Tomichan Matheikal's blog

Illustration by Copilot Designer Why did India agree to play Pakistan at all if the animosity runs so deep that Indian players could not even extend the customary handshake: a simple ritual that embodies the very essence of sportsmanship? Cricket is not war, in the first place. When a nation turns a game into a war, it does not defeat its rival; it only wages war on its own culture, poisoning its acclaimed greatness. India which claims to be Viswaguru , the world’s Guru, is degenerating itself day after day with mounting hatred against everyone who is not Hindu. How can we forget what India did to a young cricket player named Mohammed Siraj , especially in this context? In the recent test series against England, India achieved an unexpected draw because of Siraj. 1113 balls and 23 wickets. He was instrumental in India’s series-levelling victory in the final Test at the Oval and was declared the Player of the Match. But India did not celebrate him. Instead, it mocked him for his o...

General Syed Asim Munir Ahmed Shah, Pakistan’s Army Chief, is a very religious person who memorised the entire Quran as a student and earned the title of ‘Hafizi-Quran.’ He quotes the holy book while navigating the ungodly terrains of geopolitics. A year back he declared that Pakistan, under his leadership, is “waging jihad in the path of Allah and success will be ours. The Pakistani army’s objective and principle is to be shahid (martyr) or ghazi (god’s warrior).” Munir had just overthrown Imran Khan as Prime Minister in a ‘parliamentary coup’ orchestrated by him and then set up himself as the army chief as well as the Messiah of Pakistan. Being a very religious person, he took upon himself the noble mission of pointing out to the PM that his wife, Bushra Bibi, had shady economic dealings. Imran Khan, being not so religious, chose to act not against his corrupt spouse but against the whistle-blower. Munir lost his post as the Head of ISI, Pakistan’s notorious Intelligence agency. ...

Mr Narendra Modi has come a long way from the Gujarat of 2002.  The real war is a psychological one, he has learnt.  It is very easy to rouse up the rabble and set ablaze anything.  Rousing up people’s imagination is the tough job.  A real leader’s task is precisely that.  And that’s what Mr Modi did in Kerala yesterday. Look at what he said in Kerala yesterday.  India will not forget Uri.  Mr Modi knows as well as Mark Antony that public memory is like the thistledown caught in the wind.  And Mr Modi is as good an orator as Mark Antony.  He knows how to win over hearts just like the Roman conqueror.  “When we think of Kerala, we think of God’s Own Country, it has an impression of purity and holiness,” he said to the cheering crowd.  “When I visited gulf countries recently, I wanted to meet my people from Kerala living there.” He knows that Kerala’s economy is sustained by the Malayalis working in those desert sands. ...