Last Seen Blogs
Text
Laapataa Ladies. Excellent situational comedy. Kiran Rao gives us subtle humour throughout.
Laapataa Ladies ( LL) is easily one of the better movies I have seen in quite a long time. It is simple, light hearted, and conveys a message. Produced by Aamir Khan, Kiran Rao, and CEO of Viacom-18, Jyoti Deshpande, the movie is based on Biplab Goswami’s screenplay, “Two Brides”. Kiran Rao has done a terrific job as director.
Set in rural India, the plot is simple. In traditional India, the…
View On WordPress
0 notes
Text
300 and no further cricket. Andy Sandham, Kevin Pietersen and Samridh (Sam) Agarwal.
Is it possible that someone will score a 300 but not play further cricket? Seems impossible. However I came across three such instances, and would like to share them with you. The trio are Andy Sandham, Kevin Pietersen and Sam Agarwal. Read on.
I start with Andy Sandham who played 14 Test matches in which he had two hundreds. He was a 1st class giant with over 40000 runs in 1st class cricket.…
View On WordPress
0 notes
Text
4 Years back, we had a National Lockdown amidst the terrible COVID-19 Pandemic. Random thoughts.
Swans are white in colour. Hence a black swan is something extremely rare. In history, black swan events have happened very rarely and are characterised by severity of consequences. COVID-19 was one such black swan event (hopefully) which devastated the world. The total number of deaths were more than 3 million globally and India had more than 3 Lakh deaths as well.
Why am I saying hopefully?…
View On WordPress
0 notes
Text
Will Novak Djokovic's records ever be broken. A blog to be updated in December every year.
When Pete Sampras was world number one for 286 weeks and won 14 Grand Slam singles titles the record seemed unsurmountable. However, records are meant to be broken. Roger Federer came along, and so did Rafa Nadal. Federer’s 20 Majors and 310 weeks at number 1 seemed huge. However the Majors tally was surmounted by Rafa Nadal who has 22.
Both these records are now held by Novak Djokovic who is…
View On WordPress
0 notes
Text
Maharani. Huma Qureshi and Amit Sial excel in this must watch political drama on SonyLiv.
Maharani is a 3-season web-series on SonyLiv starring Huma Qureshi, Amit Sial, and an ensemble cast. Huma plays the role of Rani Bharti, an illiterate wife who succeeds her politically savvy husband as Chief Minister (CM) of Bihar. The genre is political drama and the series is about the various incidents which happened in Bihar during the 1990’s and the decade thereafter.
While the creators and…
View On WordPress
0 notes
Text
Kelptomania, or attempted theft at airport or benefit of doubt to be given? What do u think?
Let me start this article by voicing my admiration for the CISF. They have a tough job to do, and they do it well, with immense patience. There are around 100 operational airports in India, and CISF provides security to around 70% of them as the designated national civil aviation security force.
This article is about an incident which happened at Hyderabad airport to my wife Milly and myself,…
View On WordPress
0 notes
Text
Some globally loved desserts. Baklava, Apple pie, Creme Brulee, Baked Alaska, and more.
A dessert is a course which concludes a meal. It is generally sweet and it is derived from the French word “desservir” which means to clear the table. It is served after the table is cleared of main course and dishes. There are exceptions of course like a Bohri meal where sweets are given alternately with savoury and spicy food. However generally, desserts are given at the end of a meal.
Indians…
View On WordPress
0 notes
Text
Hardik Pandya and fans. Why this dislike?
Commentator Kevin Pietersen said that he does not remember an Indian player getting booed in India. To be factually correct, Sachin, Dravid, Ravi Shastri, and even Sunny Gavaskar have been booed by crowds. Sachin was targeted for his 21 balls 1 run versus England, while Dravid and Sunny Gavaskar were booed by the Eden Gardens crowd for the dropping of Sourav Ganguly and Kapil Dev. Ravi Sshatri…
View On WordPress
0 notes
Text
Taxmen in IPL 2024. Chahal, Tewatia and more.
Amitabh Velaskar and Rajib Dutta are two terrific coaches who are employees of the Income Tax Department. Both have played Ranji trophy, Rajib for West Bengal, and Amitabh for Goa and Tripura. Amitabh has earlier been the captain of the Income Tax team for the BCCI Corporate Trophy and he recently was the coach of the Income Tax team which entered the final of the prestigious DY Patil T20…
View On WordPress
0 notes
Text
Four stalwarts Ashwin, Bairstow, Williamson, and Southee join the 100 Test club.
On two days, March 7th and 8th, we had as many as 4 outstanding cricketers playing their 100th Test match and joining the 100 Test Club. At Dharamsala, in the 5th Test of the Anthony de Mello trophy, Ravi Ashwin and Johnny Bairstow becme the 77th and 78th crircketers to play their 100th test. The very next day at Christchurch, in the 2024 NZ-Australia series, Kane Williamson and Tim Southee…
View On WordPress
0 notes
Text
Adieu mere bhai. My school senior Subhashis Bhuyan moves on to a better world. Om Shanti.
Subhashis Bhuyan was my senior in school. He played cricket at all levels with distinction before going on to play Ranji Trophy. He was popularly called by his petname PunPun but somehow I used to call him Bhuyan Bhai. He too referred to himself as Bhuyan Bhai when we spoke to each other once in a while. If he called, he will say, “Bhuyan Bhai kahuchi (speaking)”, and same when I called.
Those…
View On WordPress
0 notes
Text
Seven contracted players dropped by BCCI but we talk about Shreyas Iyer and Ishan kishan. Why?
The 2023-24 annual player retainership contract had two major omissions, namely Shreyas iyer and Ishan kishan. Let us discuss the reasons for the same, but before that let us take a quick look at the players who have been offered contracts, and those who have been dropped.
Grade A+ which is for 7 crores has four players, namely Rohit, Virat, Bumrah, and Jadeja. There is no change from previous…
View On WordPress
0 notes
Text
Article 370. Yami Gautam Dhar is superb in this much watch movie.
Artice 370. What a movie. Just superb. The movie is based on the circumstances leading to the abrogation of Article 370 which gave a special status to Jammu and Kashmir, something which almost 100% of Indians had thought was not possible. However the CEO of India, our Hon’ble Prime Minister, and a few in his hand-picked team did not have the same view, and did the “impossible”.
I saw the movie…
View On WordPress
0 notes
Text
Rajkot was an amazing win, the Ranchi win is probably even better. Let us discuss why.
In my earlier blog, I had pointed out why the Rajkot Test match win was extremely important. The reasons I had pointed out were (i) Fightback twice, (ii) Ruthlessness and margin of win, (iii) giving India a crucial 2-1 lead, (iv) win with an inexperienced batting line up, (v) team spirit, including standing by and with a team member who had a family emergency, and (vi) promising debut by an…
View On WordPress
0 notes
Text
Remembering Chef Imtiaz Qureshi fondly.
Chef Imtiaz Qureshi was a descendant from a family of cooks/chefs for the rulers of Awadh as many as 300 years back. He is credited with the modern revival of Awadhi cuisine in India. Chef Qureshi’s signature restaurant is the Dum Pukht, which has an unique slow oven cooking technique. He has also created the amazing restaurant brand Bukhara. A few days back, at the grand age of 93, the Grand…
View On WordPress
0 notes
Text
Some reasons why India's Rajkot Test win is one of its most important wins in its cricket history.
India defeated England by a huge margin of 434 runs to go up 2-1 in the 2024 5 test series. In my view this is one of India’s most important wins in its cricket history and I identify the following reasons for thinking so.
Fightback, not once but twice; India continued to be without Kohli, Rahul, and Shami. Both in batting as well as bowling India gave a terrific fightback. This was seen not…
View On WordPress
0 notes
Text
Mohit Raina is super in and as The Freelancer. Watch it on Disney+Hotstar.
The Freelancer is a seven episode thriller/action genre web-series on Disney Hotstar starring Mohit Raina, Anupam Kher, Kashmira Pardeshi, and Sarah Jane-Dias. The series is based on Shirish Thorat’s , “A ticket to Syria” and is about a young girl Aaliya who is taken to Syria after marriage to Mohsin who is from a family, all of whom have been indoctrinated to joining ISIS.I found it terrific and…
View On WordPress
0 notes