'The empire strikes back,' now RIP

Much talk has been of late about decolonisation - not so much of countries once ruled by colonial powers like Britain, but of institutions and what goes under the quaint term, 'mind'. Part of decolonising the post-colonial mind is the spree in replacing colonial symbols with national ones. For instance, the statue of a British monarch in the centre of India's capital with an empty space, which is then, in turn, filled by the statue of an Indian leader who fought against the Brits. But while the state 'decolonises' - adding to its own 'national' appeal lest anyone forgets that 75 years of decolonisation that may not have needed reminding - the need to decolonise headlines every time India beats England in cricket (it hasn't won in hockey, the only other sport really where the two meet, for a long time) is urgent. Perhaps, the best time to exercise this fumigation would be now - with England having beaten Pakistan, another postcolonial country, to win the 2022 T20 World Cup on Sunday.

The lazy, stale 'The Empire Strikes Back' kind of headlines still conjured up each time India defeats England - or on the even rarer occasion when an Indian-origin Englishman becomes British prime minister - must stop. In fact, England's win at the 16-country tournament should be the one last time when that headline should be used, with apposite irony.