God's (SACH) IN-carnate

19-Dec-2010 will go down as a memorable day for Cricket fans, especially Indians. No! Not because the Indian team achieved anything stupendous. In fact they were eight wickets down and still trailing by 30 runs when the rain gods smiled in their favour. They would go on to lose the test match by an innings and 25 runs the next day against South Africa, but not before the cricketing God showed why he is regarded so.

Even when the team was in such a pathetic position, the Indian news channels were celebrating. Sachin Tendulkar had achieved what probably no other cricketer might achieve. 50 Test match centuries!!! At the end of the 4th day’s play, the writing was quite clearly on the wall, as to the result of the test match. But, still I wrote on facebook, that I didn’t care if India lost, because Sachin’s magic had prevailed yet again.

In this cricket crazy country, Sachin’s batting is the one which makes the most sense. I remember a little anecdote said by someone which happened at a railway station in Mumbai. The railway platform had TVs installed for public viewing, and a particular cricket match was being telecasted. Sachin was batting on 99 when it was time for a train, on that platform, to depart. Sachin took another over to get to his century, and till that time the train stood their. Yes, Sachin can stop time, figuratively at least.

With the world cup coming soon, there is every possibility that Sachin would go on to make a hundred international hundreds. Even after spending two decades playing for the country, his passion for the game remains unmatched. Yet, he is so humble. Hats off to this master cricketer! Thank you Sachin for all the entertainment you provide and being a muse for budding writers like me. This coincidently is my 50th blog post and I dedicate this to you!

What's on TV?

When I watch some Hindi news channels these days, I begin to wonder whether I am taking myself too seriously. They seem to be having fun. I mean, look at this media… they do an hour’s airtime discussing with “experts” about the impact Sheela is having these days on India. Munni apparently has lost out, because the news channels after an extensive research on Youtube and Facebook have come to the conclusion, that on popular opinion Sheela outscores Munni by a big margin.

Both the videos are a delight to watch, especially for us men. However discussing them at length and that too on national television is a bit too much. So once my adrenaline stops pumping – this happens as soon as the news anchor grins at the end of the video clips – I change the channels in the hope of watching something a little more sensible.

Cyrus Broacha is on one of the channels, as usual making fun of others. He is playing the news anchor and Kunal Vijaykar is being the interviewee. Dressed up in an air-hostess’ uniform he has become a she, and claims to be the latest recruit in Kingfisher airlines. This (s)he says has happened after working with Indian Airlines for 33 years. Why on earth did Vijay Mallya hire her? Yes, even Cyrus asked this question. On this (s)he said (s)he has a special talent which Dr. Mallya likes. Her talent is – she is good with her lips and tongue. Cyrus Broacha went red-faced and asked her to stop. But she insisted that she wanted to show what her talent is. This again is happening on National television and I was feeling a bit awkward already. Thankfully, all the airhostess did, was say “Oo-la-la-la-la-le-o”. Yes, singing that Kingfisher brand song does need special use of the lips and tongue. Phew!!! I change channels again.

Tiger – the magnificent striped animal - is now endangered. Just some three thousand odd of them are left in the world. One news channel understands the gravity of the issue and runs a telethon to support the cause of saving the tiger. Celebrities are called in to discuss or perform. Tickers are being shown about some big names contributing some big money for this noble cause. They had run a greenathon before to support the cause of saving earth from the global warming phenomenon. Ah, this makes some sense to me. But having said that, this is an outright serious discussion, and hence not very fun to watch. I change channels again.

Katrina Kaif!!! Draped in a white satin sheet begins, the awesome item number. I keep the remote aside. Three minutes later, Malaika Arora fills the screen. It’s not just the news channels but even the music channels know what’s making news! Anyway, I pay my respects to “Badnaam” Munni (by watching the whole video) and change channels again.

This goes on and on till my eyes complain. Enough! I switch off the TV. I take a walk around the house, look in the fridge, and get an apple. Halfway through the apple, I look at the newspaper lying in the drawing room. Scams, scams and more scams!!! I throw away the paper and come back to my room. I look at the remote. I am changing channels again. I love TV. :-)