Padma Shri Sania Mirza

Sania Mirza was conferred with the prestigious Padma Shri award by the Indian government on the eve of Republic Day - See here

When I read this piece of news the first thought that came to my mind was - are you kidding me........then I double checked the calendar to see if it was april fools day.......no I am just joking on the last one. Anyways, Sania Mirza is by far the most successful tennis player in India to date. She has won a WTA title last year and has made the third round in the Australian open 2005. As of now she has not won a major grand slam title, but is making major strides in the field of tennis. No doubt about it......but let us put this in a proper perspective.....

Sania Mirza, now a youth icon in India can be seen in a number of commercials on television and large hoardings in all major cities. Apart from tennis, her style statements which she makes off the court coupled with the media gaga over all the things she does (apart from tennis ofcourse) has made her an instant role model of sorts in India........we all live in a flashy society......may be this air of flashiness and glamour have made the committee if at all one exists to recommend Sania for this award........

Sachin Tendulkar does anyone know him ? :-) I am just kidding.......started playing cricket in 1989.....has brought many accolades to India and is known world wide. He became a role model for the youth in the early 90's.....coming to the point.....can you guess when he received the padma shri award - 1999....what about Koneru Hampi, Hari Krishna both grand masters...well you might have predicted where I am heading with this.....both did not get padma shri.....last year however, Ms Koneru was conferred with the Rajiv Khel Ratna award.

I would have been really happy if Sania was given Rajiv Khel ratna award. This would have been very encouraging to her upcoming tennis career. But conferring her with the Padma shri award is a little too much and will undoubtedly send a wrong message to the youth.

Flu !!!

My holiday to UK last month was exciting...however what followed after that wasn't exactly exciting :-) it was very rough at the best.......As soon as I have come back from UK, I caught cold and cough...tried some off the counter stuff from walgreens which obviously did not work. Slowly, other symptoms started appearing such as high fever which eventually made me visit the doctor.....

Antibiotics....10 days 3 times a day....eat healthy....sleep and rest well....blah blah blah....here I am making my first post this year....