The unsportive scenario of Indian sports

It was an amazing day for cricket lovers - a day of pride for every Indian cricket fan - a youthful inexperienced Indian cricket team under the leadership of a new captain, in the absence of a formal coach won the inaugural Twenty20 World Championship. A feat many of the experienced and talented Indian teams from the past couldnt accompolish - winning a world championship. Dhoni and his men deserve all the praise they are getting and we only hope that the momentum gained in the past matches is not lost, but converted into a sustained performance on the pitch.

A nation rejoiced and welcomed its heroes in a fitting manner. BCCI showered the players cash awards. Agreed the players deserve the lavish gifts and presents, but if we pause for a moment and ask a question whose money is being spent. The BCCI has offered cash incentives from its coffers and we dont question them. But what about the money being spent from the state exchequer and used as a publicity stunt by the ministers, who by riding on the good will of the people are presenting these awards to their players.I dont question if the players deserve this money or not, but why are the ministers not spending from their pockets and instead using the public money.

Agreed India is a cricket frenzied nation and the hype its cricket players are recieving can be reasoned to a certain extent. But what about its other sport heroes? The Indian hockey team recently won the Asian Cup. This news didnt generate the kind of hype the cricket win recieved. Hockey is the national game of the country and yet its players are given a second rate treatment. Just because there is no corporate money involved, the media also doesnt seem to show any interest in the game or its players. After the Chak de India movie, there was some initial hooplah for the flagging support for hockey in India, but now it has become a bygone issue. Watching the cricket players basking in the glory, the hockey federation has every right to question this prejudice towards them or any other sport. The fault not only lies with the governments attitude towards other sports besides cricket, but also with the people of India. The amount of interest shown in cricket eclipses the interest shown in any other sport. Not getting the due glory for their talent can drive the players to not pursue other sports. Football, Volleyball, etc are all in a sad state of affairs in India. We all agree that sports other than cricket need to be encouraged, their talents nurtured and channalized properly, but what are we doing towards it. If the change has to happen, it has to happen in the minds of the people who watch, follow and play sports. Only then can we hope to see India perform better at sports other than cricket.

Twenty20 World Championship

Its as good as it gets. We couldnt have dreamt for anything better. An India-Pakistan clash in the finals of a World Cup (albeit Twenty20) is every cricket fans dream match. No matter what the result is going to be on Monday, fans from both the countries have a satisfied feeling from their teams. Just a couple of months ago, both the teams were knocked out in the first round of the regular world cup. After that calamitous performance in the Carribean, both the teams went back to the drawing board and in just a matter of months came out with teams frothing with youth and fresh blood. And the icing on the cake is that both have stormed into the finals, comprehensively beating all the other teams coming their way.

Clearly both India and Pakistan have been the best performers in this tournament. India was involved in three of the most exciting matches in the past week. Yuvraj's batting has been surreal and he has single handedly motored India's batting machine in this tournament. His fastest fifty record will be impossible to break untill another mad rush of adrenalin prevails on a batsman. He has had a golden run of form so far and the crowd loved each of the balls he dispatched home from the pitch. Dhoni has been very good in his captaincy so far, his field placings and bowling changes have all worked well. The good thing of having youth in the team is that the players are all on a buzz and there is a great vibe on the ground. The same holds true for the Pakistani team. Malik has been the alter ego of Dhoni. As usual Pakistan started a tournament with an internal controversy, but the players have handled the incident maturely. The best thing to do was to send the trouble-maker away from the stage and play cricket in peace. Misbah was a great find in this tournament. Between both the teams, Pakistan is the one having some experiance in this format of the game. PCB stages these Twenty20 tournaments in Ramadhan as night games, where all the hard hitting sloggers have come from. Misbah, Afridi etc are all products of these run feasts.

Time will come to a stand still for millions of people in the sub-continent and else where, when the two teams clash for the final trophy. India have history on their side, as they have never lost to Pakistan in any world cup match so far. But as Afridi puts it, Twenty20 is a different ball game altogether. A few good balls from Asif or Gul, or a few home runs from Yuvraj can turn the tables either side. With the short boundaries at the Wanderers, we could expect some great fireworks tomorrow from Uthappa, Yuvraj, Dhoni, Misbah, Malik and Afridi. So let the music roll, lights, cheers and boom goes the cherry sailing into the sky !

Travelogue : Paris - Louvre, Champs-Elysées, Eiffel Tower

The Louvre Museum was initially built as a fortress in the 12th century along the banks of river Seine. It went through a lot of changes, destructions, reconstructions and enlargements for over 4 centuries. It was finally at the conclusion of the 18th century, it was opened as a museum for the public. Though renovations and changes were still being done till as late as the end of the last century. During the reign of Francois Mitterrand, a massive metal and glass pyramid was added as the entrance lobby. At a height of 70-feet, this pyramid, which was designed by an architect named I.M. Pei, has a lot of controversy surrounding it. As is remarked in the Dan Brown novel "The Da Vinci Code", there are several conspiracy theories running around about Francois Mitterrand and his penchant for the number 6. This pyramid also features prominantly in the initial frames of the movie adaptation of the same novel. A couple of meters away is the downward pointing La Pyramide Inversée, which provides daylight into the lobby of the underground malls in the museum campus.

The museum has 4 levels - lower ground floor, ground floor, 1st and 2nd floors, with each floor divided into 3 sectors each - Denon, Sully, Richelieu. The lower ground floor has access to the Medieval Moats where one can see the foundation base which was revealed after excavations were done. The lower ground floor also has relics from Islamic art, Pre-classical Greek art, Italian and French Sculptures. These sections continue vertically onto the ground floor, where there is an elaborate section for antiquities from Iran as well. In the French Sculptures section of the Richelieu one can view the "Tomb of Philippe Pot", while the Mesopotamia section has some great relics of Hammurabi etc. The most vouched painting of the Louvre is the Mona Lisa. Infact the whole section of the Italian paintings and sculptures is a major attraction why people come to the Louvre. As you enter the museum, there are arrows indicating the path to the Italian section on the first floor, where La Giaconda or Mona Lisa is awaiting the curious visitors. Though photography is supposedly banned at major places in the museum, but people cannot resist taking their snaps along side the most famous painting of the world. In the same hall there are plenty of other master pieces from maestros like Leonardo da Vinci and Raphael. Other prominent paintings hanging nearby are the "The Wedding Feast at Cana", "The Raft of Medussa" and the "Madonna of the Rocks". Continuing on the same floor, but in the section of Richelieu are the Apartments of Napolean and othe Monarchs from the Rennaisance era. Visiting the Louvre is an exhilirating experience, but an avid art lover would just not get enough of it. Paris is home to many other famous museums like Musee d'Orsay, Musee National d'Art Moderne etc. which have some amazing artifacts on display.

Coming out of the Louvre, one is standing facing the L'Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel. This Arch was constructed at the orders of Napolean I, to celebrate the victories of the French army. Continuing your walk westwards, you enter the Jardin Du Tuileries with the Tuileries Palace on your right. The Tuileries Garden has a broad promenade and a serene water-fountain encircled with seating chairs, which provide a perfect spot for having a good evening walk with your family. Further westward is the Obelisk of the Place de la Concorde, one of the largest squares of the city. At its centroid is an Egyptian Obelisk, gifted by Mehmet Ali, to the French people. On either side of this obelisk are massive picturesque fountains. In the nearby vicinity are the palaces - Grande Palais and Petit Palais. The Avenue des Champs-Elysées starts from here and extends uptill the L'Arc de Triomphe on the other end. It is interesting to note, that La Pyramide du Louvre, L'Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel, the Obelisk in Place de la Concorde, the Champs-Elysées, L'Arc di Triomphe and the Grande Arche de la Défense are all aligned in a straight line. The Champs-Elysées is the most famous and broadest avenue of Paris. As you walk down the promenade, you can see all the high-street shopping stores of Paris. Surely, not a place to be along with your partner, or you would risk shelling out heavy currency in any of its high priced stores. However its a great place to treat your eyes with stores like PLanet Hollywood, Disneyworld, fashion stores like Zara, Benetton, Gap, etc. The Champs-Elysées is also a place where the Parisians love to celebrate their joy and happiness, be it the national day of 14th July, New Years Eve, world cup victory etc. Its also the last stretch of run for the bikers of Tour de France.

The Eiffel Tower is synonymous with Paris. After all this monument has been adorning the Paris skyline for more than a century. It was initially constructed as an exhibit for the World Fair being hosted in Paris during 1889. Designed by Gustave Eiffel, it had been the tallest building in world for a long time. After the fair was over, the tower was commissioned to be torn down. But the Parisians had begun to love this monument, that the decision was overturned. Since then, the tower has been used for many purposes besides being a popular tourist spot. For instance during a certain period, it was used a giant thermometer, with lights indicating the current temperature The tower has 3 levels. The 1st and the 2nd levels are accessible through stairs. There are about 700 steps from the ground base till the observation deck on the 2nd floor. The top summit is accessible through a lift from the 2nd level. However one can take a lift to each of the floors from the base ground. The lifts run on all 4 corners of the tower. The view from the topmost level is very breathtaking. I would personally suggest to be there around sunset and view it from the top. And when it becomes dark, the city becomes bejewelled with monuments all around light-up by the focus lights. For all the right reasons, Paris is called the "City of Lights", because when you see from the top of the Eiffel Tower, you see a vast ocean of lights below you. During the night, there are huge beams of light skirting the Parisian sky from the top of the Eiffel Tower. Every hour, there are glittering lights blinking along the body of the tower for a couple of minutes, giving an amazing sight in the night sky. Below the Eiffel Tower you will find a lot of immigrant workers selling mini-replicas of the tower and along with other such souvenirs, they also sell a bottle wine with glasses. The idea of having a romantic moment with your loved one on the tower top or in the sprawling lawns at its base, is as dramatic as you can imagine it to be.