An air-conditioned memory

Raju Korti

One never knows the true value of a moment until it becomes a memory. In my idle and limited wisdom I have often labored with words to fine-tune some of them from the complex maze and miscellany congesting my mind. By cushioning those flashes of time with a liberal tempering of Teflon-coated words, I am lucky to find happenstances to celebrate them.

 

As I peeked out of my balcony early this morning to a dark, intensely wet morning in the backdrop of green hills that my sights were treated to, there was a sense of deja vu. The ambience quickly deported me to that one-hour stay in the Panhala hills nestled close to the beautiful city of Kolhapur. A cousin was kind enough to lend his chauffeur-driven car for a quick visit to the place before I returned to the monotonous and mechanical life of Mumbai. The 20-odd km distance meandered through a narrow, serpentine road that seemed to warm up to the presence of the few people using them.

Panoramic would be an understatement to describe the theater I was exposed to when I reached the hills. The human habitation was fenced by a short Gothic wall from where you could marinate your bland mind and beaten body with Nature providing all the aromatic spices to perk you up or else jump to your death if you had morbid thoughts. I chose the first more out of fear than judgment.

For from the madding crows and away from the hustle bustle of the metropolis, when you feel rejected and are left alone to steal a few moments of solitude and reflection, nothing like the Mother Nature's lap. Reclining against the stone wall of the historic Panhala fort, I soaked in its adventurous mystique, esoteric but cool climes, flitting rain drops and breath-taking imagery. The Nature stood tall and handsome, making the houses below look Lilliputian. Before you could compose an ode to Nature's disposition, it changed its temper.

As the rains started beating down faster, the scene that looked so pristine a few minutes before, suddenly turned alarmingly frightening. The swooshing high-velocity winds with rain drops as big as the size of marbles made me stagger to a make-shift eatery. Nothing was visible as a blanket of heavy fog and biting cold gripped me. I could hear more than see glasses, chairs and tables falling down violently. Never having experienced this calamitous avtaar of the Nature, I panicked and thought it was an apocalypse until a hand patted on my agitated shoulders. "Saheb, chaha hawa kaa?" (Sir, you want tea?). For the life of me I couldn't figure out how someone could locate me in the midst of this blinding mist. I just nodded dumbly. I had tightly gripped a nearby pole to escape being hurled away by the marauding winds and rains. The next 20 minutes told me what chilling fear is all about. In those horrendous moments I died several times. 

A little later everything cleared. A sixty-plus woman walked up to me with a steaming hot cuppa and a plate of pakodas. There was an amused look on her face as if nothing had happened. Seeing me shivering in my pants she steadied me saying this was routine during the rainy season. The tea calmed me down but the nerves remained frayed. The Nature had returned to its benign Bishop looks once again but I was too over-wrought to admire its concocted beauty. My one thought was to escape as quickly as possible before another assault took place. I quickly got up from my chair, paid the bill and sprinted to the car where my driver was waiting for me.

Looking back, I feel it was all so surreal. The Nature's complexion I saw this morning seemed to call out for two happenstances -- similar circumstances and experienced on the same day. They came with an education: That anger and retribution are the revenge of the Nature for the violation of its laws. I call it an air-conditioned memory. Think people, think.

Miandad-Imran Khan battle, from Cricket to Politics

Raju Korti

Pakistan Cricket, like its Politics, is full of extra-constitutional authorities. More often than not, both are known to merge seamlessly. The renewed animosity between Javed Miandad and Imran Khan shows that on both the turfs there has been no love lost between the two. Having met both a couple of times, I can say without hesitation that of the two, Javed is much more cocky, devious and shrewd than the man who seems to be cutting a more and more sorry figure as the country's prime minister.

You may hate him as much as you want but as a player he was a wily fox who with his skill, perseverance and street-urchin cunning had an uncanny knack of getting under the skin of his opposition. He was too overbearing and therefore not a very positive influence in the team but then in the Pakistan team most players acted and behaved like parallel captains. At different times he was axed by the selectors, handed in his resignation and was even overthrown by his own players.

The fierce competitor from the streets of Karachi, however, has always been a big source of entertainment for his antics on and off the field. Remember the 1981 spat with Dennis Lillee and the mickey-making of Indian wicket-keeper Kiran More during the 1992 World Cup. While batting, he would entice the opponents into a shy at the stumps by continuing to stand outside the crease even when the ball was fielded and would rub it in with an impish grin. He was, as Ian Chappel said, an "archetypal champion if he is on your side and a bastard if he is an opponent."

In my blog on Imran Khan in 2012, I had said that with his crafty ways, Javed cuts for an ideal figure in Pakistan's turbid politics. He has vindicated my prophecy by taking on Imran Khan after years of cold war. It will be entertaining to find how this acrimony plays out in the country's sticky political wicket. Javed is rustic and insidious while Khan is charismatic and manipulative. Expectedly, the sparring has begun with Cricket as the ruse and Politics as the bottom line.

Javed has held Imran singularly responsible for the the ruinous state of Pakistan's cricket accusing him of appointing officials on Pakistan Cricket Board who have zero knowledge of the sport. He was obviously referring to the hiring of Wasim Khan from abroad as the PCB's CEO. But the righteous pretense dropped with "I was your captain, you were not my captain. I will come to politics and then I will talk to you. I was the one who led you all the time, but you act like the God now. It is almost like you are the only intelligent person in this country as if no one has gone to Oxford or Cambridge or any other university in Pakistan (sic). You don't care about the country. You came to my home and went out as a Prime Minister. I challenge you to deny this."

In keeping with his cultivated aloof image Imran hasn't chosen to respond to Javed's barbs. As captain of the Pakistan Imran was known to be a law unto himself. Every now and then he would shed that mask of snobbery when it suited him. Javed may have forgotten but in those days, Imran often unleashed the unrefined and abrasive Javed to get under the rivals' skin and unsettle them. I remember how he cackled saying he would appeal vociferously for an LBW decision even if he was fielding deep in the field. His exact words: "Miyaa karna padta hai." Those were the days when Pakistan had other greats like Zaheer Abbas, Sarfraz Nawaz, Mushtaq Mohammed, Majid Khan, Asif Iqbal  among others but none came anywhere close to Javed when it came to on-field antics.

After the 1992 World Cup victory Imran used his cancer hospital as ladder for his political ambitions and despite being propped by the army, realized that his charisma was not enough to deal with hardened political adversaries. With Javed, it was similar story in the sense that he wasn't any less dictatorial and when the players revolted against him, he managed to survive by the skin of his teeth because the PCB threw its lot with him. I am not sure about Imran's role in the ouster of Javed as captain but his switch from being impartial to falling in with the rebels decided the outcome.

With loyalties fragmented, Majid Khan and Zaheer were left by the wayside and the mantle fell on Imran. Javed backed him in an attempt to unite the team but things soured when during the 1983 historic partnership of 451 with Mudassar Nazar, he was denied the opportunity of equaling Gary Sobers' Test record score of 365. Imran's surprise declaration the next morning left Javed frothing at his mouth. His moment under the sunlight was gone. The rift only festered with time even as the captaincy rotated between the two and none of them being any wiser. Javed became a symbol of pride for the Karachi lobby while Imran became a symbol of Lahore lobby. Curiously, neither had any direct role to play here. They were chosen by the lobbies to voice their own cases, causes and concerns.

Now that the acrimony between the two has spilled out into the open, the ramifications can only be guessed. Puppet though he may be, Imran has (so far) the backing of Army because of the Nawaz Sharif factor while Javed could pull strings through the Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) courtesy in-;law Dawood Ibrahim. As political rivals this can lead to realignment of country's political forces which have always been volatile. It will be a test match where Imran will have to bat well and Javed will have to bowl well.

The WHO's who of 'vaccine nationalism'

Raju Korti

It is much easier to remember all the precautions to keep the Corona at bay than to remember the name of the World Health Organization chief. Ethiopian Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus the first non-physician and African to be drafted in the role has reasonably acceptable credentials. As someone who holds a Master's in Immunology and Infectious Diseases from the University of London and a PhD in Community Health, he can be accredited with enough understanding of the situation resulting from the pandemic the world is grappling to come to terms with. His utterances in the last few months, however, reveal that the politician in him surfaces more than the scientist. That may perhaps have something to do with his more-than-a decade stint as the Minister of Health and Foreign Affairs of his country. The hangover refuses to leave him even after three years of his new assignment. 

Ghebreyesus has now warned nations against what he terms as "vaccine nationalism". Late yesterday, he argued that it would be in the interests of wealthier nations to ensure that vaccines against the virus were shared globally. The rationale was vaccine-hogging richer countries would not be safe corona virus havens if poor nations remain exposed. I am afraid the righteous tenor of this argument will be lost in the dubious reputation that WHO has acquired after a series of flip flops on the pandemic situation.

There is no denying that for the world to recover faster, it also has to recover together because it is a globalized world and the economies are intertwined. Part of it cannot be a safe refuge and recover. The virus has so far killed over 7 lakh people and is believed to have infected almost 19 million since the outbreak emerged in China last December. The WHO is faced with a much stiffer challenge this time with a host of countries frantically trying to pull out a vaccine but its chief seems to be weighed down by Washington's arm-twisting tactics. The US is WHO's biggest donor but the world body has been toeing a line that smacks of pro-China slant. Trump has accused the WHO of being China's stooge more than for its ineptitude in dealing with the pandemic. The WHO chief has on and off lauded China's efforts in 'containing the pandemic'. Political rhetoric apart the WHO is to blame for a situation of its own making.

From the faltering early response to the confusing and contradictory messages, the WHO has not given a sensible account of itself. Its soft approach towards China and delayed warnings about the spread of the virus has put a question mark on its role as the global health leader. If the US does go ahead and terminate its funding to the WHO, the latter will have little else to do than issuing pompous sermons. The WHO has been found wanting in taking stock of the rapidly evolving research findings and communicating about them, the latest being the flip flop on whether or not the virus is transmitted by asymptomatic persons. The confusion is worse confounded by conflicting findings emerging from different countries.

In its bid to play safe, the WHO lost its way completely. Determining which routes of transmission are driving most of the spread is crucial to devise right combat strategies. This is, however, not the first time that the WHO's opinion exposes lack of scientific temper. It has repeatedly said that airborne droplets or aerosols are not a significant factor in the spread although a growing body of evidence suggested otherwise. It also delayed endorsing masks claiming there was little evidence that they prevented transmission while scientists world over were insisting on the use of masks. It dilly dallied on the approach to gather scientific data. Lack of transparency and coordination only made matters worse. The signature campaign against Ghebreyesus is faster than the number of people getting infected. Possibly his head may roll if US has its way.  

While the WHO plays the ping pong, the world is witnessing a rat race to find an effective vaccine. The Russians, Indians, English and the Americans among others are in tearing hurry -- and understandably so -- to get there first. At the moment everything about the arrival of a scientifically tested vaccine is in the realms of speculation. There is no way to know how this will play out in terms of global outreach since the stakes are high and knowing how the all-powerful pharma lobby will tun it into a money spinning device. By the time all the attempts go though the regulatory process of various trials, it could be well mid-2021.

Till then human health hangs to a fragile thread. "Vaccine nationalism" or not; the WHO will have left with no credibility to lose. It has hit rock bottom and there is nothing left to dig any more.