Skip to main content

Posts

Nana Patekar (1951-2026): Tributes to a Firebrand Actor of Indian Cinema!

Someone laments inconsolably, ‘It’s no time to go! He had so many things to do!’ which is quite a natural reaction in matters concerning death, irrespective of the age or the state of health or the circumstances surrounding the person. The pain is always there, only the intensity might vary depending on how close to heart the person is to us, personally or otherwise. No doubt, the personal loss is the most intense one in any tragedy, often leaving the bereaved unable to handle the pain. The screen icons or the celebrities become very close to us over the years even though we never meet him/her at a personal level and thus their passing-away leaves us grieving and in shock. The loss of Nana Patekar is a very intensely shocking pain to me at a personal level, although I never knew or met him personally; his screen images and performances endeared him to me over the decades till I last saw him in Houseful5 movie just months before. Born as Vishwanath Patekar in Maharashtra, Nana Patekar...

India Vs Pakistan Cricket: October 3 Tomorrow Asian Games and October 10 WC-2027!

Well, it’s about the announcement of the Groups and the full schedule made on October 1, 2026, of the 14-Team ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup-2027 to be hosted by South Africa, Zimbabwe and Namibia from October 2 to November 21 next year across 12 venues. However, somewhat swayed by the never-ending hype surrounding the arch-rivals India and Pakistan , the ICC mandarins being no exception to this rule, we too are focusing on the match between them as to its when and where, in healthy disregard of the never-ending geopolitical rivalry between the two that interferes with the game in no healthy way—like embargoing the innocent handshakes or robbing one of its deserving trophies. Yes! Cricket belies everything—the game does inevitably unfold on the field whatever be the hassles over it, and the fans love it even as all other stakeholders bring in the dough! So, the most sought-after mouth-watering group-stage match between India and Pakistan is scheduled on October 10, 2027 in Johannesburg a...

Greedy Doctors: A Medical Emergency?

They’ve been worried quite a bit for the last few months, for a doctor of a metro city where they lived regularly before having to move to another city for special work told his wife in no uncertain terms that cataract was developing in both of her eyes and that in the coming three months she had to get the surgeries done. The doctor magnanimously suggested she had a good eye clinic and she would space out the surgeries nicely, apart from giving his wife special discounts on the fees. The husband and the wife discussed the issue in all possible details as they could not avoid moving to the other city: he suggested getting it done in the other city as nowadays cataract surgeries are quite easy and risk-free to which his wife objected saying that as the lady doctor has been very nice and understanding, she’d do it with her only; and finding her determined, if not adamant, he then decided to somehow visit their home city in-between just to get it done and they both agreed playing with th...

The Two Warring Giants and Their Subjects!

  Once upon a time there were two warring giants…nay… There Are two warring giants still at it in the country we the subjects live in! Both are veritable giants in their common yet separate playgrounds, no doubt! But the bigger giant of the two always wants to maintain its superiority and increase the margin further and further into the sky! The other not only wants to keep growing but wants to outgrow its rival as fast and sooner as possible! In a way both the giants are obsessed with their competition of growth to beat each other and as an obvious consequence of that obsession they’re basically very scared of losing ground even at the slightest and at times behave like absolute psychopaths. We wouldn’t really want to highlight or elaborate such possible instances of psychic behaviour patterns as we proceed on this story. The intelligent readers are thus going to have to pinpoint the instances for their own sweet interpretation. They have their own rather technically marked out...

Cricket Opera: The Rohit Sharma Googly!

Rohit Sharma has been emerging as a paradox of Indian cricket, as much for the uncertainty about his place in the playing eleven as for his sort of a plunge into the television show business . This paradox is not less significant than the celebrated googly . The rollercoaster ads on his debut appearance as a host in Sony Entertainment Television ’s new show Family Full House With Rohit Sharma put this innocent writer in grievous doubt about his future in the ODI cricket only which he’s been playing after retiring from Test and T20 cricket. Has the national selector Ajit Agarkar finally decided to shelve the superlative cricketer from Team India, so as to exclude him from the Indian squad being prepared for the World Cup-2027 ? However, the selector’s final decision to include him in the upcoming ODI Series against the visiting West Indies has indeed assured this writer as far as his place in Team India is concerned, but put him in great confusion as his host-show was launched on 19 t...

Road Accidents: The Syndrome of Losing Control!

The recent Khetri-Sonapur Traveler bus accident on National Highway-27 that killed 7 people has put the menace of road accidents in Assam as well as in India in sharp focus. Bad roads came to the fore as the main reason. And indeed, it was the immediate reason. In fact, a series of accidents had taken place in the stretch between Guwahati and Nagaon in recent months involving high fatalities, and the highway remained full of potholes , craters and unrepaired still. This agitated the local people who decided to hold protests on the highway day and night that led to temporary closure of the Toll Tax gates which seem to be numerous despite the statutory regulations about their spacing. The State Government announced compensation and the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) was asked to undertake repairs within a week. The menace of road accidents in Assam has been rising steadily since the last three years with the figure of total road accidents crossing 9000 in 2024 and in...

Asia Cup Cricket: India’s Trophies Piling Up in Pakistan!

Cricket is a game loved by the masses all over the globe and growing irrespective of their differences—political or religious or whatever—and nationalities. The grand gentleman’s sport is a passion in India and in Pakistan with fans waiting for their arch-rivals to meet as often as possible over the decades, apart from the other most prominent arch-rivals pair of Australia and England. However, it’s unfortunate political rivalries have been damaging the spirit of the game in the Indian subcontinent—India, Pakistan and Bangladesh at loggerheads that is depriving the common people of all the three countries to cherish the Tests/ODIs/T20Is on their own grounds. Yes! Neutral venues have been the ‘solution’ since quite a few years now. Nonetheless, Pakistan has been the worst affected due to the nation’s terror activities and therefore, the ‘solution’ has also been failing to solve the issues amicably. Cricket fans just cannot afford to give up watching while the respective Boards cannot a...