French Open '09

I was hoping to see a great rivalry match again in the finals, but guess not.
Nadal losing in the fourth round is just disappointing.

IPL

And so another season of IPL ended yesterday. Congratulations to all the DC fans on this blog (which I'm assuming is all of us). IPL inspite of the nauseating publicity and Lalit Modi was decent fun. It helped that I followed a large part of it online, and then watched whatever I did on pirated links, it was a distilled IPL bereft of all the off field drama.

I followed most of it with a prejudiced mind set viz "bah...what nautanki" , while one read and discussed all the while the almost utopic situations of favourite players from different countries playing together, it really didn't hit me until the final match, when Kumble and Boucher were celebrating Gilchrist's dismissal.

What was most humbling (and disturbing) was the fact that IPL has "undemonized" all the Aussie players for me. I felt no anger when Symonds was sledging or abusing 19 year old Manish Pandey, and in one moment it exposed me to all of my bigotry. I dread about the day when I might end up cheering for Ponting, I'm glad though that he plays for KKR, I hope DC never decides to buy him. It showed me what I had missed while Gilchrist was thrashing us in a test in Bombay, the excuses I came up with to rationalize how and why someone could change a match in a matter of few overs.

There was a feeling of disappointment as it all ended, will I ever watch Warne spin his magic? or witness a c. Dravid b. Kumble? IPL turned out to be a second chance to appreciate some players I refused to acknowledge.

But, on the other hand, I have developed new prejudices.

The neverending summer and the welcome drizzle

Roger Federer wins Madrid. Yes, world #1 Nadal was the opponent.
Aberration or not, everybody loves a good summer rain, ain' it?!

It's a..

.. MIRACLEEEE!!