I was out for some function I had to attend. It was supposed to be for upcoming authors and I being a new author round the corner having published few books was looking forward to attend the seminar.
People and authors attending the seminar were a bit discontented with the way the seminar was held and the topics covered weren’t as helpful to the new authors – it was more of glorifying established authors. Further it was being held on a day every Indian wanted to have a free time – though it was a Sunday.
It was a day where ICC had a tournament going on and seemed like every Indian wanted to watch the match between India and Pakistan – the so called arch rivals.
After a disappointing seminar I ventured out thinking as to what had made me attend the seminar in first place – I would have been sitting at home or with my friends enjoying the match.
Unfortunately, my vehicle had been taken away by my mechanic for the scheduled servicing and I was at the mercy of local transportation. I reached the bus stop awaiting the bus impatiently. The earlier I could reach home the more action I would be able to watch – with this feeling my patience was being tried…
Finally, I saw the bus taking the turn at the corner and I felt relieved – at least I will be able to catch up with some action that was left when I reach home. I looked around as I boarded the bus. To my amazement, it was pretty empty and I realized that people were at homes following the Sunday match.
I took a seat that was vacant beside a guy who was in his fifties or sixties. The bus conductor approached me and I bought my ticket for the journey and looked around…
Almost, every person in the bus was peeping into his/her respective mobile, watching the cricketing action that was streamed LIVE on the app. I had just one bar left on my mobile and was disappointed for I knew I had to keep mobile on standby till I reached home. So, I peeped into the mobile of old co-passenger hoping to catch a glimpse of the match…
I was surprized, the guy was watching WPL highlights on his mobile and not India Pakistan match which was LIVE. He looked at me peeping into his mobile for an update and smiled at me…
“Do you love your Country more or cricket more?” he asked looking directly at me.
“Of course – I love my Country the most…” was my instant answer.
“Then why do you think we should be watching any match that involves Pakistan?”
“It’s called as arch rivalry and definitely the emotions flow high and as an emotional Indian – I want India to win the match.”
“Do you trade with Pakistan?”
“No – and don’t want to…”
“Then why do you want to support Pakistan cricket by watching the game – even it should be banned.”
I looked at him with some disbelief, “It seems, you don’t like watching cricket.” I seemed to observe.
“What I am watching is WPL – it is women’s cricket… When young, I used to play cricket regularly and I do follow the game. I love this game…”
“Then I am surprized that you are not watching the LIVE match between India and Pakistan.”
“I love my country more… I don’t want to do anything which will provide money to Pakistan in any form so that Pakistan can use it to send terrorists into my Country. The money Pakistan earns is largely used to fund terrorist activities. And I don’t want to be a part of anything that will be Pakistan’s gain to earn money and use it for terrorism… Someone from India dies when the terrorists spray bullets or plant a bomb. I have lost my dear friend in one such bomb blast.”
“I am sorry to hear of that…”
“Don’t be sorry – it was in 2007 that I lost my dear friend. Be careful that you don’t do anything that will be Pakistan’s gain.”
“How can I do that?”
“Simple things like boycotting anything that funds Pakistan. E.g. This cricket match you are trying to watch if you can…”
“How can me watching the match fund Pakistan?”
“Let me explain – you will watch the match. So will other people watch the match… India has a large population and almost everyone will watch the match. This means about 75 million people (I am talking only about half the population of India) will be watching this match…”
“I guess you are correct in your calculation. But, look at it – the LIVE TV gets ads which are Indian – they are Indian channels, people watching on the mobile are using Data charges which grow Indian revenue, plus I am sure Indian Team will win the match which will be an upsurge in the emotions amongst Indians…” I tried to reason.
“Exactly – you said the point I was driving at… LIVE match will give revenue of sponsors to Pakistan as well and it will be in millions of dollars…”
I looked at him not understanding how and he continued…
“Look – they already have received huge amount of money to renovate their venues where matches are going to happen… Looking at the poor quality which they have done the makeover, do you think that the entire money given to them was utilized? Hell no… they have used only some amount and the balance – nobody knows where it has disappeared. You can put two and two together if you have brains – aren’t you hearing news of surge in number of terrorists trying to infiltrate into India from Pakistan has grown in past few days… Why this sudden surge? Obviously, it is because the money given to them for renovation is being used to fund these terrorist activities… If Pakistan is on the verge of financial collapse as they claim – how come surge in terrorist activity sponsored by Pakistan is growing?”
Though odd, I found myself taking interest in this conspiracy theory.
“Further, do you think Pakistan is full of dumbos? I mean look at what they speak on their National TV. Remember the 2023 World Cup? They came out with the theory that India is playing on 2 different pitches – one they use when they ball to the other side and the other which is used when Indian team bats… The switch is made during the break – that too in front of the huge crowd who has come to watch the match.”
“Yes – this seemed odd to me too – how can someone be so stupid?” now I had started wondering about the way he was putting things in the different light the way he looked at it.
“Then they came with a theory that we have inserted chips in the ball that would respond to commands and swing in or swing out… You think that is nonsense right?”
I agreed that it was nothing but nonsense.
“Then they have these youtubers who go around the streets of Lahore mostly – shoving their mikes in mouths of general public asking them for opinions and the opinions we hear are funny because they are stupid and hilariously nonsense…”
“Yes – I have seen quite a few such videos and there seem to be quite a few youtubers who are doing so…” I agreed with him.
“Can’t you see what’s going on, Son?”
I racked my brain to think the way he was thinking and I couldn’t and looked at him blank…
“Ok – let me be more specific. They are now saying stupid things like we have about 22 odd black magicians who are performing black magic on their players so that they lose the match… Millions of people in India are relishing their stupidity. Are you able to watch their TV channels in India?”
“No – they are banned.”
“See my point – you can watch them on your mobile on youtube. Youtube pays for views a channel gets. Let’s consider a simple youtuber who is widely watched in India – can you name one? You also have been contributing to their viewership. Here take my phone and search one youtuber from Pakistan you watch…”
I took his phone and searched and found one Pakistani youtube channel for him.
“Good – what was the last match of India – I believe it was with Bangladesh – when was it held?”
“20th Feb – that was the date and what a match it was…”
“Wait my dear – I will prove a point to you.” Saying thus he started scanning the youtube channel and showed it to me, “Look at that – 4 videos only for this cricket match. On an average they have 230K views each.” He then switched over to google and searched and showed it to me, “See this – for every video having 100K views – youtube pays around 3000USD which means this channel would have earned at least 6000USD per video uploaded. Meaning about 25000USD that day… Scroll the information… they are uploading such videos every day without a break which means they are earning about 9 million USD per year.”
I was stunned at this revelation – never knew so much money was involved.
“Though the inflation is high it’s not that high in Pakistan. If you convert the USD, it works out to almost 75crore Indian rupees. This is for one channel – how many such channels do you know?”
“I guess about 10 at least…”
“This means only the youtubers you know in Pakistan put together earn around 750crore Indian rupees. I have not counted their main stream media earnings on the youtube… Now do you understand the magnitude? Why will they not act stupid? They are earning hefty for showing themselves as stupid. They speak in Urdu not in English – so this stupidity is known only to Indians – other countries don’t understand this language. For them they are not stupid people. Now understand the game – if each channel keeps only 10% of the revenue they earn and pass off 90% to the state that sponsors terrorism – around 600crore Indian rupees are available to Pakistan, (funded by Indian viewers) to promote terrorism in India – fascinating game plan – don’t you think?”
“Oh! I didn’t think his way. I used to enjoy their stupidity the way other uninformed Indians do… What do you suggest?”
“Before going to any Pakistani media think of all those innocent lives on stake because of terrorism. You will get the answer. Block all Pakistani channels from your view so that you are safe and not abating terrorists. Also we should BAN all types of sports with Pakistan including cricket. What is more invaluable – a cup in a tournament or a life that belongs to an Indian national? Further, Pakistan gets a point in UNO – they claim that India is incorrect in trying to project Pakistan as a terrorist state – are we not terrorists when they play sports with us? Think about it… You can always see the LIVE score on various sports websites – use them instead. If nobody in India watches Pakistan matches, the sponsors will lose interest in them and stop sponsoring their teams. This will mean curbing the finance to Pakistan further…”
The bus stop near to my residence was approaching and I took his leave with the thoughts in my mind – what he said seemed to be correct.
What is your say on this – let me know…
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