BookMarks #86: Three Men In A Boat

Title: Three Men in a Boat 

Author: Jerome K Jerome 

Genre: Fiction, Humour, Travelogue 

Published: 1889 

BookMarks 

It had been a while since I read one of the Classics of English Literature. “Three men in a Boat” became a fantastic choice to revisit the era because of (a) the fantastically named author with the same first and last names, and (b) being mentioned in the writings of Mr. Bond which I read a few months back. 

I had read the book quite some years back and yet it still seemed fresh on re-reading. I guess that’s why these are classics – one can revisit them at intervals! 

It’s a tale of adventure, and quite a bit of it is not even real adventure. It’s the account of three men and a dog undertaking a fortnight long trip on Thames by boat. From planning, to packing, to setting out, then encountering myriad things as they row their boat up the river, and finally abandoning the trip! Every step is full of anecdotes and further anecdotes. Also, it serves as a travelogue with histories of the sights along the way.

Why the book clicks – because of many passages which are still so relatable even though more than a century has passed since its first publication. Passages like 

• "Throw the lumber over, man! Let your boat of life be light, packed with only what you need—a homely home and simple pleasures, one or two friends, worth the name, someone to love and someone to love you, enough to eat and enough to wear" - No better explanation of life and wants & needs!
• Also reading about ailments and discovering you have the same - not much different from googling diseases and wondering how you are a medical miracle to be still alive! 
• "Will it be the same in the future? Will the prized treasures of to-day always be the cheap trifles of the day before?" - Our tendency to hold on to things assuming they have value!
• "What the eye does not see, the stomach does not get upset over" - Thats why don't peek into the kitchen of any restaurant!
• "I like work: it fascinates me. I can sit and look at it for hours. I love to keep it by me" - the epitome of being busy and lazy!

And a major learning: Pub is shortened form of public house 

Overall, quite fun to revisit that era. 

Previously on BookMarks: Let Me Say it Now 

Road To Tokyo: Episode 21 - The Bearers of a Billion Hopes

With less than a week to go, it seems the Games may finally happen after all. The contingents have started trickling into Tokyo. The Covid screening is on at full swing making global headlines whenever they catch even one case (without ever giving the total numbers tested). 

Now if it’s a sporting extravaganza, then its also time to make predictions. I am no octopus (given how my predictions were way off for Rio). Predicting is an inherently risky business, but this time there is added uncertainty. Many warm-up & test events were either cancelled or poorly attended. Differing travel restrictions and ever-changing quarantine guidelines have further complicated the process. And then there is the chance of athletes testing positive and being barred from the competition at the very last moment. But all this uncertainty just adds to the fun (of making predictions, not the Games itself). 

"The important thing in the Olympic Games is not to win, but to take part; the important thing in Life is not triumph, but the struggle; the essential thing is not to have conquered but to have fought well."  - Baron Pierre de Coubertin

For years, Indian contingents at Olympics fully endorsed this line. However, there has been a marked change with many of them becoming world champions and medallists. Here are my sport-by-sport expectations from the Indian contingent, who bear the expectations of a Billion plus people.

1. Archery: A discipline which has consistently disappointed since the days of Limba Ram. Recent form in the World Cups has been good, but a couple of caveats here – many countries skipped these events. Then the Indian women’s team got Gold at both World Cup stages but lost in the first round of Qualifiers in between! Hopefully this could be a redemption of sorts for Deepika Kumari. India has a good chance for a medal in all the 4 disciplines 
2. Athletics: The Qualification cut-offs were tougher this time around. Most Indian athletes had to break National records just to meet the qualifying standards. And some of them broke them multiple times. However, Neeraj Chopra is the only one who could be considered a strong contender for a Top 3 finish. A special mention of the race-walking disciplines, which has seen a steady rise in direct qualifiers. A Few National Records and Personal Bests are the best hopes for most of the contingent
3. Badminton: Badminton qualification were severely hit by the virus with tournaments getting cancelled everywhere and scuttling the chances of Srikanth & Saina and the doubles teams. PV Sindhu enters the Games as the defending world champion but hasn’t played for quite a while now. Same for Praneeth and the doubles duo of Satwik & Chirag. They can certainly bring in the medals but there is no idea of their or the rivals’ forms. 
4. Boxing:After the low of Rio, the boxing team is getting back on track with 9 quota places. Amit Panghal is the top ranked boxer in his category and then there is Mary Kom who can never be counted out. The likes of Manish Kaushik have a decent chance of getting to the sem-finals as well. 
5. Equestrian: Fouaad Mirza is India’s first qualifier in over 2 decades. Let’s see how he and Seigneur perform at the big stage 
6. Fencing: Bhavani Devi created history by becoming the first Indian to qualify in the Fencing sport. Can she do a Dipa Karmakar now? 
7. Hockey:  It has been 4 decades since our last hockey medal. But Hockey is our National Sport. The Mens team is currently ranked 4th in the World & the Women have qualified again after the disappointment of the last place finish at Rio. We certainly can hope for the elusive medal. 
8. Golf: Anirban Lahiri, Udayan Mane & Aditi Ashok will be representing India at Tokyo. Aditi could spring a surprise with her recent performance in the European LPGA tour. 
9. Gymnastics: After Dipa Karmakar, it is the turn of Pranati Nayak to qualify for the Games. No one had heard of an Indian Gymanst till Dipa nearly vaulted to a medal. Let’s see what Pranati has in store. 
10. Judo: Sushila Devi is India’s sole representative at the Games 
11. Rowing: Arjun Lal & Arvind Singh will be participating in the Lightweight Double Sculls category. India couldn’t participate in the Final Qualifiers due to covid restrictions. 
12. Sailing: Nethra Kumanan is all set to India’s first ever female sailor at the Olympics. Also, these are the first Games in which India will be represented in more than one sailing event 
13. Shooting: India is sending its largest ever shooting contingent. Rio was a disaster for the Indian shooting team. Since then, there has been a big change in the personnel with quite a few young guns coming into the fray. As for the medal hopes, on their day all of them could bring in the medals especially the likes of Saurabh Chaudhary (who is named in Time’s athletes to watch out for) and Manu Bhaker. Or they could bring in no medals – that is how unpredictable the sport of Shooting is!
14. Swimming: For the first time Indian swimmers achieved the A Qualifying mark. Thus, there are 2 entrants in the Mens, Sajan Prakash & Srihari Nataraj, while Maana Patel got the Universality Place for women. Best case scenario will be bettering the National Records 
15. Table Tennis: With the arrival of Manika Batra, Indian table Tennis has seen a rise in popularity. While they haven’t yet broken the East Asian grasp on the medals, they are starting to get there. There is certainly an outside chance for the Mixed Doubles pair of Sharath Kamal & Manika, who also got a Bronze at the 2018 Asiad. 
16. Tennis: India’s best bet would have been the Mixed Doubles but they couldn’t qualify (as yet due to the extremely complex ITF qualifying scenarios). Don’t see either Sumit Nagal or the Doubles pair of Sania & Ankita Raina progressing much further. 
17. Weightlifting: Mirabai Chanu should get at least the Silver Medal and bury the demons of Rio for good 
18. Wrestling: India lost one Quota due to Doping. None of their previous medalists qualified for these Games. Yet Wrestling could certainly bring in 2-3 medals with Bajrang Punia, Deepa Punia & Vinesh Phogat starting favourites in their respective categories. 

So overall, this could be India’s best ever Games with a potential double-digit medal count and with some luck in favour could surpass the combined medal count of the last 4 decades! Or we end up with no medals at all. After all these are the strangest Olympics of all times!

And Now let the Games Begin! (Also fingers crossed that the Games proceed with minimal Covid impact) 

Links: 

• Road To Tokyo: Episode 20 
• The Rio Hopes
• Olympic Predictions

BookMarks #85: Let Me Say it Now

Title: Let Me Say It Now 

Author: Rakesh Maria 

Genre: Non-fiction, Memoirs 

Published: 2020 

BookMarks 

“Let Me Say It Now” is the autobiography of Rakesh Maria, the former Commissioner of Police of Mumbai. While featuring his own personal life, it is also a sort of criminal history of Mumbai of the last three decades! Featuring local gangs, international gangs, terrorist attacks, shootouts, serial criminals, diabolical murderers, filmstars, business people, politicians and what not. 

While going through the narrative, got reminded of the adage “Everyone is the hero in their own story”. And why not? Given the high-profile nature of the job that Mr. Maria had. 

Key message - Policing is not easy, especially in a megapolis like Mumbai, and with the resource crunch faced by those in charge. And it’s a job which is filled with brickbats coming from everywhere – politicians, media (& now social media) and even their own internal politics! So it does take a different level of commitment to carry on in the face of all this. 

Recently had read another similar memoir, “Biting the Bullet”. There is stark difference. While Mr. Ajai Raj Sharma’s stories are from rural UP, Mr. Maria’s is from urban Mumbai, making them more in-the-news. But in essence they are same – fighting crimes & criminals. 

Funniest tale from the book – Mr. Maria trying to make his bachelor’s pad presentable to his to-be father-in-law. 

Overall, quite a pacy and interesting read! Less of an autobiography and more of a crime thriller at times.

Previously on Bookmarks: The Vault of Vishnu 

Road To Tokyo: Episode 20

We are almost there. Although the shadow of Covid still looms, the Games seem to be on track, although with lots of restrictions in place. And more could come depending on how the testing & bio-bubbles hold up. Meanwhile, we are at the fag end of the qualifying cycle. Any changes from now will be mostly on account of withdrawals. 

So here is the India contingent update since the last episode. 

New Qualifiers 

• Weightlifting: Mirabai Chanu qualified via rankings in the 49 KG category. 
• Tennis: The duo of Sania Mirza and Ankita Raina have qualified for the Doubles category. 
• Athletics: Tejinderpal Singh Toor qualified for Shot Put with a new National Record & Asian Record. Seema Punia made the qualifying cut in the Discus Throw joining Kamalpreet Kaur. Through World Rankings athletes qualified are Dutee Chand (100m & 200m), Annu Rani (Javelin), MP Jabir (400m Hurdles) and Mens 4x400m Relay team. 
• Golf: Aditi Ashok, Anirban Lahiri & Udayan Mane have made the cut for the respective individual sections 
• Swimming: Sajan Prakash & Srihari Natraj became the first ever Indian swimmers to qualify for the Olympics by beating the “A” timing in the 200m Butterfly & 100m Backstroke respectively. Meanwhile Maana Patel got the Universality place in the womes’s 100m Backstroke event. 

Other Updates 

• Wrestling: India lose a quota spot as Sumit Malik (FS, 125 KG) failed a dope test at the Qualifying event where he had earned the Quota. 
• Athletics: Already qualified Kamalpreet Kaur surpassed her National Record once again in the Discus Throw. 
• Archery: Indian women’s team failed to qualify in the final qualification tournament. However at the following World Cup stage days later they won the Gold. Deepika Kumari won the Gold medals in Individual, Team & Mixed events. Lets see if the jinx of the Olympics finally breaks for the Indian archers. 
• Shooting: Not a great haul for India in the final World Cup. Rahi Sarnobat got a Gold while the duo of Saurabh Chaudhary-Manu Bhaker managed only a silver in the mixed event (after a run of 5 Golds). Saurabh also won an individual bronze. 

Squad Announcement 

Hockey (W): GOALKEEPERS: Savita DEFENDERS: Deep Grace Ekka, Nikki Pradhan, Gurjit Kaur, Udita. MIDFIELDERS: Nisha, Neha, Sushila Chanu Pukhrambam, Monika, Nanjot Kaur, Salima Tete. FORWARDS: Rani, Navneet Kaur, Lalremsiami, Vandana Katariya, Sharmila Devi. 

Hockey (M): GOALKEEPERS: PR Sreejesh, DEFENDERS: Harmanpreet Singh, Rupinder Pal Singh, Surender Kumar, Amit Rohidas, Birendra Lakra, MIDFIELDERS: Hardik Singh, Manpreet Singh, Vivek Sagar Prasad, Nilakanta Sharma, Sumit, FORWARDS: Shamsher Singh, Dilpreet Singh, Gurjant Singh, Lalit Kumar Upadhyay, Mandeep Singh 

Indian Contingent 

Total Count – Sports - 18, Events – 70, Entries - 90, Participants – 117 

Links: 

• Road To Tokyo: Episode 19 
• Sumit Malik doping violation:
• India specific protocols: Sportstar