Incongruous mumbo jumbo cavorting on a senseless path…
April 14, 2010 Leave a comment
If you thought IPL is all about entertainment on the field, no – there is more entertainment off it & Thanks to Twitter, there is a lot of raking going on – specially as IPL 3 gathers momentum for the final stages. It is not hard to guess who these comments belong to.These are not necessarily whom I follow. But these are those who have contributed to the entertainment factor off the field for sure…
IPL Raker
IPL Raker 2
IPL Raker 3
IPL Raker 4
September 15, 2009 Leave a comment
After not having the opportunity to travel in the past coupe of months, I guess I have fallen into the rut of not reading enough. The 10 day vacation was a welcome break in many ways – and I was able to catch upon 2 books from the list of half a dozen that I have been craftily updating..
The White Tiger (Aravind Adiga) – I had not read any detailed reviews of this book anywhere but had known that the book was making waves all over. When I started reading the book, it took me a few seconds to understand the style of the novel, where dear Balram Halwai, the self-made, half-baked, semi-psycopathic, self-proclaimed philosopher, White Tiger narrates the story of modern India through a series of letters to the Chinese Premier (Wen Jiabao). Throughout the book, Adiga has managed to spice up the story which is narrated in more of a confession narrative style, with crass & crude remarks only the likes of Balram and their background can make, thus giving him the veil of not getting judged by his (Adiga’s) readers on his political or social stance. The story itself can be analyzed, dissected and probably put into case studies, for what Adiga has tried to portray in this novel is not just how rich and poor live in modern India, but also to subtly bring out the general Indian psyche in the age of call centers and BPOs. As a story, it was well written. If the book has to be judged on any literary merits, then at the risk of being termed snobbish, I will not give it more than a C+. I would love to ask Adiga his real intention behind trying to use the Chinese premier as the medium here (you do hear about several comparisons between India and China throughout the book, mostly mentioned in a matter of fact manner without sounding patriotic or unpatriotic). Of course, critics like those who called SdM an anti-India movie will do/have done the same for this book as well, which is not surprising to me, as I felt squirmy reading about certain incidents & felt disgusted about certain people in the book.
Netherland (Joseph O’Neill) – Chuck Ramkissoon is a character. I mean. He truly is. “There is a limit to what Americans can understand. The limit is Cricket.” I may have paraphrased what he said. But this line gives true color to his character. An immigrant, living in NYC, where one can make a living through so many legal and illegal ways, Chuck is a very complicated and a highly ambitious kind of guy, who always seemed to have a small plan and a big one for anything he did. And he meets Hans. The story is really about the very unusual friendship these 2 share with the game of cricket bringing them together under very strange circumstances in New York City after 09/11, where both of them were trying to make a new home land, away from their mother land. Oh, I almost forgot to add – the real backdrop of the story is the love between Hans and his lawyer wife, or how they rediscover it, after they get separated. I highly recommend this novel just for its originality and for bringing out the true essence of a cricket loving immigrant’s feeling in America.
Blue – Chiggy Wiggy, is a catchy pop number set to a simple groove but to a wide assortment of digitized sounds..The Bhangra fusion takes time to sink in and when it does, you feel the brilliance. Aaj Dil and Rehanuma are the kind of songs that makes you wonder how laterally a musician can think when trying to make a racy romantic number to suit an action movie, while making sure there is room for genuine melody. Bhola Tujhe is a great sounding ballad more along the lines of recently done JTYJN types. Blue Theme is thumping, rocking, pumping and absolutely naughty (specially the Bhangra type percussion that is thrown in between) – Only one man can come up with this kind of a number, because it needs a lot of mastery over rhythm. Finally, my 2 picks of the album are Fiqrana and Yaar Mila. Fiqrana is truly innovative and becomes addictive after a few hearings while Yaar Mila is instantly catchy. A well packaged album by Rahman for today’s fast food audience.
Men in Blue - After being No. 1 ODI team for 16 hours, Indians managed to win the Compaq trophy. I didn’t follow the matches but it was heartening to see Tendulkar plunder in the final. Great going Dhoni!
Note to Potro -Are you going to be able to carry it forward, after what you did in the Flushing Meadows? Beating Nadal and Federer back to back…?? Great job.
And finally a note to Federer, “It is ok. You had a streak going for 5 straight years..and If there is anyone else who deserved the US open this year other than you, it is him. You just couldn’t get your serves in..and I think you also made too many unforced errors without reading the bounce of the ball well. Great acceptance speech btw..”
June 15, 2009 1 Comment
I am not an AB hater..I just find him to be so diplomatic that his hypocrisy is obvious even to his well wishers. If you followed his recent rant on why he declined to accept the honorary doctorate degree offered by the Queensland University of Technology, then you will understand why I want to ask him a very simple question – “How do you define racism?”. Because, if he really cared about Indian students getting killed or getting humiliated and being served injustice, then there have been quite a few incidents in the past, where he could have taken a strong stand – No I am not talking about incidents outside India. I am referring to decades of violence leashed out to Indian students in India. What has Mr. Big B been doing all these years? He could have stayed quiet. I would have had no problems or would have had no specific reason to highlight his hypocrisy. But, these are difficult times for everyone – Even to Mr. Big B – who is desperately craving to feed his insatiable ego, which incidentally keeps inflating with his age.
Enough about ego and age. Or may be not. Did ego bring down Dhoni at the T20 world cup? From being the media loved captain, MSD suddenly has become a questionable captain. No, I won’t question him. T20 is a very unpredictable format and there is no easy way to define a true champion because there has not been one team that has been consistent in this format for more than a couple of months. I am not disappointed that India got their backs kicked by England..I am sure, this tournament will be forgotten soon.
Who can forget No. 14 from Roger? He may owe some of his success to Soderling for keeping Nadal in a Spanish island. But, the moment was magical – To see him accept the honor from Agassi brought me goose bumps. Grand Slams are such dignified events – Compare them to the NBA final (which just ended and Lakers have won) or an NFL final – They are world apart and no wonder why games like Tennis will never be popular here. Federer let his emotions out and why not? It is not everyday you get to do what he did on that day at Roland Garros! Soderling was amazingly humble and fell short of falling at Federer’s feet. Federer was ever gracious and dignified. Age has not altered his Ego. At least, not yet!
May 28, 2009 Leave a comment
That roughly translates to “Don’t get into an encounter (with me!)” or “Don’t clash (with me!) while playing”..or..a few more potentially advisory phrase of sorts to either warn the opponent or just to loosely throw a piece of recommendation to the guy who is ready to play cricket with you.
Cricket – Who could have escaped the scintillating (and blinding) appearance of the colorful IPL lightning on the cricketing skies of South Africa? Even if you are in Jackson, Mississippi, I am sure you were hooked onto cricinfo.com for getting the latest feed on the recently concluded (Yes!!) IPL 2 series, brought to you live for the first 2 hours by Bajaj, Surf Ultra and HDFC, while the remaining 2 hours were successfully sponsored by Dabur India, Pepsi and Godrej.
T-20 is entertaining and was certainly looked down upon as rebellious as the Kerry Packer series a few decades ago. But within a couple of years, we have a form of cricket that is ready to take over ESPN’s channels for 8 hours a day. This format is entertaining without a doubt. But seriously, I thought IPL 2 was an absolute embarrassment to the traditionalist while being a boring anaesthetic to the modern aficionado, thanks to Lalit Modi’s continuous enhanced treatment techniques applied to the rules of the game from ball 1 of over 1 to ball 240 of over 40. This includes commercialization of the game in all forms.
I was trying to root for CSK although I knew that the team probably had only 3-4 Chennai players in the playing 14, much like the eventual champions who had to search for someone with a Hyderabadi dialect in their 14.
In summary, Modi ensured that the tournament will be forgotten in a very short time, only to reappear next summer in a mutated form to infect us, if at all, to bite the consumer palate of average Joe like you and me. Although what I hope is for someone to stand up to Modi and tell him “Vilaiyadathae!”
March 8, 2009 Leave a comment
When a country whose confidence is at an all time low, everything can easily be looked at negatively even if there is not much rationale behind looking at it that way. I have always wondered why would we want to throw in so much of pessimism around yourself when you know it is not necessarily going to help. We all understand the reality and we all know that things are definitely at its 25 year worst in the US and hence possibly in most countries around the world. But, to sulk is not going to get anyone anywhere. And, that I believe is exactly what President Obama is trying to do. Today is the 47th day since he took over office and it is extremely funny to look around the country to see how many different ways he is being targeted for what he is trying to do. As biased as I am towards his pragmatist approach, it is hard not to notice what he is trying to do. In my 11 years in this country, I have not seen a President work so actively, keep pushing his tasks to his cabinet so regularly and above all to have touched upon so many issues administratively in such a ridiculously short time.
February 1, 2009 Leave a comment
As I sit down quietly absorbing Bruce Springsteen sweat his way out of the NYC crowd during a 2005 concert, I decided to quickly reflect upon some game changers from this week.
1) Got to give it to the Republicans for sticking to their guns. No amount of bipartisan efforts from the new president was going to get them out of their conservative cocoon. The Stimulus package is definitely not an attempt to murder Capitalism but what they should understand now is that to get out of this disaster called Recession, there has to be concession and not some blind-folded – mantra chanting..! If I had a choice, I would shut down all radio stations broadcasting RL. Yes. The guy on dope…and who drips venom when he talks.
2) Still sticking to RNC, to quote one of my friends, “they have elevated the game” by selecting an African American chairman. I don’t much follow that party even though I keep in touch with the times. But I had not heard of this Lt. Gov. till the other night. I was laughing..Do they really think this is going to prevent the marginalization of the party? Specially, when a guy who thinks “bipartisanship is overrated”!
3) Superbowl tomorrow and I am one of the rare breeds in the country who give two hoots for the game. If at all anything, the NFL games are entertainment and that’s how they are marketed to the audience. I feel sad for those who think that American Football is a real “sport”…No offence, my football loving friends! Apparently, there is a chicken wing shortage in the country for this weekend..and that brought me a chuckle too. You know where I am going with this.
4) Australian Open at the Rod Laver arena – Quite didn’t follow the tournament as much as I would have liked to. Specially the epic Semifinal between Rafa and Fernando. I truly hope for Roger to make the climb this Sunday and equal Pete Sampras. He deserves it.
5) Cricket – Aren’t Dhoni’s men suddenly beginning to look a little clinical? Still nowhere close to how the Ozzies were till a year ago. But, consistency is some quality that they can get closer to inheriting. Talking about the Ozzies, just like the American economic dominance in the world is beginning to come down largely due to their arrogance, it is now time for the Australian Cricket dominance to start coming down for the very same reason. Great job SA!
I need to elevate my own game too. Did I tell you about the short movie I made for my company? It was great fun and has given me some confidence in taking the next step towards realizing one of my dreams. The movie is available in my company’s blog.
November 12, 2008 Leave a comment
The last two weeks saw quick departure in succession of two of the most prominent cricketing personalities in Indian cricket. Similar yet contrasting, they were icons in their own leagues. If one is a bowler, who is unorthodox based on every definition from the spinners’ dictionary, the other one is a batsman who flourished both on and off the cricket field through his colorful, aggressive and ‘dada’ like personality. The bowler is a gentleman par gentleman, who is above all the petty politics that most of his contemporaries indulged in and kept his head above his shoulders all the time, dignified, diplomatic and absolutely respected by every cricketer around the world. The southpaw batsman had everything that an aggressive captain needed to take the game & the challenge to the opponents’ minds. He played gutsily and taught the white supremacists of the game a big lesson that Indian cricketers too can be aggressive and bullying. He taught a thing or two to some of his juniors, who I am sure will carry on this level of bold display on the field for years to come.
Take care Gentlemen! Indian Cricket History will have a few pages dedicated to you for what you did!! Thank You!!
And Well done….!
May 28, 2008 Leave a comment
When IPL was commissioned, I have to admit that I was one of its skeptics. Even now, I believe that the game has been commercialized like American franchise sports..But overall, by following the series online, I now have to admit that the organizers have done a pretty decent job of getting the game this far. The coverage has been excellent and most importantly, all players have been very sportive..(well barring Bhajji who slapped Sreesanth). What could have made this series more effective is to guarantee players for the entire series. Chennai Super Kings’ invincibility was charred after 5 games, when Hayden and Hussey flew back home. Anyways, I am glad that the Knight Riders have been made to bite the dust. I feel this way only because of SRK. And talking about biting and SRK, did you read the brave one that Aamir pulled on SRK? Ha..Ha…
March 6, 2008 Leave a comment
Now that India has the won the CB championship convincingly, it is imperative for those who claimed when the whole ugly Sydney test episode shed its nakedness to the outside critics world, to harp on a banal argument wagon – “Told you so – we shouldn’t have asked to pull out. We should prove our grit & determination and the best response we can give for brandishing Team India’s image, is through our on-field performance!”. What if we didn’t win the CB championship? How would these arguments be?
It is amazing how the Australian media and the Australian cricket playing fraternity have managed to hold on to an issue & continuously enhance the “obnoxious weed” image around Harbhajan. Well. The series is over now and it has been a triumphant run indeed. But something has got to be done about the insulting cricket form that the Australian cricket seems to have taken, quite steadily both on and off the field.
Dhoni is an amazing captain. Even though, I didn’t watch a single game, from what the experts say, Dhoni proved beyond doubt that he has some unique leadership qualities that will let him define his reign in a unique way. Let us hope that consistency prevails in Indian cricket and that the shameful commercializing of the game in the form of IPL franchises do not bring about any changes in team India’s spirit. I am not against IPL. I think it is a good idea but it has taken a very American professional sport franchise form and that is what I dislike.
Well done boyz!
January 7, 2008 Leave a comment
No matter what really happened between Bhajji and Symonds – Suspending the tour is the best decision made by BCCI in recent times. Just bring the team home! Australians may be playing great cricket – unbeatable cricket. But they are clearly playing a game of disgrace. I don’t care about the Sydney test results. Why is Ricky Ponting finding it difficult to handle reverse sledging on field? Why is it termed “racism” all of a sudden? What happened to 50 years of Australians playing the game that way? Indian and Sri Lankan players have been at the mercy of Australian sledging all these years – Has is not been racism? Absolutely, yes – now that we know how the ozzies like to refer to it.
Now, why is it difficult to handle abuses on field by the so-called “tough Ozzies”..? Is it because of the fact that the Indians have learnt the art of fighting back by saying a thing or two on the field and not just let go off the slurs…?
ICC should take a look at racism with an objective pair of lens and not just when the Asian cricket teams fight back against the white counterparts.
As for how the crowd reacted in Mumbai and a few other venues when Symonds was in India – yes it was bad..not acceptable. But again, these are 2 different issues – the crowd behavior and the player behavior. I hope BCCI does not compromise and just decides to bring the team home.
Kumble deserves a lot of respect for being so mature and gritty..specially his comment at the post match conference – “Only one team was playing with the spirit of the game. That’s all I can say…(you know who it is!)”
Awesome Anil Bhai!
As a side note, BCCI should also insist on an umpiring panel that they agree to, if they ever have to go to Australia again. We all know what happened at Sydney.
