Blog@GraceJunction

“If we can have BMW and Mercedes Benz as two separate companies, why can we not have the Indian Premier League and the Indian Cricket League”, a beleagured Kapil Dev!!

Poor Kapil Dev, one of the best cricketers India has seen, is fondly remembered for his 175 not out against Zimbabwe. That innings probably was a turning point in the way batsmen approached the One Day game ever since. Kapil’s face is always recollected, lifting up the Prudential Cup, with a Haryanavi smile that reflected his Indian Soul! (more…)

Usain Bolt is “too” tall to be a world class sprinter, Mike Friedman “too” fat to be an elite world class cyclist, Stefan Holm is “too” short to be a champion high jumper, and Erin Donohue is “too” short and stocky to be a star middle-distance runner. Yet all of them are Olympians, athletic anomlies, bucking conventional wisdom and somehow rising to the same arenas as Michael Phelps and Dara Torres.

Its amazing, how much man relies on statistics to make decisions, be it the vital or the numerical kind. But these wonderful people have attained that which has made experts revolve in their chairs and just confess, “It’s a mystery“!! (more…)

Citius. Altius. Fortius.

Well, you guessed it right. I couldn’t keep myself from being bitten by the Olympic Games bug. The grandeur of the event this year has finally caught the attention of many a nonchalant audience like me.

And in all these of watching a few hundred athletes compete for those precious (and not so precious) metals, it is probably for the first time that I was able to sit back and gauge upon the gravity of their endeavour. All thanks to our very own gold medallist Abhinav Bindra, not forgetting the record stint of Michael Phelps and the extravagant Chinese hosts.

However, what will stay on with me forever is none of these current events but one of the past Olympic Games; somewhere in the middle of the First and the Second World War. It dates to the Paris Olympic held in 1924 which, among several champions, featured a humble athlete who went on to clinch a gold medal in the 400 metres running race. (more…)

Come Olympics and most of us would be glued to this mega event unfold itself. More so because the built up to it and the country in which it is taking place promises much drama. This is one event which commands the most number of eyeballs, with the Athens Olympics drawing more than 4 billion people watching it just on TV. Most of us have already witnessed the violence that has marred the carrying of the Olympic torch, which signifies the uniting thread between the ancient games and modern games.

The purpose of the ancient games has been replaced by the spirit of the modern games. The Greeks placed emphasis on the Artistic nature of athletics and the preparatory role it played for its warriors. Games were important due to the impact it had on the regions economy and politics. But over a period of time the athletes began to be paid heavily for their sporting achievements and sports heroes emerged resulting in the demise of the amateurs and with it so many other things that sports stood for. (more…)

“Vinay! Will you go out or should I kick you out?” my mother would question me. Even before you start wondering what prank I would have got into, let me clarify that it was no punishment. Rather this is what my mom would force me to do every summer when I was a kid (yes, you are right, I have grown up); go out and play.

It was an ordeal for both of us; for me to convince her to allow me some more TV time and for her to kick me out to play some outdoor games. And once out, I would be gone for hours (not that my mom regretted it).

And yet after all these years, living now in a densely populated locality in Ahmedabad one would expect some better activity across the lanes than solving confused ideas between self and one’s canine friends. But I hardly come any kid happily marching down the streets to play cricket (or any other sport for that matter), except only when there’s a power cut which again is a rarity in the city. (more…)

The economy is troubled. The US Fed has cut interest rate by another 25bp to 2%. Markets worldwide are worried by this trend. Prices of food and gas are rising. But a growing population is almost oblivious to these realities.

They are looking forward to the release of “Grand Theft Auto IV”, a fourth generation videogame release of ‘Grand Theft Auto’ series, known to have sold 70 million copies since its launch in 1997! And GTA 4 is expected to be the biggest videogame debuts ever. I know this is news to many of us! But the videogame market is excited, as it has countered the general negative economic trend of the US and infact the industry has registered a 63% growth in softwares and 46% in equipments! I mean, salary or not, increment or not, let’s game! (more…)

The 2008 Olympics is hosted by China and will be held in Beijing. However the Torch relay has seen protests across the globe and that too at some unexpected and unprecedented places. The supporters of ‘Freedom of Press’ have staged protests at some place. However, the principal protesters, who have also managed to get enough political mileage have been the supporters of Tibet.

The Olympics is best remembered by its symbol-the Olympic Rings. These five intertwined rings represent the unity of five inhabited continents (with America regarded as one single continent). They appear in five colors on a white field on the Olympic Flag. These colors, white (for the field), red, blue, green, yellow, and black were chosen such that each nation had at least one of these colors in its national flag. (more…)

Just when the new format of cricket called ‘Twenty-20′ has only started getting into us, a still shorter version called ‘Ten-XI’ has sprung up and someone is actually patenting this new format! This new shorter version will almost be like the One-Day format shrunk to the last ten overs, but it is also a version loaded with rules.

In the set of rules, I noticed that, gone are the days of  a match ending up as a tie or a draw. The rules ensured that one of the teams ended up as a winner. Now I know that most of you will agree to the new format. But we are forgetting that this game is a gentleman’s game! Or should I say “was”! Gentlemen fought their matches with zeal and perseverance but were also willing to acknowledge their inability to defeat the other team and were ready to share the honors with them, thus sharing the points, sharing the win. But ‘No’. (more…)