India Won the World Cup. Now the Hard Part.
India won the T20WC yesterday becoming the first team to
Win it thrice | Win it at home | Win it back to back |
Won 3 ICC trophies back to back to back. I always knew this day was coming.
The Golden Age is not arriving. It has arrived.
Badshah’s structural point is right as far as it goes. A country of 1.4 billion people that loves one sport above all others was never going to stay second once the money came. The BCCI’s TV deal money, the IPL pipeline, the depth of the talent pool no. Bangladesh, Pakistan, the West Indies may genuinely no longer able to compete at the same level. Nothing can deny India, that is Bharat, waking up to her Destiny as a Global hegemon (InshAllah this prefaces greatness in others spheres of National Excellence).
But I want to push back gently on the linear framing. More wealth, more wealth, more wealth; therefore dominance. The model minority version of sport & geopolitics. It’s not wrong, but it’s incomplete.
War is what is in your belly
My Urdu teacher told me something interesting: war isn’t just about your technology. It’s what you have inside your heart. Sports exists, in part, as simulated war. And what makes sport compelling, what makes it actually compelling, not just statistically interesting, is that once the conflict starts, you genuinely don’t know what will happen.
Who is David? Who is Goliath?
Continue reading India Won the World Cup. Now the Hard Part.
India wins the T20 World Cup – The Golden Age is here and it’s permanent
India won the T20WC yesterday becoming the first team to
- Win it thrice
- Win it at home
- Win it back to back
- Win 3 ICC trophies back to back to back
I always knew this day was coming.
India is a cricket mad country of 1.4 billion+. That means India should have dominated all of cricket. Issue was India was a dirt poor country with most of the population barely surviving.
After the economic reforms, as India kept getting richer bit by bit, the team also kept improving bit by bit.
So I always knew this inflection point would come eventually.
But it is still surreal to watch it live.
Countries like Bangladesh, Pakistan, SL, WI etc are no longer able to compete against India.
SENA maybe can give competition for a decade due to being rich countries.
But in 10-15 year’s time India will basically be what USA is to basketball.
Belated Holi 2026 Thread
Since what seems like World War 3 broke out a week ago, the fact that Holi was this past Wednesday (March 4) completely slipped my mind. I’m surprised that no one else on BP mentioned it either.
I just want to briefly share this recording of Gauhar Jaan singing “Mere Huzraat ne Madeene mein manayi Holi” (My Prophet played Holi in Medina). This is an example of the syncretic culture of Hindustani music. A Muslim artist (born Armenian Christian) singing a composition that references the Prophet of God celebrating a Hindu festival. This is the syncretic culture that has sadly been lost on both sides of the Radcliffe Line.
There is an excellent book on Gauhar Jaan titled My Name is Gauhar Jaan! (2010) by Vikram Sampath.
After the jump, there is another beautiful composition sung by Venkatesh Kumar. This is a thumri in Raga Mishra Kafi entitled “Aaj Khelo Shyam Sang Hori” (Let’s Play Holi with Shayam (Krishna) today” Continue reading Belated Holi 2026 Thread
Open Thread –
This war feels fairly choreographed; regime change unlikely but now everyone needs to save face.
Link 1: The Iranian regime account is using the Sun & the Lion Flag.
On “Civilization States” vs. Nation-States
This is a rebuttal to X.T.M’s recent post on “civilization states” . The longer essay can be read here
In this context, Shashi Tharoor’s essay “Civilization States Are Profoundly Illiberal” is well-worth reading in full. Tharoor is a centrist Indian and can be said to articulate the Congress Party’s position on this topic.
Civilizational State vs. Nation-State
Google defines “Civilizational state” as one that “defines itself and its identity based on a unique and encompassing civilization, rather than solely on shared ethnicity, language or governance”. Google goes on to note that “ the differing worldviews and values associated with civilizational states could potentially lead to tensions and conflicts with other nations or blocs”. In India’s case, defining itself as a “civilizational state” certainly leads to tensions with Pakistan (and perhaps to a growing extent with Bangladesh).
I believe that this “civilizational state” conception is a belief of the Hindu Right. I agree with the Indian left that the Republic of India is a nation-state that was created on August 15, 1947–exactly at the same moment that Pakistan was created. British India was not a nation-state but a colony. Upon decolonization, parts of the colony went their own way. Continue reading On “Civilization States” vs. Nation-States
Dhurandhar The Revenge trailer
Insane.
Great music again.
Honsla Eendhan Badla.
On Civilisational States and Who Gets to Claim the Indus
Kabir says calling India, that is Bharat, a civilisational state is a “right-wing position.” We disagree; and the disagreement isn’t political, it’s archaeological.
Look at what Mohenjo-daro actually gives us: the Pashupati Seal; three-faced, ithyphallic, seated in yogic posture, surrounded by elephant, tiger, buffalo, rhinoceros. Proto-Shiva. The Mother Goddess figurines. Linga and yoni stones. Pipal veneration. The sacred bull. Every single religious thread runs forward into the living Hindu tradition. Continue reading On Civilisational States and Who Gets to Claim the Indus
Iran Zamin Open Thread
Please put all the latest news here. We would like to preface that we mourn ALL lives lost in this unnecessary conflict whether they are civilian (Iranian school girls, Israeli families, Iranian hospital patients) or military (American soldiers, Iranian sailors).
War has no victors.
Interesting screenshots after the jump. Continue reading Iran Zamin Open Thread
Who Is Reading Brown Pundits? (And Why Pakistan Just Became Our Biggest Audience)
We have been running this blog long enough to know that readership numbers are a vanity metric, until they aren’t. February held steady at 41,000 views, which we are quietly proud of. But what genuinely surprised us, and we mean genuinely, not in the performative way, is that Pakistan now constitutes 28% of our readership.
A thousand visits a day, give or take a bit more. The old 1% rule says one in a hundred will actually say something; which means for every BB, RNJ, Kabir or Sbarr in the comments, there are ninety-nine people reading in silence and agreeing with “either camp”. We find that thought rather beautiful.
Prior to February, Pakistan had never cracked the top five. Now it’s sitting at number one.
Bharatstan, indeed.
Commentariat = Saffroniate? Continue reading Who Is Reading Brown Pundits? (And Why Pakistan Just Became Our Biggest Audience)