Pakistan is now virtually under military rule, as it has been for most of its existence. In fact, it was aptly called "an Army with a country" with the military and their extended families having an exaggerated sense of entitlement.... and running everything in the country as crony capitalists.
Today, POTUS Trump wheels and deals with Field Marshal Munir Khan, not with Shehbaz Sharif, who became PM after the rigged election of 2024.
Yes, while Imran Khan unarguably the most popular man in the country, rots in jail on trumped up charges including " violating Islamic marriage laws."!
Despite this, in 2024, the Independants backed by his banned PTI (Pakistan Tehreek-e- Insaaf) party, won more seats than any party contesting the elections!
In 1997, while attending a Quality Management programme sponsored by Japan's Ministry of Industry, I stayed for a month in the same hostel in Osaka with participants from Srilanka, Bangladesh (the GM of Md Yunus' Grameen Bank), Iran, Nepal and ... 3 (Punjabi) Pakistanis.
While all 25 of us got along pretty well, especially on industry visits across Japan, these 3 Punjabis from elite Pakistani families, interacted best with our own 2 Indian Punjabis .. sharing language, culture, physique and even late night jaunts which the rest of us were disinclined to undertake. Indeed our 2 Punjabis gelled better with the 3 Punjabi Pakistanis than with fellow Indians from Tamilnadu, Kerala, Maharashtra, Andhra, or Bengal.
The happenings over the past 3 years in Pakistan, were similar to what transpired in Bangladesh, Srilanka, Myanmar and ...now
NEPAL. Protests were as much about Nepotism as they were about Corruption, and both were engineered by the Army and its generals .. Ayub Khan, Yahya, Khan, Zia, Musharaf, Muneer...leading to the humungous Rich-Poor Picketty gap in Pakistan.
We admired Imran for his cricketing abilities ranking him as one of the Quartet of Great Allrounders, all of whom specialized in the art of fast bowling.
Sir Richard Hadlee, Lord Ian Botham, our own Kapil Dev (who lifred the World Cup in 1983) and Imran Khan who led Pakistan to victory in 1992, and also completed the amazing Test double of 3000 runs and 300 wickets.
A Niazi Pathan whose mother belonged to the Burki tribe, Imran was connected to many Pakistani Biggies. An Oxford Blue in cricket, his cricketing talent was matched by his good looks, sophistication, charm, social graces and ..... a hedonistic lifestyle as a bachelor in the 1980s.
Susanna Constantine, painter Emma Sergeant, actress Goldie Hawn, TV anchor Kristine Backer, our Zeenat Aman, Anna White ( by whom he had a daughter),... many even visited Pakistan but finally refused to settle in that benighted and bigoted land with him. Yes, whatever Imran was or wasn't, he was an ardent patriot who saw Pakistan as his only real home.
Finally, in 1995, Jemima, daughter of tycoon Sir James Goldsmith gave up her Jewish faith to marry the dashing Pathan and even to settle down in Pakistan, where they had 2 sons.
Along with his admirable Patriotism, Imran also became more Religious, his faith soon bordering on Fundamentalism.
His long Crusade against his country's corrupt and nepotic rulers, therefore strikes a special note with the "faithful" masses as also with the jobless and disempowered Youth of Pakistan, who are smarting from their frustration at the rigged election of 2024.
Imran's jibe at the rulers and the PCB which they prop up has expectedly gone viral.
Yes, the best way to pull down a government is to mock it and make it an object of public ridicule. Especially when it is Cricket icon Imran Khan, using cricketing metaphor to expose their transgressions .... after 2 massive back-to -back cricket defeats to traditional subcontinental rival India!
J P Alexander
More about Sir
I feel genuinely humbled to be honored as a Tennis legend by Regional Sports Centre, Ernakulam, arguably the finest integrated Sports hub in the country, though Lotus Club ( founded by Lady Bristow ), Cochin Club in Fort Cochin and Rama Varma Club (founded in the 19th century) are of older vintage.
It was a typical.Kerala style function with presentation of shawl and Silver Medal by Chairperson & District Collector G Priyanka IAS. Honorary Secretary SAS Nawaz, IRS (with mike) is also seen, along with Committee members.
I consider this award more as a recognition of the longevity of my tennis career spanning over 70 years, than of any particular distinction on my part.
In her address, Ms Priyanka strongly endorsed a career today exclusively in Sports, for those who are blessed with talent, who should be given adequate training and support to succeed.
Back in our days, it was quite different. You could be a University topper, simultaneously in Academics, Sports, Debating or whatever.
Yes, it is certainly much tougher for Gen Z to multi skill, multitask and achieve success in multiple fields today.
Tennis has helped me in multiple ways, not the least to be a fairly healthy and active 82 year old.
And wherever I went, I was welcome to play tennis, ... people sometimes lending me their kit, thoughI I generally carried the bare essentials with me.
Being fairly good at Tennis opened up many doors throughout my life.
In 1960, I was one of the seven Bombay University students to receive the prestigious Sir Dorab Tata scholarship. At the interview in Bombay House, iconic directors JRD Tata, JD Choksi, Nani Palkiwalla, and Mrs Vesugar evinced great interest in my extra curricular activities ... especially Elocution and Tennis.
Apart from many opportunities to play against tennis greats....
both father Ramanathan and son Ramesh Krishnan; Sankar Krishnan Premjit Lal; Davis Cuppers SP Misra, J Royappa, Shashi Menon, AJ Udaykumar etc, I was also privileged to play at TTC a couple of times with cine star Gemini Ganesan who was a friend of V Rammohan;
Played also with15 year old Aamir Khan who was then at Bombay Scottish;
And with Naseerudin Shah, who played at RSC for a week in 2017 as the guest of Rahul Thomas.
And of course, with cine star Kartika ( Sunanda Nair) daughter of my friend Capt Nair, who was a top lady player in the 1980s.
The tennis courts of Raj Bhavan, Trivandrum were especially inviting when my friends (now Commander Rtd) Jose Manjooran and ( DGP retd) Upendra Varma IPS, were young ADCs to Governor NN Wanchoo, ICS. Commander Jose will be remembered for the tennis extravaganza he organised in the Naval Base in 1991.. ..with Vijay & Anand Amritraj, young Leander Paes and BAT coaches David O'Meara and T Chandrasekar all being flown to the Base, in the Brittania plane by Chairman, Biscuit Baron Rajan Pillai. ... to play on specially prepared grass courts. What a wonderful treat it was for us tennis aficianados!
Where would Indian tennis have been, sans the BAT scheme envisaged by Vijay and funded by avid tennis lover Rajan Pillai? (His dad, Janardanan Pillai, and Mom, religiously played an hour of tennis at Trivandrum Tennis Club every morning in the 1970s and 80s and his younger brother Rajmohan, is still an active player).
My school, St Xavier's, Bombay which I joined in the 2nd standard encouraged sports and extra curricular activities. When I was in my final year, 11th std, we won the Harris Shield for senior cricket , captained by brilliant all-rounder Vinay Choudhary, ( who is alas, no more), while tiny Sunil Gavaskar led the juniors to victory in the Giles Shield. I regularly played tennis ball cricket but was never considered good at the real sport.
I began tennis in 1955 in Mackichan Hall, Chowpathy, where my father Dr J Alexander was Warden. We played on a tarmac surface, but I also had access to the 2 slick cowdung courts at Wilson College Gymkhana, on Marine Drive, next to PJ Hindu Gymkhana.
My father was a pretty decent player and some of his colleagues .. Dr Donald Kennedy, Dr Taylor, Profs Lysle, Fraser, Armstrong, and Misses Richie, Hewitt and Allen used to join in on Saturday afternoons. But the regulars were the hostelites from all across India and East Africa, Nigeria and even West Indies. There were many residents from Gujarat. Bombay's then Chief Minister (later PM) Morarji Desai who was a Wilson alumnus and Mackichan resident hailed from Bulsar ( Valsad).
Moving to First Year Science in Wilson College, I was both First scholar and tennis champion in 1961-62.
The Intercollegiate tournament was played in Wilson College Gymkhana, and the top men players then were Homi Dhalla, Gopal Gupta, Daljit Wallia, Rastogi, Karambaya .. but Wilson had a national ranked lady player in Kusumakumari Narayanan. Partnering her, we bagged the University Mixed doubles title. Shabnam Sahani ( daughter of Balraj Sahani) and Indira Iyengar (daughter of RBI Governor HVR Iyengar) and other lady opponents were pretty glamorous but lacked the firepower of Kusum's thunderous forehand. Twenty years later, I partnered her elder brother N Gopinath ( Registrar, Kerala High Court) to take the Ernakulam District doubles title.
For my civil engineering, I decided to study in College of Engineering ( Poona), hoping to emulate the academic performance of Sir M Visvesvaiya whose name is up on the board for 1st rank in 1884. I missed this target by a whisker, but was considered good enough for COEP to take me as a lecturer.
The Poona of the 1960s was idyllic and COEP not only had a vibrant gymkhana but also a Boat Club on the Mula river with over 100 boats.
And History was all around us. The 8th century Pataleswar cave temple of the Rashtrakutas and Shanwarwada Palace of the Peshwas were both just a stone's throw away.
With Mustaq Kazi and Thatte, we played not only intercollegiate tennis against Fergusson, SP and Wadia Colleges, but also the Poona league where we ran into 11 year old Shashi Menon and his father, who gave us a run for our money before losing to us.
Yes, all my victories against top players was when they were either pretty old , or too young!
Davis Cupper Udaykumar was 60, and G Palani was pretty close to that.
S Manian, who had beaten me soundly in TOTC, Sri Chitra and GV Raja tournaments was past 60 and in poor health when I had the distinction (?) of defeating him in RSC Veterans finals, years later.
And the fraternal duo of Parthiban-Elangovan were 14 and 13 when Varghese Jacob and I defeated them. Colonel Kishore (who is probably the best today in RSC), and his partner Boban, were juniors when they lost to us.
But sweet victory it was, nevertheless.
The highpoint of my tennis was in 1975 when I participated in a round Robin to get a place on the Kerala team to play the Interstate at Hyderabad.
Hitherto, only players from Trivandrum had played for Kerala. But Chief Justice Govindan Nair, the President of KTA, wanted other talents to vie for a place in the State team. Although, I was having major responsibilities as Purchase Manager of FACT's Cochin Project, top management in Sports-oriented FACT, were keen that I should represent the State.
KTA Secretary Prof Gopalraman, made suitable arrangements and 4 of us made the cut out of a dozen who participated (including Tarakanath Menon, K Vijayan, and Ramesh Kailas). Prof Gopalraman's son G Padmanabhan, later played tennis for Kerala University and also had a splendid career in RBI, from where he retired as Executive Director.
Chief Tennis coach of NIS, Patiala, S Krishnaswamy, came specially to coach the team for a week, while V Krishnan also gave his inputs.
In Hyderabad, we stayed at Fateh Maidan stadium and played on cowdung courts which reminded me nostaligically of my Bombay days.
The tournament was onducted Davis Cup style and the four of us were all full of enthusiasm. But we were up against classy players, including Davis Cuppers, ... Sankar Krishnan, J Royappa, BM Balasubraniam, SP Misra, SS Misra, SN Misra, Priyadarshi, K Raghuram. .. with predictable results.
But it was certainly a landmark in my tennis career and the 4 of us had a wonderful time together, despite the multiple losses.
FACT, the PSU which I joined in 1966, had strong cultural and Sports orientation under a liberal CMD, MKK Nayar IAS.
Efforts to.promote Sports were largely directed through FACT Sports Association, of which I became President in 1987. But tennis was nowhere near top of the list, though teams were sent annually to participate in Inter PSU tournaments in Bombay, Bangalore, Madras, Delhi etc. I regularly captained the side which consisted mostly of senior managers ..with player-doctor the late Dr Somasundaram invariably accompanying us.
Although there were courts in FSA, Udyogmandal Club, TCC and Indal, I played most of my tennis in Ernakulam at Rama Varma and Lotus Clubs and later, Trivandrum Tennis Club, where the standards were pretty high.
In Ernakulam, we had regular Inter club matches and also an annual District Tournament which I won 9 times, with notable victories in the finals over Roy Edward, Collector S Krishnakumar (with whom I won the doubles), Dr TP Poulose, Ajit Lal (brother of Premjit Lal), Billy Maliekal .. and a few losses too.
In 1984, I won the Central Kerala Hardcourt Tennis, a trophy which Ramesh Krishnan had won 5 years before and which was mothballed after K Sankar won in 1989, defeating me in the finals.
Another big tennis moment for me was when Ernakulam won the Inter District sponsored by MRF, at Kadayiripu Kolencherry for the rirst time in 1984 powered by 2 singles wins by M R Ramesh who was posted temporarily to Ernakulam by SBT.
Later, playing veterans tournaments at Mundakayam and Trichur, I had intense rivalries (largely successful) with Billy Maliekal, Dr PA Thomas, Engineer (!) Rashid, Dr Varghese Paul, K J Peter, Dr PI George etc.
The times are long past when international players came and played here .. perhaps the last time was when Davis Cuppers Enrico Piperno and Vasudevan played the Lotus Trophy finals ...a match which I umpired. Spectator interest has declined.Why would you go and watch local players when you can see Alcaraz vs Sinner sitting in the comfort of your drawing room?
And top players today will not come for the peanuts that local clubs can pay. Fifty years back a Davis Cupper would come and play for practically nothing and generous patrons like R Madhavan Nayar or Lal of Chandrika Soaps would volunteer to foot the Rs 1 lakh blll. I remember Nirupama Mankad, late Ashok's wife playing here for just air fare and boarding-lodging . And she was multiple times National champ, .. starting her tennis at PJ Hindu Gymkhana.She now lives in the US with son Harsh, Davis Cupper and BAT product.
A lot has changed about the game. Today's powerful racquets and equipment have changed the game. The game is faster and players need to be super fit. 5'10" used to the normal height of champs like Borg and Vijay's 6'2"was unusual.Today 's guys are super agile despite their height .
Coaching styles too have changed. What K Sankar teaches is nothing like what his did S Krishnaswamy taught us.
But the Fundas remain unchanged.
" Plus ca change, plus c'est la meme chose." as the 3 French Musketeers would have told us.
J P Alexander
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