• At the outset, I am relieved that in Gowarikar’s version of 16th century Indian history, Rajputana women did not giggle every five minutes.
• The fact that this story is mostly fiction is very evident. While Gowarikar’s statement of disclosure makes it clear that this is not the only version that he came across while researching the subject, it’s a pity that people in India are mostly stupid.
• At the rate at which Akbar forced his opponents to make a trip to Mecca, wasn’t there a danger that all these people might run into each other and plot his downfall over mutton biryani and a nice strong hookah?
• And was poor Birbal edited out of the movie? What about Tansen? Todarmall hogs screen space! (more…)

Ten days ago, Lekhni tagged me and urged me to essentially recycle 5 of my old posts. Normally I don’t do tags. I mean, unless there is potential for me to play the fool and essentially evoke a few laughs even if the joke’s on me. With this tag, however, the laugh potential seems to be rather marginal, but then I remembered something else.

I realized that I was closing in upon a milestone. By the time this post is online, it will be 5 years since I started blabbering. My first post was posted on Blogger on the 10th of February, 2003. And barring a few months early on and around 100 days in late ’04 and early ’05, I have been posting rather regularly.

Looking at Lekhni’s tag, I realized that she had given me a good chance to take a retrospective look and to reminisce upon these five years gone by. But the problem with my blog is that, as my erstwhile tagline (( I have an ever-changing tagline now, courtesy Twitter?)) goes, it is the record of an egoist’s road trip through life with cricket, music, books, cars and movies for company.

Which means that this blog is about me and me alone. So, as the days go by, it becomes increasingly difficult to remember the odd posts that one has “written” relating to some of the keywords of this tag. Also, the difficulty is compounded by the fact that I took an oath, with myself as witness, that I wouldn’t post anything personal here. So the odd heartbreak has almost never found an outlet here, even if some friends (both online and IRL) have heard me obsess over it.

I have come to a conclusion that wherever I think I won’t be able to fit within the confines of the tag, I will bend the boundaries to my whims and fancies. Hey, this is MY blog and I do what I think is right. Also, my ego prevents me from sticking to the “1 post per keyword” rule of this tag. I will hence go ahead and regurgitate multiple links wherever possible. But let me just make the basic rules clearer to everyone. (more…)

As a new year begins, one’s tempted to do something different. So one’s decided to start the new year with some anecdotes.

1. Some people collect stamps and some collect footwear. I collect headgear. Or at least I think so, if possessing 12 hats is any indication. My oldest is a (West) McLaren Mercedes team hat that I picked up at a store off Elliots Beach in Chennai before I moved to Ohio in ’01. My latest acquisition is an official (Vodafone) McLaren Mercedes hat (with Lewis Hamilton’s signature sewn on to it) , this time procured from the Team McLaren store (thanks Yakkow, for making the calls!). Another prized possession is a Nike Team India hat (to go with my Team India practice jersey) that some friend picked up at Macy’s a few months ago. (more…)

YouTube link

Could you or your paymasters at the Incompetent Council of (insert bawdy phrase referring to people who pay attention to certain cavities of the female body with their own oral cavities) please let us all know, exactly WHAT resolved, “beyond a reasonable doubt that Harbhajan Singh directed that word at Andrew Symonds and also that he meant it to offend on the basis of Symonds’ race or ethnic origin.”. Also while we are at it, can we quit being “politically correct” and use THAT word instead of terming it “that word”. (more…)

THALAIVAR?????

Rediff’s Rajaneesh Vilakudy says,

If top industry sources are to be believed, Shankar will work with Rajnikanth in Robot, which was planned to be shot with Shah Rukh Khan in the lead and as producer. But the project apparently did not work out owing to ‘creative differences’, with Shah Rukh himself confirming the separation.

(more…)

Every Australian tour is packaged with pitfalls, both for individual and the team itself. The team pitfalls come on the field, via the Aussie juggernaut. But the individual holes are dug by the team management and in some cases, allegedly by the players themselves. Ganguly’s apparent refusal to carry drinks as the 12th man comes immediately to mind.But these individual issues mostly get resolved as time goes by, but the real problems are the ones that are caused by loud mouthed non media savvy administrators of the game who don’t think before their speak. Jayawant Lele’s comment did more for the downfall of the ’99 team than the potent Aussie bowling or the impotency of the Indian top order. (more…)

(P.S: I am hyperventilating. No one come to me with smart ass comments. To trump all of you, I have made the most smart ass of posts. Thank you for understanding!)

I wanted to post this soon after play ended, but sleep’s something that I value more than the chance to eat humble pie, at least partially.

The thing is, the fact that we ended the day in a strong note does not change my reservations about how we got there. Sure, ends do justify the means, but in my eyes the means are nevertheless impossible. More often than not in the past, we have had not so good results on a day where the first session went the same way. (more…)

I was planning to live blog this test match, but one hour into the day’s play, a sense of déjà vu crept in. And then I realized that my time could be better off doing some long overdue cleaning with an eye on the TV.The opening bowlers actually did their part, exploiting what turned out to be, IMHO, a perfect first day pitch. Early on, the pacemen had something to bend their backs and for quite some time, Hayden and Jacques had their work cut out. Both Zaheer and RP Singh bowled their heart out and were quite unlucky. But soon it turned out to be a familiar Indian story. (more…)