The Man with the Golden Gun

Before we begin, I would like to warn everybody that this entry of mine will be utterly sentimental and jingoistic because an Indian winning an individual Olympic Gold is something that I hadn't hoped I would see in my lifetime. Well ladies and gentleman it did happen and I (like most of you) am bloody ecstatic about it. We as a country have consistently managed to fall short in achieving glory in the ultimate test of human will known to man... sports. For long we have lived under the shadows of cliche' statements like "In a country of a billion we cannot find ONE gold". Well we have now and this young man from Chandigarh has managed the single greatest achievement in the history of Indian sports. One thing that I would like to point out here is that apart from winning the gold Bindra has managed to do something that most Indian Sportsmen have failed to do in the past. Eight years back in Sydney when Bindra made his debut he like every moderately talented youngster in India was billed as the next best thing. Yes he had the junior world record, yes he had failed to win a medal at Athens in spite of breaking the Olympic record and yes he is the reigning world champion in this event. But this is not the first time that an Indian athelete has had a good run prior to the Olympics and has been hauled up by IOA officials and the ever hypocritical Indian media as a medal prospect. Limba Ram in Barcelona, Anju Bobby George in Athens, the Indian Hockey team (over and over again) are just a few examples. Abhinav Bindra has managed to convert all the promise and all his form into the greatest reward known to sportsmen. All of the other individual medals won by India have come as major surprises to us. Leander Paes fought so hard for his medal that he seemed like a petulant child who just wouldn't leave till he had something to take back home, K.D Jadhav's victory was a major surprise (even to himself); Karnam Malleswari wasn't even supposed to travel to Sydney and Major Rathore's victory at Athens had a quiet elegance about it. But Abhinav Bindra today possibly became the first Indian athlete to show promise, display good form, have consistent performances and finally convert everything into him winning an Olympic Medal. This is by faaaaar the most glorious moment in the history of Indian sports (yes i know i am being redundant). This achievement comes to a man who has no histrionics about him and went about his business quietly and was more relieved than surprised when he took the top spot on the podium. I am a sentimentalist when it comes to sports, world war II and India. Today an Indian Sportsman manged to give us the greatest possible gift prior to the 15th of August. Today an Indian athlete saw the tricolor make its way up to the top of the mast with the mellifluous strains of our National Anthem. Today they played Jana Gana Mana... at Beijing.

Mr. Abhinav Bindra you have done all of us very very proud. Jai Hind !

Ole you Beauty !!!

Football is a sport of finesse and insanity coupled in an irresistible brew. This entry of mine is a tribute to one of the most uncanny talents ever to have walked on the pitch. Ole Gunnar Solskjaer does not look like a striker and he exudes a very quiet and impish aura about him every time he collects a pass. But the Baby Face Assassin is a footballer par excellence. Right from shooting from absolutely impossible angles to an exquisite first touch inside the D box Ole has it all. He began as a right winger at Manchester United as a replacement for an injured David Beckham and quiclkly established himself as a tremendous crosser of the ball. But Ole finally got into into his own an instinctive striker scoring goals for United. His name will always be associated with possibly the greatest moment in the history of Manchester United. A goal scored in the 93rd minute of the match followed by the immortal words "And Solskjaer has done it ... Manchester United have reached Promised Land"; these are images that are brimming with all the romance that sport represents. But apart from the obvious football prowess the one thing that makes one fall in love with this shy Norwegian is his complete commitment towards everything that Manchester United stands for. Players like Roy Keane, Ryan Giggs. Paul Scholes and Eric Cantona represent the true essence of this great club with every breath they take. Sir Ole Gunnar Solskjaer is right up there.

Adieu 2OLEGEND. Old Trafford is poorer without you.

These are confusing times.

I just finished watching an absolutely brilliant movie ... The Graduate (Something I very strongly recommend). The movie is about this absolutely mindfucked guy who struggles with the realities of one of God's most intriguing experiments - women. At the same time I watch around six episodes of Seinfeld a day and get more and more fascinated by the character of George Costanza. In fact in a state of inebriation I also remark to a dumbfounded roommate that there is a little George Costanza inside all of us and vehemently insist upon the profoundity of the statement. Apart from all this I also see myself go about the motions of my last semester in college interspersed with speculations about the future, pitfalls of the placement process, subtle nostalgia and some pretty quirky yet life changing realizations (eg: No matter how well you know a female she will always throw you off guard with the most innocuous of comments.)

These are troubled times.

These are the times when you realize that no matter what you just cannot turn to a girl and very cheerfully tell her that her perfume is horrible. These are the times when ridiculing the failure of your friends in the all important job interviews is possibly the best way of sharing the common sense of guilt and shame. I have also come to understand the micro economics behind smoking when it all boils down to the last millimeter of the obnoxiously smelling lit up end of the cancer stick. There have been times when I have debated about my sanity in the face of the purest form of sloth known to the mortal world. And there have times when I have managed to surprise myself with my perseverance. I have bugged a close friend of mine incessantly about his love life without ever trying to rectify whatever is happening in my life. I have absolutely shunned the concept of the seemingly all important Friendship Day. I have become absolutely convinced that I am too old for all this. At the same time I am also apprehensive that I am not old enough to start working right away and worry about things like IT returns.

These are curious times.

Well for all of you who have managed to read through this piece of crap... too bad for you. If you liked it, well may your sins be upon you. If you did not like it ... bah!