Sneaking Back

When they left Shah Rukh Khan bade them goodbye. Our cricketers thought that was enough for them to win the cup… but we all know how it turned out.

They returned in batches. In the dark (okay that was because of the flight schedule). One by one they were whisked away through back entrances and underground tunnels.

Heroes to Zeroes. What a difference one month makes. Forget SRK. Even the security guards barely showed up.

My personal view. Leave them be. Don’t overdo things. When they win, we go delirious. When they lose, we go delirious.

Holiday Plans

Now that the school holidays are almost here, I am facing a barrage of questions from my son regarding how I plan to “entertain” him. He has made a list of demands all of which have been rejected by me because it involves travel to exotic locations or buying him expensive gadgets.

I have suggested a 9 point programme to him:

1. Wake up at 9 AM

2. Laze Aound with Friends

3. Lunch at Noon

4. Snooze after lunch

5. Repeat Step 2

6. Watch TV

7. Dinner at 9 PM

8. Sleep at 10 PM

9. Goto Step 1

Weekends same as above but everything advances by 1 hour.

He rejected this summararily and walked away muttering something that sounded like “cheap”.

I might have to take him out 😦 … No time.. No time… Does anyone wan’t to adopt him for the Holidays?

Law is Equal?

I love this.

A clerk in the Registrars office is caught accepting a bribe of Rs. 500 and is suspended from service. No Salary.

Vijay Times reports that Congress Leader D.K.S is going to be charged with a “Criminal Case” of not disclosing assets worth Crores. The fine for that. Simple Imprisonment and a 500 rupee fine.

Kya justice hai !!!

Justice Served

I still remember feeling “numb” when IOC employee Manjunath was murdered in 2005 for doing his duty. I didn’t know the man, but seeing his parents and the anguish they were going through was enough.

The murderers have been brought to justice. One got the death penalty and all the rest got life.

Now the appeals process starts…. sigh !!!

Just to prove my point on the long and winding road of justice, theres another news clip today about 3 people being convicted of the 1984 riots in Delhi.

Just 3 People???? Are they joking? An entire community was targetted and all they can do after 20+ years is convict 3 people?

Maddur Station

This story comes from the “Uncle Archives”. My uncles Ravi and Prabhu both went to NIE Mysore and were avid cricketers. Ravi in fact played Ranji for M.P, University Cricket for the University of SouthHampton, and county cricket for Hampshire before moving to the USA in the mid 60’s. Some of the stories they have are stuff that urban legends are made of.

So once they are all coming back to Mysore from Bangalore after playing a tournament (for Sunny Side Cricket Club..I think). The train stops in Maddur for a few minutes and restarts again. As it started, one of the guys puts out his hand to take an orange from a vendor who was carrying the basket on his head. Now, because of the train moving, his hand hits the basket, and the entire contents spill over the platform. The vendor of course starts shouting, and the engine driver sees this and stops the train. The vendors friends are all getting into the compartments to search for the “loafers”. In the meantime our heroes(my uncle including), are scared out of their wit and the entire team (YES the entire team) squeezes into the bathroom and locks the door. People are piled on top of each other. A few minutes later, the guys give up their search and the train restarts. Our “dirty dozen” does not come out of the toilet until they reach Mysore.

I still don’t understand how their equipment and other things were untouched.

Should the World Cup continue?

Bob Woolmer’s death has cast a shadow on the entire tournament. The zing is just not there. I know that there are a lot of financial implications, but should this tournament go on?

In the meantime businesses like Airtel are making money out of this tragedy. See the post on Churumuri here.

Will businesses go all out to make an extra buck?

Whats your opinion?

And THAT is how you pulverize a minnow…

While Virender Sehwag was showing us why he’s not the brightest bulb in the box, so to speak:

“I was not worried about anything. This innings was long due and I was expecting it for a long time”

And the news editors were trumpeting a return to form for the “destructive opener” and congratulating India on a “record victory” over a university-class team:

Sri Lanka showed us how to pulverize a second-class (as opposed to the fourth-class Bermudans) team: Sri Lanka 318/4 (50 ov) Bangladesh 112 (37.0/46 ov).

I will be truly stunned if we manage to beat Lanka on current form.

The Letter

Time to head back in time…

One thing in a family full of buys is that the older kids get blamed for anything that the younger ones do. In my case, the punching bag was my cousin Uday. Uday is about an year and a half older than I am so that made us “soul mates”.

Summer holidays were invariably spent together either in Bangalore or Mysore. Uday and I had several firsts together. Our first smoke (when I was 8), our first taste of meat, late night movies by sneaking out the back door, the list goes on and on. Every waking moment was spent plotting something or the other. If we had nothing else to do, there was always Harisha (Udays younger brother) or Aditya (my dear sibling) to pick on. But whatever happened, it was always Udaya’s fault. Even though the planning and execution and eventual messing up was mine. Uday always took these rebukes stoically and in good humor except for one time…

Why Do We Get So Emotional – A Response

Why do we get so emotional asks Vijay

I followed a part of the India/Bangladesh game on rediff this past weekend. The comments on their message board (occasionally hilarious but mostly tasteless) gave me a bit of insight. Here are my observations:

– Sad as it may seem, a lot of people out there don’t seem to have anything better in life to look forward to than a win by the Indian cricket team. So when India loses, it becomes very personal. Put that together with unemployment and latent goonda tendencies and you have effigy burnings, wrecked property and donkeys named Veeru with “chappli haaras” (though if I were the donkey, I’d be more than a little insulted and it’s not because of the chappli haara)

– Patritotism. How can these guys play for our country, as representatives of our great nation, in this shameful and spineless way?

– Resentment that our cricketeers seem to more interested in endorsing biscuits, colas, pizzas and motorbikes and in romancing Bollywood babes than they are in being professional athletes (Note to those who say it’s just a game: This is not just a game. This is professional sport. Very different.)

– Resentment += 1 when they realize that our cricketeers get paid big bucks for doing the above.

– Resentment += 2 when they realize that in the real world, you could (and would) get fired for incompetence but in Indian cricket you only get dropped if you back the wrong politician.

– Resentment += 20 when they watch the Aussies and South Africans ruthlessly decimate their opposition.

– Resentment += 200 when they realize that our fat cat cricketers face no consequences if they perform badly.

– Resentment += 2000 when they realize that our fat cats know that there are no consequences if they perform badly.

– Resentment += 20000 that none of this will likely ever change.

Anything else?

Ugadi Greetings I dont need

Driving around I see posters and banners from every two bit corporator, councilor, MLA and MP wishing people a happy Ugadi. Some of these even have strobe lights around them. As if thats not enough, their villanous pictures stare out of these posters.

Thats all I need. Getting wished by goons.

Oh ya. Guess who pays for this. Its the very people these guys are wishing. All the bills for these are footed by the small business owners who have to contribute to the “collection”.