The FIFA World Cup 2014 soccer mania has gripped even those least interested in the sport. Brazil being literally saatsamundar par, the time difference is making watching the matches LIVE a killer of a task (the best ones being telecast between midnight & 5 a.m. IST daily) but the exuberance hasn’t diminished even faintly. The stadiums appear stunning and the crowds attending look ecstatic. Men,women & children from the world over have looked forward to and planned to attend this event. The rest of the universe is glued to their TV sets. Weather seems wonderful. Security seems to be impeccable.Spectators in their crazy soccer apparel are a delight to watch.Soccer merchandise is obviously flying off the shelves world over,here in India too, despite the fact that we have yet to come up with aworld-class team. Let’s hope the Indian Super League, scheduled to be launched in September this year changes all that. We’ve been super-enthusiastic soccer aficionados andvoyeurs for way too long.Given our almost billion youngsters population, I’m sure we have that topnotch team out there, simply waiting to be discovered. We’re going to be a team in the 2022 FIFA World Cup tournament in Qatar,and I’m willing to bet on that!

 

Our newly elected PM Modi too has been invited to Brazil (justahead of the scheduled BRICS summit) to attend the FIFA 2014 World Cup Finals. He hasn’t accepted as yet. Hope he does. In my opinion he’s exceedingly hard working and can definitely do with that thrilling pause in his unending work calendar.

 

That reminds me, from what I’m hearing, our favourite bahuSmriti Irani too has been burning the midnight oil. She’s been working overtime to accomplish objectives & deliver on promises made in herparty, the BJP’s manifesto. Her job isn’t easy and it isn’t going to be at any time. After all the bouquets she received during her TV career days, hope she ready for some serious brickbats now. Good luck to her from her old time TV fraternity & sorority. 

 

Other than that, on the TV front, Mr Comedy Knight, akaKapil Sharma is rumoured to go off the air later this year… I’m not sure if that’s good or bad. Yes, the show has becomea bit repetitive so taking a break would be a good idea,provided they plan to come back with some renewed gusto and some novel ideas. He is funny and the show is great so I hope there are no plans of any early retirement here. On the sport front, our Men in Blue have just left India for an upcoming tour of England. Best wishes to them too. On the political front, it’s great to see the government take bold steps. Irrespective of how much those in opposition cry foul, I’m all for the bitter-pill formula.

The economy is in an utter mess and if we want those achche din, we’ve got to be willing to pay a bit of the price. So, Go Modi!

 

On that happy note, it’s adios for now. Enjoy the remaining few weeks of summer & until next time, happy reading!