Concrete sunset

The other day I'd been to this tall sky scraper that is in Borivali (W). A part of the concrete that has become the part of everyones life in Bombay. Went upto the terrace and saw the sun setting. Nothing spectacular, though. After all every sunset of every day need not be spectacular. It was quite a view, though, from up there.

But when you look around in the sky the thing that strikes most is the huge amounts of dust and particulate pollutants that make the surroundings dull all the time. Vehicles and construction activity everywhere have caused this.

Sunrises too have to brave the pollutants and hence they too would also be dull views.

Misali Panshikar

Id been to a place which Maharashtrians swear by. Panshikar. At Dadar. Bang in the midst of all the chaos and hoplessness of the area. A rather non descript place. I must have passed hundereds of times in front of it but never knew it was there till I went there with a friend the other day.

The menu and all is typical Maharashtrain fare. The 'regulars' always know what theyd be having and just have to snap their fingers or something and the dish thats there in their minds gets downloaded onto their table. As if by magic. The uninitiated, will pore through the menu etc. which gives even the dumbest of waiters the clue that the customer can be taken for a ride. The menu card is perhaps only for 'outsiders'.

Anyway my friend is a kind of regular so I didnt have to go through the menu. We had some 'farari misal' or something sounding like that. This is essentially a dish made out of things that one eats on days of fasting. (In this region I guess people eat more on days of fasting - surprising no ? ) And then we had something called 'Piyush'. Some kind of yellow flavoured lassi kind of drink. Piyush and Panshikar are synonymous with each other. The picture you see is of that misal.

Im not too fond of eating or anything, but still I feel its a place where one can go once in a while.

Endulkar

One .. Two .. Three .... .... ....

... Nine ... Ten .... .

We waited. We counted. And now we've reached the count of ten. This is the end at ten. This is the End. Is this the end ? Is this the end of Tendulkar ? Yes perhaps.

He is (or rather was) a good player. Scored runs in tons. Broke records. Highest number of this and highest number of that. He did play some good innnings and he got the credit due to him. He appeared in commercials and was worshipped - but then why speak of his personal exploits. Let's speak about the game since now the game no longer speaks for him.

I read this caption in the news somewhere. I dont remember where. But its now a certain fact that Sachin Tendulkar is well past his prime. His place in the team should depend on his current form and not on past exploits. There are many youngsters who can do a better job than him as of today. So if we consider that the team is playing for the country then the best possible should be selected and not someone who "had played well earlier".

He was clean bowled this time and earlier took a nasty blow to his helmet from the Rawalpindi Express. Poor judgement of true pace. Age is not on his side and one does realise that his reflexes are not as they were when he cut his teeth in the grounds of Dadar.

So let him leave the game gracefully. One would not want him to become a spectacle like Ganguly - and in the process get ridiculed by everyone all over the country, save perhaps Maharashtra. His devotees there woudnt beleive a word of what I've just written, but then boys, this is the truth and we all know that the truth is always bitter. Lies are sweet.

Whos next ?