Soon after the customary shedding of crocodile tears and expressing faux rage, an art in which we excel, over the ghastly bloodletting in Mumbai four years ago on November 11, our ‘cricket-loving nation’ will get ready to warmly welcome Pakistanis, both cricketers and spectators, for the bilateral series scheduled by BCCI in December. The commentariat will go berserk, heaping praise on the ‘bold decision’ to invite the Pakistanis home and pouring scorn on naysayers who are not easily persuaded by the bunk that the onus is on India to improve relations with Pakistan by allaying fears in Islamabad and building confidence with Rawalpindi.

The plaintive voices of those who lost their loved and dear ones in the attacks on high profile targets in Mumbai by Pakistani terrorists trained and armed by the ISI and affiliated to the Lashkar-e-Taiba will be drowned in the din raised by screaming spectators, pontificating commentators and smirking politicians. Nor will anybody bother to remember that there are survivors of that dastardly assault who still nurse deep wounds, victims who have been scarred for the rest of their lives. For instance, the widow and orphans of Tukaram Omble, or the families of those who were felled with stunning cruelty by Qasab and his terror buddies.