Diplomacy aplenty

Kishore Bhimani, writing in the Telegraph, remembers India’s tour to Pakistan in the autumn of 1978 – the first time India and Pakistan played each other since the 1965 and 1971 wars between the neighbours – and all the diplomacy surrounding it. Subsequent tours, he recounts, had their negatives.

We were invited to the homes of such celebrities as Pakistan’s top TV anchor Anwar Maqsood, Punjab chief justice Shaukat Ghoraya and singer Noor Jehan. When we asked about Mehdi Hasan, the legendary ghazal singer, a concert for the Indian team was promptly organised at the palatial home of Mehmood Ali, described as the Dilip Kumar of Pakistan.

Mehdi Hasan was thrilled to learn how much the Indian visitors knew of Ahmed Faraz, Mir Taki Mir and Mirza Ghalib and played all our requests. If ever there was cultural diplomacy between recently warring nations, it was here.