How Srinagar played the semis

Avirook Sen in the Open magazine, relives his experience of watching the World Cup semi-final between India and Pakistan in Srinagar.

By nine in the evening, it is clear that India is ‘going’—to the World Cup finals, that is. In a houseboat on Dal Lake, with Tariq and Raees for company, I watch Manmohan Singh, Yousuf Raza Gilani next to him, usher an Indian win with awkward applause. I understand his situation. I am quiet. Srinagar falls silent. No one acts “funny”.