“It is pathetic – this spot fixing. They get so much money, and still fix”, cried my friend Swami, as we were having our weekend coffee. My broker friend Jigneshbhai was, as always, watching Swami and listening. After a while, Jigneshbhai asked nonchalantly, “Who are you talking about?” As always, this irked Swami even more. … Read more
“Where is Cyprus?” asked my friend Swami as we were having our weekend coffee meeting. We had met after a long time, as my broker friend Jigneshbhai had been out of town. Jigneshbhai knew what was coming next from the ever-questioning Swami, but like all his terse, double-edged and somewhat unclear answers, he said “Somewhere … Read more
My readers have been wondering where I have been for the past so many days, and why there have been no posts for a long time. My profuse apologies, but I must admit that I was busy in something more important. Well, not more important as such, but something that kept me busy. I was … Read more
Aug 26, 2012 “Ben Johnson would seem a like a small-time cheat compared to Lance Armstrong.” Jigneshbhai tells Swami and I to not lose our heads, and stay composed in all circumstances, but he seemed truly angry today. Sarcasm coming from him generally meant that he was not at all impressed with what was happening, … Read more
Oct 09, 2012 “I sometimes feel that the West Indies is every non-West Indian cricket fan’s favourite team after their own country.” Jigneshbhai made that remark as we were having our coffee. Swami was enthused with this cricketing remark. “Actually you might be right” he said. “If one were to ask cricket fans from different … Read more
“Remember many years back when you lived in Mumbai, there was an advertisement by ‘Baba Bengali’ stuck in the local train compartments?” Jigneshbhai asked Swami yesterday when we had our coffee. Swami broke into a smile, evidently remembering it clearly. “Yeah – it used to have claims like ‘solve all your problems in 11 days’ … Read more
“Do you remember that fishing rod ad where a serious looking businessman, who has almost given up on finding any fish, is sitting holding his rod patiently, and then a local fisherman comes, applies 4 drops of Fevikwik and runs away with the fish?” asked Jigneshbhai, as we were sipping our weekend coffee. Both Swami … Read more
“India can learn a lot from its first superstar” said Jigneshbhai while sipping his coffee. “It has been over a month since Rajesh Khanna died, but I am still not able to get over it.” I was not a big Rajesh Khanna fan, more of a Bachchan fan so to speak. But my broker friend … Read more
“Wimbledon is a bit like Disneyland – it is a world of make-believe.” Jigneshbhai said when we met last. The three of us were just back from London having gone through the surreal experience of watching a couple of matches including one featuring Federer in Wimbledon. Jigneshbhai was right indeed. Everything about Wimbledon is far … Read more