Junior state athletics meet

Had been to kanteerava stadium on Saturday to check out the Karnataka state athletic meet for juniors. And yeah…things are improving. Whats needed is the impetus. Its heartening to see sponsors pooling in some moolah for junior athletics. With some good marketing, things can be improved a lot.

Well, yes, for some events there was hardly any competition. Like for the steeplechase for girls, there were only 3 starters. :) Though for the other events, there was some significant competition. Like the 100 mts for both, boys and girls. Some startling facts came to the fore. Like the u-20 record for 100 mts is 10.4 secs by mudassir and that is only 0.1 sec short of the men's national record in the name of Anil kumar. Was lucky to catch up with mudassir once again. He seemed to be quite upbeat about his sprint career. I wish he breaks the 10 sec barrier. With the right support and coaching, I am sure he can achieve that. But again, easier said than done.

One thing easily noticeable in our athletes is their lack of built. Compare Anil kumar(left) to Maurice Greene(below) and one can easily spot the difference. Check especially the lower body. Nevertheless, things are changing and we will have to be a bit patient to notice the change. Once again, I hope I get to play a part in bringing out that change. :)











The other heartening thing was the fact that there were a significant number of parents at the stadium to cheer on their children. It was my privilege to meet some of them. The next gen parents are ready to run the extra mile and do whatever they can to support their kid’s Olympic dream. Parent’s moral support does go a long way, especially in sporting careers. Ask sania. She will vouch for that. Btw, am glad that sania achieved an all-time high ranking of 42. she will certainly up that after the US Open.

Looking at these positives, I feel more pumped up that our Olympic gold will be a certainty in the coming years.

***

Again, the fourth Ashes test was a nail-biting affair and am so glad that England has come on top. The English media will now certainly like to take a dig at the aussies. Is this the beginning of the end for the Australian juggernaut?

***

At the personal front, things aren’t that fine. I got to be more determined, more disciplined. Have to maintain a strict time-table to achieve a fine balance b/w my s/w quarry job, blog, gym and reading. But yes, enjoying every moment of the struggle. Hope you too are.

Best Days of My Life??

Apologies again that i couldnt post from pune. The prime reason being no net cafe near my area. So have to travel some distance to get access to the net. But frankly, i dont regret a bit since i had more interesting things to do. ;)

My First Flight Experience

....was great. Nothing extra ordinary. But yeah, was spellbound by the view one gets sitting at the window seat. One does notice the clouds sliding by. How amazing. And that feeling when the plane is soaring up just after the take off. And when the plane is taking a sharp turn in mid-air. I am sure my parents will relish such an experience. I wish spicejet had started its operations a bit ealier so that my parents could have had this opportunity. Anyways, i will surely make this happen for them in the near future.

And yeah...i was lucky to be accompanied by girls in the adjoining seats. One of them was a babe. But so sad that one was more interested in sleeping and the other was in reading a book. :( I did try (as usual) to break the ice but in vain. I can see the sadistic smile on laks face. Hey dude, just kidding!

Pune - Mumbai Expressway

It was a welcome coincidence that my close friend Dhananjay's engagement happened to be at this time. He had hired a Qualis to travel to mumbai, the place of engagement. Lady luck seemed to be with me throughout my pune trip since there was hardly any heavy rainfall. Also thanks to my buddy, Pradeep Akkunoor for lending me his Kodak digital camera. Courtesy of all these factors, I could take some snaps on the expressway(though I think photography is prohibited).





I don’t need to go to swiss alps to be one with nature. Give me an SUV, my close pals and the expressway. :) That’s more than enough for this humble soul! In fact, that’s one of my goals: buy an SUV, pack it with the people who matter to me and hit the expressway at > 140 kmph.









And if you are lucky, the weather would complement the scenic locations and you would get to view scenes like these.







The Engagement Ceremony

I am so glad for my pal Dhananjay that he finally found his soul mate. Dhanya’s story is the stuff what legends are made of. A mere para wont do justice to his story. I will reserve one separate post for that.

Again here I was lucky wrt girls! That’s expected when the bride-to-be has some dozen cousins and that too spinsters! Oh boy, didn’t I have a great time?

All in all, I just loved this vacation. Ask Pradeep. No one knows better than him. :)

***
I have so many things to write about. Don’t know how I will balance my time. The following topics are in my mind:

Dhananjay – A true champion in Life
Grand Farewell to Laks and Pills
Indian Career Conundrum
The Death of the Indian Farmer
My Life. My Passion. My Happiness.
The Things I hate about Myself

and many more!

***
If you are a sports buff and if you are not following the current Ashes series you are missing something. So much had been written about this particular rivalry and I am so glad that this series has been able to bring out the true essence of sport. I was unlucky to miss the third test match. But I did get to watch the concluding part of the second test. And boy, what a match it was. In fact, it will go down as one of the best test in the history of cricket. I jumped with joy when England pulled off the last wicket and scraped to a 2 run victory over the mighty aussies. Though I am no Brit still such emotions? You will understand that if you understand sport.

Indian hockey hit a new low when they finished 7th among 8 countries. Its going to be a mighty challenge to get Indian hockey back to where it was. I hope I get to play some part in that. Anju George too disappointed with her performance at the world championships in Helsinki. Looking forward to watch sania in action at the US Open.

Mom, i am coming!

After a long long time, am going to enjoy this vacation. Am excited to go home. First time by flight. Hope to meet a nice chick at least in the plane. I have never been lucky at least in bus and train. Hope this time its different. :)

Apologies to laks and pills for being lazy enough not to write a grand farewell post. Will try to do so from pune.

This time planning to go for some outing if my fellow friends in pune make it happen. Surprise is in store for my parents. I know my dad will really love it. As usual, Mom will be more happy that her son is back. Of course, am carrying typical bangy sweets and will be getting some from pune too. laks, pills n shub: u will be missing that. :D

Short of time. Will be posting tomorrow from pune.

***

Am glad that sania has lived up to her hype and broken into top 50. Not surprised that India lost yesterday in the finals. Typical indian hara-kiri. Am heart-broken that indian u-21 voleyball team suffered two consective defeats in the world u-21 volleyball championship. They are almost out of the reckoning for a semi-final berth.

My loving cousin

Had been to my native village last weekend. Wont forget this particular sojourn. Luckily, my cousin sis too had come to my mummy's native place. Its so strange that we hardly ever got any opportunity to have a close conversation with each other.

But thats how things go out in most of the indian remote places. Here, family members, themselves are never bothered about their daughter's lives. They beleive their only responsibility towards their daughter is to get her married off in some "good house" (read well-to-do family). Nobody gives a damn about her aspirations, her career interests, be it her own mom and dad.

And when some lunatic like me takes a stand, they will brand him/her as a western influence deteriorating their culture. Coming back to my conversation with my sis, we started chatting at around midnite and by the time we decided to wind up, it was 5 am in the morning. We kept discussing the general stuff like her and mine crushes n all. Then i started asking her interests in life and what does she want to do with her life.

Before, she answered my questions, she blurted out that no one ever has asked her about her aspirations. I could feel the pain in her soft voice. I mean can you imagine a well-to-do family not bothering about their own girl just coz this girl aint good at acads. Her younger sibling has been amongst the toppers in her school. And by default, she is the one who gets all the attention. But still, at least somebody ought to have taken effort to understand her. I am glad that I got this opportunity to chat up with her and got to know things which were hitherto unkown to me. She likes to draw, write stories and pen short poems.

We both always had this tacit understanding b/w each other but never really got chance to dwell into each other's lives. I am happy that at least now i got to do that. I advised her to take up some design course and start a career in that. She has promised me that she wont waste any more of her life and would follow her interests. I hope that she acheives it. For her, its more of a self-struggle. She would need lot of strength and character to face the situations which will come up when she reveals about herself to her family. Of course, i will be there to support her all the way. But finally, its her own struggle and i sincerely wish she comes out trumps. Go sis go, live your life to the fullest!

*************************************************************************************
I am sure, by this time, most of us will be aware of the devastating monsoons that lashed out mumbai. Here is one moving post by uma. Needless to say, mumbaikars are having a tough time. But as is the spirit of the city, it will bounce back to normalcy very soon. Thats something which sets out mumbai apart from any of the cities in the world.

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

At the sports end, there isnt much for indian sports lovers to cheer about. Joshna lost in the finals of the world junior squash championship. Sania lost to venus williams. India lost to sri lanka in the tri-series opener. Though, its heartening to read that sania is on her way to qualify for another hard court tournament in US, the main draw of which she missed by just one spot. Hope she makes it.