62. Why Commonwealth Games?

Shera - the Mascot

Wikipedia points out: Commonwealth Games is a multi-sport event for member countries from the Commonwealth of Nations. And The Commonwealth of Nations constitute the countries carved out of the dismantled British Empire.

Now, after 60 years of dismantlement, do we need to have The Commonwealth, and with that, Her Highness' Games? Is it worthwhile to continue this legacy?

If someone had asked that question and acted on it, may be, Suresh Kalmadi would have got more time to color his hair and beard black than worry about corruption allegations and construction delays. Poor fellow. He seems to be going the Lalit Modi way.

Now that the clock can't move backwards, let's all pray that India successfully hosts the 2010 Commonwealth Games and Mani Shankar Aiyar eats crow.

61: Any issues?

This one will be a short post... but worth mentioning...

I happen to manage a team which is spread across multiple locations-- Mumbai, where I am, and then in Bangalore and Kolkata.

Yesterday, one of my Bangalore team members pings to inform me that he had to leave early the day before without notifying me because his spouse complained about a stomach ache, and today he has to take her to the doc for further diagnosis.

Of course, who am I to stop people from visiting their doctors? Without giving another thought, I just typed on the messenger: "Go Ahead. No Issue..."

He replies: "She just has a stomach ache, but no, no issue. It's some gynecological problem."

!!!

60. The Aura Around Aurum

On the occasion of independent India bagging it's first individual Olympic Gold, here's a countdown...

An Olympic gold medal in hand is worth (much more than):

10. Two boxes of champagne bottles

9. Two truck loads of gifts

8. Two duplex flats at Colaba

7. Two phone calls from the country's premier
(or Sonia Gandhi, whosoever is greater)

6. Two chapters in Class IV Hindi Text Book

5. Two hundred Indian delegates at the games

4. Two thousand and eight patriotic Bollywood films

3. Two billion TV debates on "Why only one medal for one billion Indians?"

2. Two Tera bytes of illegally downloaded mp3 songs

1. Two of us -- you the reader, and me the writer!




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Meanwhile, if the Indian Olympic Committee is interested in bagging more Olympic Golds but without spending anything on infrastructure and training, then it should suggest to the International Olympic Committee to include "Spitting" as a sport, with following events in this new category (on the similar lines as Shooting):

• 1m Spit


• 5m Spit


• 1m Running Target


• 5m Running Target


• Trap


• Double Trap


• Skeet

The Indian betel leaf should be used as ammunition, thus leading to a betel revolution in our agriculture sector.

On further research, I came across this article on the web: "Hitching a Ride with the Chinese Olympic Spitting Team". Looks like the Chinese have a PhD in Spitting! So, for the time being, Suresh Kalmadi and team have to discard Spitting and invent a new Sporting event. Any suggestions?