PITCH PERFECT: A Pakistani student cheers during India?s 2004 Pakistan tour; (below) Rahul Dravid plays with Inzamam-ul Haq?s son at a practice session (afp/reuters)

As metaphors go, this one seems a bit out of sync. Two unlikely-looking gladiators ? a rotund Inzamam-ul Haq and a pretty Sourav Ganguly clad in metal ? are locking bats. For this, says the unwrit subtitle, is war.

In some quarters, the LG advertisement ? to be aired during the India-Pakistan cricket series starting Tuesday ? will elicit the right kind of chuckles. Elsewhere, though, there is a growing sense of apprehension. As India gets all set to host the matches in the aftermath of a series in Pakistan last year that is remembered more for images of Pakistanis hugging Indians than the game, there is a feeling that the season has already been marked out as battle-time ? as the advertisement featuring the two captains seems to suggest.

There are some who still believe that a match between India and Pakistan is all about cricket. But that the game can also be about subcontinental peace became apparent in last year?s matches in Pakistan. The media was full of images of brotherhood ? of young Pakistani girls who had the Indian colours painted on their faces, of Pakistani men who held the Indian flag aloft and shouted ?Hindustan zindabad? and of Indians and Pakistanis who danced together, swathed in the hues of the tricolour and the Pakistani colours.

Almost each of the 8,000 Indians who went to Pakistan for the 2004 cricket series had a story to tell ? of a shop-keeper who wouldn?t take money, a taxi-driver who refused the fare and the perfect stranger who called them home for dinner. ?Feudal Pakistan thrives on mehman-nawazi ? or hospitality,? says Shahid Fiaz, a Pakistani member of the Pakistan India People?s Forum for Peace and Democracy. ?And Pakistanis have always had a sense of nostalgia about India,? he says.

Not many believe that the Indian spectators will be as welcoming to the Pakistani fans ? an expected 20,000 ? this season, though Shiv Sena member of Parliament Sanjay Nirupam, albeit sarcastically, seems to think otherwise. ?There is a section of people ? starting with (peace activist) Kuldip Nayar ? who would be in the forefront of this so-called people-to-people contact and not be concerned with issues such as internal security or Kashmir,? says Nirupam.

Nirupam, whose party is known to dig up cricket pitches to protest matches against Pakistan, has his share of supporters. Mohan Sharma, a Calcutta taxi-driver, says he has no intentions of turning down a fare from a Pakistani fan. ?It wasn?t I who was given a free ride in Pakistan,? he reasons.

Amin, a Kashmiri exporter, would second that. ?There?s no such thing as a Pakistani fan. All Pakistani fans are spies,? says Amin, whose family moved to Calcutta from the Valley about 100 years ago. ?I know what has been going on in the Valley for the past 15 years ? and treating them as guests won?t solve any problems.?

There is, however, a sense of expectation in Ahmedabad, which had the dubious distinction of seeing cricketers play with helmets after they were pelted with stones by spectators during the last India-Pakistan Test there in 1987. When Pakistan refused to play a Test match in Ahmedabad this year, Hindus and Muslims came out in a rally, urging the authorities in Pakistan to change their mind.

?We want to return the hospitality of the Pakistanis,? the appeal said.

On the other hand, Delhi hasn?t even woken up to the fact that they might be playing host to the most decisive ? and charged ? match of the series with the last one-dayer on April 17. Chetan Chauhan, vice-president of the Delhi and District Cricket Association, says it hasn?t yet received a notification from either the cricket board or the government about the match. ?We?re not sure about the denominations of the tickets the Pakistanis want, and so we haven?t yet thought about reserving a stand for them. If not too many people come from Pakistan for the match, they will have to sit with the general viewers,? says Chauhan.

There is a marked lack of enthusiasm in Bangalore, too, where a Test match will be played at the Chinnaswamy Stadium from March 24 to 28. The board has dealt with the players? stay ? at the Taj West End Hotel ? and security, but little else. ?We will probably host some special lunches and dinners for the spectators, but nothing is decided yet,? says Sudhakar Rao, assistant secretary for the Karnataka State Cricket Association.

If there is any sign of real action, it is in Chandigarh, where the first official match starts in Mohali. The Punjab Cricket Association (PCA) has sent 7,500 tickets to Lahore, and efforts are on to accommodate the 4,000-odd people from Pakistan who are expected to turn up for the match.

Information desks have been set up to direct fans around lodging and boarding facilities. Hotel rooms are being readied, and residents are responding to a PCA appeal in newspapers requesting people in and around Chandigarh to come forward to help lodge visiting fans. Some 600 beds ? free of cost ? have been offered so far, while some residents have even promised to feed the visitors.

?Yeh izzat ka sawaal hai (this is a matter of honour),? says G.S. Walia, PCA treasurer and media manager.

At another time, a match between India and Pakistan would have scoffed at extraneous factors such as hospitality and brotherhood. But the series in Pakistan last year ? which came at a time when the two governments were tentatively talking peace after a particularly bad spell of neighbourly relations ? seems to have changed all that.

Fiaz believes that the sense of bonhomie in Pakistan is not just restricted to cricket, but finds expression elsewhere as well. He was in Baluchistan when Indians were playing hockey last year, and was amazed to see the streets were full of banners supporting India. It reminded him of the time flag-waving Indians went on a victory march in Lahore after India defeated Pakistan in cricket last year ? and Pakistanis joined them.

Some, like Tapan Bose of the people?s forum, believe that there has been a resurgence in people in India seeking better India-Pakistan ties as well. The forum has been approached by residents of Panipat, Sonepat and Meerut, and traders? and farmers? associations.

?This is not just about economics,? he says. ?These are spontaneous reactions from Indians who want to interact with people from Pakistan,? says Bose.

For the cricket series, the people?s initiative ? so far ? has mostly been entrepreneurial. Sourav?s ? the Indian captain?s hospitality venture in Calcutta ? is making some elaborate plans which include a food festival, called ?Food Streets of Lahore?. ?Apart from regular stuff like watching cricket on giant screens, Pakistan fans would be given a special 20 per cent discount on bills,? says CEO Kanishka Mazumdar. ?They would also be given gifts autographed by Ganguly as souvenirs,? he says. The skipper also hopes to treat the Pak team to dinner ? though the plan hasn?t been finalised yet.

In Chandigarh, hoteliers have been instructed to ask Indian guests who call for bookings to defer their visits till the Test is over. ?If you have a parking lot, and you park your own cars instead of leaving space for visitors, how would that look?? asks Man Mohan Singh, president of the Tourism Promotion Society of Chandigarh.

Hotel Aroma, one of the oldest hotels of Chandigarh, has some innovative tours lined up for visitors. On the cards is a vintage joyride, where the visitors will be taken around the city in a 1935 Austin convertible to remind them of the time when India and Pakistan were one.

Singh, who is manager of Aroma, says that a Mercedes has been lined up to take visitors to and from the city mosque, and special prayer mats, beads and caps will be supplied to the guests. The high point of the arrangements will be a tonga ride around Chandigarh. ?So that they don?t miss Lahore,? explains Singh.

The enthusiasm may catch on as the series begin, but like Singh, there are a few others ? such as Shaukat Ali of Calcutta ? ready to lay the red carpet out for the visitors. Ali of Shiraz, famed for its biryani and the fact that Shahid Afridi is a fond patron, is one of the few who remember the warm welcome Indians got in Pakistan. ?We?ll offer them the best food, and, as a goodwill gesture, won?t charge them for it,? he says.

But Ali is not sure that Indians would be able to match Pakistan?s generosity. ?Kalija nahin hai, (we don?t have the guts),? was all he would say.