A Sporty Evening...

Recently got a chance to watch a FC Dallas Vs. Inter Milan soccer match in Plano here. Didn’t have really high expectations of the match, but it turned out to be quite a good one ending in a 2-2 draw. I always wanted to see a soccer match in a stadium and this was my dream come true. I also got a chance to strike off an item in 50 things I want to do list :)

Plus watching big names like Samuel Eto'o, Maicon and Materazzi was an added bonus even though I and Jai paaji spent most of the time figuring out what jersey number was which player and the dear lady accompanying us spent most of her time in queues buying water to keep us hyderated on a hot humid evening.... it was all great fun.

But what amazed me the most was the atmosphere of the stadium and the support for soccer and the local team. Even though US is not known to be a soccer nation and most people don’t even know the rules of the game leave alone following it, the turnout was huge. Each goal scored by the home team was followed by huge fireworks and great applause. The stadium facility was nicely built and well kept….no doubt these guys take home the most medals in each Olympics. If they can do so much for a neglected sport by US standards, God only knows how much they put in for the sports they love…got to watch a American Football match now….

I hope the same happens in India some day…Kids see sports as a career and parents support them and some portion of those 36000 crores earmarked for the CWG goes into sports infrastructure and facilities……

Sakhi Saiyaan to khoob hi….

Heard this delightful song from Aamir Khan’s next film Peepli Live and have been humming it over and over again since the time I heard it. Although I am not an expert on music and can hardly tell one genre from the other but I definitely know when a song sounds good .

Of late, Bollywood music is opening up to new horizons and has been stretching it’s boundaries; music directors and film makers have started experimenting a lot nowadays which is a very welcome change. The music in some of the recent films is both unconventional and refreshing. Films like Oye Lucky Lucky Oye’, ‘Dev D’, ‘Gulaal’ and now ‘Peepli Live’ belong to their own different genre of music determined more by the story, the location and the film instead of the conventional commercial wisdom.

What I like even more is the fact that when situation demands filmmakers are ready to explore folk music and not like the old days when they would just copy a folk tune and completely reinvent the song with filmy lyrics. I am talking about the songs where the folk essence still remains and stays alive – the simple lyrics, ground level issues, problems, happiness, and feelings in the simplest language – a language that is not confined to books or literary circles but a language which thrives in the hearts and the conversations of the common people; a language which is not so pure in literary terms but so pure in its essence and so flavorful. I think purity is over-rated, there is so much emphasis placed on it that it isolates and thus disconnects. Anyways I will leave that topic for some other time.

And right now just stick to Bollywood films and the use of folk music. Who has not liked or hummed ‘Sasural Genda Phool’ from Delhi 6. Rahman, the genius that he is, didn’t kill the essence of the song yet added modern beats to be liked by one and all. Another delightful example would be the music of the film ‘Oye Lucky Lucky Oye’. The song ‘Tu raja ki raaj dulari’ is actually a folk song from Haryana. ‘Jugni’ from the same film is sung by a 70 year old folk singer and he has sung it with so much power that you can hardly make out the age of the singer.

Mohit Chauhan has been including his version of at least one Himachali song in each of his album of late like ‘Morni’, ‘Thanda paani’, ‘Maye ni meriye’. These and a lot more little gems keep coming and leave me smiling…………

Thank you South Africa for a great great world cup!!!

I have refrained from writing this past month as there was a lot happening around me which kept me preoccupied and then of course there was the World Cup…the only real world cup I would say as this is probably the only event for which each and every country of the world vies for and participates – that includes playing a lot of qualifiers till you reach the last 32 which go into the ultimate battle to be the champions of the beautiful game.


Now that the football extravaganza has come to an end it is time to reflect upon what has transpired in the last one month. I‘ll not go into facts and figures but stick to my takeaways from the World Cup.

First and foremost, the biggest takeaway is the victory of Spain. I had predicted at the very beginning that Spain might win this one which of course nobody believed at that time and not many were convinced even until they defeated the most favored Germany very convincingly like they were playing a bunch of school kids. It is incredible how a team which has scored only 8 goals in the entire tournament managed to be the champions. I personally do not favor the defensive genre of soccer which Italy and now Brazil uses. But Spain might have scored less but their soccer was never boring they played a beautiful passing game all through which was delight to watch. The only chink in their armour was that they were missing another striker apart from the exciting David Villa since Torres was injured and out of touch for most of the tournament. But they never let anybody expose that weakness and managed to cover it up with their beautiful midfield play. Although the entire team played extremely well the following players need special mention: Casillas, Ramos, Iniesta and Xavi.

Spain were the ultimate champions but the revelation of the world cup was Uruguay – what great team work, what great fighting spirit and never-say-die attitude and of course the player of the tournament Diego Forlan – what an incredible player who single handedly inspired the whole team to play the football of their lives. I know many people would start pointing fingers at Suarez for that handball. But honestly, that looked more of an instinctive reaction than a deliberate attempt. I think he got duly punished as per the rules. All this finger pointing is because Gyan wasn’t able to convert the penalty for Ghana. Had he done that everyone would have forgotten the incident. I believe all the booing by the crowd was unnecessary and embarrassing. Suarez I believe is a talented young player with a great future. Somehow Uruguay of Forlan and Suarez reminded me of Chile of Salas and Zomarano – you could never write them off against anyone.

Germany was playing like a dream and at one point even I thought the cup belonged to them. But they somehow lost their game against Spain. Was it psychological pressure because of what the tentacled Oracle predicted or something else….we would never know. But it’s true they were in the best form of their life before Spain left them clueless in the Semis. Muller was one of the best players of the tournament. On paper I believe they had the strongest team.

It would not be fair to leave Netherlands out but compared to Spain they had a much easier path to the finals. And they always have been good enough to be touted as the best team never to have won a World Cup and they kept the reputation alive. The only highlight for me was their win over Brazil. And Robben and Sneijder showed that they were class players but the rest of the team was pretty unimpressive. They might still have won the cup on the shoulders of Robben and Sneijder had they concentrated on their game than on the fouls. Probably it was part of their plan to upset Spain’s flow through some rough play but they overdid it. It is at this point Spain showed how mentally strong they were as they stuck to their game unflustered.

Argentina was my other favorite but they were absolutely clueless in the game against Germany. Messi was difficult to spot on the field; he hardly came near the ball that day much less display the magic he is known for.

This world cup all in all proved one thing for sure that football is a team game and no single Messi, Ronaldo, Rooney or Kaka can make you the Champions. But on the other hand it also proved that if you have one inspirational leader like Forlan, Honda or Gyan and the team is ready to rally around him and support him, you can still certainly make a mark.

Rest France were a shame, Italy disgraceful, Brazil strong but too tied up with their defense, England had the firepower but not the will, Portugal was just relying on Ronaldo, Serbia - I had high hopes and Ivory coast disappointed . But this cup had more positives than negatives – A new Champion, the meteoric rise of Uruguay and Forlan, exciting discovery of players like Gyan, Muller, Ozil, Donovan etc. Honda was a revelation.



Thank you South Africa for a great great world cup!!!

PS: I found this slideshow published by The Huffington Post which IMHO is the most complete summary of the World Cup 2010 : http://huff.to/dAk4Os

Everest and the Indomitable Human Spirit

The day started with this bad news: http://bit.ly/d5yBSD


It is so sad that a young mountaineer died a premature death. As per the story, after scaling the peak he developed snow blindness and was not able maneuver the descent. His team mates tried to help him for several hours but ultimately had to abandon him or else they would have met the icy grave because of hypothermia and exhaustion. The story not only made me sad but also for a moment made me think how would have I reacted in a similar situation. It would have been great to say that I wouldn’t have left him but frankly, I still can’t make up my mind as to what would have I done. I am sure these guys tried their best to save him and situation would have been completely hopeless and it would not have been an easy decision at all. But survival instincts finally must have taken over. How would have you reacted in a similar situation?

Also made me think how helpless we humans still are against the forces of the nature. We challenge and claim that we have overcome natural challenges and we can use nature to our advantage. We drill holes in the bottom of the sea for oil, we scale mountain peaks to establish our supremacy but then tragedy strikes and we all know who the boss is. But still this helplessness pains me, wasn’t there any way he could have been saved – by probably airlifting him maybe. I know and it’s sad that we still don’t have the technology. But nevertheless we still have that indomitable spirit, a never dying desire to control all, to conquer all that makes a man gather the courage to scale these peaks fully knowing that it is dangerous and life threatening. Everybody who sets to climb a peak is aware of the dangers that would be there, that death would be lurking around the corner, and still nothing dissuades them. I salute this indomitable human spirit!!

The incident also reminded me of Sir George Mallory who was one of the first people to attempt scaling the Mt. Everest in the 1920s. I read “Paths of Glory” by Jeffrey Archer a couple of months back which I believe is a fictional account of his life. George Mallory disappeared on his final expedition and his body was found in 1999 couple of hundred feet below the peak leading to speculation that he was the first person to climb the Mt. Everest and he died on his way back. The story of Peter Kinloch sounds so similar. And it is indeed a matter of dismay that even after close to a century we did not have means to save his life but atleast we know that he had achieved what he wanted to – stand at the top of the world.

My condolences to the near and dear ones of Peter Kinloch…R.I.P.!

Status, Status everywhere and lots of lines to think..

The title is inspired from Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s classic poem The Rime of the Ancient Mariner.

Status messages have become such an integral part of our lives. A substantial part of our time daily is spent on updating our 'Status’ on Facebook, Twitter, Gmail, Buzz, Orkut and what not?? We humans are social by nature (as I read in textbooks during school days J ) and not so long ago people were complaining that the internet is isolating people and killing the very social fiber itself. But, like all great things, internet did its own thing, evolved its own solution to the problem - the Social Media (SM) tools and right now is flooded by them. And at the very core of this SM phenomenon is the ‘Status’. People update their status, look for other person’s status, comment on it and love being commented upon. So everybody has something to say and everybody has a 'Status' message.

You'll find lyrics of popular songs, lines from some poem or famous quotes from somebody as the status for most people. I, myself often, use them to share the links to the new posts on my blogs apart from sharing other messages which can at times be "just utter nonsense". Then there are status messages that want you to listen to a song, watch a video or read some interesting article on some random website. Well, I like most of them, but what I find interesting is the way people use the status messages to share the mood or the state of mind they are in. I am pretty sure that most of the times the status reflects the mind frame of that person, even if it is not in plain words. The more artistic ones choose a line from a song or quote or poem while others just mention a few words and leave the rest to your imagination. With due respect to all my friends, sample a few status messages on Gmail chat for some of my friends at this time:

"On iPhone with IM+"

“http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A38LH9JvkiI&feature=related”

“Time and Tide waits for none”

"RANJHA RANJHA kardi ve main aape ranjha hoyi" –lines from a popular Hindi film number.

"I believe I can fly....I believe I can touch the sky..."

"Work, work n more work"

"where the hell is my status message.........."

"There is no point in living if you cannot feel alive!!"

"ek simple si coffee bhi kick deti thi, tere sang..." –lines from a popular Hindi film number.

"Why is God after my life????"

Note: For all my friends whose status I have mentioned here, I took the liberty of using these without permission because most of them are not original in the first place J. And for the ones which are originals, they are meant to be shared.. right?? I just shared them with a few more people, knowing that you all are my good friends and won’t mind the "free publicity" a bit ;)

In my personal opinion and with all due respect and love, I like the bottom half in the list more for the simple reason that they generate a curiosity and prompt the readers to initiate a conversation. Conversation is what we crave for; the need to vent out the feelings. Just go through each of the status messages once again and try and figure out the state of mind of the person, I am sure you will make many interesting observations J

OK..so how many times has it happened that a simple status message on your Gmail chat window or your Facebook homepage has lead to an interesting conversation with a friend? In fact, most of the times I start the conversation by saying something relevant to the status message of the person. Recently I had one such conversation, most conversations are interesting but this one took an unexpected turn. It was simply innocuous and never intended to go in the direction it went and even ended abruptly but I wish we can pick up the threads someday and continue from where we left J. It has been mentioned below; I hope you find it interesting too. Also, please do share any incidents where you had a similar experience; I am sure it happens a lot of times to each one of us.

DearFriend’s Status: I am what I am.

me: I know  what u are J

DearFriend: you know me as **********. I am more than that

me: hmm.. for example

DearFriend: To you My “ I” could not be more than a friend. My "I" or close buddy but My “I” cannot be more to you

me: see there is nothing kept in these topics close your eye(I) and just remember God ;)

DearFriend: if ever get a chance i would like to recommend a book "I am That"

me: aur main kehta hun ki “that is me”. its all perception :)

DearFriend: perception is a term when we tend to look at others and compare...there is nothing more than I. so where this perception could exist

me: wrong! perception is what we perceive, it's “my” vision it has 'I' written all over it that's why i said that is me :)

DearFriend: :) so whats your me ?

me: The world is how I see it what I see is what I am :)

DearFriend: thats so true

me: If all I can see is wrong then something is wrong in me If I see good there is something good in me :)

DearFriend: but there is something beyond  that as well. who is judging ... right or wrong. to you .. drinking may be bad.. for me its good

me: there is no judging everything is relative, relative to what I am :)

DearFriend: i live by one word.. experience..whatever comes

me: correct!! when a child comes to this world he is blank, he has no sense of right or wrong, his experiences make him draw his line of reference from which he measures right or wrong

DearFriend: i asked a prostitute.. what is love.. she said. its fucking Rs 1000 per hour.

correct ? right or wrong??

me: depends who is deciding. what his/her line of reference

DearFriend: you just use experience to avoid what you have already faced and didnt like.  but accepting that its all experience and keep on moving, that is what brings you closer to your SELF

me: sorry..I am enjoying the conversation ..but need to take a break..getting a call

DearFriend: same here. need to take offshore call :( cya later

me: tc bye :)

Note: Due permission has been taken from the person involved in the conversation before mentioning it here.

Flight, Clouds and Rainier

Yet another flight .. Check-in, security, boarding announcements, boarding.. slow..the line moves at a snail’s pace .. Smiling attendants.. I wonder if their cheeks hurt from those smiles all day long.. Window seat yippee!! Flight takes off.. all regular procedures .. then the Captain announces.. "Flight time is 3 hours 18 minutes .. we are expecting a lot of storms on the way .. so wear your seat belts and sit tight (giggitty!!)".. you listen with disdain and then turn your gaze outside the window.


There is something special about flying. Up above hundreds of feet in the air a layer of clouds separates you from the reality of life down under and you fly in a cocoon safe sound cutoff from all that is below. A layer of white serene clouds with shades of gray, crimson thrown in small measure and the blue endless sky above .. As you go higher distances diminish, things get closer and differences decimate. There is something nice about these white clouds that you see below, lumps of soft fluffy cotton thrown sometimes in patches against a blue horizon and sometimes stretching for miles trying to cut you off from the world below as if you are in paradise. I sometimes feel like getting out and jumping like a mad man in those clouds .. of course that is impossible but a fantasy :)

That reminds me that the topmost point up to which you can drive up on Mt. Rainier is also called Paradise. We got a chance to visit the place again this weekend and when we reached there the first thought crossing my mind was .."No doubt this is Paradise".. everything that you see around is white (snow!!).. the grand Rainier (Uncle Rainier as I call it), the surrounding mountains, the trees, the lonely visitor center which never seems to open .. Everything!!. What is it about white color that makes it look so divine and heavenly?? Maybe because it is an amalgamation of all the colors brought together, blends and encompasses all the colors and the emotions that we relate to them or because it resembles cleanliness, purity, peace, happiness, all good things...

Anyways that brings me back to the flight and the clouds, so looking from above they form a blanket over the earth, you at times get glimpses of the snowcapped mountains but not much and then appears Uncle Rainier in full glory standing up and above the clouds with head held high and no other mountain daring to match the splendor and the royalty that the Rainier enjoys. Those of you who have lived in Seattle know what I am talking about. It's not Rainier’s height that makes it standout that much but there are no other mountains around it that dare match it so it appears like a huge giant always overlooking Seattle maybe guarding it or who knows keeping an eye on it…

You are still lost in thoughts when sleep takes over and you doze off ..only to wakeup to the announcement that you are approaching landing unexpectedly much ahead of time with no storms encountered just minor turbulences… C’mon get your stuff and get out!!