Don't Pick on Sports

I am not a person who normally is upset or reacts strongly to another persons view, but in this case i believe that a strong rebuttal is due. Well these are a few of my thoughts in response to a blog i read.

At times it does seem a bit odd for anyone to get "hysterical or passionate " about a game , but i guess the same could be said about anything in life , why cry over someone scribbling on your favourite book (a low one i know , but just to illustrate a point) ? why cry at the movies, why protest over a perceived wrong ? why let a peice of art move you ? why listen to a song over and over again ? Why feel passionate about anything ?

Sports in its purest is a reflection of life itself, its about love ,its passionate, its about talent, determination, achievements, disappointments, its about teamwork at times it about the individual, its about the sublime and at time it descends to the chaotic and the ridiculous, its about pain ,its about the strength of the human spirit, its about deceit its about cheating , at times it about winning at all costs , its about pushing your self to the limit, and then pushing yourself even further, its about making mistakes , and how you recover from them , its about money, its aboput poverty, its about being knocked down and seweing if you can get up!but above all its about love, if you truly love the game nothing else matters !!!!

But this is not mean't to be about a comparison . Why do i love sport ? To me all sport is about fun , when your playing a game you truly love nothing else quite matters, whether you win or you lose, whether your good at it or u suck big time. I personally feel that for most guys the ultimate fantasy is to be a succesful sports person (i guess being in a rock band or a movie star wouls also rank up there). If you are fortunate or lucky enough to be spend your days playing a game, and earn a decent living while your doing it, its like heaven on earth. While i do enjoy my work , and do find parts of it quite interesting , i have found a couple of people who are hopelessly in love with their work. Now sport , thats a whole new "ball"(pun intended ;-)) game altogether, it just seems so much easier to be love with a sport you play , than to crack a million dollar deal (atleast it is to me ). Since most of us or not that lucky, or talented, or in some cases we are not willing to take the risk (not necessarily in that order ) , we do the next best thing we bask in the acheivements of others and let their acievements and efforts satisfy us. We let ourselves rejoice in other peoples heroics, and grieve at their misfortunes.

Strangely i don't really think the world cup is over hyped, true some of us would spend a lot more time before the TV for a month , but just wait for the cricket world cup to see what hype and hysteria really is . Its true that there are a lot of serious issues that tend to get overshadowed during the world cup, but thats what happens even when the world cup is not around(case in point : rakhi sawant and mikha) . Sport has proved to be a great bridge across differences and has often proved to be a catalyst in easing political and other tensions (India Pak , apartheid to name a few ). My point is simple sport in itslelf is apolitical, and a world without sport would only hurt not ease these rensions(btw its a proven fact that in most football crazy countries crime actually is down during the world cup).

Finally lets talk about the money! For some strange reason most people who do not like or follow sports seem to think of David Beckham or a Sachin tendulkar when they think of sport. Its true that David Beckham is paid millions of pounds for his endorsements, but so is a Amitabh Bachan or a Tom Cruise or a Shah Rukh! So why hype movie stars and their products either ? But even that does not matter, for every million that a sports person is made , the companies they endorse ear multiples of that , these companies employ people who earn a living !!! so its not quite a trickle ! Its a business too, unless some is making money of these players its not always viable to pay them that much. Also it is prudent to remember that though David beckham is a multi millionaire today , he was not really born wealthy , it is through football and his talent and looks that he is where he is today! And finally and most importantly , David Beckham is not representative of his sport! For every beckham there is a George Weah, who used the power and fame that he achieved through football to bring peace to his war torn home land of liberia. For every Zidane or a Ronalado, there is claude makalele, or a phil neville, or a Tenorio, the kenyan marathoners, they are the people who form the backbone of the sport , they are the faceless nameless multitude, who play for the love of the game , not for the fame and they are fortunate to make a living while doing so (some of them may otherwise have not been so lucky) ..... Not to mention the hundreds of people (in India) who have jobs with some of the PSU's and the likes of the Tata's and the Birla's solely on the fact that they excel in some sport!

At the end of the day, its not about money. Its about a kid just running for the first time, or kicking the football, or catching a ball , no aim no goal no agenda, just for the pure joyof it all ! Now imagine the same kid some 20 odd years later still running with pure unadultrated joy, and anyone to attack that is not to understand what sport means !

The Marlboro Woman

Perhaps its just me , but i couldn't help but notice the no of women in urban india who smoke these days ! Not quite as much as the men , but its not quite as uncommon as it was even a couple of years ago. Even couples these days seem to be made of women who smoke and the men who don't !!! Score one for the sexual revolution !!! I know atleast 4 couples where the men don't smoke (some in the family too ) , and the women do ! Its almost as if smoking is taken to symbolise equality ! Ordinarily its a very sexist thing to say , but looking at the growing number of women that do smoke , and most importantly the fact that a large number among them seem to be doing it just to seem cool, i feel its time for all of us to take a second look at smoking in general, and among the women in particular . Its time to put the tobacco companies out of business guys or maybe the next century will belong to the marlboro Woman!!!

A Blip on the Indian Hockey Scene !!!

I love sports , all sports . But i am especially partial to hockey . Why ? even though i suck at the game , and my uncles (they are really good at it ) my aunt and even my dad play better hockey than me (even now!), because its one of the few sports that we once dominated the world in ? Coincidentally my boss happens to be an ex university player , and he knows most people in the current team , a great friend of CDhanraj Pillay.Quite a few of them keep popping up at the office (the women really dig Viren Rasquina). So it was a great week as we did gr8 at the Azlam shah tournanment . A bronze medal(We still didn't quite keep it all together) inspite of all that KPS gill and co have done over the past decade to screw up Indian hockey. So a tribute to the guys who played their hearts out all for the love of sport !!! Keep the flag flying guys !!!

Its Over ... Toto's loses its "voice "

Well apparently its happened a couple of months back , but its no less shocking !!! Along with go 92.5 going desi on us, "toto's" has lost its voice. No its not a cruel joke but due to some dispute on a performance license, there is no music playing at toto's anymore !!!!For over 15 years the a week seemed incomplete without the mandatory friday night drink at toto's . For a long time it was was seen as a shady g(a)uy joint, a cheap shady joint, but over the past few years it was not uncommon to see a sprinkling of women in the mix, and nowdays its not common to find single women hanging out at toto's . You had Shack opening up a few years back , great music , more space, better women !!! but still toto's held its own... The beetle over the bar, to the number plates and car parts adorning the walls, to the carb ashtrays the maruti van DJ cabin, it just was a place that could not be replicated. Without the music it just is not the same anymore .

All we can hope is that its a temporary glitch, that the music will return , and we don't have to say "RIP" !!!

Argentina , Argentina!!!!

Its Day 12 of the world Cup, and overall its been a pretty good world cup. Great goals from day 1 (remember Frings), surprising performances (Ecuador, Ghana, South Korea, Spain ), and some major disappointments(England, France, Brazil).

But the main theme of this post is to pay tribute to one of the best team performances i have seen in a long time, " Argentian Vs Serbia Montenegro ". True its early days yet and they(Serbia) were not one of the top sides in the world. But what was never in doubt was that you were watching a special performance , This was how we expected Brazil to pay, magnificent passing , running of the ball , back heels , delicate flicks and perhaps most importantly clinical finishing!!! Can't remember the last time when ninety mminutes seemed to whiz by in a blur! So inspiring that you had a flag waving maradona in the stands going Ole, Ole and Ar-gen-tina, Ar-gen-tina, Ar-gen-tina!!

So for the rest of the cup all i'm hoping for is some more inspired Argentinian play, hopefully more teams will step up!!!

Imagine the Argentinaian Salsa against the Brazilian Samba, or vs the Netherland and their 90's version "total football" .... something to savour...hope the football gods will not disappoint !

The Friendly tree !!!

Am writing this after a small gathering at my place . Some friends came over , we kinda chilled over a few drinks , shot a bit of pool , listened to some music, discussed horror movies (well now thats probably a post for another day ) !!! But as we sat there i couldn't help but thinking as to how we first met and eventually became such good friends . Here was i surrounded by 6 people who i would have not met except for the fact that a friend of mine was off to the states and i went to see him off. A chance meeting with another of his friends who happened to stay near my place and today there are 6 people sitting on the floor, all friends of friends , all because 2 people decided to see someoene of .... strange how things work out !!!

Finally here... with a little help !!!

Well it took me some time to get started, but eventually and with some help i'm finally here. For someone who hasn't really written anything in his life , no diary, no journal, it sure feels a bit strange, but just reading a lot of the stuff thats out there ... what can i say ? i have seen the light , i have been inspired !!!

So what can u expect ? regular updates - maybe, some thing serious and profound ? occaisionally (probably after a couple of beers ). Well hopefully some stuff about me , some thoughts on the things i like , sports , music... you know general stuff, just some of my likes, dislikes, some things that get u thinking and some that just make u wish i wasn't writing.

So if like what u see , come along for the ride!!!!

Ps.
To the some one who got me started ( u might wish u hadn't ) .... Thanks