Indian sport is on the rise – that is what the eternal optimist thinks taking pride in the face that our cricket team is going gang busters, a lesser known pair together with a significant other won a grand slam and we just closed a historic year when we won 4 medals in the Olympics. Add to the list that Vishwanathan Anand won the world championship of chess and Saina made some rapid progress in badminton and there’s every heart swelling with pride.

Every time an Indian wins anything significant in the world stage, they come back to a hero’s reception. Be it the much talked out T20 celebrations that got Mumbai to a grinding halt or even the under-19 cricket champs that got an already gridlocked Bangalore to a literal freeze, we go to extremes to celebrate these wins. The story is not so different with other sports, albeit, the scale may be significantly different. That said, the celebrations are on overdrive. From State governments offering cash rewards to land and trophies being a given in a situation like this to the neighboring states suddenly waking up to say me too and throwing in a few lakhs of cash as rewards, it all happens. The “celebrity” lives life on the fast lane enjoying the newly acquired status.

While the pomp and celebrations last for a few weeks (sometimes a few months), it dies a slow death and so to, our sportsmen/women. Their rare victory invariably is a flash in the pan and we folks seem to pick the flash up like a shining beacon and make so much ado about it.

When was the last time that someone went on to repeat their so called “ feats” ? I can’t think of one in recent memory. There may be an odd exception that I am missing, but the reality is that we lack consistency when it comes to this.

A classic case is Sania Mirza. Touted as the next best thing that ever happened to Indian tennis, she broke into the top 50. We were gaga over her feat and laid out the red carpet. The sponsors queued up to have her signed; she was the face of “Lotto” and “Head”.

How can one forget the posters that donned the fuel stations of the company that she endorsed ? A couple of years down the line, if you look back at her accomplishments, you will all but draw a blank expression apart from the most recent “luck by chance” win down under. Her recent accomplishment was recognized with a felicitation ceremony by her state Chief Minister with promises of more to come! (I truly wish these are sporting accomplishments)

Is this the way the world celebrates? I pause to wonder…

I happen to be travelling at this time and came across a paper ad in the states – simple one page ad with pictures of the winners, a line detailing the feat, just so that you know, they are talking about a pair of sisters who’ve won nearly 7 grand slam titles together, a pair of brothers who have won 8 and an individual who won 7-8, I don’t recall the exact number. Wow – these are huge accomplishment by any stretch of imagination and guess what the reward is limited to? A one page color print recognition from their friends at the USTA. That is it. I was speaking to a few of my colleagues here and checked if this was indeed the case and they said, “Yes, what more do they want”? I was so glad that he didn’t ask me how we would do it back home. Lucky that I was saved of the embarrassment, I quickly started talking about the weather!

In a country of a billion people, there is a ton of potential. Being one of the world’s largest countries in terms of population, we don’t probably have the awards / medals and whatever else you have to justify being the size that we are. A quick look at neighboring China will give us a huge complex – they truly live to their size.

While there are issues plaguing the infrastructure, the so called bright ones who make it to the top need to master the art of consistency

Winning once in a light year and going over the moon celebrating it is definitely not on!

Image Credit: Bfick

Popularity: 9%

Mohammed Azharuddin – The name needs no introduction.  A couple of days back he made his intentions very clear. He wants to enter politics and approached Congress high command for a party ticket. Congress seems to be happy to offer him a party ticket  to contest from Hyderabad.

Strategically speaking, this makes sense for Congress as it would be able to divert lot of the Hyderabadi Muslim vote from the traditional MIM votebank. Although Azhar ‘s reputation is tainted with the match fixing scandal that broke out in the early part of the decade, Congress seems to be least worried about that aspect.

So much for Sonia & Rahul Gandhi’s call not to provide ticket to individuals with bad reputation !

Agreed Azhar has not been convicted in the match fixing scandal and that a case is pending against the BCCI for its unilateral ban on him, but the fact is if Congress keeps promoting bad boys on one hand while singing Mahatma tunes on the other, it will only add to their growing reputation of showcasing double standard at various levels.

Not that the BJP or Samata Party is any different – nor the Mayawatis or the Senas. Everyone in politics have had their reputation of fielding tainted candidates.

With the recent appointments in the Jammu & Kashmir government, there was some  hope for good boys in Congress.  But that seems to be a utopian thought.

Like Azhar, Sanjay Dutt also is also considering to fight polls from Lucknow.

Why is that a majority of celebrities who has a tainted image is willing to make a foray into politics? Is it that they know they have been in bad books and now they want to turn over a new leaf ? Or is it that they want to continue their saga and snowball  the same into politics?  If it’s the former they should definitely be given another chance and if it’s the latter, someone has to make a call and stop them from contesting elections.

The key question, however, is how will we ever know what is the true intent ?  So, should they undergo a phased transition into contesting elections i.e. from a party worker to a secretary to a leader ? Not sure if they have the appetite for hardwork. Whatever be the method, high time that the so called good boys get a chance to serve the nations.

Can we ever see an Aamir Khan or a Shahrukh Khan fight elections ? If they can spread good messages through their films, I am sure they can carry the mantle into politics, as well.

From the cricketing arena, it will be heartening to see Sourav Ganguly or a Kumble take up politics – for a good cause. They have served the nation alright, but there is so much left in them – if not in cricket, in politics at least.

Similarly, Dhanraj Pillai, Baichung Bhutia, PT Usha, Prakash Padukone, Rani Mukherjee, Nandita Sen, Amol Palekar, Mohanlal etc are some names that come to mind if we really want to bring a systemic change.

If only the reverse were true i.e. the good boys in, the bad boys out !!!

Image Credit: Frankieb

Popularity: 7%

India won the Chennai Test against England convincingly enough by six wickets. Sehwag once again proved that a solid start can change the course of the game and the psyche of opponents.

England was, for once, outplayed in the game and it did when it mattered most – the last innings of the match.

Sachin was brilliant. Scoring his 41st century speaks volumes of the cricket left in him, even at this age. He along with Yuvraj paved the way for an Indian celebration.

With that being said, are we now heading for the Top Spot in Test Cricket ?

We have a Captain Cool in Dhoni, a legend in Tendulkar, a Swashbuckler in Sehwag, A wall in Dravid etc who are raring to go and achieve the unachievable.

The question is even with these stalwarts on the side, can we still make it to the top ?

In my opinion we are just a few steps away from reaching the top. As per the latest ICC Rankings, India is placed 3rd only next to South Africa and Australia.

So, what would it take India to reach the top spot in ICC Test Rankings ?

A few wins. No losses – Slam dunk, isn’t it ?!

Let’s dig a bit deeper. What would it take the team to win matches after matches ? I have given a laundry list of “To Dos” which Dhoni & co can work upon…

1. Dhoni should maintain his cool, as he always has been
2. Sehwag, Gambhir & Tendulkar should continue the way they have been performing
3. Middle Order must be consistent even if it calls for a few heads rolling (Rahul – are you listening ?)
4. Zaheer, Harbhajan, Amit & Ishant need to set higher benchmarks and consistently perform
5. Get the team’s mind off from off-the-field issues

Off-Field Issues ?

• Security Guards are meant for your Security
• Who slapped whom & why
• Bollywood Dreams and
• Of course- Of DhoniLakshmi’s Kollywood Dreams

Unnecessary attention diversion, you see..

Popularity: 18%

Till yesterday, I was under the impression that only a couple of Bollywood bloggers existed. Almost every Indian who knows how to browse internet knows about the blogging expeditions of Amitabh Bachhan and Aamir Khan- And boy do they write well ? Of course.

I did a little bit of research to find out who else blogged on Planet Bollywood. I was surprised to see many Bollywood stars trying their hand at blogging. Some top names include that of  Karan Johar, Shekhar Kapur, Salman Khan, Shahrukh Khan and Gul Panag.

Here’s a compilation of the blogs that these stars maintain and my personal review about their writing style and frequency with which they blog. Your viewpoints may differ

Karan Johar

Karan Johar writes on his personal blog site called My Name Is Karan. The URL of the site is http://www.mynameiskaran.com/

Karan is an infrequent blogger. The last time he blogged was on October 3^rd 2008. Well, that’s not good for someone who writes extremely well. The site is very plain and simple. No hype, no hooplah.

As it is with Karan, he is a man of many words. If you are a regular watcher of Koffee with Karan, you would have realized that he is more than a filmmaker.

While I was impressed with his writing style, there were many areas where he could improve – his presentation skills, appearance of the blog etc. The blog doesn’t make its first impression on me – perhaps that is the way it was meant to be. But when I dug deep, his thoughts seem to sink in.

Here is an excerpt from his blog – a review on the film “Wednesday”

I saw a ” Wednesday” on Thursday and it made me hopeful for every Friday that is going to come our way

Phew ! That is Karan for you.

Alexa Ranking for My Name Is Karan as of October 31^st is 269,463 – Not bad.

Shekhar Kapur

Shekhar Kapur is a man of many talents. Director, Producer, Actor, Writer, Theatre personality, Columnist and now a blogger. You can see his blogs on www.shekharkapur.com/blog

My views on his style of blogging are mixed. Shekhar Kapur has an uncanny knack of mixing his words and delivering key messages to his audience. As for example, hear out this master piece on Indian politicians, in true Shekharian ishtyle

Indian politicians are fast becoming self obsessed, self serving demons, who feed on the flesh of their own people

That is a bold statement, indeed. This was made in reaction to the Guwahati Serial bomb blasts that ripped the City and killed 60 odd people

Another thing that I like about his blog is the way he summarizes the points in few simple words. You can see a glimpse of this in his title. A master, indeed.

While I liked his style of writing, I think the look and feel about his blog site is too simple for a creative person that he is. I would have expected him to make it more artistic or filmy. Well, that’s my view – again !

Alexa Ranking for Shekhar Kapur’s blog is 211,455

Up Next : Shahrukh Khan and Salman Khan’s blogs

Popularity: 9%