Viswanathan Anand and the glory!!

I was overwhelmed with joy when Susan Polgar Tweeted "Ok they agreed to draw, Anand remains the world champion! Congrats to Vishy".

As I know he was playing for draw in the fourth tie break because he had already won 2nd tie break and drew 1st and 3rd. Though I dont know much about the technicalities of the game but winning the world championship five times is really something to rejoice. It really is a proud moment for India and Indian sport.

Anand became International master at 15, Indian champion at 16, won World Junior title at 17, became country's first grandmaster at 19, and was awarded padmsree at 19. This speaks a volume about the man and caliber he has at the age of 42.

Now comparisons are bound to happen because we live in India. Whenever other sports achieve some great feat we directly start attacking cricket and start behaving like a sensible Indian though it doesn’t last for more than a day.

I had recently watched his interview with Ayaz Menon, he is calm composed man just like Rahul Dravid who believe in playing the game more than just talking. 

Different news channels have different head lines "Is Viswanathan Anand the greatest

Individual sportsman"? Yes he is but just for one day. We tend to over react at times and let the emotions flow beyond the limit.

One other news channels says "Should Viswanathan Anand get the Baharat Ratna and not Sachin Tendulkar"? If he is strong contender for Bharat Ratna then what about others? Dont you think Leander Paes is acheiving great heights, MC Mery Kom is still making us proud. There are many more in the line. So please give him due credit what he deserevs but without criticising others. Seriously I was laughing when sports minister announced 10 lakhs rs the moment he got the news. We value everything with money and that’s the problem.

So folks let us respect him what he has achieved and wish him more luck to bring many more laurels to the country.

Jai Ho!!

Signing Off

Anil Anuragi

Indian Premier League 5!

So now it has gone down to the play offs after 7 weeks of cricketament. We finally have 4 teams to be the champion in the fifth edition of the Indian premier league.

Every good thing has to be surrounded by controversy so I would talk about the good part only and leave the other part on you.

There were some extraordinary things that happened. I think this is the best IPL so far, from last matches finishes to the crowds in the stadium.

Who would have thought that Murali at 40 will be a contender of the Karbon Kalam catch competition, a shot hit on long off can be caught at long on, Clarke will return after his marriage to play in a match whose result doesnt matter, guy who hasnt played any first class match eventually win the match for his team, Dada will be running like a sprinter after he takes the wicket of Peterson, a guy from Jharkhand can be a citi rising star, an unknown face from RR camp can take the hat trick and eventually win the match, a west Indian who is seeking place in national side hitting sixes after sixes and wining matches for RCB single handedly, an another west Indian who is still a mystery for all the batsmen including the great Sachin Tendulkar, Jharkhand boy leading a south Indian side, Dada playing in Eden Garden against Kolkata and driving crowd frenzy in his support, an Australian(where we were treated as second class citizens in 80 when India used to go play there) playing under Gautam Gambhir captaincy, CSK would eventually make it to the play offs from no where (seriously no one can play against Dhoni’s luck), an Australian getting Man of the Match award from the CM of Himanchal Pradesh and who would have thought that a lady from England will be shaking legs with Ajay Jadeja in extra innings T20?

Many times moments froze when Fauf took the stunning catch to get rid off Sachin Tendulkar, Dwayne Smith playing his first match of the season and hitting 14 runs in last 3 balls of Hilffenaus, Danny Morrison dancing on the ground to put the crowd in delirium, and SRK hugging Debrata das after his match winning effort.

Only IPL can make you star over night and guys like Gurkeerat, Chandila, Vaulthaty, Nadeem, Awana, Harmeet Singh can’t deny it.

It surely is the best entertainment, the moment extra inning T20 starts till Shibani Dandekar waves good bye we are all glued to TV. Whatever we say before the match that we would not watch but the time your favorite batsman comes on to bat or Dale Steyn steaming in from the other you can resist yourself watching it. And if you are in the stadium you wouldn’t go for recess even in strategic time out as cheer leaders will keep dancing for the full 150 seconds. You concede it or not but everyone stares them amorously irrespective of any age.

I have a suggestion for the IPL committee: They should start promoting umpires and commentators from this wonderful platform. We have some good commentators like Harsha Bhogle(my best), Sunny Gavashkar, Ravi Shastri , Ganguly (I don’t consider Sidhdhu, Shiv Ramkrishnana, and Madan lal as commentator) but we have dearth of umpires to represent from Indian side in international arena.

Personally I am a big fan of fast bowling; I have loved watching Awana, Yada, Aron, Dhinda, Harshal Patel and Parmeshwaran. It feels extremely good when they touch 150 mark. Though I loved watchng Steyn Morkel Narine Malinga Lee as well. And I think there should be an award for best bowling and best fielding also

So amidst all here comes the important question.

Can Dhoni and his boys given the second chance defend the title, can MI break the shackles of being a good team in league matches but not able to finish it, can DD finish it in high note looking at their performances this year and can SRK finally afford to smile after the unfortunate incidents that happened with him this year.

Keeping my finger crossed for the match against CSK on 23^rd May.

Signing Off

Anil Anuragi

Have a good day!!

Satyamev Jayate!!

Happy New Year!! No??

Not for you folks but for my blog, haven’t been here for a long time and I guess this is the first post in 2012. It’s not like that I don’t like this place anymore or took sabbatical but Twitter has taken over the blog for quite a some time now. I rant there blatantly about anything and everything that crosses my mind. In fact I am more active in Twitter (those who are in Twitter my twitter handle is @anuragi89) than in Gmail or in Facebook these days. This time I thought of going beyond more than 140 characters so I am here once again. Sorry to respond late, I am sure you missed reading me as much as I missed writing in this space. No?

Let’s come to the discussion point now. Satayamev jayate started with a very good note. Everyone is talking about it and hope it continues doing the same and hope Aamir doesn’t disappoint us which I think he will not and hope he doesn’t take the criticism seriously that the show received on its debut.

To be honest I was very much excited about this show since they started showing the promos. I generally don’t watch any TV serials except KBC and that too because of Mr Bachchan is the host. And if the show starts at 11 AM and that too on Sunday, I can only say hats of to this man, he can make anytime prime time.

They started off with flying colors. Social networking sites were deluged with congratulatory messages with the success of SMJ. Every one from Bollywood to cricketers to Politician strenuously praised Aamir’s effort to put forward some issues that make you think that we are here for some purpose. We need to give back something to society that has given us so much. As in the show they rightly mentioned that female feticide is not the new thing, it has been there from the past times. It’s not deep rooted only in rich or in poor or in big cities or in rural areas or based on caste or religion. It’s there in every strata of society. And it’s also not like that we dint know about it but the problem is that we just discuss things and don’t act on them timely.
 

Some people try to become arbiter in every case. We want to judge everything in just two ways: Yes or No even before pondering whether it is good or bad. Folks we don’t need to be polemic in every act. There are many who think that Amir takes societal issue just to gain the mileage but then why don’t others realize it. Some are saying that he is doing just for the publicity and some even saying that he is taking 3 crore for an episode. Ok I buy your argument but at least he is taking it for some good cause and not like others who are flaunting their status and doing nothing for the society (I don’t need to mention the names). We need to be corroborative because we know that Aamir is a sapient man and knows what is right and what is wrong.

I hope in the coming episodes he brings some more serious issue like child labor, education, infanticide, honor killing, dowry, reservation, farmers suicide, agriculture, malnutrition, immolation(though it has almost vanished but still there are some cases we hear on a blue moon) and child marriage.

Try not to become a man of success but a man of value ~ Albert Einstein

Signing Off
Anil Anuragi :)