Confessions of a Dangerous Mind

The geriatric Thackeray and a Shiv Sena on an alarming decline is desperate for some media coverage after the drubbing handed out by the people of Maharashtra in the assembly polls. Nothing new here, except that the level of desperation is at an all time high, with Bhatija Thackeray snapping up the votes of the insane ones. Desperate folks tend to be sharp or stupid. In this case, Oldie T chose to be the latter and a monumental one at that! Sachin Tendulkar elicits the same emotions that the National Anthem educes from Indians. A gross generalisation, but its true at least for an overwhelming majority. The kind of reverence that Sachin commands is perhaps comparable to Maradona in Argentina. Its suicidal and plain stupid to target a person, who transcends the divisions in the nation with the silliest of allegations. It all started with a harmless remark from Sachin: " I am a Maharashtrian and I am extremely proud of that. But I am an Indian first. And Mumbai belongs to all Ind...

I never write tribute posts when players retire. Never been driven to do that before. But this is special for me. The first player I seriously idolised since childhood. Anil Kumble. Everyone was a Kapil fan around me when I was a kid and I was one too. That was by virtue of namesake alone. Kumble caught my imagination as a true match winner spinning people into oblivion. I distinctly remember the early 90s series where Kumble ripped apart batting teams and who can forget the awesome performance against the Windies in Hero Cup? I started bowling leg spin in my own little way (only to get my ass hammered most of time!) and even discovered the "oh-so" simple tactic of bowling googly and top spinners. Later on the adulation turned to admiration for the tenacity of Kumble. The never-say-die attitude and urge for success, which was painfully missing from most of our players. His record speaks for himself. But more than any record, what he should be remembered for is his attitude....