India and Pakistan

India vs Pakistan. One match all of us have been looking forward to! So, on this exciting day, let me share what I, as a 14-year-old, think of the Indo-Pak rivalry...

There have been many movies over the years that have portrayed the relationship between India and Pakistan. The first few movies that come to my mind are Uri: The Surgical Strike , Shershah, Lakshya and Border . All these movies have a common thread- they highlight the selfless and courageous spirit of our soldiers and have heavy doses of patriotism.

But there is another movie, whose portrayal of the Indo-Pak relation I like the most. It does not even have India vs Pakistan as its central theme. The movie is Gold, which tells the story of free India's first gold medal in hockey. There was a character in the movie, Imtiaz Shah, who was the captain of Indian Hockey Team before independence. But, during partition, he was forced to move across the border and started leading the Pakistan team instead.

If you’ve seen the movie, you would know how friendly the two teams were. Both teams protested against being put in the same group at the Olympics, because that would mean only one would qualify for the next round. With both teams united, the British organizers had to give in to their demands. Imtiaz Shah even came to support India in the finals against Britain after Pakistan was knocked out of the tournament. (Of course, India won the final match, and got the gold medal. That’s why the movie was made).

Watching this movie made me think, what if India and Pakistan were still one country? What if there was no enmity between them? How can people who shared the motherland for so long, and fought against colonizers together, always have disputes with each other? What if Pakistanis supported India after their team got knocked out, and vice-versa, simply because were are neighbours and were once united?

I don’t know why the two countries have so many political issues. But what I do know is that we don’t need to hate the common people of Pakistan, for their country’s policies. There is no need for enmity. Malala Yousafzai belongs to Pakistan, Khushwant Singh, Dr Manmohan Singh and Raj Kapoor were all born in present-day Pakistan.

As the poet James Kirkup has rightly said, “Remember, no men are strange, no countries foreign Beneath all uniforms, a single body breathes […] Let us remember, whenever we are told To hate our brothers, it is ourselves That we shall dispossess, betray, condemn”

I’m not talking about politics. I’m talking about emotions and feelings. I’m as excited as anyone else for today’s Ind vs Pak match, and I’m all set to chant ‘In-dia! In-dia!’. All I’m saying is let’s take the hatred out of it. Star Sports, please stop the ‘Buy 1 Break 1 Free’ and ‘Mauka: More than a Game’ ads. We don’t need to make fun of others to feel better about ourselves. Ind vs Pak is still just a game, one with more emotions and excitement attached to it than any other game.

They say if you change how look at things, the things you look at change. Why not try doing that?

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I hope you enjoyed reading this post. Do like, share and subscribe to never miss another update. Wishing #TeamIndia all the best for their first #WCT20 match!

Love Goohika ✨

P.S. Painting Credits: https://pin.it/5sJeQev