I got the idea about this post last year, while up in the skies on an airplane flying towards Helsinki. It was a September evening and I was proceeding towards the Finnish capital for a meeting the next day and my mind was somewhere else. Not even the cold, dry and tasteless sandwich served aboard the SAS flight could shake my thoughts. And my thoughts were in far away Johannesburg. It was the day of the 20-20 world cup finals. India was taking on Pakistan in cricket’s newest show piece event and I was here in this damned aluminum tube with no freaking way of knowing what was happening in the match. Oh, what I would have given to have been there that evening in Johannesburg to witness the drama unfolding live. A once in a lifetime chance. That got me thinking about some other sports events which I would have loved to have been a part of and witness it real-time. Just a fantasy thought. Since I don’t want to travel too much farther back in the past, I start from the turn of the 90s. And tried to cover as many different sports as possible. Wish i was here..
90- Tokyo. The biggest upset in boxing. The ‘Buster’ing of the Iron Mike. Tyson probably never recovered from this fall.
91– Chicago.His Airness Jordan’s first NBA title with the Bulls. The world’s first sports + commercial superstar?
92- Barcelona. To see archer Antonio Rebollo fire the burning arrow to light the Olympic flame. Tough to match this breathtaking start.
93 - Old Trafford. Manchester. Shane Warne. Ball of the century.
94 - New York, US open tennis. An Unseeded Andre Agassi winning his home slam. Also the last one before he turned bald, en route to being the elder statesman from the rebel.
95 - Melbourne, Australian open QF. Sampras vs. Courier. An epic match: when Sampras won it for Tim.
96 – Atlanta. Michael Johnson’s 200-400m Olympic double. The man with the golden shoes.
97 - Augusta. To see the Tiger roar into the world of professional golf. The man who transcends greatness.
98 – Sharjah. Sachin Tendulkar vs. Australia; the closest that ever came to Bradman. Cricket is my religion. Sachin is my God.
99 - Barbados. Brian Lara 153 no vs. Australia. 3rd Test. Perhaps the greatest innings in Cricket.
00 - Champs Elysees, Paris. Lance Armstrong winning the second of his 7 Tour de France titles. Don’t ask me why specifically 2000, I had to put him somewhere.
01 - Wimbledon. Wildcard Goran Ivanisevic finally winning in his fourth final. A fairytale script if ever there was one.
02 – French Grand prix. Yet another Schumacher special. He completed a hat-trick of titles and equaled Fangio’s record of 5 titles, with 6 races to spare.
03 - Sydney. To see Johnny Wilkinson kick England to the Rugby world cup.
04 - Boston. To see the red sox break the curse of the bambino. A game I don’t follow. But the history of the 86 year curse and it being broken is too interesting to be missed.
05 - Istanbul. Liverpool´s champions league victory - the Reds renaissance. A game I do follow and a team I support. A magical night.
06 – Berlin. The world cup final .Zizou’s last waltz. Yes, the head butt as well.
07 – But of course, Johannesburg, the 20-20 Finals. India – World champions. Happens once in a generation.
Monday, April 28, 2008
Wish i was there...
Friday, April 25, 2008
For the love of the Tube...
“You are fascinated by the metro, aren’t you '? That was the question a friend of mine asked me , as she noticed that I was lost in the London underground map for a considerable amount of time, while the rest of the group were busy with other things. And my answer was a very energetic nod of my head. I am indeed fascinated by the underground transport system called the metro or subway or underground or tube or T bana or whatever in various cities of the world.
The first thing that I do after reaching a new city is to grab a copy of the metro map. The maze of different lines criss- crossing each other in the map captivates me no end. My first experience in one of these underground systems was when we did a Paris trip in April 2005. Initially the map looked all confusing, but after the first trip to get to the airport to our hostel, I already had got a hang of it. And when I compared the metro map to the over ground road map of Paris, the real simplicity and ease of the metro struck me. What was a labyrinth of roads and complicated routes over ground was filtered down to just 2 metro lines, taking me from point A to point B in 20 minutes flat. The metro system of course is as complicated as the roads in terms of the physical layout of the underground, but we are made oblivious of it. That for me was the beauty of it. That under the chaotic exterior, there is a big network underground, but which does not awe you with its complexity, instead making your travel quite simple.
Having had to use public transport in both Madras and Bombay as part of my work, and seen the trouble with them, perhaps my fascination for these underground systems only grew more. So much so that I used to frequent the Subway outlet in GN Chetty road, Chennai because every table had a different city metro map laid out under a glass covering. So if one day I was having a Chicken Teriyaki poring over the New York subway map, the next day I was devouring a tuna sub looking at the Tokyo system.
As my trips abroad increased and I started visiting more cities, I started becoming a metro devotee. I created imaginary metro lines that could run in Bombay and Chennai which solves the problem of the overcrowded suburban trains and make life easier for the masses in these cities who struggle no end everyday using the existing modes of transport. The fact that the unique elevated transport system in Chennai ( MRTS) was being criminally under utilized and not getting enough patronage troubled me no end. Every new government coming in to power in Tamil Nadu had a new idea. If someone suggested light rail, the other suggested mono rail while no one seemed to be bothered about the MRTS not functioning well
Finally some sane heads worked on it and now the subway plan is up and running. The routes have been finalized, the locations for constructing the stations identified and things going ahead. The project is being undertaken by the Delhi metro guys, who have given a world class metro system in Delhi and in quick time.
The Chennai metro is slated for completion sometime in 2014. More information and the proposed corridor can be found here.
http://www.chennaimetrorail.gov.in/Proposed_Corridors.htm
Add the current suburban tracks and the elevated MRTS to the metro network and Chennai will have a comprehensive transport system. The MRTS is getting better patronage now that it has been extended to Velachery and in the future if it goes up to St.Thomas Mount where it would meet the proposed metro line , then a circle gets completed which would cover most parts of the city. Three different rail systems would take the load off the roads to a great extent and also make travel faster. And I believe and hope that they day is not far off.
So here is for all the metro systems in the world and the one coming up in Chennai. You bet I would be one of the first to hop on to that when it starts functioning.
The first thing that I do after reaching a new city is to grab a copy of the metro map. The maze of different lines criss- crossing each other in the map captivates me no end. My first experience in one of these underground systems was when we did a Paris trip in April 2005. Initially the map looked all confusing, but after the first trip to get to the airport to our hostel, I already had got a hang of it. And when I compared the metro map to the over ground road map of Paris, the real simplicity and ease of the metro struck me. What was a labyrinth of roads and complicated routes over ground was filtered down to just 2 metro lines, taking me from point A to point B in 20 minutes flat. The metro system of course is as complicated as the roads in terms of the physical layout of the underground, but we are made oblivious of it. That for me was the beauty of it. That under the chaotic exterior, there is a big network underground, but which does not awe you with its complexity, instead making your travel quite simple.
Having had to use public transport in both Madras and Bombay as part of my work, and seen the trouble with them, perhaps my fascination for these underground systems only grew more. So much so that I used to frequent the Subway outlet in GN Chetty road, Chennai because every table had a different city metro map laid out under a glass covering. So if one day I was having a Chicken Teriyaki poring over the New York subway map, the next day I was devouring a tuna sub looking at the Tokyo system.
As my trips abroad increased and I started visiting more cities, I started becoming a metro devotee. I created imaginary metro lines that could run in Bombay and Chennai which solves the problem of the overcrowded suburban trains and make life easier for the masses in these cities who struggle no end everyday using the existing modes of transport. The fact that the unique elevated transport system in Chennai ( MRTS) was being criminally under utilized and not getting enough patronage troubled me no end. Every new government coming in to power in Tamil Nadu had a new idea. If someone suggested light rail, the other suggested mono rail while no one seemed to be bothered about the MRTS not functioning well
Finally some sane heads worked on it and now the subway plan is up and running. The routes have been finalized, the locations for constructing the stations identified and things going ahead. The project is being undertaken by the Delhi metro guys, who have given a world class metro system in Delhi and in quick time.
The Chennai metro is slated for completion sometime in 2014. More information and the proposed corridor can be found here.
http://www.chennaimetrorail.gov.in/Proposed_Corridors.htm
Add the current suburban tracks and the elevated MRTS to the metro network and Chennai will have a comprehensive transport system. The MRTS is getting better patronage now that it has been extended to Velachery and in the future if it goes up to St.Thomas Mount where it would meet the proposed metro line , then a circle gets completed which would cover most parts of the city. Three different rail systems would take the load off the roads to a great extent and also make travel faster. And I believe and hope that they day is not far off.
So here is for all the metro systems in the world and the one coming up in Chennai. You bet I would be one of the first to hop on to that when it starts functioning.
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