Strawberries and some extra cream

It is Wimbledon again and for the readers of The Hindu, it would also mean that they get a daily dose of strawberries and cream from the staff reporter Nirmal Shekar. Though cheesy at times, I find Shekar’s reports amusing.
He writes in today's (Jun 23) paper marking the opening day at the Wimbledon:

For sport to evoke spiritual states akin to those activated by the best of music, try sitting in the centre Court stands on a lovely summer afternoon even as Rafael Nadal forces Federer to dig deeper than ever before. Borg and McEnroe, Becker and Edberg, Agassi and Ivanisevic — if you have been there and seen it, you will know all about Wimbledon’s special allure.

Here are some select quotes from last year's reports:
Shekar on the Russian player Marat Safin:

It is easy to accept Martina Navratilova as American, easy not to think of her Czech past. It is just as easy to accept the new national allegiance of almost any athlete. But Safin — well, even if he bought a home on Mars and settled down on the red planet, you cannot think of him as anything but Russian. He is as Russian as Fyodor Dostoevsky’s Dmitri Karamazov.

This is one of those cheesy pieces, again from last year’s reports- On the weather condition during a Sania Mirza match:

A polar bear might have found the conditions perfect for a roll on the grass and a cozy snooze, although it must be admitted that the endangered creature would have found the noise from the stands — the cries of ‘come on Sania’ and the histles — distinctly alien. Things are rather quieter in the Arctic northern Canada and Alaska.

I liked his comparison of Pete Sampras and Roger Federer (The Hindu Jul 2, 2007):

In his first final in 1993, the great man [Pete Sampras] played Jim Courier, a four-time Grand Slam champion. His other final opponents were Boris Becker (six Grand Slam titles), Goran Ivanisevic (one), Andre Agassi (eight) and Pat Rafter two). Sampras’ final opponents together won 20 Grand Slam titles.
In comparison, Federer’s final opponents have won four (Nadal three and Roddick one).

All this leaves us with a simple question: who is the greatest Wimbledon (grass court) champion of all time?

Here is my choice: Pete Sampras. I believe if Sampras and Federer had met at their respective peaks at Wimbledon, the former would have won seven out of 10 times.

I dont know the math behind that conclusion, but somehow it made sense.

While we all are anxious to know the fate of Federer this year, Shekar writes (Jun 23, 2008 The Hindu):

If Federer were a listed company, then his stock would now be trading at a five-year low and this is the main reason why this championship is invested with special meaning, particularly in the context of the men’s game.

Time’s arrow travels only in one direction and a slightly wobbly Federer knows that his ascent of Mount Sampras and beyond will depend heavily on his reinventing himself as an all-time great champion on the velvety green carpet here, a surface that seems to endow the great man with wings, making him miraculously weightless.

Enjoy the season and yes, stock up your refrigerators.

State of Pecos

I owe a lot to Pecos, the dingy little pub on Rest house road in Bangalore. I would be there at least 5 days a week, with my friend. We would drink flat beer by the gallon, eat Kerala beef and listen to the Dead, Steely Dan and Creedence for hours. We would check out by 11:30, come home and eat Maggi noodles for dinner.

The music system was the worst in town, but the music just the opposite. One day you could see Paul at the bar, next day he was gone. Elango, the pub manager, never cared much for guys without girls, so we didn’t care much for him either. Technology took over, they got a CD player. But they still played the tapes.

Years passed, my visits became less frequent- thanks to the traffic situation in Bangalore. In the last one year, probably I went there 10 times, and may be only once I could feel the good old Pecos. All the other days, they played the same music: Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin and Bob Marley-almost in the same order too! Though there were familiar faces in the waiting staff, the regular crowd was different – not just the faces, but the people too.

Pecos is history. Maybe we need a Rick Rubin to save Pecos - getting it back to where it once belonged. :)

For old times’ sake, let me compile a quintessential Pecos play list. Making a list of “singles” for Pecos would be blasphemous, as the tradition is to play albums – start to finish. But these are the songs that define Pecos (for sure, I would have missed many–I just put a cap at 10 songs).

1. Bad moon rising – CCR
2. Ruby Tuesday – Rolling stones
3. Truckin’ – Grateful Dead
4. Homeward bound – Simon and Garfunkel
5. Locomotive breath – Jethro Tull
6. Boston Rag – Steely Dan
7. Domino – Van Morrison
8. Free as a bird – Lynyrd Skynyrd
9. Riders on the Storm – The Doors
10. Heading for the light – The Traveling Wilburys

PS: I didn’t include any Jazz tracks here (pity, they don’t play Jazz anymore) and deliberately kept the Floyd, Zeppelin and Marley out.

Jack flak

Jack Black is not an actor. He lives in his movies. That’s why we are so bored of him. He is just the same in all of them. After doing School of Rock he should have embraced St. Kurt. It’s better to burn out, etc. In Hi Fidelity, it was a guest appearance of the character from School of Rock. I don’t remember much of Shallow Hal. In Jesus’ Son and Orange County, the roles are so similar that even Jack Black wouldn’t be able to tell one from the other. Luckily I didn’t get a chance to watch Nacho Libre.

And with the Pips spoof from the American Idol finale, it is official – Jack Black should quit the entertainment industry. May be he can form a rock group and put his music online for free download. It would be better than whatever he is doing now.



Ladies and Gentlemen, Jack Black has dropped his pants. You may laugh now. Thank you.