Sai Baba's Last Trick

Yesterday was actually a day of lots of known birthdays. Undoubtedly, Sachin's was the biggest of them all. People from Karnataka will probably remember that it was Rajkumar's birthday as well. On a personal note, I feel he was very over rated and had successfully managed to apply a lipstick to his controversy riddled career. The only reason I like him is because of all those audio clips about "Rajanna" that went viral during the good old college days. Hard to believe that cricketer turned umpire Dharmasena too celebrated his 40th birthday. I'm sure he will be going through some strange emotions whenever he sees people like Shane Warne who are older than him begging him to give the batsman out. But more than all of these birthdays, I'm more happy that it was the death day of Sai Baba.

While I had taken a swing against Sai Baba in The God, The Religion and The Ugly, I'm actually happy to see that his nuts have been finally laid to rest. I utterly detest all the self proclaimed god men. While I do pity the people who believe in them, I sometimes feel that people who actually fall for those kind of silly tricks actually deserve to be deceived. Not long ago was Nityananda caught on camera in compromising positions. Funny thing with all these scandals is that the females flashing flamboyantly in the videos actually deny that its them when they can actually come out with newer and fresher videos like Paris Hilton or simply show their sense of humor by saying that they would have probably bought something from Ann Summers if they knew that they were being taped.

Coming back to Sai Baba, he is probably the biggest con artist of the recent times. A person who not only looted people by exploiting their weakness in belief but also proved to be an ultra safe locker for all the politicians' dirty money. While all his tricks have been well exposed, his internal affairs have also been put out there in the public for people to see. Watch some of the recommended videos on YouTube and you'll know what I'm talking about. There are many men who have been molested by him and there is no denying the fact that inspite of being a vegetarian , baba loved "sausages". I even stumbled upon a few pics from his childhood, which show that he was even a cross dresser and that he has always been a person trying to come out of the closet.

With everything said and done, I guess he is only one among numerous other petty con artists out there. Awareness is something that is lacking and people tend to assume that anything that doesn't have a simple explanation is an act of god or now, god men. Only when they start critiquing and questioning these acts, the glorified magicians will bite the dust. The only commendable trick of Sai Baba is that he made people believe that he died yesterday when he had already died few days back.

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The Highs and Lows of IPL

Its been 10 days since the 4th installment of the highly popular yet controversial IPL got underway. While there are a lot of cynics out there who claim that the IPL has everything but cricket, I beg to differ. The simple fact being, if it wasn't for cricket and the juicy T20 format, a concept like IPL would have never kicked off in the first place. While there is always a possibility of the side dishes overshadowing the flavors of the main course, it is impossible for anyone to savor only the sides and totally exclude the main course.

I have been wanting to write about this man for a long time. Hats off to Lalit Modi for the inception and execution of such a great idea. Frankly speaking, I was a bit doubtful about his ability to single handedly make it a success. But I developed great respect for Mr.Modi when he yet again single handedly shifted the IPL from India to South Africa under a month. Modi had his duly wise men to advise him but I guess a lot of other crabs in the BCCI couldn't stand him raising the bat with each edition of the IPL.

Of course there is a lot of commercialization and that is obviously expected as at the end of the day, its a business. Franchises have invested a lot of moolah and they intend to make profits out of it and if cricket is the way, then let be it. Lots of MNCs are doing the same with software professionals but nobody is complaining. Right!!! I'm a hardcore RCBian and I watch it only for the cricket and once in a way wouldn't mind seeing hot "talented"(yes, it takes a lot of hardwork and talent) girls shaking their booty but never the other way around. I honestly don't believe that anyone for that matter watches the IPL only for the cheerleaders. If people are so desperate to see some skin, I guess there are lots of other ways which yield more skin and bodily fluids per viewing minutes.

While the 3rd edition of IPL ended on a very controversial note, let us have a look whether there is any drastic improvement in the quality the event. For starters, the opening ceremony actually looked like one of those acts that you would probably have in your wedding. Hardly any known names or classy and memorable acts albeit SRK(who would have done it for free anyways). So there is something literally "cheap" about it. Moving on, Max has stuck to two dudes and an on field bimbo (cheap). The forte of studio guests include Sidhu, ArunLOL, Gavaskar (Jr) and Jayasuriya(pity). So there is the "cheap" factor once again. There are only 3 commentators per match(logistics and "cheap" factor). The TV channels are doing a wonderful job in not showing the empty stands and zooming in on handful of the artificially enthusiastic fans.

The BCCI actually did another "cheap" act by assuming that the WorldCup win would automatically fill up the stands and thus spent a meager amount on promoting the IPL. Not even once have I seen any of the team anthems or videos this time and I'm sure the hoardings and other outdoor advertising also has been limited. Chirayu Amin's dressing and attitude was like a humdinger for the quality of IPL. At the end of the day the only thing I can say is that Mr.Lalit Modi you are being missed dearly. We miss the class and style that you brought to the IPL. While I so want you to come back and take control, I know its not going to happen and I can only see the start of the IPL downfall.

P.S - Dear Vettori, please stop sending tailenders up the order as pinch hitters. Gone are those days during 1990s when Srinath was the trump card. Please get the batting order right. 

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Working Out and Gaining Weight Inside

Just a few months ago, I had reached a point in my life when even the belts were not enough to keep my pants from slipping. Surprisingly I had lost a lot of weight and felt very fit. Guess I have to owe everything to all the cricket that I used to play during that time. Coming to current form, I'm nearing the nervous nineties and frankly speaking, I have no intentions of scoring a century when it comes to weight. Guess all the good news in the recent times has accelerated my binging and indulgence in calorie rich food and drink.

The end result of all of this is that I'm running out of holes in my belts and have managed to just hold onto the last hole. So I finally made up my mind yesterday to do something about it. After two boring IPL matches on a Sunday and on a rare day when it was sunny and warm in Glasgow, I decided to go for a run with my two bodyguards. Yes yes, I was worried that I would either run out of breath or body fat to burn. There was a 99.9% probability that it would be the former one.

I was pleasantly surprised with my stamina as I ran without taking a break for way more distance than I expected. The great thing about this weather is that you really need to break your bones to break a sweat. While I was on my way back home, there were a couple of weird looking little kids just playing the fool as usual. One of them had a huge stick in his hand and it seemed like the Starwars ghost had got into him and he was totally unaware of his movements. As I tentatively neared him, he poked me with his long stick where it hurts the most. Well in all respects, my stick was no match to the real wooden counterpart and it really hurt!!!!!. Damn those kids!!

With the worse out of the way, I came back home only to be craving for more to eat. After munching on some yummy fried homemade stuff like ಕೊಡ್ಬಲೆ and ಚಕ್ಕಲಿ and some chicken donner late in the night after dinner, guess all the sweat and a possible 0.001gm of fat that I had burnt went in vain. These incidents have just made me realize that a physical activity like this is not only going to not help you in reducing weight but will you also help you a great deal in putting on some extra pounds. And unfortunately these are the pounds that accumulate around your waist and not in your wallet.

P.S - Any magic health tips deeply appreciated.

P.P.S - Forrest Gump was a bit overrated!!

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"We Are The Champions" - India #CWC2011

Yesss!!! Yesssssssssssss!!!Wooooohooooooooooooo!!! These were the words that came out of my mouth when Dhoni scripted the most stylish finish to a world cup. The adrenalin was pumping and everyone was so high on energy at Walkabout on Saturday that it mimicked a stadium atmosphere, which even included a dhol. I had held onto my beer mug till the end and composed stone cold's entrance music to commemorate the victory thus sacrificing the mug. The Indo-Pak fever had literally got to me and I was down with fever earlier in the week. Even though I missed watching that match in similar atmosphere, I have to confess that watching India winning the WorldCup was the best feeling of my lifetime.

All thanks to a wonderful team in whom I always believed, I can now tell the story of how India won the worldcup to my kids and possible grand kids. There have been some absolutely stunning individual performances over the worldcup but there is no doubt that this victory was a perfect team effort dedicated to the great man himself, Sachin Tendulkar. Kohli's statement was perfect when he said that Sachin had carried the burden of a nation for 21 years and its time we carried him on our shoulders.

Yuvraj Singh was one of the start performers of the tournament. There was a time I remember when he couldn't field at point and had upgraded his looks with a double chin and a paunch. But it was definitely a treat to see him flying on the field along with murdering the bowling attack and chipping in with a few wickets as well. Zaheer Khan has become such a mature cricketer that its a treat to watch him when he is on song. I still remember the first over he bowled in the 2003 worldcup finals when he had a lot of Sreesanth like temperament. But to become the leading wicket taker in the tournament and most importantly taking those vital wickets has to be one of his career highs.

Its really hard to put yourself in Dhoni's shoes. I can't even imagine the pressure of a billion fans on your shoulders. No doubt he had taken a few calls which backfired and some almost did, but at the end of the day, he had the guns and balls to pull things back and put up a show when it really mattered. Hats off to this gem of a cricketer and the greatest Indian captain. It just makes my rendezvous with Dhoni 6 months back even more memorable.

This win has given me one of those "I was there" moments. There were a lot of people at Walkabout who had come to be a part of history and there were some who had come just for the heck of it. The latter group of people mainly consisted of self proclaimed eye candies who couldn't even tell the difference between powerplay and innings break. These were the people who had come to say "I too was there". At the end of the day it was great to see a lot of divided people united by a common cause. The hashtag of #CWC2011 has finally seen its happy ending and we will probably see a birth of #IPL4 soon.

Congrats India once again for the winning the WorldCup and hopefully we can retain it 4 years from now. The stage was perfectly set for Sachin to retire, but then again I guess the kid in him is urging to push till the next WorldCup.

P.S - I also felt one of the legends of the game Muralitharan deserved a better send off.

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