Road To Los Angeles: Episode 3

The Olympics are still over 3 years away. And most of the Olympics sports & stars have receded back in the collective national memory. But some of us continue to trudge on.

Here is some of the goings on in the India Olympic sports scene in the past few months.

India submitted its application for hosting the 2036 Olympics. The way things are shaping up, there is a decent chance of it actually happening. Ironically it was a non-sporting event (the Coldplay concert) at the same venue which has boosted the chances!

Hockey

• India easily won the Women’s Asian Champions Trophy held in Rajgir, Bihar.
• The Hockey India League is back although marred by timing issues. However, good to see both the men’s & women’s editions run in parallel. The international exposure should help the game.

Cricket - The Men’s T20 team continues its blistering performance with convincing series wins away in South Africa and at home in India. On the other hand, the Women’s team had a comfortable home series win against the West Indies after a bad outing in Australia.

Tennis -  Is 15-year old Maaya Rajeshwaran Revathi the next Indian Tennis star? The superb run to reach the semi-finals at Mumbai Open does bode good signs for the youngster! However, it is still very early days.

Boxing - Nishant Dev turned pro. Well, not really a surprise, given that the sport itself faces uncertainty with still no clarity on whether it will be part of the Los Angeles roster!

Off-the-field

• The Khel Ratna Awards had some unnecessary controversy. What should have been a celebration of sporting achievements left a bad taste for all. Although, in the end they did sort it out a bit.
• The wrestlers are off the mat again missing international ranking events, as the uncertainty in the Federation itself continues.

Meanwhile, Los Angeles has been struck by major wildfires with large loss of life and damage to property. This has resulted in some whispers about the preparations of the city for hosting the Games.

So that was it for the 3rd Episode in the Road To LA. Till next time.

Links: Road To LA: Episode 2 

BookMarks #123: Robinson Crusoe

Title: Robinson Crusoe

Author: Daniel Defoe

Genre: Fiction

Published: 1719

BookMarks

Robinson Crusoe – it is one of the most familiar tales in the English language, the story of a man who gets ship-wrecked and stranded on a remote island alone, how he manages to build his own little world there and then finally after a two decade long near-incarceration is able to return to his home. This is the abridged version on the story that I was familiar with (In fact it is considered to be amongst the first novels in English). But the actual book goes into deeper details of his life on the island and follows it up with more adventures across the world, till finally Crusoe in his seventies decided to settle down at home.

While I was familiar with the story, reading the full version in detail left a different impression. While I understand the times were different at the time of publication (early 18th century), still the sheer amount of bigotry, slave trade, human trafficking, racism, religious supremacy which features in the book is simply unbelievable by modern standards. There is no equality, natives are described as savages and barbaric (of course the cannibalism doesn’t help). But it’s not just restricted to them – there is hardly a good word in general for anyone who is not English or Christian – whether the Spaniards, Mongols, Chinese, Russians – no one is spared. Everyone else’s customs are against God. Conversion is a recurring theme in the book. Crusoe even goes on to destroy the idols and places of worship of others!

No wonder, what we read as kids is a very mild version which just puts in the adventure part and removes the rest.

And then there is the spelling – shewed (for showed), hallooed (for calling out), and more. Even the words have entirely different meanings to the modern usage.

A couple of lines which stood out:

• to-day we love what to-morrow we hate; to-day we seek what to-morrow we shun; to-day we desire what to-morrow we fear; nay, even tremble at the apprehensions of.
• attempting to teach others is sometimes the best way of teaching ourselves.

Reading this version gave a totally different impression of what was a simple familiar story!

Previously on BookMarks: The Fine Art of Small Talk 

BookMarks #122: The Fine Art of Small Talk

Title: The Fine Art of Small Talk

Author: Debra Fine

Genre: Non-fiction, Self-help

Published: 1997

BookMarks

A book targeting the introverts, who find it difficult to make and continue conversations in informal settings. Some of the techniques suggested to be a good conversationalist are:

• Express empathy
• Greet people warmly, make eye contact and smile
• Be first to say hello
• Use the person's name and correctly
• Show an interest in others
• Dig deeper
• Be a good listener and an active one
• Stop being an adviser
• Find connections to continue the conversation
• Don't kill conversation
• Don't just question

And most importantly Practice, in effect Fake it till it becomes a second nature.

While the tips are there some of the content is repetitive. Some of the opening lines suggested can border on the rude. And the author makes the assumption that the other person is also mutually interested in a conversation!

Overall, an okayish read. The nook can be much shorter and feels more like a dragged out Ted Talk kind of presentation. 

Previously on BookMarks: Train To Pakistan 

Goodbye 2024

As the Year 2024 AD draws to a close, it is safe to say as a collective, humankind has moved on from the challenges of the Covid pandemic. As we bid farewell to the year going by, time to reflect on and recall a few of the memories to hold on (or maybe not)

1. Word of the Year

Brain Rot was chosen as Oxford’s Word of the Year – the phenomenon of damage to mental health from an ever-increasing consumption of social media with its echo chambers, endless doomscrolling. All of us are victims of it only the impact varies. Its really time to get off the screen!

2. The Geopolitical Chessboard

It has been more than a decade since the last recognized country, South Sudan, came into existence – relatively such a prolonged period of stability in the global political map has been unprecedented. However, this balance is certainly in threat. The Russia-Ukraine conflict is in its 3rd year, Israel has multiple battle fronts open in the Middle East with both state and non-state actors. Simultaneously, regional skirmishes continue to flare up in various parts of the world. On the other hand, many governments changed either democratically or were thrown out. 

Regime changes in Syria, Bangladesh, India-Canada diplomatic stand-off, Iran firing missiles into Pakistan, Myanmar-Bangladesh border clashes, Assassination attempts in Europe & USA, South Korean President declaring martial law and getting impeached - the list seems endless. The whole global geopolitical landscape seems to be a tinderbox waiting to explode. And the people in-charge at best seem unwilling to prevent the explosion or worse adding fuel to the fire.

And the weapons in the war games have expanded - from sanctions and diplomatic cutoffs to missiles and exploding pagers!

3. The Bureaucratic Masterstroke

Donald Trump has announced the creation of DOGE – the Department of Government Efficiency – an advisory body to streamline the government’s functioning! And there are TWO people in-charge of it. The makers of Yes Minister must be kicking themselves for not coming up with this storyline. Somewhere, irony is having a hearty laugh!

4. We Are The Champions

It came home and in grand style. Multiple players in the Candidates, followed by both Open & Women’s Team winning the Chess Olympiad titles, Arjun Erigiasi breaking into elite 2800 ratings club, a 3-year old Anish Sarkar becoming a rated player. All culminating in Gukesh becoming the youngest undisputed World Chess Champion.

Not many sports have had such a success. Chess certainly has been the showstopper in a year in which India won the Men’s T20 World Cup and Neeraj Chopra further cemented his status as India’s GOAT sportsperson.

5. The Fine Margins

Battling back from hell and then being thrown back in – what a tragedy it was for Vinesh Phogat. A turbulent build-up to the Games, a draw which couldn’t have been tougher, a win for the ages, reaches the Final. The stage was set for a fairytale finish even Disney would have been proud of. And the next morning it all crumbled down in the most brutal fashion, being disqualified for being unable to cut down the weight by a meagre 100g. That was sports at its cruelest.

6. Sporting (Non-)Performance of the Year

Raygun’s Breaking display at the Paris Games. Enough to ensure that Breaking doesn’t come into Olympics discussion in the near future.

7. The Mt. Everest moment – Video Game edition

Tetris was finally conquered, just 34 years since it first came into being. The seemingly endless game was finally beaten by a 13 year old.

8. The Crowd is on Strike moment

One fine July morning, there was a global Microsoft outage. People couldn’t log into their systems, resulting in work shutting down. Some turned to the old-school pen & paper workaround but things still stayed slow. While this was a scenario straight out of any cyber-attackers’ wildest dreams, the cause was simple - a faulty update being rolled out.

9. The e-queues

The online scramble for concert tickets (Coldplay, Diljt Dosanjh)—and the torrent of hilarious complaints that followed—seems to have made people forget the alternative. At least it’s better than standing in a physical queue, exposed to all the elements, getting jostled around, worrying about pickpockets, or facing the occasional lathi charge!.

10. What is Art?

A question which remains unanswered. After all, if a banana taped to a wall can be sold for $ 6.2 Million, then it raises some existential questions for “artists”. [Aside - the banana was eaten, so now also has its place in the costliest food list, alongwith the two Papa Jones pizza which were bought for 10,000 bitcoins!]

11. And Finally from the animal world

There was Moo Deng, a baby pygmy hippo. But the pride of place must go to a pair of brawling koalas stopping traffic! (Video)

So, this was a bit of 2024. Wishing all readers a Very Happy New Year 2025!

2024 - TYIL

The more I learn, the more I realize that I know nothing.

As another Gregorian calendar year draws to a close, ‘tis time to draw up the list of some totally irrelevant, some funny and some interesting things (or not) which I learnt during its course (or rather remembered to list). So without much ado, here goes #TYIL (or This Year I Learnt), featuring amongst others the usual suspects - Numbers, Economics,  A Japanese term and a big German word.

1. The IKEA Effect – People tend to value an object more if they make/assemble it themselves. [Decision Lab]
2. Vellichor – The pleasure of smelling the odour of old books, especially is old bookstores [Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows] (A sibling of petrichor). [Aside - there is a dictionary of obscure sorrows!)
3. Raketa Watches – A Russian watch company who replace the number 12 by 0 on their dial. [GQ]
4. 381 km by 381 km – The Maximum possible size of a pdf page, imposed by Adobe Acrobat software. Now if only someone could find a printer for it! [YCombinator] 
5. The famous white symbols on green screen from the movie Matrix are actually a Japanese text for a sushi recipe [Wired]. It was once a very popular screensaver.
6. The names Chital & Cheetah come from the same Sanskrit root Chitrala. [Link] 
7. Dutch Disease - When countries experience a sudden large increase in income, the consequences can be harmful. Increased income from a resource boom leads to inflation [Link]
8. The name jeans comes from the city of Genoa. French “bleu de Genes” or blue of Genoa. [Link] 
9. In the initial years, certain Lok Sabha constituencies had 2 MPs elected, one General and one Reserved.[Moneycontrol] 
10. Umarell – old men who spend their time watching construction sites, usually with hands behind their backs. An Italian origin word, there has to be an Indian equivalent for people watching JCBs at work! [Wikipedia] 
11. Ganko Keitai – the ‘wild-geese-flying pattern’ of economic growth, whereby production shifts from the lead goose (advanced nation) to the next flock of geese (developing nations) [Wikipedia] 
12. India’s first Director Identification Number (DIN) was issued to Ratan Tata [Link] 
13. 2^136279841 – 1: The largest prime number discovered till date, with over 41 Million digits. It took 6 years to get to the new record. [Mersenne]
14. Dunkelflaute - a period of time in which little or no energy can be generated with wind and solar power, because there is neither wind nor sunlight. The killer of renewable energy! [Wikipedia] 
15. The 1st item in UK supermarket to have a barcode - A box of teabags (Guess can’t go more British than this) [BBC] 
16. Cushy – an English word used to describe an easy job environment comes from the Hindi Khushi. Probably how some Brits saw their India posting!
17. And to round it off, today 23rd December is marked as Christmas Adam - The eve of Christmas Eve (24th December), because as per Christian tradition Adam came before Eve. I guess in some time we will know what happens to 22nd December! [Grammarist] 

P.S. Lists from 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022 & 2023.

P.P.S Seems the lists are getting smaller every year. Need to get better at recording them.

Road To LA: Episode 2

We have entered that phase of the Indian sporting cycle where the Olympics sports are all but forgotten. The qualifying cycle is yet to start. Even the Asian Games are two years aways. Yet, away from the spotlight, those on the Road to LA trudge on!

Here is the some of the goings on in Indian sport, both on and off the field in the past couple of months

Athletics

• Neeraj Chopra: Finished runner-up in the Diamond League despite an injury. And he seems disappointed with his season despite finishing second in all 4 major global events! What an un-Indian characteristic!
• Avinash Sable: A commendable 9th place finish in the 3000m steeplechase.

Hockey

• India win the Men's Asian Champions Trophy for the 5th time, comfortably brushing aside all opponents, proving once again that they are now the undisputed continental superpowers! 
• In further development, the Hockey India League is being revived.
• 200+ international goals for Harmanpreet Singh – only two absolute legends Dhyan Chand & Balbir Singh Sr. are ahead

Cricket

• Women: The Indian team failed to qualify for the semi-finals stage of the Women’s T20 World Cup. While there is still a long way to go for LA, this result doesn’t bode too well.
• Men: Racked up a series win over Bangladesh while missing a few first choice players. Also set a few batting records on the way!

Table Tennis: Both Indian teams won Bronze medals at the Asian Championships, a first for the women and a 3rd one for the men. Showing that the recent gains are built on a good base.

Badminton: The replacements need to come up fast, otherwise Indian badminton seems to be on a downward spiral. There are one-off results like Malvika Bansod defeated Olympics Bronze medalist at the China Open but consistent big tournament wins are missing. Anmol Kharb is the one to track though.

The Off-the-field mess

• Tennis: Davis Cup tie against Sweden and its aftermath showcased the mess that the sport is in India. And how all the Grand Slam success has been achieved despite the system.
• Rowing: India misses the Asian Rowing Championships because of Federation’s ongoing court case.
• IOC: Meanwhile there is lots of brouhaha going on within IOC Chairperson and the members. Members walking out of the meeting, P T Usha releasing letters!
• As an example, (not an Olympic sport) but on the day, the Indian teams were winning the Gold at the Chess Olympiad, also came the news that the Chess Federation had lost a rolling trophy won at the previous Olympiad!

Retirements

• Dipa Karmakar has announced her retirement from Gymnastics. 
• Rani Rampal hangs up her hockey boots.

Many sports are entering the off-season now. We also await more clarity on the LA events list. Meanwhile, the long march continues away from the spotlight for the various challengers!

Links

• Road To LA: Episode 1 
• Neeraj Chopra's Season in numbers 
• Olympiad Trophy missing 
• Rowing rows 
• Dipa Karmakar (ESPN) 

BookMarks #121: Train To Pakistan

Title: Train To Pakistan

Author: Khushwant Singh

Genre: Fiction, Historical

Published: 1956

BookMarks

Muslims said the Hindus had planned and started the killing. According to the Hindus, the Muslims were to blame. The fact is, both sides killed. Both shot and stabbed and speared and clubbed. Both tortured. Both raped

Train To Pakistan is set in India at the time of Partition. It’s a story of how a political act changes the lives of the villagers living near the border. How people who have lived together for generations in harmony are suddenly changed. One fine day, people do not find themselves safe in the their home lands and are forced to move to another. And there are those who loot and pillage, other seek revenge and the cycle of horror continues. The officials are nearly as helpless.

It is a harrowing tale. One wonders for the people uprooted by Partition, what was the price paid for the Independence. As a villager wryly remarks "Freedom is for the educated people who fought for it. We were slaves of the English, now we will be slaves of the educated Indians—or the Pakistanis."

The book is a difficult read delving into the tragedy at what should have been the happiest moment of the nation, its Independence. And yet, even 75 years later, one wonders what kind of madness had gripped the common people that they unleashed such horrors on each other!

Reading the book also makes me wonder – the tragedy of the Partition is hardly depicted in popular culture and it is being forgotten. There are efforts like the Partition Museum at Amritsar, but slowly it is vanishing from the conversations.

Something which should not be forgotten. 

Previously on BookMarks: Journey to the Center of the Earth

BookMarks #120: Journey to the Center of the Earth

Title: Journey to the Center of the Earth

Author: Jules Verne

Genre: Science Fiction

Published: 1867 (French), 1871 (English)

BookMarks

"as long as the heart beats, as long as body and soul keep together, I cannot admit that any creature endowed with a will has need to despair of life"

A professor encounters a book in runic. After decoding it finds it to be the story of a pathway to the center of the earth. He, alongwith his unconvinced nephew (the narrator) and an Icelandic guide go onto the path suggested, entering from a dormant volcano, encountering subterranean seas, prehistoric creatures, electromagnetic storms and finally being ejected out though a volcanic eruption in Italy!

The tale is fantastic, the narrator himself is cynical throwing accepted scientific beliefs but encountering something else underneath!

There are a few elements which stood out in this implausible tale

• A tendency to claim territory even below the earth by assigning it their own names!
• Hans getting paid at a fixed hour every Saturday, even though there was no actual use of that money where they were!
• The nephew who starts cynical but becomes more convinced as he proceeds which ultimately leads to the end of the journey.
• Never could figure out the logistics of the travel and how did they come out of a volcanic eruption unscathed!
• I could appreciate the geological aspects much more now than when I had read the story first time in school.

Previously on BookMarks: A Thousand Splendid Suns 

Road To LA: Episode 1

After a “well done but could have been better” campaign at the Olympics and a great one at the Paralympics, it is time to hit the road for Los Angeles 2028. It is never too early to start the preparations. After all the games are less than 4 years away!

Team India News

The medal winners have been on a felicitations tour (and well deserved). Except a certain Neeraj Chopra who is back on the circuit recording another season’s best throw at the Diamond League and qualified for the Diamon League Finals. The man is built different!

Sreeja Akula has reached a career high ranking of 22, which is the highest ever for an Indian Table Tennis player. Recent results and the Ultimate Table Tennis League do show that this is one sport which is about to jump into the limelight.

Retirements

• PR Sreejesh has retired from hockey and moving into a coaching role. Good to see Hockey India giving him a proper farewell and also retiring his No. 16 shirt.
• Vinesh Phogat has announced her retirement and now entering the political arena and fighting different battles. Let’s see what the future holds for the two-time world championship medalist.
• Archana Kamath has retired from Table Tennis at the age of 24 to pursue higher education. Throwing into light some of the harsh reality of the life of the sportspersons.

Others

For the sports followers of the Olympics sports – It is time to follow the other sports a bit more. Learning a bit more about the qualification process and the rules will help in tempering expectations and more importantly control the spread of misinformation. e.g., the videos circulating of men’s relay team qualifying for the Finals when the event itself had not started or the number of rumors and slanders being thrown when Vinesh was disqualified. And will definitely help in appreciating the simple fact that qualifying and competing against the world’s best is in itself a phenomenal achievement.

With social media and a number of streaming services, following the sports is not that difficult. I guess when one is expecting medals from the athletes, this tiny effort to support can be put in easily!

Personally, planning to be a bit more regular in this blog.

Till next time!

Links

• An Independence Day Letter for sports Fans - ESPN
• Archana Kamath retires: Hindustan Times

BookMarks #119: A Thousand Splendid Suns

Title: A Thousand Splendid Suns

Author: Khaled Hosseini

Genre: Historical Fiction

Published: 2007

BookMarks

One could not count the moons that shimmer on her roofs

Or the thousand splendid suns that hide behind her walls

A story set in Afghanistan, narrating the intertwined lives of two women as they live through the ever-worsening situation in their country. It is a harrowing tale, as the country slowly degenerates from a seemingly happy life to a war-torn nation, with progressively worse regimes taking over. The women who are the protagonists suffer disproportionality. Yet, they continue the struggle of living. Till one day, new hope emerges with the removal of the Taliban.

The book ends with hope. But as real-life events have shown, that hope is being snuffed out again. The Taliban whose exit leads to a newfound freedom are back in power, and slowly putting the same restrictions back in place although the global protests seem muted.

Wondering what a sequel in the present would have in store for Laila and her family. 

Previously on BookMarks: Don Quixote