THE BIGGEST GAME OF ALL

Women can usually never understand what men have for ball games, how they can sit for hours and watch other men fling a ball at a goal or bat or hole. Well, I recently found out that there may be a scientific reason for it. In the book ‘Why men don’t listen and women can’t read maps’ the writers mention a research by Dr Camilla Benbow, Professor of psychology at Iowa State University who scanned more than a million brains of boys and girls brains to study their spatial ability.


Spatial ability means being able to picture in the mind the shape of things, their dimensions, coordinates, proportions, movement and geography. While girls were excellent at seeing two-dimensions in the brain, boys had the ability to see a third dimension, giving depth. Brain scans show that spatial ability is located in a specific area in the right brain for men and is one of a male’s strongest abilities, whereas women don’t have a specific brain area for spatial ability. Women were nest-defenders since ancient times and never had the need for skills to catch lunch or find their way home so they also have a problem when it comes to reading two-dimensional maps (or watching a match with rapt attention).  Only 10% women have spatial abilities as sharp as men and the differences are already striking by the age of four. Men were  hunters since ancient times and their hunting skills, better hand and eye coordination and three dimensional brains account for why men today dominate areas like architecture, Math, chemistry, building and statistics. This also accounts for their obsession with cricket, golf, football, basketball, hunting or any game that involves estimating coordinates and throwing, chasing or shooting at a target. Men are so obsessed with watching another man hit a target that some of the highest-paid people in the world now include golfers, footballers and tennis players (taken from the book: Why men don't listen and women can't read maps by Allan and Barbara Pease). Not that this is a justification for wasting precious time by blaming it on our genes. These same skills can be put to better productive use.

But cricket is one game that even Pakistani women would kill for. And yesterday I almost witnessed that. We got together to watch what has been dubbed as ‘the mother of all matches’, the World Cup semi-final between India and Pakistan. Living outside Pakistan makes no difference as all the men still managed to take a half day off and our hearts were beating as one with the entire Pakistani nation. This was the first time, I was watching a match like this after the last world cup that Pakistan played in 1999.

The men were gathered in one house and the women in a neighboring house. As the match progressed our excitement started turning into nail-biting, edge of the seat tension and then dismay. The room full of men gradually fell into silence as men always do when they are stressed. On the other hand, the ladies just could not stop talking, the only way they know of releasing stress. So the TV was on mute and five women were giving a simultaneous commentary. All kinds of helpful instructions were issued to the team. “Take the batting power now. Play safe, play safe, keep the wickets.”  Every mistake that the Pakistani team was making was received with a howl of horror. The room vibrated with the sheer intensity of feeling.

When we finally lost, the men took it as men, whereas the women were overcome with emotions. We all knew how far the Pakistani team had come and inspite of their errors, we were proud of them. Yet losing to India on Indian territory, specially after the rough time Pakistan and its cricket team has been through, left a big lump stuck in everyone’s throat.

 What was it that had passionately united our nation for this short time, that made us forget all the differences of province, language and ethnicity? What was that one thing that had the blood gushing through our veins and the feeling that we could take on the world? What was that one single purpose that had us focus all our thoughts, energy and prayers towards it? The feeling of being a nation, that sadly only cricket can stir up anymore after years of disillusionment in other areas.

What united our nation 64 years ago when we took on the world and made a place on the map for our country? It was “la ilaaha illallah” the call of our identity, of Islam. And when we united under that banner, nothing could stand in our way. Thousands passionately laid down their lives, their fortunes and families for this identity. The world witnessed how one single aim and the guided passion of people could alter history. This is the one thing that can unite us again permanently and lead the way to a better Pakistan, the one our forefathers had envisioned and struggled for.

Let us unite once again as Muslims, accept our differences and work day and night, hand in hand to make our nation a victor in the fields of education, technology and values. Let us sacrifice our own interests for that of our nation’s, our comforts and luxuries for our country’s development. Let us be positive, humble and hopeful like our captain even in the face of defeat.  Let us not blame our enemies and the super powers for our downfall but only ourselves and learn from our mistakes. Let us rise from the ashes and take the world by surprise, like our team so often does. But let not passion alone and unpredictable luck guide our success, but instead honest hard work, consistent effort and strategic planning. Each one of us and all of us together need to realize this dream that is Pakistan. The ball is in our court now and we can’t let our nation down.