Chak who?

"Dhoni is the best thing to have ever happened to Jharkand" - Rajdeep Sardesai

"I hope Rahul (Gandhi) like Dhoni, will win the next big match (election)" - Sonia Maino (a.k.a Sonia Gandhi)

"*&*&@ ((&(& @&@&^@ ()(*!^&!%" - Rameez Raja

The world was going crazy.

What a week!!....To wake up to a cricket match is always fun (especially when you ahve been advised bed-rest!). The morning filter coffee mixes with the game almost as well as an evening pint at a pub with TV....epsecially when India is winning! and what wins!!....for me, the best part was the fact that none of the indians featured in the most runs / most wickets or even most sixes tables until the finals. Probably the biggest indicator that we are working well as a unit and it is not a few good horses pushing the cart, like the '03 world cup.

I thought RPS and Gambhir were the real heroes....the yuvraj mania was obviously amazing....but for me, it was these two work horses who turned in class acts over and over again. And ofcourse sreesanth.....i heard one of the panelists comment in IBN Live that 'the team should collect a sreesanth tax, where every other team member can compensate for his losses of match fee'....i dont think we ever had a character like him on our ranks...

Having said all this, the end was a bit bitter-sweet for me. When Ravi announced at the presentation ceremony that "$2 Million" is being gifted by the BCCI to the team, I honestly choked. This is unheard of...in cricket....The UEFA prize money for the winner is 7 Million Euros, but that is the prize money...Not the bonus.....The money rain did not end there....Rs. 1 Crore for Yuvraj and something like that for Dhoni....and the list got extended by the day...I take it back...It IS being extended by the day.....

Now, I agree that 'what a sports person makes' is not a 'fan' question anywhere else in the world....but I think it is a relevant question in India...simply because no other country that I know of, has sportsmen and fans complain of step-motherly treatment dealt out to a sport...

India won the Nehru Cup for the first time...ever! and if you are wondering what the sport is, it is soccer....we won the Asia cup for hockey this year....I would love to see how much those players made, vis-a-vis Dhoni's boys...it would actually be a rude joke.

You can count the number of astro-turfs in india, probably on one hand. I am almost positive that most of us can count 'Indian footballer names that we remember' in one hand too. I understand that the fundamental problem is the lack of popularity among fans for hockey & soccer and not the BCCI....but I believe this is a solvable problem....It has been done before in many countries....Cricket in Kenya, soccer in the U.S., soccer in West Indies....I think that something like this should be very possible for the Sports Authority of India, with enough funding and a clear long term 'grass-rooted' plan....we should at least be able to scratch the surface....I dont think we have even done that yet.

I got up this morning to read the article about the hockey players on a hunger strike in karnataka....coz they felt like "dust" when they saw state governments fighting with each other to announce awards for cricketers....I think this has got to be an absolute first....since big bang....that a sportsperson went on a hunger strike for more recognition....chak that India!

The Real Man

I have been wanting to contribute to K's blog for a long time now and i finally have something to write about. It is a book called 'The Man' by Irving Wallace. (No spoilers!)

We were at the lending library and my mom said, "have you read this one?" what i saw was an extremely healthy looking book with tiny print. Not reader friendly. So i hemmed and hawed till she just took it for me and said " read it, its one of the most beautiful books i have ever read."

Being the obedient daughter that i am, i duly took it along. I finished all the other books i had taken and then when i got really desperate for something to read, i finally picked this one up. That was all i had to do and my life just stopped. I stopped cleaning. My house was a mess. I stopped cooking. I got hubby dear to buy food from outside. And my two and a half year old was the only one i took time out for (not before i subjected the poor guy to some unparliamentary words which he thankfully couldn't understand)

The rest of my time, i spent with Douglas Dilman. The unwilling, unelected, strong yet scared, official President of the United States of America. I watched him sit uneasily in his chair at the white house. i watched the people around get more than just uneasy at him being the President. I agonized at all that he was put through and i rejoiced at his very few victories.

What most people would be able to relate to is this : He was extraordinary but he felt less than ordinary. He was far from perfect. Yet, he got his strength from the people he held closest to his heart. His best friend and the woman he loved. Characters that one cannot help but admire. This book is an ode to the fact that people who believe in you can give you the courage to be yourself.

It is also a book which reinforces priorities, redefines generosity and also re-establishes what being human/e is all about. There is the odd situation here and there which might seem a bit contrived but in no way do they take away from the integrity of the book.

Its just one of those books that makes a difference. One which makes you feel that somewhere along the line, you might become a better person, just for having read it.

Now Listening...

My all time favourite Farida Khanum ghazal....a friend once remarked while listening to it...."does'nt it feel like she really means it when she sings 'jaan jaathi hai jab ut ke jaathe ho tum'?"...she was kinda drunk at that time....but I have to agree. ;)

Bravo...

was seeing nammavar again recently...never really went past this scene....was playing it over an over again...what a scene...what an actor...what a career....i dont think anybody deserves the phalke award more than nagesh, today....

That 'home' feeling....

Its weird how you feel at home in the most unlikely of places, isnt it? Tired of buying vegetables at Walmart and HEB (It has become so mechanical that I bet I can shop blindfolded in both these places!), I drove a longer distance to the 'Hong Kong Market' today. True to its name, the place was littered with neon signs and smelt of fish and saltgrass...even at the car park!!. I dint even take a cart coz i was so sure I wouldnt find anything there that I could cook.....but five minutes into it....there it was.....the most stunning of all sights......i found 'vazhai poo' ('banana flower' for my non-tamil speakin friends) in one of the aisles......would you believe it???.... it is such a rarity that even indian stores here dont carry it!

its not like I am a big fan of that vegetable....it probably wont even feature in my top ten.....but the very sight of it, took me back home.... straight into the alwarpet markets and back !!! and it dint end there....i found a six pack of kingfisher in the next aisle.....how is that for a smashin night?! ;)

moving on....

Guillermo Del Torro's Pan's Labyrinth......

As expected, the film was stunning....multiple academy award winner this year.....the movie astounds you with the imagination of its maker....set in 1940s Spain, it weaves a soul stirring fairy tale in the back drop of the civil war....a heady mix of dickens, death, violence, hans anderson, blood and tinker bell. A wonderful script.....phenomenal acting (Ivana Baquero as the little girl Ofelia is amazingly endearing in her restrained performance)....and a haunting background score, make the movie a memorable piece by themselves....but the knock-out punch is Guillermo Navarro's cinematography...the color palletes are a feast for the senses and i would have been surprised if he had not gotten the Oscar (though I thought Giles Nuttgens deserved at least a nomination for his work in 'Water')

I think the best review of the film came as a one-liner in one of the news papers.... 'A fairy tale for grown ups'....thats pretty much what it was! ;)

moving on.....

The god is back.....and how! Talking of feeling at home.....I had to leave for work in the middle of the sixth ODI...but I left after sachin's fifty....grinning ear to ear all through the drive, knowing that the man was back to his elements....where he belonged...with the sword drawn out.....not rusting in its case, in the pretext of maturity....the cover drives were finding their rightful gaps and the audacity had come back to the lofted drives...

I went through a mini depression when I read the article speculating on Sachin's retirement....we all know its round the corner.....but its kinda hard to let go off a man who gave you the most goose pimples and pumped the most adrenaline in all your life....it will be a loneliness of sorts, when he really leaves....