Mumbai Mayhem

The blogosphere has been splattered, much like the carnage itself, with varying accounts of the mindless mayhem we had in Mumbai for 3 days. Thank God it's over, or is it?

While there are thousands of questions and thousands more waiting to be thought out, there is only one answer - the evil needs to be exterminated at its bud.

Where is the bud and how do we exterminate it? We all know for the entire length of known human history, there have been umpteen instances to suggest that men killed other men, and committed heinous crimes continuing to shock the generation only to be upstaged by the next. So, to preach angelic interventions is not only impossible but also impractical. The biggest difference in the current wave versus the earlier times is that the enemy often attacked in person and took pride in the fight to finish. Now, it's an unknown enemy, backed by unknown forces, supported by unknown causes and perpetrated against unknowing nations. There are many who'll disagree, who'll profess to know where exactly these crimes are coming from and who exactly are behind it and how exactly they go about it, but they'll remain theorists. How else do you explain that at one end there is a continued resurgence of terror and on the other we have reactive democratic forces who lack the resolve to beat their own territorial boundaries and mental blocks and seek solutions.

The israeli security agencies have suggested that the Mumbai combing operations were far from perfect but that's how they will be. Ours is a nation which hesitates to rope in talent. We are net exporters of human resources and armed forces and value our own lives very little.

It needs a resurgence of a nation to counter the current forces against India. We are very very far from that at this stage.

Heady times for Indian Cricket

It's not been very often that the Indian Cricket fan has had extended periods of euphoria. Sure, there have been series wins, thumping wins at that, but very soon thereafter there have been colossal losses or uninspiring performances and the build up has simply fizzled out.

One just gets the feeling that there are enough indications to suggest now that India may continue to be able to put across opposing teams more often than not. Phew! how careful can one get in choosing one's words! Can we just say that there is a clear trend, as technical analysts might say, towards a winning phase for India now? Surely, a series win against the all-conquering aussies is enough of an indication. The way they smashed the visiting pommies in the first one dayer - it seemed like they were batting in the highlights. Onward Ho!

What's wrong with Gilly? He's been one of my favourites throughout his career and one really liked his competitive spirit, his ability to live and let live, his honesty and above all his cricketing skill. Unfortunately, he hasn't exactly endeared himself to Indians with what he's written in his recent book. If I were literate enough on the choicest native expletives (hereinafter called CNEs) and he was patient enough to go through the same, I would construct a fully indexed page on words beginning with 'Maa-ki...'. Both he and Symonds seem to find it extremely difficult to believe that there could be such a phonetic resemblance to these abusive words. They only need to drive at near full speed on any of north India's roads and keep their recorders in play to catch up. To further explain the vernacular, this particular CNE is best delivered with a nasal accent and a suffix 'tho' is usually added to it... try it now, 'teri maa-ki tho..'. Howzzat!

While 'Maa-ki' or 'Behn ki..' expletives are certainly not music to one's ears, they are infinitely milder when pitted against racial abuses. One would certainly credit Bhajji with a good knowledge on the CNEs. But for god's sake, it's been nearly a year now; enough water has passed under all the bridges all over the world and let's let sleeping dogs lie!

On second thoughts, the last sentence may please be expunged - dogs and monkeys have no place in a column on cricket.