Jingle all the way!!!!!

It’s 6 degrees and am freezing!!!!!

This is got to be the weirdest Christmas of my life.

Weird and lonely…… no family, no friends……

If you have spent the whole Christmas on Facebook, you know there’s something that isn’t going your way.

Choosing a career of your dreams is never an easy option…..but a rebellious heart and a wafer-thin salary packet can make one take a few bold and may be not so clever decisions.

Settling in New Delhi has been a struggle…..the last five months has been nothing else but tough! Seriously tough!

But still, when watching cricket matches on a giant LCD becomes a part of your profession, one can’t complain much. Camera, editing, cricket matches, stories, media stalwarts, visits to the Lok Sabha, Fashion weeks have all been like a dream but the reality hits in every morning when one has to get out of the blanket to make your own cup of coffee…..especially in Delhi winters….trust me it’s no fun!

I took it as a part of professional hazard but suddenly the Christmas Eve brought in a few memories that made me a little week in my knees.

Christmas back in my city is a little different……friends, Park Street, breakfast with cakes and oranges, the hanging socks for Santa and of course the gifts……well, we had our Santa too….

I have always been a part of a joint family where we are five brothers and sisters (well….you may call cousins!) and Christmas Eve we used to run for our beds because Santa used to visit us at Midnight.

Christmas morning we used to wake up and look for our gifts only to find nice packed boxes near our pillows…… chocolates, pens, books and on my 18^th year I even found a shaving kit!

We used to wonder how Santa knew what we want. We knew the answer; still we loved to the feeling of amazement and the happiness it brought along!
This Christmas I woke up….and suddenly looked beside my pillow, I found nothing……

I closed my eyes and thought about my Santa……

I saw him smile at me giving me a thumbs Up saying, “MERRY CHRISTMAS SON…”

That was my present.

Well….my Grand Dad is my Santa……and I can still hear him singing his Jingle all the way!!!!!!!

JOKER of the PACK

“May I come in Sir?”

The whole group turned towards the huge metal doors of the Engineering workshop.

“Sir, I have just been transferred to the Chemical Engineering section…..” the big eyed girl went on,”….I am roll no. 68.”

She uttered the words with much trepidation as the whole group kept staring at her.

That was the first time I saw Miss Malini Guha….Oooops! Then Miss Malini Guha…..

As she ushered herself into the workshop, a few whispers began, a few hearts skipped a few beats and a few meaningful smiles emerged. I kept looking at the newest member of our class. Her eyes were filled with much discomfort as she managed a meek smile at me as she settled into the worktable.

Well….. Those eyes have matured by 6 years since I saw them but they still have the pureness and the anxiety in them. And when those eyes displayed the gentle jitters of a bride, I could hear a few sighs of despair and a few hearts breaking!

Yup! Malini, as expected, finally exchanged vows.

As I was getting decked up for the occasion in front of my mirror, I suddenly realized that I am actually approaching the wrong side of the twenties! The shinny bald scalp, hidden by a strategically placed Mohawk, suddenly peeped out confirming the fact. As I walked in and handed over the gift, those eyes again greeted me with the question, “How do I look?”

I am perhaps the last guy who would come up with a “Wow! So Beautiful……”

Even Malini didn’t expect it! But to my surprise I showed double thumbs up!

“No ways dude!!!!!” I told myself.

I even tried to be the pain in the ass that I normally am but the harder I tried the more I disappointed myself.

I was astonished at my poor form but the thing that hit me the hardest was the lack of connection. There was a clear disconnect between me and my FRIENDS!

I tried to gel but the chemistry was simply missing!

May be I am growing up or perhaps my FRIENDS have grown out of me.

Whatever it may be…….It was a fabulous wedding….the first among my friends. All of them were there…..the Kings, the Queens, the Aces but the JOKER of the PACK didn’t quite make it!

The Wounded Tiger!

After Shane Warne’s wrong one’s it’s time for Tiger Woods to surprise us with his not so golfing swings!

After being in the limelight for nearly 15 years as an international celebrity, Woods probably figured out that the media can rip you apart cut when it came to explaining -- or rather not explaining -- what happened in the wee hours of Nov. 27 when he crashed his car outside his Florida home.

Now, Woods finds himself neck deep trouble and trauma, with several women popping up, eager for their 15 minutes of fame, divulging details of their alleged sexual affairs with the legend.

“I have let my family down and I regret those transgressions with all of my heart. ... Although I am a well-known person and have made my career as a professional athlete, I have been dismayed to realize the full extent of what tabloid scrutiny really means. For the last week my family and I have been hounded to expose intimate details of our personal lives. ... Personal sins should not require press releases and problems within a family shouldn't have to mean public confessions.”

Sure …..Woods couldn't be more right. He’s the greatest golfer of his generation because of his golfing talent and not because he's a paragon of personal virtue. But in today's wildly invasive media universe, being a champ isn't enough to protect your privacy. When a role model turns out to have feet of clay, we as fans feel a need to know every detail about his transgressions, no matter how little they have to do with the hero's public performance.

But the latest sex scandal makes people wonder — why do men cheat? And are the famous and powerful more prone to indiscretion, or are they just under the microscope more than the average Tom Dick and Harry?

Well, whatever it may be we all must pray that he should return to the golf course fueled by the same competitive fire that he has shown us over a decade.

Perhaps Rocky Balboa’s Coach Mickey was right,” women make a sportsman weak!”

Even the Great Tiger has been caught in his Woods swinging it the wrong way!

View from the TOP!

Malcolm Speed must have watched TV on the 6^th December 2009.

His comments on India being the “biggest bully to ICC and non performers” must have been shoved under the carpet after we attained the coveted pole position in the test match rankings for the first time in the history of Indian cricket!

Till date India was the financial nerve center of world cricket, in fact, questions were often raised as to why the money power doesn't translate into becoming the world's number one team? The ghost has finally been buried. It has also established that while boasting of the money and the market that propels cricket forward, India also has the best Test team in the world.

Though India has been always looked upon as the next big thing, we have never made it big in the sporting arenas. Like most of the Olympic Games are dominated by USA and China, even smaller countries like Jamaica produce Usain Bolt and Ethiopia produces a series of marathon winners. We do send in our entries only hoping that someone does a Bindra or a Peas! 1 gold in 88 years of competing does make us a misfit in the schema of being the next superpower!

Soccer is even more far stretched….. We are perhaps one of the most soccer frenzy nations yet we struggle to clear the qualifying rounds. Countries like Ivory Coast, Costa Rica, Serbia, and Slovenia make the cut and we still stay glued on to our TV sets rooting for Argentina and Brazil.

In sharp contrast, when we turn our attention to cricket this despair ceases. Cricket remains the only realm where Indians can flex their muscles on the world stage. Two world Cups, number two in ODIs and now numero uno in test matches does make the situation a whole lot brighter!

In a nation where the cricket enthusiast oscillates between adulation and vandalism, playing cricket is no less difficult than governing the country. In fact, the Indian captain's job is as tough as the prime minister's. At a time when social strife is never far away, the camaraderie in the present team is striking. And it is for this reason alone that Mahendra Singh Dhoni needs to be applauded. We must not forget the role of Sourav Ganguly and Anil Kumble as well. This team deserves all the accolades because no cricket team in the world is forced to carry the burden of a billion, trying to prove to their countrymen that unity is still an achievable dream in Indian national life.

Amidst the Naxals, Mr. Liberhan, nuclear treaties….MS Dhoni and his team has given us a chance to rejoice…but still we will remember 6^th December for all the wrong reasons and Cricket will always be a strict NO NO in the headlines of our premiere broadcast channel!! J