Sleepless in sillicon city

This is a good week for insomnia to strike. Usually my insomniac phase hits me when there's absolutely nothing to do or watch or even read! But this week is good :) There's Euro Cup and then there is Wimbledon. What better to way stay awake or even spend time with the idiot box?

Currently watching the match between Roddick and Tipsaravic. This Serb is good! He gave Federer a hard time at the Australian Open and now repeats the feat with Roddick. Must be hard to go up against a popular player where everyone's cheering for your opponent. But this dude's good. Add to that he's got style. Yeah yeah I am always always on the side of the supposed "under dog."



On the Euro Cup front want Spain to win today's match. Looking forward to the finals on Saturday.Honestly...I love watching the German coach Joachim Low (ok alright) jump up & down outside the court.




Update: Tipsaravic beat Roddick and is through to the third round. Yoohoo! What a match it was!

Breaking news!

Indian Hockey team members to go on hunger strike

And why not they won the Asia cup thulping South Korea 7-2 and all they got is a few interviews on various channels and hit the headlines for a day. While blue eyed boys are still counting their money with state governments and central government falling over each other to see who gives out the most. I am reminded of the Kannada saying "Yaarappan duddu Yellamana jaathre" (which roughly means Yellamma's festival is conducted with someone else's father's money...please don't ask to elaborate) The ministers are paying nothing from their own pockets but from the state coffers. Why aren't they this spontaneous and generous when it comes to flood relief or rehabilitation?

And then of course there is this news

Twenty20 - my take

Disclaimer: I used to be a HUGE cricket maniac not anymore. These days my interest in the game is purely cynical.

Having said that I must acknowledge that yesterday's match was full paisa vasool. Couldn't have asked for more! Even a cynic like me enjoyed every minute of it and was cheering madly for whole 3 hours.

But nevertheless here are my observations

Why Twenty20 is good

1) It is supremely entertaining. It is like watching the highlights of a super charged up match, only better.
2) One need not kill relatives or feign serious illness in advance to watch the match. Just a simple stomach upset would do for the game is just over 3 hours.
3) The very quality makes it a viable alternative to a Bollywood movie (these days most films are almost 4 hours in length making it impossible to stay still)
4) Soon we will have PVR and Inox selling tickets to watch Twenty20 live action on big screen. It will be way better than cheering for the Lagaan's team.
5) The shorter version makes it a hit with the non cricket fans who can move on to other things in just four hours without being isolated for a whole day (actually about a week what with fans discussing the team's strategy and planning around the match itself.)
6) This is especially a boon for the remote wielding ladies of the household who will have to give up their favourite gadget for a short period of time.
7) Last but not the least Indian subcontinent can be the world champions till Australians figure out how to win the games.

Why Twenty20 is bad

This victory in the world cup means
1) that cricket is back BIG time into our lives. Dashing all hopes of any other sport developing in this country.
2) that we will have a lot more insipid dialogue delivery to bear when the cricketers fill our TV screen in the name of campaigning.
3) we will have a few more roads and circles and probably even airports named after cricketers
4) all those kids who were pushed to take up tennis will have to now take up bats and get weird hair dos
5) SRK will have to think about making a cricket based film (May be that's why he's still carrying that mop on his head)
6) most importantly all those who do not play cricket professionally will have to start praying all over again.
Hmmm yeah that's about it.

Aside:

1) Everyone was so excited at the end of the match that they forgot to English! Afridi was congratulating all the Indian nations for winning the world cup and Ravi Shastri announced that India was new champions of the TT world cup!

2) As scintillating as it was why the bloody hell is that 6 sixes of 6 balls from Yuvraj worth a fffffishin one crore rupees?????

Flavour the season.

What else but Football. I mean a bunch of football enthusiasts in a remote village in Assam have bought a colour TV for the village to watch the world cup and lo behold Brazil is their super favourite. Why should I be left behind? However I have to confess that I come from the family of Cricket crazy (surprise surprise). I am used to staying up late and listening to radio commentary and in later years fight with my mother to let us watch cricket instead of buniyaad and tea time matinee (yeah yeah yeah I am not from your cable tv generation I've seen black & white television and used radio for infotainment even before that word was coined). I watched every single match even ranji and our local gully tournament in my days. I lost all interest in it later over the match fixing controversy.

Football I knew very well. Not because I watched the game but because studied it for my Physical Education exams. Yes, I had a mad teacher who insisted we learn the rules of all games possible. The fact that both my parents were obsessed with sports didn't help either. Let me clarify that my mother later traded it for soap operas and tear jerkers (I seriously dunno why though). Coming back (!!!!!) Football I knew well but didn't follow too much of it. But all that changed during the last world cup. It wasn't a football crazy boyfriend or a wild football crazy friend's party that changed it all but my job. I was at the time beginning to be a journo and the only job my news editor trusted me with updating the ticker for the news channel I worked for. So it was my duty to run across two hallways avoiding the hurricane of producers running in the opposite direction, make a steep right turn bang into the chair on the left (every single time) and update breaking news. So when world cup started I had to keep track of the games and update the ticker. And I fell in love with the game. Ronaldinho stole my heart with that back flip goal of his. I nearly cried when he got the yellow card (or was it red?). And the excitement it caused in the otherwise mundane office life of ours was just mind blowing. The hurricane of producers running against me would stop for a second to ask "goal? Who hit?" and get back feeling a little better about their lives. It changed my life. It brought back sports into my life, after the exit of Cricket. And Now I watch all matches irrespective of who is playing and whether or not the players look hot. (pssssst all of them look hot btw)

Now the world cup is back. I actually am wishing I was in Bengal, Kerala or even Arunachal Pradesh where they go openly mad about this game and wouldn't mind a madcap woman losing it in public. I've done it Arunachal with a bunch of Monpa women for company for an inter-district game!

Any one for football party anywhere please let me join you. I will even tolerate the beer but please let’s see some excitement for the master's game. Lets put up large screens, paint (y)our faces and pay our respects.