Oh BABY, that got EVERYONE out of their seats!

It’s back!! It’s back! The new season of the best basketball league in the world, with new uniforms, new camera angles, and, hopefully, new stars!

From being the overriding constant in my life for years on end, basketball has taken a distinct backseat since this August. My playing buddies in College all left, and the one guy remaining switched his devotion to football instead. I played a couple of times in early November, when Lil Nigger decided he needed a break from his GRE preparation. Man… we sucked so bad! We also discovered that basketball is actually rather tiring, in a different way from the gym.

The NBA on tv is just what I needed to get my enthusiasm flowing again. The Denver Nuggets, with new addition superstar Allen Iverson and USA National Team captain Carmelo Anthony on the same team, along with stalwarts such as Kenyon Martin and Marcus Camby, both highly competent players. Playing, at the famous Staples Centre in Los Angeles, probably the most famous of all the NBA franchises… the LA Lakers.

 

The Lakers are no longer the dominant force they were just a few years ago– once Shaquille O’Neal left, they lost half of their superstar combo. Shaq of course has been the catalyst the Miami Heat needed to convert their latent talent in Dwayne Wade into championship-winning material, although they eventually lost out to the San Antonio Spurs, who had by far the strongest team in the league last year. They were simply unstoppable.

But getting back to the Lakers– Kobe Bryant just goes from strength to strength! His talent has always been undeniable, although without Shaq he doesn’t have the really top-class backup he needs to propel the Lakers to their umpteenth NBA title. But oh my God, the man can play. No-look passes, impossible layups, twirling, whirling slam dunks… he’s a joy to watch, and his entry into the NBA Hall of Fame is assured. Truly one of the all-time greats, IMHO. He used to be just about the athletic dunks, but now he’s worked on his jump shot, his defence, his assists, his gameplay… it’ll be a sad, sad day for the NBA when Kobe retires in a couple of years.

 

Hee hee do any of my dear readers care about this stuff?

My exams begin next Thursday. Two weeks of truly non-stop concentration required from today– just after this game, of course. How’re y’all enjoying your holiday season? As I heard on Capital Radio the other day, 30 shopping days left… until the big one!

NatGeoMax

Look, since I began college (half a decade ago), I’ve never studied really very hard for any exam. I mean, I’ve crammed like mad, but always much too close to the exams for comfort. Every year, I vow that next time I’ll start 2 months in advance, and crack the exams. Every year, it goes for a six.

But this year is particularly bad. There seems to be no exam fever pervading the air. A lot of my friends feel the same way– don’t feel like studying, don’t feel like exams are around the corner.

I usually manage to scrape through thanks to the 3-day to week-long gaps between papers, where I cram the entire course into my head and, as they say, vomit it out onto the paper. But this year, I have 4 papers in one week– Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday. I don’t know how I’m going to manage. But I will, somehow.

I took a break just now and went down to let in the dog and nibble at some snacks. Turned on the TV, and came across this program on the National Geographic channel about Kolkata. Now I’m very far from being a Bong fan (except for Bipasha Basu and her chest), but this program really showed it in a very positive light. Focused on the railways, charities run by station masters, honest cemetery secretaries, and the like.

They devoted a few minutes to the Howrah railway children. There was a bunch of them sitting around playing cards and chatting, and then this one kid hit a smaller kid. The younger kid was around 8 or 10 years old, and grubby but quite cute. The little kid picked up an umbrella and poked the older chap, which caused big boy to get up and whack the small boy again. Other kids broke it up, but the little guy was crying by then. They were on a corner of one of those overbridges across platforms, and the camera was set on the steps below, looking up at the kids. It focused in on this little kid crying, and he said, “But he hit me first. Why did you have to hit me so hard?” (Bengali, but there were English subtitles throughout the program — even when the Bongs spoke in English, hehe!)

That last line, with the kid crying and saying “Why did you have to hit me so hard?” reminded me of how I used to thrash my brother when he was little. Often he’d run into another room and lock the door and cry. I’d feel remorse, but it was too late. Reminded of that, I felt soooooo ashamed of myself! Vix used to say the same line that the little railway kid said. It’s really mean to hit smaller people who can’t defend themselves. Gosh. Cut me to pieces, the shame did.

That night, some charity workers came and took the kid to a home for destitute railway children. He was put in the care of an ex-railway child who joined the home aged 12, and was now 30 years old, speaking fluent English, with a wife and kid. On the way to the home, the kindly man taking the kid there asked him, “You speak Bengali? Where’s home?” And the kid said, “I have no home.” “No mother or father?” “No.”

Fuck– I almost began crying! I’m usually as hard-hearted as the next guy when people talk about “homeless kids,” but hearing it from that cute little kid’s mouth really hurt. He was obviously scared stiff, leaving the only environment he knew, the railway station. “I have no home.” Geeeeez.

So I switched off the tv (at the next ad break) and came up resolving to make the most of my education and study hard for December. And of course I first came to this computer (it’s playing London radio while I study– at the other end of the room, where the music system is) and checked my mail, my Facebook (I’m getting tired of it, really. Not addictive anymore) and wrote this post.

Before the documentary, which was on channel 9, I was watching Mr Bean on 5 (Pogo). An episode I haven’t seen, where he has a girlfriend and all. Christmas-y episode. This will be my 3rd christmas spent alone in Delhi pretending to study for an exam. Sigh. I want to go and sing carols in the Stephen’s chapel, but feel embarrassed. I always feel embarrassed to go to chapels. Get the feeling I can’t just waltz in when I feel like it, and never otherwise. Churches are ok– they’re larger and more anonymous. But I haven’t been in a church in over 2 years, and the last time I was in one, it was for a wedding. Whopee!

Oh God

I have so much, so much to study.

It only takes 5 minutes after sitting with your books for the first time to realise just how screwed up your priorities have been.

Unfortunately, this year I’m quite ‘involved’ in law fac. Part of 4 societies, 2 of whom have decided that (a) less than a month before the exams is the right time to get super-active. (b) Perakath is actually a somewhat capable and hard worker, who deserves more responsibilities than he asks for.

While no doubt this newfound belief in my capabilities augurs well for me in the long run, for the present I’m shitting my load. Hai hai, deary me, oh bugger, and farewell.

PS No I’m not going on blog hiatus or anything. I am a creature of the internet.

Half-Nekkid Thursdays

Lying on my bed, without the fan; wearing a white shirt with the sleeves rolled up a little, brown formal socks, and nothing inbetween; listening to Steve Vai play ‘Sisters’ on the internetradio; eyes closed…. and thinking there’s nothing, including s-e-x, I would rather be doing.

Went clubbing last night. The Ministry of Sound is huge, bigger than Elevate, but their music was just about okay, at best. The Ministry of Sound should play only Ministry of Sound music (as in, music from the self-titled compilations that the London club releases every so often). The girls we were with promptly disappeared at midnight or so. The Cinderella Sisters. (Cinderella, -ella, -ella, ay, ay, ay… hehe.) I mean, who believes the DJ when he says, “Ok people this is the last song for the evening, goodnight”?

For a bit we were dancing in a circle with someone’s handbag on the floor in the middle. Perhaps they were more drunken than I thought. But one of them got us free entry into MoS, and for that bless them.

Speaking of handbags, one lady not with us had a gigantic shiny silver one. I wanted to go over and say “Excuse me, but your handbag is huuuuge!” Perhaps I was more drunken than I thought.

So with the girls gone, us 4 guys spilled out onto the street when MoS finally closed at 1 am. Thankfully we had a cab and Hemant had brought his car. We hung around while people did the usual, “Hey, this place is closed, is ___ open still? What’s the scene there?” phone calls. Finally the plan was to head to Tabula Rasa (God that name turns me off). We made it as far as the TwentyfourSeven next to it, where we met other people from MoS also feeding their complaining stomachs.

Get this - I STOLE two chicken pies from TwentyfourSeven. Ate one right there in the shop, ate the next one as I walked out of the door. I mean, the place has a guard with a fucking huge rifle, which I’ve always thought was overkill. He was standing right next to me. Perhaps he thought I would pay for them before leaving.

Anyway, my nekkid bum is sticking to my plastic chair. Need to bathe and go to college, not for class, but for two society meetings. 

EDIT: Good grief! My broadband bill for last month is a staggering 4,000 rupees. The bastards didn’t change my tariff plan to the 699-unlimited one. Because I don’t have proof that I asked them to change it (some reference number which I didn’t save because I had no idea something like this would happen), I’ll take the fight to consumer court, if need be, but it’ll be very hard for me to avoid paying the money. There go the external hard drive and new shoes I was planning to buy for Christmas. SIGHHHHH…….