An alternative

Mohammad Yunus totally agrees with me that greed has undone us and governments are making a mistake by bailing out the very systems that encouraged greed.
Microfinance offers a conceptual solution - common welfare. Everybody needs to benefit, or else, greed will set in and we know how that worked out.
Yunus, says, “The people put in the money, the people lend to each other and we don’t tap the international financial system. Today, we have no shortage of money and 99.6 per cent payback rate.” And his Grameen Bank is talking about a turnover of a billion US.

I have to thank my family and friends

When I was 15, my sister toured Australia. I remember asking her to bring me a Spyrogyra album. Not Michael Jackson or whoever was the flavour at the time, but Spyrogyra. Twenty years later, I am on the threshold of watching Spyrogyra live.
I’m trying to remember where exactly along the way did my musical upbringing imbibe the likes of Spyrogyra, Chic Correa and Manhattan Transfer.
At the risk of coming across as culturally pretentious or musically precocious, or both, I think I was really lucky to be exposed to such music by a combination of family and friends.

Dynamov Chelski

It’s a measure of the nationalistic sentiment that drives the Russian psyche right now. That, and money.
Roman Abramovich’s Chelsea needed a coach, so he pulls strings to get Gus Hiddink, the national coach of Russia to come in. That too, only till the end of the season, for now.
Hiddink, all kudos to him, at the press meet says, “I did this because of the Russian connection. Anyone else had asked and I would have said no.”
Well, mate, it’s a fookin’ cloob in Loondun, with a fookin’ Blighty following, ‘innit?
Now the Russians own and coach it.

Typical Rahman

So, what do you think about our Mr Rahman? My mind travels back to Roja and the breakthrough sound he pioneered, changing the rules for the, until then, heavily formulaic Indian music industry.
He came across as truly funky, with his variating time signatures and staccato off beats, threading a lyrical needle through it all to hold it together.
And then, I felt for some time, he made a formula of it himself.
Even with Slumdog, the typical Rahman drum-line drives Jai Ho. To put my comments into perspective, a prophet must always suffer stricter scrutiny by his own.

Sunday columnists

Sunday reading is all about newspaper columnists, a breakfast with enough bacon to give you a heart-attack, coffee and a mid-morning siesta. Unfortunately, in the Gulf, Sunday is a working day. So most of the above happens on a Friday, except for the columnists. They only write on Sunday.
I believe they call it a blogroll.
Vir Sanghvi (food), Jeremy Clarkson (cars), Swaminathan Anklesaria (economics), Bachchi Karkaria (spin and puns) and Shobhaa De (for how not to write). Then out of the blue De does a Bachchi. Check it on http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Default/Client.asp?Daily=TOIM&login=default&Enter=true&Skin=TOI&GZ=T
Even shitty writers can get it write, then.

Just go out and play

When I was a pre-teen, I’m pretty sure the only serious decision I presented my folks with was: can I go out to play or not?
Once I hit 12 or13, all hell may have broken loose, but that’s another story.
Today, I, as a parent, have to face myriad decisions regarding choices for my pre-teen daughter. She will be nine in June, but I’m already having to decide stuff like: Can she have a cellphone? Can she have an email account? Can she at least (her words) have a Facebook account? Whatever happened to going out and playing?

I love hockey

Is it just me, or is Indian hockey quietly going through a genuine renaissance? The Punjab Cup, which concluded recently, saw us hold our own against Germany and Holland, which until recently was unthinkable. When I was growing up, Zafar Iqbal was as big a star as Kapil Dev and Socrates (the footballer). And deservedly so. Now, the Indian team is touring Down Under and word is, hotter than a bush fire (no disrespect to the deceased in the recent blazes). I would be thrilled to see Indian hockey on par with cricket. It’s a better game for sure.