The week that was... or wasn't...

Rollercoaster ride......the best way to describe the week that was....or wasn't....

What with a nasty fever coupled with Real Madrid winning the Spanish title after the longest drought in their history, and also the amazing young Brit Lewis Hamilton once again upstaging Alonso, and ex-Loyolite Sankar's top performance in the duet round of the reality show Super Dancer on Amrita, the week was a long list of what was and also what wasn't!!!!....

But then....I'm not doing justice to Real Madrid am i???...."Down and out"...the words ESPN pundit Jamie Reeves used to describe Real's title hopes this season back in March...And few could blame Jamie then...Real were so back behind arch rivals F.C.Barcelona and Sevilla that a comeback seemed a task worthy of Ethan Hunt(Mission Impossible style)... And yet, on Sunday, in front of the very same Tom Cruise who played Ethan Hunt in the MI series, Fabio Capello's men gave as best as they got and more to steamroll past Mallorca and lift the Spanish Primera Liga for the first time since David Beckham arrived at the club...

Back in March it was humiliating as a Real fan to go to the Real Madrid community on orkut...There were 'fans' of the club there so disgusted with the way the club was playing that they were routinely and clinically rubbishing each and everyone at the club and none more than the coach Capello and the captain Raul...'Raul is old'...'Raul is past his best'...'Raul is no longer the finisher he once was'...all this were routine comments(the 'postable' ones shall i say)...Coach Capello was getting a different kind of stick...'Capello is gay'...'Capello takes Emerson everywhere with him...they must be gay partners'....this was what was being said about the coach....And the irony is that now, the same people, at the same forum, are lauding Capello and Raul and praying that Capello will not get sacked by the club........ I've grown used to the fickle mindedness of the average Indian when it comes to the cricket team, but i never expected this from foreigners....Or maybe too many people in that community might be Indians...talk anout the tech bloom in India!!!...

Now on to Sankar and the way his body is grooving and moving and taking over theway the competition it can be said with his dance in the Melody round, dancing to the tune of Vennilave, vennilave. He then followed it up with a high paced, highly innovative number in his duet round with his partner Chippi also chipping in smashingly!!!... What do I say about Sankar...He was a good dancer at school, he was a great dancer when he passed out of school and now he is a SUPER DANCER.........as Faasil calls him - THE DANCING PRINZ....ROCK ON BROTHER...

Now i believe Sankar is 20...but a man 2 years older than him was stealing headlines around the world with his unbelieavably awesome performances on the race track...Yes, Lewis Hamilton has been groomed from the age of 11 to be an F1 driver and yes, he is in what seems to be the fastest car at the moment, (God i hate to admit that...come on Ferrari!!!) but still his teammate is the 2 time defending champ Fernando Alonso and yet Hamilton managed to stave off his challenge for the whole U.S.Grand Prix... Even hardcore Alonso fans(pity them) must admit that little boy wonder Lewis made 'Alonso' look like a rookie while going into turn 1 of the Canadian Grand Prix, the week before.

And after the good start that Lewis had to the season I was wondering when Alonso would become the crybaby that he really is...and wolla...it didn't take long did it...."Mommy......Maclaren are favouring Hamilton because he is a Brit".....Well Mister Alonso why the hell did you leave Renault then???...Oh thaat's right....U fell out with the boss over pretty much similar reasons eh?...It seems as though for Alonso to win, everything has to be just perfect, he needs to have the best car and no one, not even his team-mate should have a similar car....Not hallmarks of a great champion are they???...

And elsewhere in the world of sports, the San Antonio Spurs became just the 4th club ever to win 4 or more NBA titles and thereby create a mini dynasty since winning the trophy for the first time back in 1999... It was the 4th title for Tim Duncan and also for coach Greg Poppovich at San Antonio...Tony Parker took away the MVP award in a series which was a 4-0 whitewash of the Cleveland Cavaliers, first in an NBA final since the early 90's, i believe. This triumph was the 7th title for mercurial power forward Robert Horry and also the first for veteran Michael Finley who moved to the club last season and ended up getting the game-ball as a souvenir from his mates...

But then finally the week belonged to someon that very very few Indians(let alone foreigners) had heard of.... This person was so very well known that all the news channels and news papers, including those of the Indian government itself, had to run a profile check and profile report on her for the sake of themselves and the watching public... I am ofcourse talking about the person who is all set to become India's first woman President - Pratibha Patil (if the spelling is wrong, well, u get the point....).

("I will not be a puppet President" - meaning she already knows that she is!!!)...

Rajasthan Governor...Former Deputy Chairperson of the Rajya Sabha....Cabinet Minister of the Maharashtra Assembly a few times...and now Madam President???...Her Biggest Claim To Fame: she has TWICE opposed Sharadh Pawar......that's it......just opposed......And yeah she did send back the controversial Religious Freedom bill while she was Governor of Rajasthan...But to flaunt her around as our next President is simply unthinkable - George Bush Jr. might have been a better candidate... I'm not against having a woman president or anything....I am someone who feels that Hillary Clinton should be the next U.S. President(wow...Bill Clinton : the 1st Gentleman - awesome!!!)... But then if say Indira Gandhi were not dead and one fine morning the Congress were to announce her as the president then great...but Pratiba Patil?????.....The Left front has won big here...they have prooved that the UPA government has got no backbone...They rejected each and every one of the 6-7 candidates that the UPA put up...rejected...no...vetoed would be better...And in the end the Congress says that Mrs. Patil is the best man(or woman- as the case may be) for the job???...So is every Indian supposed to believe that Mrs. Patil is better and more capable than Dr. Kalam or Dr. Karan Singh or even Vice President - Bairon Singh Shekhawat???... Any kid in UKG will tell you an emphatic no!!!...What is the world coming to???...With this one major decision, India could slide down many

a rung, prestige wise in the international political scene...

It may be a long shot...but I for one, sure hope that President Kalam gets a second term...Now there's a man of real substance and vision...A real PRESIDENT!!!...


(Re-elect ME pls!!!)...

Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam...