What I wouldn't do for this man...

Entering the current English Premier League season, Rafa Benítez was working on a few unwanted streaks in the EPL. In his previous four seasons as manager of my beloved Liverpool Football Club, Rafa's teams hadn't a) beaten Manchester United, b) beaten a Steve Bruce-managed team, or c) scored at Stamford Bridge against Chelsea (and naturally, hadn't won any of those matches). Nothing suggested that Liverpool would end any of those streaks this season either.

Let's recap the events of the season so far:

a) 13 September 2008: I was making my way back down the Nilgiri hills from Ooty. Meanwhile at Anfield, Liverpool beat Manchester United 2-1.

b) 18 October 2008: I was taking a rather sombre and melancholy walk around Koregaon Park neighbourhood in Pune, trying to sort out a few things in my head. Meanwhile at Anfield, Dirk Kuyt scored a last-gasp winner as Liverpool beat Steve Bruce's Wigan 3-2.

c) 26 October 2008: I was enjoying the hospitality of an old family friend in Goa, feasting on his wife's delicious Goan prawn curry and chicken shakoothi. Meanwhile at Stamford Bridge, Liverpool ended Chelsea's 86-game home unbeaten streak, 1-0.

Sense a pattern? I'm out of town, Liverpool end a dubious streak. And of course I take all the credit. However, if Rafa expects me to head out of town everytime Liverpool have a tough match...I'll, um, think about it.

This is true love - you think this happens every day?

;-)

Flying Solo

Due to a couple of unfortunate developments, I found myself rather alone on my trip Pune and Goa, both literally and figuratively.

Pune wasn't too bad, being full of long days commuting an hour to the new office on the other side of town and eight-hour training sessions. Mind-numbing days like those have a way of sapping one's energy to the point that you don't think too much about what you thought were well-laid plans going completely awry due to the decisions of others.

Goa, on the other hand, was different. This was supposed to be a family holiday, but Dad fell ill right before he and Mum were to leave Chennai for Goa (we still don't know exactly what's ailing him, but we suspect it is something mosquito-borne). So there I was, in India's major tourist-trap, with a blank agenda to be filled by moi, and I wanted to do something spectacular.













I think I did alright.

By way of explanation, I went parasailing on Colva Beach. The guys who operate the ride send up someone with you to manipulate the parachute, and they send upto two people on a ride. My co-passenger was a Swiss tourist named Andrea, whose husband wanted no part of it. His loss.

Oh, and that's one item off my Bucket List. Yes, I know I said "hang gliding", but that was a generic term for flying in a non-aeroplane, non-helicopter way for a change. (Yes, I've ridden in a helicopter, but that was before I developed my Bucket List. Ergo, it didn't have to make it on the list.)

PS: Para-sailing was awesome.

The greatness of American pro sports

Sometime on Wednesday night, Eastern Time in America, a Major League umpire will cry, "Play Ball!", and the 2008 World Series will commmence in Tampa. I'm sorry, Tampa? That means the perennially-lousy Tampa Bay Devil Rays are in the World Series. Hang on, what's that you say? They're now called just the Rays? And they are in the World Series first time of asking with their new name? Wow, that must have been some exorcism.

For the first ten years of their existence in the Major Leagues, the City of Tampa franchise were the worst American team in their division (the one time they weren't dead last in the American League East, Toronto finished below them). Then, this year, they won their division, then the American League pennant, and now are just four wins away from winning the World Series. How'd that happen?

Well, it's due to the fantastic American sporting concepts of player drafts and revenue sharing. What that means is that when pro teams in America select new players, the worst team gets first crack at the best of the incoming talent, not the rich ones, as happens in pro leagues in other parts of the world. With some smart decision-making, teams can quickly get out of a patch of poor seasons and become contenders in a hurry. Like the Rays.

And instead of the rich getting richer every year, all the teams share money from a big pile of money that their respective leagues generate.

Some may call it socialism, others an opportunity. Personally, I think it's great that fans of just about every (decently run) team can go no more than a few years without their team being a contender again. Unless you're a fan of the LA Clippers...or the Chicago Cubs.

Play ball!

Pun of the weak #20

There's water on Mars.



Would I lie to you?

Unsung hero

I just read this article that just goes to show that not all sportsmen are dumb jocks who can think about no one else but themselves. Nnamdi Asomugha, you are a hero.

I only read Nobel Prize-winning economists. How about you?

A couple of years ago, when I returned to India from my last sojourn in Europe, I discovered that one of the syndicated columns that had started appearing in my newspaper of choice during my absence was by someone named Paul Krugman, whose columns were reprinted from the New York Times.

An unabashed liberal (yes, I can already see my GOP-leaning friends--and there are a lot of them--shaking their heads in disapproval), Krugman seemed to spend all his time bashing the economic policies of the 43rd President of the United States. I'll admit that I enjoyed reading these columns. It was only later on that I discovered that far from being a liberal Rush Limbaugh-type blowhard, Krugman is actually a professor of economics at Princeton University.

Of course, all the fun and games ended and things got serious with the current financial meltdown, and rather than just point fingers at the GOP, Krugman spent a lot of time explaining why things had gone wrong and what was needed to put it right.

Remember my own post on my opposition to the original $700 billion bailout? Several of you were even kind enough to let me know that you agreed with my amateur ramblings. It was inspired by Krugman.

That's Nobel Prize-winner Paul Krugman. Yes, I am only inspired by the best.

Incidentally, I think Krugman's blog post reacting to the news of his award deserves a prize of its own.

Congratulations, Dr. Krugman!

Farewell...for a while

I'll be away from Chennai for two and a half weeks starting this Sunday afternoon. I'm going to be in Pune for two working weeks (and the weekend in between) for some internal training at work, and then, I will be in Goa for three days on vacation with my folks.

I haven't been to Goa for far too long, and I am interested in seeing how the Goans celebrate the Indian festival of Deepavali. I hope there are some spectacular firework displays while I am there.

Pun of the weak #19

Is atheism a non-prophet organisation?

Thank you, Bapu

October 2nd, 1869 saw the birth of the greatest Indian, Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, better known around the world as Mahatma Gandhi, or affectionately as "Bapu" (father).

I still marvel at how such a simple, honest and principled man could get a diverse and often-times disunited people to follow his way of non-violent resistance to India's Colonial rulers, resulting in India's independence on August 15, 1947.

Unfortunately, even he could not satisfy everyone and on January 30, 1948, he was assassinated by Nathuram Godse, a Hindu fundamentalist.

Gandhi's influence has been acknowledged by civil-rights and political leaders like Martin Luther King, Nelson Mandela, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, the Dalai Lama, Lech Walesa and Aung San Suu Kyi.

Dr. King, leader of the American Civil Rights movement, said of the Mahatma, "Christ gave us the goals and Mahatma Gandhi the tactics."

Another great admirer, Albert Einstein, wrote of him, "Generations to come will scarce believe that such a one as this walked the earth in flesh and blood."

Amen to that.