The Don… the country’s national game… and a dash of patriotism… Can’t ask for more

“Play for India first, then play for the team and, finally, if you have any strength left, then play for yourself…”

These words may sound philosophical, but when I heard them for the first time, my instant reaction was WOW! Because it came from none other than Shah Rukh Khan, who plays the coach of the “Indian National Women’s Hockey Team” in the movie Chak De! India.

Chak De… is the story of Kabir Khan, a hockey player, who is labeled a “gaddaar” because he fails to score a crucial goal, costing India the men’s hockey World Cup finals. For seven long years, Kabir has to bear the humiliation and insult. Finally, he gets a chance to prove to the world that he was not a traitor when he is hired to coach the Indian women’s hockey team that needed a coach but had no takers. Kabir fights against all odds and makes the unthinkable happen when the team wins the World Cup, and, in the process, he gets back his lost pride.

Chak De! India is a special film. It is one of best sports films I have ever seen.

The movie highlights, or rather, revives a sport, which is supposedly the national game of our country. It breaks all stereotypes and touches on issues like male chauvinism, racial discrimination, gender bias and lack of unity to name a few. It is one of he most thought-provoking movies I have seen.

Chak De! India is all about hope. It is all about keeping the country first and then your self. It is all about playing together as Team India and not members of individual states. Above all, Chak De! India is about pursuing a dream and believing that it can become a reality.

This is one of Shah Rukh’s most subdued performances till date. He lets his co-stars’ youthful charisma carry the movie, while portraying a character that vigorously and unabashedly advocates the advancement of women.

In short, Shah Rukh, the star, pulled audiences into the theatres and thereafter for the next 150-odd minutes Shah Rukh, the actor, keeps them enthralled.
The performance of the man can be best gauged by one newspaper review that says, “…even if you're a non-SRK fan, you gotta go 'n see him perform. And if you still remain unconvinced, just tell me one actor who would have dared to risk a script, which has no usual bollywood masala. The man knows his job and understands his strength!”

This film is the best I-Day gift for all Indians. It couldn’t have come at a better time than on the eve of the 60th Independence Day of India. The film surely strikes the goal… SPOT ON 10 TIMES OUT OF 10!!!

Chak De! Shah Rukh

The 30-minute 'crap-athon'

“From the dusty playgrounds of Ranchi, Mahendra Singh Dhoni has made it as the Captain of the Indian team, for the inaugural Twenty-20 World Cup” — screamed one of reporters of a news channel last night while trying to prove that India’s future lay outside metros, in small towns.

Further, the channel also went to the extent of talking to a so-called “panel of experts” that used heavy-duty quotes/words like “alternative culture”, “metropolitan culture” and “India versus Bharat divide...” to prove their point.

However, mid-way through the “Special” I reached a saturation point and could absorb nothing more when the reporter started a debate on “...has our system been unjust for many decades and only a thin elite has been ruling all fields, leaving out a vast majority?”

I mean, it was hilarious. I still can’t fathom the fact that what made the channel feel that “the Buntys and Bablis of small towns are all set to conquer, while the babalog of the big cities are fading away”. People from small and lesser known towns have been making it big for years now.

Virender Sehwag, who made his ODI debut for India in 1999 against Pakistan, is the son of a grain hawker, who lived in a house stuffed with siblings, uncles, aunts and 16 cousins in Najafgarh, on the outskirts of New Delhi.

His teammates, fast bowler Munaf Patel and left-arm seamer R P Singh, hail from Bahruch in Gujarat and Rae Bareily in Uttar Pradesh, respectively.

Irfan Pathan, who made his India debut in 2003, grew up in a mosque in Baroda, Gujarat, in an impoverished family. His father served as the muezzin. Now, even his brother Yusuf has made it to the Twenty-20 squad.

Current bollywood queen Priyanka Chopra, who won the Miss World title in 2000, completed high school at Army Public School in Bareilly in Uttar Pradesh.

Then there is Govinda who was born and brought up in Virar, a far-flung outpost of Mumbai. “Chi chi”, as he is popularly known as, made his Hindi film debut in 1986, and has since acted in over 120 films with some of the biggest names in Bollywood.

About 5-6 finalists in each of the three editions of Indian Idol, a talent hunt show, were from places such as Jharkhand, Shillong, Uttaranchal etc.

So from where did this utter crap debate on “…the future of India lie outside the big cities” creep up?

I am not trying to take anything away from the people mentioned above and many others who have made it big from humble beginnings. All that I am trying to say is that why sensationalise such a fact which is not new, which has been happening for years? Why can’t the media curb its instinct for sensationalism for anything and everything? After all those patronizing teasers of the so-called “big story of the day”, the much-hyped story turned out to be a 30-minute “crap-athon”.

All that I can think of now is something that I had read in another blog — “The Indian media is full of vested interests, idiots who pontificate knowledge and predators preying on the infirm and intellectually challenged...”

How true!

ICL juggernaut is all set to crush BCCI

Poaching is the name of the game. Well... that is the message the new Twenty20 Indian Cricket League, better known as ICL, seems to be conveying to the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).

The Indian Cricket League, which is set to debut in October 2007, has hired ex-international cricketers like Kapil Dev, Tony Greig, Dean Jones and Kiran More as its board members.

A few days ago, it signed up Brian Lara by offering him a contract reportedly far more lucrative than the sum he earned while playing international cricket for the West Indies.

And now with other big names like Australian greats Shane Warne and Glenn McGrath, the “sleeping Pakistani giant” Inzamam-ul-Haq, the greatest New Zealand captain Stephen Fleming and “the master blaster” from Sri Lanka Sanath Jayasuriya on the verge of signing contracts, the cricket world is finally paying attention to the Zee Group’s venture.

Feeling the heat the most is BCCI because ICL is well on its way to pursue a form of the game that the governing body was not interested in. For long, BCCI had maintained that the Twenty20 version was a “handy tool to revive the game only in places where it had lost appeal”. The board was not even in favour of the Twenty20 World Cup in South Africa, but had to embrace the format after it was outvoted 10-1 at an ICC meeting in Dubai few months ago (which means except BCCI, every other member was in favour of the Twenty20 World Championship).

Now, I guess, BCCI wants to admonish ICL as it realises that ICL has already got some ace its sleeve... or maybe they are worried that the argument they had put forward in the court a few years ago that “the Indian team does not play for India, but for BCCI”, may not hold good anymore.

We have seen for years the cricket run by BCCI. Now, it is time to give a chance to ICL.

The way ICL has gone about its task so far, I have no doubt that once it takes off, Subhash Chandra’s enterprise will not just run parallel to the existing cricket league managed by BCCI, but will overtake it.

In 1977, when Australian media baron Kerry Packer launched World Series Cricket, purists and even the Australian Cricket Board had derided his tournament as “Kerry Packer’s Cricket Circus”. Looks like this time it is going to be the other way round—people may soon start referring to BCCI as the Board of Control for “Circus” in India.

Dribble in the rain

It's been two years now that I have been shifted from the “city of joy” — Kolkata — to the “city of dreams” — Mumbai. I have realised in this period that monsoon is a big thing in this city. Apart from the cooling showers, which bring a respite from months of the gruelling heat, this season is characterised by diseases and death, stories of neglect by the municipal authorities, open gutters, discussions on the substandard quality of roadwork resulting in potholes and, above all, flooding. And it’s been the same year after year.

However, for me, there is one thing about the monsoons that bring back fond memories of childhood... fond memories of those days that I spent in Kolkata... fond memories of some serious football action in the slush.

This used to be the beginning of a “new season” for us when we all geared up for football matches played solely in mud and slush after months of playing cricket in dry and humid conditions.

I get nostalgic about those days in Kolkata when we (I and my friends) used to rush out of our houses the moment we used to hear the first clap of thunder. Even though there were 3 large grounds close to my house, none of them used to have even an inch of space with 5-6 parallel “matches” going on.

Soon, even our “team” used to make a grand entry into the ground. For no reason, we used to dive in all parts of the ground. Football skills used to take a backseat. We used to slip and fall (deliberately), laugh and in between also score some goals.

Even the timing of the monsoons couldn’t have been better — just after the beginning of a new academic year when there used to be no exam tension. None of us were ever worried about falling sick or missing school.

What followed after the “match” used to be even more interesting. All charged up, we used to jump into this nearby old swimming pool of green slime and have the time of our lives on the pretext of trying to clean ourselves up before heading home. We were told that this pool, which had been lying unused for a while, used to be pristine clear in its heydays. That was our only consolation before jumping into the “dark green” water body.

Looking back, I miss those days a lot. It feels worse every time I visit Kolkata, for all that I see is a new building that has sprung up in those places that used to be our playground.

When I see the children in my locality playing in the “gulli”, I wonder, will any of them ever experience the fun of getting wet in the rains and rolling in the slush... will they ever experience the feeling of being in a winning team... a team that has won by an insane scoreline of 17-0 or 25-0 in a “para” football match in the rain?

A new milestone... a new beginning

November 16, 2006 – Just another day, or was it… Not for me at least…
It was my 30th birthday…

For the first time I felt that I had become old… for the first time I felt that I had reached a new milestone in my life and for the first time I felt that I would no more be as fortunate to find young and beautiful women to flirt with ;-)

I also felt that I had become old enough to avoid making the dumb mistakes of my 20s (I really hope they are behind me), and yet young enough to take risks with confidence so that even if they do fall apart, I would have plenty of time to bounce back.

However, when I sat down to think of the years that had gone by, 30 seemed like an unfathomably distant milestone. I had travelled so much in all these years…30 sure seemed old! A part of me felt nostalgic (and a little sad) remembering the years that had gone by… when anything was possible and my whole future was ahead of me.

At the same time, I feel incredibly lucky to have had the past decade.

I graduated, despite my terrible grasp of accountancy and economics nearly causing me to flunk the B.Com exams.

I have had a bunch of great friends — friends who've been by my side at some of the toughest times of my life.

I have also met some of the most amazing people at my workplace (workplaces to be precise...I've changed 4 jobs in 6 years). They have gone on to become an integral part of my life... They are the people whom I can trust, with whom I can be myself... and above all whom I can call friends, not colleagues.

However, the best part of the last decade was meeting the most amazing woman who is part of my life today. She inspires me to be a better person in every facet of my life. I am so lucky to have found her.

Though there are so many things I didn't do or so many things that I won't get a chance to do again, I am still proud of my 20s. The one thing that I have realised is that there is so little time in life, no matter how long a life you have. There's so much more I want to accomplish in my life and in my career that I feel I am already behind. A decade ago thinking 30 was old. However, now that I am 30, I am ready to take on the next decade full-throttle.

Again away from home, during Durga Pujo...

Durga Puja starts today. And even this year I would miss Kolkata the most during these five days.

The sound of the dhakis, the fragrance of the dhup and dhunuchi (coconut hair burning with an incense-like powder in an earthen hand held pot that looks like a very fat wine glass - couldn't think of anything else), the chant of the mantras in the pandals, spending the evenings at Maddox Square (ask a Bengali what being at Maddox Square means during Durga Puja), pandal hopping and of course moving from one roadside stall to another, following the nose as it trails the smells of food as oily, greasy, and over priced as ever, but nonetheless adding to the spirit – that’s how all my Durga Pujas, or Pujo as it is referred to in Bengali, have been since 1992, the year that I started staying in Kolkata.

Though this is the second consecutive year that I am away from home during Pujo, but I know I carry a bit of Kolkata with me wherever I go. I can feel it. What else could be the reason that every Pujo I am overcome by emotions that I never feel throughout the year, emotions that only a Bengali could relate to, emotions that I’ve always felt during Pujo when I used to stay in Kolkata. They keep coming back to me year after year during Pujo.

Pujo is much more than just worship. I would miss it all.

Where is Osama?

George Bush and Co watch out! Rediff.com may already have some come clues on the exact hideout of Osama Bin Laden courtesy the people who browse the site. Some time ago they ran a contest that said, "Where is Osama? SMS us and win prizes."
(http://in.rediff.com/news/2006/sep/14contest.htm).
Can anything get more absurd than this???

I miss my days in DNA...

It's been just a month and half since I left my previous organisation. But it seems like I haven't seen the place for ages. My desk, my friends, the conference room where we used to have our daily meetings, the reporters, the photographers, the chaos in the evenings... I miss everything. Today I realise how special were all those days. I would forever cherish every moment that I spent in DNA.

Even the weekends are not what they used to be. We were a group of four. On most of the Saturdays we used to meet up and have a blast. And then on Sundays we used to make some plan while on our way to office and meet up at a place called Sea Lord in Worli. Once we were there we didn't even realise how fast time just flew by. By the time we were through, we used to be dead drunk. But then we had to get back to office and release the edition. And then on some days we used to again go back to Sea Lord for another drinking session and get sloshed again. I am missing all of that.

But life's like that... however, I am sure we would again re-live those days, those moments and have even more fun... coz life is a roller coaster ride... one moment you are laughing and then the very next moment you are screaming as you are being flung around and flipped topsy turvey. This is the topsy turvey period... the laughter would follow soon.