Greg Bishop in the
NYTimes notes that the
Diplomatic Doubles Team Is a Contender, Too!
"One recent morning in Los Angeles, a taxi driver turned to the professional tennis doubles team in his back seat. The driver asked where they were from. Pakistan, Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi answered. India, Rohan Bopanna replied. [...] “The older they get, the more they can see the significance of what they’re doing,” said Robert Davis, Qureshi’s longtime coach. “They’re more aware of what they can accomplish.” Not just in sport, but through it. In 1947, when British rule ended, India and Pakistan became separate countries. They have waged three official wars since. Qureshi studied the split in history classes as a child, but neither player said the conflict had influenced his thinking. Both try to stay out of politics. They prefer to tell stories of the Pakistani and Indian fans who come to their matches and sit together, not separated into sides. [...] “I’m telling you, it’s the only time you see fans from India and Pakistan cheering for the same team,” Davis said. “They’ve shown that partition doesn’t equal division.”
In that spirit, I wish you
Happy Birthday, India and Pakistan, and express hope for future exchanges and effective collaborations, especially in this time of
tremendous natural disaster along the Indus.
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