(no subject)
That astute observer of English ways - Nirad C. Chaudhuri apparently once remarked that to the Englishman abroad literature was his wife, and sport his mistress. What might have been true for the colonial Brit, is most certainly true of this post-colonial Indian..
I just shifted house recently, have slowly been unpacking, not surprisingly the books came out first - the reunion has given me much joy. I don't get to read nearly as much I want to and used to, but just coming home to them just somehow feels right. Guess it comes from growing up around a lot of books - although my initial impulse as a 3 yr old confronted with these objects of learning was rather more destructive than constructive.. I duly ripped to shreds my dad's precious 100+ yr old encyclopaedia, and my sis' favourite novel, and flung it out in the rain for good measure :)
Sport has been my other major obsession of the past few years. Having lived, breathed, and lost lots of sleep following the swinging fortunes of the Indian cricket team, the Ashes were a great opportunity to sit back just revel in the beautiful game. It's a series many are calling the greatest ever, for sustained drama it's certainly the best I've seen - comfortably even India-Australia series of 2001. Really as a neutral observer you couldn't have asked for a better contest or exhibition of cricket - fabulous stuff. Each test match went right down to the wire, really edge-of-the-seat stuff, hope those scoffed at the easy pace of test-match cricket paid attention - for sustained suspense and drama this five-test series trounced the supposedly thrill-a-minute Twenty-20 or ODI.. This English team deserves all the accolades that are coming its way - they really were superb, it's just too bad it's over - couldn't have found a better reason to wake up in the morning :P Us depraved cricket fans have now be content with watching India play Zimbabwe - talk about anti-climaxes!
Half a world away Roger Federer didn't produce anything like his supremely sublime display of last year, yet raised his game enough to see off Agassi and take his second US open. His game frequently leaves tennis commentators searching for superlatives, while the rest of us are content to just sit back admire poetry in motion..
Alright those are but few of my favourite distractions that have taken centre stage as work has been sidelined, but it's definitely about time that changed..
I just shifted house recently, have slowly been unpacking, not surprisingly the books came out first - the reunion has given me much joy. I don't get to read nearly as much I want to and used to, but just coming home to them just somehow feels right. Guess it comes from growing up around a lot of books - although my initial impulse as a 3 yr old confronted with these objects of learning was rather more destructive than constructive.. I duly ripped to shreds my dad's precious 100+ yr old encyclopaedia, and my sis' favourite novel, and flung it out in the rain for good measure :)
Sport has been my other major obsession of the past few years. Having lived, breathed, and lost lots of sleep following the swinging fortunes of the Indian cricket team, the Ashes were a great opportunity to sit back just revel in the beautiful game. It's a series many are calling the greatest ever, for sustained drama it's certainly the best I've seen - comfortably even India-Australia series of 2001. Really as a neutral observer you couldn't have asked for a better contest or exhibition of cricket - fabulous stuff. Each test match went right down to the wire, really edge-of-the-seat stuff, hope those scoffed at the easy pace of test-match cricket paid attention - for sustained suspense and drama this five-test series trounced the supposedly thrill-a-minute Twenty-20 or ODI.. This English team deserves all the accolades that are coming its way - they really were superb, it's just too bad it's over - couldn't have found a better reason to wake up in the morning :P Us depraved cricket fans have now be content with watching India play Zimbabwe - talk about anti-climaxes!
Half a world away Roger Federer didn't produce anything like his supremely sublime display of last year, yet raised his game enough to see off Agassi and take his second US open. His game frequently leaves tennis commentators searching for superlatives, while the rest of us are content to just sit back admire poetry in motion..
Alright those are but few of my favourite distractions that have taken centre stage as work has been sidelined, but it's definitely about time that changed..