Third World Stickball, Part 2
Cartier, erstwhile jeweller to the maharajahs, hosted a polo match in Jaipur, India to raise awareness about the plight of the Asian elephant. All in all a commendable effort, I would say, but PETA India had loads of trouble with it:
Local branch of animal activist lobby group PETA protested at the site claiming that the event was perpetrating cruelty to animals, suggesting that the jeweler should stick to “selling watches.” It’s a contentious situation and certainly harks back to the colonial, English Raj days.
Despite the colonial overtones, polo has a long history on the subcontinent. It is likely that its modern form originated in India. According to wiki:
Polo came to the west via Manipur, a northeastern state in India. The Guiness Book of Records in its 1991 edition (page 288) traces the origins of the game to Manipur, circa 3100 BC, where it was known as Sagol Kanjei.
Niall Ferguson, in his apology for imperialism known as Empire, pointed to India’s cricket obsession as a prime example of the supposed benificience of British rule; but even in the realm of sports, where India never seems to be Shining, the British, particularly the leisure class, certainly benefitted as well.
