Ideology through Society, Culture, Family and Sports

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...

(Disclaimer: This review is not an effort towards offending anyone's linguistic emotions. It is nothing more than my first hand perspective on the film I saw today - The possibilities of me going wrong is enormous) I just came back after watching the Kannada movie named "Super" starring Upendra, Nayan Thara and a few others. This is just the second Kannada movie I have watched in a theater, coincidentally, both occasions have been in the same venue - Sagar Theater, Near Majestic . Went with one of my good friends, Hemanth with whom I have repeatedly discussed on the prospect of going to a Kannada movie. Today we thought we could and we did. The start was pretty good (If ever I use that red lettered word again in this blog, you can consider that to be a typo) with the portrayal of how India - Mysore rather - will be in the year 2030. The Gorgeous airport, neatly dressed Indians and one thousand rupee note fetching thousands of dollars in return were all nice to see. But t...

Blogging doesn't come automatically for someone as lazy as me. It normally is stimulated by someone's request and the request came from my Sister-in-law this time. A few days before she started to India in Feb, she told me on a call - "Your niece has grown so playful these days and you are certain to enjoy every movement of hers. I would be happy if you can write a blog on her to narrate the experience" I owe this to you, Anni - Though I have done it 3 months too late, I certainly have had it in my mind all the time. My Niece named Hridyaa - Born in India, but has lived more than half her three years in Calgary, Canada. Born on the 1st of Feb 2007, in these initial years she has spent on Mother Earth, she has already created enough positive impact on the happiness of everyone around. The girl with the widest of winks, freakiest of hair cuts, and owner of the craziest of expressions came on at precisely the right time to stamp her influence. She is nau...

I typed all the italicized text below, in the first week of Feb 2010...in an extremely crestfallen state of mind! Scene - 1: Approximately in the middle of the year 2005, Sachin Tendulkar suffered a career threatening injury named the "Tennis Elbow". By that time, the master had already played a massively monstrous 16 years, accumulated over 20,000 international runs, created/broken/smashed almost all the batting records - In spite of that, there was a frenetic fear within me that one of the greatest cricketers ever to have wielded the willow, has finally buckled down to injuries and a glorious career is over, a few years in advance. God's grace, I was proven wrong, my fears were cast aside and Sachin Tendulkar came out of that dark phase and is still glittering like gold - 5 years hence. Scene - 2: Rafael Nadal happens to be my second most admired sportsman ever, no prizes for guessing the first one. When Rafa had to limp off from his Quarterfinals...

"Behind the passion, hunger, success, ability, fame, riches, respect and love for the game, there lies a humble, level-headed and down-to-earth human being, so lovable to all" February 22, 2010 - Sachin Tendulkar reached the pinnacle of glory never achieved in Men's ODI Cricket. He notched up an astonishing double hundred against a worthwhile South African bowling attack, in what turned out to be a series-clincher. I was quiet occupied that day attending calls and reading messages - Only Sachin would have been busier that evening. A couple of my friends told me that I have got a very hot topic for my blog and I ought to write one on the Master's latest of many achievements. But what do I write? I very well knew that had I started to write on that day, I would have continued to write even till now, because, no words are enough to describe him. It's high time someone finds a new adjective that can be mapped to SRT alone. Therefore, I picked up a few in...

These days I have been eagerly waiting for the weekend, that allows me to play 2 days of tennis ball cricket - not a kid anymore, we play with the harder one. As I enter the field, I think of accomplishing only 2 things during the course of the day's play. 1. Do not drop a catch at any cost, pull of a brilliant catch if you get an opportunity. 2. Never misfield to concede an extra run, try saving as many as possible. Batting well, scoring these many runs, bowling well, taking these many wickets have never been in my mind, for the simple reason that I do believe if any of these happens, it is a bonus and I have just been lucky on that day. I know very well that I haven't had the best of techniques in these parameters of the game. So, fielding is something that I have always enjoyed and am confident of not doing too badly in that aspect, there are exceptions though. During one of those games on the Saturday that went by, I was fielding at deep square leg, slightly inside the boun...

Maybe I spoke too early and too much about my health (at the tail end of my previous blog) - The creator up there would have taken notice and said, "Now then, you are being too optimistic about your health being in good shape, time to get realistic - Take That". Ironical isn't it??! Yes, I have been down with an ailment for the past 3 days and still struggling to reach the 100% fitness mark, which I aspire to always. Let me speak about what I attained, instead of crying over what I possibly missed - for the simple reason, the former will be far lesser than the latter. I spent the entire weekend on bed, in front of the TV and the computer with bread and biscuits and of course tablets, surrounding me. Nice rest that, though I haven't done anything significant in recent times to demand one, but who cares. Secondly, I watched India pounding the hapless Lankans (somehow love seeing them lose) in the second T20 match, Yuvraj, Sehwag and Dhoni all at their brilliant best and...