Well.. Longtime since I last wrote here.
I heard this song last week.. and it is really good.
Reminds me of a specific bygone era of my life...
FREE FALLIN' - Tom Petty
Shes a good girl, loves her mama
Loves Jesus and America too
Shes a good girl, crazy bout Elvis
Loves horses and her boyfriend too
Its a long day living in Reseda
There's a freeway runnin through the yard
And Im a bad boy cause I dont even miss her
Im a bad boy for breakin her heart
And I'm free, free fallin'
Yeah I'm free, free fallin'
All the vampires walkin' through the valley
Move west down ventura boulevard
And all the bad boys are standing in the shadows
All the good girls are home with broken hearts
And I'm free, free fallin
Yeah I'm free, free fallin
Free fallin', now I'm free fallin', now I'm
Free fallin', now I'm free fallin', now I'm
I wanna glide down over mulholland
I wanna write her name in the sky
Gonna free fall out into nothin
Gonna leave this world for a while
And I'm free, free fallin'
Yeah I'm free, free fallin'......
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
Monday, April 28, 2008
The Indian Premier League.. Boon or Bane???
The Indian Premier League or the IPL has created a great amount of interest amongst cricket lovers all over the world. Some say its just too good with the fast paced 20-20 format while there are other purists who believe its killing the game.
If you ask me, I have always believed in changing for the good. And that is precisely what is happening here with the onset of the IPL. Consider a comparison between a football (and by football, I mean football for the rest of the world and soccer for the US) and our very own cricket. I agree the two games are great in their own sense and I proudly say that I am a fan of them both, but with football, isn't it much easier to watch the game for 90 mins. and get the result than to wait a whole of 5 days and maybe not get a result at all. Agreed, we do get to see some great bowling, superb batting, maybe centuries, five wicket hauls, but finally the game has no result. No wonder cricket is popularly known as the "old man's game" among the youth in England.
What the IPL is doing here with its 20-20 format, is making the game more watchable, more of a spectator sport than it ever was. And there is nothing wrong with it. Millions are enjoying it now. There are no longer the empty stadiums that were such an integral part of Ranji games, but the packed stadiums and glued eyes of millions across the world. Maybe this is the way we can market the game to places and countries which know nothing of it. People from these countires will get attracted to cricket only if its becomes more of a spectator sport and they actually enjoy it. Maybe we have found a way for stopping the West Indian talented youth from leaving cricket and turning to Basketball.
Apart from the spectator issue, one more thing that comes with the IPL is huge monetary benefits. Television broadcasting, live commentary, sponsors, ad campaigns etc. will give not only a lot of money but also help the economy grow faster. This is because, with a tournament of that stature, players, fans will throng the country and the hotel industry, shopping, tourism everything benefits. Why do you think every country involved tries to bid so hard to host the Olympics, or the FIFA World Cup or say the Cricket World Cup?
I had read a recent article stating that the IPL is a victory of the Indian passionate cricket fan or say fanatic. Why it makes a lot of sense to call it a victory is because, there was a time when teams used to tour India once in 5 or 10 years. As opposed to today, when players from other countries are cancelling their committments to get a chance to play in the IPL. Ricky Ponting, Brett Lee, Glenn Mcgrath, Shoaib Akhtar, Adam Gilchrist.... you name it and we have it!
This in turn is going to help India improve their performances and bench strength too, as with the IPL, many local talents who have waited ages to get into the Indian National Team, will brush shoulders with the best in the world, get experience, and on top of it get paid to do it.
Now something for our purists... Lovers of the game in its traditional form. Test Cricket is real cricket, totally agreed. It tests the mental strength, endurance, stamina like no other form of cricket. But there is no threat to test cricket, because people who love test cricket will continue loving it. All the 20-20 format and the IPL is doing is adding a new dimension to the game of cricket. Another comparison here. Football has so many variants - 6 a side, futsal (indoor version) etc, but has that reduced the popularity of the original game of football with 12 players a side??? The answer is a clear 'no'. Its the same with cricket. Whatever happens, cricket will only evolve, not die out.
So is there any doubt finally whether the IPL is a boon or a bane?
If the world's loving it, then, Kolkata KnightRiders or Chennai SuperKings, cricket is to gain without doubt!
If you ask me, I have always believed in changing for the good. And that is precisely what is happening here with the onset of the IPL. Consider a comparison between a football (and by football, I mean football for the rest of the world and soccer for the US) and our very own cricket. I agree the two games are great in their own sense and I proudly say that I am a fan of them both, but with football, isn't it much easier to watch the game for 90 mins. and get the result than to wait a whole of 5 days and maybe not get a result at all. Agreed, we do get to see some great bowling, superb batting, maybe centuries, five wicket hauls, but finally the game has no result. No wonder cricket is popularly known as the "old man's game" among the youth in England.
What the IPL is doing here with its 20-20 format, is making the game more watchable, more of a spectator sport than it ever was. And there is nothing wrong with it. Millions are enjoying it now. There are no longer the empty stadiums that were such an integral part of Ranji games, but the packed stadiums and glued eyes of millions across the world. Maybe this is the way we can market the game to places and countries which know nothing of it. People from these countires will get attracted to cricket only if its becomes more of a spectator sport and they actually enjoy it. Maybe we have found a way for stopping the West Indian talented youth from leaving cricket and turning to Basketball.
Apart from the spectator issue, one more thing that comes with the IPL is huge monetary benefits. Television broadcasting, live commentary, sponsors, ad campaigns etc. will give not only a lot of money but also help the economy grow faster. This is because, with a tournament of that stature, players, fans will throng the country and the hotel industry, shopping, tourism everything benefits. Why do you think every country involved tries to bid so hard to host the Olympics, or the FIFA World Cup or say the Cricket World Cup?
I had read a recent article stating that the IPL is a victory of the Indian passionate cricket fan or say fanatic. Why it makes a lot of sense to call it a victory is because, there was a time when teams used to tour India once in 5 or 10 years. As opposed to today, when players from other countries are cancelling their committments to get a chance to play in the IPL. Ricky Ponting, Brett Lee, Glenn Mcgrath, Shoaib Akhtar, Adam Gilchrist.... you name it and we have it!
This in turn is going to help India improve their performances and bench strength too, as with the IPL, many local talents who have waited ages to get into the Indian National Team, will brush shoulders with the best in the world, get experience, and on top of it get paid to do it.
Now something for our purists... Lovers of the game in its traditional form. Test Cricket is real cricket, totally agreed. It tests the mental strength, endurance, stamina like no other form of cricket. But there is no threat to test cricket, because people who love test cricket will continue loving it. All the 20-20 format and the IPL is doing is adding a new dimension to the game of cricket. Another comparison here. Football has so many variants - 6 a side, futsal (indoor version) etc, but has that reduced the popularity of the original game of football with 12 players a side??? The answer is a clear 'no'. Its the same with cricket. Whatever happens, cricket will only evolve, not die out.
So is there any doubt finally whether the IPL is a boon or a bane?
If the world's loving it, then, Kolkata KnightRiders or Chennai SuperKings, cricket is to gain without doubt!
Saturday, April 19, 2008
Biography - Andrea Jane Corr
Well....
Just thought about writing something about Andrea today.... the youngest and ever beautiful member of the Irish band 'The Corrs' who have for sometime now been one my favorite bands and to be honest, I don't think I will ever stop listening to their songs.....
So here goes.....
NAME: Andrea Jane Corr
BIRTHDAY: 17th May 1974
BIRTHPLACE: Dundalk, County Louth, Ireland
HEIGHT: 5' 1"
SUN SIGN: Taurus
FORTE: Lead Vocals, Lyrics, Tin Flute (Whistle)
FAMILY: Parents: Jean & Gerry. Siblings: Caroline Corr, Shanon Corr, Jim Corr
Andrea Jane Corr is a member of the Irish pop/rock/Celtic musical group 'The Corrs'.
In her younger years, Andrea was the best student among all her siblings. She began her life with the band as soon as she graduated from secondary school. The Corrs' parents were musicians who strongly encouraged each of their children to pursue music.
Andrea learned the piano, as did all of her siblings. In the Corrs' band, Andrea is the lead singer and is their main lyricist when the group writes songs. Andrea also plays the tin whistle, which when combined with her sister Sharon's fiddle playing gives the group its distinctively Irish sound. The Corrs music shows strong influences from traditional Celtic but also modern pop such as the Eagles and the Carpenters.
The Corrs first performed as a band when they auditioned to play in the musical film The Committments (1991). Andrea landed a speaking role in the film. The movie's musical director John Hughes saw potential in the band and became their manager. Andrea is also an aspiring actress, and in addition to being featured in "The Commitments" she also played opposite Madonna in a singing role in Evita (1996).
Andrea's favorite book is Crime and Punishment and her favorite authors are Fyodor Dostoevsky and Gabriel Garcia Marquez.
Andrea has performed in charity concerts for the following causes: Pavarotti & Friends, Liberian Children's Village, Freeman Hospital in Newcastle, for the victims of the Omagh bombing in Northern Ireland, and The Prince's Trust in 2004.
As of September 2007, Andrea is dating Brett Desmond, son of billionaire businessman Dermot Desmond.
Her hair is naturally brown. Her eyes are also brown, typical Irish beauty.
Andrea has a habit of sucking her thumb since childhood and she is proud to have not left it..!!!!!
Here is an interview excerpt that will tell you more:
(Source: Steppin' Out Magazine Sept. 1999)
Just thought about writing something about Andrea today.... the youngest and ever beautiful member of the Irish band 'The Corrs' who have for sometime now been one my favorite bands and to be honest, I don't think I will ever stop listening to their songs.....
So here goes.....
NAME: Andrea Jane Corr
BIRTHDAY: 17th May 1974
BIRTHPLACE: Dundalk, County Louth, Ireland
HEIGHT: 5' 1"
SUN SIGN: Taurus
FORTE: Lead Vocals, Lyrics, Tin Flute (Whistle)
FAMILY: Parents: Jean & Gerry. Siblings: Caroline Corr, Shanon Corr, Jim Corr
Andrea Jane Corr is a member of the Irish pop/rock/Celtic musical group 'The Corrs'.
In her younger years, Andrea was the best student among all her siblings. She began her life with the band as soon as she graduated from secondary school. The Corrs' parents were musicians who strongly encouraged each of their children to pursue music.
Andrea learned the piano, as did all of her siblings. In the Corrs' band, Andrea is the lead singer and is their main lyricist when the group writes songs. Andrea also plays the tin whistle, which when combined with her sister Sharon's fiddle playing gives the group its distinctively Irish sound. The Corrs music shows strong influences from traditional Celtic but also modern pop such as the Eagles and the Carpenters.
The Corrs first performed as a band when they auditioned to play in the musical film The Committments (1991). Andrea landed a speaking role in the film. The movie's musical director John Hughes saw potential in the band and became their manager. Andrea is also an aspiring actress, and in addition to being featured in "The Commitments" she also played opposite Madonna in a singing role in Evita (1996).
Andrea's favorite book is Crime and Punishment and her favorite authors are Fyodor Dostoevsky and Gabriel Garcia Marquez.
Andrea has performed in charity concerts for the following causes: Pavarotti & Friends, Liberian Children's Village, Freeman Hospital in Newcastle, for the victims of the Omagh bombing in Northern Ireland, and The Prince's Trust in 2004.
As of September 2007, Andrea is dating Brett Desmond, son of billionaire businessman Dermot Desmond.
Her hair is naturally brown. Her eyes are also brown, typical Irish beauty.
Andrea has a habit of sucking her thumb since childhood and she is proud to have not left it..!!!!!
Here is an interview excerpt that will tell you more:
(Source: Steppin' Out Magazine Sept. 1999)
Andrea: It's something that I did since I was a baby. So I've done it my whole life. I really never had a reason for giving it up and my mother didn't make me stop. Also, sucking my thumb comforts me. It helps me fall asleep. If I get tired the first thing I do is put my thumb in my mouth. But I don't think it's because I am insecure. It's just very comforting and I love it. I can't give it up.
Interviewer: Has anyone tried to break you out of the habit since you're obviously not a baby anymore?
Andrea: Oh, my God! I've had people pull my thumb out of my mouth.
Interviewer: Try putting Tabasco sauce on your thumb. That usually does the trick.
Andrea: Why? It's not like I want to stop.
Sharon: It's not like it's bad for you.
Andrea: [Laughs] Well actually, I have broken a few nails..!!
Andrea wears glasses/contacts and does not have a driving licence!!!!!
And, Andrea always performs on stage barefooted and likes to write songs in the bathtub....!!!!
FAMOUS PERSONAL QUOTES:
"Music is sexy, music is sensual. And an expression of yourself and that side of you comes out sometimes. I know I can be like that on stage but it's innocent. I don't do anything I just get into it, feel it."
"When I write a song with the family, the fact is that I am the 'little sister', and my Mammy is there and when it gets to something like sex you start thinking 'oh, I'm not supposed to have these thoughts about sex!!'I remember when I first wrote 'Runaway', with that silly line, 'make love to me through the night', and when I first sang it I was turning my face away, knowing my mother was going to say 'My God, where did you learn that?!' and then I'd say, 'from TV, Mammy!' "
Wednesday, January 16, 2008
Swabhiman... A necessity for the new India..
A great article i happened to read recently addresses the need for Indian politicians to realise the potential of the emerging India.... the NEW India of the 21st century.... A great cricket analogy explains it to the fullest....
Please read it.... an appeal for all Indians....
Please read it.... an appeal for all Indians....
INDIA ARRIVES
By Swapan Dasgupta
"There were two powerful images of India that came through from Sydney Cricket Ground last week. The first was a visibly irate Harbhajan Singh in a verbal altercation with Andrew Symonds. The second was a very composed but undeniably haughty Anil Kumble throwing a variant of Bill Woodfull's legendary remark on Bodyline back at the Australians: "There are two teams out there; only one is playing cricket."
Cricket, once a metaphor for life, has increasingly become associated with the national character. In the heydays of socialism and the shortage economy, it is unlikely an Indian player would have reacted to Australian sledging the way Harbhajan did. It is more inconceivable that the captain would have had the temerity to call the rival team a bunch of cheats — which is what Kumble did with all the imperiousness at his disposal.
Accosted by ticklish problems with possible racial overtones, Indians of an earlier generation — they would have been horrified by Sourav Ganguly's shirt-waving act at Lord's — would have fallen back on pretensions of moral superiority and walked away from a fight. We didn't instinctively love turning the other cheek; nor were we that ridiculously committed to Mahatma Gandhi's legacy. Yesterday's India was defensive because it was irrelevant. Invoking the Upanishads was just a cloak for our inability to deliver a well-aimed retaliatory blow.
Before the mid-1990s, India was a bit player. There were individual Indians who counted for something but India was either the exotic backpacker's paradise or, in the infamous words of US Ambassador Daniel Patrick Moniyan, "a country whose principal export is communicable disease". Today, Kumble's haughtiness counts more than Jawaharlal Nehru's preachiness because it is backed by real clout. Kumble's calibrated snarl and the collective outrage of India's cricket fans are heard with respect because India dominates the cricket economy. Nehru's refinement had nothing tangible to back him. Between the India of the Nano and the India of the Ambassador is the saga of many wasted decades.
It is tragic that the significance of the boisterous assertion of swabhiman (self-esteem) by India's cricketosphere isn't understood by our political class. Caught in a time warp, many of those who made policy pronouncements at the Pravasi Bharatiya Sammelan didn't realise the changed equations between India and its diaspora. Earlier India looked to the non-residents to bolster a money-order economy, invest some spare cash and be charitable to our impoverished travellers. Today, it is the NRIs and PIO card-holders who are basking in the reflected glory of a rampaging India. Malaysian Indians want New Delhi to be a protective shield against xenophobic Islamism; doctors in the UK feel Whitehall should be told to not test Indian patience beyond a point; and techies in the US want India to leverage its strategic clout for their benefit.
It is not that diplomacy should be abruptly revamped to put the diaspora on top. New Delhi just needs to realise that it doesn't behove an energised India to box below its class and stay in the Third World. In today's world, it pays to be brash; it's a sign of arrival.
There is squeamishness and a pronounced inferiority complex that mark the dealings of older Indians with foreigners. They still carry the burden of servitude and deprivation. Most politicians, including those professing Hindu nationalism, suffer from this disability — witness their awkward body language during overseas visits. Can you imagine Manmohan Singh telling Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao in a Kumble-like manner to stop needling India in Arunachal Pradesh?
Political India lives in mental captivity; emerging India believes the strong shall inherit the earth. The merger of politics and swabhiman is overdue. "
By Swapan Dasgupta
"There were two powerful images of India that came through from Sydney Cricket Ground last week. The first was a visibly irate Harbhajan Singh in a verbal altercation with Andrew Symonds. The second was a very composed but undeniably haughty Anil Kumble throwing a variant of Bill Woodfull's legendary remark on Bodyline back at the Australians: "There are two teams out there; only one is playing cricket."
Cricket, once a metaphor for life, has increasingly become associated with the national character. In the heydays of socialism and the shortage economy, it is unlikely an Indian player would have reacted to Australian sledging the way Harbhajan did. It is more inconceivable that the captain would have had the temerity to call the rival team a bunch of cheats — which is what Kumble did with all the imperiousness at his disposal.
Accosted by ticklish problems with possible racial overtones, Indians of an earlier generation — they would have been horrified by Sourav Ganguly's shirt-waving act at Lord's — would have fallen back on pretensions of moral superiority and walked away from a fight. We didn't instinctively love turning the other cheek; nor were we that ridiculously committed to Mahatma Gandhi's legacy. Yesterday's India was defensive because it was irrelevant. Invoking the Upanishads was just a cloak for our inability to deliver a well-aimed retaliatory blow.
Before the mid-1990s, India was a bit player. There were individual Indians who counted for something but India was either the exotic backpacker's paradise or, in the infamous words of US Ambassador Daniel Patrick Moniyan, "a country whose principal export is communicable disease". Today, Kumble's haughtiness counts more than Jawaharlal Nehru's preachiness because it is backed by real clout. Kumble's calibrated snarl and the collective outrage of India's cricket fans are heard with respect because India dominates the cricket economy. Nehru's refinement had nothing tangible to back him. Between the India of the Nano and the India of the Ambassador is the saga of many wasted decades.
It is tragic that the significance of the boisterous assertion of swabhiman (self-esteem) by India's cricketosphere isn't understood by our political class. Caught in a time warp, many of those who made policy pronouncements at the Pravasi Bharatiya Sammelan didn't realise the changed equations between India and its diaspora. Earlier India looked to the non-residents to bolster a money-order economy, invest some spare cash and be charitable to our impoverished travellers. Today, it is the NRIs and PIO card-holders who are basking in the reflected glory of a rampaging India. Malaysian Indians want New Delhi to be a protective shield against xenophobic Islamism; doctors in the UK feel Whitehall should be told to not test Indian patience beyond a point; and techies in the US want India to leverage its strategic clout for their benefit.
It is not that diplomacy should be abruptly revamped to put the diaspora on top. New Delhi just needs to realise that it doesn't behove an energised India to box below its class and stay in the Third World. In today's world, it pays to be brash; it's a sign of arrival.
There is squeamishness and a pronounced inferiority complex that mark the dealings of older Indians with foreigners. They still carry the burden of servitude and deprivation. Most politicians, including those professing Hindu nationalism, suffer from this disability — witness their awkward body language during overseas visits. Can you imagine Manmohan Singh telling Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao in a Kumble-like manner to stop needling India in Arunachal Pradesh?
Political India lives in mental captivity; emerging India believes the strong shall inherit the earth. The merger of politics and swabhiman is overdue. "
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
