India, Oct. 2 -- Last Sunday, September 28, much of India and the diaspora froze their weekend plans to immerse themselves in a spectacle: India versus Pakistan in the Asia Cup final at Dubai. For countless fans, life itself seemed suspended until the last ball was bowled. Yet, in our home, the frenzy scarcely mattered. Despite the match being played in our backyard, neither my husband nor I felt compelled to join the celebration. "They don't pay our bills or help us manage our obligations," he remarked with pragmatic clarity, and I could not have agreed more.Just a day earlier, however, thousands in Tamil Nadu had disregarded that very logic. They poured into Karur in suffocating numbers, desperate to glimpse their hero-actor Vijay-at a po...