How a girl got interested in Sports

I am a total sports freak... cricket, football, tennis, F1 are some that I regularly follow. Some people find it quite...um...shall we say...surprising...that a girl is so updated about sports... I often hear my girlfriends complaining that I have long discussions with their boyfriends where they feel ‘left out’...  Yeah, I must admit that talking to guys in general is much more easy if you can talk sports. It puts them at ease and they’re really surprised and delighted that they can talk about such a ‘guy’ thing to a girl too. But I don’t follow sports for all this. This is a by-product of my interest in sports.

Let me start with cricket first. I am an Indian. I worship Sachin Tendulkar. Period.

Next up football. My brothers first started following EPL. I got interested due to two primary reasons. First: the sportsmen. They looked like Greek gods on field. Like it was their kingdom and that they ruled the field. Whenever Henry got the ball and started the run...he was unstoppable!! He got me hooked to Arsenal and now I’ve found Cesc Fabregas who has made sure I won’t go to any other club. Second: the money. There was no IPL back then. It was just so ‘wow’ that a Real Madrid could spend that kind of money on a Ronaldo (The oldie fat Brazil ka Ronaldo!). A player demanding those sums of money was a thing that was unheard of in India. The kind of economics these clubs were a part of...fascinated me to no end. It still does. But now I can see it closer home at the IPL. This business of sport meets entertainment will be bigger than the EPL. Maybe not in terms of fans and their loyalty but it is in terms of sheer MONEY!!!

Roger Federer and Micheal Schumacher got me hooked to tennis and F1, and I continue to follow them with the zeal and spirit of a true fan!

Only recently did i go for my 1st cricket match in a stadium...live... it was worth everything...hell it was worth more than anything i gave for it the. Mumbai won. Sachin was the man of the match. We saw him score 71*. But more than anything else it was one big party. Everyone was there to have a great time and cheer their team. and we cheered like never before... Its not for nothing that players ALWAYS acknowledge the support they get from the Mumbai crowd. The atmosphere was electric. We actually thought that watching a match on TV will be so much boring after this. And the best part was that between overs we had a DJ instead of those rubbish advertisements. (Football is so much better...no ads for 45 mins!! :) :)...and so is tennis and F1...less advertisement more sport. ) Brilliant experience. I made a promise to myself that day. Every year...1 IPL match. Possibly Mumbai Indians. 

But why did I start following sports in the first place??!!

I grew up in a house with 2 brothers, my parents and my grand-parents. I wanted to be the captain of the ship. Not the crew. I always wanted to be my dad’s eldest Son... My grandfather’s eldest Grandson... I was an example my brothers were asked to follow. Sport was the one thing where they beat me.

I was a quizzer so knowledge about all fields was important and Sports comprised of a chunk of the world knowledge!! (Till date I start reading a newspaper from the last page...so first comes sports, then business then the national political news, local news and the last are the headlines.)

And I hated being left out at conversations just because they veered to ball.

Today I love being involved in sports in some way or the other. I paid little attention to it in school and focussed only on academics. If I regret something, it is not taking sports seriously for the first 15 years of my life. Today my cousin plays cricket for his school. He says he wants to take it up as a profession. My aunt is shocked and enraged. A boy who scores 90%+ in every exam says he wants to quit studying and play cricket for a living. Any Maru parent will raise eyebrows if not object it. But I do support him. Of course he can’t give up studies. He can study full time till 12^th and then do studies by correspondence. Completing education is extremely important. After that you can chase your dreams. Cricket in India is a brilliant sport to be great at. Ask Sachin.

Sport can be a brilliant career today. Today more than ever before. The kind of pride you feel when you represent your country is unparalleled.  The money is good if you are good enough. So why not get the best talent out there. More than 1 billion population and just 1 olympic gold!! We were the world benchmark for hockey. We can be that again. We just need to make sure people want to be Sachin Tendulkar than Lalit Modi.  We need more trophies. We need more Golds!! Like a Nike slogan goes..'No Games Only Sport!!'

Change :)

Another brilliant one from Watterson. 

We all love things as they are.. It implies adjustment, new routine and little familiarity.. 

At the same time however we're soon bored of something or the other and complain due to lack of novelty. we enjoy exploring and experiencing things never done before. That is what Change is. Change is Evolution. we change constantly and thats what makes this big bad world an interesting place to live in... we want to know what happens next and how will events unfold in future. its basic human nature. 

and so it is apt to say 

'Change is the only Constant in life.'

Thank You on New Year :)

I love Calvin and Hobbes!! The humble comic strip expresses basic human emotions soo brilliantly that i am never satisfied!! This is one of my favorites cuz of the love b/w calvin and his parents...calvin and hobbes AND his parents and Hobbes...

Its a new year (Vikram Samvat 2067)...but this is for everyone who matters in my life...

Firstly, my family and my relationship with them..how much ever complicated it is!! thank you for giving me such a great life and everything that i ever asked you for!!

Secondly, my friends... the best presents that life has ever given me!! They may not come in exquisite gift-wrapped packages.. but they are far better and much more loved than any other gift!!

Thirdly, Fate!... It was by accident or chance that i've met people who've changed my life forever and continue to do so! This year starts on a brilliant note... where i've got calls from SPJain and Somaiya and a job offer too :) :) Thank You, GOD for the gifts on New Year!!

My Love to everyone who's ever been family or friend... Thank You for making me the person I AM today!!

P.S.: Thank You Mr. Watterson. Love ya both...Calvin and Hobbes!! :)

when music speaks to you...

I listen to songs for two primary reasons:

1. The music, the rhythm, the melody, the whole feel that makes u forget everything else! Its like you are transported in your own dream world.. here its important to say that it doesnt matter what is the origin of the music... which country it comes from, which language are the lyrics in or which artist has composed it.. (hey initially i liked a couple of himesh songs too!! :p)... but for me thats not important. what matters is the the answer to the question that 'do i feel good when i listen to this?'... its all about "Feeling Good!' that is what is the primary purpose for my fav music: to ensure that whenever i tune in, i am content!

2. the lyrics are really something that I consider important... Old hindi film songs will always be remembered... esp for the lyrics... only crooning '13 13 13 suroor' doesn't really appeal here! for eg: the song 'ajeeb daastan hai ye' has a certain feel... you know there's something going on when something else should be... for that matter the recent hit 'tu jaane naa' is one of the most beautiful songs that describes 'the eternal lover'! the magic here are the lyrics... i dont mean to belittle the music... no the rhythm section has to be brilliant but the lyrics are what makes them more. not just hindi music but i love the lyrics in western music esp the rock bands. I still love LP's 'In the End' cuz that makes me think! je pense toujours quand il marche!! and somewhere it has a connect much deeper than any other hip-hop kind.

one thing i am proud of is the influence of music in the indian culture. the system of gharanas and the indian classical music is just melodious and beautiful.we've traditional folk songs for every festival.. numerous aartis for every God..(and we all know which tune to sing it in)..our TV sets are full of singers from all over india who've been a part of some or the other reality show!!..advertisements invariably have some jingle...remember when vodafone was hutch the ads were full of 'U & I...in this beautiful world' and Nirma still continues with the same tume of 'washing powder Nirma, doodh si safedi Nirma se aaye...' and advertising gave us the great A.S. Dilip Kumar a.k.a. A.R.Rahman...a brand like Airtel continues till date the use of the tune he composed...even punch lines have a tune... 'utterly butterly delicious... AMUL'!!

Music is a language that connects everyone... and even though i heartily DON'T support KKR i still like their jingle... music adds flavor to everything.. time to spice up our lives!

To us and others :)

This is one of the poems i had written some time back. Its for all those who think that our generation is irresponsible, immature and 'don't-give-a-damn-about-right-or-wrong' generation!! this is something that a lot of our generation believes in:

We live today in a sense of regret
We are all just his subjects

Thoughts of death stay and dwell
A few more sins and we're going to hell

Humanity survives on his name
Being answerable to him leaves me with shame

But we all know that he's our creation
All of him and his divine intervention

So lets work hard, party harder
Who knows if we'll live happily ever after

But if you want to avoid the guilt of a sin
Be answerable to yourself deep within...


We believe in God, maybe not so much in religion...
We believe in conscience, maybe not so much in ethics...
We believe in family, maybe not so much in joint-super large-families...
We believe in ourselves, maybe not so much in fate...

Hope and Hopelessness!

Hope and hopelessness are two things on top of my mind right now. For me it is in the context of entrance examinations and b-schools. For others it could be the waiting period after a job interview or even after you’ve just proposed to your girlfriend or the Indian team needs 10 runs off the last over to win the match or you made a hellova presentation at work and the boss just said, “Meet me tomorrow.” Or you are waiting for your best friend to forgive you and get back talking, gossiping, bitching... Any time any place where the waiting period starts from a nano-second to days/weeks/months/years qualifies for this feeling to creep in. It can be a fleeting moment but both these emotions might just flood your veins till the final result is out. Its not a matter of life and death... for that particular moment... its more than that!

In a situation like these, there are times when you feel so hopeful... something good will definitely happen. God can’t be so cruel, to not reward you for your efforts. And hey you know so-and-so person who got out of this situation with a result in his favour. Things feel right. It should work out. “I cracked the interview” or “I am sure. She’ll just love the ring”. You can go to the extent of imagining that somehow the tail-ender find a Yuvraj Singh moment and fire away back to back sixes! Miracles happen and all that you’ve asked for is a fair chance... not even a miracle!

And then there are times when you feel like saying to yourself, ‘what the hell was I thinking! I don’t stand a chance!!’ Its like reality dawns and finally you realise that actually speaking, in the real world, the chances of something going in your favour is 1/10000. Which idiot couldn’t see something that’s so disastrously wrong. You start cursing the moment when you actually thought of this whole episode. You wonder why haven’t scientists created a time machine??!! All this is a big mistake. You pinch yourself to check if this is one nightmare.

And when you actually know what happens it is either one way or the other. But the good part is that by then you’ve been mentally prepared to take on anything that happens. You know that you’ll be either ecstatic or distraught! But more than any other feeling, it is ‘Relief’ that is the most satisfying. Being relieved of all the tension is just what you wanted... wanted ever since the commencement of the entire affair. Whatever the decision may be... you just thank heavens that you don’t have to wait anymore! Hope and hopelessness together is one mind-blowing combination!