With mere hours to go, cricket fans across the country are already neck-deep in hot debates over copious cups of tea wondering who will win the match between India and South Africa. India will finally be playing its inaugural ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 match against South Africa in Southampton's Rose Bowl on Wednesday, June 5.
Team India, led by skipper, Virat Kohli has a loss and a win against New Zealand and Bangladesh respectively during practice matches, while Faf du Plessis' South Africa desperately need to make the most of their remaining seven matches to stake a claim for the last four positions up for grabs.
Interestingly, cricket it seems is not the only thing that binds the two nations together. Food, iconic figures and the preambles to out constitutions have a common thread running through. The two nations also share a common history, similarities in food and a warm and hospitable culture.
The preamble to the constitution: Interestingly, both countries begin the preamble to their respective constitutions with similar lines. While India writes, "We, the people of India, having solemnly resolved to constitute India into a Sovereign, Socialist, Secular Democratic Republic," the South Africa preamble begins with the words, "We, the people of South Africa, Recognise the injustices of our past."
Quest for Freedom: Both countries have remarkable stories of freedom that have been immortalized in the pages of history. The Constitution Hill in Johannesburg housed many passive resistors and freedom fighters including Mahatma Gandhi, and Nelson Mandela. In fact, the site has two permanent exhibitions that revolve around the lives of both these revolutionaries.
Mahatma Gandhi: Mahatma Gandhi’s fight against the British Raj started in South Africa, when on June 2, 1893, he refused to budge from a ‘whites only’ coach on a train to Pretoria. He was thrown off the train at Pietermaritzburg Railway Station for this act of defiance that would in turn, set the stage for Civil Disobedience in India.
The Bunny Chow: Interestingly South Africa’s delicious signature dish – the Bunny Chow or simply the Bunny, has Indian origins. The dish consists of a hollowed-out loaf of white bread filled with meat or vegetable curry. This dish, though rare in India, is extremely popular with the locals of South Africa. Stories of the origin of bunny chow date as far back as the migrant Indian workers' arrival in South Africa. One story suggests that Indian labourers who came to work at the sugar cane plantations of Port Natal required a way of carrying their lunches to the field and a hollowed-out loaf of bread was a convenient way to transport their curries.
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