yesssss...We won the world cup !

After a long wait of 24 years...India are world champs again...Words won't capture the emotions..nothing can...its a great moment for India and Indians....

Headlines of Major Dailies

Times of India - We are the world
Hindustan Times - Top of the world
DNA - we won

there was this great sense of positiveness in todays day..whether it was in the local train or at office or out in the streets..just amazing

will leave you with 2 snaps that will be embedded in history forever

1st one - Misbah, Jogi , asif and the umpire watch as the ball is in the air off Misbah's scoop shot. (look on Joginder's face : priceless)
2nd one - Victors and the Vanquished - Indian team crowds around Joginder and start celebrating even as Misbah is down in despair (reminds me of the opening scenes of Chak de India)

Oh Captain my captain

Captaincy blues haunt the Indian cricket team as Dravid resigned even before India had played a match in the T20 world cup (the match against the scots was washed out)

Dravid, the captain over the last 2 years or so, has put in his papers saying that he wants to concentrate on the game.And now the selectors are making a mockery of it by trying to reinstate Sachin at the top...Hello..this is the same sachin who resigned from captaincy cos he wanted to 'concentrate on batting' just like Dravid. And now you want to put him back in the same spot? Sachin has just started playing freely (the England tour was great for Tendulkar)and now the selectors want to put teh crown of thorns on him again.I am a critic of teh way sachin has approached batting in recent years , but the England tour was a pleasant exception.

Who are the alternatives then? Dhoni, ganguly and Yuvraj.Ganguly - dunno if he wants the job. Dhoni - OK choice, just like Azhar was made captain when there was problems with the senior players in the early 90's. But can he take teh pressure? Maybe the T20 world cup can answer that. Yuvi ..well he is not even a regular in the Test side...

I quite like the approach some teams have taken in recent years to Captaincy. Lee Germon was made captain of a Kiwi side in his 1st one dayer, and Greame Smith took over as S.A. captain even as he had played just a couple of tests and one dayers..

Waiting for the drama to unfold at the nautanki called BCCI

Sanjay Dutt

On 31st August 2007, Justice Kode sentenced Sanjay Dutt to 6 years RI. I don't know but i have this gut feel that Dutt, even is he has to undergo the sentence (if the SC turns down his appeal) will come back a stronger man, and will continue delivering hits.In the past he has risen like a phoinex when industry experts gave him no chance.

Lets look at his past comebacks.

Naam (1986) : after his debut in Rocky (1981) he seemed to fade away before getting back to teh box office with a bang in this movie.

Khalnayak (1993) : Released when Dutt was in Prison, this movie again established the fact that he could play Grey shades with ease, perhaps the first of the A grade stars of his time to attempt a negative character and be successful.

Vastav (1999) : after releasing from prison , Dutt starred in several unsuccessful movies and was declared a spent force when he came back with Vastav.


Munnabhai MBBS (2003):again to put a rest to the doubting thomas of the world, here came a rejuvenated Dutt , with his producers laughing all the way to the bank.

i wont count Lage Raho Munnabhai (2006) cos i won't classify it as a comeback film.I was itching to include Saajan (1991) but its just missed my cut.

Work and Home

One should keep his tensions of work away from home and vice versa.....easy to say, but so hard to achieve :)

News !

Well I was just watching the India - Ireland ODI when my dad asked me to switch to a news channel to catch the news.Well i asked him if i could switch to a news channel after 2-3 overs.

I can switch back to the scene about 10 years ago.people would still want to catch the 7pm 'Batmya' or Marathi news on DD1. Now they are spoilt for choice. At least 10 news channels...24*7...

But, is it that the frequency of significant events has increased in the last 10 years.I don't think so.Then how come there is enough news for these channels to showcase.how come 10 years ago all the news could be fitted into 30 minutes a day, and now there is enough news to last 24 hours?

The answer is repetition .The same news on all channels with little diffrentiation. also the same clips repeating again and again.Any stupid niche news becomes 'BREAKING NEWS'. Also put an astrologer here, a tarot card reader there...and hey you managed to create content for a 24 hour news channel.

Heartless Mumbai

A recent incident in the Local train has left me speechless about the heart of the city.
I was traveling in a local train in the morning.Although it was peak hour, since it was a Saturday, there wasn't much rush.I boarded at the starting station i.e Borivali and sat down.At Kandivali, some people got in.Just as the train was about to start, someone noticed a pickpocket trying to flick a purse.he was caught, although he tried to get down before the train started.The people started abusing him and then started hitting him like he was some punching bag.Thy hit him without any mercy.I was totally stunned by this misbehavior.The crowd then stripped him of his garments ad threw him out of the train at Malad, the next station.
I think that even if someone would have tried to stop the crowd, they would have hit that person too.It seemed as if the crowd was just channeling their everyday life frustration on that pickpocket, be it their boss, wife or someone else.I know the pickpocket was in the wrong, but did he deserve all this? when one old gentleman told the mob to stop and hand the person to the police ,he was asked to shut up, and told that the police is hand in glove with such guys.

Is it that Mumbai has lost its heart?

Dry day blues

Last Friday got a call from Nandan...We thought of meeting up fr dinner and daroo...we thought of sitting at on of these sidey places in central Mumbai and catch up with each other.

Well what we weren't aware of , was that since it was the day for counting for the civic elections, it was a "dry day", which means that bars and wine shops will be closed!

Nandan thought that only the central suburbs being a sensitive area had this problem, so we went to another suburb of Mumbai, but again we were left disappointed.

Ok, here is the fun part.When we were looking tor open bars in Dadar, we met a Havaldar patrolling traffic on the street.Hence is the gist of the conversation, translated in English.

Nandan : Hellos Sir, is there a dry day today?

Cop : Arey boys, see today is counting day.Now actually we don't need a dry day today, but the powers above think that people might drink today, and may cause a law and order problem.

Nandan : oh, OK

Cop : See actually the wine shops and the bars would love to remain open today.The victors in the election, would love to drink and celebrate, and the losers would probably like to drown their sorrows in booze.But the authorities think otherwise.
now everyday drinkers know when are the dry days, so they have stocked up the booze already.Its just people like you who drink once in a while who are caught unawares.

Nandan : so what do you suggest now?

Cop : well most of teh shops here in this area are closed. a wine shop down the 1st left from here may be open, just try your luck.

Nandan : but then we can only bu the booze there, where should we drink?

Cop : well just head for the beach

Nandan : but then you guys(cops) will come there and drive us away...

Cop : No no my friend, we visit teh beach to drive people away only at 12. now its only 10 pm, so you guys can enjy for 2 hours

Nandan : Thanks, nice talking to you, bye

Well we didn't find that elusive , "open" wine shop and had to settle only for a nice non veg dinner, without booze, but the conversation with teh cop did lift up our moods for a while!

India in south africa

Hi,
am posting after some time!

The Indian cricket team has flattered to deceive once again.I thought that this time we will win a series in south Africa, something that we haven't done ever.

The disappointing end however had a silver lining.Dada now looks set to play the one day series against SL and Windies , as well as the World cup.And Shreesanth has finally managed to get a foot in the door and looks set to play the WC2007.Dinesh Kartick has done well in the few opportunities he has got on the tour.