From being a reticent coach to sex guru, Gary Kirsten's life has gone through a complete U turn, a diametrically opposite curve which he himself must be having difficult to fathom.

It's as bizarre as like travelling through Antartica and suddenly finding the sun shining brightly or may be you are standing amidst a pile of sand in some corner of Sahara desert and it starts snowing from nowhere.

Even the bollywood potboilers couldn't have come out with a more thrilling and topsy-turvy script, but that's truth, that life. I feel bad for the man and pity for the journo who for the heck of some publicity and for being famous did such a thing.

I wanted to write a satirical piece but I didn't coz something stopped me. I wish Mr Journo had his facts in the files and heart in the right place before filing the story.

Journalism is intoxicating, my friend. It kills U!!!

Six predicaments of being Sehwag

1. As if the beamers and bouncers weren't enough, you have to
dodge the captaincy offers which are off and on hurled at you;

2. You have to learn how to live under the swadow of Tendulkar
which always keeps lurking over your head;

3. You have to riyaz the bhajans regularly to keep your head at the
right place;

4. You have to think about a thousand ways to hide your injuries;

5. You have to spearhead not only the innings but also brawls and
rows;

6. You have the responsibility of not only inspiring your team and youngsters but also create awareness in AIDS.

Champions Trophy is round the corner
Eight team will fight it out
Asia and rest of the world will clash for supremacy
But what will count, who will stand out?

Batting pyrotechnic will be on a high
cleaning Bowlers wet and dry
adrenaline rush will touch the sky
Everytime the white cherry fly

Pacers will unleash bouncers and beamers
as tweakers mix doosras and carom balls
with pressure mounting on the men in white
they will give wrong and ambiguous calls

Shastries and Bhogles will blabber on mic
involving in post mortems and pep talks
spectators will boast and cheer their teams
as corporates weigh their stocks

PCB : Another epic in making

Get over the twists and turns and mind-boggling plots of 'Ramayana', 'Mahabharata' and 'Bible' or the 'Lord of the rings'(LOTR) and 'Harry Potters'(HP). They might be considered the greatest epics but there is something much more thrilling, edgy, clumsy and confusing brewing in our neighbourhood.

Pakistan 'Circus' Board ... urrr ... sorry ... I meant the Pakistan Cricket Board has the potential of being one of the greatest story never told.

Intertwined with truth, lies and betrayal, PCB has been the centre of attention (if not attraction) among the cricketing world for quite sometime now.

Now, who can beat this?

Qadir, Sohail resign, while Altaf was sacked -- all within three months -- and now Butt is in line. None is spared, if some players are dope-tainted, officials are corruption-tainted.

Younis, Intikhab, Shahid, Asif, Akhtar -- everyday throws a new face, a new story, a new twist in the tale which never cease to surprise you.

Well, that was for the general information but here comes the scoop.

According to surveys/research and data received here LOTR and HP directors are planning to make a movie on this potential-to-be-the-greatest epic.

Well, rumours are also ripe that Khushwant Singh is fed up of dyeing his hair and before dying, he is dying to write the greatest epic of his lifetime and with his 'Train to Pakistan' connection, he can well come out with a masterpiece.

But here also an Indian will have to fight it out with JK Rowling, who is according to sources is not too happy with her Harry Potter series and wants to write a masterpiece before she dies.

Meanwhile, Shashi Tharoor has also decided to come out of the 'Shadows across the playing field' and join the field instead and might partner one of the protagonist of the would-be book.

Well, I don't want to sound too ambitious but who knows I myself could be the next Valmiki or JRR Tolkien. So, WATCH THIS SPACE!!!

Gauti's day out

Clad in a red t-shirt with a coca-cola tag, Gautam Gambhir rushed to a city food joint where an army of photographers and fans were awaiting him. Among the zillion faces there was he standing, sitting, grinning and 'gambhir-ing' almost in regular intervals.

While, the guy adjacent to him, donning a blue-white strip shirt, was blabbering about his company and its association with Gambhir, the left-handed 'coke' boy was trying to keep his fans away by an appealing smile, which to me looked quite confusing as if he doesn't know why he was doing it.

Soon the mamoth speech abridged and fans, winners of a contest (don't know when and why it was organised), started pouring over him -- all dying to have autographs of the chocolate-faced cricketer as he signed with ultimate panache. He stood up for photos and again sat down to sign. It started happening with such regularity that it seemed as if it was a capital punishment meted out to him. Poor soul! I pity him!

Amid the legion of fans, there was this girl, completely floored by Gauti as she just couldn't stop showing her 32 teeths and almost threatened to sabotage the show as she insisted of having exclusive pics with the Delhi/Harayana dasher. The damsel wearing a black top also went on to ask the photographers to shun all other pics and have her pic on the front page of the newspapers next day.

Among all this pandemonium, there was this poor me, who cooled his heels waiting for the cricket to be free. As soon as Gauti was liberated by the dreamy damsel, I sprang into action and posed a question:

"May I speak to u Gautam for 2 minutes?"

Well, the two minutes noodles was not cooked and Gauti gave a royal snub, moving his head to and fro like a pendullum and after turning back rushed out of the restuarant. Well, all things doesnt have a happy ending, U see.

Glimpses from Gachibowli

One of the entrace gates guarded by security officials



A security personnel on guard on the eve of Independence day.

Glimpses from Gachibowli

The entrance gate of the World Badminton Championship



Chinese students studying in Osmania University wait outside the Gate to watch Lin Dan play.





Indian men's doubles pair of Akshay Dewalkar (L) and Jishnu Sanyal (R) at the World badminton championship.



World number one Lee Chong Wei stretches before his first round match