Where is the love?

If any caring human has heard the beautiful number "Where is the love?" from American band Black Eyed Peas, it's definite that his heart would warm up with emotion. The song's lyrics speak exactly of the situation on hand.

Talking from an Indian perspective, I'd say that it is the highly irresponsible media that stands out in terms of brain corruption. They are like terrorists who let you live after corrupting your brain and thinking to such an extent that you will begin to doubt yourself at certain points.

Everything in life comes down to how much you can believe in someone's clean-hearted efforts. If you'll notice, most people doubt each other, doubt the government, doubt the system, doubt their heroes even. It's getting worse. People are not willing to believe. Where is the love?

The media is like "civil war" in terms of battle. They love to generate stories and circulate terror. Remember, the morning newspaper you buy is actually a bomb ticking away.....

Sons of a step mother

With a few hockey players threatening to go on a hunger strike, it does hurt the soul a lot. The Indian obsession with cricket makes sure that heroes of only a certain kind are loved and respected. It was a great triumph but the hockey team's Asian Cup triumph was no mean feat either. To score 57 goals, concede 5 goals and go unbeaten in a continental tournament is as good as winning the Twenty20 World Championship.

The problem is that no one cares. It may be noted that the Indian national hockey team is the country's MOST successful sporting teams, but the least appreciated. Indian dribblers are hailed as great players by European nations but in India nobody cares. It is the step-motherly treatment dished out to them that hurts the most.

Given the kind of extremism that cricket will touch in times to come, I suggest India abandon the rest of it's sports teams and allow players to play for other countries in which they can live and settle in. At least they will love them and give them due respect and recognition.

The Indian media also plays spoilsport. The Twenty20 World Championship win was given extensive coverage, while the Asia Cup was almost ignored. The media has corrupted the mind that cricket is the greatest thing to happen in terms of sport. When it actually is the worst.

Cricket has had an easy take in India. Given the least amount of hard work done(in hockey and football, you have to first QUALIFY for the major tournaments) in getting to the tournaments, it is always easier to pull off a title triumph. It all hurts.

Even Shah Rukh Khan, who is an actor and who has nothing to do with sport directly, is given space in the sports pages just because he ATTENDED the final.

How worse can it get.....

So this is how it feels.....

Let me complete the title of this blog first. So this is how it feels LIKE TO BE A WORLD CHAMPION. Finally. Of all the things you'd want in your lifetime. To feel like and be a world champion.

Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Yuvraj Singh & the rest of the team emerge as India's newest cricketing greats after a power showing in South Africa. Is there anything to talk about after this stupendous Indian triumph? Apparently, yes.

There is only one sensitive moment to think about. What will be going on in the minds of Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly and Rahul Dravid? No, I am not talking about retirement. But the win would have pleased and hurt them the most.

Since our acquaintance with sports heroes is very short-lived, I am certain that Indians will be ready to put the trio into history. But this will hurt. Remember, that the combined contributions of the three greats over the last decade have been almost as good as this World Cup triumph. If not better. We all are winners. We all want to be world champions. But these three are not world champions. It feels like God sent them with a curse of being the best, but never winning the best. All three reached the final in 2003 and opted out of this sensational triumph.

We Indians have very short memories. But don't forget that India played as good cricket as in 2003. The only request from my side is that REMEMBER AND CHERISH YOUR HEROES.....

Rise of the Feminist Man

This is a very weird topic to blog. This writing is more observation, rather than a culmination of thoughts.

Pink shirts, Red t-shirts, Sparkling tight pants, Weirdly-colored hair. This may be ordinary stuff for girls. Maybe it is meant for them. But wait. Look on. Guys have joined the bandwagon.

The rise of the feminist man is currently inexplicable. I don't understand why males are resorting to such open expression of female characteristics. Is it attributed to an apparent lack of understanding of what differentiates men from women? Or maybe lack of quality resources?

But this is definitely scary. Feminist men, apart from their dressing sense, are resorting to female behaviour too. Gone are the days when Men led from the front. Today, men are beginning to lose out on the virtues that held them so strong.

Females will be delighted with this male tilt towards their lifestyle.....

A big loss

While most of the Indian sporting world is focussed on the World Twenty20 Championships(and is likely to remain more focussed, owing to Yuvraj Singh's histrionics), an interesting development in the way-more-global-than-cricket world of football has turned it upside down.

The departure of "character manager" Jose Mourinho from Chelsea Football Club in England has been a big shocker to football followers. The Portuguese boss is rated as one of the best managers ever and his resignation asks more questions than the answers it gives.

Mourinho was a classy, shrewd tactician with immense self-belief(IMMENSE) and turned Chelsea into a worldclass team. We have to wait and see what happens, but English football has lost a man who impacted football in a very unique way.

Miss him.....

Of B-Schools & Leadership

Outlook's definitive survey-based rankings of India's top B-schools have come out and IIM, Ahmedabad leads the pack as usual. The founded-in-1961 premier B-school remains top in most categories of judgement, except in infrastructure & facilities. IIM, Bangalore & Calcutta finish 2nd and 3rd respectively while XLRI, Jamshedpur leads from the front for the private B-schools.

In other stories, Rahul Dravid's resignation as the captain of India's most loved sports team was a shocker. No doubts. Dravid has essayed a great role since he took over, with the WC debacle being the only dark mark in a respectable reign from the worldclass batsman. It's a sad day for us, as is this is also an indication of the beginning of the end of his career.

The pressures on sportspeople are immense. Expectations, both on personal and team-related fronts, from the huge fan base take up a lot of energy and thought.

Let's hope the BCCI think tank can make a wise decision and appoint a successor capable of inheriting the legacy of Dravid. What makes this time's captaincy hunt more freaky is that when Sourav Ganguly resigned, Dravid looked very capable of taking the post. But in the current set-up, that seems highly unlikely.....

India runs riot!!!

Has Chak De India actually cast a spell on Indian sports? Considering the performances of various Indian sports teams, I was forced to think over the above stated question. Suddenly, India is seeing a host of positive results in various sports.

Starting with the world's most important sport, India clinched a classic Nehru Cup title. This is definitely the stand-out achievement in football so far. Nehru Cup winners include prestigious teams like Uruguay and the Soviet Union and India's addition to that list definitely brightens up the footballing stratosphere.

The Indian hockey team, both men and women, have conjured up results in double figures in their respective Asia Cups. The men have won 1-0, 20-0, 3-2 and 6-0, making it a remarkable 30 goals scored in 4 games!! The women notched up wins of 16-0!

Sania Mirza has broken into the world top 30, while the cricket team is in it's best form ever, except that the opposition currently seem equally capable.

Revolution, indeed.....