Assorted Tidbits

It's been a week or more since my last post. And a hectic week it has been, at least by final year standards.

It started off with our trip to Chikmagalur for the Divisional district-level basketball tournament. Our college was chosen to represent D K District by virtue of winning the qualifier tournament the previous week. A walkover, a win and a loss summarises our tournament. But for all of us, it was more than the results. We were able to pin-point our weaknesses at the end of the tournament and we were reasonably impressed with our game throughout. Ofcourse, it also included the formal 'induction' of our freshers into the team! All in all, a good game, a great trip and some amazing memories.

The day that followed was supposed to be one of those traditional lazy days where you just wake up at your own will and laze around while moving within a maximum radius of 100 metres from your room. Instead, we found ourselves in Mangalore carrying out plans that had been in the works for more than two weeks now. It also meant we had no choice but to see Anjaana Anjaani as there was nothing better running (read 'Endhiran is not a movie I'm willing to shell out that much money to see!'). The movie was your typical, run-of-the-mill Hindi rom-com. The plus point, a big one at that, was Priyanka Chopra. Her recherché body exudes pulchritude in every scene of the movie!

A bit of running around after the movie eventually resulted in us finally finding the TV Tuner card we were looking for. The TV in our wing was finally functional. It also meant the end of any form of studies henceforth, but that's a consequence we shall deal with later on. As of now, we're busy watching the TV. The week also included the first episode of the returning show, Kaun Banega Crorepati. It's been a while since we've all seen the Big B in his familiar role opposite the 'Hot Seat' and it was pleasantly refreshing to see that again. It does, however, get repetitive after a day and that was all that most of us could handle.

To round it off, we were also really lucky to see a few records broken in the cricketing world. Twenty one years in cricket and one would think his hunger for runs and his passion to dominate opposition bowling attacks would die down. And yet, here he is, ever hungrier and renascent after the debacle of the 2007 World Cup. It also happened to be the tenth day of the tenth month of the tenth year of the new century. Only once in a 100 years does this happen. And it was on this day that a man, whose lucky number is ten and whose name contains 'ten' in it, came out to bat and once again, try and rescue India from a potentially risky situation. Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar.

This diminutive Mumbaikar has been India's go-to guy for the majority of his career. The mere fact that at the age of 37, twenty one years into the game, his is still the wicket the opposition bowlers value the most tells us why he is considered God by many in India. In a special innings for the Little Master, he surpassed the mountainous stratum of 14,000 runs in Test cricket. He also notched up his 49th century in Tests and his 6th double hundred, tying him with Virender Sehwag for most double hundreds by an Indian. A simple statistic for those that say he is beyond his prime, Tendulkar has achieved two of those six double hundreds and crossed 1,000 runs yet again in the last ten months. And there appears the number ten again. Coincidence? Some would say it is destiny. Either way, it is a strong substantiation of the famous saying, 'Form is temporary, but class is permanent'. And Sachin is sheer, out-and-out class.

In hindsight, it was a great week on the whole. Receiving my offer letter made it that much better. As I said before, getting placed is like a hurdle. Passing all your interviews and getting the job is like jumping the hurdle. Getting your offer letter is comparable to landing safe on the other side. All eyes are now on the fifth day of play of the second Test match tomorrow. Should be an interesting one!