How important is Sachin Tendulkar to India. For all his cricketing heroics( a world cup, 100 international centuries will soon be in the list), he is just an entertainer after all. Rakhi Sawant does the same( Of course Sachin does it in a much better and dignified way). Then why is Sachin such an icon?
Sachin has been around for 20 years. As a nation, people say, India has changed drastically over this period. I am sure we have. But the one who brings joy and happiness to the nation is still the same man. In a nation and decade, where corruption and terrorism have been the order, he has cheered up the nation through it's hard times. People hardened by the betrayals of politicians, leaders and beaurocrats, saw in him the ray of hope that kept them going. He stood upto the masses' expectations. People had someone who wouldn't let them down. And thus emerged our Hero.
Sachin is lucky to be blessed by supreme talent. Coupling it with his hard work he has achieved his milestones. Yuvraj Singh and Vinod Kambli were probably as gifted or only slightly less. But both came nowhere close to him. Achieving success is one thing, handling it is another. Sachin biggest quality is his modesty. With all his accomplishments, he has every right to be arrogant. Instead, if ever an example of humility and modesty would be given, it would be Sachin.( Not necessary to mention but I find Amitabh Bacchan's modesty fake, he can of course act well enough to convince people).
Sachin has shown to the world that one could be superstar just with onfield feats. No off-field controversies, no larger-than-life show-offs. Just Cricket. To a generation that misunderstands modernity as a disgust for tradition, he is a teacher. His habit of looking up towards the sky to remember his father after every milestone (practically every other inning) is a reminder to all of us of the core Indian value, which we seem to have forgotten in our 'modernization' process.
Sachin would retire sooner than later. Age is not on his side. There is a famous saying- Great players shouldn't retire when people are asking why not, but why! I am sure Sachin will earn himself the most graceful exit. To a lot of us, Cricket would change forever then. Till that happens, keep rocking Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar, the God of Cricket.
Monday, December 20, 2010
Thursday, October 28, 2010
Nothing Serious
Past 2 weeks have been eventful. To begin with , it was navmi and dusherra during the weekend. Having spent a larger part of my life in Jamshedpur, which has a large Bengali population, I have seen the madness and festive mood that puja generates. I have seen the durga puja celebrations in Kolkata(about a decade back ), and must say, if u celebrate something, that's the way to do it. Perhaps, the mad celebrations are the only thing that I like about Bengal and Bengalis, apart from, of course, Sourav Ganguly(even their KKR team sucks big time). I always knew puja celebration here in Northern Rajasthan would never ever come 1% close to that in Jamshedpur, but it was even drier than what I thought it would be.
My dusherra weekend breakfast, lunch and dinner comprised a total of 2 600 ml colddrinks and 4-5 samosa, a long shot from what I normally had when I stayed at home. I know, it happens. But the thought made me miss home for a freak second. In fact, longer.
During evening, a senior asked me if I wanted to accompany him to see Ravaan dahan. He warned me before hand, it would be quite 'hagora', which isnt a surprise here in Pilani. Infact, it is the norm. Here they burn a 2-D Ravaan. On a paper they make eyes, ears, and anything else to make it look like a face. It is assumed to be Ravaan. Then 4-5 crackers are tied on the bamboo and they are burned. This makes for quite an eco-friendly Dusherra, I suppose.
Now, towards the brighter side. For the first time, roamed about alone in Delhi's C'not Place. It was also the week of Oasis, The BITS Pilani Cultural fest. Oasis in the dry life of Pilani. It brought smiles for some, friends for others, relief for me. It had the normal events of a fest-the prof shows and other events. I had never seen a college fest before, so I liked it a lot. Being absolutely without work for a week was a big relief, everything else was bonus.
With a huge explosion of DU girls, all in skimpy clothes, made me wonder how efficient the homoestasis system is in female. Temperatures, as we felt, was dipping every day. Somehow it affected only the guys. Some BITSian girls also tried, but DU girls are pro. On a serious note, coming from a small town upbringing, and am sure quite a few metro brought up people felt the same, it was quite uncomforting to see the girls smoking and being all over the place on guys, who surely weren't the hunk that those girls could have easily commanded. As a lot of jealous BITSians(or for that matter, our clan of engineering students across the country) would put it, DU may not have the brainiest and the smartest guys, but surely the luckiest. I disagree though(call it sour grapes if you want to, but it isn't). It would'nt be decent to stare at them from such close range!! Where I come from, half sleeved tees on girls also raised eyebrows.
As we were discussing( 'we' comprised people from across North India, who have seen and lived in metroes, modern and decent places like Jamshedpur, Jaipur, Varanasi, etc ), it's more of show off than anything else. Lot of girls smoking were probably "giving it a try", free from parental monitoring here in Pilani. Probably, they were enjoying the freedom that BITS offers( BITS has an area inside the BITS campuses right at the centre, called C'not Place, the market place which legally BITS doesnt own and it's strict rules doesnt apply there. Strange but true). And ofcourse they were here for party, so a little extra charged up. The trend seemed to have rubbed on some BITSians, as well. As we felt that there life was better, probably they felt the same about us.( Of course, ill informed DU people wont know that we answer an exam every 3-4th day, even today, just a day after Oasis, we had an exam).
Normally I dont write about myself (who would be interested in reading it). In past, wrote about diverse topics. People still didnt read. I can make "cool dude"ly comment that I hardly care whether anyone reads it or not. But honestly, it matters. Past 2 weeks, had a new experience. Quite liked it, so wrote it on blog. Cheers.
My dusherra weekend breakfast, lunch and dinner comprised a total of 2 600 ml colddrinks and 4-5 samosa, a long shot from what I normally had when I stayed at home. I know, it happens. But the thought made me miss home for a freak second. In fact, longer.
During evening, a senior asked me if I wanted to accompany him to see Ravaan dahan. He warned me before hand, it would be quite 'hagora', which isnt a surprise here in Pilani. Infact, it is the norm. Here they burn a 2-D Ravaan. On a paper they make eyes, ears, and anything else to make it look like a face. It is assumed to be Ravaan. Then 4-5 crackers are tied on the bamboo and they are burned. This makes for quite an eco-friendly Dusherra, I suppose.
Now, towards the brighter side. For the first time, roamed about alone in Delhi's C'not Place. It was also the week of Oasis, The BITS Pilani Cultural fest. Oasis in the dry life of Pilani. It brought smiles for some, friends for others, relief for me. It had the normal events of a fest-the prof shows and other events. I had never seen a college fest before, so I liked it a lot. Being absolutely without work for a week was a big relief, everything else was bonus.
With a huge explosion of DU girls, all in skimpy clothes, made me wonder how efficient the homoestasis system is in female. Temperatures, as we felt, was dipping every day. Somehow it affected only the guys. Some BITSian girls also tried, but DU girls are pro. On a serious note, coming from a small town upbringing, and am sure quite a few metro brought up people felt the same, it was quite uncomforting to see the girls smoking and being all over the place on guys, who surely weren't the hunk that those girls could have easily commanded. As a lot of jealous BITSians(or for that matter, our clan of engineering students across the country) would put it, DU may not have the brainiest and the smartest guys, but surely the luckiest. I disagree though(call it sour grapes if you want to, but it isn't). It would'nt be decent to stare at them from such close range!! Where I come from, half sleeved tees on girls also raised eyebrows.
As we were discussing( 'we' comprised people from across North India, who have seen and lived in metroes, modern and decent places like Jamshedpur, Jaipur, Varanasi, etc ), it's more of show off than anything else. Lot of girls smoking were probably "giving it a try", free from parental monitoring here in Pilani. Probably, they were enjoying the freedom that BITS offers( BITS has an area inside the BITS campuses right at the centre, called C'not Place, the market place which legally BITS doesnt own and it's strict rules doesnt apply there. Strange but true). And ofcourse they were here for party, so a little extra charged up. The trend seemed to have rubbed on some BITSians, as well. As we felt that there life was better, probably they felt the same about us.( Of course, ill informed DU people wont know that we answer an exam every 3-4th day, even today, just a day after Oasis, we had an exam).
Normally I dont write about myself (who would be interested in reading it). In past, wrote about diverse topics. People still didnt read. I can make "cool dude"ly comment that I hardly care whether anyone reads it or not. But honestly, it matters. Past 2 weeks, had a new experience. Quite liked it, so wrote it on blog. Cheers.
Thursday, September 30, 2010
30-09-2010------------------------------- 6-12-1992
Today is a historical day. There is finally a verdict, though not the final verdict on the Ayodhaya land dispute. Of course it has taken 18 years( anyone surprised??). I think it's very acceptable, considering the complexity of the case (pocket picking cases take 10 years in our system). In my opinion, probably this delay has in fact made the judgement much more acceptable today. This is 2010. We are India, the superpower to be. That was 1990s, when an asshole by the name Warren Anderson could shrug past India after resulting 20000 deaths. Now Indian people and youth in particular have a lot more purpose in life, than to die for Ram mandir and Babri masjid.
Personally, I feel Ayodhaya should have a Ram mandir, but i am not going to riot( or participate in even peaceful pleads) for it. I dont think that I would even ever visit Ayodhaya to offer prayers. But Ayodhaya holds the same place amongst Hindus, as Mecca and Madina amongst Muslims. I am sure Ayodhaya has enough land area to accomodate both a Mandir and a Masjid.
There has been a lot of media coverage on the issue. I had a chat with my friend who is in Bangalore. He told me they are not allowed to move in group of more than two. Of course it's a serious matter. But come tomorrow, India-Australia test series will begin. And hopefully our undisputed God, Sachin Tendukar will hit a crackling century and more, and give the people the much needed diversion and the media, the fodder for half-hour specials, which they can telecast throughout the day.
Personally, I feel Ayodhaya should have a Ram mandir, but i am not going to riot( or participate in even peaceful pleads) for it. I dont think that I would even ever visit Ayodhaya to offer prayers. But Ayodhaya holds the same place amongst Hindus, as Mecca and Madina amongst Muslims. I am sure Ayodhaya has enough land area to accomodate both a Mandir and a Masjid.
There has been a lot of media coverage on the issue. I had a chat with my friend who is in Bangalore. He told me they are not allowed to move in group of more than two. Of course it's a serious matter. But come tomorrow, India-Australia test series will begin. And hopefully our undisputed God, Sachin Tendukar will hit a crackling century and more, and give the people the much needed diversion and the media, the fodder for half-hour specials, which they can telecast throughout the day.
Sunday, July 11, 2010
Haggu- The Bull
Octopus Paul is hogging all the limelight. But far away, in my home village, gram-RajaPakar, jila-Vaishali, Haggu the bull, without the media glare, is making predictions, all correct for the past 10 years. His methodology is simple. He shits around his predictions. For the final, he ran around shitting, and wrote Holland (I wonder who taught him English, must be that Lalu's horse that only understands English)on the ground. I am told he did it similarly for all matches. I got to know about it today only. as my village still doesnt have long distance communication facilities, and Indian media, in any case doesn't cover poor Indian villages.
Football predictions are low on priority for people there. They mostly use him to predict the crop outcome. So Haggu, shits in those fields, where crops will be good, and he has been bang on till now.
Well, Haggu never got media attentions, and so did my village. Octopus, sparrow, and what not has kept the media busy. But I feel media missed something. Rakhi Sawant has not made any predictions. I hope some media guys would approach her as her predictions are more important than anything. After, it's a game of balls, and that too big one's.
Football predictions are low on priority for people there. They mostly use him to predict the crop outcome. So Haggu, shits in those fields, where crops will be good, and he has been bang on till now.
Well, Haggu never got media attentions, and so did my village. Octopus, sparrow, and what not has kept the media busy. But I feel media missed something. Rakhi Sawant has not made any predictions. I hope some media guys would approach her as her predictions are more important than anything. After, it's a game of balls, and that too big one's.
Thursday, June 24, 2010
The Minority Stake
Bihar CM Nitish Kumar created a lot of drama over Gujarat CM Narendra Modi recently. Narendra Modi has tarnished his image way beyond repair but this post is not about him. Nitish Kumar has been hailed best CM over past 3-4 year. He has re-instilled a sense of hope and pride amongst the people of Bihar. He is obviously wrong in returning the flood relief money, He has done this to tilt Muslim votes towards himself by preventing Narendra Modi from campaigning in election later in the year, as political analysts say.
My concern is more about the Muslim votes trend. Will a Muslim vote against the Government just because Narendra Modi campaigns for it, irrespective of the work done by it in past five years. If this is how Muslim votes in India are decided, 'Allah hi phir unka Malik hai'. Ram Vilas Paswan, (most rogue leader in my opinion) asked for Muslim immigrants from Bangladesh to be granted Indian citizenship, knowing clearly well that they are internal security headaches. These parties, while claiming to be messiah for Muslim, work on the assumption that Muslims for Muslims are more important than the larger good of the Nation. Muslims in India need to come out of these illusions, if there are any, that such people are there well wishers.
Muslims are a minority in India, largely deprived of good living standards. They earn the 'sympathies' of political parties. They need to intelligently tap this, rather than get religion centric. Muslims will only progress if Indian Muslim realise their true strength, the strength that the Muslim votes have here in India.
Here is an Indian Maulavi to Pervez Musharraf. It's pure Entertainment to watch Musharaff get red faced.
My concern is more about the Muslim votes trend. Will a Muslim vote against the Government just because Narendra Modi campaigns for it, irrespective of the work done by it in past five years. If this is how Muslim votes in India are decided, 'Allah hi phir unka Malik hai'. Ram Vilas Paswan, (most rogue leader in my opinion) asked for Muslim immigrants from Bangladesh to be granted Indian citizenship, knowing clearly well that they are internal security headaches. These parties, while claiming to be messiah for Muslim, work on the assumption that Muslims for Muslims are more important than the larger good of the Nation. Muslims in India need to come out of these illusions, if there are any, that such people are there well wishers.
Muslims are a minority in India, largely deprived of good living standards. They earn the 'sympathies' of political parties. They need to intelligently tap this, rather than get religion centric. Muslims will only progress if Indian Muslim realise their true strength, the strength that the Muslim votes have here in India.
Here is an Indian Maulavi to Pervez Musharraf. It's pure Entertainment to watch Musharaff get red faced.
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