14 years and still counting

     14 years and still counting from the day since I last burst crackers.  When I rewind it was so much fun back then. Diwali had it's charm which is totally missing these days.  I always had enough crackers to burst every year.  The eagerness to open the box of crackers on a Diwali morning simply cannot be matched by anything.  From Atom bombs to sparklers and flower pots, every part of Diwali is so nostalgic.   By 2002 the interest and love for crackers were diminishing and by 2003, it was all over.

     If I could sit back and try to find a reason for abandoning crackers, there is only one thing  that I could point to.  It was when I started my higher secondary and the love for science started to blossom.  Today if I say that bursting crackers would cause pollution, it might  look very weird.  But back then it made sense, the noise and smoke created by crackers is enormous. To indulge in something that is spoiling our environment wasn't comfortable for me and that too after opting to Study science. From that day I stopped bursting crackers. To my surprise, I haven't missed it at all.

     Today when I see people go crazy after crackers and spend so much on it, I can feel happy for the kids who enjoy it and really get annoyed when adults say that they do it for the welfare of the industry and the people who work there.  If one really worries about the welfare of those people then they surely won't want them to do such a risky job.  One thing has become pretty evident is that education makes people to talk smartly to defend their actions instead of understanding what is right and what is wrong.

     The stress from job and the increase in number of television channels has changed the life we live and it's evident with festivals. During my childhood we saw families getting together and preparing lots of sweets and offering prayers while the kids had immense fun on the streets.  Nowadays, sweets are bought from shops, no family unions and starring at TV has become the norms of every festival.

     To conclude, the colour of Diwali is fast changing and I don't think next generation would have fun we had in our childhood as far as Diwali is concerned.  Hope it changes for good.  


Cheers !!!!!

World gets together once in 4 years

     One has to wait 4 years to see the entire world join together and compete hard at the Olympics.   The level of competition and the spirit of Olympic Games is worth the wait.  2016 saw the first time Olympics making it's appearance in South American soil. What a period it has been for Rio. Two years back it was the football world cup and now the Olympic Games. Brazil had a lot of difficulties in hosting the event, but they did a wonderful job.  The Olympics had it's share of controversies, some Beautiful proposals and some fantastic upsets.

     Rio saw the dominance of America in the events, but many of my favourites failed to live up to the expectation. I expected Michael Phelps to finish his career on a high repeating what he did at Beijing, but he failed.  I wanted to see a tough fight between Alexandria Raisman and Mustafina Aliya at the gymnastics mat, but it was the teenager Simone Biles who stole the show.  Badly wanted Brazil to get the Gold in football and how well they did it.  Expected India to take the podium in hockey and they disappointed yet again. Sindhu in badminton was a surprise package and she became the first woman silver medalist from India. Focus was on Vinish Poghat who injured her leg and Yogeshwar who lost to Mandakarnan, but the medal came from Sakshi Malik.

    There was one athlete who stormed the nation with the Produnova vault,  (Front hand spring double somersault) Deepa Karmakar. A flat footed girl finish 4th in her debut Olympics is no mean feet. Then we had this sad story of athletes not getting water and proper medicines. Special mention to Bokhanlal who had a splendid debut Olympics in rowing. Abhinav Bindra missed the medal in shooting by a whisker and so did Sania and Rohan in tennis. Indian archery disappointed us once again.

     Three  of the most celebrated athletes didn't disappoint at all. The sprints saw Bolt rewrite the record books with his 9th Gold medal. Then it was David Rudhisha who got the Gold. In the 800m for men and the ever jubilant Mo Farah got the 5000 and 10000 double.  It was a shocking moment when Michael Johnson's record was broken by a South African. What an Amazing 400m run that was.  Van kerk is the name.

     Overall the Indian performance wasn't the greatest, but it's a country who has a work in hand which is in process. There are lots of promise and positives, hope India does better at Tokyo 2020.


Cheers !!!!!

World cup Kabaddi

     15 days, 12 teams, 1 cup, India's gift to the world. Kabaddi world cup held at transtadia at Ahmedabad. This world cup is a huge success as it had a broad coverage by media and nations from all 6 continents participated in the tournament making it more special.

     The first match saw a huge upset where South Korea defeated the dream team India. The tournament was wide open and the permutations and combinations started working. Iran on the other hand started demolishing teams at will. They were clear favourites of the tournament next only to India. Meanwhile Bangladesh who had so much promise fell agonisingly short of the semi finals.

     One of the huge stories of the world cup is the emergence of team Kenya. This is a country who took up Kabaddi just two years back and mom they were contenders for the semifinal. This world cup also saw a team full of students who reached the semifinal stage with so much promise. The Thailand team lost to Iran and then to India in the semifinals.

     Japan, Poland who beat the mighty Iranians and England showed some promise whereas Australia, Argentina, America where just learning this game.

     The finals were set up between India and Iran which was expected.  Indians who were thrashing opponents until then where skeptical in their raids, thanks to that man Fazal Atrachali, Indian defense was on the back foot right from the word go and substitutions were flying to keep the combination right. But it was Iran who inflicted the first all out and they lead the finals during half time by 18 to 13.

     Second half is what all India had to do something to lift the trophy and in band Ajay Thakur who was clinical and claimed a super 10. Manjit Chillar was replaced as he was having an off day, with Ajay's brilliance and an important raid from Nithin, India inflicted an all out on Iran and then the Indian defense came to the party. With already a super tackle to their name,  Mohit and Surendar were lethal and coupled with Sandeep the beast, Iran found it difficult to match Indian momentum.

     Ajay brilliantly had a two pointer which saw Fazal Atrachali and Meraj Sheik warm the bench, soon India inflicted another all out and the lead was in to double figures.  Rahul chowdery who is the poster boy of Indian Kabaddi struggled to match the intensity of a final, but his mistakes were covered up by the rest.

     In the end, India were victorious  with the score line reading 38-29,thus stamping Indian authority on its gift to the world.

     India the World Champions in Kabaddi


Cheers!!!!!

Humanity?? Really??

  It's been a long time since I posted something.  Life has moved a lot during these days.  Most striking thing that happened during this time is the Chennai floods.  What a situation it was when the heavens opened up big time and sent people running for cover. Many lives lost, many got stranded on streets without shelter and food.   Then the world saw something that is special about this great city. Humanity took up the challenge posted by God. Boy! I must say that it was a superb Defensive skill exhibited by the people of Chennai for which they even got the best citizen of India award.  There have been many calamities before and for the first time world saw a natural calamity which brought more volunteers than victims an the entire world had it's jaw down.  Almost all youngsters of Chennai were on streets running around to save mankind. There was a post on facebook which read that our late president Abdul Kalam would have been the happiest person looking at the effort put by our youth. It is also a time when Chennai saw many of its immigrants leave the city and get back to their native for safety.

     It was such a worrying act that so many left Chennai for safety, what stood out was the guts of Chennaites who joined hands to save their city. Many celebrities took themselves out to help the needy and it inspired many more to come out. It was such a pleasing sight till the floods occupied our city. Once the water started to recede, the ones who ran out for safety came back to Chennai to get back to their work. Then started the rebuilding work, now started the problem, people started to charge way more than standard rates as the demand was high. Few were doing a good service and few were awfully greedy on earning money using the situation. It was pathetic.

     Chennai floods taught me two things, one is no one can defeat Chennai when they are together. Second is human beings are the worst in this world and they all are opportunist. World was not this bad certain decades back, but demands and so called modernization has made a huge dent to human morality. Hope thins change for good.

Cheers!!!!!