Gil-Christ!!

Gilly was on a rampage today! He single-handedly annihilated the Muumbai Indians. He made 100 off 42 balls. His sixes were massive, lofty and had the right amount of power. He was an absolute delight to watch. I just wish he was with the Kolkata Night Riders!

This is it!

The movers & packers came home this morning to take my stuff to Calcutta. All I have with me now is just enough clothes to see me through two weeks at home.

Never thought that after having lived in Bombay for so long, it would just be a matter of three days before I leave. It’s heart-wrenching. I love this city so much I don’t know how I’ll manage to stay away. I’ll go through major withdrawal for sure. I’ll always be a Bombay girl.

Life is very funny indeed. I never thought I would be moving to Calcutta. I liked the city on my various visits there – I always felt that Calcutta had the heart of a small town in spite of being a metro. I loved the laidback lifestyle, loved the fact that Calcuttans value things in life other than money. But I never thought I’d end up living there!

Well, life has its ways of getting you around to doing things you never thought you would so, and therefore the saying “Never say never”.

So yeah…this is it! Three more days in Bombay and then it won’t be home anymore. Even though I know my way around, I’ll still be a visitor to the city. But then again, I took a conscious informed decision to move out, so can’t really complain. I’d like to end this post with the opening lyrics of Vince Gill's 'The strings that tie you down'...

You're so close to telling me your leaving
Packing up your things and leaving town
If you can walk away the rest is easy
Once you cut the strings that tie you down

Who's the daddy?

First things first - there's a correction. Gilly is not with the Knight Riders. I got that wrong. He's with the Deccan Chargers.

Now that the first weekend of the IPL is over, the Knight Riders seem to be the strongest team overall. They have fire power in copious amounts both in their batting as well as bowling line ups. The surprise to me came in the form of Deccan Chargers and Chennai Super Kings - they have pretty strong teams too. I was waiting to see the Mumbai Indians but I don't think they'll make the grade.

So...Go Kolkata Knight Riders!!

Follow Me

You don't know how you met me
You don't know why, you can't turn around and say good-bye
All you know is when I'm with you I make you free
And swim through your veins like a fish in the sea
I'm singing....
Follow me
Everything is alright
I'll be the one to tuck you in at night
And if you wanna leave I can guarantee
You won't find nobody else like me

Demolition squad

A.k.a. Kolkata Knight Riders

Going by the first game of IPL, Kolkata Knight Riders definitely looks like the team to watch out for and the one to beat. They have immense fire power in their batting as well as their bowling (which will only get enhanced when Shoaib Akhtar joins the squad), they are fast and agile on the field, their body language is positively aggressive, and they displayed a hell lot more enthusiasm on field than Bangalore Challengers. They simply demolished Bangalore! Vijay Mallya must not have been a very happy man.

People are calling the IPL more of a business and money-spinning gimmick than a sports event. Money-spinning activity it might be but here's why I think sports will come out tops in the IPL - each team has players from different countries. In regular international games when these players play for their countries, the opposition is their enemy. In IPL they have to come together with the same players who would have otherwise been their enemies and play for a common goal - the victory of their team - forgetting about the country their teammates come from. It's a melting pot in the true sense of the word. It was very heartening to see Ricky Ponting celebrate his catches with the same set of Indian players with whom he was involved in such a nasty controversy not so long ago. And players from different countries embrace each other whenever a wicket fell.

I also think the IPL will give young Indian players a chance to learn from the best players of the world. Each country has it's own approach to cricket. The tips shared in the dressing room and the strategies made will be an valuable learning experience for our youngsters.

I think we should all be extremely proud of the IPL. It's an absolute revolution in cricket, and one that's been brought about by India. We all know India has an immense amount of talent in every sphere but we don't have the infrastructure and the financial resources to develop and boost all that talent. So to think that India could be the pioneer of the IPL, where players from other countries were literally "bought" over by Indian individuals and business behemoths, is no mean feat. Who could have imagined there would be so much money in Indian cricket! With the IPL, the entire cricketing world will be forced to acknowledge India as a force to reckon with in cricket, and not only a country where politics, regional biases and favoritism dominate the cricketing scene.

So here are the reasons why I'm supporting the Kolkata Knight Riders:

1. It's got two of my favorite players - Sourav Ganguly and Adam Gilchrist. They are both at the twilight of their careers. One has already retired from international cricket and the other will very soon in all probability. I have always loved Ganguly as a captain and I also admire his resilience (the way he won his spot back on the team). And I think no player can play spin as well as Ganguly can. It's also an absolute pleasure to watch Gilchrist bat. Not to mention he's a man of integrity and values (remember, he walked?).

2. The spirit with which Shah Rukh Khan selected his players - he wanted to build a winning team, not the best team - reflects in the on-field attitude of the players.

3. I love their mascot Hoog Lee and his girlfriend Shoog Lee, and SRK is the only one of the owners who has shown some enthusiasm in his team - in coming up with the name, in the marketing he has done around the Knight Riders etc. The others seem to have bought over their respective teams purely from a business point of view. They have shown zero interest in their teams. Forget promoting their teams, they haven't even bothered to give their teams names that would get your attention. Cases in point...Chennai Super Kings, Deccan Chargers, and the most retarded of them all - Mumbai Indians! Ofcourse SRK has to make the proposition commercially viable, therefore the marketing around the team, but if we get electrifying, edge-of-the-seat cricket in the process, what's the harm?

I can't wait to see what the other teams have in store. Over the next month & a half, cricket is going to be king and India will be the centre of attention of the cricketing world. The next Knight Riders game will be at Eden Garden, and it will be even bigger and better than tonite!

Less than 24 hours to IPL

GO KOLKATA KNIGHT RIDERS!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=orkdME2tJmk

Goddamn work computer does not allow uploading videos. Will upload the anthem from home. In the meantime...relish these pics!





For my Mumbai friends who're giving me grief about not supporting the Mumbai team, I'm sorry but I just can't get myself to support a team that's called "Mumbai Indians". How boring & unimaginative can you get! Even 'Vada Pao Eating Mumbaikars' would have been a better name!

It's not easy to be me

I can’t stand to fly
I’m not that naive
I’m just out to find
The better part of me
I’m more than a bird...I’m more than a plane
More than some pretty face beside a train
It’s not easy to be me

I Wish that I could cry
Fall upon my knees
Find a way to lie
About a home I’ll never see

It may sound absurd...but don’t be naive
Even Heroes have the right to bleed
I may be disturbed...but won’t you concede
Even Heroes have the right to dream
It’s not easy to be me

Up, up and away...away from me
It’s all right...You can all sleep sound tonight
I’m not crazy...or anything…

I can’t stand to fly
I’m not that naive
Men weren’t meant to ride
With clouds between their knees

I’m only a man in a silly red sheet
Digging for kryptonite on this one way street
Only a man in a funny red sheet
Looking for special things inside of me

It’s not easy to be me

*****

Alas, even Superman goes through crises in life!

Is this what news should be about?

The media, particularly our shoddy Hindi "news" channels, are having a field day with the story of Priyanka Gandhi's visit to Nalini, the only surviving member of Rajiv Gandhi's assassination squad. It's despicable how low news channels stoop inorder to grab more eyeballs. They don't bat an eyelid before crassly commercializing an individual's personal loss.

When a tragedy strikes, we all have questions that we want answers to. Why did it happen? How did it happen? Why us? We've all faced these questions before. Losing a parent has got to be one of the most devastating losses one can suffer in life, and when one knows that one's father did not die of natural causes or in an accident but was assassinated by a group of people, the feeling must be even worse. I don't blame Priyanka Gandhi for wanting to meet her father's assassin to get answers. She has every right to. Why must we question her motives behind the visit?

I'm sure her family must have known about the visit and if they were okay with it (as Rahul Gandhi later said), I don't understand why the entire country and it's sub-standard news channels must get excited about it! Infact, the way they're recreating the story, they're almost making it sound like she was an accomplice in the conspiracy to kill her father rather than a victim!

News channels in India are making a living out of scandals and yellow journalism. I think the government needs to do serious quality control here. No news channel should be allowed to air unless it meets certain infrastructural requirements and production quality. The government should also lay down some ethical practices that each channel must abide by if it wants to retain it's license to air. Freedom of the press is a must in any democracy, but that does not imply the right to exaggerate, misrepresent or scandalize facts.

Back to basics

I was having a conversation with a friend over the weekend & she said something that struck me as very true. She said that life seems to be coming a full circle for women.

Up until about 30-40 years ago, women thought their primary duty in life was to look after their house, tend to their family & raise their kids. They were happy doing all of that, and sure enough, working women were a rarity.

Over the course of the 80s & 90s, when feminism crossed western borders and spread to all corners of the globe, and women's liberation became the norm of the day, we saw a rise in the number of women who were willing to place their careers over family life. They were ambitious & unapolegetic about it.

Now, we seem to be coming back to the point where women are once again giving more importance to their husbands/families as opposed to their careers. I'm not saying women are not ambitious anymore, but more & more women are willing to make compromises in their careers as opposed to their personal life. They don't think twice before relocating to another town if their husbands get a good job opportunity. They are increasingly opting for part-time (consultant) or work-from-home options so they can give time to their kids. Many are even willing to give up their careers completely because they feel they ought to give more time & attention to their families.

Feminism & women's liberation are still around, but the more subtle type, not the bra-burning variety. And it's more at an individual level - women are increasingly able to make up their minds about what they want in life, and stand up for themselves, rather than getting in mobs & trying to save the women of the world!

I think it's an evolution we have gone through as a species. So until hardcore feminism sweeps over us once more...it's fun being in the time & place I'm in!

Dezzert anyone?

I strongly recommend the strawberry baked cheesecake at 5 Spice, Bandra. I can't believe I'd never tried it before inspite of being a 5 Spice regular. IT IS TO DIE FOR!

I've been trying to find such a cheesecake in Bombay for the past five years but none came close to it. Have it & you will know what I mean.

Just remember to order the strawberry BAKED cheesecake & not the regular strawberry cheesecake.