मैं और मेरी मातृभाषा

The transliteration tool is too dumb for me to complete this blog post in Hindi, but really - how long has it been since I wrote something, read a book, or even took an exam in Hindi!

While my short stay in Berlin is full of interesting (embarrassing?) anecdotes, and a blog is long overdue, I thought of writing something about, well a "native language identity crisis" (for lack of a better phrase!) that has afflicted me for some time now. Yang and Phil are friends that I made in my building (names changed!) a few weeks back, we hang out together sometimes in the cafe on weekends and have discussions on a wide variety of topics. Yang is in her early 20s and comes from South Korea, while Phil is in his late 20s and lives in Bavaria (Germany) Of course our native languages are Korean, German and Hindi(?) respectively, but most of our conversations are in English for obvious reasons.

I have always considered Hindi to be my first language in spite of the fact that I am a Maharashtrian, and I can speak decent Marathi; and I was rather disappointed when we stopped studying Hindi at school in the 10th grade (English was taught all the way till 12th grade) Medical College was all in English and there was a lot of John Grisham and Robin Cook along the way, but I cant remember reading anything by Premchand or Harvansh Rai Bachchan other than the small book chapters in School.

Yang finds this (and a lot of other stuff too, if I might add!) weird, and cant imagine growing up without reading books and novels in Korean. Phil agrees, and after a lengthy discussion "informs" me that my "native" language is English. Some of his arguments, and valid ones at that are strong enough for me to make an MS Office Table out of it


I have two problems with this - Firstly, my English is just not good enough for a "native"and secondly, I resent it. I might not have shown the same respect towards my native language as Yang and Phil, but well it's never too late!

I am asking my parents to gift me 'Madhushala' on my next Birthday!

BBW

Whoever made that law on Leg Before Wicket (LBW) , Stuart Broad obviously isn't too impressed...so he's gone a step further and created his own version of the law - Bat Before Wicket!

Well,at least that's the only way you can justify him going bonkers over this defensive push from Rohit Sharma,but whatever happened to Ravi Shastri! "That's close" "Two sounds" eh?

While Sehwag was banned for supposedly over appealing in South Africa , Broad gets away with just a warning from the Match Referee.Well , having a Match Referee for a father certainly isn't having any angelic effects on him , in fact ironically he says

"I would have been fined the whole match fee if he (Chris Broad) had been in charge"

PS - The reaction from the Indian bowlers is priceless!

Impeccable Ishant

If I die tomorrow,one thing I won't regret is that I got a chance to watch an Indian "fast" bowler knock the stuffing out of guys like Ponting and Clarke,supposedly born and brought up on fast pitches like the WACA.

With all due respect to Anil Kumble, in 15 years of seriously following Indian Cricket,not for once have I felt that an Indian bowler,even on his day and at his peak could run through a top batting side on any pitch in the world

Kumble has toiled and served Indian cricket, Srinath has, for long been the lone warrior in a "pace starved" country, Bhajji can bamboozle the best of batsmen on spin friendly wickets; Zaheer,when he reverse swings the old ball is lethal but Ishant is a class apart.His biggest strength I believe is that he swings the ball both ways at >140 kph, and gets movement with the new ball as well as the old one

Of course, with just 13 tests under his belt, he's got a long long way to go and match those illustrious names,but simply the sight of a tall Indian fast bowler terrorising teams like Australia and Pakistan, once the powerhouses of fast bowling is an awesome experience.

The fact that he is the first Indian fast bowler since Kapil Dev to pick up "Man of the Series" in a home series speaks for itself!

PS - Is it just me or does the sight of him bringing the ball back in into the right hander remind everyone of Courtney Walsh?

PPS - You can also read this blog on Cricinfo!

President Piyush?

Well it turns out Sant Chhatwal knew what he was talking about when he speculated about an Indian American President.Piyush "Bobby" Jindal has revealed that he refused a position on McCain's ticket.

Smart chap,I guess he didn't want to end up jeopardizing his chances for 2012/2016 by ending up on the losing side.

Anyways I don't think he could have made any difference to this election result, and I have my own doubts if an Indian American President would mean better Indo-US relations.
It certainly gives us some boasting rights though, especially considering Madame's influence in our own country and on its politics ;)

Yes we can!

Five years back if someone told me that a 47 year old African American first time Senator with the middle name "Hussein" would become the President of the United States of America, I'd say the odds of aliens attacking us are better!

But then yes,if you'd told me about blogs and email and cell phones when I was 10,I'd probably react the same way :D

Just makes me wonder what surprises life has in store for us ahead.Even my wildest dreams and the most of atrocious of my imaginations cannot match the rate at which life throws out surprise after surprise!

As California bans gay marriges again , my favourite tv show abruptly gets rid of a gay character,
and India furiously debates about gay rights my gut feeling says that I might just live to see the United States elect a gay President one day...Well,I'm no Nostradamus but yes, if it happens I'll be shouting from the rooftop that I saw it coming ;)

Ah, wish I could do a Hiro Nakamura and find out if I'm even close!

PS - Sant Chhatwal thinks its only a matter of time before an Indian American runs for President.Now,THAT is one to watch out for!

The Hindu Rate of Wrath

I stopped reading Outlook a few years back, couldn't bear to read Vinod Mehta's editorials, I guess propaganda would be too small a word to describe his articles.Also, I can't stand Arundhati Roy who has to be on their cover at least 5 times a year writing stuff like “India needs azadi from Kashmir as much as Kashmir needs azadi from India.”

Amitabh Bachchan's blog had an article which puts across a POV which hasn't been seen in any of the mainstream print or television media.What amazes me is that the editor in chief of the La Revue de l'Inde in Paris shows a deeper understanding of the issue than Rajdeep,Barkha et al.

PS - I love Amitabh's blog! Just hope that posting articles like this and one more on Raj Thackeray doesn't get him into trouble again!

Anand does it yet again!

As Viswanathan Anand adds yet another World Title to his kitty,a line I read from from the Sydney Morning Herald instantly comes to mind.No,this isn't me dreaming at 2.42 am,an Australian newspaper actually had words of praise for India in the middle of a test match series!

"INDIA is sending a spaceship to the moon, has won the Booker Prize, is winning the World Chess Championship and is about to knock over the cricket champs as well."


Guess what makes me come back on Earth ,just 600 fans for Vishy on orkut.
Come on India,even Munaf Patel's got more!

Dude, I just made it 601!