Game, Set and Match :)

So eventually, it has come to this....a close friend of mine is expected to get married sometime in February....can't spill the beans because I have been asked not to...but I can't help myself from writing this post....for I know the couple and feel extremely happy for them....

I still am not the marriage and commitment types...still very much happily single and no plans to change either, but to some extent I realize what a good partner means for people. Maybe, because in past few days I have seen people suffering because they are not able to be with their loved ones, for one reason or the other, some because of their family pressures, some because the other person does not feel the same and a few because of the ego hassles...

I wonder, sometimes, how great it must be to find someone with whom you can spend your life, with whom you can share a good talk, with whom you'd like to have your food, someone who would care for you and your feelings, someone who would stand by you....and very importantly, someone who would respect your family as well....can love be more than that??? I don't know what love is, but for me that suffices..

and thus I feel happy for my friend, who will be married to someone he loves...who fulfills the criteria mentioned above, and probably some more...

So dear friend, I know you will read this...and I pity the girl who fell for you...girls are dumb after all, this marriage reaffirms my beliefs :D ...don't let her go because you are the lucky one, and even though I haven't been in one, I have seen relationships fall because of stupid reasons... you are wise enough to know that :)

My best wishes for both of you :D

A different Independence day....

All my life, almost, I cribbed mostly about situations and conditions around, I was unhappy with my surroundings, with the opportunities, with my failures etc. etc....and when I look back, it was definitely not bad, in fact even good...one learns to appreciate one's life a lot when one realises what others haven't got...

We visited Rajkiya Bal Griha, an orphanage where mostly juvenile kids stay and it was a reality check, at least for me....we have lived in such comfort all our lives that we fail to appreciate our fortunes, the people around us...

It was raining cats and dogs on 15th August....and the situation was as bad inside the rooms at Rajkiya Bal Griha as outside...it was difficult to find a place where you could hide from dripping water from the roofs...the kids there sleep on wooden planks...most of them don't even know where they are from...many of them retarded mentally...with no one to accept them...wearing torn clothes...it was difficult not to get overwhelmed with emotions....

And they were happy...to see us...to find people who at least for one day in their lives cared for them...brought them good food, toys to play and most importantly time to spend...many of them cried when we were leaving.....

I wonder why we went there...probably most of us would forget the day...when we did some CSR...to put it in b-school terms...a CV point maybe..or a story to tell...but I hope that we will find some reason to reach out to them...not for just one day....

I don't pity them...honestly...because I found them with smiles on their faces, with a lot of enthusiasm....I rather pity myself and people like me around...who choose to forget them, and crib because their pay packages are only 15 lakhs per annum and not 20...who are not able to appreciate simple gifts in life...which are luxury to many...

It's important to be grateful...and love life...

Something worth Thinking About

Why I am an Atheist?

--By Bhagat Singh

Hoping and Waiting

India will play England today at Lord's in the 2000th Test Match. Some 4 years ago, when India toured England, India drew with England at Lord's in the first test match and went on the win the test series. Sachin Tendulkar, then 34, was just beginning to emerge from one of the worst patches that he had seen.

He got out cheaply in that test match. I remember saying to my friend, "He missed a century at the Mecca once again....and he won't get another chance since this is his last test match at Lord's...even Agarkar has one there".My friend, a little less enthusiastic about cricket asked me.."Why is this his last test match...he can obviously score a century later.." I chose not to answer the question....It would have been difficult to explain to him that Sachin was almost at the end of his career and probably touring England for the last time. And the next tour was in 2011. Now, here we are in 2011, at Lord's again, Sachin continues to play and defy the odds at the age of 38. I am hoping and eagerly waiting for the 100th century...and the occasion can only be second to scoring the 100th one at the World Cup finals...My fingers are crossed....

A walk to remember...and some more..

Sachin Tendulkar walked...finally....and as expected people hailed the great man for the gentleman gesture of his...But did they forget that he never "walked" earlier, even when he knew he was out and always waited for umpire's decision. The only reason I believe is the presence of UDRS. He probably knew that West Indies will challenge the decision and instead of embarrassing himself the way Ricky Ponting did the other day, decided not to waste time on the field. But we Indians have to eulogize anything and everything associated with the "GOD". Can we please let him be human and, for a change, give other players their due credit...

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Saw "The Bridge on the River Kwai". I am on a "IMDB Top 250 movies" watching spree, you see...:)..It's an excellent movie, though it appears absurd at times. I got confused by the actions of the protagonist a number of times but understood the concept by the time movie ended (have to admit that the reviews helped a great deal as well :)). The highlight of the movie is the cinematography and the acting of Colonel Nicholson (Alec Guinness) who deservedly won an oscar for his performance. The pace of the movie is excellent, even though it was made around 50 years back (I can definitely vouch for that, especially after watching "Seven Samurai"). Though based on World War II, it is not a usual war film. The movie revolves around the conflict between Colonel Saito and Colonel Nicholson. The greatness of the movie lies in the fact that the director makes the viewer understand the predicament of Colonel Saito who, though on the wrong side is not the devil as portrayed by Ralph Fiennes(playing the character of Amon Goeth) in Schindler's List.
I wonder why such movies are not made in Bollywood. I don't even need fingers to count good Hindi movies released in the past two years.

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I was recently reading a blog, a post on which criticized men for everything that is wrong with women in the world. It smelled both of hatred and a "female" chauvinism...And I wondered, isn't this the way of life?? That the powerful will always dominate and the weak will always suffer. We see this everywhere...don't we ?? Politicians make the common man suffer, big bully always has his way in school and BCCI twists the arm of every cricket playing nation to have its way...Instead of generalizing and hating them, can we try to make ourselves stronger, to face the difficulties in a better manner??? Too idealistic and too theoretical, I agree, but won't the world be a better place if such were to happen...

A book, a world cup and some movies

Kungfu Panda is one of the best movies that I have seen and I keep watching it over and over again. The beauty of the movie lies in the eternal and yet so easily forgotten message that it conveys. That of believing in oneself....



Probably that is the reason we find children so happy. They are not bothered about what happened a few days back and are not concerned about what future has in store for them. They look forward to the evenings when they can go out and play....everyday....two month summer vacations or the festivals like Holi, Sankranti etc is the maximum they look forward to. And don't we get the same message from self help books and religious teachers. To live in the present and enjoy moments that we so often consider insignificant.


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Saw some highly acclaimed movies in the past few days...Seven Samurai, One Flew Over The Cuckoo's nest, The Graduate, Amelie, The Girl in the Cafe, Wall-E and a few more. Of these I enjoyed only Amelie and The Girl in the Cafe. You can laugh at me for my terrible lack of understanding of "good Cinema" , of being a simpleton and not appreciating the rest..but I can't help it....and I can assure you that most of the people don't understand/like them either. But since one would be a fool not to praise them, and it will look odd they will pretend that they thoroughly enjoyed these movies. (yes...I am expecting reactions like "Kya bakwas kar raha hai!!!", "you are an idiot", "you don't have a proper taste","how can you say like that (which basically translates to Kya bakwas kar raha hai!!!)").

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World cup is going on and strangely I am not missing watching matches at all (we don't have tv and we mostly watch matches in which India is playing by live streaming). Sometimes, I miss the old me which used to go crazy over everything and anything related to cricket. All my heroes (except Sachin) have retired and are either sitting in commentary boxes or in news rooms analysing the present world cup. It was so much fun to watch them in action in older days. And then I realise, it was them whom I loved watching and not the game of cricket itself. Don't things of past always look glorious?????

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Completed reading "India After Gandhi" by Ramchandra Guha and thoroughly enjoyed it. For all those who consider Nehru a villain;Indira Gandhi an Iron Lady and Rajiv Gandhi, the maker of modern India should read it. For it will clear most misconceptions by citing the events in a fluent and lucid manner. Though this book won't improve your life in any manner, it will definitely make you more knowledgeable about our very own existence, as to how we managed to survive as a Democracy, how we are still a secular society even when the odds were heavily against us. And probably you will admire the far sightedness and patriotism of the founding fathers of this country as well...

Happy Birthday

This blog completes two years today...:)...
Isn't it amazing that it has survived two complete years and is still alive despite being authored by the laziest person in the world :)
Happy Birthday my dear blog....



P.S. Thank you dear anonymous for reminding me...