International cricket Reloaded

After the attack in 2009 on Sri Lankan cricket team, Pakistan became a “no-go area” for international teams but long before this the major cricket playing nations like Australia & South Africa became circumspect in touring Pakistan when the New Zealand team was attacked back in 2002.It was quite a blow back to the cricket lovers here in Karachi as it has been hosting matches every year at the very popular National Stadium.

It was a ground that welcomed the top teams like Australia, New Zealand, England, India, Sri Lanka, West Indies & South Africa from 1980-2002. The cheers and the roars of the crowed echoed in the ground and its reminiscence can still be felt. The city that was known as the “city of light” and for its famous “hippie trail” lost everything at the hands of religion except sports but the monster of terrorism succeeded in piercing its jaws deep into international cricket.

It was 21^st April 2002 when New Zealand team played its last ODI in Karachi. But since then Karachi could never host the black caps, Kangaroos, English &Protease again because of that ill-fated bomb blast attack on Kiwis during the same tour. Since then only four cricket playing nations named India, Srilanka, Bangladesh & Zimbabwe visited Pakistan till 2009. During this period Sri Lankans were the only nation who persisted with touring Pakistan regularly &tried their level best to keep international cricket alive in country until they were attacked on their way to Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore in the year 2009, putting an end to the glorious chapter of international cricket in Pakistan.

PCB and government did little to restore peace and convince the international teams to revisit Pakistan for cricket. Like its tourist destinations, the Pakistani cricket grounds were left barren not even attracting the locals to congregate matches. It was 2006 when hopes of die-hard cricket lovers in Pakistan went high, with the decision of ICC to announce Pakistan as the host nation for world cup 2011. Those hopes even died when ICC later on decided to shift the venues from Pakistan to India, Bangladesh & Srilanka due to security threats.

After that, even our countrymen lost the faith in the restoration of peace as well as cricket in Pakistan until October20, 2012. When under the captaincy of Sanath Jaysuria, top former and current cricket players from South Africa, West Indies, Sri Lanka and Afghanistan played their first World XI match in the ever-known National Stadium.

The stadium attracted flocks of cricket lovers who fervently came to see the much loved sport for continuously two days.  It was a full house for both the matches as youngsters & families had come in large numbers to support their national heroes back to international arena. It was the effort of Sindh Sports Minister and the international players who did their utmost to revive cricket in Karachi and giving National Stadium its old status. We as a nation pay tribute to the international players from all the four countries with special thanks to Sanath Jaisuria who agreed to come to Pakistan with all odds.  We as nation hope that these matches will prove to be a new beginning for the revival of international cricket in Pakistan. We look for a comeback of those days when cricket was much thrived into the veins of every Karachiite and Pakistani with a promise of security for the life of every citizen and visitor, be it a sportsman or a hippie on his trail for enlightment.

The Pandemonium of T20 Cup

The T20 World Cup has ended with celebrations for West Indies as they rise to championship by claiming the victory on the day it most mattered. But has it left the same happiness for the rest of us. We could hear up stories of match fixing and Pakistan winning almost all its matches with some of its crucial players out of form.

Boom Boom Afridi failed to show any satisfactory performance by claiming only 4 wickets and 16 runs in the whole tournament was a bit of a disgrace for a player of his stature. With every fixture, our captain, due to immense pressure, lost his ability to make rational decision and we could see its outcome in our last match-the Semi-final.

Not to be sardonic, but I really cheer the performance of Umar Akmal and Nasir Jamshed, had the latter been not sent back to the pavilion in his last semifinal innings due to poor (may be fixed according to indian recent reports) judgment, he may have been declared man of the series (just to exaggerate).

For us, the T20 series ended here but it seems our neighbors, with whom we not only share border, culture but also the ancestors-“Mera Baharat Mahan” could still find something interesting. The humoristic Indians could always find something funny in our loss and that I truly appreciate.

But things soon turned sour and our Indian brothers became mudslingers. They have started blaming a total of six umpires who were ready to be bribed for spot-fixing and match-fixing. Had not been the two Pakistani umpires be involved in this blame, I would not have bothered to write this piece.

 But my dear brothers, you are playing with my patriotism. If these umpires were ready to make wrong decision then I would like to point out to the Indian media that an umpire made a wrong decision for one of our players Nasir Jamshed that cost us the loss of an important match. I would like to ask the Indian media their take on this poor judgment, as the mistake was very clear. 

Death of Lehri

My first blog on Express Tribune
http://blogs.tribune.com.pk/story/13900/a-day-from-the-life-of-lehri/

Letter To Mohd. Ali Jinnnah

Happy Death Anniversary or perhaps should I say quite sad at your demise.

Whatsoever, I am writing to you again so that you can excuse me and my 'like-minded' patriots for not dedicating their day to you. Well we really planned to show our love for you by posting all your visionary quotes and sayings but Allah showered us with His blessing "RAIN" 

I and my friends who are staunch Muslims and are part of Islamic Republic of Pakistan find it obligatory to thank and praise the Mighty God...oh no....I meant Allah for His showers of blessings. No matter if I am updating my status of having pakoras and pani puri (aka gol guppay, though I don't like the to be called "gol guppay") in this rain or I may have shared quite a picturesque image of my city when it's raining. Mr. JinnahI am thanking my Allah for giving me the chance to have the pakoras, gol guppas and the long drive. Had Allah not opened his sky for the rainfall, I would not have been able to enjoy the treats.

Quaid-e-Azam, please forgive me for not sharing posts related to you but you should give me the credit that I gave you much more importance than my "Mahi Baap" which my conventional media failed to do. But as a true believer, it is my responsibility to talk about rain and its treats. 

Well, I and my patriotic friends promise to remember you again on December but no! We have got this soft side for the minorities. Oh! this is what we learned from you...it was you who years back supported the cause of the minorities and gifted us with an Islamic homeland where we, only "we" ( I don't know, if shias and quadianis come under the banner of "WE") are free to practice and preach our religion. By the way, I was telling you why won't I be able to dedicate 25th December to you. I will be celebrating Christmas with my Christian sisters and brothers. So, please Mr. Quaid, I hope you understand....but I tell this a year from today I and friends are going to dedicate our whole 24 hours.

To be precise, it is 11 months 2 or 3 days, I guess when I will be praising your sacrifices and will show all my love for you. I guess 24 hours of praise are enough for your years of struggle and loss of life. You should feel honored for all the sweet and emotional words that we as a nation utter in your eminence.

I hope you would have excused me and my patriotic friends for making a false promise. Inshallah or should it be Insha' ALLAH ( I don't want a mullah with his follower raising slogans of me being a disbeliver or worst an alley of you-know-who. Well! the nightmare could be they getting thirsty for my blood), I will write about you after 11 months and 2-3 days. So, I end my letter here with all my apologies.

Regards,

Your Nation

The Pakistan Day for Me

As I was on my way back home, I saw people celebrating the Pakistan Day...playing songs and putting up disco lights. It was a kind of a shock and surprise to me as this was the first time that I had experienced it. A rush of joy grasped me and I was quite enjoying the songs and the spirit of being GREEN! A thought struck me that we are the nation who celebrate independence twice a year without even realizing it. And I felt great about it.....this is our first independence.....the independence of thought when we were able to conceive the idea of separate homeland. 23rd March was the day when Pakistan was born for us....a day when we started to think apart from what was obvious.

This was a new and bizarre idea at the first. With strong determination and true dedication, this thought became the reality in the form of Pakistan on 14 August 1947. Days progress and we anticipated to reach new levels of development but the history changed its course. Rather, we had improved with time, we started shrinking ourselves into a box. We had chained our mind, thoughts and have divided ourselves into sects and creeds.

Every year we celebrate the independence of thought on 23rd March but we forget to broaden the horizon of our thinking. I may be sounding a little pessimist to say, but this is what I had felt throughout my 30 minutes drive. A part of me was happy to see all this celebration but on the other hand I grieved for our narrow thoughts.

A documentary made by me

It is my first attempt and i need your comments and feedback to further make improvements in my work. Looking forward for your feedback

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uX-72WnF2A8

Seeping through the seas

No one to hear my whispers

No one to call my name

Jumped in the pit of love

I have become a part of you

But yet so alone

Wandering through the corridors of memories

I fall deep into those moments of joys

Sharing the delights of life

I have become a part of you

 But yet so alone

Whipping the tears of my desolation

Walking past those circles of happiness

I still  see you in the mirror of my eyes

The call to peace is futile

I am restless and so am I alone