Fifa World Cup 2010

November 25, 2010. Guangzhou, China. “And Pakistan won the gold medal!” roared a hockey commentator, as the Hockey Final for Asian Games ended with the final whistle. And with that, another roar! A much louder, much passionate and much more intensified roar! A roar, not merely by the team playing… not either by the spectators present in the stadium… but this one is the roar of more than a one hundred and fifty million people watching and listening to the game all over the world. This is the roar of a nation! A roar that says "Yes! We have won the Asian cup!" Rightly so, Pakistan has become Asian hockey champions!

The jubilation that follow throughout the country are worth the victory itself. People come out of their houses, cheery, distributing mithati among one another. The joy! The passion! The bliss! Indeed, this victory offers the people of Pakistan a chance to rejoice and celebrate a festive occasion. It doesn’t provide ointment for the countless scars that the nation has suffered through all the years, yet it does help the nation forget them for a moment. And also does this victory bring back smiles to the faces of the forlorn and dismayed people of the nation.

But in addition to that, the victory also brings some other presents with it. Mostly going unnoticed, these presents are much more auspicious than the ones described above. Let me elucidate the same. Remember the last time the whole nation, yes the whole, whole nation took to streets, holding Pakistan flags, and there was no political or personal benefit behind that? Or the last time the voice of "Pakistan Zindabaad" came from every house, every syllable felt squarely from the heart? Or the last time the people spent whole night singing national songs, in one rhythm, forgetting all differences? Such divine occasions are really rare to see, and brings one this very victory! So, the real present this victory brings is the revival of patriotism. It is the spurt of impassioned blood in the dried...