Lotsa happening .......

Ok .... a lot has been making news in the last 3-4 days & here's my take ....

The 5th ODI between India & England was scheduled at Guwahati yesterday, but rain played spoilsport & the match was declared abandoned .... the crowd didn't take too kindly to that & showed some good old East Indian emotion by burning/stoning/breaking/beating whatever they could lay their hands on. Why do I get this feeling that something similar could happen in the next ODI at JSR? Anyway, I hope it doesn't.

India were facing Pakistan in the Davis Cup this weekend. Now, I've never given much importance to Davis Cup matches ever, but since this was against the old enemy, interest was running high. I'd expected it to be a 5-0 or at most a 4-1 walkover by the Indians, but the Paki No.1, it seems is really good. In the end it took Leander playing out of his skin to get India a narrow but well-deserved 3-2 win. This is what The Telegraph had to say about it ....

"Leander Paes braved a severe bout of cramps in sweltering conditions to pull off an incredible five-set victory over Pakistan’s Aqeel Khan in the deciding reverse singles to pilot India to a thrilling 3-2 victory in the Asia-Oceania Zone group I play-off tie on Sunday.

The 33-year-old Indian captain, hero of many a cup campaign against stronger teams in the past, took a gamble and played the fifth rubber of the tie in place of his younger teammate Rohan Bopanna to carve out a memorable 6-4, 7-6 (7-4), 3-6, 0-6, 6-1 victory in three hours and 40 minutes at the Cricket Club of India.

The veteran stormed his way in the deciding set with his passing shots and volleys to stun his younger rival into submission by breaking his opponent’s serve twice — in the second and sixth games — before serving out the set, the match and the tie when Khan hit a backhand return wide."

Hmmmm .... women's tennis in India may be on a high (in terms of profile at least) courtesy Sania Mirza, but this result goes to show that the reserves in men's tennis aren't very high quality .... I mean, struggling to win a Davis Cup tie against the Pakis! .... that's the pits .... almost. Anyway, I salute this Leander guy .... never fails to deliver when the country's izzat is at stake .... in fact, he raises his game a few notches at times like these. What a fighter!

Moving on to politics now .... the Association of Leading Indian A**holes (also known as politicians), are upto no good again. This time they want to implement a 49.5% quota (for SCs/STs/other-people-capable-of-being-duped-into-voting-for-them) for admissions to the IITs & IIMs. I think the present quotas already represent a bad deal for those in the General category .... pushing this upto ~50% is like a slap in the face of all those who slog like nobody's business to get a hold of their dreams .... I've been through the grind myself (OK, upto about half the levels these guys goto, but so what?) & think it's most unfair.

Come to think of it .... how many of these SCs/STs/OBCs/whatever-Cs are there .... I mean, are they so many more than the unlucky bunch of General category students that the f*$#ing short-sighted-greedy-perverted politicos have to bend over backwards to pander to their every whim? Aren't the current level of reservations (I hate that word 'cause I never got any advantage due to it & I know some people who did .... & I can't forget their undeserving smiles) enough? Oh well, all I can do is forward SMSs/emails against this move or rant on my blog about it .... at least there's an outlet.

This weekend was a gastronomic delight .... a welcome break from the stale Mess fare I've grown accustomed to. Saturday dinner with the guys at Chung's, Jayanagar .... I'm growing more & more fond of Roast Lamb. Sunday special Mutton for lunch, courtesy Sid & Sunday dinner at Anu's. Also got to listen to Jolly bhaiya play the Spanish guitar .... he's good.

Watched the Puri trip video for the nth time .... made me all nostalgic. I miss the college days, I miss the guys & I miss the good times.