Big B At 80

It's difficult to remember exactly how big a fan of megastar Amitabh Bachchan I was when I was growing up. That's because there was also Pele. Then Cruyff. Then Sting and The Police. Zeenat Aman somewhere in there. Followed later by plenty others including his Airness. Plus Bolt. I do recall perfectly though that in the 1970s and early 1980s when I saw him on a movie poster I had to go see that flick. And boy was that a treat! 

One of the most exciting moments about my connection with AB was when our parents told us that they had a secret to tell us: Big B was coming to Mauritius! Fate would have it otherwise though. AB got hurt on the set of Coolie and almost lost his life in July 1982. It's great that he recovered and went on to do so much work. Watching the movies of the Angry Young Man who Truffaut dubbed a one-man industry is great but adding a listen of him talk about his craft and life trajectory is priceless.

Be Like Bruce

And be like water. So you can express yourself honestly. Mr. Lee died 45 years today. That was such a shocking death. There was no gradual degradation as in the case of Steve Jobs that would have made you see it coming. Indeed the SF-born founder of Jeet Kune Do – roughly the BMW of martial arts – was only 32 when he breathed his last in Hong Kong. He basically did for martial arts what his airness did for basket-ball.

1973 was also quite an interesting year. Indeed the first oil crisis happened just a few months after Bruce passed away.

Unstoppable Jonah Lomu Dead at 40

I am no Rugby fan. I don't even know the rules of the game. I think there are two halves just like in football. The only thing I know about this sport is Jonah Lomu. And that too because he seemed to be on the front page of every major newspaper at one point in time. He had a rugby ball safely tucked between one hand and his chest. The other hand was probably busy getting an opponent out his way. While he was trying not to step on another one he had knocked down half a second earlier. It was an impressive sight. Just like when I watched games of basketball back in 1993 and noticed one guy that seems to be hanging in the air a little longer than everyone else.

So when I watched bits of World Cup matches recently I looked out for him in the All Blacks team. I saw one Dan Carter but no Jonah. And then the world heard the news of his sudden death. Kind of sad. RIP big guy.

2013: The Year in Review

January: The Economist says party lists are evil. Humanity starts its biggest gathering. Former MK boss explains how he was fired. Berenger announces he has throat cancer, steps down. Joseph beats Jackie Chan and wins award. Gandhi's assassination turns 65.

February: IPP contracts made public, finally. Heavy-rain shuts down water-starved Dodoland. Pistorius shoots model girlfriend by mistake. CEB contemplates getting Mauritius its own Fukushima. His Airness turns 50 and world longs to see Mike back. After attacking our rupee with our own money Duval tries to usurp the PM's prerogatives. PM says changes to electoral system shouldn't be done on a whim, promises consultative paper.

March: Women contribute a third more than what Mao thought. Fifteen centimetres of rain kill eleven in a flash.

Read the review for Q2, Q3 and Q4.

Will Jordan Put His Shorts Back On?

He turned 50 last Sunday and if you remember he didn't rule out making another comeback. He's apparently in great shape which is why calls for him to stay in retirement might not be so disinterested. 

Leo Scores A Double, Then A Hat-trick

A week ago against Leverkusen. That's a Champions League record. And it was such a pleasure to see the guy's reaction after this extraordinary performance: happy but humble. Messi is second to none when it comes to not wasting energy on what's not important. Michael Jordan was like that too. His Airness kept all his power to stay in the air one more second than his opponents.

Bilbao too has shown some impressive football last week and I hear yesterday too. And tiny tiny team Apoel eliminated Lyon after demonstrating character on the field. All this reminded me of the excitement of watching the selecao play ages back.

Precious Life Lessons From His Airness