Ideology through Society, Culture, Family and Sports

Dear Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar      Over the last couple of days, I have been sick and tired of listening to the “Retire Sachin” campaign. Many who were waiting for you to fail from the beginning of the last decade or so, are licking their lips. There are a few with a terrible short-term memory who cannot look beyond the most recent series, or at best the present year. We always have the stubborn ones, who are so obsessed with the likes of Jacques Kallis, Brian Lara and Steve Waugh and thereby fail to acknowledge how important you are for the prestige of World Cricket. Critics never cease to exist, but the Master you are, always choose to fight them alone and in the only way you know - The Quiet Way, with the Bat. If you had to, you could have walked out immediately after your Test Debut, during which a fiery Waqar Younis bouncer left you bloody-nosed . At the tender age of 16, there wouldn’t have been too many questioning you, had you wished to ...

Each day as I wake up and get ready for work, the top motivation I have are the loving people I meet, the joyous moments I share with them, the relationships I build, which on most occasions are long term and the smiles I exchange. I do have the hunger to learn and get my skills bettered but I wouldn't want that to happen by compromising on any of the above mentioned. I strongly believe that growing professionally and financially can be done anytime, it’s earning people which is more essential and significant than those. One such friendship that I have acquired and preserved for half a dozen years and completely unprepared to relinquish is Syam’s. Happy Times, Aug 2008 Subramanian Suryanarayanan – with a name that comprises of more a’s than the number of characters in my first name – made it easy for us when he announced very early that he is known as SYAM everywhere and prefers to be called that way. Much to the relief of us I would admit, because till the very...

Just like anyone else in life, Sportsmen are very reliant on breakthroughs achieved at the right time to flourish in their careers. For instance, a Test Cricketer feels he belongs to this level when he scores the Maiden Test Century, regardless of the quality of opposition playing against. On similar lines, Tennis greats are always evaluated based on the number of Grand Slam titles they win and that’s why the likes of Roger Federer and Pete Sampras are rated so highly. From the moment he won the Junior’s title at the Flushing Meadows in 2004, Britain’s (or is it Scotland’s?) Andy Murray have long been touted as someone who would end his career as one of the best players to have ever made his way onto the Tennis Court. But how well has be backed up the judgement? Has he justified the pundits’ claims and beliefs? Not till last Monday, without a Grand Slam singles title to his name. Speaking about Andy Murray, my brother who is an absolute Tennis wizard, has made a ...

Dedicated to my Mother, for whom I have done precious little good things in my life... All of you, who have been around me for a while would have noticed that my front tooth owns a significant amount of protrusion. Quite a few of you would have wondered, in the present world of medical advancements we live in, why doesn't he at least try to get that aligned? Maybe he is scared, maybe he is too tight-fisted to spend, maybe a combination of both. This document is to answer all or most of your unanswered queries. I have been visiting a Dentist right from the age of 13 - when my good Old Brother used all his energy and anger to bowl a sharply-raising bouncer towards my face - thereby uprooting one half of my bugs-bunny tooth pair. Not many would have known that I have been using a false front tooth from the year 1994 till now, a few of you would anyway. About the alignment, it’s not that I haven’t tried to get that right, if I can recall correctly, I have visit...

Sports can be pretty damaging at times. Defeats can pummel you to the deep end from where you lose hope, faith and belief of a recovery. Champions are the ones who overcome all these self-doubts at different phases in their careers and from my perspective and many others' - Roger Federer is truly one.   The last time (before today) Roger Federer won a Grand Slam was way back in January 2010. That is 9 unsuccessful attempts after that, which isn't too bad for anyone else - but terrible for Roger Federer. Between then and today, Roger Federer had watched Nadal and Djokovic play the title match on 5 different occasions, he himself had lost a French Open final against Rafa. When Djokovic truly realized his potential and started stringing a stunning winning sequence, Rafael Nadal being always there, another Grand Slam triumph for Roger looked extremely distant - even for the most ardent fans of his. The Serb and the Spaniard being incredibly good as they were, it was ...