The voice tried to reassure me! The voice was calm and soft and said, "Shalom!"
“What?” I asked.

I looked up into the sun burning like there was no tomorrow! All it did was burn, burn and burn. It seemed that it was frustrated at something and an imperceptible pain seemed to fuel its anger. I stared at the sun. The voice was still ringing in the deep realms of my thoughts. Shalom! The word was echoing! Shalom! Reassuring, the voice was crystal! And I looked at the sun burning!

The blinding flame hurt, like a thousand needles pricking the eyes. The eyes watered immediately and I thought my eyes were bleeding. Yet my eyes didn’t flinch a bit. The pain started to ease, but the eyes kept watering and soon the world around me started to fade into an obscure darkness. And the world within, faintly, began becoming visible!

And in the painful and brilliant display of light I saw the truth. A truth so profound and horrifying, that it had to be shielded from the prying eyes of the inquisitive. And the sun burned, and burned itself, as though it knew what the truth was, as though trying to keep a secret of a million thousand years by burning itself out. Until one day when it runs out of its energy and getting tired it burns itself out! Leaving nothing but charred remains of an life that contended itself in keeping the truth out of reach cause it knew the truth and the deceptive world that we embraced.

I blinked. I couldn’t take it any longer. I didn’t know how long I stared at the sun. But I knew it was long enough to understand the truth. And I looked around and I saw people. People were everywhere I looked. And the numbers just kept swelling up. Oblivious to the fact! And I though! What would happen when they know the truth?

”Shalom!” I replied to the voice! “Shalom”, I lied. The devil knew that I knew the truth and since then I never heard her soft reassuring voice. I looked at the people with my burning eyes and wondered, “When shall I tell the truth?”

“Shalom!” I laughed!

It was well into spring and the sun shone in its splendorous best. I filled my chest with a breath of the cold morning air, looked towards the sun and closed my eyes; presenting a brilliant crimson screen displaying psychedelic patterns to the rhythm of the violins and a piano that played in my ears.

I sat there on my knees, holding my breath for a moment, letting the air cleanse my soul that sought absolution. I thought about life. I didn’t think about death, after all it was inevitable. 

I looked at life everywhere. And life looked the same everywhere. There was pain and anguish everywhere. Always! Everyone bent their back carrying burden on them, men, women, children, trying to find the way, trying to find their destination. Everyone traveled the same path, in their babelesque journey, only worried about the burden on their back.

Life is a strange being. It lets you see the magnificent vistas, it lets you see joy and happiness, it lets you see the amazing thing that this world is, yet it ensures you are blind.

To be completed at some point in time..

Now that the Left has announced that it would formally withdraw support to the UPA Government, the Congress (I) has come out strongly against the Left by issuing statements throughout the afternoon as well as putting up a brave face as the stubborn and embarrassed Prime Minister was in Japan attending the G8 meeting, with probably an hidden agenda to negotiate the deal further with Mr.George Bush.

A statement made by the External Affairs Minister Mr.Pranab Mukherjee, has ridiculed the common sense of the people of the country, by responding to a charge by the Left that the government was hiding key facts from the people of the country. According to reports from prominent media groups, Mr. Mukherjee said that that the full text of the India Specific Safeguards agreement could not be shared as it was a "Privileged" and "Confidential" document between the Indian Government and the IAEA. He added that the document could be shared with third parties only after going through procedures laid down by the IAEA. He also mentioned that those who want access to the details of the document would have to join the government.

There were three remarks in the minister's statement that insulted the intellect of the Indian janata.

1) That the text of the India Specific Safeguards documents is privileged and confidential: I agree that the document is confidential, but does that mean that it is confidential to the people of the country and the parliament, especially when the government has been very secretive about the document and the deal that could potentially affect the people? I would like to know what is so secretive in the deal that it cannot even be uttered and what will happen if the world comes to know about it. If it is National Interest, then the obstinate prime minister should come out with the truth in the interest of the nation.

2) That the document can be shared after going through IAEA dictated procedures: Since when have we become subservient to the IAEA and the United States? What made Manmohan Singh to shamelessly agree to the dikats of the IAEA with regards to sharing the details with the people and parliament of his country? The Prime Minister and his External Affairs Minister should have ensured that any agreement is beneficial to the country and in our own terms than to be submissive.

3. That those who want to have the access to the text need to join the government: Mr.Mukherjee that is pure black mail and unlawful in this country of ours! But who cares right? When the government of the largest "democracy" does not care about the parliamentary form of governance with a Prime Minister who has scant regard to democracy (that he goes after the loopholes in the constitution to become the Prime Minister), become blind and act like a dictator, then black mailing the janataa is no big deal I guess. Mr. Nukherjee, I do not want join the government, but I want to know why the government is hiding the details of the agreement.

So when the minister and the prime minister act in a dictatorial way what can we expect from the government?

Lord save this country!

You can read the news report here

If the 2007 Finals of the Wimbledon was considered as one of the best finals, this one was a magnum-opus of all grand-slam finals. You definitely could not have asked for more. All the elements were there, screaming fans, rain interruptions, over-ruling by the chair umpire, challenges by the players, and even fading light threatening too push the game to a Monday. And at the center of all this, Federer and Nadal, fighting it out in what could be dubbed as the best Grand Slam Finals ever (or atleast the best since I started following the game in 1985).

As the darkness swooped in on the center court, Nadal slumped on to the court on his back as Federer found the net on a short forehand, to become the new champion at Wimbledon. Nadal's win broke Federer's record of not having lost a match on grass courts since 2002 and also made him the become the first player to win both the French Open and the Wimbledon in the same year, ever since Borg who did the same 28 years ago.

Both Federer and Nadal, like in many of their previous clashes, tried to demolish each other without showing any disrespect to their opponent. But soon, as the match progressed, the spectators knew that a battle of epic proportions were in the making. Nobody moved from their seats, both in the grandstands of the Center Court or at the adjoining Picnic hill, where hundreds had thronged in to see the game on the big screen put up there, braving the two rain breaks and almost total darkness that seemed to hover above the lawns and I guess the scene was same in millions of homes where people were glued to their television sets. The drama twisted and turned as it meandered, thorough, each point, game and set before this unadulterated sea-saw battle ended in the final quarter of the fifth hour, a few minutes before the sun bid good night to city.

Nadal's seemed to have been running away to a straight sets win as he won the first two sets, before Federer produced some of his magical skills to stay in the match. Nadal matched Federer point for point, slice for slice, shot for shot and both of them were stretched on the baseline, with Federer making most of the moves to the net. Both of then held serves towards the end of the third set as they pushed it to a tie-breaker, which Federer won without much of a sweat. At this point Federer seemed to be gaining some of the lost confidence which Nadal had shattered at Roland Garros. But Federer showed why he is the champion of the game as he clawed back into the match with some sparkling passes and some excellent net plays. Without giving a quarter, both the players pushed the fourth set too in to a tie-break. A couple of unforced errors from Federer saw Nadal racing ahead to 5-2 on service, just two points away from the golden trophy. Nadal double faulted first and then found the net for the second point, to give Federer space to get back. And a champion does not lose chances gifted. Federer produced two stunning serves to take the lead by a point. Both of them did not give any quarter as the tie breaker stretched the fourth set further with rain clouds hovering above as though waiting for one of them to give up. Both of them pushed each other to the edges of the court, danced and stumbled through the center of the court, before Federer closed the set at 10-8, in the process splitting the match right through the middle.

Even the rain clouds seemed to have forgot to precipitate as the drama proceeded towards into the fifth set and towards the fifth hour.  Both of them making each other earn each and every point. And when the score board showed 4 hours and 56 minutes, with everyone on the edge of their seats, the clouds gave in for the second time in the match, with the scores tied at 2 Sets each, 2 Games each and 40-40 in the fifth game of the fifth set with Federer serving. Such was the state of the match, almost throughout and when the match resumed after the rains, nothing seemed to have changed. Both the players seemed have some secret reserve energy in them, which they seemed to switched on. The fifth set went on without a break. 12 games into the fifth, the ref reset the number of challenges to 3 each for the next twelve games. But these two were on a different league all together to be bothered by the number of challenges left. And as the game entered the final quarter of the fifth hour, Federer snapped in the 15th game as Nadal, broke his service. With hardly much light left, Nadal stepped into serve for the championship. And soon he had two championship points. Nerves were high, not just for the players, but for the spectators, the referee, the lines men and women, the ball boys and girls. Nobody could afford to make a mistake now. Such was the heights of the match. A down the line passing shot by Federer saves one match point. Federer had not been through these situations much in his career, but had enough in this one match alone. Federer was unable to control one of the returns from Nadal, hit the short forehand into the net, as Nadal, slumped into the court amid flashing light bulbs from the cameras announcing the end to the battle which starter around three in the afternoon Local time.



The mutual admiration the both have for each other is what makes the contest more interesting and the crowds riveted to this form of pure and unadulterated game. A look at the match stats would show how Federer gave the match away, one in which he seemed to be the shadow of himself at finals at Roland Garros this year. Federer made 52 unforced errors as compared to 27 by Nadal and he could break Nadal's service only once, that too early in the second set. However, nothing to be taken away from Nadal, who stretched in each point to negate what would have otherwise been pure winners from Federer.

For Nadal, it was a dream come true, with four previous Grand Slam titles in the form of French open, this was the one he always wanted to win as Federer announced amidst applause from the crowd that he would be back next year as he acknowledged that he was beaten on the best court by the toughest opponent. Nadal, walked in to gather the trophy in the darkness of Wimbledon, amid the bright light of hundreds of camera flashes, which now he possess after three attempts. Finally all his, as he said that Federer was still the champion and number one and that he had won it five times, but for himself it was his first and it was special.