Eddie Guerrero died.

I am not really sad at having completely lost touch with WWE.

But Eddie died. I remember little of Eddie, as having come into WWF sometime during 1997 or so, which was about the time when my interest in WWF had almost completely waned, his career at wrestling entertainment was not something I was really tuned in to.

But then Eddie died a few days ago. And today morning, I read this article.

Well, yes, most of us might think of sportspeople (at least surely the WWE folks) as show ponies and little else, but these are humans after all, you know.

After Inzamam, who?

Nice article by Saad Shafqat on one of the modern-day cricketers I greatly admire. Read it on Cricinfo.

The last paragraph poses a question.

For all of its cricket life, Pakistan has benefited from the services of a batting anchor of great merit. Hanif Mohammad carried on for close to two decades, but when he finally played his last Test match, at Karachi in October 1969, it was also the occasion for Zaheer Abbas's Test debut. When Zaheer's powers began to wane in the early 1980s, Miandad emerged in full bloom. And then in 1992 there was that symbolic partnership in the World Cup semi-final at Auckland. As Pakistani fans celebrate Inzamam's ascent to the pantheon, they are also scanning from horizon to horizon but finding no successor.

Who will it be? My bet is on Salman Butt. But how about Younis Khan? Or Asim Kamal? Not refuting the claims of either, but my butt feel is on Gut... uh, well, whatever.

So... will this be another blogged prediction of mine which will come right? Let's wait and watch.


Cross-linked to Greatsports.

Manjunath Shanmugham

Read about the incident first in Gaurav Sabnis's blog, a few days ago.

All I have to say is This was a Man.

Indian Express.
The Telegraph.

Ennui

Yes, you are right, I don't have much to write.

Wow, right again! I don't feel like writing either.

And no, wrong this time. Will not put up pseud posts like I did last time. Will, instead, link to nice articles I have read recently.

Here's Niranjan Rajadhyaksha on Alan Greenspan.

Last Tango in Paris

Do read the editorial piece with the above title by Sanjay Subrahmanyam in today's TOI. It does make a strong case for reservations (possibly unwillingly). The link to the article is not available, so will put it up some other time (Edit: here it is). You could read it on the e-paper though. Here are some snippets.

The French state and official intelligentsia insist that the policy of assimilation that has been followed with immigrants, who came in from North and West Africa after decolonisation, has worked marvels…… In La Grande Nation, there is apparently no place for this. Everyone is meant to have the same rights to liberty, equality and fraternity.
This is anything but true. A mixture of class, religion and race serves to differentiate the population, so that even those who have been born French citizens but happen to be from families of Algerian origin, can come to feel that the cards are stacked against them. Of course, assimilation does work for some. An example is Nicolas Sarkozy, the current interior minister, a tough-talking right-wing politician, who also happens to descend from immigrant parents. But his family was from Hungary, not North Africa, and they did not get to live in the housing estates where this conflagration began. They were not Muslims.
……
The only possible solution, albeit unpalatable to most here, is a proper reform of the political system. Participation in elections has been declining rapidly. There is widespread disgust with the cynicism and corruption of the political class, including a president who has long been under a cloud for his own dealings. On the one hand, this resentment finds an outlet via Le Pen, who captured about a fifth of the vote cast the last time around. That was the vote of the white, Christian (even if non-practising), xenophobic France, which has a party that speaks for it. On the other hand, no party has caught the vote or the imagination of those who are on the street today.

I remember, about two years ago, my friend Clement (a white, Christian but definitely non-xenophobic Frenchman) mentioning that in three years’ time, some kind of unrest, if not violence is bound to erupt in France, there is so much unease and inequality in the country. I did not believe him. I have always thought of France as being the country of liberty, equality and fraternity…. the one country in the world where everybody is truly equal. Well, and here we are, Clem. It did not even take three years, and it IS large scale violence.

If one has a look at India’s scenario say about 40-50 years ago, was the scenario very different then, from present day France? Didn't a similar, prolonged neglect of the Scheduled Castes and Tribes and Dalits and religious minorities give rise to the politics of caste and religion that is but the norm in modern-day India? And who is to blame for it? Will these incidents of violence today lead to an India-like scenario for France in 2030? A friend has been telling me for a while that North-East India is on a knife’s edge…. well, isn’t it but normal for the people of the North-East to feel cheated by the rest of India? And heavens forbid, if there's a reaction, isn't that normal too?

Too many questions, and I don’t know enough to provide answers of any sorts. I just hope someone would venture to provide their views, and throw some light on this issue for me.

Edit: read this post by Mukul Kesavan in The Telegraph on the topic.

Since I am just too tired to write a blog post...

here's the update, if any of you might be interested in knowing the reason behind that ennui...

A)
Quiz:

VL alias Ghoti Funda wrote an email on our performance at the Landmark quiz. Quite liked it, so will replicate an excerpt from it, grammatical errors and all...

*************************

Event : Landmark Quiz 2005.

Venue : Bangalore.

Team : AD, Sinfully Pinstripe, Ghoti Funda

Team Name: NORFOLK EN CHANCE ( Please read it quickly to figure out)

Result:

1. Consolation Prize for Team not qualifying for Stage Round.

2. We finished 9/300 teams approx. I know I am getting defensive but come on please give us some latitude for some self aggrandisement. Two years in South Delhi takes its toll on liberal Bongs too.

Cost Recovery : Cheap Alarm Clock, Plastic Card Holder, Second Hand Oxford English Dictionary (Edit: to note, Ghoti Funda had come down from Chennai)

*********************

b)
Literature:

Joe McGinniss : The Miracle of Castel Di Sangro: A Tale of Passion and Folly in the Heart of Italy.

A fan writing a non-fiction book on sport. An overview of Italy through possibly the greatest passion that they have. An enthralling read. And yes, the review is definitely coming up. Also, astonished to know that HKS has been reading this book too. Would love to hear his comments on my review of the book, or.

Also, I have noticed that there are these phases I go through when I will only read one type of literature or watch only one type of movies. Now is the non-autobiographical sports + social observations phase.

c)
Movies:

About seven movies watched. The best of them, Hotel Rwanda, should get a review, and Hatim-Tai (Jeetendra, Amrish Puri, Sangeeta Bijlani, Sonu Walia, Satish Shah..... oh yeah, the golden age of Hindi films) should get one as well.

d)
Friends and family:

Yesterday, two friends from college got married.

Day-before saw salsa-girl and theatre-girl discussing pattern male behavior, and yours sincerely diligently chewing on to some kind of a sweet fried cauliflower preparation in between swigs of whisky at The 13th Floor (i.e. playing the fly on the wall to perfection); and later on, having some more whisky with my giant roommate and his ad-film maker friend between discussions on geography, Coppolla, Marquez and Marketing.

Friday was when the hirsute luggage carrier, the perceptive camera-woman and yours sincerely met up at a pristinely decorated RangaShankara, had a telephonic conversation with the previously mentioned Mcginniss-reading HKS, and shot PJs at each other.

Friday was also when I almost succeeded at convincing my sister that there's more to Pink Floyd than "The Wall".... come to think of it, I was at exactly the same stage in PF-appreciation when I was her age.

Thursday evening was when booze-group 1 (previously mentioned here) and I decided to OD on chicken...

I could go on, but I am pretty sure you are as bored as I am by now, so I will spare you the agony.....

This Neuman bloke continues to rock!

And true enough, I tend to miss about 50% of the jokes.... But who cares? The others suffice well enough. The MAD magazine has been a boon to mankind. And the first-page snippet is absolutely god-mode. Hear this out, this is from MAD magazine India No. 45

Starting a war in the name of peace is like poking a hole in a balloon to get more air into it.