Author: manuscrypts

  • World of Sports

    Doordarshan, Sunday, 4 pm.. remember? In the days of only ‘Distant Viewing’, this was what i used to wait for on Sunday evenings.. before the days of live transmissions, this was your portal to get glimpses of international matches.. i used to curse them when they chose amatuer wrestling, billiards, chess and inane stuff i never knew could be classified as sport, and the entire show went without cricket, the only game i had an interest in..
    Times have changed, and tennis, Formula 1 have been added to the interests, and therefore last week is an eventful one to me… early in the week, my favourite Las Vegas gamble in any tennis tournament, the one i used to bet on in any match, despite whatever odds- Andre Agassi, played his last match.. he lost the game, set and match, but in a larger picture, there would be few who could match him.. i was a fan from when he said Sampras looked like something “that swung off a tree” to the time when he said “Sampras, Sampras, Sampras, Sampras, Sampras” when asked who were the five greatest players the game had seen.. Of course i hated him a for a few days when he married Graf, but then that was only a few days…in the sport that starts with ‘love all’, he ended it, loved by all..
    Monza witnessed a great race last weekend, Schumacher is now a couple of points from Alonso,and there are still 3 races left.. But that was not the only reason why Monza was eagerly awaited for, this was the place where Schumacher would make an announcement about his future.. and announce he did, his retirement. Another favourite, on a different track.. In a sport that starts when the 5 lights go off, and ends when the chequered flag is waved, he had a career chequered with controversy, but more brightly lit than any other..
    They leave behind empty spaces in an ordinary fan’s mind, empty spaces that cant be filled again,because in a different corner of the world, he grew up with them, cried when they won and cried when they lost.. Matches and races created memories that were special, memories that reminded him of how it was when they were the icons, they were the supermen.. they were the ones who he thought would last forever..
    and so, their departure also tells him that times have changed, and a new generation is busy creating its own heroes.. its a new age, one that also has virtual XBox heroes along with real ones, its an age thats isnt so easy to belong to, when he is used to a different league of heroes..and so, like with every other thing, he relies on memories, bittersweet memories… he closes his eyes, sees the stadium, hears the frenzy and remembers the days that used to be, and the times that used to be….and applauds an era that has just made a final bow..
    until next time, game over

  • And that would explain a lot of things..

    “..They would return to unwanted jobs, unloved families, unchosen friends, to drawing rooms, evening clothes, cocktail glasses and movies, to unadmitted pain, murdered hope, desire left unreached, left hanging silently over a path on which no step was taken, to days of effort not to think, not to say,to forget and give in and give up. But each of them had known some unforgotten moment – a morning when nothing had happened, a piece of music heard suddenly and never heard in the same way again, a stranger’s face seen in a bus – a moment when each had known a different sense of living. And each remembered other moments, on a sleepless night, on an afternoon of steady rain, in a church, in an empty street at sunset, when each had wondered why there was so much of suffering and ugliness inthe world. They had not tried to find the answer and they had gone on living as if no answer were necessary. But each had known a moment when, in lonely, naked honesty, he had felt the need of an answer..”

    until next time, ain’t Rand right?

  • Jab Tak Suraj Chand rahega…

    Remember BJP’s “India Shining” campaign? While it didnt exactly help them shine in the elections, it was perhaps the first time in a long time that an actual campaign was carried out based on a central idea.. the only other ones i can think of were by Indira Gandhi – ‘Garibi Hatao’ and ‘Indira is India’, but ‘India Shining’ was at a different level and aimed at a different target audience..A few days back, i saw an ad by Happydent, which i thought would have been a great ad for the above campaign too- because it ended up with a lot of people smiling and getting the city to shine withtheir bright teeth.
    Which made me wonder if thats the future of Indian politics.. ad campaigns executed by the country’sbest agencies after going through the whole hog.. i can imagine Laloo briefing Piyush Pandey on his party’s vision, guiding light (himself), the manifesto, the gambhir samasyas which they would like to address, the audience they would like to speak to, the budget for the campaign, all over a clay cup of buffalo milk that Rabri treats her special guests with… the brief would perhaps be given in railway compartment or Laloo’s home in Bihar so that Pandeyji can soak in the ambience and the true spirit of all that Laloo stands for…..
    and somewhere in Delhi, Manmohan Singh is quietly spelling out the points that Madam has carefully jotted down for him, and patiently trying to explain to the hotshot creative guy why making a video featuring him and Soniyaji with the song ‘Rock and Roll Soniye’ would not be such a bright idea, especially considering that Amitabh appears in the original video… because Amitabh is so close to Amar Singh’s Samajwadi party.. Amar Singh, who is so thankful for his khushnaseebi, because his ad would feature the Big B, Small B, Jaya B and if he could persuade Anil,even Tina Bhabee…
    Buddhadeb hoping that his cadres wouldnt see red on Rituparno making an ad with him and Bipasha, so that in Bengal, Mamta has ‘No Entry’…Down south, Chandrababu Naidu would be making a laptop presentation to Nagesh Kukkonoor on his plans for Hyderabad and almost ending the story when Nagesh suggests it should be called ‘Hyderabad Blues’..and Narendra Modi arguing that he has enough troubles already and cannot allow a campaign that goes ‘Kem Che’ because of its guerrilla warfare and revolutionary connotation..
    until next time, if they think, they Cannes 🙂

  • Dual Duel

    He was tense, not surprising, considering that this would be a historical event for him, a milestone… And he had worked hard for it. There were times when he had thought he would fall by the wayside somewhere along the journey. Before the moment was on him, he wanted to close his eyes and travel the path all over again in his mind, for the moment would pass in a flash, and he wanted it to be always momentous in his mind.
    The numbers hadnt reached 199 just like that. Each one was worked for, with diligence. What was more significant was that he wasnt a hard hitter, so there were no boundaries, no sudden leaps in the score, it was an accumulation process. He had been tired in between, sorely tempted to stop, but he had willed himself on, for he knew that he would be happy at the moments to come, and he wouldnt really want to miss them.
    Thankfully he didnt have any major critics who might have dampened the enthusiasm, though he didnt have any major fans either, but then he was doing this mostly for the joy of it, and not for the accolades.Yes, he was happy, a double century didnt come everyday, and he hadnt forgotten the joy he had felt when he had got his first century.
    until next time, two much? 🙂

  • Of old wines and new bottles

    Its not exactly breaking news that wines get better as they grow older, i think it also applies to some whines, but thats just another silly pun..While there’s nothing to beat the old wine in the old bottle, new bottles are easily tolerable.. and before i whine any further, let me get the context across – friends.. no,not the orkut kind, but the ones developed when you were too young to know better..:)
    The couple of friends i have managed to have (inspite of myself) might be ROTFL right now, reading me write about something about which i am so ill versed about, but thats okay..Like Ash said recently, i have reached an age when i know that it will be extremely difficult to make new friends, given my distinct laziness to keep in touch etc.. and therefore old friends popping out are indeed a welcome relief..
    unlike wines, we cant be sure we become better with age, in fact i think, over a period of time, we manage to change ourselves to unrecognisable entities.. and thats why its good to have old friends saying hi, because like an enid blyton book, or an 80’s movie, or the college photograph or an old song, it takes us back in time, it makes us nostalgic, and more often than not, happy… it reminds us of times that used to be and more importantly, what we once used to be…
    until next time, hi 🙂