Thursday, August 28, 2008

Satyajit Ray vs Raj Kapoor

Bollywood: A History mentions the spat between Satyajit Ray and Raj Kapoor.

Film director Shyam Benegal tells author Mihir Bose

“The Bombay film industry always thought Ray (Satyajit) was not doing right by India. Raj Kapoor and he had a big spat once. Raj Kapoor’s film Jagte Raho, directed by Shambu Mitra, a famous Bengali theatre director who had the same stature as Ray in cinema. Shambu made the film and it won Raj Kapoor an ward in the 1964 Karlovy Vary film festival, the same year that Aparajito won the Golden Lion in Venice. They met up at some meeting where both were being felicitated.

So Ray said it was a great recognition for Bengali cinema.

Raj Kapoor said, “ Why Bengali, are you not an Indian? Why do you say you are a Bengali film maker?

Ray said, “I am a Bengali film maker.

Raj Kapoor said, “ Why can’t you say you are an Indian film maker? For god’s sake.”

India outclasses Sri Lanka as Dhoni leads the side to a rare series win

By John Cheeran
Mahendra Singh Dhoni has given Indian cricket what is needed at this juncture – a morale boosting series win.
Yes, the jagged edges in our cricket are still the same.
But after getting scared out of their wits against rookie but unconventional spinner Ajantha Mendis, and losing the Test series, this one-day series win, India’s first in Sri Lanka, should not be belittled.
As it has been observed earlier, this bunch of players will play an increasingly significant role in Indian cricket and that was evident on Wednesday as first Virat Kohli, and then Suresh Raina and captain Dhoni helped India to a decent total. The only disappointment was Yuvraj Singh. What Yuvraj needs is a dose of self-confidence, and in that, only he can help himself.
Again Indian bowlers upset the rhythm of Sri Lankan batting by striking early and thereafter taking wickets regularly.
Sanath Jayasuriya threatened to take the game away from India, but he could not sustain his aggression. With Kumar Sangakkara woefully out of form a big effort had to come from skipper Mahela Jayawardene. Indian bowlers, especially, Harbhajan Singh ensured that no batting revival took place.
It may be a bit hurting, but fact of the matter is that Sri Lanka, the World Cup runner up, has played far better cricket than India in the recent times. And that showed during the Test series. In that context, this series win scripted by Dhoni and his band of the willing, should be celebrated for that, for that feel good factor.

Review: Bollywood, A History by Mihir Bose


By John Cheeran
The best thing about Bollywood: A History by Mihir Bose is the cover photograph of a beautiful Rekha. Bose is a prolific, award winning author and journalist but his take on Bollywood comes across a lazy effort with no insights coming through.
Now Bose has written many books, I haven’t any, but that should not stop me from pointing out that his attempt was amateurish and his book has come about only by extensive research, in other words, lifting copiously from others who had done original work.
It is amazing that Bose wrote Bollywood with just one interview, (or it a series of interviews) he had with director Shyam Benegal. Throughout the book, Bose takes refuge in Benegal to hold his book together. Then he quotes all and sundry including Shobha De (Selective Memories), Bunny Reuben, Raju Bharatan et al.
Given this is a work of history and the fact that Bose has mostly relied on others’ work to write it, it is a pity that writer has not bothered to provide footnotes. So Bose has camouflaged his lack of effort. He did not speak to Raj Singh Dungarpur, but he quotes extensively him regarding Lata Mangeshkar’s role in Bollywood during the chapter “The Explosion of the Bombay Film Song.”
May be that’s the way seasoned journalists work.
And then there is the atrocious editing that irritates one to the core. If not for paying Rs 495, I would not have read this at all.
I have with me Bose’s History of Indian Cricket, and again, by claiming to be comprehensive, Bose has fed others works and produced a book that won an award.
And going by the number of books he has written on a number of varied subjects, one wonders whether all of them suffer from the similar shoddy practice?

Monday, August 25, 2008

Dhoni upstages Jayawardene as India takes lead

By John Cheeran
So Mahendra Singh Dhoni and his men displayed the verve and nerve to defeat the World Cup runners up for the second time in a row.
This is India’s team for the future, and it is heartening to note that Dhoni has some control over the proceedings with a firm grip on his bat.
Sunday’s result has given India the lead.
Its pacers are getting them early wickets and slowly Ajantha Mendis’s shock value is dissipating. In the last two matches, one might see an equal fight for supremacy between India and Sri Lanka.
But for all that, what has struck me during the game is that India does not have a classy batsman at the moment in the mould of Sri Lankan skipper Mahela Jayawardene.
After losing six wickets for 59, Mahela did not lose faith in him, and in cricket’s potential to throw up intriguing results. Mahela carried on bravely, and might have almost pulled off a daring win, if did not get out in the final overs.
Now who does such a role for India in the current squad?
Yes, Dhoni and Suresh Raina stitched the holes in Indian innings rather quickly, but the composure during a chase when you are comforted by the wagging of a long tail is something that should be admired.
Everyone has commented about the sunset of Indian batting as Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Sourav Ganguly and VVS Laxman watch their shadows lengthening.
They should go.
That is certain, and the coming series against Australia will be a test of their skills to rediscover themselves.
But the question remains -- are Badrinaths, Rohit Sharmas and Rainas up to the challenge of becoming the backbone of Indian batting?

Sunday, August 24, 2008

Is the United States's dominance in Olympics over?

By John Cheeran
Is the United States’ dominance in Olympics over?
China (51) upstaged the US (36) in terms of maximum gold medals in Beijing and the International Olympic Committee (IOC) ranks countries according to the weight of their gold.
In the total medal tally, the United States (110) has an edge over China 100). That’s only a small consolation for the US.
This power shift was not surprising, since it was in the making for some time and as a host China was anyway supposed to perform at its best.
In Athens, the US had logged 36 gold medals. China had 32 gold. So it was a pretty close race.
Before the Olympics, an analysis by economists at PriceWaterhouseCoopers concluded that China was on target to win 88 medals overall, compared with 87 for the US.
China has a population of 1.3 billion – more than four times that of the US, and the future Chinese dominance was a certainty.
Only in India’s case such statistics do not work.
But what Americans are really worried about is their decline in track and field events. Had they struck more gold in these events, they could have challenged the rise of the East in much better manner. Jamaica, led by world record breaking sprinter Usian Bolt, changed all that.
Mike Celizic, an analyst at MSNBC, traces the US decline to the explosion of popularity in baseball, football and basketball. “Great athletes go where the money and the fame are, and it’s not in track and field — not in America, anyway. A baseball player can make more in a year playing team sports than all but the very greatest in the world track will make in their careers. Other than the Olympics, there's no television exposure for track and field in the United States.
Universities are also losing interest. Scholarships are way down, especially for males, and colleges looking for a cheap way to meet Title IX requirements are dumping men’s track and wrestling to improve their ratios of male to female athletes. They could do it by creating more women’s sports, but it saves money to eliminate male sports, and they start with the ones people are least interested.”
But China has done some planning to come up with the great medal haul. Project 119, an intensive training programme that aimed to maximise Chinese progress into athletics and water sports, such as swimming, canoeing and sailing worked wonderfully.
Great Britain’s improved show also affected the US tally.
And even India got three medals, one of them being gold.
The Beijing Olympics has truly seen the Rise of the Rest than the Decline of America.

Who edits our newspapers?

By John Cheeran
The Sunday Times of India has carried a letter in today's edition.
It begins " Indira Gandhi famously said, “You were asked to bend but you chose to crawl.” Independence Day celebrations at the Juhu campus of SNDT University reminded me of this quote."

So who edits Sunday Times Of India? or who edits these pages?
Are copy editors not supposed to correct facts, even if they belong to a letter?

As far as I know that remark was made by L.K. Advani after the Emergency was lifted.

The same edition carries an AP wire story from the US which tells how some guys were fined for fixing the grammar in signboards in a park.
May be fixing facts, and grammar are punishable in newspapers too.

Friday, August 22, 2008

When Garcia Compliments Gulf News

By John Cheeran
I haven't seen an astute salesman other than the celebrated newspaper designer Mario Garcia. Garcia belongs to many schools,as and when it suits him, but most part of the time, he swears by packaging.
Now Garcia has redesigned many Indian newspapers including the Hindu and Hindustan Times. There may be admirers for such changes in design. I don't want to quarrel with that. But essentially Garcia is the guy who believes in packaging the shit.
And that's what he has done with Gulf News in Dubai. Gulf News is an huge free mailer masquerading as a newspaper. It relies on syndicated stuff and wires to fill up its 72 pages of main edition, assorted supplements and throw away magazines.
Now, I respect Garcia as a designer. I'm not surprised when he praises Gulf News in his latest blog entry.

But Mr. Garcia, you have improved the design of the paper. But what about the content? Gulf News can't even get right a promo, which you have shown in your blog.
The newspaper proudly says: Beyond the news: a variety of magazines compliment the Gulf News's content and coverage."

Now Mr. Garcia, what do you have to say about magazines COMPLIMENT the Gulf News?
When you next time preach your gospel at the spacious, and anti-septic news room of Gulf News, will you tell the editors at the newspaper that there is a difference between COMPLIMENT and COMPLEMENT, and the ability to choose the right word helps a great deal to produce a decent newspaper?
I'm sure you will not. For I remember the last time when you talked about split infinitives at your impromptu sermons, its managing editors fainted.
So what if Gulf News murders English, the murder happens on glossy pages and in a pool of expensive North American templates.
Long live the salesman.

Thursday, August 21, 2008

Take Champions Trophy out of Pakistan

By John Cheeran
Who wants to go to Pakistan?
Not me. So how can I blame Australian, English and Kiwi cricketers who are not in a mood to go to Pakistan to play Champions Trophy in that perennially benighted country.
Those cricketers are scared.
You never know what happens in Pakistan the next moment. Not even Benazir Bhutto did.
Democracy in Pakistan is more dangerous than the General’s rule. Cricketers fear for their lives.
Soldiers go to Afghanistan, Iraq and fight for their respective governments. They have made their choice to live dangerously so they cannot back off when duty calls them.
Cricket, yes, is a circus. But cricketers are not soldiers, trained to battle extreme hardships. Balls are not bullets. Balls are not even bombs. Poor cricketers are experts only in negotiating the ball.
Well, the question is -- is it only in Pakistan that bombs go off?
Not in India, not in Sri Lanka?
Yes, terrorism is as much a reality in India as in Pakistan.
But unlike in Pakistan, India has a greater stature in the comity of nations (oh my God, how I hate to use that phrase). People ignore the bombs when they come to India.
For India is a state of mind, a state of mind, that cannot be confounded by jihadis.
Sharad Pawar and the Board of Control for Cricket In India (BCCI) are playing political games within the International Cricket Council, putting the ball firmly in the court of Australian Cricket Board, ECB, New Zealand Cricket. I love it. I even enjoy it.
But the only reasonable solution to break the impasse is to take Champions Trophy out of Pakistan and get on with the game.
Play ball, not bombs.

Wednesday, August 20, 2008

A Gold for Anju Bobby George

By John Cheeran
Anju Bobby George ended her Olympics with a whimper.
The 31-year old Indian long jumper could not make a single legal jump on Tuesday in Beijing and it was an inconsolable final chapter to her chequered international career.
But Anju Bobby George’s story as an athlete has many positive lessons for India’s Generation Next.
It was injury that spoiled her last hurrah in Olympics.
"I hurt my ankle in the warm-up. But since this is the Olympics I did not want to pull out. I tried my best but I was unable to do anything," Anju said and she was seen clutching her ankle after her last attempt on Tuesday.
But Anju was a force to reckon with in her chosen field. In the Athens Olympics she made the final and finished a creditable sixth with a jump of 6.83 metres.
At Beijing, she only needed to jump 6.75 for an automatic qualification into the final round.
On Tuesday the last of the 12 qualifiers, Chelsea Hammond of Jamaica, made the grade at 6.60m. A distance Anju would have surpassed with ease in normal circumstances.
So it was not the lack of ability. Anju may not have won a medal, but she could have held her own among the world’s best athletes with a sterling show.
After all, she is the only Indian athlete to have won a medal in the world athletics championship till date.
In the 2003 World Championships in Paris Anju won bronze medal with a jump of 6.70 metres. In 2005, at IAAF World Athletics final she had won silver.
But all her four-year long grind came to naught in Beijing. Was it the inability to handle the pressure at the ultimate stage of her sport that let Anju down?
I don’t think so.
Anju has handled the pressure quite well, and she is a veteran of two Olympics and many World Athletics Championships and Asian Games.
There is something other than ability that defines your life. Some call it luck. Some call it fate.
A name that comes to mind is that of Sergei Bubka. Bubka set a world record for breaking the world records in pole vault but he ended his career without an Olympic gold.
There is no comparison between Bubka and Anju.
Anju, in her own limited way told India, the nation, that with the right amount of information, training and dedication we could compete with dignity at the international level. Well, in fact P.T. Usha had proved that point years ago, in 1984, at the Los Angeles Olympics.
Anju has done consistently well to be a leading athlete in log jump, a name that was feared and respected by Russians and Americans.
Anju’s botched attempts in Beijing take on the hues of gold and silver when you look at the Indian society, large sections of which are still clad in the purdah of medieval approach to life.
Anju’s failed quest for Olympic gold attains significance when you stare at the fact India has never had a female athlete from the 18 per cent strong Muslim community.
Yes, we have had Aswini Nachappas, Valsammas, Sandhus, Jyotirmoyee Sikdars, Chitra Somans, Mandeep Kaurs, Geethas, Sini Joses, Povammas, Mridulas etc.
A community, that waits for Sachar commission to reserve for it quotas in national life. Why is it that Muslim women are running way from the reality and scared to engage with rest of the society?
Only, the glorious exception has been the brave and beautiful Sania Mirza. But athletics is unglamorous, hard work unlike tennis.
It is when you think of the mobile tents and female infanticides that happen in India, Anju’s sacrifices -- a young woman’s quest for an Olympic gold -- acquire fresh perspective and meanings.
At 31, with many predictable things in life, including a motherhood postponed, Anju has served India with honour and rare courage.
Let me salute Anju during her hour of agony.

India rely on Zaheer strikes to level the series

By John Cheeran
The one-day series has come alive with India upstaging Sri Lanka by three wickets in the second match on Wednesday.
India had a great start with pacer Zaheer Khan tearing apart the Lankan batting. The force was with India once Sri Lanka lost their rhythm and failed to post a teasing total other than 143.
Well, India again did struggle to reach the target.
But I’m quite happy that India won at all.
There may be a few positive pointers with S Badrinath showing the resolve to spend some time at the crease and score a few runs. Not the dream start, but a start nonetheless that contributed to morale-boosting victory. Equally significant was the 19-year-old Virat Kohli’s dour display as an opener. He has made it a crowded Delhi affair at the top of the order now.
Skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s ad-hoc methods again proved fruitful during the Indian innings but India should quickly build on this win and look like a winning unit in the remaining matches.

Indian wrestler Sushil Kumar wins bronze in Beijing Olympics

More joy for India in the Beijing Olympics.
Wrestler Sushil Kumar clinched the bronze medal after outclassing his Kazakhstan rival in a play-off in the men's 66 kg freestyle wrestling through repechage round.
Earlier, Sushil Kumar lost in the first round to Ukraine’s Andriy Stadnik in the men's 66 kg freestyle event.
Stadnik started of well as he earned the first point while Sushil levelled it soon but the tough Ukrainian took the lead again as he led the first round 2-1.
Stadnik strengthened his lead by scoring quick six points in the second round while Sushil didn't even score a lone point against his mighty Ukrainian opponent.

Tuesday, August 19, 2008

Indian cricket's misery continues in Sri Lanka

By John Cheeran
At some point in this five-match one-day series, I’m sure, India will find its way and overcome the Sri Lankan challenge. But to make a real fight of it, Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s men should win the second encounter slated for Wednesday.
It is not just the decline of Fabulous Four that plagues Indian batting. Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Sourav Ganguly and VVS Laxman are out of the one-day side. Now Virender Sehwag has twisted his ankle to add to India’s woes.
This should have been a wonderful opportunity for the Generation Next in Indian batting. But so far big knocks, innings that set the scoreboard burning, have not come from the bats of Rohit Sharmas, Virat Kohli and for that matter even from Suresh Raina, that young boy who has been scratching around the crease for quite a while.
None should blame the BCCI for not getting his chances. Yuvraj Singh is back. But he struggled as much as the Fab Four struggled against spinners Muttaiah Muralitharan and Ajantha Mendis.
Dhoni is back from his luxurious break. He cannot now complain of the hectic schedule. There are no back-to-back matches in the current series against Sri Lanka. It’s time he put a stop to India’s slide against Lankans.
Well, one could take refuge in the fact that this series is just another string of one-dayers. More matches will come our way. But alarmingly the series – both Test and one-dayers -- have brought out the inadequacies of Indian cricket to the sunlight.
India needs performers, consistent performers to slay the opposition.

Science of Running Fast: NYT

By CHRISTOPHER CLAREY /New York Times
Published: August 18, 2008
BEIJING — More than 24 hours had passed since Usain Bolt’s redefining of the 100 meters, and Ato Boldon, the voluble Trinidadian who used to run the 100 for a good living, was still trying to comprehend what he had seen.
“It’s amazing, and I’m not sure I’ve wrapped my mind around it yet,” said Boldon, a four-time Olympic medalist turned television commentator.
Bolt, for his part, did not appear to be asking himself too many questions on Monday, comfortably negotiating the first two rounds of his next challenge: the 200 meters.
Some, including Michael Johnson, are increasingly warning that Johnson’s ethereal 12-year-old record of 19.32 seconds from the Atlanta Olympics is on borrowed time. But for now, the only world record that the aptly named Bolt, of Jamaica, holds is the 100, which he ran in 9.69 seconds on Saturday in the Bird’s Nest despite slowing to celebrate in the final quarter of the race.
He ran 9.69 with no measurable wind, which is highly unusual for an outdoor race. Those are not ideal conditions for a sprinter. Ideal conditions are closer to what Bolt had in New York in June, when he had a following wind of 1.7 meters per second while setting the record in 9.72 seconds.
The consensus is that every meter per second of following wind subtracts approximately five one-hundredths of a second from a sprinter’s time. “You put the wind he had in New York behind the 9.69 here, and O.K., now we could be down in the 9.5s except that he shut down with 20 meters to go,” Boldon said. “So now, I’m like, O.K., is that in the 9.4s? It’s mind-boggling.”
Or is it? Considering the checkered doping records of too many former 100-meter world-record holders, it is best to keep the superlatives under rein. In the last decade alone, the Americans Tim Montgomery and Justin Gatlin have been suspended and stripped of the record.
But Jean-François Toussaint, the director of the Paris-based Institute of Biomedical Research and Epidemiology in Sports, recently told the French sports daily L’Equipe that according to statistical models, 75 percent of the existing track and field world records are essentially out of reach but that the men’s 100 is among the 25 percent still in play.
Bolt, who has never failed a drug test, has arguments in his favor. He is not a suspiciously late bloomer. Instead, he is a precocious talent (the youngest male world junior champion in the 200 at age 15) who has only recently started running the 100 seriously and who, at 21, is the youngest man to break the 100 record.
More intriguing from a technical standpoint, there is the new paradigm theory, linked to Bolt’s unusual 6-foot-5 stature — three inches taller than Carl Lewis and two inches taller than Tommie Smith, the sprinters to whom he is most often compared.
Though Bolt is the tallest man to hold the record, he is not the first sprinter of his height to succeed in this era. Francis Obikwelu, the Nigerian-born runner who now represents Portugal, is also 6-5 and won the silver medal in the 100 at the 2004 Olympics.
But Bolt has now run 0.17 seconds faster than the 30-year-old Obikwelu has ever run with significantly less refined technique. So how did he manage a 9.69 with no wind on Saturday?
First, he had a fine opening phase of the race by his standards, even though he had the seventh-slowest reaction time in the eight-man field. “It takes a while when you’re that tall to actually get into the groove when you’re coming from sitting down basically,” said Donovan Bailey, the 1996 Olympic champion in the 100 and a former world-record holder. “I actually thought after 30 meters that Asafa Powell or even Walter Dix would be leading, but they weren’t. I called it all week. What’s going to end up happening if he jumps on them before 30 meters? Good night.”
Boldon thinks early pressure applied by the eventual silver medalist Richard Thompson in an adjacent lane helped Bolt push himself further. “An excellent start for him next to guys six, seven, eight inches shorter is not going to look great on tape,” Boldon said.
Boldon and Bailey see ample room for improvement in Bolt’s early phase. “He’s 21 years old and been really running 100 meters for four months,” Bailey said. “He’s raw.”
Boldon thrust his head forward and then jerked his chin upward. “His neck is arched coming out of the blocks like this,” Boldon said. “That’s a big no-no for somebody that tall.”
But both Boldon and Bailey marveled at the baseline speed Bolt displayed on Saturday from 30 to 70 meters, which is when a 100-meter runner hits his stride. “I don’t know how it’s possible to get faster in his middle 40 but he’s going to,” Bailey said laughing.
Bolt has a high knee lift for a sprinter, which Boldon said helps him generate force. But despite the physics involved, Bolt has a quicker turnover rate than would be expected of someone of his height, which means that he can finish one stride and begin another in a surprising hurry.
“A big wheel is going to turn over slower than a small wheel, and it used to be thought that was a disadvantage except now when you see this guy who has the turnover of somebody six feet,” Boldon said. “Add that to the fact that he’s probably covering three or four more inches with every stride and that he’s only taking 40 to 41 strides to finish a 100, and you cannot argue with the math.”
Boldon said he and the former 100-meter record-holder Maurice Greene, who are both 5-9, used to finish their races in 45 or 46 strides. Tyson Gay and Powell, Bolt’s top current competition, are at about 45. Lewis required between 43 and 44 at his fastest.
Boldon said Bolt was at 41 strides on Saturday but would surely have been at 40 had he not slowed toward the end. “All of a sprint’s velocity is created from point of touchdown until the foot is directly below the body,” said Dr. Ralph Mann, a biomechanist with USA Track and Field. “Bolt’s long stride means that he is creating velocity for a longer period than shorter runners.”
The French sprint coach Jacques Piasenta contends that Bolt, irrespective of his height, has “extraordinary feet” that allow him to push particularly hard and fast off the track and act as propulsers more than shock absorbers.
The rub is that Bolt stopped trying to run fast in the final 20 meters on Saturday. Bailey said he believed Bolt would have run “between 9.55 and 9.57” if he had pushed through the finish. “I’ll be conservative and say 9.59,” Boldon said.
But neither man was feeling conservative about Bolt’s future. “We don’t get style points, and that’s what’s good about the 100 meters, but he absolutely will get technically sounder,” Bailey said. “He’ll get tighter, like maybe Carl Lewis, systematically down the track.”
The last word, as usual, went to Boldon: “Swimming has their LZR suits and their deeper pools,” he said. “We have a 6-foot-5-inch guy that’s running 9.6s and beating the rest of the Olympic field by two tenths of a second. He’s our new technology.”

Wednesday, August 13, 2008

Putting Abhinav Bindra's Olympic gold in perspective

By John Cheeran
Is Abhinav Bindra’s individual gold in Beijing Olympics the greatest sporting achievement by India, the nation, or by an Indian?
Bindra is the first Indian to have gone into what was considered an impossible landscape of sporting glory. This 26-year-old from Chandigarh deserves his moment of magnificence.
But can we afford to lose perspective in the wake of Abhinav’s glittering gold?
Indian media has been struggling to come to terms with this Olympic gold medal in Beijing. Some of them have declared Abhinav’s gold is better than the 1983 Cricket World Cup triumph in England.
Kapil Dev, only known for his out swingers and outrageous comments, has declared that is better than his team’s win in 1983. How silly you can get Kapil?
What about India’s eight Olympic gold medals in hockey?
What about India’s 1975 World Cup triumph in hockey, for that matter?
The fact is that many of the sport editors in Indian media, both print and television, would not have heard about all these. They, in fact, deserve to be shot at by Abhinav Bindra.
It is their (sports commentators) inability to deal with sport in general, and Olympics in particular, has led to statements that Beijing gold is nation’s greatest sporting glory as Abhinav fired shots after shots befitting an assassin.
Olympics is a strange beast.
With 28 disciplines, none knows who is doing what.
These 28 disciplines are a token to the vanity of the International Olympic Council and have nothing to do with sport as common man, or even George Orwell understood it.
It was Orwell who wrote sport is war minus shooting.
But shooting, as a sport, can be considered only as something that far removed from war.
Let’s tackle this quite honestly.
Shooting is an elite sport, an expensive pastime.
Shooting as a sport, at its best, could be a meditation, something only the rich can afford to indulge in.
I almost puked while watching Bindra family’s reaction to their son’s brilliant achievement.
Bindra senior’s gloating nailed the lie that this is a moment of glory for we, the nation. It was the kind of exultation when a rich family’s planning and purse strings come good at a global stage. India, it seems, was an excuse for Abinav’s obsessive pursuit.
Let’s be honest with ourselves.
How many were expecting Abhinav to shoot gold in Beijing? Not me? Not many. Not the majority.
Did anyone in India were following the early rounds of shooting? Did anyone of you bet at least one rupee on Abhinav winning the Olympic gold?
Did anyone of you pray, rearrange your seats for better luck or hold onto the same position for not upsetting the alignment of fortune, when the young man was peering through to the target in some secluded spot in Beijing?
Sport becomes sport when it takes you to the edge of despair along with the athlete. Sport becomes sport when it takes you to the brink of defeat and brings you back to the cliff of glory.
Sport becomes sport when you struggle with your demons for the 100 overs of a one-day match, or every session of a five-day Test match.
Or for that matter those 90 minutes of unrelieved tension during a football match or 70 minutes of a hockey encounter.
You won’t kill anyone or yourself, after watching a shooter miss his target or a synchronized swimmer falter in her movements.
As I said earlier Olympics is a strange beast. It helps to know this beast to get closer to the real thing. Olympics is for track and field. Olympics is for boxing. Olympics is for hockey. Olympics is for swimming.
You cannot compare achievements in those disciplines with that of any exotic sports such as shooting, kayaking, beach volleyball, equestrian, fencing, archery, water polo, sailing etc. These are extras that provide that sense of wholeness to the IOC’s exercise in grandeur.
That’s why generations to come will recall with incredible pride and joy India’s eight Olympic hockey golds, 1975 World Cup hockey title, 1983 Cricket World Cup triumph and 2007’s Twenty20 World Cup win.
In my book, even Milkha Singh’s exciting run in Rome and P. T. Usha’s graceful strides in Los Angeles will be far higher than Abhinav’s glittering gold.
Those were the moments when a nation cried in joy for what could have been.
So when shall us grow up to tell sport apart from pastime?

India's Test series loss in Sri Lanka: Looking for reasons

By John Cheeran
It is very difficult to get excited over a Test series against Sri Lanka, though they are former world champions much like us.
Sri Lanka is one of the strongest cricket sides and with the introduction of freak spin bowler Ajantha Mendis, the island nation has strengthened its bowling.
Still none had foreseen India’s plight in Lanka. India lost the Test series 1-2 and reason for the defeat is quite apparent this time. Indian middle order batting collapsed against quality spin attack of Mendis and Muttaih Muralitharan.
Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid and Sourav Ganguly have served Indian cricket with distinction but the reality is that they are struggling to live up to their past glory. Even VVS Laxman follows a similar trajectory, though a shade better.
Indians are traditionally known to tackle spin better. But Tendulkar, Dravid and Ganguly fell cheaply without fully comprehending the bewildering variety of balls sent down by Mendis.
While agreeing with skipper Anil Kumble that middle order’s failure to play long innings was the reason for Test series loss, it has to be said that any nation aspiring for greatness and dominance should constantly able to throw up young talent. How come the BCCI not able to dig out gems such as a Mendis? What happened to our own big hope Piyush Chawla?
It must be pointed out that Indian cricket never sheds its enigmatic ways. For long Indian team’s bane was poor start at the top of their innings. It was said that Indian middle order always had to struggle to resuscitate the innings as the openers go so early. In Sri Lanka, openers – Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir – gave the side roaring starts but, alas, the middle was shell shocked by a Lankan army boy.

Tuesday, August 12, 2008

Olympian blunder: Gulf News off the mark again


By John Cheeran
Again Gulf News does it. That is, how to invite ridicule upon it.
Today's (August 12, 2008) Gulf News front page has a story that hails Indian shooter Abhinav Bindra, who won the country's first individual gold in Olympics.
The writer says "the 25-year-old from the western state of Gujarat," (see the image)
Bindra is Indian, but he belongs to Chandigarh and Punjab. Gulf News Sport Editor, I gather that, is an Indian but cannot get even the name of the state right, when his countryman shoots a historic gold medal.
India's misery in Olympics ended on Monday with Bindra shooting it right.
When will Gulf News readers' misery end?
Who will shoot the nitwits who produce such miserable stuff day after day?

Abhinav Bindra's Olympics Gold and India, the nation

By John Cheeran
Is Abhinav Bindra’s individual gold in Beijing Olympics the greatest sporting achievement by India, the nation, or by an Indian?
Bindra is the first Indian to have gone into what was considered an impossible landscape of sporting glory. This 26-year-old from Chandigarh deserves his moment of magnificence.
But can we afford to lose perspective in the wake of Abhinav’s glittering gold?
Indian media has been struggling to come to terms with this Olympic gold medal in Beijing. Some of them have declared Abhinav’s gold is better than the 1983 Cricket World Cup triumph in England.
Kapil Dev, only known for his out swingers and outrageous comments, has declared that is better than his team’s win in 1983. How silly you can get Kapil?
What about India’s eight Olympic gold medals in hockey?
What about India’s 1975 World Cup triumph in hockey, for that matter?
The fact is that many of the sport editors in Indian media, both print and television, would not have heard about all these. They, in fact, deserve to be shot at by Abhinav Bindra.
It is their (sports commentators) inability to deal with sport in general, and Olympics in particular, has led to statements that Beijing gold is nation’s greatest sporting glory as Abhinav fired shots after shots befitting an assassin.
Olympics is a strange beast.
With 28 disciplines, none knows who is doing what.
These 28 disciplines are a token to the vanity of the International Olympic Council and have nothing to do with sport as common man, or even George Orwell understood it.
It was Orwell who wrote sport is war minus shooting.
But shooting, as a sport, can be considered only as something that far removed from war.
Let’s tackle this quite honestly.
Shooting is an elite sport, an expensive pastime.
Shooting as a sport, at its best, could be a meditation, something only the rich can afford to indulge in.
I almost puked while watching Bindra family’s reaction to their son’s brilliant achievement.
Bindra senior’s gloating nailed the lie that this is a moment of glory for we, the nation. It was the kind of exultation when a rich family’s planning and purse strings come good at a global stage. India, it seems, was an excuse for Abinav’s obsessive pursuit.
Let’s be honest with ourselves.
How many were expecting Abhinav to shoot gold in Beijing? Not me? Not many. Not the majority.
Did anyone in India were following the early rounds of shooting? Did anyone of you bet at least one rupee on Abhinav winning the Olympic gold?
Did anyone of you pray, rearrange your seats for better luck or hold onto the same position for not upsetting the alignment of fortune, when the young man was peering through to the target in some secluded spot in Beijing?
Sport becomes sport when it takes you to the edge of despair along with the athlete. Sport becomes sport when it takes you to the brink of defeat and brings you back to the cliff of glory.
Sport becomes sport when you struggle with your demons for the 100 overs of a one-day match, or every session of a five-day Test match.
Or for that matter those 90 minutes of unrelieved tension during a football match or 70 minutes of a hockey encounter.
You won’t kill anyone or yourself, after watching a shooter miss his target or a synchronized swimmer falter in her movements.
As I said earlier Olympics is a strange beast. It helps to know this beast to get closer to the real thing. Olympics is for track and field. Olympics is for boxing. Olympics is for hockey. Olympics is for swimming.
You cannot compare achievements in those disciplines with that of any exotic sports such as shooting, kayaking, beach volleyball, equestrian, fencing, archery, water polo, sailing etc. These are extras that provide that sense of wholeness to the IOC’s exercise in grandeur.
That’s why generations to come will recall with incredible pride and joy India’s eight Olympic hockey golds, 1975 World Cup hockey title, 1983 Cricket World Cup triumph and 2007’s Twenty20 World Cup win.
In my book, even Milkha Singh’s exciting run in Rome and P. T. Usha’s graceful strides in Los Angeles will be far higher than Abhinav’s glittering gold.
Those were the moments when a nation cried in joy for what could have been.
So when shall us grow up to tell sport apart from pastime?

Monday, August 11, 2008

Abhinav Bindra wins India's first individual Olympic gold medal

This is simply awesome. This is history. This is India rising in Beijing.

Abhinav Bindra won India's first individual Olympic gold medal on Monday with a breathtaking come-from-behind victory in the men's 10m air rifle.

Bindra was fourth after qualifying but had a brilliant final round and the Indian, described by the Reuters reporter on the scene as the epitome of tranquillity, hit a near perfect 10.8 on his last shot to pull in front of Henri Hakkinen of Finland, who fell to bronze with a poor final shot.

That late stumble by the Finn allowed China's Zhu Qinan, the defending Olympic champion and heavy favourite, to salvage a bitter day with silver. Zhu sobbed uncontrollably on the podium and again at a news conference.

"I can't describe how happy I am," the ever-calm Bindra told journalists. "It's the thrill of my life. That's about it. It's hard to describe. I just went for it. I knew I was lying in fourth. Thankfully it went my way and I just went for it."

Zhu suffered a lapse in concentration in the qualification earlier when he had to rush his final shots to make the time limit, dropping to second behind Hakkinen ahead of the final.

"I was under tremendous pressure and at times I felt really agitated," Zhu said just before stepping on the podium and breaking down in tears. "But I tried my best."

Moments later at the news conference Zhu was crying harder.

"I've been through a lot of hardship and shed a lot of tears in the last four years, there have been successes and failures," he said. "After 2004 my only aim has not changed. I had so very much wanted to be a champion at the Beijing Olympics."

He added: "In the last two rounds I made several mistakes because I had used up all my physical and mental energy."

Bindra, who faced criticism for failing to deliver on the great promise he showed as a child, said he was not thinking about making history in India with a first individual gold medal. In fact, he said, he was "not thinking about anything".

"I was just trying to concentrate on shooting," he said. "I wasn't thinking of making history. I was two points behind the leaders. I was just trying to shoot good shots. I wanted to shoot well and shoot aggressively. And that's what I did."

His 10.8 of a possible 10.9 on his final shot sparked loud celebrations from group of fans from India.

Hakkinen, who was even with Bindra before his mere 9.7 on his last shot, said that crucial shot felt like the nine before it.

"It just wasn't my turn," he said. "It shows that shooting is a sport from the first to the final shot. Every one counts."

Randhir Singh, Indian Olympic Association secretary-general and former shooter who was present at the range, was stricken by nerves as the competition reached its climax.

"I haven't prayed so much in my life. With the second last shot they tied together and then he (Bindra) shot a 10.8. It couldn't have got better," he told Indian television.

Bindra won the 2006 world championships and finished seventh in Athens four years ago.

Wednesday, August 06, 2008

My Name is Red: Orhan Pamuk - A Review


By John Cheeran
Orhan Pamuk’s My Name is Red is that infuriating novel which teases you with a riddle till you almost throw away the bulky paperback.
My Name is Red is a brilliant and bewitching account of Istanbul and the pages are refulgent with the last embers of Islamic tradition of miniature painting, threatened with the onslaught of Western mode of realistic portraiture.
The question that divides the Istanbul miniaturists is whether one should paint as Allah sees the things or as the miniaturists themselves see it. The view from top of the minarets and view from the ground.
One can only wonder about Pamuk’s mastery over the language; what an English reader gets is a translation. But Pamuk has an eye for detail and his baroque way of narration, with an almost effeminate miniaturist Black Effendi pursuing his love, the most beautiful Shekure, is indeed keeps the reader engaged.
It, however, gets tedious when at every turn while looking for the double murderer the narrative falls back to old tales and tiring repetition. Pamuk gets obsessed with his colour schemes and arcane games. For me My Name is Red is the war of attrition between two lovers – Shekure and Black. It is a love story that stays with you, played out in the palette of life in the dim lights of Istanbul.

Let me quote these rapturous lines from My Name Is Red
“I can’t say I completely understood why Persian poets, who for centuries had likened the male tool to a reed pen, also compared the mouths of us women to inkwells, or what lay behind such comparisons whose origins had been forgotten through rote repetition – was it the smallness of mouth? The arcane slice of the inkwell? Was it that God Himself was illuminator? Love, however, must be understood, not through the logic of a woman like me who continually racks her brain to protect herself, but through its illogic…..Like a solemn ship that gains speed as its sails swell with wind, our gradually quickening lovemaking took us boldly into unfamiliar seas….
At the peak of pleasure, he cried out like the legendary heroes cut clear in half with a single stroke of the sword in fabled pictures that immortalized the clash of Persian and Turanian armies; the fact that this cry could be heard throughout the neighbourhood frightened me.
Like a genuine master miniaturist at the moment of greatest inspiration, holding his reed under the direct guidance of Allah, yet still able to take into consideration the form and composition of the entire page, Black continued to direct our place in the world from a corner of his mind even through his highest excitement.
“You can tell them you were spreading salve onto my wounds, “ he said breathlessly.
These words not only constituted the colour of our love – which settled into a bottleneck between life and death, prohibition and paradise, hopelessness and shame --- they also were the excuse for our love.

Tuesday, August 05, 2008

Blogging Unconference on August 16 at Allappuzha

By John Cheeran
Do bloggers come out of their den and let sun shine on them?
Some of them, yes.
I have been informed that a group of bloggers in Kerala are organising the first Blogging Unconference event in Kerala called BlogCamp Kerala 2008 on August 16 at Allappuzha.
The event is hosted by the Kerala Tourism. BlogCamp Kerala 2008, claim its organisers Kenney Jacob and Anand Subramaniam, is the first BlogCamp in the world to be conducted in a Houseboat.
More information about the event is available at http://www.blogcampkerala.com.
Blogging is an activity that can take as much forms as the variety of individuals who are indulging them. There are hardly any rules, nay, even conventions, regarding blogging. India and Kerala are far from tech-evolved except for emailing and digging for porn.
Unlike the US, power to blogger in India is a distant dream.
Getting together in a way Blogging Unconference has planned might help. Though each blogger might be desperately seeking attention to himself/herself, there can be common ground among them.
Here is wishing all the best for Blogging Unconference.

Sunday, August 03, 2008

India defeat Sri Lanka by 170 runs to regain lost pride

By John Cheeran
India hit back in style at Galle on Sunday as spinner Harbhajan Singh combined with Ishant Sharma and Anil Kumble to turn the tide in tourists’ favour and defeat Sri Lanka in the second Test by 170 runs.
One is tempted to think what a crucial role toss plays in Test match cricket. Sri Lankan captain won the first Test at Colombo with the toss as his side put up a huge score and two Ms, Muralitharan and Mendis, dragged Indian batsmen to their death to inflict a humiliating innings defeat.
Now India has returned the favour. Anil Kumble won the toss at Galle, batted first, put up a decent score thanks to a defiant innings from Virender Sehwag. Then, Harbhajan made amends for the patchy show in the first Test by snaring the magnificent Sri Lankan batters at their home ground.
Yes, it was not toss alone. Sehwag showed the way for the rest of the Indian batsmen with his sure-footed, aggressive run making and Harbhajan’s haul of ten wickets put the seemingly invincible Sri Lankans in trouble. They wilted.
Again without a meaty knock from Sachin Tendulkar, India has fashioned an overseas Test win. The significance should not be lost with the win.
Skipper Anil Kumble deserves some praise for keeping faith in the side that lost without putting up a fight in Colombo and going into the second Test. Not that the victory cleanses the side of its sins and blemishes. Zaheer Khan is pathetic as a fast bowler though he is the senior most pacer. Tendulkar, Dravid and Ganguly are not in hot form. Dinesh Karthick needs a break, especially when one thinks of the circus with his spelling.
But for the moment, the force, or is it the toss, is with India.

Friday, August 01, 2008

A man called Virender Sehwag

By John Cheeran
There goes a man by the name of Virender Sehwag in India. He can bat, they say.
Sehwag has asked some fundamental questions regarding batsmanship as few others have not done in modern cricket. May be another name could be Sanath Jayasuriya.
Sehwag has delighted millions by his boisterous batting but more often than not he also has confounded critics by his seemingly wanton ways at the wicket.
But the point is that in terms of sheer impact, Sehwag has played some defining knocks in world cricket, and may be among his contemporaries only VVS Laxman and Rahul Dravid have entered that league.
Sehwag's unbeaten 201 off 211 balls in India's first innings total of 329 in the second Test against Sri Lanka at Galle is simply a mind boggling effort. It is not just talent alone that Sehwag brings to the crease. He of course has a game plan, but he prefers not to discuss it with us commentators and critics.
The basic nature of Virender Sehwag's batting has not changed since he began to play for India as a lower middle order bat in mid 90s. Sehwag leaves his cricket pretty uncomplicated and his fearless attitude towards rival bowlers as well as to the whole process of playing cricket has helped him achieve what more feted and seasoned batsmen have not so far. Sehwag plays fast, scores big and that alone has contributed a great deal towards Indian cricket's resurgence in the 2000s.
Yes, Sehwag is the only Indian batsman who has two triple centuries to his credit, a feat only Donald Bradmana and Brian Lara has achieved.
Nothing succeeds like success.
Now that Sehwag has overcome a mid career crisis that emboldened chairman of selectors Dilip Vengsarkar almost push him out of the 2007 World Cup squad, we can be unstinted in his praise. Sehwag knows little of traditions and goes about scoring runs in his own way, often infuriating watchers, as he did in the second innings of the Colombo Test, but he has a way of pleasing his own gods. Nothing else can explain the commanding way Sehwag handled the freak spin duo of Muttaiah Muralitharan and Ajantha Mendis in Galle. Just consider the fact the trinity - Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid and Sourav Ganguly -- could not together score 10 runs in the first innings puts Sehwag's unconquered innings in perspective.
May be gambling is also a science, and living life in its many splendoured varieties takes a lot from a man.
Attacking approach, the Twenty20 approach to life, is not all that bad when you are looking at the scoreboard in Galle and marvel at Sehwag's Hanumanesque effort in Lanka.
ജാലകം
 
John Cheeran at Blogged