Someday, today will be nostalgia

On April 21 st , 2006, if you ran into me on the maternity ward floor in Malathi Memorial Hospital, I bore a strong resemblance to any expectant father. A few minutes past 11 am that same day, I became an uncle to a bouncing baby boy. For those who have trodden the path, it is one of life’s most   enthralling adventures. It is my opinion that the joy one thinks one will derive from parenthood is largely an illusion. Nappy, baby powder and cerelac ads make parenthood look like a slice of heaven. On the contrary, there is always a sense of apprehension in parenting- when will my child talk, walk, become the teacher’s pet, break the neighbour’s glass, start using cuss words, fail in an exam, among many others. When the child finally leaves home, parents can’t wait to be grandparents – that’s where unbridled joy lies. Scour the shelves in any book store and you will find that the parenting section has plenty of sugar coated advice on how to be an amazing mom/dad and raise l...

Date: July 2, 2022 2012 was a watershed year in Indian sport. Tennis and cricket in India seemed to be besotted with their aging stars, refusing to believe that all good things had to come to an end. The Indian cricket team had lost 8 tests on the trot, one of its most prolific and respected cricketer’s, Rahul Dravid, had announced his retirement and one of the cricket's  most revered figures, Sachin Tendulkar, would bid adieu to the game a year later, (another legend, VVS Laxman had also retired a few months earlier) leaving a billion and a half people inconsolable. The UPA government was on its last legs and the US was slowly but steadily withdrawing troops from its misadventures in Iraq. Everywhere one looked, it seemed the old was reluctantly making way for the future. Right in the midst of all of this, two of India’s aging tennis stars were fighting a war of their own. Indian hockey was yet to make a comeback into people’s hearts and the purses of sponsors....