Twitter
Advertisement

Pakistan school kids 'make up' for cricket team's defeat

A group of aspiring cricket enthusiasts from a Lahore school was avenging the defeat in the only way they can, beating their hosts.

Latest News
article-main
FacebookTwitterWhatsappLinkedin

LUCKNOW: As Mahendra Singh Dhoni's boys were helping Team India cruise to a victory over Pakistan in the Kanpur one-dayer on Sunday, a group of aspiring cricket enthusiasts from a Lahore school was avenging the defeat in the only way they can, beating their hosts, a school team from here in a suddenly-decided friendly tie.

The victory for the group of 19 students of two branches of Beacon House School, established by Pakistan Foreign Minister Khurshid Mehmood Kasuri and headed by his wife Nasreen Kasuri, was all the more important as three alumni, Salman Butt, Kamran Akmal and Imran Farhat, are part of the national side.

The losing team was from the City Montessori School.

The students are here to participate in Quanta-2007, a non-sports inter-school competition. The five-day meet, which will also have teams from 22 countries like Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Germany, Poland, Portugal, Russia, South Africa, Thailand and the USA, also aims at understanding their peers from around the globe and contribute in world peace and unity.

Principal of garden town branch of Beacon House School, Fakhra Shahid, said their visit once again reiterates that person-to-person contact is the best way to build mutual trust and confidence and 'what better way but to start it from school children'.

"The children delegates here have discovered the striking similarities between the two countries not just of language and culture but also in the landscape which except for Hindi taking the place of Urdu script in hoardings and banners on the roadside are almost the same," Shahid said.

Students from Beacon school have been participating in the competition for the past three years and Shahid is amazed as to how the children are better acquainted with the language and traditions out here than her.

"We have to thank the television for making the Indian system, language and household items familiar to people in Pakistan," she said.

"We found that the thrust here is on academics and not politics," she said, adding unlike previous generations the students coming here have shown more interest in the malls, cars and mobikes speeding on the roads than the historical monuments and tourist spots.

"There was also a misconception that India loyally propagates its brand but the children noticed that foreign brands and makes are also dotting the skyline and roads," she said.

Aniqa Mumtaz, one of the two girls in the group, said amid mixed reports from people visiting India they had come with an open mind and the welcome and reaction here has dispelled doubts, if any, in their minds as well as of their parents back home.

If permitted we would like to spend one month and discover the common features and lifestyle here, a thought echoed by Mumtaz's team members Waleed Pervej and Uzair Mehmood.

Find your daily dose of news & explainers in your WhatsApp. Stay updated, Stay informed-  Follow DNA on WhatsApp.
    Advertisement

    Live tv

    Advertisement
    Advertisement