What I learnt the last few weeks

I'm still on the emotional high of India's second world cup win. I stress the word 'second' because I am old enough to remember the first, one of the very few folks on my Twitterstream who were not in their nappies then. The win in '83 was a surprise because we were rank outsiders. The win this year was a surprise too, simply because we were the favourites and favourites always faltered. Or so a nation thought.

Till the night of April 2, 2011.

I learnt something from this win. Learnt about leadership. Learnt about the importance of self belief. About confidence. Instilling confidence in others. About bucking the odds, making your choices and sticking to them. Owning up to mistakes.

I also learnt about stepping up and leading from the front.

Thank you, Mahendra Singh Dhoni.

 

Posted via email from Mostly Charmless

Gold!

Abhinav Bindra wins the gold in the 10m air rifle event. India's first ever individual gold medal at the Olympics! Woo-hoo!

Convergence

It's all coming together. The three great obsessions of Indians - cricket, politics and films. Add a dash of eye-candy and music, and you have the perfect masala mix that can keep a nation enthralled for a month and more.

We have Shah Rukh Khan, that matchless actor. We have Vijay, the younger chieftain. We have Preity Zinta and Akshay Kumar. There's Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi, Prime Ministers in waiting, along with current and past Chief Ministers. We have businessmen. Beer and cheerleaders. Not to mention the scandals and the spice. Inconsequential cricket matches get higher TRP ratings than saas-bahu serials? Of course. You have slap-happy characters on the cricket field too. You have tears. You have what it takes to keep everyone's eyes glued to the telly. Ads galore, buy more, spend more.

Everything is condensed into a tiny capsule, fit for mass consumption. The Times of India-fication of our nation is now complete.

Vuja-de and a compulsive confession

I experienced the opposite of deja-vu yesterday night. Rachu brought her toy phone to the dinner table and was carrying on an animated conversation with her best friend, Malavika. I had to yell at her to stop using her phone at dinner. I can clearly see myself repeating this in a few years.

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I have a confession to make. You've read the Rediff message boards, haven't you? Well, that's all me. Yup. The folks who commented on reservations yesterday, the Amitabh controversy, even the Valentine's day comments. All mine. Yeah, you knew those were too good to be true, right? Right.

Whacka!

Ooooh! The WACA pitch is a fast bowler's paradise. Ooooh! They've called in Shaun Tait. Ooooh! The Indians can't handle pace. Ooooh!

Quite.

Nano

I can't quite explain why, but the release of Tata's Nano makes me happy and proud.

Columbia

Well, yes, it was quite tragic. But I live in India, I've seen worse.

Much worse.

We are like this wonly

Movie stars and film mags
Pepsi ads and cola wars
Cricket in the Caribbean
Models, celebs, women and wine.

Burn, kill, trash and rape
Bribe, pay, wink and nudge
Crammed in a southbound train
Lie and cheat all the way