Class will out they say!

I am not so sure anymore. The selectors have announced the team for the T20 WC and there are no surprises which usually is a good thing. Not in this case. I feel they needed to surprise us this time.
How many chances do people like Yuvraj and Rohit Sharma have to get before they are found out? These 2 players are absolutely disdainful of the talent they have for the game and are pretty much bent on self destructing. More power to them, but they are holding up places from more deserving albeit less talented players. This was probably the best opportunity to send out a message to them and others tending to behave like them to shape up or ship out. Talking about shape, has anyone noticed the beer belly's on Yuvi and Rohit.
For International level sportsmen, that is just plain disgraceful!

Yesterday was 1989 all over again!

The man I grew up idolising just converted a whole new generation last night with an epic in Gwalior. How blessed were the people who were at the stadium?
Something told me, he would get the double yesterday and I didn't utter that thought to a soul for fear, I'd jinx the great man. I shouldn't have worried. No one looked even remotely close to getting him out.
Dale Steyn will never forget the flick for 4 from outside off in a hurry! How does one player do that to the best bowlers in world cricket, just ask Shane Warne or Shoib Akhtar. The list is endless. May that continue for some more time please!

Yet another year and a decade into the new millenium!

2009 came and went by in a blink. almost. An eventful year by any yardstick. Can't wait for the new year.
India became the No.1 ranked team in test cricket. Never thought it would happen, but always wished it did happen.
Schumacher decided to return to F1 racing, making a longstanding ambition fulfillable. Aim to be at Sepang to watch the great man drive albeit in a 'Silver Arrow'.
Experienced a global recession and felt threatened but escaped unscathed. Very many were not so lucky. Being in India helped on that count. The country seems to be on the path of recovery leading the world while at it. Impressive.
Embarked on a journey which hopefully will be my legacy, filled with hope and anxiety. But the fact that I even undertook that journey says a lot about my evolution to myself at least.

Your own age is illustrated by the age of your parents. A growing realisation each time you see them. You don't feel strange when kids call you 'Uncle' anymore, a sure sign if any that you are getting on. School memories are becoming more of a blur and then it hits you that it's been 24 years since you left middle school.

Definitely in the mid-innings phase of my life and lots to look forward too.

Bring on 2010!

So close yet so far, yet again!

Watching Sachin bat last night was a blast from the past in more ways than one. It was batting at it's sublime best and something only Sachin can conjure with alarming regularity for opponents and rapturous joy for his legion of fans.

But the most disturbing aspect of the game was that none of the so called future of Indian cricket decided to show up and give him support. Suresh Raina had a shot at redemption and blew it in the most embarrasing and predictable manner. How many more years is he going to do it alone? I knew something special was on the cards when Sachin took the catch on offer of the last ball and threw it down in disgust. Probably at the amount of runs leaked by the bowlers and the catches dropped by his 'younger' teammates and the enormity of the task facing him individually. I am sure he knew then that he would have to do it all by himself all over again.

If the rest of the team have any shame they will ask him to take a rest and win the last 2 matches for him. That's the least they can do after his mammoth effort last night. Or maybe Sachin will himself take a rest and transfer the burden he has carried for near on 20 years onto the rest and let them feel the pressure for a change!

Grand Slam Tennis on the Wii

I am hooked to this game. Can't get enough of beating the legends in tennis in your own living room. There is a certain thrill to being able to play your heroes in the comfort of your living room and in the biggest tournaments in the world.

Read a review online about the toughness of the game for players and how it's very difficult to beat the stars in the game. I tended to agree with the review till I was beaten black and blue by a girl from the UK while playing online. That sure got me playing it a lot more and now I pretty much beat everyone at my level.

Can't wait to play that girl again!

R.I.P Gopalakrishnan Miss

Yesterday was a sad day. Woke up to the news that one of my teachers had passed away last month.
Gopalakrishnan Miss was among the first teachers to engage me in class. Can't remember any other teacher doing it. I was a back bencher throughout school and too few of the other teachers bothered with us.
All that changed one fine day when Gopalakrishnan Miss and Khurana Miss strode into our classroom and stood at the doorway staring at me intently and whispering away. My mind was in a tizzy. What had I done now?? As it turned out, I was being specced out to play a part in the inter-school drama competition. I was duly selected, not that I had much choice in the matter.
Looking back, I realize now that, that instance probably had a huge part in my future development in life. I started believing that, I was not the useless piece of flesh and bones, I thought I was and was actually capable of doing something with myself since others obviously saw some spark in me.

As it turns out, I turned out OK and the drama competition was shelved because Indira Gandhi was assasinated. Thank you for the belief Miss.

Didn't know I liked MJ so much...

Tuesday night was a strange one for me. Had an early morning class to attend at the gym and knew I had to get to bed early but I was stuck in front of the tube watching the memorial well into Wednesday morning. I just could not get up till the whole service was over. A lot of my older friends ridiculed the guy and asked me why I liked the guy so much. I don't know, honestly.

Till the 25th of June even I didn't know I liked MJ and his music till a friend called and told me about his passing. Since that day, I have been listening to his music and memories from my past have been flooding back. All of which reinforced his role in my life in a strange sort of way. Part of the reason to want to sit and watch the memorial was a way of getting closure I guess.

How much of a role he played in our lives was apparent the next day when every friend I asked said they were sitting and watching the memorial too!