Look back at 2008

The year 2008 draws to a close, which in the larger scheme of things means little more than the fact that our planet is nearly in the same place, with respect to the sun, as it was 366 days ago. Still it's a good excuse to celebrate.

This year, like all other years, continues to epitomise that immortal line by Charles Dickens, "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times."

Indeed, in sports, it was a gala year, for India especially. In cricket, the Indian team has had an excellent year, winning all over the place, except in Sri Lanka. The Australia series was a great victory, as was the one against England. The IPL was also a huge money-spinning success. Australia, has finally had a terrible year, able to dominate only New Zealand, and losing at home to a rampant South Africa. South Africa has gone from "chokers", to a team that never says die, rather like the old Australian teams of the 90s.

Football and tennis have been great fun too. Rafael Nadal has taken over at the top, and took the Wimbledon crown from Roger Federer. In football, Man U won the Champions' League. Also, Spain finally won a trophy, Euro 2008, beating not some team that always loses like England or Holland, but Germany, that always seems to win tournaments.

Plus, India has had its best Olympics ever, and Michael Phelps broke Mark Spitz's long standing medal record.

There have been some sadder events too. Quite a few terrorist attacks and the big global recession that has everyone freaked out.

So, goodbye 2008, it's been nice knowing you, but we're still looking forward to meeting 2009.

Merry Christmas!

Here's wishing you all a Merry Christmas!

Pricey idlis

While passing through Bangalore's new airport I happened to notice a plate of idlis selling for a whopping 90 bucks a plate. Interestingly, you can get these for 10 bucks at most fast food places in the city.

Tragic events in Mumbai

Some really sad events have taken place in Mumbai recently, and I'd like to express my condolences to the families of those killed and injured during these attacks.

Man U and Chelsea do battle on 2 fronts

This week has been a seriously enjoyable one in sports. In football, Manchester United make the final, a solitary Paul Scholes goal, being all that separated them from Barcelona. However, in my opinion, Barcelona, despite having the vast majority of possession, rarely managed to put pressure on a tight Man U defence. And, it must be said that United often gave the ball away all too easily. Fortunately, for Cristiano Ronaldo, his penalty miss in the first leg didn't cost United a place in the final.

In the other semi-final, Liverpool's string of luck in the Champions' League finally ran out against Chelsea, who shrugged off a sluggish second-half performance to win their second leg 3-2 after extra time. A more hard-fought game than the other semi-final, the momentum frequently swung to and fro between the 2 teams.

Interestingly, this means that the 2 teams in the final, are also the only 2 teams with any chance of winning the Premier League. Though I will be supporting the Red Devils, I do hope the Champions' League final will be a more exciting match than last year's FA Cup final.

Happy Easter

Here's wishing a belated Happy Easter to you all!

Brr Brr..

Phew! Finally blogging after over a month! Been a fairly action-packed month with my Stage 2 presentation, a trip to Delhi for an exhibition, several computing services that I help manage going down without warning, and the coldest winter I've experienced in 8 years in Mumbai.

Also, there's been a couple of productive quizzing experiences thrown in, but more on those later.

This winter has been the first time I've experienced such cold in Mumbai. Of course, the afternoons are extremely pleasant, but the rest of the day is a pain. Especially, the mornings when those of us more used to warmer climes find it nearly impossible to get up. Now, the weather has improved somewhat, and one can't help regret the passing of the cold a little, as that has opened up the way for the long, hot summer ahead.

However, things will have been much worse in Delhi, which I'd visited for a few days between successive cold waves, luckily avoiding both of them. There, I'd actually found the weather fairly pleasant. A little chilly, perhaps, but then again, it wasn't during a cold wave.

Season's Greetings

A belated Merry Christmas and a timely Happy New Year to you all!

Congrats Jumbo

I'm back again after another bout of deadlines. Another bunch looming on the horizon too.

Finally, Anil Kumble gets to be captain of India, 10 years after being made vice-captain, and months after retiring from ODIs. Kumble is probably the best choice, as Sachin is unwilling after his previous debacles, MSD might be a bit overwhelmed, particularly with the big series against Pakistan and Australia next, Dravid gave up, Laxman is perennially under fire and Saurav is not going to get the selectors' vote any time soon.

Still, Jumbo has his work cut out. He's faced with an interesting situation. The senior players are getting old, and the younger players aren't exactly experienced. It'll be interesting to see how he does, but it can't be expected to last, as he is obviously a stop-gap captain.

I'm back

After a bit of a hiatus caused by good old-fashioned deadlines and a short spell of conjunctivitis, I'm back.

The T20 championship ended with that most shocking of results, India winning. Frankly, though it was a real humdinger of a final, and Pakistan were well in sight of victory. This was followed by a loooong bus-ride through Mumbai, and the Indian players now know why Sachin Tendulkar only drives his Ferrari at night.

Of course, all this was followed by the ODI series against Australia, where the predictable happened, India lost the series, despite Sreesanth's histrionics and quite a few decent performances from everyone except Dravid. Indeed, only 1 of the matches was completely one-sided.

Dhoni also showed why he's a good captain by supporting the big (and old) 3, after their performances in the Chandigarh ODI. Let's hope he carries forward from here.

A major worry for the Indians is the fact that they failed to play Brad Hogg and Michael Clarke well. Normally touted as amongst the best players of spin in the world, they were completely bamboozled by the Australian spinners.

I've also been following the Rugby World Cup, and the fightbacks of both England and France after initial setbacks were great to follow. England defeated France in their semi-final, and now face-off against South Africa for the trophy.