Border brouhaha, writes Priyanka Chaturvedi

A couple of days ago, my daughter came running to me, saying ‘Mumma, mumma... your favourite hero is on TV. I wondered who she was talking about (since Arjun Rampal hasn’t been on TV for quite some time),  so I asked her who it was that she meant. She shouted, ‘Mumma, it’s Fawad Khan!’

‘ Arrey don’t say it out loud, warna sedition lag jaayega’, I wanted to tell her. But it would take a good half-hour to explain sedition to her, so I let it pass. 

Sometime back, after I watched the immensely lovable Kapoor & Sons, I had Facebooked stating (jokingly, if I may add) that India should consider making Fawad Khan an Indian citizen just like we recently did with Adnan Sami and Salma Agha. 

At an event held on breaking barriers between India and Pakistan, I had spoken about the people-to-people connect between the two countries as a way to build confidence across the border. I also remember mentioning Fawad and his huge fan following in India. I mean, who in India is not a fan? But then it is a dangerous thing to ask these days, pata nahin kaun khafa lawyer sedition lagwa de court jaakar? 

When I used to follow cricket as a child (yes, yes, years ago, hmmph) I used to cheer the loudest for India (and for Kapil paaji, especially), but at the same time followed Imran Khan and Wasim Akram’s matches. 

Thankfully, we did it in times which did not forget our bitter past and wars, but also at the same time had the graciousness to acknowledge their people. By talking about their people, am I endorsing their government, their army? Nope. But then...

Arrey bhai, I meant both sides of the border, before you begin the outrage. I was in an argument recently on Twitter with a Pakistani journalist who was mocking our Olympic wins, conveniently forgetting his own country being a non-starter at the event. Little did I realise that a Pakistani news channel would go on to do a five-minute segment on the tweet exchange, which also starred superstar Amitabh Bachchan and Shekhar Gupta. 

Now I wonder whether this exchange qualifies me as a patriot in this brand-new narrative. 

Meanwhile, all this aside, I am reminded by my daughter to focus on her birthday party, which is getting out of hand by the day, as she keeps changing her mind on who to call and who to drop from her list. She has invited a friend one day and the next day uninvited said friend. 

Why? Fight. Her friendships go through their highs and lows and highs again, every single day! As I try to second-guess who she will ask me to drop from the list till the nth day, I can’t help but draw parallels to another relationship of highs and lows that we are witness to, but of a much larger scale, dimension and proportion.