Original Coverage & Source Attribution: www.thedailystar.net
We have all faced days when words simply fail to explain the sheer stupidity of a situation. You could write an entire paragraph, I now because I have tried, perhaps even argue your way through it, but why do it when a photograph of a Pakistani man standing with his hands on his hips can do the job just as well?
It is safe to state it that I have used that photograph more times than I can remember. Sometimes out of frustration, sometimes in disbelief, and occasionally because the situation was so ridiculous that I couldn’t help but laugh.
The man in question is Muhammad Sarim Akhtar. Although his name might not be familiar to everyone, his face hardly needs an introduction.
Wearing a checked shirt, with both hands resting firmly on his hips, Akhtar looks visibly disappointed. There’s no shouting, no exaggerated reaction. Just a man who appears to have had enough of whatever is happening in front of him.
And that’s probably why I find it so amusing.
The photograph dates back to 12 June 2019, when Pakistan faced Australia in the Cricket World Cup at Taunton, England.
Akhtar, a Pakistani auditor living in London, had travelled to watch his country play. During the match, Pakistani cricketer Asif Ali dropped a catch offered by David Warner, much to the frustration of the supporters.
Unfortunately for Akhtar, the television camera happened to capture his reaction at precisely that moment.
The International Cricket Council shared the footage, and before long, his expression was everywhere. People began using it to describe their own disappointments, most of which had absolutely nothing to do with cricket. By 2021, the photograph had even found its way into a meme exhibition in Hong Kong.
Imagine travelling to watch a cricket match, only to become the face of disappointment for complete strangers around the world.
The more I look at that photograph, the more familiar the expression seems. We have all been there, although perhaps without a camera recording our reactions.
For someone working in an office, it could be spending hours making revisions, only for the person who requested them to decide that the original version was better. Somewhere between trying to remain professional and questioning your patience, you realise there’s very little left to say.
In Dhaka, of course, you don’t necessarily need an office to experience such moments.
Try booking a ride through an app. The driver accepts, you wait, and everything seems fine until the little motorcycle on the map begins moving in the opposite direction. You call him, he assures you he’s coming, and you continue watching him travel further away.
Akhtar’s expression seems rather appropriate at that point.
However, something I learnt about him later made me look at the photograph differently.
Following the match, Akhtar explained that he had deliberately refrained from shouting at Asif Ali despite being upset about the dropped catch. Ali had recently lost his young daughter to cancer, and Akhtar was aware of his loss.
I hadn’t known that when I first came across the meme. Here was someone who was understandably frustrated but had enough consideration not to make an already difficult time worse for another person.
It’s a detail that often gets lost behind the countless jokes made about his expression.
Seven years have passed since that afternoon, and I still come across his photograph, usually attached to something completely unrelated to cricket. I wonder whether Akhtar ever imagined that strangers would continue borrowing his face to express frustrations he knows absolutely nothing about.
As for me, the next time someone asks me to undo a day’s worth of revisions, I already know which photograph I will be looking for.
