Not yours or mine, Cup is ours

<div class="section1"><div class="Normal">LAHORE: “Between brothers no one wins. We are praying for a tie.� The banner put up by some Indian fans summed up the mood at the Gaddafi Stadium on Wednesday. <br /><br />While the Indian and Pakistani teams were slugging it out for the Samsung Cup, the mood in the stands was upbeat and friendly. Painted faces, colourful banners, flags, festoons, hooters, there was colour and festivity everywhere.<br /><br />“I want Pakistan to win, but I will not feel bad if India takes the cup.They are our guests and there are no hard feelings,’’ said Rehana Daud who runs the Pakistan Foundation School in Lahore. An avid cricket watcher, Daud made it to the stadium inspite of suffering muscular diastrophy, which has made her almost immobile. Sisters Alam and Sara Arshad, who run an NGO in Lahore came dressed in tri-colour clothes to support the Indian team. “Our family is supporting India because we believe India and Pakistan are basically one. We are not scared of standing out among Pakistanis. It’s all for a cause,’’ they said cheerfully. <br /><br />More than 5,000 Indian fans from all over the world made the journey to Lahore for the series decider. Kapil Chandok came all the way from Melbourne with his family. “My parents are from Faislabad. This was also an opportunity to trace our roots. Such is the feeling here that when I visited my ancestral home yesterday, everybody told us they were praying for us to win the Samsung Cup.� <br /><br />Vivek Chowdhury has made the trip to Lahore with his family and six Pakistani friends from London. “The mood is amazing. My Pakistani friends have been telling me, ‘Cup tussi le jao,’ and I have been telling them, ‘tussi le jao’. They are cheering for us today,� he said happily. Vivek’s Pakistani friend Dalwar Majid Chaudhry is also supporting India this time. “It doesn’t really matter who wins, we are both friends,’’ he says. <br /><br />Chaudhry has just bought a motorised rickshaw to remember the occasion. He plans to take it back to London. “I want to put the rickshaw outside my restaurant in Southall as a mark of Indo-Pak friendship,’’ he adds. <br /><br />Besides the usual fans, corporate giants like Samsung too have brought their own group to cheer for India. Then there were the regular tri-colour-clad Bharat Army from Delhi and the famous Chacha from Lahore. Clad in green Pakistani kurta suit, Chacha travels all over the world to cheer for Pakistan. <br /><br />But the prevailing sentiment was that of camaraderie among the supporters here. Each time Indians hit a boundary, cries of “Kaisa Laga!?� went off from the Indian fans. The rejoinder “Aaccha Laga!� from the Pakistani fans aptly summed up the mood in Lahore. <br /></div> <div align="center" style="position:relative; left: -2"><table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="2" align="center" border="1" width="70.1%"> <colgroup> <col width="100.0%" /> </colgroup> <tr valign="top"> <td width="100.0%" colspan="1" rowspan="1" style="" valign:="" top="" background-color:="" e5eef7=""> <div class="Normal"><img src="/photo/581140.cms" alt="/photo/581140.cms" border="0" /><br /><a href="http://thetimesofindia.online/articleshow/580518.cms"><img src="/photo/581141.cms" alt="/photo/581141.cms" border="0" /></a><br /><a href="http://thetimesofindia.online/articleshow/580518.cms">Battle of Lahore</a><br /><a href="http://thetimesofindia.online/articleshow/msid-581035,curpg-1.cms"><img src="/photo/581142.cms" alt="/photo/581142.cms" border="0" /></a><br /><a href="http://thetimesofindia.online/articleshow/msid-581035,curpg-1.cms">Celebrations</a><br /><a href="http://thetimesofindia.online/articleshow/579877.cms"><img src="/photo/581143.cms" alt="/photo/581143.cms" border="0" /></a><br /><a href="http://thetimesofindia.online/articleshow/579877.cms">Fanfare</a><br /></div> </td> </tr> </table></div> <div class="Normal"></div> </div>