In defence of Arundhati Roy

A lot of people today are questioning who Arundhati Roy is and why is she writing against Jan-Lokpal bill, more importantly against Sri Anna Hazare. Some people have even asked about her past writings on various issues ranging from but not limited to separatist movement in Kashmir, Maoist rebellion in central India and a 10 year long fast by Irom Sharmila in Manipur against AFSPA. In almost all instances, Ms. Roy has blatantly supported the struggle of the rebels against the government, thereby causing many to believe today that she is just another Indian writer who is trying to paint a sorry picture of our GREAT DYNASTY to the outer world, where her writings are relatively more popular. I do not disagree. She does gives a horrid account of several tragedies that unfold in the dark-lands of 'shining' India. Who the hell is bothered if few women get raped in jungles of Dantakaranya or few innocent tribals are shot in Imphal Valley of Malom simply based on suspicion by army, when the entire nation is crippled with a far more menacing problem of corruption. And today, when this nation has come together, perhaps for the first time since independence, against corruption to uproot this monster from the society, forever and ever, she has launched an attack against this sacred union. I do not think she has. She has clearly expressed her solidarity with Sri Hazare in her recent article, albeit silently, where she points out that the Government version of Lokpal is "so flawed that it was impossible to take seriously." But that is not the issue with her writing. The issue is that she has dared to question the methodology adopted by Sri Hazare to launch this crusade. She has questioned the unflinching support offered to him by people from all strata of society including the Youth of India. She has questioned the faith vested in Lokpal by Sri Hazare and millions other even before its formation. Moreover, she has questioned the people that why such support and faith has never been extended to maoists so that no one gets killed or raped by Salwa Judum, to Irom Sharmila so that the peaceful Manipuris can be spared from the atrocities of an otherwise decorated Indian Army, to awaam of Kashmir who want some respite from the sounds of AK47's on an otherwise paradise on earth.
The answer is that there are no answers Ms. Roy. Ye India ki public hai. Agar chahe to aapko 'Saint' bana sakti hai aur na chahe to 'naxalite'.

A Tribute To A Genius, a man who inspired millions

Hashim Amla:
"Nothing bad can happen to us if we're on a plane in India with Sachin
Tendulkar on it."
Hashim Amla, the South African batsman, reassures himself as he boards a
flight

Yaseer Hameed:
"Sometimes you get so engrossed in watching batsmen like Rahul Dravid and
Sachin Tendulkar that you lose focus on your job."

"To Sachin, the man we all want to be"
- What Andrew Symonds wrote on an aussie t-shirt he autographed specially
for Sachin

BBC on Sachin:
Beneath the helmet, under that unruly curly hair, inside the cranium, there
is something we don't know, something beyond scientific measure. Something
that allows him to soar, to roam a territory of sport that, forget us, even
those who are gifted enough to play alongside him cannot even fathom. When
he goes out to bat, people switch on their TV sets and switch off their
lives "

"But the finest compliment must be that bookmakers would not fix the odds -
or a game - until Tendulkar was out."


"Tuzhe pata hai tune kiska catch chhoda hai?" Wasim Akram to Abdul Razzaq
when the latter dropped Sachin's catch.

Brian Charles Lara:
"Sachin is a genius. I'm a mere mortal."

Mark Taylor:
"We did not lose to a team called India...we lost to a man called Sachin" -
Mark Taylor, during the test match in Chennai (1997)

M. L. Jaisimha:
"The more I see of him the more confused I'm getting to which is his best
knock."

Glenn McGrath:
"The joy he brings to the millions of his countrymen, the grace with which
he handles all the adulation and the expectations and his innate humility -
all make for a one-in-a-billion individual,"

Anjali
"I can be hundred per cent sure that Sachin will not play for a minute
longer when he is not enjoying himself. He is still so eager to go out
there and play. He will play as long as he feels he can play,"

Matt HAYDEN:
"I HAVE SEEN GOD, HE BATS AT NO.4 FOR INDIA"

"Even my father's name is Sachin Tendulkar."
-- Tendulkar's daughter, Sara, tells her class her father's name after the
teacher informs them of a restaurant of the same name in Mumbai

KUMBLE:
"I am fortunate that I've to bowl at him only in the nets!"

Shahrukh (quoting Shahrukh from an interview)
"Que: Who do you think as most important celebrity ?
Shahrukh: There was a big party where stars from bollywood and cricket were
invited. Suddenly, there was a big noise, all wanted to see approaching Amitabh Bachhan.
Then Sachin entered the hall and Amitabh was leading the queue to get a grab of the GENIUS!!"

Navjot Singh Sidhu:
"India me aap PrimeMinister ko ek Baar Katghare me khada kar sakte hain..Par
Sachin Tendulkar par Ungli nahi utha Sakte.."

Waqar Younis
"He can play that leg glance with a walking stick also."

A banner once said-' I WILL SEE GOD WHEN I DIE BUT TILL THEN I WILL SEE
SACHIN ' that quiet defines Sachin-The greatest.

Allan Donald:
"Sachin Tendulkar has often reminded me of a veteran army colonel who has
many medals on his chest to show how he has conquered bowlers all over the
world"

And i remember reading in one of Allan Donald's interview.
This interview was in Cricket Talk 7-8 yrs ago.

"I was bowling to Sachin and he hit me for two fours in a row. One from
point and the other in between point and gully. That was the last two balls of the over and the
over after that we (SA) took a wicket and during the group meeting i told Jonty (Rhodes) to
be alert and i know a way to pin Sachin. And i delivered the first ball of my next over
and it was a fuller length delivery outside offstump. And i shouted catch. To my
astonishment the ball was hit to the cover boundary. Such was the brilliance of Sachin.
His reflex time is the best I have ever seen. Its like 1/20th of a sec.
To get his wicket better not prepare. Atleast u wont regret if he hits you for boundaries."

Peter Rebouck, Aussie journalist
"On a train from Shimla to Delhi, there was a halt in one of the stations.
The train stopped by for few minutes as usual. Sachin was nearing century, batting on 98. The passengers, railway officials, everyone on the train waited for Sachin to complete the century.
This Genius can stop time in India!!"

NKP Salve, former Union Minister (This was when he was accused of ball tempering)
"Sachin cannot cheat. He is to cricket what (Mahatma) Gandhiji was to
politics. It's clear discrimination. "

Andy Flower:
"There are 2 kind of batsmen in the world. One Sachin Tendulkar. Two all the
others."

source: http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000165037544&ref=nf#/note.php?note_id=165586495879&ref=nf

Memoirs of a Reverie

I thought I will always remember but over time it has become blur. And to the extent that all that happened seems an illusion now.

No, do not undermine the way I loved. Sitting out here in the backyard with my eyes closed, I still feel his breathe on my neck.I never could tell him just how secure and loved it made me feel.What really could I have said at a time like then when my mind failed me with words. His eyes snatched me away from my world. His smile left me wandering in this immensely pleasurable ocean of love and his every kiss sent jitters up my body.
I can still smell the denim scent he carried when we spent those priceless evenings in
the gardens.

Wind flew by in the softness of his warmth and looking into his dreamy eyes my world faded. The dreams we made of our future below those pink and blue skies now stand shattered. I still cannot believe that fate, with all its wonderous tricks, had this round the corner then. I am torn here today, with my mind wanting to block these memories out just so I can live again, and my heart wanting to love him even more just so that the love never dies.

I wish I had expressed my feelings to him more, the feelings which my heart yearned to gush out then. Perhaps that would have saved his heart from giving in.

Sometimes I sit out, and feel guilty. Feel responsible for what happened. I always knew I kept pushing him for small things which did not matter. I never should have. I knew all along that he loved me with all his heart, and I now know that nothing else matters. He always knew how to make me smile when I got back from work with an irritable mood. You know, couples do sometimes say harsh things to each other just so that they can feel better. He would never revert back with something harsh when I did that and gently soothe me with his loving and comforting words; the words which I crave for today in my now lonely life. I now know nothing else matters. Absolutely nothing else matters ...

I stand here with my soul torn apart between this fight of power between my mind and my heart. I have not been to work for the last one month. I do not even know if that still is my work place. I am living in a mess – both externally and internally. I stand here wishing I remain in this sorrow for the rest of my life. I am just too afraid to step out. This once hurt heart is now too tender for the ways of the world.

Signing off
Reshma

The Aussie Debacle

An era of exquisite dominance which stretched for over a decade came to an end yesterday. England's victory over Australia at Oval hammered the last nail on the coffin to end the glorious record of the once presumed invincible Australian cricket team. The ultimate benchmark to all its competitors, has fallen with a resounding thud in absence of its veteran navigators.
Remember the days when a score of 250 in ODI's was considered to be a winning target even on a good pitch. Who would have thought then , that a staggering score of 434 was possible to score, let alone chase. The austerity with which international cricket is played today is a gift of this team to the world of cricket. The revelatory approach of this team revolutionized this game forever. No longer were there shaky starts, openers started amassing runs at mindnumbing rates. The long lost romance for the game was suddenly revived with full furor and zeal. Test cricket saw its redemption in the likes of Mark Waugh , Ian Healy and Michael Bevan. Further, the legacy was successfully carried forward by one of the finest opening pairs of cricketing history-Adam Gilchrist and Matthew Hayden. The pugnacity with which the Australians played test cricket ushered in a radically new approach towards this game. A perplexed cricketing fraternity steered by the veteran pundits argued that the success of Aussie batsman relied on the fact that they never had to face their own bowlers. The trio comprising of the immaculate McGrath , the wizard of leg spin, Warne and the ferocious Brett Lee further accentuated the invincibility of Aussies.
Clearly, the state of the team is now no longer the same. The formidable bench strength of bygone time now looks fragile and weak.The retirement these legends has certainly created a vacuum in the team. The once prevalent belief that 'We can come out of any situation' is now history. The team has started to depend more on individual heroics to achieve a win, which too have not been so frequent in the recent past.
The Australian team without a shadow of doubt needs to rediscover itself. Else, someone needs to step into their shoes to ensure that cricket again does not fall prey to the stagnant phase of the 80's when the Caribbean dominance was squashed by the Indians.

It continues.....

Summer is back with its scorching heat,
I pen today, though my words may not be neat.
Phrases are unordered, before or after
Here I go with my next chapter.

My thoughts rewind, I walk the memory lane,
Some are sweet, but most bear pain.
I decide to continue the previous trend,
Yes, the theme is love, but I talk of friends.

Love is simple, plain and sweet,
But often this path is one of retreat.
Friends are complex, hard to read
Though always present, in your time of need.

Love may stray, even betray at times
Still it features in numerous rhymes.
Something is magical about its feel
They say, its strength is mightier than a steel.

Love is plenty, still hard to find,
May be because, in it heart rules mind.
I'm always amazed by its massive reach,
Perhaps one day she can teach(me).

Friends are like the westerly winds
Even welcomed by the mightiest kings.
Their presence Is sought, even in weirdest hours,
Unconditional trust only maximizes the power.

There are many who enter this test
Only few pass , leave the rest.
Hold them close, very very near,
Nothing is more precious, I can swear.

Life is a gift, a gem of God,
I view the same, with different thoughts.
Love is life, so are friends,
Lucky are those who have a perfect blend

Straight from the Heart

Today I'm lonely and lost,
Willing to share my deepest thoughts.
Ones which haunt me day and night ,
And others which tell my inner plight.

They all revolve around one goal,
Mere thought of which blemishes my soul.
Five years, I've stored them in my heart,
But no more, Now I want to start.

The story is old, still untold,
Once lived a boy, whose manner was cold.
He lived in a world of alpha and pie,
And wished to scale the unfathomed sky.

The ambitions were high, it was a difficult terrain,
Had he not met her the morning, the sky did rain.
Beautiful she was, her eyes like sapphire
Oh! She could have set an ice-berg on fire.

No words were said, no notes exchanged,
Eyes did their work, tongue refrained,
Magic was working, encompassing them both,
Eros's craftsman, did swear an oath.

Feelings swelled inside his heart
Amused, he thought,if she was real or an art.
She made a move, her lips whispering,
And there he was, his soul was shivering.

Stars had blessed, love sparked
Now it was fate's time to march.
She was to leave in a short time,
He never believed, though she seemed fine.

The spell was broken, she was gone,
His heart shattered on thought of being alone.
Forced he was to live in the world of silly equations,
Logic ruled love in all those sessions.

Many years have past,many things have changed
Except that, the boy never complained.
Though faith was lost, still love survived
She mentored the change which everyone liked.