US Open final is no "ping pong diplomacy" moment

There's a lot of hype surrounding the other sort of mixed double -- Indo-Pak -- making it to the finals of the US Open. But it's just that: hype. The fact is that individual Indians and Pakistanis have always been able to get along. Many of them are members of the same extended families. Cricketers are pretty amicable (OK, since neutral referees have been introduced), with folks like Shoaib Akhtar apparently preferring India over his homeland, thanks to the presence of a seemingly unending bevy of starlets. Same goes for Bollywood. Ok, India doesn't embrace Pakistan cinema or TV, but it certainly goes the other direction, and Pakistanis reportedly love folks like Shah Rukh Khan.

So why hasn't that brought peace to the Subcontinent? Because war and peace aren't decided by regular folks watching tennis and going to the movies. Or even, it seems, by elected officials.