So why take offense ?

Hayden called Bhajji a bad boy. If it is considered offensive in India, eventhough its a famous clothing brand, why did Symonds take offense to him being called Monkey ? After all, India worships the Monkey God. So, if Bhajji calls Symonds Monkey, he should feel proud right ? Its a different story, that calling Symonds a monkey is abusing all monkeys in the world. Sorry mate, we in India can't find words which can even describe Symonds.

Maybe the Aussies should take it lightly, right Symonds ?

Read More

The Costly M(read P)iss

An attempt to hide the actual turn of events cannot be hidden in the way I have framed the title for my post. Hence the reader needs to read between the words (literally) and move on with what I have to write about. Mind you, no offense intended. If renaming M(p)iss with a term such as leak can alleviate the discomfort you have in reading on, so be it.

So, how costly can a leak be? For me it could have cost half a lakh. My colleagues and friends say, I have the habit of missing and losing. Here I was, returning from my hometown in Kerala, headed for Bangalore. All seemed well. I had booked my To and Fro tickets from Bangalore itself. I had given my new postpaid number to my brother, who wanted to use it on his return from U.S. I fortunately had my earlier BSNL prepaid number still working. So I was using the latter for a week, and gave it while booking my KSRTC tickets.

I met my parents, my newborn nephew, and my sis in law and grandma over the past weekend in Kerala. I gave the prepaid number to my brother and took the postpaid number while returning. I boarded the 7:30 p.m. Rajahamsa bus to Bangalore. In a couple f hours' time, I had a hint that a break for a leak was quite important for me. But the bus wasn't stopping anywhere, and I was enjoying the music on my Cowon D2 player.

I had slept off, without knowing the important break I was giving a miss to. I had almost forgotten that the pressure was building up. It was around 2 a.m., and my eyes opened to greet the lights which had been turned on in the bus. Finally, I had the break in sight. But I was half asleep, and wasn't quite willing to give it the full go. I finally decided, enough was enough and got out of the bus.

Read More

Move On Please !!

So, India has flexed it's financial muscle to downgrade Harbhajan's ban to 50% fine for the Sydney Test match. While, to bring down an initial 3 test match ban to 50% fine for a match and nothing more, is quite a huge climbdown by the ICC, as an Indian I just want to ask the cringing and whining Aussie players and media - "We are the cricket superpower. Now what ?". Honestly, there isn't much the Aussies can do than accept the verdict and behave in a more civilised manner. Without going into the stump cam transcript, fact of the matter is, unfortunately, India can flex its financial muscle and get away with it. Of course, it is not for the good of the game. But, it was high time, Australia realised they can't get away with everything.

Racism, as a word has been so often used in the past month that one needs to introspect what it actually means. To be frank, an Indian calling an Aussie white can also be termed racist. So, Indians are not that innocent either. It is just that, India has never come out openly, and never the BCCI in such strong defense of its players. And one also needs to take into account the track record of one Mr. Ponting before Procter blindly accepted whatever Ponting, Clarke, Symonds and Hayden blurted out. Ponting has had disciplinary issues of his own, forget Harbhajan's.

Read More