The Lords aftermath

Vindicated.

That’s my first reaction. As I witnessed the last 3 days unfold before me at Lords,I couldn’t help but display a smug smirk of satisfaction.

Paul Allot & the entire British Media who were so vociferous in their pre- Ashes predictions of Australian doom must feel like proper fools.

I had said in this very space a month ago that the question of the Ashes summer was not whether “England can regain the Ashes” but should be “Can England win one test match this summer” I was laughed at. I was derided. I was told Australia are over the hill. My thoughts on the genius of Mcgrath & Clarke were scorned.

To all those unbelievers I only offer a smug smirk of satisfaction with the advice that…guys honestly…what else did you expect? If England do manage a win, kudos to them. In the more likely events of Australia raising the Ashes without a defeat, acknowledge they are the best & acknowledge the genius that comprises within the likes of Mcgrath & Clarke. (anyone with some smattering of cricket knowledge who saw Clarke bat on debut in Bangalore and now here at Lords will hail him as the next best thing in world cricket)

Enjoy the rest of the Ashes. I certainly intend to.

J.K Rowling : Take a bow!

So I finished the Half Blood Prince last night. No book or series I have ever read has gripped me like this book did. Especially in one of the penultimate chapters, my heart was actually beating twice as fast! Whoever said this was a book only for kids needs to read the entire series again! If ever there was a page turner, this is the one. For those who are ardent readers: Goblet of Fire was touted as the best so far with Order of the Phoenix being seen as a great set up for the last 2 books: if so, Half Blood Prince certainly takes the build up of the Order…and gives you a spectacular, dazzling & gripping bang. One can only longingly await the final showdown between the Dark Lord & the Chosen One.

J.K Rowling: take a bow. Grab your copy now folks.

an old friend

'twas good catching up...memories of Scheveningen & Maastricht, The Bund & Hong Kong, East Village & Nashville, Rotterdam & De Schurk... mingling into a myriad of colours, an indefinable whole...ever effervescent..ever fresh

Last weekend

A slightly delayed posting but nevertheless. Last Saturday I spent my evening with the kids of "Makkala Jagrati" - a small school run for underpriveleged kids. I had a rollicking time with them...playing, laughing, singing and finally taking them for a puppet show. I must say, 32 boisterous kids aged between 8 to 10 are a tough bunch to handle but it was an evening of pure, unadulterated joy.

These kids are so smart, so savvy and so friendly. Within 5 minutes of me meeting them, they had more or less adopted me and everyone was referring to me as "Abhi Anna" or elder brother :-)

The entire evening, taking them to the puppet show, ensuring they had a constant supply of biscuits & water and just talking to them about what they do etc...all of it left me with a feeling of...completeness? Not sure how to describe it reall but at the end when we finally dropped the kids back I just felt happy. Plain & simple happy. So what if these kids can’t afford a good school? Or new clothes? Or don’t communicate in English? Or live in a slum? They’re lovely. They’re smart. They deserve a chance. The feeling of helping them in whatever little way leaves reinforced the "optimism" level if you want to call it, within me...that YES...we can change things. Yes its difficult and slow but it can be done.

Some snaps of the lovely kids:

Sukanya who was most excited about my camera trying to hog the entire photograph
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Here the brats want to be photographed around a car. Manoj who is one of the most amazing, enthusiastic kids & always wants to be the first in everything is dancing atop the bonnet with Ambuda, Sukanya & Manjula











The kids all "sushing" each other as the show is about to start ha ha :-)














Manjula here enjoying the show takes a second to smile for the camera :-)

Social quirks...?

Some observations through the lenses of a widely travelled individual on things I see here on a daily basis. These little quirks, if I may call them never spring up as questions in most people's minds but they do to me now. The result...? It leaves me unsettled about who we (Indian society) are and who we are morphing into. It also makes me question the many ingrained beliefs & mannerisms I've held without ever thinking about them twice.

What I've also decided is I'll begin to conduct small social experiments from time to time to see how my fellow Indians react.

But coming back to what started this train of thought...at the Temple last Sunday:

• I visit the Gujarati temple once every week, usually on Sundays. That's the day when the temple is quite full of people going in and out. One thing I've noticed is that I get a lot of curious second glances at the temple. Is it because I wear levi's and a faded Fab India kurta whereas the rest are clad in either traditional Indian or "western formal" clothing comprising a shirt & pant? Or is it because I am quite dark skinned for a Gujarati (since most gujaratis are quite fair skinned)? I think its a combination of both actually. What struck me even more were two separate incidents... when I popped into the little shop in the temple to buy some incense sticks for Dad, the man in the shop addressed me in Hindi...this was very odd. I politely replied in my flawless gujarati telling him what I wanted. A little taken aback, he handed me the incense sticks and a bill with my name scribbled on it (he asked me for my name). Hmmm. So I then proceed to walk out of the temple where another guy is handing out fliers detailing some programme in the temple. He hands them out to almost every person walking out except me. I dont bother asking him for one but take a peek at the flier in his hand. Its in gujarati. So why again didn't he hand me a flier? Assumption on his part I couldn't read the language? Or that I just didn't "fit" into someone who would attend the programme?
  
• So this whole temple episode got me thinking...what if...when I bought the incense sticks and the guy behind the counter asked me for my name..instead of "Abhijeet" I had said "Andrew" or"Ahmed"...I wonder as to the reaction I would have met with

Reading Surya's latest post on what happened in the bus in Turkey, I think that even here, we need to grow up...equality & acceptance need to take the place of a tacit tolerance which is what we Indians have right now for our own people, let alone how we look at foreigners. (except of course if you're from the US in which case you're next only to God and one step above Gandhi & the cow)

arrivals

Yes ..arrivals..plenty of 'em!
In fact July seems like a veritable feast of friends descending on the only original "chill out" city I've ever known...

The list reads...

• Aneesh
• Sathe
• Dash
• Aloke
• Indranil

An illustrious list of intellectual might if there ever was one ha ha :-)
Bien venidos amigos!

Weekend Recap

• Good friday evening at Tavern
  

• Saturday afternoon received the news from El Profesor that I scored 80/100 in my final Spanish Exam! Elation!
• Good Saturday evening watching Live 8 live,Wimbledon ladies finals and one of the most exciting one day cricket matches in recent memory followed by dinner at 100 Feet
• Lazy Sunday culminating with watching my boss win another Grand Slam title...this is his 8th. Honest :) he won the Wimbledon mixed doubles along with Mary Pierce
• To wrap up the sunday night, stayed up late being thoroughly entertained with my first Wodehouse, reading about Ickenham providing "Service with a Smile". :-) Excellent stuff what?!