Review of ‘Yeh Jo Hai Pakistan’ – book by Shivendra Kumar Singh…!

In this book ‘Yeh Jo Hai Pakistan’ writer  Shivendra Kumar Singh has written his memories about his tours to Pakistan while covering Indian Cricket Team. He is one of the most famous sports journalist in India. He started his career from his hometown Allahabad with print media and then shifted to the media hub Delhi and worked for zee news, star news and now he is a special correspondent with ABP news. 

In this book the title simply reflects that this book is related to the favorite debate topic of Indians i.e. Indo-Pak. But it is new as it is in cricket prospects and well as the ambiance of our neighbor country. It is a reflection of his visit to Pakistan with the Indian Cricket Team in captainship of legendary Saurav Ganguly . It was in the year 2004 when the Indian cricket team was in Pakistan after a break of 14 years. It was a wonderful experience not only for master blaster who started his career with Karachi- which is known as Bombay of Pak.

The writer expresses how he tried to chat with Tendulkar but stopped by the security. Since it was an Indian team security was very tight. While reading this book I must articulate that this is a very interesting book and we all know Indo-Pak is the favorite topic of every Indian right from the childhood. The tittle and initial pinch of the book is the panorama of his views and definitely attracts readers.

Sachin Tendulkar-Master Blaster was the only player in the team to have played in Pakistan before 2004.As we know the team went there after a long break. It was at this stadium in Karachi that Sachin also began his career. So like every player it was a good flashback for Tendulkar. Then came March 13, the first One Day against Pakistan. The National stadium was jam packed. The last over remained and Pakistan needed nine runs to win. Sourav handed over the ball to Ashish Nehra. India won that breathtaking match.

The flow of the book is very interesting. The day after the match, former Pakistan captain Zaheer Abbas invited journalists  for a dinner at his place. The writer expresses how on their way back, they  wanted to see the Karachi beach. Their taxi driver took them  to the beach. Until then he  does not remember visiting a beach before even in India. In no time he has shown his journalistic mind and he called his cameraman, they  took some shots and bytes from the perspective of cricket, security measures and the fast reaching waves of modernization in Karachi, and above all with an outlook of increasing the popularity of Indian cricket stars in Pakistan. The Indian team visited after 14 years and that too only stayed for a few hours in Karachi. That left people only wanting more as they could not even catch a glance of their favorite stars. Their story was ready. They wanted to experiment. He concluded the PtC with a poetry: “Umre daraz maang kar laaye thay char din - do aarzoo mein kat gaye do intezar mein”. At this point I must express that Writer singh’s PTC are very interesting and nice to hear. He still remembers that he  did not have much luggage while going to Pakistan, as the trip drew to a close and he landed at Delhi airport and was full of baggage- Partly due to his shopping and the fairly large number of gifts that he received from the people in Pakistan. The love and emotions behind the gifts outweighed his urge to refuse them. It would have been impolite too. The acts of gifting started in Karachi only when a friend’s Abba gave him a shawl and a trinket box saying “Son keep this as a souvenir from us, we will always be in your memories.” The box still occupies a place in his home and has been passed on to the next generation - his wife would keep her jewelry in it and now his daughter keeps her anklet their.

Writer Singh visited again in 2005 and 2006 and included these two experiences too in this book.  In 2005, the most beautiful memory he recalls is meeting the great cricketer Hanif Mohammad. When they  reached, the door was closed. Writer pressed the doorbell and Hanif Mohammad came out. They  introduced themselves, apologized for visiting uninformed and earnestly requested for an interview. The writer writes meeting Hanif  was like turning the leaves of Pakistan’s cricket history .  One would be amazed to know that of the first 100 Test matches played by Pakistan, there was not even one in which a member of Hanif Saheb’s family was not a part. The writer started the interview. Instead of putting forth questions to him, he humbly requested him to share anecdotes from his life. Hanif saheb shared how in his childhood days his ammi and abba would dress him like a girl: he would wear a frock and bangles too! I was an attentive listener while he recalled. This experience definitely connects readers as most of us have experienced an identical thing in our lives.

In 2006 when writer again visited Pakistan, he had a chance to visit Karachi third time. Even though the Indian team had lost the test match in Karachi, Irfan Pathan marvelled at taking a hat trick in the first over of the match. Later, the ties between India Pakistan turned unpleasant. The writer  has a great memory of playing a match against Karachi journalists, they  tried their  hands at cricket and the venue they chose was Mohamad Ali Shah Stadium. They played at the ground though writer injured his finger trying to take a catch for which his colleagues still have a great laugh together about it.

The writer has expressed how Karachi’s food was good, a bit spicy and oily. But, once he was familiarized with the city he got the food of his choice. He still have a strong desire to visit Pakistan with his family. To meet all those who gave him so much love that if he have to speak on Pakistan and its people He says he would need days to finish. Good or bad, He remembers every moment spent in Pakistan. As a journalist, the stories that he did he remember the backdrop of each piece. He recalls the streets and road.  He remembers Pakistan.  

Not only all this, the book have some interesting chapters featuring instances of the greatest cricketers of both countries like Inzamam-UL-Haq, Shoib Akhtar, Sachin Tendulkar, Saurav Ganguly, Dhoni etc.

I am sure since the writer has experienced all this in front of himself, his eyes must be in tears while writing at the end about SriLankan Team tour in 2009 and controversy related to it. It was certainly a black day as a writer puts it.  And on the other hand with the hope to write his next book when Indian team visits Pakistan again.

Certainly this book is a must read book. Very Interesting, good flow, excellent language and the novel bond which we discover between Indo-Pak after reading this book is superb. 

Prateek Pathak 

Student

B.A in Media Studies

University of Allahabad