COMMONWEALTH AND US

Commonwealth games are something of an irony a colonial tradition that we are carrying on even 63 years after our independence from the brits. The media generally tends to overstate the importance of all such activities and when we won the game in 2003 we were all on top of the world. I remember i was still in college and i was looking forward to watching the games in Delhi 7 years from then. So many ideas evolved for Delhi, metro flyovers beautification etc and all that was thought for the city was meant to end at the common wealth games. Everything was in the anticipation of the game as if that would be the end of a dark era and beginning of a new revolution for New Delhi.

I would have ideally expected the following "goods" from the game for the city of Delhi

• India to be presented to the world as a new tourism and business destination and would become another Shanghai
• Indian sportsmen would have the advantage of practicing on a worldclass infrastructure so they could compete at the world stage better.
• Delhi would have a worldclass infrastructure so all delhiites would have a better future.
• It would be economically a profitable venture for Delhi ands India to host the games.
• India would be in the limelight and would not be a thirdworld country anymore.

None of this has happened entirely and CWG has been a loss making idea for us and now some of us feel that we would have rather not had these games, the funds could have been better focussed at so many other nation building activities. INR 70k cr is serious money and hey we have spent more than 10 times of what was spent in Melbourne.

Despite so many negativities in the games, Delhi would be a spectacle to watch and adore during the games and India can fail on anything but not on the display of our rich heritage and hospitality. Lets all make these games a success by attending in huge numbers as in fact this is once in a lifetime option.

LETS DO IT

Ayodhya and us

I always felt it would be better for the Ayodhya to have a middle path judgement the way the current judgement has been pronounced. The first understanding is that even though on the basis of "faith" its been pronounced that Ram was indeed born on the disputed site and has dismissed the Wakf's board claim for title of the land.

The court has been mature to give a verdict like this and this case should be taken up no further than this. This is what is the best for the society and for the generation to come as every time the court would make a judgement there would be so much wastage of time and of our unspent energy. I believe that both the temple and the mosque should now be build and there should not be any more fight on that.

Muslims might feel that if due to faith they have based their judgement is theirs too but then i feel that a shine of so much importance to a majority of the population is something that has probably influenced the judgement. Lets hope that the country has changed and that we have matured a lot as a country and as a population and that we understand the relevance of various issues a lot more. A whole generation has changed since 1992, not even 10% of the population is alive since the time the contreversy started

Rafa is the greatest player even ahead of Fedrer

I remember the time when Roger fedrer came into the limelight beating Sampras at Wimbledon 2001 the swiss ace was only the second player to beat Sampras at Winmbledon other then Richard Kraijeck in the decade that the amercan had made the grass courts a part of his home. Fedrer had arrived and how. Not until 2007 Fedrer was nearly unchallenged, he did not have a rival who could sustain the stress of playing aginst him, there was n occasional Andy Roddick or Djokovic but basically Fedrer ruled for almost a decade making him the greatest tennis Champion of all time. This was not until the Raw animal power came into display from the racquet of a Spainiard at Rolland Garros. It was clear that Nadal is no flash in the pan and Fedrer would have to buck up else he would be dethroned soon

The day Rafael Nadal put fear into the soul of Roger Federer – on February 2, 2009 in the final of the Australian Open – it became clear that it wasn’t going to be a rivalry of equals from there on.But even before that, even to Federer’s most fervent fans, the superiority – or greater effectiveness – of Nadal’s violent game was obvious. The numbers supported this, even then.Consider this: During 2004 to 2007, a time when Federer was at the peak of his powers, when he made his reputation as probably the greatest, he won 11 Grand Slam, and became the only man to be ranked No. 1 for 200 weeks. His overall match record was 315 wins to 24 defeats.He was king to all – all but Nadal, against whom his record was 6–8. It was a jarring portent of times to come – Nadal, much the younger man, turned 21 in 2007. He could only skew the record further in his favour in the years to come, as he gained experience, and as Federer aged and started the inevitable downhill segment of an athlete’s journey.Even at his best, Federer found the teenaged Nadal troublesome; past his prime, it would be an unequal battle. The rivalry would be pursued in absentia – Federer would be through with his best game, and Nadal would chase his tally of Grand Slam titles. I think all Federer fans knew it would come to this; they knew that the Nadal storm was unstoppable, even by Federer.They knew only injury born of his violent game could stop Nadal. Last year, when Nadal withdrew from Wimbledon because of tendonitis in both his knees, it appeared that he’d encountered the career-threatening injury with which his devastating game seemed to have made a pact of union.However, Nadal came back strongly – a fitter, leaner man, with his amazing forehand intact, his amazing feet chasing everything. Against him in this sort of form, his opponents need to hit perhaps three winners, instead of one, to win a point. Nadal has proved indestructible.Federer, meanwhile, seems to be going to pieces. In Nadal’s absence, he won Wimbledon last year, his 15th Grand Slam title. The 16th came at the Australian Open this year – and that could prove to be his last hurrah.Last year at the US Open, he lost the final to Juan Martín del Potro – the first time the Swiss lost a Grand Slam final to someone other than Nadal. And this year, he failed to reach the semifinals at Wimbledon and French Open, and the final of the US Open. This could be the beginning of the end of a wonderful story.And also, perhaps, the beginning of another wonderful story – Nadal’s chase of Federer’s record of 16 Grand Slam titles. Nadal started off as a claycourt slugger; gradually, he took over Wimbledon and Australian from Federer. Now’s that he’s reached the US Open final for the first time, it’s time for him to complete his career Slam.In the story of these two great champions, Nadal started off as the villain – the muscular slugger with a rough game who’s put into shade the man who’s possibly the greatest tennis player of all time.What made Nadal likeable is that he’s young and he’s not brash. Nadal peaked early; incredibly, he still seems to be peaking. He’s done it all and remained a nice guy – the toughest thing to do in the world of celebrity.Sport is not aesthetics alone; sport need not be poetry in motion. Shorn of the frills, tennis is about putting the ball into the other side of the net, in a manner that defies return. Nadal simply does it best. Better than even the best.
If Federer is the greatest player of all time, I do wonder what Rafael Nadal is.

Barcelona FC

As the say Barcelona is not a club “mes que un club” or more than a club. A part of Catalunia Barcelona has been the poorer cousin of its arch rival Real Madrid for decades now. But what they have developed over a period of last couple of years is a brand of soccer that is as unique as it can get and is beautiful to watch. Interestingly this brand of football has been introduced into the side by Dutchmen like John Cryuff who played for Barca and later coached them too. This brand of soccer is unparalleled and this revolves around possession of the soccer ball and using very high degree of control and not using power and sprints as a mode of opening up defenses. This has contributed heavily to the success of the club in the last decade.
Noticably club soccer in the last couple of years has graduated more into an organized assault of speed and power led by clubs like Chelsea and AC Milan. The skill aspect of the game is seriously missing. Barceona has been able make hay of the skill shortcomings of such teams to win consistently over a period of time. Such a game requires consitency in the players as you need to know each others senses really well, so well that you know each others instinct which could help fool opponents and help them pass the ball with ease under impossible conditions. The reason why Barcelona has been so successful is that they have cultured players from their childhood in a way that ultimately they know each other like the back of their hands. In the current lot the core of the team Xavi, Iniesta, Messi, Pique, Puyol, Pedro, Bojan, Valdes etc are all prodigies of the Barca academy. Some of their products are not paying with them now but are some of the best players in the world. One such example is Cesc Fabregas who is keen to move back home even though he is aware that he might not be able to get a place in the playing 11 very often, this coming from Arsenal where he is the skipper.
“Camp Nou is not a stadium it’s a temple” as they say, you would not need cheerleaders in a game of soccer as there is already so much passion in the hearts of anyone who is at Camp Nou supporting the Catalans. Camp Nou has witness the finest players in the world graduating to the level that made them worldclass. This is the difference between Barca and others, Barca usually does not buy superstars it creates superstars and it moulds them into superstars. Its not easy for the core Barcelona strength to leave the club easily that’s why you don’t even notice the core team getting transfer offers, not even Leo Messi. Catalans usually did not consider themselves as a part of Spain and this rivalry between the various provinces never let the Spainish soccer team unite with each other which eventually meant Spainiards were underachievers at the national level even though the Spainish clubs have been the best in the world for the last two decades.