शरम, असाहय्यता, संताप, अनावर दुःख...

काही वेळा तुमचे सर्व विश्वास, तुमच्या सर्व आशा, तुमच्या मनातला आशेचा अंकूर करपवून टाकतात.... गेले ५० तास मुंबईपासून शब्दशः हजारो मैलो दूर आम्ही त्या वेळा वारंवार अनुभवतोय.

थॅंक्सगिव्हिंगची सुट्टी मनाला निदान काही वेळ तरी उभारी देईल, रागाचे कढ आणि दुःखाचे उमाळे कमी करील अशी लंगडी, कमजोर, नपुंसक आशा करतोय. आणि कुस बदलावी तशी दर घडीला टीव्ही नाहीतर इंटरनेट नाहीतर भारतात फोन करून आता तरी संपलं असेल अशी भकास वाट पाहातोय.

टाहो फोडून सगळे मिडीयावाले बोंबलतायत, माझा देश हतबल, आजारी आणि कमजोर आहे. मान खाली घालून सहन करण्यापलिकडे मी काहीच करू शकत नाहीये.

रेप करतायत राकट, भिकारचोट, धर्माधुंद वेडसर मोजके माझ्या लाडक्या शहरावर आणि गुडघ्यात डोके घालून बसण्यापलिकडे मी काहीच करू शकत नाहीये.

आतंकवादाने पीडीत असलेल्या आपल्या देशाच्या इतिहासातलं सगळ्यात रक्तबंबाळ वर्ष आधीच बनलेलं असूनही, देशातल्या अनेक महत्वाच्या शहरात रक्ताचे चिखल बरबटलेले असूनही मुंबईसारख्या अगदी पहिल्या धारेच्या टारगेटबद्दल बेशरम बेपर्वाई बाळगणारे माझ्या देशाचे राजकारणी मुळमुळीत शब्दात निषेध करताना पाहण्यापलिकडे मी काही करू शकत नाहीये.

आपल्या अतिरेकीविरोधी गटाच्या प्रमुखाला सांगून दोन दिवसात बाहेरची २०-२५ वर्षाची पोरं उडवू शकतात, खुले आम सांगून. माझा देश सुरक्षित आणि कणखर असल्याच्या माझ्या विश्वासाच्या पार्ल्यातल्या त्या टॅक्सीसारखा चिंधड्या चिंधड्या उडतात.

यानंतरही माझ्या देशातले राजकारणी लांगूलचालनाचं राजकारण खेळत इथे जोपासलं जाणा-या ह्या विषाकडे दुर्लक्ष करणार असतील तर कुठला आशावाद बाळगायचा माझ्या देशाच्या विकासाबद्दल. ज्या देशाने जगाला शांतीचे संदेश आणि शिकवण दिली तो देश त्याच्या आजूबाजूच्या शेजा-यांसारखाच, जगाला जाळायला निघालेल्या राक्षसांचा पाळणा ठरणार का...

४८ तास झाले, हे माझं दुःस्वप्न असेल म्हणून अनेक वेळा जागा व्हायचा प्रयत्न करतोय, खोटा... वांझ. काही बदलत नाहीये. अजूनही ते एक दोघं माझ्या देशाची अख्खी सेना रोखून धरतायत.

कृपा करून सांगा की हे असं वाटणारा मी एकटाच आहे, वेड लागलंय मला.... यातून धडा घेऊन परिस्थिती कायमची चांगल्या दिशेकडे बदलण्यासाठी यापुढे वळेल असं वाटणारे लोक आहेत तिथे. देशाच्या कायदा सुव्यवस्थेला वळण लावू शकणा-या त्यांच्या टोळीत १००-२०० तरी असे लोक आहेत तिथे. निदान माझ्या वेडाला आवर घालावा म्हणून तरी सांगा मला हे असं आहे....

माझ्या अशाच एका वेड्या मित्राने अभिमानाने त्याच्या चॅट विंडोवर गेले १५ दिवस फडकवलं होतं एक वाक्य... "Moon concurred what next..."? नेक्स्ट् होतं ताज हॉटेल, ओबेरॉयची रक्तरंजीत लॉबी, नरीमन हाऊसचं चार मजली घर... Just that someone else concurred it आणि मी हताश होऊन फक्त पाहात होतो...

बिथरलोय, हादरलोय, हरलोय मित्रांनो... चारी मुंड्या चीत होऊन हरलोय. उघडावाघडा होऊन नासवलाय त्यांनी मला.... शरम वाटतेय... शरम.

The Ball...!!

Recently I came across this poem... so aptly describing the agony and hell an amature golfer goes through... although it didn't improve my golfing skills a bit, it did inspire me to add my own $0.02 or should I say add "few more yards" to it... Enjoy!!

Original Vesion

The Ball

IN MY HAND I HOLD A BALL,
WHITE AND DIMPLED, RATHER SMALL.
OH, HOW BLAND IT DOES APPEAR,
THIS HARMLESS LOOKING LITTLE SPHERE.


BY IT'S SIZE I COULD NOT GUESS,
THE AWESOME STRENGTH IT DOES POSSESS.
BUT SINCE I FELL BENEATH ITS SPELL,
I'VE WANDERED THROUGH THE FIRES OF HELL.

MY LIFE HAS NOT BEEN QUITE THE SAME,
SINCE I CHOSE TO PLAY THIS STUPID GAME.
IT RULES MY MIND FOR HOURS NO END,
A FORTUNE IT HAS MADE ME SPEND.

IT HAS MADE ME YELL, CURSE AND CRY,
I HATE MYSELF AND WANT TO DIE.
IT PROMISES A THING CALLED PAR,
IF I CAN HIT IT STRAIGHT AND FAR.

TO MASTER SUCH A TINY BALL,
SHOULD NOT BE VERY HARD AT ALL.
BUT MY DESIRES THE BALL REFUSES,
AND DOES EXACTLY AS IT CHOOSES.

IT HOOKS AND SLICES, DRIBBLES AND DIES,
AND EVEN DISAPPEARS BEFORE MY EYES.
OFTEN IT WILL HAVE A WHIM,
TO HIT A TREE OR TAKE A SWIM.

WITH MILES OF GRASS ON WHICH TO LAND,
IT FINDS A TINY PATCH OF SAND.
THEN HAS ME OFFERING UP MY SOUL,
IF ONLY IT WOULD FIND THE HOLE.

IT'S MADE ME WHIMPER LIKE A PUP,
AND SWEAR THAT I WILL GIVE IT UP.
AND TAKE TO DRINK TO EASE MY SORROW,
BUT THE BALL KNOWS ...I'LL BE BACK TOMORROW

- Unknown

My Addition (Pardon the Bravado!)

I try to get the ball off the tee
It only drops at 6 inches teasing ... 'hit me'
I flex my muscles, gruntle my teeth
Only to hit the firm ground underneath

But there comes a time while I am not aware
The ball in the First shot runs like a hare
It swoops out the bunker like a sparrow
And even goes a Ten feet with a Putter as an arrow

Accidents like these make me go more and more
Even with bruised ego and ankles so sore
I race to PVG or Hartland at once
Leaving an angry wife home ignoring her curse

Balle.. Balle... Chandigad Duo!!

There is a reason for the Balle… Balle… dance to be done not just by the farmers in Northern part of India but all the sports lover across the nation. A little early than the Baisakhi season alright, but the effort well worth spent.

Two Chandigadhians have given us ample reasons to do so. One quite popular in the sporting fraternity of India, the Yuvraj of Indian Cricket finally breathing a sigh of relief that he will be able to replace the Prince in the test side. The other a sporting star on the Indian sporting horizon, growing in stature from a dim twinkle a few years ago to a rather bright spot on the golfing scene, Jeev Milkha Singh. Emulating his father in winning the Padmashree Award, but vowing to go much beyond that one day.

Yuvraj has grown the fondness of English leather after he himself was tonked out of park for 5 sixers in the 20-20 world cup. The revenge after that has only helped Indian side thrash their past rulers comprehensively on several occasions. In the last week, the six Sixers that he hit to Chris Broad were proven not be just a flash in the pan.

On Chacha Nehru’s birthday he tore the English attack to pieces despite an ailing back. Absolutely going berserk in making a 63 ball century and making further 38 runs in the next 11 balls to stand tall at 138 not out in just 74 balls. The earlier platform given by the upcoming Mr. consistent Gautam Gambhir and his fellow Delhite Dynamic Veeru was milked to its fullest potential to give a mere impossible target of 387. The outcome was quite predictable even by academic standards. The fact that the English side not having much of match practice in recent past and being beaten comprehensively in the 1st One Day they played in this series by the local Mumbai team proved to be only lame excuses proving the point.

But what the lanky star has always struggled in his busy career with is consistency. He came back strongly trouncing all such doubts and and his critics alike. Not only did he manage to pull India out of the trouble with 27 for 3 and play another cracker of an inning to complete his 10th ODI Century; he turned around to bowl a fantastic spell with envious figures of 4 for 28 in full quota of 10 overs. That alone would have fetched him a Man of the Match award.

English side must be scratching their heads and hoping on law of averages to give them some hope in already dented confidence to salvage something. The 7 match series statistically is still wide open, but when you are beaten so comprehensively by one player twice on the trot it does no good to your morale.

There was one individual though who demonstrated how to keep the morale high despite poor performance not far from there, in the other Colonial sport gifted to India . The game of Golf. Jeev Milkha Singh has featured on my blog a few times now and I’m sure this would not be the last time. Despite having a disappointing 1st round of +2 in arguably the most prestigious tournament on Asian Tour, the Singapore Open. Jeev hung in there believing in his unorthodox swings and relentless practice regimes.
This tournament has a very healthy purse of 5mn USD attracting the best talent around the world. The big list of names in Sentosa were World # 3 Phil Mickelson, World # 4 and two major winners for this year Padraig Harrington, the “big Easy”, Ernie Els from South Africa and many many more.
Getting into Sunday Jeev was behind the leader by an almost unachievable margin of 6 strokes in most tournaments. But Jeev went about his business calm and collected. He missed the two footer birdie chance to end the 3rd Round. Any golfer would tell you how difficult it is to shrug off such frustrating end of a round, especially when you have such a minimal margin for error in such star studded field. But that wasn’t the only ‘WTF’ moment he had for the day. In the 4th round on the long and difficult Par 5 7th hole, after a beautiful second shot on the green, he not only missed a makeable Eagle shot, but missed a foot long birdie shot as well.
When the world # 4 is hot on your trail playing alongside, shaking off these blemishes is almost impossible. But the new confidence that Jeev has developed especially after finishing T9th in the PGA Championship this year saw him through. Padraig Harrington’s intimidating round alongside him didn’t deter him nor did the late charge by another Major winner Ernie Els.

This win has made him the first person to win more than $1mn in a season on Asian Tour, has virtually assured him the Order of Merit on Asian Tour, which in itself will push him well within the top 50 in the world Ranking, which again means he will get to play all the 4 majors for next year. But what stands out the most is the calm and assured way in which he is getting his wins and top 10s across the globe. This has been a very busy year for him. He must have easily played 40+ rounds in this calendar year, which is quite a tall task. Thus injuries have accompanied him across the globe just like his clubs. But like his other Chandigadian brother he has come out fighting over those injuries. And representing the new “Can-Do” spirit of the Indian sport persons.

The Yuvraj of Indian Cricket will be stepping in the shoes of the Maharaja as we speak and the “King Singh” of the Indian Golf is going to only grow in his stature. Folks, be ready to take bow for them. India’s emergence as a sports nation is on the rise…!!

Special Election...Special Night...Special Moment in History

It was a special moment last night. When Barack Obama was elected as President of United States, it wasn't just another election, a symbol of multiple things. It wasn't just a democrat winning over a Republican. It was something much beyond all obvious.

His quick rise to the top demonstrates his own extra ordinary abilities, like exceptional thinking and eloquent skills, knowledge of the pulse of the nation and firm awareness of the modern technology. But even Mr. Obama will tell you that this victory is less about an individual with extra ordinary abilities winning the elections, but more about the true democratic and progressive nature of a nation. It is a symbol of the things to come in the 21st century.

150 years ago, the same nation was on the verge of divided into two. For some wanting to keep the ability of maintaining supremacy over fellow humans just because they belonged to a certain race. 40 years ago, this same nation was in a major turmoil to allow the same race to be with them in the same neighborhoods and same schools. Today the nation overwhelmingly (may it be Popular vote or may it be electoral vote) has chosen a person having half blood of the same race.

This ability of this nation to accept and adopt a change is commendable. It is a true demonstration of a democratic victory. And it is no wonder that it comes from a nation that has given this world the timeless definitions of Democracy and Human Rights.

Although my excitement around this is how this does all relate to me as a person, as a foreign individual to this nation. To me this is a victory of progress over dogma. This is a victory of open mindset over prejudices. Obama not only is a representation of African American community but is a representation of youth. He also represents multi-nationality with a biological father from Africa, a mother from America, his part education done in Indonesia where his step father belonged.

Much has been spoken around his Muslim connection, which unfortunately people were misusing to denounce him. But for whatever truth there is to that connection, it also is a victory for Multi-religionality. In the times when lines are being drawn between religions in this country and world at large, this will be an excellent example to demonstrate.

When our prejudices cloud our thinking and people who have interest in keeping us within those prejudices keep us pushing in them; it is essential for the world at large to have such symbols which will help us rise above these clouds. The pro-verbial melting pot is not just going to be a reality for this nation but will be the mantra of the global village at large in this coming century. Sound examples like these are thus very relevant for me and the future.

Thus I feel the victory is so very important and goes easily beyond the victory of “Blue” over “Red”. When our children and grand children will look behind, we can be very proud to tell them that we witnessed this history. The way we witnessed History in 1996 when a Dalit became the president of India in the form of K R Narayanan. He like Mr. Obama never played the Dalit card to his advantage. Both individuals wanting to prove that they are there despite being Dalit or Black not because of it.

On a warm August day in 1963, the great Martin Luther King Jr. had said "I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character...." Today is proven to be that 'one day'...

Tomorrow I can see my son openly calling an African American person 'Black', just because of his color and without a hint of any derogatory connotation to it. That to me is a big leap in future.

I can’t conclude my musings here without mentioning two equally strong observations. One on how graceful and truthful one can be in defeat when Senator McCain addressed his supporters.

And second how cruel destiny could be that the lady who made Obama who he is today and will probably go down in history as the greatest symbol of beyond-the-race culture, Obama’s dear grand mother, pure white by ethnicity passed away just one day prior to his election.

A grim reminder of the ultimate truth in life, but also a reminder that the progression never stops. A reminder that once a nation decides to change, it changes. And makes Mr. Obama’s message more universal and transcending boundaries … “YES WE CAN (CHANGE)”