NB Blogs

This is that time of the year that comes every five years. When passions are highest, often reason takes a back seat. There is so much at stake, as the voter choice will decide who and how the nation will run its course for the next five years. A third term for PM Modi appears the most likely outcome, but then there can be surprises, and how and by whom? Why the 2024 elections are important, even more so than before? Even if we look back to five years ago, at 2019, much has changed. There is a more aspirational India, a Bharat on the rise; stakes are higher for all political parties, some for their survival as this may well be their last year to stay in circulation, for others to break free from old alliances that are no longer relevant, and yet others who have fire in their belly, see themselves as harbingers of a new India. And, it is time to see what is happening to the world around us? Currents around us: we are different and how? Look at what is happening in Pakistan, post their n

After a hiatus, we were back to watching a five-day series, a far cry from the quick fix T20 and its older version of ODI, the 20 overs and 50 overs miracles introduced to the game only recently. Before then, it was only the five days’ matches, tending to become monotonous and long drawn out, tuk-tuk, with the likes of Bapu Nadkarni bowling 26 of his 29 overs as maidens. Easily, looking back, the time had come for a disruption and it did. Another remarkable ‘Made in India’, the T20 brand of cricket. Much like the 2-minute instant noodles that changed the history of how Indians changed the game in Indian food. But, what did we see during these games. As we go into print, four from the five-day matches have concluded. Not long drawn out draws, as we used to encounter long time back, but invariably, not even entering the fifth day! What a change to see and consider. The term ‘bazball’ has been invented with the English thinking they were inventing that form of fast cricket. But whosoever