India at Rio: 2016 Olympics

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2016 Olympics, Abhinav Bindra, Aditi Ashok, Dipa Karmakar, Jitu Rai, P V Sindhu, Rio Olympics, Rohan Bopanna, Saina Nehwal, Sakshi Malik, Sania Mirza

The 2016 Summer Olympics at Rio de Janeiro came to a spectacular end recently. India had sent its biggest squad till date, of 119 athletes and sportsmen. We were widely expected to do much better than our performance at the last Olympic Games at London in 2012. You may recall that we had won 6 medals then, 2 silver and 4 bronze medals. Our Silver winners were Sushil Kumar in wrestling and Vijay Kumar in shooting, with Bronze medals being won by Gagan Narang in shooting, Mary Kom in boxing, Saina Nehwal in badminton, and Yogeshwar Dutt in wrestling. 

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A Phenomenon Called Rajinikanth

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Kabali, Rajinikanth, Rajinikanth jokes, super star

When a son, Shivaji Rao Gaekwad , the third in the family was born to Police Constable Ramoji Rao Gaekwad and his wife Ramabai in Bangalore on December 12, 1950, they had no idea that he would one day become one of the biggest super stars of Indian cinema. Likewise, those who bought tickets from him when he was a bus conductor in Route 10 A of the Bangalore Transport Service would not have dreamt that one day he would rule the silver screen. They still talk about those days when Rajinikanth (as he later became known as) impressed them so much with his antics that people traveled by his bus routes just to see him perform his duties as a conductor with extraordinary flair and style. 

Dr. Raghuram Rajan

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Dr Raghuram Rajan, Indian Economy, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, RBI Governor

Dr. Raghuram Rajan is, I believe, a modest man. Recently, he must have been embarrassed to be in the  eye of a storm after he announced that he is not open for a second term as Governor of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). When he assumed office, aged 50, he was so refreshingly different from earlier Governors that some in India went so far as to compare the former Chief Economist of the IMF, and Professor at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business with James Bond!

International Yoga Day

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International Yoga Day, Prime Minister Modi, Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, The Art of Living Foundation, Yoga

For the uninitiated, yoga looks so complex. I can imagine my favorite author P G Wodehouse describing it as people tying themselves in knots. Yet kids are taking to it just as their elders. Black, white, brown or any color in between, in nearly 200 countries, big and small, people are taking to what might be, at least in India for sure, the most inexpensive way to managing good health. They are practicing it with vigor and unprecedented enthusiasm from San Francisco, Ca touching the Pacific Ocean,  across the US mainland, Europe, Africa, and Asia to Yokohama in Japan on the other side of the Pacific.  From the capitalist United States to communist China, yoga is taking the world by storm. 

My Memories of The Olympics

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Al Oerter, Cassius Clay, Milkha Singh, Muhammad Ali, Munich 1968, Olympic Games

The passing away of boxing legend Muhammad Ali a few days ago brought back a flood of memories. I remember him winning the light heavyweight boxing championship at the Rome Olympics in 1960, only though at that time he was still known as Cassius Clay. Later I came to know that he threw away that precious Gold medal in the Ohio River following an incident of racial discrimination. Some years after the Rome Olympics, Clay became what was then called a “Black Muslim” assuming the name of Muhammad Ali. I remember reading about some of his famous fights over the years when he defeated Sonny Liston, Joe Frazier, George Foreman and many others. This article in the Indian Express details ten of his best fights. Reliving those moments brought back memories of the different Olympic Games I read about or saw on television.

So Near Yet So Far, Royal Challengers Bangalore in IPL 2016

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AB de Villiers, Chris Gayle, IPL9, Royal Challengers Bangalore, Shane Watson, Sunrisers Hyderabad, Virat Kohli, Yuzi Chahal

When Shane Watson fell at 164 in the 16th over, a silence fell upon the 30,000 odd people who thronged the Chinnaswamy Stadium at Bengaluru that day. Could the tail for the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) score 44 in the last 3 overs? Hyderabad had scored over 50 in their last three overs but we didn’t have their fire power. At one stage it had seemed that even 208 the target set by the Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) could be chased down. Now it appeared inevitable that RCB would fail in their bid to win the coveted Indian Premier League (IPL). It was not to be third time lucky for them having lost earlier finals in 2009 and 2011.

“Glimpses Of A Glorious Past”

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History, Lovedale, Old Lawrencians, Reminiscences, The Lawrence School

Some of us Old Lawrencians, alumni of The Lawrence School, Lovedale have hit upon an exciting idea. To write an informal history of the School. Of course, there have been books about the School before.  “Never Give In: A History of One Hundred and Twenty Five Years of The Lawrence School, Lovedale” by Hugh and Colleen Gantzer, published in 1984 and Max Cocker’s reminiscences in “Lawrence Memorial Royal Military School, Lovedale: A Personal Account” published in 1988, come readily to mind. We plan to do something different.

IPL 8 : RCB Stocktake At The Half Way Mark

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IPL8, Royal Challengers Bangalore

The eight edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) is on. Probably the richest cricket tournaments in the world, this T20 tournament has 8 franchisees vying for the prestigious cup. The Chennai Super Kings and the Kolkata Knight Riders have both won this twice in past years. It has been galling for faithful fans of the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) the team that I support, as I live in Bengaluru, that we have never won the trophy even once, despite the rich talent we had. We have been losing finalists twice.

He Deserved Far More: Dr. B. R. Ambedkar

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Constitution Of India, Dr B R Ambedkar

Today is the birth anniversary of one of India’s greatest sons, sadly one who was never fully given his due, Babasaheb Dr Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar, independent India’s first Law Minister. We can never forget that he was the principal architect of our Constitution, and one who wanted an uniform civil code apart from his phenomenal efforts to eradicate untouchability and the evils of the caste system. In this article, the eminent journalist, the late Mr. B. G. Verghese writes about some of Dr. Ambedkar’s contributions and how we as a country went wrong through blind hero worship.

What Made The News:

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AAP, Admiral Ramdas, beards, bragging rights

A few news items that grabbed my attention in the past few days feature in today’s blog post. I found them interesting- and amusing. Perhaps reflective of today’s day and age. Doctors, at least a few of them, seem to take pride in uploading pictures of their surgeries, with or without the consent of their patients says this article in the Times of India. As usual, Facebook is a target for such ‘bragging rights”. Imagine one doctor telling another, ” The tumor I took out is bigger then the one you did” and watching with glee the increasing number of number of shares, likes and so on!