A chance argumentative conversation with Pushkar which wasnt intended to be so, posed the question:What people gain or how do they actually derive enjoyment from watching games being played live? May it be tennis, football, cricket or any other outdoor sport that might have some people think different about ( i.e not like watching or playing).Though I was able to come up with a number of points impromptu, to refute the budding argument; as I sit here watching the mens finals of the Australian Open 2005 in the wee hours of the morning of 30th Jan(may Gandhiji's soul RIP), I taxed my grey cells a bit and got thinking about the psyche of the common sports fan who is passionate about watching sports live.Here are a few points to attest my claim(I choose tennis to drive forth my point):
1. Watching sportsmen battle it out in the middle gives a viewer a sense of the sheer exhilarating delight he gets on winning a point he desperately needs to.
2. It gives us an insight of what a sportsman might be thinking before hitting a ball and also what energy levels physical and mental goes into his shots
3.What is the psyche of a player when he has to fight back from either one set or two sets down.What makes him actually believe that he can overcome all barriers and still win it?How does he hold his nerve when a spectator sitting in the cosy confines of his house cannot?
4.What runs through a players mind when he is serving for a match or facing a match-point against him.
5.How does a player plan for a game which he knows is too difficult to win for eg. a game against Federer. How does he motivate himself to do the seemingly impossible.
6.Does a player decide to conserve his energy when he knows that he is surely going to lose a set or gives his heart out even if he is staring down the barrell at 1-5(0-40)
-- The point is that even though you arent playing, you get to imagine how it would feel like if you were out there in the middle and giving it your best shot.The competitiveness and the adrenalin rush make it a truly worthwhile experience to view a game. And though I wouldnt like to make this a "Autobiography of a wannabe sportsman", this is in a gist why one should be passionate about following sports on TV

Mithun Chakraborthy: The Cult Czar
-SurAj

It all starts with a whiff
The boss says to ship
I try to slip
Get caught in the midst
I am caught like a fly
In the spider's web

Some one lets me handle
stuff that I should not meddle
Stuff that he should try
I am caught like a fly
In the spider's web

Up to my neck with work
For which I do not get paid
Expectations running high
And me running dry
I am caught like a fly
In the spiders Web

Why am I here?
I ask everywhere
They say u have bright Future
So i screw my present
To enjoy my would be dreams
I am caught like a fly
In the spiders Web

At least the fly doesnt know
There is a spider and his web
I know all that and
Yet willingly enter the lair
To get stuck in the web

Then I cry
I am caught like a fly
In the spiders Web

-Kausum

JLT (Just like that for the uninitiated and imbiciles)

I recently got an mp3 player for my bro back home in india which i was planning to pass it on thru Goli. It was a 256Mb Sandisk player....really sleek. It arrived and was lying arnd between all the rubble that u cud find in #191. After 3 days of patience sapping eagerness, i finally decided to open it....but wait there was a war of words that ensued in my mind between my evil side and my good side(yes i do have one!). I immediately started writing an email to my bro....here it goes:

Twas a Clash-o-Clash
Of mind's mish-mash

Is it beast's way
Or Heaven's sway

Read my li'll bro
Wandering thoughts, to and fro....

I simply cudnt resist a sexy mp3 player lying in my bedroom unopened....as my hands flayed arnd the terse packing....my mind wandered...just a lill exploring i thought...lemme just check how it sounds...is it worth all that money??Then the angel appeared from the other end to say "Dude STOP its for ur bro!!"As always the BEAST within me won!!! Opened the box...put in the battery and plugged in the USB to transfer a few songs...60 to be precise.And after fiddling with the arm band....i decided fuck it its notworth the wait...POWER ON BABY!The chugging guitars of Toni Iommi and the mellifuluos voice Ozzy traveresed thru my pinna slamming hard on the eardrums...AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!Dude this mp3 player fuckin roxx big time....im having serious thoughts now whether i shud give it to u or not :-). Its almost hightime that I win something and u dont!

And here is what my bro replied to my email:

How can one thank his own brother?
The one who is with you longer than your mother
And one who cares for who cares for as would a father
Well, how can one really thank his own brother?

How about buying something for him you say?
Gifts and gags you certainly may,
But, true feelings they never can convey!

How about writing something about him you say?
Loads of words make opinions sway and you can thank him that way,
But, who has the time for reading, today!

Well, how can one really, really thank his own brother?
There's only one way I say,
And that's the one which was underway!

-Balls

A few for the Gossip Munchers:

1. Zaheer Khan is screwing Rakshanda Khan and Bhajji is supposedly seeing a B'lore gal by the name Priya Reddy(The name of the article was 'Bhajji bowls a 'teesra'--Courtesy TOI)

2. Anara Gupta has been vindicated of her porn video as forensic experts have come to a conclusion that it was someone else in the video(Anara Gupta is the Jammu porn video scandal girl for the uninitiated).

3. Marwadi has replaced Don Juan DeMarco as the greatest Casanova 'dead or alive' (Courtesy Freaks Inc.)

If the rumors unfold as the truth u know where u read it first!

-Balls