Mixed Feelings !!!

My first crush was on my neighbour ,who like myself studied in the same school and by grace of god in the same class(class one to be precise).God was still more kind and we were very good friends to start with.The trouble was that she had many more good friends ,but being a neighbour did confer some special advantages on me.Since she was the prettiest girl in the class,there was no dearth of admirers.But as fate would have it,she left the school in class three and it was not until class seven that i happened to meet her again in a birthday party.But i could not muster the courage to talk to her as i was overcome by an inferiority complex of the highest order ,after all she was studying in delhi in a reputed public school and i was studying in a public school(only in name)and that too in a remote place.My interaction with her was restricted to a cursory hello and a goodbye.So it was a case of so near and yet so far.To further compound my agony there was a very charming (i personally found him to be brash,arrogant,stupid etc. but that was an observation mixed with prejudice,a deadly cocktail at best of times)and smart 'scoundrel' of my age who kept her company through the length of the party.
After that i completed my schooling,went to engineering college.End of the story(one sided that is) i thought ,but there was a filmy twist.After my first year exam ,i was traveling by NorthEast express from gauhati to delhi and i happened to meet a guy who had just given his 12th boards and had come to visit his parents who were in Tezpur(dad was in army),we got talking and soon became good friends and then the talk veered around to the most natural topic...girls,,,i was impressed by his confidence and since my crush was also from army background i just asked him whether he knew anyone with that name ,his reply was in the negative but he told me that he would be staying with a uncle in delhi and would try to find out her whereabouts .I thought he was being nice and didn't think much of it...but after two months or so i was startled to receive an email from him detailing how he met not the girl but her dad and to compound my problems told him how i was trying to locate them/her ...anyway i was happy ,got her number ,exchanged mails with her.Came to know that she was still in delhi and into rock music.Being more of a ghazal person ,it was a trifle unsettling ,but decided that when i next go to delhi , i would give her a call.Then finally the day came,i was pretty nervous as it had been a long-long time since we had spoken...her maid picked up the phone and that gave me the time to calm myself.After a excruciatingly short wait ,she was on line and we got talking ,tried my hand at some poor jokes and she was gracious enough to laugh a little.From then onwards, on and off i used to call her ,got to know that she had a "very special" friend and that was the final straw ...then there was my sister's wedding and i got to meet her in person ,i was dressed in d worst possible clothes as i had not got a chance to change and she looked sparkling in a saree...i was again tongue tied ,though she was very eager to talk to her "very old"(and dejected!)friend...
Coming to the present times ,on top of all the problems being posed by global warming,population explosion,jehadi terrorism etc,i have got one more issue to grapple with ...her wedding !!!

Aussies win and Cricket loses ....

The Sydney test match is over and the Aussies have stretched their winning streak to sixteen consecutive wins.No mean feat to accomplish but done with a meanness that leaves a bad taste in the mouth.India has lost the match but the team really played well against the 11 aussie players and the three umpires(two on the field and the third umpire).There is a concept called "Just World Belief" ,according to which good things happen to good people and vice versa,but the manner in which the script of this match has unfolded puts a big question mark over such belief.There is absolutely no denying the fact that the australian team is a cut above the rest as far as their performances on the field are concerned.But they are surely not the right role models and the less said about their unsportsmanlike behavior the better.The Aussies who have been the masters of sledging for a long time get easily ruffled when the other teams give it back to them.Coming to the Harbhajan-Symonds incident ,anyone with a little commonsense (Mr Bucknor is a dishonorable exception)can see that Bhajji was batting on 50 odd runs and the aussies were rattled,and in such a scenario why Harbhajan would call Symonds a 'monkey' and that too without any provocation .Symonds seems to be suffering from a big 'monkey complex' (whatever happened in India when he was subjected to monkey chants by a miniscule minority of the crowd was detestable and uncalled for),but now by raking up this needless controversy he is showing himself to be no less than a monkey.

When things go wrong .....

The day started pretty early for me as my friend,philosopher and dog (Timmy) woke me up at 3 am by making ominous noises.As this was not the first time that timmy felt like answering the call of nature in the middle of night,I took it in the right spirit and off we went chain in (my)hand.I experienced the morning chill first hand and thought about those people wrapped in blankets who get the thrill by just reading about the dipping mercury.On coming back ,I realised that i can use this opportunity, which was thrust upon me, to catch some cricketing action from down under.As there was still some time for the second days play to start ,I decided to rest my limbs.At about six, I woke up again ,but to my utter dismay ,there was no electricity and all my plans of watching the match with my hands resting on the heater vanished in cold air.The wait started and it was not until eight that electricity returned.Switching on the TV i found that Australians had heaped more misery on the Indians by getting a score of 463 and to make matters worse India was already one wicket down.Soon Laxman started playing his exquisite drives and flicks and I braced myself for a long stay in front of the TV.But very soon a message came on the screen that my dish tv subscription was over and I of all people was not authorised to watch the channel.It was the end of play for me and spent the day watching the changing scores on various news channels.

No Law ,Total Disorder ....

In the early hours of the first day of the new year ,two women in Mumbai were molested by a mob of around 80 odd people.The two women were not alone,they were escorted by two male friends,but it was of no help.Initially lewd comments were passed at them which forced one of the women to shout back at the rowdy group and this acted as a trigger for the group of perverts to attack the two women.The ordeal continued for 15 minutes before a policeman arrived on the scene and just dispersed the mob instead of arresting these criminals.This is not the first time that women have been targeted by unruly mob.During the victory procession of 20-20 winning team ,few girls of a mumbai college were molested and there was no news of any arrests being made.It is this callousness on the part of law enforcement agencies which allows perverts to indulge in such activities without any fear of being punished.The society at large also needs to introspect as to what makes not one or two but a group of 80 people to attack and molest two women and none among them tried to stop this outrage.And the police must make this case a precedent whereby all those who can be identified through the photographs should be rounded up and prosecuted under relevant sections.

Missed Opportunities .....

The first day of the second test match between India and Australia swung from one extreme to the other and at the end of the day Australia was well and truly on top of India.After being 134/6 ,Australians dominated the Indian bowling in a way that defied normal cricketing logic.Of course ,they were helped by Steve Bucknor's poorest decision (all his bad decisions inavraibly go against India only)when he gave Symonds not out off Ishant Sharma's bowling.To add insult to injury ,even the third umpire gave a reprieve to Symonds on a stumping off Kumble despite the TV replays clearly showing his
foot was in the air when Dhoni dislodged the bails.It would be a matter of conjecture that what Australia's score would have been if India had just a bit of luck.On the other hand though ,Indians did get Ricky Ponting out LBW ,when he had got a thick inside edge.
Actually ,the problem with Indian team ,and this has been the case for a long time now ,is the inability to deliver the knockout punch when they have got the opposition on the mat.There is no way that Australia would have allowed India to make so many runs and that too so quickly after losing six frontline batsmen.Herein lies the difference between the two sides and the gulf is widening with each passing day of this tour.Now the onus is on the strong on paper Indian batting lineup to walk the talk.No point in being the best batting lineup if you cannot score runs when needed.