5 things that will change owing to the India-Pakistan encounter

It was said that Sachin Tendulkar could stop time in India when he batted, or at least when he was nearing a century. Everyone made merry if he got to the landmark, and everybody did feel the distress if he didn’t. We have a similar phenomenon on our hands now that has the capability to stop time.Tomorrow is the most important World Cup game for a major chunk of the cricket-viewing population. An estimated 15% of the world’s population will follow the game tomorrow on television.It is more than just a match, and elaborate preparations have already started in view of it. People have cancelled all appointments, made changes to their ordinary Sunday schedule, and it will only be in the evening when somebody will be seen out of their house – one country will rejoice, the other will shut themselves inside the house. Such is the drama that surrounds an Indo-Pak game whenever it happens, and this time, it will be no different.Here are 5 things that will deviate from the ordinary in a common man’s life:

#5 Social media

Cricket, by itself, is set to engulf all of social media for the next 30 hours or so. Be it Facebook or Twitter, everyone, everywhere will be posting updates or tweets regarding the game. Tweets are sure to flood in while the game is on, and all the praises/whacking will follow on Facebook once the game is done and dusted. If India manage to win, their spotless World Cup record against Pakistan will be highlighted once again, if the opposite happens, it will be announced as the beginning of a new era for Pakistan.

You can expect many articles and pieces on the encounter (much like this one) being shared everywhere on social media. People who tend to give free advice to anyone and everyone will be most vocal – they will go ranting about what strategies should have been used or how a particular shot selection could have been better. The usual topics of discussion like politics, religion, and entertainment – everything will take a back seat and only cricket, more specifically the encounter at hand, will be talked about.

#4 People will wake up on time

This is going to be a very different Sunday. People will have shifted their Valentine’s Day plans forward to ensure they wake up on time tomorrow. Working professionals will finish off their extra shifts, and even people who do not follow cricket that much will join in the movement just to see what the hype is. For a change, people can be expected to sleep on time (or even earlier than usual) just to be up and ready for the action tomorrow.

Parents who wake up early and have trouble waking their kids up on holidays, will be spared the trouble this single day. In fact, the kids might surprise parents by waking up before them and getting fully ready and having their breakfast before the toss takes place. Moms will have to take lunch and snacks to the bedroom where the TV is instead of the dining table. Bachelors who don’t have anyone to cook for them will order online, and it will be a huge business boost for the eateries that do home delivery.

#3 Less traffic on roads

The roads will be empty. There is no possibility of any traffic whatsoever when the match is on. That is good news for the traffic police who would want to have a look at the match themselves. This is true only for that the time the match is going on. Once it is done, the winning country will witness hordes of people on the street. Local leaders will carry out rallies, people will get on top of jeeps and buses and go around celebrating the win.

The shopkeepers might as well shut down their shops tomorrow. Unless they have a TV, of course. Sunday is a day when everyone gets out of their homes to shop. But that weekly shopping will obviously be postponed to the next week in this instance. People might shop for just the one thing – crackers – and people dealing in crackers can be sure to make a lot of money today and tomorrow – and also in the near future if the teams progress to the later stages of the tournament.

#2 Everyone is going to watch the game

Everyone – meaning everyone, is going to watch the match. There will be screenings in local clubs, societies, colleges, and even offices and organisations will ensure that they have done the necessary arrangements so that people working there don’t miss the action. Any important functions – say marriages or birthdays that may happen will also have a TV screen installed so that everyone is abreast of the developments while they celebrate.

The metro cities will have things like ‘Red Alert’ imposed, especially in the highly sensitive areas. The police will have to work their backsides off patrolling the place, and also pacifying any anti-social elements who try and create chaos because of the match. Even the bureaucracy of both countries will have their eyes on the game, since cricket in one thing that evokes similar emotions on both sides of the border.

One might recall that the leaders of both nations were present in Mohali when the World Cup clash between the two teams took place, in 2011. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was present for the semi-final clash against Pakistan, and was not there for the final clash against Sri Lanka – that explains the magnitude of importance that this match carries.

#1 The patriotic feeling

Let’s face it – a very less number of us are actually patriotic. We seldom think about the welfare of our country – but on the day of an India-Pakistan game every countryman is a true patriot. A given person has so much nationalism rising in his veins on this particular day that if asked to join the army and go fight at the border, he would do it without the slightest hesitation on this day.

People will paint their national flags on their faces, wave flags and chant slogans calling out to their motherland and cursing the neighbour. That is something that is seen on the day of every such encounter, and the nationalism fades faster after the match is over than it had risen before the match had started. But it is not a bad thing at all, because we are proud of our countries on this particular day at least, if not always.

Even God above will receive a lot of prayers tomorrow – more than any normal day. Close to 1.5 billion people will definitely appeal to him tomorrow, more so if the match gets interesting and goes down to the wire. Now it is going to be really tough for him tomorrow, and he has to disappoint one side. Whatever happens, it is still the first game of the tournament and whichever team loses can make up for it later in the tournament.