Past Forward

The Great Indian Cricket Bubble has finally burst this week with the IPL betting and match fixing controversy gobbling up 2 teams and once again bringing the ‘gentleman’s game’ into disrepute. On the brighter side India hogged the headlines over the weekend in another continent when tennis history was created. The women’s doubles and mixed doubles were won by Sania Mirza and Leader Paes respectively with their common partner, Martina Hingis. To top it, the boy’s doubles title was won by Sumit Nangal of India with his Viatnamese partner. Truly a fantabulous achievement, especially in our country, where only one sport has the privilege to be on the cover pages screaming headlines, for good or bad. I wonder why? Why has cricket assumed so much importance in our nation’s lifeline that we do not seem to be able to survive without it? If that is so, why is cricket not our national sport, as many would wrongly believe?   Our modern sporting history got off to a rich start.

The recent comment by India's Union Home Minister has sparked an interesting debate. In his speech given in Hindi to a group of students of an institute in Noida, he said in 'English bolne se gyan nahi hota (one doesn't gain knowledge just by speaking in English). One should speak English when needed'. He further added "I am not talking about only Hindi but all Indian languages. Khali angrez nahin bano. Pehle Bharatiya bano. (Don't become an Englishman. Be an Indian first)". Leaving the political battle and media outcry that followed this comment, I was intrigued as to why he was crying over spilt milk. Due to India's large population, Hindi, being the language spoken by the majority, has become the fourth most spoken language in the world. There are 2 more Indian languages that have made the cut to the top 10 - Bengali and Punjabi. However English, placed third, is widely used and accepted all over the world. India is no exception to this, d

In my previous posts I suggested a few thoughts on extracting valuable time from our daily activities to pursue our aspirations and goals. But I also understand that it is easier said than done. Very often it boils down to one inspiring day when we wake up with a lot of enthusiasm. Something has gone right the previous day or there is something exciting anticipated in the coming day. We make a conscious choice to have a fresh start and we do it also. However, just like the theory of diminishing marginal utility, the enthusiasm wears out faster than the bullet train. And once there is lack of enthusiasm, the initiative loses the thrust and life goes back to square one. This is how we are caught in the endless web of routine life. The vicious circle continues day in and day out. With every passing day its stranglehold increases on us till we are absolutely sure that we have reached the point of no return. That’s when you hear these statements: ‘You do not have age on your side a