Day 256 - National Integration A Must - By Order, The Almighty.

This weekend has been a happy and rare co-incidence of Eid and Ganesh Chaturthi falling on Saturday.  The festive spirit was evident all over the city.  The Muslims were celebrating Eid on Saturday marking the end of the holy month of Ramadan, which involves rigorous fasting and prayer routines.  The Hindus were celebrating the birth of the elephant God - Lord Ganesha, marking the beginning of a 10 day festival, during which Ganesha will be treated with the best of food and prayers, culminating in the immersion of the idols of the Lord in water bodies across the city.

I have always been a believer.  Prayers in the morning at home, have been a part of my routine for ages now.  I did, however, shun public places of worship for a period of almost 15 years after the Babri masjid was demolished by Hindu fundamentalists unleashing communal violence all over India.  The boycott of public places was to underline the fact that one does not need such places of worship, as religion should be something which is very personal for every individual.  Religion should not be used as a means of driving political agendas and causing irreparable damage to the secular fibre of the nation.

It struck me that this rare co-incidence of festivals of both the faiths falling on the same day might be a signal from up above, to us lesser mortals, that religion should be used to bring people together rather than divide them.  Our floor was a good example of this on Saturday.  After offering the prayers to Ganesha at home, we had lunch at Amiya and Farheen's place to celebrate Eid.  The same 'kolam maavu' was used for making the rangoli outside our door as well as writing 'Happy Eid' outside our neighbours' door!  In the evening, the Chaudhuris hosted all of us for dinner.

Ganesha @ Home

Sunday was a busy day as well.  Had lots of Ganesh Chaturthi darshan and Eid invitations.  We went to Sameer Dave's home in the afternoon.  Everything about the celebrations at his home was grand.  A large idol of Ganesha and lots of relatives all over the place.  Went to some of my colleagues' homes in the evening, with Arvind and Sagar.  Meera's place for Ganesh darshan and then to Arshan Dawji's place to savour some Sheer Korma.  By the way, this is the only downside to this rare occasion. The amount of sweets and rich food that is consumed; full of fats and calories, will take many many days in the gym to compensate for these two days now!

I wish all my friends a very Happy Eid-ul-Fitr and a very Happy Ganesha Chaturthi.  I do sincerely think that this rare occasion was The Almighty's signal to us as a nation to be united, while celebrating our diversity.  I hope many others do too!

Take care.

Day 182 - The Beautiful Game

Goooooooooaaaaaaaaalllllllll!!!

Yes, it is football frenzy time!  It is amazing how once in every four years this phenomenon, called the FIFA World Cup, captures the imagination of practically the whole world, me included.  Let me be very clear; I am not a great fan of football.  Club football confuses me, what with all the different leagues in different parts of the world and the never ending player transfers from one club to another.  However, when once in 4 years, the World Cup is played over a month, I become a die-hard fan of the game.

Although India has never played in the World Cup Finals (it did qualify for the 1950 World Cup Finals, but the team did not travel to Brazil for the competition), during the World Cup people in India become staunch supporters of various teams depending on various parameters like, the stars that they follow, the emotional attachment to a playing nation, the style of play of a particular team, etc.

I, for one, support multiple teams!  And believe me this is not because I try to hedge my bets.  I am supporting Spain for its seamless and skillful play, Brazil as the eternal favourites due to the flair with which they play, Germany because of their structured and disciplined execution by a very young team and last but not the least, Argentina!  Since the time I watched the 1986 World Cup Finals in Mexico for the first time, I have an emotional connect to Argentina!  Argentina won that competition and Maradona was the 'God of Football', not necessarily due to the 'Hand of God' only.  From that year on, I have watched every World Cup with great interest.  If 1986 was about Maradona and the 'Hand of God', 1990 was all about the magic of the dimunitive Salvatore Schillaci.  1994 was all about selling the game to the USA, while 1998 was the year of Zinadine Zidane; France winning the tournament on home turf! The World Cup came to Asia for the first time in 2002.  It was also the first time that two countries were jointly hosting the tournament; Japan and South Korea.  I thought 2006 was a drab affair in Germany, which was won by the Italians.

2010 is the year of Africa, the World Cup Finals being hosted in this continent for the first time.  I missed the first set of matches due to the travel to Bengaluru.  However, I more than made up for it in the second week, by ensuring that I watched rest of all the matches in the Group stages.  I have to say, very few matches in this World Cup have been entertaining.  The pre-quarterfinal match up between England and Germany was a riveting affair.  It was also marred by poor referee decisions.  This and some other such bad decisions by the referees have sparked of a huge clamour of the usage of technology to assist referees in decision making. 

Now, don't get me wrong.  I am a great supporter of technology and its applications in our day to day lives. I also appreciate the fact that such technological help has added great value to sports like Cricket and Tennis.  However, I, for one would be very careful to go the whole hog with technology for a game like football.  Football is a beautiful game because of the raw speed and pace, because of the amazing skills of the players to control a ball and keep its possession with them and because of the innovative and creative tactics used by teams to cut through the defences of the opponents to score a goal.  I believe uncontrolled intervention of technology can take away the beauty of this minimalist game.  If the usage of technology is controlled in such a way that it does not kill the pace and creativity of the game by frequent interruptions, it must be welcomed.  Remember, some years ago, the game had started to become very boring due to the frequent stoppages because of inappropriate tackles and fouls.  FIFA had then introduced the 'Advantage' rule, to increase the pace of the game and keep it interesting.  The rule was simple.  If a player was fouled, but the possession of the ball still remained with the player's own team, the game was allowed to be continued without stopping it for a free kick for the foul.

As I write this, the tournament is entering its decisive and interesting quarter finals stage.  A couple of big ticket encounters await us.  Argentina will play Germany in the Quarters; can't wait for it.  Oracle Octopus might have predicted a win for Germany, but as one of my colleagues pointed out today, the law of averages might catch up with Mr.OO. I am betting on a Brazil v/s Argentina final, though Spain could also be one of the finalists.  They are playing some beautiful football.  Some of the stars to look out for in these later stages of the tournament are: David Villa, Lionel Messi, Kaka, Fabiano, Diego Forlan, Gyan, Sneijder, Klose, Podolski and maybe some more who might emerge as stars due to their exploits in the final stages.

I am loving it and looking forward to all these stars and their respective teams performing at the highest levels.  Meanwhile, this weekend I cought up with my friends from SHCIL.  Jyoti is here in India for a couple of months.  Hence myself, Parag, Jyoti and Ritesh got together for lunch along with our respective familes.  It was a relaxed affair and a lot of fun.  Plan to organise a bigger event in a month or so before Jyoti goes back to the US.

On Monday, Dad got operated for cataract. Finally, after a couple of postponements due to high sugar levels.  He is keeping well and in good spirits.

Hence, so am I.  Take care.

Day 10 - All is well!

I am sure the title of this post would tell one and all that I am in a great frame of mind while I write this and the reason is not very difficult to find out as well. Again the clue being in the title. But I will come back to it later in the post.

This week was interesting. A week of 'firsts'!

Dad and Manish were in town. Manish was in Mumbai for two days for business. Dad, a little longer, again for work. The only difference being, Manish stayed with us and Dad did not, as usual. Blame it on the many visitors whom he has to meet throughout the day. We did manage a dinner together though and it was good. My Mom would have felt a bit lonely, with the whole gang here! This was Dad & Manish's first visit to my place after I shifted to Mumbai.

Went to drop Manish to Mumbai Central on Thursday. Got my first look at the new Duranto Express. Not sure why they have wrapped it all up in a pathetic looking wall paper from outside! Will take this train the next time we go to Ahmedabad. Took the local train while coming back home and that brought back a lot of memories. The place hasn't changed a bit.

Memories was what I was probably chasing when on Saturday, I went to Fort to get my new address and other details changed in all my securities accounts. Saw CST in person for the first time after the 26/11 attacks! Walked from CST to Fort and memories came flooding back to me. Walked from Fort to Churchgate while coming back and that was fun too. Again, got a feeling that nothing much has changed apart from a kiosk here and there! In the evening, Priya had a sudden urge to go and see a movie. What guts! We were planning to see a movie in the theatre with both the kids for the first time! But, no gain without pain, and hence, booked tickets for the movie - 3 Idiots!

Sameer (Dave) had invited us for lunch at his place today as well. He stays close to R City Mall, which is where we were going for the movie. So had a sumptuous Gujarati lunch at Sameer's, courtesy Tina and Sameer's mother. We all loved the lunch! Went for the movie after lunch. A stone's throw away from Sameer's place.

3 Idiots - This is a movie, which richly deserves the high praise that it is getting in the media and the hot bucks that it is earning at the box office! I have read the book as well, but this was something else! I havn't laughed such a lot while watching a movie for a long long time! In fact, the scene where Chatur gives the annual day speech was so hilarious, that I couldn't stop laughing, choking myself and almost starting off an Asthma attack! Thankfully the kids slept through most of the movie, after the sumptuous lunch!;-)) And hence, all is well!

Take care. Cheers!