Our Moon Has Blood Clots: A Memoir of a Lost Home in Kashmir

by Rahul Pandita

Ravi and I sat in disbelief as the stadium erupted with deafening cries of ‘Pakistan zindabad!’ Green flags, both Pakistani and the identical Jamaat-e-Islami banner, were seen being carried by people in the stadium. Many in the crowd also held posters of Pakistani cricketers. The Indian batsmen looked like rabbits caught in glaring headlights. On the sixteenth ball he faced, Gavaskar was caught out, having scored only eleven runs. The whole team crumbled in 41 overs for a total score of 176 runs. Later, as the West Indies team batted, the Indian fielders faced severe harassment. They were booed badly. A half-eaten apple was thrown at Dilip Vengsarkar, which hit him on his back. Of course, India lost that match. Years later, as a journalist, I met the cricketer Kirti Azad at a party. Azad was a part of the Indian team that day and had hit two defiant sixes in a lost cause. ‘How can I ever forget that day?’ he told me. ‘It was like playing in Pakistan against Pakistan.’