Ideology through Society, Culture, Family and Sports

Twice earlier I have picked up Rafael Nadal as the topic for my blog and on both the occasions, I have been in an excited mood where Rafa would have just won a Grand Slam tournament - Not this time though. At the end of a frustrating year, this time my mood is nothing short of being deflated, depressed, devastated and demoralized. The year 2010 was an absolute gem for Rafael Nadal. Been forced to retire midway through his Quarter Finals match against Andy Murray in Melbourne, Rafa staged a remarkable recovery to come back and win the next three Grand Slams. At that end of the US Open, I wrote “2010 has been almost perfect, I expect Rafa to make a clean sweep in 2011”. I was extremely confident when I wrote this statement because, I found only Roger Federer who was upto Rafa’s standards at that time, the rest including the likes of Djokovic, Murray and Roddick just weren't good enough. And against Federer as we all would know and agree, Rafa always seems to have th...

Forgive my ignorance, forgive my poor knowledge - I wasn't even aware of who Steve Jobs is, until over a year ago. I had used the I-Pod at least 5 years ago, but I still was using it without actually knowing who would have been the key element behind the design and functioning of the device. My reading habit has been poor at best and my drive to know what’s happening in the world around has been pretty limited and I hope that explains. Back in 1995, when I was first exposed to computers, the first thing that my tutor had to talk about was the Operating System. As always is the case, it starts with DOS and we continue to learn on what is so special about an Operating System, why it is required, what are the operations it performs and a few other related aspects. We gradually move onto learning Windows which is far more decorated to look at and fascinating to work with. An interesting questions here - How many of us do realize that Macintosh and not Windows introduced the usage of...

(Focused primarily on his One-day Career, since his test innings is still on) Last Friday, Rahul Sharad Dravid was playing his farewell ODI - emotional moment is it? I didn’t feel so, because his ODI career had effectively ended 4 years ago when he was dumped out of a Young Team India which started looking ahead and rightly so. Many are still angry on the selectors (that time it was Dilip Vengsarkar) but for me that looked a right move since Dravid was showing signs of slowing down and his participation in ODIs was allowing his impeccable test record to take a beating. He was very unwisely recalled for the Champions Trophy in 2009, dropped and recalled once again for the series against England. It’s a plainly ridiculous move and I have always believed Srikanth’s selection to be extremely similar to his batting - Cracker-jack. The very first memory I have of Rahul Dravid was when he repeatedly used to churn out huge scores for Karnataka, in the early nineties. Those days...

Disclaimer: A disclaimer is for defensive minded people and I'm not too proud to say I'm one. This is merely a collection of my thoughts and understanding on the tennis I have religiously watched in the last 6 years. Calling it rubbish or finding it good, is clearly the readers’ call, I’m no expert to either be offended or to stand and question. To Gopinath my Dear Brother, Avin, Rubesh, Harish, Ajit, Bhai, Sanjeev all of whom are ardent followers of Roger Federer - I have nothing against all of you and this really isn't an effort to raise your BP Levels. To my own Rafa lovers - CPT, Sudhir, Reon, Dhivya, Gunal, Anna, Pramod, Ashwin, Subhash, Amar, Arun, Sumit, Vivian and many more - You guys might appreciate this. To the neutrals like Naveen, Zendil - Life is so peaceful being you! I’m not too sure on the amount of wrath that I will be inviting myself for, when I publish this blog. I have heard far too many people concluding that Roger Federer is the best player wh...

He came in looking like a brash, arrogant, care-free batsman whose only intention on the crease was to hit towering sixers and earth scorching boundaries. The purists didn’t like him, the people who wanted unadulterated entertainment adored him. In no time, the Indian Captaincy beckoned, Dhoni took it up with sheer grit and willingness. He had his own fair share of successes, while the critics were constantly monitoring each of his moves to showcase what he isn’t doing right. A couple of days back after India lost to the Proteas (a match which we dominated mostly), I looked at my facebook page and could sense furious comments and ridicules towards MS. Agreed, he makes a few crucial mistakes, but Does he deserve a total blank out due to them? Do we have such a short-term memory? Are we being just? In my opinion, Dhoni deserves a much better deal and treatment for his contributions already (though he is still some way away from being finished) Here is my take on a few para...

Last week there was a party hosted by one of our very good friends and a recent Mother - Smitha in "The Hotel Chancery, Lavelle Road, Bangalore". She was kind enough to take Syam, Reon, Veena and myself to that place, knowing very well the buffet costs 415 there and her budget was a clear 65 Rs short of that price. Just when we were about to fill our plates, I turned towards my right to find someone tall, broad and handsome and who I thought was familiar to me. Irfan Pathan it was - For a moment I thought it was Yusuf, I really did. Hang on, My cricketing acumen is good enough to differentiate between the two Pathan's. The fact is the younger one's stakes (International Merit, not IPL's) have gone down so drastically and at the same time, the elder one has made a name for himself as a Marauder who can play express short-pitch bowling too. I quickly gathered my wits and said, "Hi Irfan!!" He replied with a nice broad smile, "Hi, How are you?" I...