A rare beauty

The most beautiful actress in Bollywood right now is Soha Ali Khan.
She captures her mother’s grace and her father’s presence in an aura that envelops her with a sensual beauty that transcends mere sex-appeal.
What I mean to say is, she is hot.
It’s not often that someone with such an acute nose allows it to fall in perfect line with the rest of her feminine bearing.
There are those that have the je ne sais quoi and Soha Ali Khan is one of them.
In Bollywood, where even beauty is often crass and over-dramatised, she is rare.

The truly premier league

The English Premier League has had its best start in years. And even though my beloved Manchester United is unlikely to win it, from a football perspective, the game is at an all-time high in the league.
Dimitar Berbatov, Florent Malouda and Joe Hart have all shown that form is a movement towards excellence – one that gathers pace with time and practice.
Sooner or later a gap will develop between the great teams and the rest – but for now, anyone can beat anyone.
Two games will decide the season – Man Utd vs Chelsea, home and away.
Glory, glory, United.

Thank Stephen Hawking for God

I would love to say that Stephen Hawking’s A Brief History of Time was a watershed moment in my cerebral evolution – it wasn’t. I labored and labored and labored and still could not make past page 10.
Now Mr Hawking is at it again, in a much more understandable avatar.
The Grand Design’s primary aim is to dispense with the notion of God. And yet, it has the opposite effect. It affirms by negation.
Mr Hawking has probably done more to establish God’s credentials than any other scientist.
Check it out and let me know what are your thoughts.

Stick, twist or shout?

What can you do, when, crippled as you are at the knee,
Hobbling along the floor of your dreams,
Walls closing in, sinking sand sucking you within,
What can you do, but thrash and tremble,
Pray and beg and hope for redemption.
It won’t come you know it, at least not in a painless shot of morphine,
or a lucky number worth a million dollars.
It won’t come you know it. Not like a knight in shining armour,
Or a knife to the heart in surrender.
What can you do when the bottom falls out?
Stick, twist or shout?

The racist in me

There’s a racist in all of us. You just have to put your ear to the ground and listen carefully and you will find it in you.
I discovered it playing Scrabble. Of which I play a lot online.
If the player is from Bangladesh, Pakistan, Africa or any East Asian country I expect to beat them. Easily.
I am fuming if I lose. Not because they are better, but because I expect I will know more English words than people from these countries.
If the player is American or Aussie or British losing is more palatable.
That’s racist.

Vincenti Dabitur

My grandfather went to school there. He jumped the length of the long-jump sandpit.
My father went to school there. He was a corporal in the National Cadet Corps, and a distinguished sportsman.
Seven uncles went to school there. All mostly geniuses and national-level sportsmen.
Four cousins went to school there. One is a millionaire, a couple in Princeton and Harvard.
My brother went to school there. He was a once-in-a-generation footballer.
I went to school there. I was sergeant in the corps and half-decent at everything else.
Now, my son will go to St Vincent’s High School, Pune.