Bolt or Phelps????

I've been following a lot of blogs, press releases, magazine articles etc regarding the Summer Olympics. Lots of new world records were set, lots of new controversies unearthed and lots of money was made by NBC. I'm not going to dish out my thoughts on the latter two; I think they've claimed enough attn. already. About the first clause, what is it about the sports personnel these days I wonder? they seem to have it all and this is not restrictive to any particular sport mind you. WRs were set in almost any and every sport under question. My first thoughts:

a) Superb Training methodolgy
b) Fantastic Fitness techniques and a complimentary diet
c) Hard work
d) Tons of Attitude
e) Endorsements

I would say Hats off to the young kids who make these kind of things happen. I'm not too old myself to term them kids, but I've definitely passed my athletic prime and lets face it, they are the next GEN. I am so glad to see that the baton of youthful sports has passed into capable hands.
That being said, I must also add that it goes without saying that the world's greatest athletes/sports persons are also the humblest.

Some lessons learned:
USA - Watch out! I've learnt the most important lesson in my life in the last few years and I want to scream it out loud, so you can hear - Nothing lasts forever....
CHN - Good show both performance wise and otherwise. But, even a 4-5000 year old nation has to learn its lessons all over again sometimes. Sigh...beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder...and just when I thought that the whole world knows it by now...
IND - Way to go. 3 medals and 1 Gold that too..yoo hoo...Abhinav, you gave me one of the proudest moments in my life, when I saw the national flag of a billion strong nation go up for the very first time and when the national anthemn was played. I am proud to say that you are my fellow countryman. Now show me that horizon!
RUS - Where art thou?
GBR - Duh...I don't want to name my fears. But CHN just set the standards on an intl. arena. I only hope you live upto it.
AUS - Thorpedo, Phelps torpedoed you with the ease of a dolphin and his very humble demeanor outshone his swimming ability. Tsk tsk...humility humility...

As for the Bolt vs. Phelps question, a good friend of mine vociferously vouched for Phelps because this was her first serious olympic watch and also because she felt Bolt played a tad too rough with his WR beating antics.

I'm going to answer this in the rhetoric by asking everyone out there whether they prefer gold or GOLD....It is personalities like Michael Phelps who really prime the sport with their focus, methodology, perfectionist attitude. It is personalities like Bolt who put a nation like Jamaica on the road map with their go-getter demeanor. I would say Bolt deserves to punch the air because he is the fastest human being in the planet as of now and he has just claimed his right to get the world's attention in that respect. The planet would not be as colourful as it is today without personalities like Phelps and Bolt. We need the occasional blues (read "oceans/skies/Phelps") to go along with the browns(read "earth/mud/tracks/Bolt") and greens(...) of our planet.

Mood: Pensive
Song: Touch in the night (Artist: Silent Circle Genre: Retro Disco)

p.s - I can't leave this blog post without giving my idols a place in it. I grew up watching Mark Spitz, Sergei Bubka and Carl Lewis rise to fame amidst a lot of fanfare. You still are my heroes guys and perhaps always will be.

Summer Olympics 2008

A spectacular opening ceremony full of controversies, bustling athletes from all over the world, hi flying dignitaries from around the globe culminated in mind boggling entertainment and perfect fodder for the press.

I've been following the games for sometime now ( who am I kidding? I watch it everyday, like I live in China! ).

All this has magically transported me to another world and another life thousands of miles and days ago. A life where a young girl of 10 stood next to another one of her kind for marching tryouts. Both these girls never knew what was in store for them. All they knew was the fact that they would do their best for "red". Although, they did not get selected at the tender age of ten, they did not seem perturbed, after all there would be 5 more years and who knows in 5 years, they could march right in the front line and perhaps shout "Patel house eye's right" and not turn one's head right?
Little did they know that years later, they would make red their religion; eat, sleep, breathe and sacrifice for red. Little did they know that the small girl would be feared for being one of the most formidable competitors in the track and field later. Little did they know that the other one would one day be one of the greatest leaders of the red for two consecutive years. Little did they know that the two girls would one day be the thickest of all friends and they would take their journey to far away unheard of places.

snap snap... I just woke up from a beautiful reverie, where I was marching ahead in the first line and as we moved close to the podium, Shru and I were shouting "Patel house eyes...". I did not turn my head right. Minutes later, as we stood in the file next to each other, we smiled at each other knowingly.

Mood: Nostalgic
Song: Aake Baake Raaste (Artist: Bhupen Hazarika)

Marie Antoinette...
...Boring Sobriquet...

Love for history, crazy work week and Friday night all coupled together led me to stay up beyond late last night to watch "Marie Antoinette". 2 hours later, I realized that it was not worth losing precious sleep on. I don't mind watching Dunst scream her lungs away as DC comics' Mary Jane, but a role like Marie Antoinette is perilously close to madness.
I have nothing against the character sketch or the movie, it was well done considering the subject of choice. I'd probably advice reading her up over the Wiki and getting done with it rather than watching her boring, hedonistic, amorous life as queen of France put together in this motion documentary. The French revolution is a very important phase in world history. France burgeoned as one of the greatest world powers as a result of this revolution. I would rather look forward to seeing a movie on the "Storming of the Bastille" or perhaps some "la amore" movie set in the timelines of Voltaire or Rousseau.
Aside: Why aren't Indian "intl" film directors taking movies on some of our more colourful queens ( who played a very prominent role during the Indian war of independence) like Rani Padmini or Chittorgarh, Kittur Rani Chennamma, Rani Lakshmi Bai, Onake Obhava among many others? They fell to a similar end as Marie Antoinette (they all died young, perhaps some killed as well), but they would be a better muse for a motion documentary than Marie Antoinette. I am not being biased towards the Indian sub-continent, I loved "The Queen" - (Helen Mirren) as a movie as also that I would love to see Empress Alexandra Feodorovna of Russia in a movie documentary among many other great women in history. However, I'm beginning to wonder, if anybody at all will tap the richness I grew up in and around esp. with the kind of movies that are floating around these days.
p.s. - To all the young kids (located internationally) who watch Disney channel - Bollywood movies are not all about song, dance and Jaipur. Please don't get carried away by the Cheetah Girls' One world tour/movie and think India is all colour, fun and frolic. India is colour, fun and frolic with a lot of history, culture, social, economic and political undertones ruling everyday life.
If you want to watch today's India and a good movie at that, I'd say watch Rang De Basanti or Ayudha Ezhuthu/Yuva. You will get to see an India that I am more familiar with.

Mood: Very Indian
Song: Jana gana mana (Artist - Rehman, Movie - Ayudha Ezhuthu)