My Encounter With Imran Khan

Imran Khan has been in the news for more than four decades. For the first two decades he stole the limelight as a gutsy cricketer with a "Never Give Up" attitude. He took Pakistan Cricket to  another level by winning the Cricket World Cup in 1992. As a young player in his mid-twenties, this handsome guy was omnipresent in the hearts of millions of his female fans. For the last two decades though, he struggled to create his own space in the politics of his country, which is on the verge of becoming a "Failed State". After staying in opposition for a long time, his Never Give Up attitude paid the dividends and in 2018 he managed to become the Prime Minister, though with the support of the Establishment (Pakistan Army).

He gave the hope of creating "Naya Pakistan" to the people and they believed that the good days are now on the cards. However, during his tenure he pushed Pakistan in more dire straits with economy crumbling, FATF sanctions, increased fanaticism and what not.... taking the country to the "point of no return". Unfortunately, his absence from cricket and his presence in politics has proved to disastrous for his country.

Neither am I a political analyst, nor is this article meant to discuss the political situation in the western neighborhood. 

The reason to discuss this is the sudden and unexpected encounter I had with the protagonist, in my teens. It was October of 1981. Along with my  dad and my younger brother, I was on a trip to Australia to visit my uncle who stays in Melbourne. We landed in Sydney, where we had a layover, since our flight to Melbourne was later in the day. 

As we waited in the lounge, suddenly the entire Pakistani cricket team came in the same lounge and occupied the chairs besides us. They were travelling  from Sydney to Perth for their next Test match. You can just imagine our excitement to be with the likes of Imran Khan, Zaheer Abbas, Javed Miandad, Wasim Bari, Sarfaraz Nawaz, Sikandar Bakht and the other greats of that era. All the top ranking players of that time, with Imran in his prime form. They all relaxed as they also had their flight after a little while. We talked to them in Hindi. I still remember shaking hands with Imran Khan and he asking us "Kahan rehete ho"? ... and having a very informal chat with him for a few moments. All of them generously gave us their autographs (unfortunately taking photographs was not in vogue then and having a camera was considered a luxury). We were on the Seventh Heaven that day. 

It's 41 years since that rendezvous, but we have still preserved the autograph book.

This is the first time that I am sharing about the encounter with you all, though a few of my close friends know the story.

Yesterday (on 3rd April 2022), this man, by dissolving the Pakistan assembly before the "No Trust Vote", has once again demonstrated the Never Give Up attitude. Some may call this as a lust to stay in power, the others may call it fighting spirit to stay in the game till the last ball is bowled. 

For people like us,w can only watch how the events unfold in the days to come.

[Nishad Umranikar]