…Where the One-eyed man is king

The image presses itself on the mind of a line of PTI leaders, each with one hand on the shoulder of the man opposite, making their way down the road while chanting, “Akhkhianwalo, akhkhian bari naimat hai. Akhkhianwalo, kuj saanoo vi dayo.” (O people with eyes, eyes are a great blessing. O people with eyes, give us something too)

This brings up the issue of whether one is allowed more sight in the right eye than Imran. He’s still got 15 percent vision in it, which means that he’s 85 percent blind in that eye. My late father had also lost a lot of vision in that eye, which he tried to keep hidden. But then there was the incident of the water jug. I won’t go into details, except to say it was traumatic for all of us.

So having Imran over to dinner will be a little risky, for not only does he have a prolapsed anus, which means he has continence issues which could show themselves very suddenly by a powerful and pungent stink in the room. That’s apart from anything else he might knock off the table. Among other things, the government has agreed to a proper eye examination by a board. Rather huffily, the Supreme Court has refused to allow the sisters and the sons permission to sit in on the examination. The Court needn’t have worried. Doctors are quite capable of keeping members of the family outside examination rooms, and don’t need any help from courts, Supreme, Constitutional or otherwise. In fact, I suppose it’s a boon, an act of great condescension by the doctors, that they let the patients in for the examination.

Of course, Imran’s eye problem was overshadowed by way Pakistan first refused to play India at the Cricket T20 World Cup, and then agreed. It seems Pakistan realized that the matter could go even farther after the BCB chief, Aminul Islam Bulbul, begged with tears in his eyes, for an armed escort to take him back to his hotel room. It wan’t commercial interests that made the PCB decide to play, but the need to make sure Mohsin Naqvi’s knees stayed unbroken.

That’s a real and present danger. India is becoming quite the specialist in dirty work at the crossroads. Nikhil Gupta is on trial in a US court, accused of planning the murder of Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, the US citizen who by his name could well have been in the US team for the T20 CWC.

I realise the ICC is trying to spread the reach of cricket, but I’m not sure the associate members, who are being brought into the T20 CWC is the hope of attracting viewers to the game. For my money, though, perhaps the Clash of the Titans was Nepal versus Italy.

And that got me thinking about when the game gets to Sicily. Well, move over Mumbabi Match-fixers. The Palermo Spinners are here.