Wanderlust Sajid

Nostalgia is an intoxicated feeling. Its also like a sudden cool breeze on a sultry evening. Nostalgia sends soothing minty musical notes to heart, soul and mind as well. A recent visit to a movie hall to watch the latest Bollywood biopic, 'Azhar', evoked a monumental rush of nostalgia in me. I would not rate this Emraan Hashmi starer a great movie experience, but I am definitely acting unabashedly biased and would rate it above average on the reason of nostalgia, and nostalgia itself. I am a passionate cricket follower since the historic year of 1983 when India lifted the cricket World Cup. I was a kid of ten years then. Next year, the country on whose soil India conquered the world, England, visited India for a full series. That India-England series gave birth to one of the most charismatic and controversial personality of Indian cricket, Mohammad Azharuddin. On the last day of year of 1984, Azharuddin made his international debut at Eden Gardens, Calcutta. ...

World over, Indian movies are seen as a song and dance routine. Almost every Indian movie is termed as a "musical", whereas in Hollywood, "musical" is a separate genre, where the story is principally narrated though songs. In India, songs are juxtaposed into the movie, inconsiderate of whether they are in tune with the narration or not. Recently, one of the sure-shot recipe of a song to be a super-hit, is to blend it with a Sufi lore. Remember, Shah Rukh Khan on a train roof calling to "Chaiyya Chaiyya", or Aishwarya-Abhishek crooning "Ranjha Ranjha" under a waterfall in Raavan. Rabbi Shergil became an instant singing sensation after his "Bulla ki jaana main kaun". "Damadam Mast Kalandar" and "Tera Ishq Nachaya" are eternal hits. All things common in the above sufi songs, is that they are the penned by the great Punjabi humanist, philosopher and poet, Bulleh Shah. Born into a very religious family in 168...

I am an avid follower of sports. Since the age of 9 in 1982, when Doordarshan live beamed Football World Cup, played in Spain from the Quarter-finals onward, I kept myself abreast on major sporting events. However, 1983 Cricket World Cup drew me passionately towards sports. That miraculous event of India against 60/1 odds, lifting the World Cup at Lords will be one of the greatest folklore in sports history. But Leicester City Football Club winning the English Premier League this year might well be the greatest miracle ever happened in sports.  Miracles do happen in sports. Apart from the Indian win in 1983 Cricket world Cup, there are few other such rousing wins. In 2001, Goran Ivanisevic from being ranked 125 and a wild-card entry to ultimately winning the Wimbledon was nothing short of a miracle. Similar, was in 1991 when James 'Buster' Douglas from being 42/1 odds, to knock-out defeating two year world heavyweight undefeated boxing champion Mi...