Pakistan will not undo the damage, as more than anything these words are an acknowledgement that the sentiment was not incorrect.
Personally what shocks me most is not the content of Afridi’s doctoral thesis on India and Hindus, but the candidness with which he presented it. An ‘i-care-a-damn-about-consequences’ attitude. The interview would have appeared perfectly at home had it been part of a hidden cam / sting operation reportage. Stereotypes of Hindus amongst Muslims and vice versa are not uncommon in closed quarters, it’s just that in recent times they have never reached the same proportions of say, the anti-Semitic sentiments that were prevalent in Nazi Germany. For those expressing outrage at being called small hearted, I would say relax. As kids a lot of us grow up with similar feelings about other communities, and over time some or all of them get dissipated. Someone remarked funnily on another blog – ‘Relax. Afridi is only 17’. I agree, and would like to add that he is getting younger ala Benjamin Button. His rebuttal to Gambhir and anguish at losing the semi final are classic school boy diatribe which confirm his ever falling age.
Once you shake off the initial jolt of the undiplomatic outburst of Afridi, it is not difficult to see that regional and religious stereotypes abound across the world, not just in the subcontinent. Bollywood makes no bones about its love for ‘Punjabiyat’ which has become synonymous with ‘live life to the fullest’ philosophy. Large heartedness to which Afridi was alluding is believed to be a sub-set of this Punjabiyat. (To its credit Bollywood has seldom indulging in bashing other religions or cultures). South Indians tend to dislike the brashness and feudal arrogance of North Indians, who return the gesture by making snide remarks on their skin colour and lack of aggression courtesy eating too much rasam rice. Bengalis are much ridiculed for their couch warming brand of intellectualism and lack of entrepreneurship while Gujaratis are singled out for their money mindedness. The likes of Shiv Sena and MNS in Maharasthra have fed on the insecurities of marginalized Maharashtrians who get further agitated when terms like lazy and trade unionist are thrown at them. Admittedly all these are easier attacks to deal with and are sometimes laughed off by the recipients themselves. But once you add religion and nationhood to the equation, the sense of humor is lost.
There are a few things which are tremendously irritating about the levels of stupidity to which Afridi has plummeted. The first is equating religion with a certain kind of behavior. I wonder what his great theory has to say about the size of hearts of Muslims in Bangladesh, China, Malaysia, Turkey and Nigeria, all countries with sizeable Muslim populations which are very culturally different from each other, and at the same time very similar to their neighbors who follow a different religion. The second is his absolute disregard (or ignorance) of media reports in India praising his captaincy in bringing his beleaguered team to the semi final stage. I am pretty much sure that Afridi has been getting an overdose of India TV and IBN7 while ignoring some more meaningful stuff (albeit still with a degree of sensationalism) on other channels or print media. In a way, it is a reminder that trashy journalism can be a poor cultural ambassador. The last and most unfortunate effect is that he has forced Muslim religious leaders in India to feel that they have an obligation to defend themselves and their community. Like with any other terrorist act, they now have to come out and clean someone else’s garbage.
Afridi would be well advised to look in his own backyard of Pashtun dominated tribal regions where intolerance towards religious minorities and persecution of women is standard fare. Maybe he has something to say about the massive support for Mumtaz Qadri, the killer of Salman Taseer. Or the way Veena Malik was grilled by a “100% better media” for getting cuddly with a Hindu Ashmit Patel on an Indian reality show. Large Heartedness all these ain't. But then, he is only 10 years old and not getting any wiser. There is only how much a kid can make you angry. So I have decided to chill and advise others to do the same.
The bizarre does not end here however. I heard that the Gujarat government has declared a princely cash prize of Rs 1 lakh for Munaf Patel and Yusuf Pathan, the only two players from the rich Indian state of Gujarat in the Indian cricket team, and coincidentally both Muslims. If there is one thing that trumps Afridi in stupidity, it is this. I am willing to believe, naively though that this was an error of Chinese whispers, of a written sort, where zeroes kept getting dropped and an amount of 1 Cr got reduced to 1 lakh. I refuse to believe that Modi and his government are so stupid as to invite yet another round of accusations of being communal, an image they have been trying hard to change. I might be proved wrong, which would make it an interesting situation.
Did we need the Gambhirs/Afridis to tell us how the two countries feel about each other? I would have been interested if the statements were something like:
ReplyDeleteGambhir: The victory would HEAL iodine deficiency in Guinea Bissau, and
Afridi: Gaulians have BIGGER butts than the rest of the world :))
On a more serious note, we need to realise that if we can't be friends we can at least try to be civilised foes, and that it is imperative to get rid of the "kala pathers" (probably best piece of media ever:)) that block such a thing to materialise.