What must 83 have felt like?

I've watched it over and over. And yet, the hair at the back of my neck never stood up. Today, my generation lived our 83 moment. The men in blue have won and HOW! As the crackers lit up the sky, I did my little jig in the hallway. SMS's came in a frenzy, calls were made to friends across the nation and rasmalai was devoured gleefully. Poetic justice, to have been written off and to show the world that we took ourselves a lot more seriously than they expected us to.

Through this tournament, several players have grown in stature. Rudra Pratap Singh has bowled with controlled aggression, Sreesanth has struck gold on occasion but could do with some discipline, Bhajji and Pathan made fantastic comebacks, Yuvraj (need I say more), Ghambir has chipped away at the runs, Robin has shown fine temperament (in addition to being super yummy, that is) but one man stands out as a daring, new-age Indian- Mahendra Singh Dhoni. The Ranchi lad has come a FAR mile from the days of horrendous hair colour to show that captain's feather will sit pretty. It took some nerve to toss the ball to Joginder and some more to claim that he gave it to him because Bhajji wasn't confident enough to get the yorkers in. He'll do us proud with his cricketing ability and straight talk, provided he can stop doing terrible endorsements for hair products.

Spare a thought for Misbah. One shot away from being a hero. Twice over. Even at 33, he's Pakistan's find for the tournament.

This T-20 Championship has brought us to the crux of 2 questions : What will happen of India's big 3? And what will happen of One-Day cricket? Till such time as there come some answers, we shall savour this win.

On being big boned.

Most people would say watching 'We, the People' is perhaps not an ideal way to spend a Sunday evening, but, when the debate was on Fat vs Fit, I was all ears. And eyes.

There were all sorts that comprised the panel, the ones who loved the fat they were in, the ones who were skinny and still wanted to lose an inch, the ones who followed every diet in the book and the rest. Many questions were put forth that elicited answers that were close to my heart. While it really takes no science to figure that we live in a hypocritical, judgmental society, certain things said on the show I will not forget.

I for one have never been happy with my body. I cribbed. I still do. I still wish my largish arse away. I've also stopped making excuses and started making an effort. It takes time, but, I will do this the right way.

Random thoughts that follow:

People always use how much weight you have gained or lost as a measure of how much control you have over your life.

The way you look counts. Say it again.

There never existed a happy skinny woman.

Men don't 'need' to care as much. The fat pay check helps on Shaadi.com.

Fat defense. Never works. People see right through the insecurity.

Not all fat people are gregarious / intelligent and not all skinny people are self-obsessed.

Worry about Fitness. Forget about Fatness.

Your genes WILL tell the final story.

Every once in a while...

... there comes an event that makes you change the way you look at yourself.

You realize that you’re perhaps not as independent as you thought you were, not as guarded as you imagined yourself to be and definitely not as cold as you made yourself out to be.

In that instant, you also know that your views on life have been shaped differently, yet again, for better or for worse.

It’s the best out-of-body experience, every once in a while.