Pushkar Pens

We moved in to our new house today. No, not in some newly purchased flat in a state-of-the-art apartment among the swanky towers by a Page 3 Builder.  I am presently posted in Binnaguri.... You are not to blame at all if you have never heard of it. Well, it is a seemingly nondescript Cantonment close to the Bhutan and Nepal border, in the Dooar region of West Bengal. There is a grass called Binn and it is said that Binnaguri gets its name from this grass where 'Binn' stands for the grass and 'Guri' stands for the particular places. Mesmerizing view of the Teesta River,  backdrop view of the lofty mountains, astounding beauty of charismatic tea gardens all around and an invisible serenity of the Samchi Monastery close by...  So, basically, Binnaguri is not exactly nondescript in true sense. That's where I had been staying in a Guest Room for last one month... Till yesterday, that is. Meanwhile, Standard Operating Procedure of applying for a Government House and wait ...

My earliest tennis memories from the Doordarshan days have Pete Sampras as my idol. The silent assassin with a broad grin. He was never into any tantrums on the Court... Turn up, play, win and leave. The theatrics were all left for Beckers and Agassis .  The female circuit had the ultimate oomph defying Steffi Graf .  They were the epitome of Tennis, idols of millions of our generation and no one could get better at the game. Pete ended up with 14 Grand Slams, while our "Golden Slam" girl went on to win 22 Slams, last one in 1999. That was the 90s. The new millennium raised the Bar with Roger, Rafa and Serena. Somewhere in this melee, a tall and lanky Serb, with a war torn childhood, decided to change the game forever. Just when you think that he can't get any higher, Novak Djokovic does it again. At 36, he won the US Open Championship defeating Andre Medvedev in a riveting final last night. This epic win is not only his, but a treasure of tennis fraternity overall.  N...

  Bharat vs India One invite has set the ball rolling for endless views, counter views, trolls, satire, punches et al  Too much is there on News Debates all around  I have a slightly different confused take on this. This entire issue has gained traction since the day the G20 presidential invite was given to various dignitaries in the name of "The President of Bharat"... From that day, the Opposition is hell bent on taking on the Government for trying to change the name of the country. And the Ministers and Spokespersons of the Government are, equally vocally, justifying the need for this name change... But I wonder, is there a need for this debate today ? Is someone actually changing the name of the country ?  The Opposition's claim is not true because the Government has an unfettered right to use either India or Bharat . Right at the beginning, our Constitution gives us both the names : India and Bharat.  Article 1 begins with this It is just that " India " ha...