A night I’ll always cherish. World Champions!!

My mother used to talk often, and even did a few days ago about how she watched India winning the 1983 Cricket World Cup. I wondered what is it that’s so special about this victory; that made this memory so fresh in the hearts of someone who is not even the biggest fan of cricket. I found my answer several hours ago, when I watched the same scenes she had watched 28 years ago, the same passion and the same emotions, and I can surely say that those moments of glory shall remain afresh in me for the years to come, probably the length of my life.

It took 28 years and 7 editions of the tournament for India to clinch back the World Champion title, but this time around, they’ve done it in some style. They had the expectations of a billion home fans and had to cross all of the toughest challenges to reach the Zenith: Bangladesh – their nemesis 4 years ago, England, South Africa, West Indies, Australia & Pakistan before the dream final against Srilanka. They fumbled in a few, but there was always ominous signs of improvement and the way they peaked their game to the top gear was splendid, ensuring there was enough fuel left in the belly to last the length of 6 testing weeks.

The Srilankan journey to Mumbai was much more easier, much lesser hyped and much lower pressurized and it was evident in their showing in the finals as they were never really able to push India up to the extremes of pressures normally associated with high scoring World Cup final chases. In fact, knock out matches against Australia & Pakistan had a lot more excitement and anticipation surrounding them for the kind of cricketing and political rivalry that existed, while an India-Srilanka fixture seemed to happen almost every second day in a week.

The Moment of Glory!

 

Dhoni paused for several seconds after hitting that monstrous six and I am sure that would be the most peaceful couple of seconds of complete blankness, he might ever get to experience in his life. What that pause also did was it separated the night into two completely contrasting halves. The most complete batsmen of modern day cricket have just been assured a winners medallion; after 21 years, 453 matches and over 18000 runs! A man who was almost dropped from the team for poor form and fitness an year ago has just played the tournament of his life, with the Player of Tournament trophy sure to be in his kitty. A man who leaked 15 runs, 8 years ago, in a similar final in the very first over, has just lead what was described 6 weeks ago as a bunch of totally clueless bowlers to the helm of the world.

Dhoni soon returned back to his senses and he was no longer the witty captain cool of team India, tears came rolling down and there was no stopping emotions. Yuvraj Singh had promised to gift the world cup to Sachin Tendulkar and he rightly did so. This was a gift to Sachin Tendulkar from the players unlike all the previous years when Sachin gifted glory and happiness to his team mates and the billion followers.

Those victory laps that followed, those tears of glory running down the cheeks, those short hand interviews and that amazing presentation ceremony will all remain in the hearts of all our lifetimes; and from today I can share the experience & happiness of watching your nation win the world cup to the generations ahead just like my mother did.

Missed Ganguly in the field though. Wished to see him in the ground in the moments of glory!! He would've loved to hold that cup as much as anyone else! He must be mighty proud of Yuvi, Zak & Bhaji, 3 youngsters who got his backing in 2001 to beat the world in 2011!

~A Spring Evening~

An evening with cloudless skies, a setting sun and a pretty breeze oozing around; the place looked at its amazing best! These are some of the photos I captured in a warm spring evening at XuanWu Lake Park, Nanjing after some months of  ruthless winter.

 

  

…this is the Nanjing Greenland Financial Center, tallest building in city & 7th tallest in the world…

 

 

… The Nanjing Skyline…

I hope you have enjoyed these photographs of mine, and leave comments to let me know how you felt.

His Excellency, The President of India.

…memories are vague, no beginning and no definite end. The finer the knots are tied, the clearer the image becomes, and the better…

...thunderous applauds break the silence in a huge hall in London…

The man clears his throat,

“That was a very inspiring piece of oratory from the Chief of World Bank. Now i take this occasion to welcome the Man of the evening, His Excellency, The President of India…”

…another round of thunderous applause. The man stood up waving his hands and moved to the podium…

“Those were very kind words. Good Evening respected guests, dear brothers & sisters of London and the rest of the world. It is indeed a very privileged feeling to be speaking in front of this grand audience on such a grand occasion.

I am honored to be the chief guest of this session of the world economic forum, which is celebrating the platinum jubilee anniversary, completing 75 victorious years. I am also very glad at the fact that my nation has given me reasons to be immensely proud standing in front of all of you. This march, Indian economy, along with Chinese has become the biggest economies in the world, and if the predictions are anything to go by, we will become the biggest economy in another 12 years.”

…the audience interrupts to present another round of applause…

It indeed is a very proud feeling to be the head of state, which has returned to the very zenith of it all. I am sure if the founding fathers of our nation lived now, they would’ve proudly felt jealous, for we live in an India, which they couldn’t have even seen in their dreams. India now has completed a full circle. For years, for centuries and millennia, we used to be the land of gold; the land of power; the land of prosperity; the land of cultures; the land of wealth and the land of ultimate intelligence. But then as a cycle don’t speed forward if the tires stay fixed and hence the darker periods of our history began. The might, wealth & intelligence attracted ambitious foreigners who along with time changed roles from anxious visitors to obnoxious rulers. Great selfless people fought them, not with guns and fire, but with words and principles and brought the light of freedom once again to our great nation. Those 90 years of selfless revolutionaries followed by a century of rebuilding takes us to where we are now, once again the biggest economy in the world.

Decades ago in a visit to India, an American President had pronounced that India had emerged, and was no longer an emerging nation. Back then, I had felt good, and proud. But everyone knew then that those words were just meant to sooth your emotions and that it was far from the truth. Then, it was far from the destiny of us being an emerged nation, which indeed was in all kinds of mess, the corruption, poverty and terrorism issues. But now, right now in 2045, a couple of years from hundredth year of our Independence, I can repeat those words and say, we have really evolved, emerged as a supreme power in the planet.

……”

The thing about dreams is that, we have no sense of belonging, no beginning and no end. The same dream might recur over a course of time, night after night, may be. Being in and under the spot-light in a dream every night is fun, but the real challenge begins when we try to find a way, our way to the beginning of the dream. That’s the challenge ahead for me, to find a way to the beginning of my dream, to  find a way to that very podium.

(Recollections from a dream that’s been soothing me during my sleep, of me standing in front of the world as the President of India. Certain facts from Wikipedia added in the speech, & a thought from the movie Inception.)

My Camera Speaks IV : Another Episode on Shanghai!!

I find it almost irresistible to avoid another photo-blog on my recent trip to Shanghai. This time i will be covering those pictures during the train journey & the later roam in and around the Huangpu River, the water front and the Shanghai Skyline!

…Entering the D-Train. The bullet train service from Nanjing to Shanghai…

 

…The outer view from inside the super-fast train…

…Another view inside…

…When the engines became the most vigorous…

…Various photos from the famous Nanjing Street in Shanghai. I swear, this was the 1st time in China, when i saw more foreigners than Chinese people…

…These buildings looked more European, than Chinese to me!…

…The Shanghai skyline from across the Huangpu River. One of the most AWESOME sights of my life. The camera failed to capture it cleanly though…

 

…The thing standing tall behind me is one of the epic buildings of Shanghai. The Oriental Pearl Towers. Now the 3rd tallest building in Shanghai…

 

…The arch shape reminded me of Marine Drive, Mumbai. Again, not the best of the snaps…

…From a ferry ride to across the river, even though a ordinary snap, i loved the background…

…I believe the best ones always comes at the end…the tallest structures in Shanghai, and the world. Jinmao Tower (left, 11th tallest in world)…

…And the Shanghai World Financial Center, the 3rd tallest building in the world and my personal favorite from Shanghai. The photo is taken from an open top bus…     

I hope you liked it. Leave a comment if you did. No copying without permission. In case you are interested in any of them, as me & i shall give you the full resolution ones.

My Camera Speaks III : Shanghai Expo Unplugged

Check the previous post if you haven’t, to get an idea what World Expo 2010 – Shanghai is all about. This is a continuation with some details.

Shanghai Expo started on the 1st of May this year and is about to finish in more than a months time, on the 31st of Oct. I was told that each day, the expo attracts anything between two hundred thousand to two million people. One day ticket allow you to stay inside the Expo site from 9 AM to 12 in the midnight, but if you felt that this 15 hours was good enough to see it all, you are terribly wrong. On a day’s ticket, it is not likely that you visit more than 5-6 pavilions. It took me some thing like one hour to get the security clearance to enter inside the Expo site. Our plans were to see all the pavilions  from outside, capture photos, and on the way visit the Indian, African & Aviation pavilions and see how the rest goes.

The Indian Pavilion

To be frank, Indian pavilion was a slight disappointment. Not that it looked bad, but considering the powerful nation we are, and considering the kind of Super Power we are supposed to be, they should have done better and invested better. The theme looked okay, the greenness and the structure of it displaying a bit of our culture, but there lacked something that attracts your eye like those of the European, American or even our neighboring Nepalese pavilion. We had to wait for something like an hour to enter the pavilion and inside it were a couple of stores, some antique shops, a food store, and a store of Incredible India & Air India together. The big dome seen at the center is an exhibition hall.

…Several photos from inside the Indian Pavilion are below…

What do you feel about the Indian Pavilion? Was enough work done? Didn’t it lack something from the other pavilions? Do share your views & thoughts through comments.

 

Some pavilion pictures that i missed last time…

…Russia & United States of America…

…Mauritius…

…the African Pavilion & Nepali Pavilion…

 

 

…Estonia…

 

…Romania…

…Germany…

…Winding off…

True, you have had to wait for 2-3 hours in queues to enter any major pavilion, but you can’t expect an easy passage when you know 500,000 people visit this place every day. And the 3 hour wait was made a comfortable one with various facilities and arrangements. Some of them included seating facility for the entire queue and fans every 5 meter or so, and then there was this innovative idea of spraying of water from the roof, every 30 seconds or so, which was nothing but a sudden escape from the humid, hot conditions.

To sum up the experience in a couple of sentences, engineering & organizing were all at their very bests, for this mega event. Pavilions that stole away your breaths, crowd control and voluntary works that made you jealous, free transportation services that made you feel home, an experience to cherish!

Walking through the Expo site, i was thinking how the Commonwealth Villages in New-Delhi would be looking like. Just like the Olympics 2008, this is sure to be a bench mark for any World Fairs from now on.