How do you want to be remembered Mr Kohli?

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A hero is someone who understands the responsibility that comes with his freedom. -- Bob Dylan.

We can choose a zillion superlatives to describe your cricketing exploits, but to give an honest account of your off field persona will mean my words have to stoop to a new low.

Ever since you burst into the scene as the young energetic captain of the victorious Indian team at the 2008 U-19 World Cup in Malaysia, you have mesmerised us with your on-field exploits. You always stood out with your record-breaking feats, making each of us proud of you as an Indian.

You took the fight to the rival camp, stood up against sledging and we thought you are someone who wears his heart on his sleeve. But then your history of run-ins became more disturbingly regular with each passing day. 

Whether it was the spat with colleague Gautam Gambhir at Wankhede stadium, or the flashing of the middle finger to the Australian crowd or the hurling of verbal abuses at rival teams, it all kept adding up. Most times we smiled it off considering your extraordinary on-field exploits. 

But the recent verbal abuse hurled at a respectable newspaper journalist without provocation at Perth after a mistaken identity and your arrogance of not even apologising to him in person even after realising your mistake justifies the 'spoil brat' tag which has been hanging on you for some time.

According to reports, your invective was triggered by a report by another Indian journalist who had apparently written about your personal life. Well, the reporter had written: "In a departure from the past, Virat Kohli has been allowed to have girlfriend Anushka Sharma around" during last year's England tour.

Is writing about personal life of cricketers banned in India? Does it justify the volley of expletives, Mr Kohli? Okay, anyone can lose his/her cool, after all you are just a human being but to have the arrogance to not even apologise directly to the person who you just blasted in front of many, shows your aggression is misplaced and you actually are quite weak inside because it takes a lot of courage to admit, acknowledge, accept and apologize.

Indian team has seen many talents becoming legends. Whether it is Sachin Tendulkar, Saurav Ganguly or Rahul Dravid, each of them had to face intense media scrutiny but they never ever engaged in a behaviour which was unbecoming of them as Indian icons.
Even Mahendra Singh Dhoni, who is the best captain India ever had, despite his of late cold attitude towards Indian media, has never give us a reason to doubt his human qualities. Even if Dhoni weren't the best captain, he would have been remembered as someone who gave respect to seniors and juniors alike and earned respect equally. His demeanour earned him the title of 'captain cool'. However, looking at the way you are going, it would be from captain cool to 'captain namakool' for India in the coming days.

At a time when each person is clinging to his piece of debris, fighting own battles, it is paramount to strive for appropriate behaviour even in the face of extreme hazards. One who can do that becomes a true leader, who is rewarded and remembered for his action.

Curious case of Edward Snowden

A man of conscience is paying the price for being a truth seeker. If only, life could have been like movies. Unfortunately, the real is very different from reel and so Edward Snowden has been stuck in the transit area of Sheremetyevo International Airport (Moscow), something like the character Viktor Navorski  (played by Tom Hanks), who gets stuck in the New York City airport for several months in the movie Terminal.

US intelligence services snoops on their European allies, a man of conscience spills the beans and he instantly becomes a political criminal. I wonder what would have happened if Snowden like, many others, would have 

just sealed his lips, killed his conscience and would have been a silent spectator. He would have been a happy man, living a normal life in some posh locality in the United States. Today, he is a hero for some, while a 

villain in his own country.

Snowden has written to 21 countries, including India, for asylum. A country which have given asylum to the Holiness Dalai Lama, Sri Lankan Tamil leader V Perumal and many others, India refused Snowden's request 

with record speed. Of course, India would eventually have to give him up someday even if it would have granted him asylum as it has an extradition treated with the US but what strikes one is the spontaneity with which the 

decision was taken, which clearly stinks of India's reluctance to not offend Uncle Sam.

It is funny that a country which considers itself much superior to any other nation and vows to uphold International laws, is violating all such laws blatantly. They talk of acting against 'cyber terrorism' 

but themselves hacks our computers, they talk of privacy and individual rights but then taps phones, they swear by friendship and then break trust. Clearly, Mr O is no better than Mr B.

Soon, it would be all over for Snowden. He will be either forced to return back to the US or extradited to his country, arrested and punished for speaking the truth and the world will go on. Directors will make films on his life, which will go on to win Oscars and Golden Globe awards and everything will be just like before. But in all this 

hoopla, truth and conscience will die a silent death once again.

My two minutes at Traffic Signal

 There are two ways which stretches out, leading to my office, almost an equal distance, but one road has a traffic signal.  Everyday on my way to office, I take the road with the traffic signal because it gives me my precious few minutes in these humdrum of city life. There are days when the signal is green and I zoom past that point (without any regret when I am awfully late)  but on most days, it is red and I get to perk my bike, sit and breath a bit and look around the life at the traffic signal for a couple of minutes.

A child selling Indian flags on a traffic signal.

Of course, there is a film by Madhur Bhandarkar named 'Traffic Signal' released in 2007, which dealt with the lives of the people who live and earn their livelihood staying around similar signals but that depiction was more inclined towards the underworld and the underbelly of Mumbai slum. 


In contrast, when I stop around this signal and see the lives around me, I see stories all painted with so many emotions and feelings. I see struggle, pain, hopelessness and also human endurance and the zeal to strife for a better tomorrow.

Sometimes there are kids trying to sell pens, pencils and balloons, sometimes there are women trying to cook something in their makeshift kitchen-cum-bed room, because this was nothing more than a piece of cloth tied to the grills of the wall which made their roof near the Indira Gandhi National center for Arts at the Rajendra Prasad Marg in New Delhi, the capital of India. Sometimes, there are some old men, sitting hunched forward in a circle, talking about somethings which I probably would never know. 


Sometimes I have this urge to skip my office and sit with them, spend an evening with them, listening to their stories, stories of struggle, loss, defeat, pain and hopefully hope. I mean there ought to be some hope or else how can they spend their days, day in and day out, on these streets. Sometimes, I wonder, probably they would have a lot of anger for the better off or the have-nots, who perk their cars and bikes (like me) for that two minutes, often not even bothering to give them a look, as if they don't even exist. I too probably do it everyday, sometimes intentional, sometimes unintentional but always without any malice or perhaps that the way I would like to justify my actions.

Even though I think so much about their lives, I never stop by, never get down from my bike, never talk to them, never offer any help, never try to make any attempt to bring any chance. Perhaps, I think I am not capable enough. But then they say change may start from anywhere, from anyone. Then why not? I don'y know. Something binds me inside, stops me, tells me if I can't make a change by talking to them should not give them any false hope or perhaps they might interpret my action as an attempt to take some sadistic pleasure knowing their lives lived in squalor and penury.


I am still looking for answers to these questions, probably I will not get them because for that I would have to take that one step someday. Knowing everything, still the hunt for the answers continue and continues my two minutes of solace at the traffic signal amidst the humdrum of the city.

Chakde India!!!! Rise of the fallen Heroes

The Noise that drowned the Dhyan Chand stadium at the capital never sounded so sweet before and the floodlights that drenched the stadium faded in comparision to the light in which Indian hockey found itself tonight. Our national game had once again achieved its rightful place. Indian hockey had finally erased the ignominy of not qualifying for the Beijing and had earned its right to fly to London, the hosts of the 2012 Olympics. 

Even as the countdown began for the final hooter, thousands of hands applauded the feat, fans who have been waiting for this moment for long, stood there and screamed their lungs out, the national flags fluttered under the night sky.

It is quite an irony that the victory came on a day when many many miles away, the Indian cricket team had laid down their weapons once again against an emerging Australia, the pain and shame of the disastrous tour written on their face. 

While on one hand, some stars fell, at Dhyan Chand Stadium many new heros were born, where on one hand a game followed like a national game plunged into further shame, the actual 'national game' was once again finding its foot in the world of sport, where cricketers were finding ways to escape the limelight, Michael Nobb's boys were basking in their new found glory. 

For many in this Indian team, this win will put to rest the 'nightmare at Santiago' four years ago, for many it will be the answer to their prayers over the years and for many it will a day when they found their long due. But nevertheless for everybody it will be a day of pride, a day that would stay enveloped in the corner of their mind forever.

Of course, many would argue that for a country that taught hockey to the world and have been the Olympics champion eight times, qualifying for the event shouldn't arose so much emotions but one shouldn't forget the condition in which, the game had found itself after their 2008 disaster. 

It wouldn't be wrong to say that perhaps hockey in India would have died a silent death, unmourned and unheard and this win has actually given a new lease of life to the game which had been catapult to the international arena by none other than our own major Dhyan Chand. 

India can still come a cropper against the mighty teams such as Australia, Holland and Germany, who in the last three decades have galloped away too far but at least this win has given a ray of hope to a lot of future hockeyroos who otherwise would have picked up a racket or a bat instead of a stick. This win has shown as coach Nobbs very rightly puts it "that this team is worthy of admiration and respect of the people of India."

Saina: Go play, play till the end of time

A nation mourns the loss of Saina Nehwal in the quarterfinals of the World Championship. A nation which followed the 20-year-old’s graph as she scaled different heights in her career, bringing laurels to a country starved off any recognition in Olympic sports such as badminton.

It was a dream that was shattered. A dream that was weaved over the years of watching the little star making giant strides in the field of badminton, making history and creating moments that India never believed ever existed before. And now that all these dreams have come crushing after her defeat in the World Championship, millions have suffered heartbreaks but even all these zillions of heartbreaks can’t ever equal the pain and disappointment that she must have gone through after the defeat.

At an age when teens walk in the corridors of college, either digging deep in their books or trying to live life in the fast lanes, here is Saina, carrying a billion hopes in her young shoulders, striving hard to make her country proud in a field where she found her calling. It takes guts to shut oneself from the world and all amenities and live a life of a monk, with discipline and dedication. And here she is walking the line without complaining because this is what she chose for herself.

It can be maddening to stand in all the glittery, to be the focus of the world, to be the cynosure of a billion eyes because at the end of the day as Paulo Coelho puts it “A winner stands alone”. Add to that the ubiquitous media, which want to know everything about you, the moment you return from winning a crown and then shuts you out once you lose. The amount of pressure that rests on Saina, I am sure none of the former champions such as Prakash Padukone or her mentor Pullela Gopichand had to face in their career.

So let’s not mourn her defeat but rejoice the moments that she has given to this country, moments which filled our heart with pride to say that we are Indians. Let’s wish her and pray for her and give her the confidence that we are there irrespective of the results because we believe in you. So go and play, play till the end of time.

The three-month-old status of my blog was getting obnoxiously (I learnt it from Hayden) difficult with each day. There are things to express but not enough willingness perhaps to do so, or perhaps i'v become more lazy or handicap in my expression that i stayed away. It is difficult to be honest, I mean it could have been so easy to blame it on my 'lack of time' and 'm busy these days' reasons. Anyways, whatever.

What has changed in these three months?

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As far as I can remember, India played Sri Lanka in three different tournaments. I can only imagine what the boredom of watching(or listening or hearing anything about) them might have affected the fans. Well, many depression patients got over the habit of popping those sleeping pills as it was a natural sleep inducer.

The Players tried there best to make it interesting though, complaining about overwork or perhaps not. I mean it is still a mystery as Srinivasan has stuck to his robotic head-gear denial: "We have received no letter".

But the way 'Times Now' followed it up, I guess more than the players, it was the journalists who got really pissed off seeing the same faces every day and it had its affect.

Seeing the helpless Indians, Randiv also tried his bit to make it interesting by depriving Sehwag a century, desperately hoping that it will jolt the BCCI from their slumber and they will call it a day or may be will give the indian fans some fodder to chew on.

Such a selfless guy, lost his match fee and was banned for a match, still he tried and was amply helped by Dilshan and Sangakkara. But all went in vein. Not all though, as it did give 'Times Now' enough to plough on for 3-4 days and make it a national crisis.

Commonwealth Games (CWG) became 'controversy-ridden' CWG, bad for Kalmadi. I mean things were going pretty fine for him but his scapegoats...aarr...i mean..his collegues failed to plug the leaks and ofcourse 'Times Now'. I mean how can you forget them. The result is in front of you, the OC chief lost so much (read dough) in plugging the holes and it's still not over.

Well, i guess, now I need something to chew on or plough on atleast. Being Lazy is bliss, at times.

Dhoni misses the Dusshera point

'Captain cool' MSD have lost it. Many would say it was a strategical error but I feel it was a logical error and a lack of out-of-the-box thinking that left India in the corner after their suspended match against Australia yesterday.

Desperate times ask for desperate action and MSD should have taken a leaf out of Paddy Upton's book and should have done some head scratching before going into the match.

Or how else would you explain Dhoni's decision to go with a squad like that on the eve of Dusshera and Dasami, the day when the Ram slayed Ravana and Durga returned back to her husband Maha Dev Shiv's residence.

If you remember correctly, Dhoni had the correct recipe to slay this Ricky 'Ravana' Ponting and his 10 heads. The only thing he needed to do was to bring on the mythological characters of Indian cricket.

Say a (VVS) 'LAXMAN' and (Sridharan) 'SRI RAM' in the opening slot would have given the Ricky-avanas a nightmare.

Bring 'SHIV' (sundar Prasad) and (Dinesh) 'KARTHICK', (Dodda) 'GANESH' and And then 'LAXMI' (Ratan Shukla) next and you would have had a perfect Mythological team which would have surely attained divine powers on the holy day of Dusshera.

So there you realize now what a blunder MSD did. They were there all the while but it's only that our captain cool missed the point.