Ideology through Society, Culture, Family and Sports

I was eleven years old when I first witnessed a new-born baby. She was crying mostly, had a hair-density of close to nothing and possessed sharp nails which were constantly tarnishing her pink face. We called her Divya almost straightaway as was universally agreed upon by everyone concerned. She first came to our house when she was around the 3-Month-Old mark. From then till now, she hasn't been away from our home for a substantial duration. As she left to join Infosys a week ago, I wanted to take a moment to thank Dhivya Rubha (name changed somewhere in the middle for reasons not known to me) for being the lovable sister she has been to many of my friends, my brother, her own and myself. She has been an extremely noble daughter to her parents while never overlooking the importance of the roles played by her Perippa and Perima in her life. Ever Since she repeatedly uttered our names (Gopi/Babu) in her first school, which enabled a old teacher of my brother and ...

With the IPL going through a state of turmoil, fans and followers around the world have been left enraged. For no fault of theirs, they have a feeling of being let down and made to look foolish. They have every reason to feel aggrieved. There are calls for the IPL to be cancelled altogether, which according to me is not a rational decision. Listen to what Rahul Dravid had to say , shortly after his team was eliminated from this year’s edition. We have all known Rahul Dravid to be the ultimate diplomat. Even in his commentary, he finds it hard to criticise any player with ease. In the post-match interview mentioned above, Rahul talks about how good the IPL has been and the positive attributes it has. On the flip side of it, he refused to use the word “Negatives” and chose to say, “The IPL does have its CHALLENGES as well”, which is truly remarkable. Did he feel that his side’s chances were affected by the ill-timed participation of three of his players in the spot-fixing ...

     As another fantastic gentleman signs off from the game, I write this short note as a testimony to the services Mike Hussey has offered Australian Cricket, rather Cricket in general. Michael Hussey had already accumulated over 15,000 first class runs without getting a look-in to the Test team, for obvious reasons related to the formidable nature of the Aussie line-up those days. The faint-hearted would have resigned to the fact that the opportunity will never come and could have hung up. Not Mr Cricket, as he is fondly known as. He continued to churn out runs at a staggering rate and made it almost impossible for the Aussie selectors to continue to ignore him, though he was aged 30 and a half by then. On his Test Debut against the Windies in November 2005 , Hussey had mustered just a single when he was dismissed playing his favorite hook shot. Having worked relentlessly hard to earn a test cap, Hussey would have been devastated on the outcome du...

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...