Ramblings of a restless kind

Humility and dignity are not attributes that one generally associates with 'stars', be they rock-stars, sports-stars or film-stars. Sustained excellence and effort is also not usually associated with them. Charisma, flamboyance and big egos are more likely words that will describe stars. Perhaps that is why Anil Kumble was never hailed a star.

A colossus who has left indelible footprints in the sands of Indian and world cricket. A man who showed us virtues of perseverance, and never-say-die attitude. A person who epitomizes the highest ideals of grace and respect, both on and off the field. In short, an icon.

I would go so far as to argue that Anil Kumble is an ideal role model for us mortals; one that demonstrates how sustained effort, tremendous will-power, discipline, a never-say-die attitude and a character grounded in ethics can bring one far in life. One need not be outrageously gifted to reach the highest echelons of excellence. Anil Kumble is the embodiment of all these virtues. India's biggest match-winner ever, was both a workhorse and a thoroughbred. He sent down over after probing over, no matter if a jaw was broken or a general anesthesia administered the previous day.

It is not just on the basis of these virtues that one exalts Kumble. His figures speak for themselves. His tally of close to a 1000 international wickets is not just a testimony to his character, but also his skills as a bowler which have been vastly underrated. Ricky Ponting, no slouch with the bat himself, correctly hailed Kumble as a 'modern day great, not just in Indian, but in world cricket'.

As Kumble rides out in the sunset, his legacy will remain for generations to admire and emulate. He has been a huge credit to the game, and for me, an undisputed legend. On a hot, sunny day, when the chips are down, the scorecard is reading 200/0 on a flat pitch, bowlers are demoralized and flagging, there will be no Kumble to whom MSD can turn too, for the name of Anil Kumble will never be seen on an Indian team-sheet again.

There are classics. And then there are epics. The 2008 Wimbledon Gentlemen's Singles Final between Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer was certainly an epic. One for the ages. Not just because it was the Wimbledon final. Not just because it was world number 1 vs world number 2. Not just because it went the distance i.e. 5 sets. Not just because it was the longest Wimbledon final in the open era (4 hrs 48 minutes). Not just because there was an incredible fightback from hte 5 time defending champion, saving multiple match-points. Yes, all these factors certainly played their role. But it was the quality of the tennis that elevated this match from the legions of classics to the pantheon of an epic. Federer and Nadal had brushed aside the field effortlessly in reaching the final. The rest of the men's field must have seen this match and wondered just how far ahead these 2 players are from the pack. Novak Djokovich, is perhaps, closer than the rest. But, then the gap is yawning.

The parallels to the 1981 Wimbledon Gentlemen's Singles final between John McEnroe and Bjorn Borg are incredible. Then, as now, it was a 5 time defending champion against the challenger he had beaten in 5 sets the previous year. Then, as now, the challenger was left-handed, the champion, right-handed. Then, as now, the champion was 4 years elder to the challenger. Then, as now, the challenger prevailed.

Does this signal the end of the Federer era of utter dominance. I think yes, when one lays stress on the words "utter dominance". No longer will he win 3 majors each year. But i do not discount his ability to win atleast 2-3 majors more. But one writes of an all-time great at one's own peril. He needs to up his accuracy and reduce unforced errors to match Nadal. Even though the rankings do not show it yet, Federer knows in his mind that he is no longer the best player in the world. That mantle has passed onto Rafael Nadal, who beat him on his own patch. Whether Federer can reclaim that crown is open to question.

My Euro 2008 team of the tournament:

Buffon (Italy)
Lahm (Germany)
Pepe (Spain)
Servet Ceti (Turkey)
Zhirkov (Russia)
Deco (Portugal)
Ballack (Germany)
Senna (Spain)
David Villa (Spain)
Ruud Van Niestelroy (Netherlands)
Andre Arshavin (Russia)

We have seen professional footballers wear T-shirts and even display banners that rightly condemn racism, the most popular slogan being "Say No to Racism". How many footballers would agree to publicly display a large banner before kickoff that says "Say No to Diving in Football"? Alternatively (or in addition), there should be an Oscar Award explicitly kept aside for the best simulation on a football field. Judges could give points to the number of times a player rolls, the time spent "writhing" in pain, the holding of the head in "pain and despair", the slow hobble off the field, and the almost miraculous speedy entry back to the field with the injury having disappeared.
This YouTube entry says as much.

From a Swiss friend after Alinghi's victory in the 2007 America's Cup:

"Switzerland is a tennis nation and a sailing nation"

Having said that, the Wimbledon 07 final is in the 5th set and i feel, tilting towards Rafael.

i can still vividly recall the scenes. On a typical uneven, mud ground (read मैदान) symbolic of many grounds in India, i was participating in this evenly contested football match.The highlight of this match though, was that the opposition included one Steven Gerrard!! Yes, the Steven Gerrard of Liverpool FC. i also recall not being in awe at all of this Liverpool talisman, neither were any of my team-mates. During the course of a game, after a sequence of play, the goalkeeper of our team was injured off the ball. As is the norm in non-professional matches, while the game continued in the opposition half, i ran over to the goalkeeper who was down clutching his knee in the 6 yard box, a little to the right of the goalpost. It wasn't a serious injury, just a bruise. i was beside him, my back towards the field, just a meter or so from the goal, facing the net. The next moment, i heard some of my players shouting at me. i turned and looked up. And what do i see? Steven Gerrard is making a clear run for goal with only the fallen goalkeeper and myself present between him and the goal. i rush out to tackle Stevie G, he easily beats me, but realizing that the goal-keeper is down injured, he deliberately shoots the ball wide of the goal. i don't wait to applaud his sportsmanship. Quickly, i restart the game, receiving the goal-kick from the keeper, right outside my penalty area. i run down the right touchline, evading 1 tackle, then another. i have now meandered past the halfway line and move inwards. i look up and see a teammate running in from the other flank. A square rule pass and he will have a clean run on goal with only the keeper to beat. Moreover, from the corner of my eye, i see two opposition players closing me down. i take one last look up at my teammate who is running in diagonally from the opposite flank and taking a neat back-lift to impart adequate power and accuracy to the pass, i hit a swerving kick. Bang!!! i wake up clutching my right tow in pain, whose nail i have just broken by banging my foot on the wall adjoining my bed. A painful end to an awesome dream. i am inclined to think that had the pain not woken me up, my terrific slide rule pass would have resulted in a goal the slick-passing Arsenal would have been proud of!

Is Roger Federer the greatest tennis player of all time? i never saw Rod Laver play, but anyone who has won 2 calendar year Grand Slams must be in a league of his own. Laver won 11 Major titles, but missed out on a load of others because he turned professional. i believe from 1963 till the Open Era in 1968, he was not eligible for competing in any of the Grand Slams. That's about 20 Majors missed. Had he participated in those, i believe he would have captured at least 7-8 more majors.

Back to Roger. Federer is definitely the best tennis player i have seen. It's not just his phenomenal success rate, but the way he plays. There is a languid grace, an elegance in his shots, he is as much a tennis artist as he is a tennis master at work. He is ever so phlegmatic, cool, calm, composed and collected. He is as well-behaved and polite off court as he is disciplined on it. Ofcourse, all these attributes would mean for far less had he had modest results. But 10 Major titles already (all of them have come in the last 15 Grand Slam tournaments), 11 consecutive Grand Slam singles semi-finals, 7 consecutive Grand Slam finals winning 6 of them, the first man since Bjorn Borg in the 1980 French Open to win a Major without losing a set. These are staggering statistics. Add to that, an 81-4 win-loss record in 2005 with 11 odd titles, a 92-5 win-loss record in 2006 with 12 titles!!! Pete Sampras at his peak was also very dominant, but not this dominant. He did lose matches here, Roger has lost only 9 of the last 200 odd matches he has played. Neither did Sampras have the all-court game that Federer has. Pete never came close to conquering the French clay (bar 1996). Federer has improved the last 2 times he has played there, reaching the semis in 2005 and the finals last year. If ever any player could hold all 4 Grand Slam titles at a time (maybe not calendar year), it is Federer. And if he does that 9win the French Open this year), who is to bet against him winning the calendar year Grand Slam with Wimbledon and the US Open to follow? He was won the last 4 Wimbledon titles and the last 3 US Opens. Winning the French Open itself will elevate him to the pantheons of the handful of players who have won each of the 4 Majors, and make a strong case for him to be considered the greatest of all time.

Yet, injury may have a say, so may an upcoming young star who may dethrone him, as Nadal has threatened to do. Or he may go off the boil. Or worse still, the curse of the blog may strike him.

Let us enjoy the master at the peak of his powers, this may be a once in a lifetime opportunity. People in the 1930s in Australia would say with pride "i have watched Bradman play". My generation will no doubt say "i have watched Roger Federer play".

It's been a while since this journal was updated. There was nothing eventful/informative/exciting/stimulating/ridiculous that could be reported in this forum.
There was a point i noted today and thought i would write about it. i was traveling on the express highway today and noticed how disciplined vehicles are in terms of adherence to lanes, when compared to city driving. One reason for this must definitely be the quality of the infrastructure viz, the tarmac quality and abundant road width. Most of these drivers will however readily resort to underhand tactics (e.g. blatant disregard of lanes/directions/signals, zebra-crossings etc.) in all dimensions of driving, within the city.
Even as i write, work has started pouring in, so must get back to it. This entry was in fact, just a check to ascertain whether the "blog effect" still works. Evidently (for better or worse), it does!!

Today morning, there was an impromptu fire-drill that took place at my company. All it did was serve as a much needed source of amusement and entertainment to people. This dry-run, though taken seriously by the security and volunteers concerned, will only whet the appetite of any lingering fire, given the attitude of the employees. Of course, i too harboured this attitude, passing wise-cracks along the way as the employees were reluctantly ushered out of their buildings to the "Safe Assembly Point" in the middle of the sprawling campus. Waiting for us here, was a fire-marshal/warden, who was only too eager to address his increasing, though somewhat inattentive audience. He was in fine form, addressing the amused employees with the gumption of a political leader. i am sure the employees of the neighboring company must have come out of their buildings in fright at the furore being caused. The marshal made people take an oath on God to cooperate in case of fires and such drills. That was too melodramatic for my linking. Later, at the behest of the marshal, the security and volunteers hosed up a tall tree that simulated a towering inferno, even as employees watched in much amusement and applauded in mock admiration. Wonder what happened to any employee unfortunate enough to have been stranded/standing under that tree at the time. All in all, it served as a nice distraction and a much needed relief from the daily drudgery. Some चाय-पानी (tea and snacks) arrangements for the employees would have made the entire drill even more appealing. i would highly recommend this to the concerned authorities. वडा-पाव and समोसाs would also be welcome. Spotting a few more pretty faces in the crowd would have been an added bonus.

Yesterday, for a change, i was watching a news channel on TV (and not a sports channel). Now, this particular news channel aired a 30 minute program on what they called "दुनिया का ८ वा अजूबा" (8th wonder of the world). This potential 8th wonder of the world was a pair of electricity poles (खंबे) that had each been bent midway in the same direction (imagine that you are standing with your legs straight and leaning back, from hip-upwards). Something to that effect. What made the news channel feel that these poles merited such lofty comparison as those with the leaning tower of Pisa, was this: Apparently, if one sees them from front, they appear like regular, everyday pair of electricity poles. If you view them from the left, they both bend to the left, if you view them from the right, they both bend to the right. It is difficult to explain without visuals (do i need to change to a plus account?). The channel showed still pictures from these 3 angles. Unfortunately, they did not show a continuous visual while moving from one perspective to another clearly. The channel then interviewed a local gentleman who has been "researching" these poles for the past year and now wishes that a स्मारक (memorial) be built at the site. Later, they carried out an interview with a professor from IIT Kanpur who had visited the site. The professor gave a scientific explanation for the illusion, and emphasized on the point that this was no अजूबा. He told the channel that if they were ready to sponsor the venture, he could get recreate a similar illusion. His argument was based on the fact that the poles were perpendicular to the road and some 50-60 metres away from it. Our eyes perceive near objects differently from distant ones. The upper portion of the poles being bent were further away from our eyes than the lower portions, leading to this illusion. i must admit to not being able to understand the explanation completely.

i found the whole thing very amusing. i do respect the gentleman who has been studying and trying to explain the illusion for a year. Curiosity (along with serendipity) is the mother of discovery. But i am very amused with the channel deeming this illusion worthy to be the 8th wonder of the world. They even said that if the leaning tower of Pisa is recognized as one of the modern wonders (is it?), why not these poles? That's the media for you! Or maybe when it is indeed unveiled as the ८ वा अजूबा, i shall be the one looking like a fool.

p.s. A more rustic meaning of खंबा is a barrel of दॆसी दार् (local alcohol). As any reader unfortunate enough to stumble upon this journal, and foolhardy enough to read it would have guessed, i am just trying to practice my Devnagri :-)

हिन्दि मे लिखने का यह मेरा पहला प्रयास है. थोडी सी मुश्किल जरुर आ रही है, लेकिन फिर भी मज़ा आ रहा है!

Well, looking at the above script in firefox, in the view journal mode, it looks crappy. However, it looks decent in IE..Hmmm....Need to work some more on this...The funny thing is that if you look at only this blog entry, it appears fine even on firefox, but if you try to look at the journal as a whole, the devnagri entry gets messed up :-(

Normally, it wouldn't have mattered, since i was the only one looking at the blog, but since receiving a visitor (surprise!!!!) on this blog yesterday, (who may be using firefox) i feel the need to apologize :-). Watch this space....

Wokay...After some exhaustive (phew) RnD, it turns out that the problem is with the theme of the layout. The above problem does not occur in firefox when i change the theme. i imagine it must be a problem with the stylesheet of the old theme, which is sad because i very much preferred the former theme. i suppose this ranting is quite incomprehensible to most, but i shall try and paste a screenshot of how this entry looked in the old theme.

On Saturday, i went to MG Road to get a jeans altered. Now, i have always known MG Road as Main street. It evokes fond childhood memories. On Saturday, having gone there after almost 5 months, i did notice a few new establishments, lots of crowd and many more beggars. Of course, the differences i noticed haven't cropped up only in the last half a year or so. But my mind dived into a deep sea of memories, recollecting the "good old" days.

My first recollections of Main Street go back to when i must have been 3-4 years old. At the top of the memory list is getting lost on that road one fine evening when my parents where in a bakery, and i loitered out on my own! i shall leave out my melodramatics at the discovery of being lost and the subsequent reunision. i used to go to Main Street with my mother often, since my mausi stayed close by. i remember my mother taking me to her (and my) favourite eating joint there "Marzorin". No trip to Main Street was ever complete without a visit to Marzorin. In fact, even today when somebody says MG Road, Marzorin is the first word that comes to mind. This bakery offers some lovely sandwiches and pastries. The Chautny sandwich was always my favourite and remains so to this day. The taste remains as vintage and delicious as ever, only the price must have quadrupled. Back then, Marzorin was quite small, with just about 4-5 sets of tables, and the ordering counter, so there would be hordes of patrons snacking on the sidewalk, and crowding beside the counter. One simply needed to find a way to the head of the crowded counter, place one's order, collect the dishes and pay there itself. It was quite informal, simple and rustic. Today, there is a first floor with many more tables and another counter over there. A receipt system is in place where one first needs to order at the cash register and then display the receipt at the counter to get the order. Of course, there are still a large number of people on the sidewalk on Saturday nights when the whole of Main Street is a sea of humanity. i believe all the tullas of the city throng there to soothe their eyes, if nothing else.

Another aspect that caught my eye was the increase in the number of beggars. This is only to be expected seeing the increase in the number of people who visit Main Street. It is a sad reality of this part of the world. Obscene wealth and abject poverty found next to each other. The question is: Why are there so few beggars on FC Road and Koregaon Park/Dhole Patil Road as compared to Main Street? These are also popular trendy locations for the young and the rich.

Anyway, the jeans alteration done (albeit not to my satisfaction), i walked back to where my bike was parked to return home. My bike was parked right opposite Marzorin. i looked back at it, and couldn't resist walking up to Marzorin to savour those mouth-watering Chautny sandwiches and a cholcoate pastry. The fact that it was almost 1:00 p.m. helped :-).

i can't recall a December in Pune that has been as warm as this one. Maybe, hot is a better word. Even at night, i do not need even a simple chaddar, forget a kambal. In fact, the other night i slept with the fan on. Whoever says global warming is a myth, please visit Pune.

Historically, another indicator of the cold setting in has been the dwindling turn-out for the Sunday morning football games. However, yesterday we had 25 players turning out, and even had to rotate players to give everyone a chance to play. That's one positive to emerge from the warm weather. Nothing like a good game of football followed by Dew.

So viel hat passiert in die letzte 48 Stunden!! ich konnte so viel bloggen :-)..Aufruhr in meiner Stadt, verurteilte politischer Leiter, Schauspieler, Kricket Spieler, Indische Kricket im Tumult, verbilligt Benzin.

ich hatte noch einer Gedanke. Wo koennen Sie eine Indisch blog finden wo der Inder ein Sportliebhaber ist und das Blog hat nichts ueber Kricket? Antwort: hier!!!

ich finde schwer auf Deutsch zu schreiben was ich will. Also mache ich fertig mit diesem Blog Entry.

Bis spaeter!

November 26 2006 - the day of the 21st edition of the Pune International Marathon. i took part in the 4.5 kms charity run amongst thousands of other Puneites. This race has become a fixture in the Pune event calendar.

The day began on an eventful note when the company bus that was supposed to take us to the venue did not turn up even 20 minutes after it's due time. At 7:30 a.m., i took an auto-rickshaw to the venue, on the way picking up a couple of other guys who were participating. They were in fact from the sponsoring organization Hutch, and had come all the way from New Delhi for the event. The race was scheduled to begin at 8:30 a.m.

We took the rickshaw as close to the starting line as possible (about 150 metres away). After alighting from the rickshaw, it took quite an effort, barging and pushing my way past the mass of people to make it to the place where the charity run was to be flagged off from. It must be noted that the main events were the competitive half-marathon and the marathon itself, which attracted runners from countries like Kenya, Sweden, Russia, Tanzania etc. After about 15 minutes of pushing and jostling, i manged to make it to the place where the charity run was to be flagged off from. A host of celebrities and a few politicians were on the dias to flag off the race including Suresh Kalmadi, Rahul Bose, Dhanraj Pillay, Zafar Iqbal, Mandira Bedi and Sonali Kulkarni. i must mention Sonali Kulkarni without any make-up whatsoever looked like any simple girl next door. i didn't even realize when the charity run began, because the thousands who had turned up for the good cause were busy clicking pictures of the celebrities and waving to them instead of running. Of course, this race was not about running or winning, it was about contributing for a good cause. People of all ages took part in it, which was heartening to see. i had decided to give the run my best shot if only to assess my fitness levels. Anyway, once past the celebrity dias, i skipped past the hordes of people and soon found myself amongst the leaders. i picked on 2 very serious runners as my markers and tried to keep up with them, but in vain. However, i was doing quite well at the halfway mark, running past a number of other equally dedicated runners. It was after 3 kms or so that my fitness gave way and my lungs refused to listen to my head. i had to stop jogging and walk for a bit. During this period, the 2 runners i had set my eyes on as markers overtook me (i didn't realize that somewhere along the line i had overtaken them). Now, i had to run, but they just seemed to speed away from me. Once more i had to resort to underhand tactics of walking. Once i realized i was closing in on the finish, i started jogging again. Another reason was that the final stretch of the race was along the main road, not by-lanes and i did not want to appear to be walking, to the hordes of spectators who had lined up along the road. Soon i arrived at what i thought was the entry into the Nehru Stadium, the finishing line for the race. However, the organizers told me that i had overrun the entry to the stadium (which was barely 40 metres behind me). i found it a bit comical that the officials at the entry gate had not pointed the directions when i passed them. Anyway, i backtracked along with a few other bemused runners and entered the stadium. There was no official finish line, since this was a non-competitive race (so i think), but i feel i must have definitely finished among the top 25.

Thereafter, there was an awareness program on AIDS (the charity run was for the fight against this disease). By this time most of the participants in the charity run had arrived, either walking or jogging, shouting slogans, but always enjoying the experience. The organizers now played some loud music which blared out popular dance numbers to which one and all lilted. There were a number of organizations that had taken part in raising money for this good cause (entry fee was Rs. 100), waving their company flags with slogans of the fight against this disease. By now it was about 10:15 a.m. and time to head back since my company bus would be leaving back shortly to drop people off. It was then that i came to know that the bus had indeed come in the morning, but only 10 minutes after i had left by auto-rickshaw.

The bus meandered its way through the chaotic traffic, its troubles compounded even more due to the restrictions in place on account of the marathon. In the bus, we heard an announcement mentioning that my company had won an award for having the largest number of participants. This is something to be proud about. Finally at about 11:30 a.m. it dropped me off at my stop.

All in all, a very enjoyable event. The sporting day was complete with India slipping to a resounding defeat against South Africa in cricket after having them at 76/6. Man Utd and Chelsea played out an exciting 1-1 draw that sees Man Utd maintain a 3 point lead over Chelsea.

The sore fact from the day was the realization that i need to do a lot of work on my fitness that has suffered due to ill-health and laziness. It is embarrassing not to be able to jog 4.5 kms at a stretch. As i write these lines, my calf muscles are still aching.

This link provides some good laughs. Ridiculous ways in which people have destroyed their hard drives. It's always fun to read such articles, makes me feel that i am not that stupid after all....Until i do something that would top even this list!!

Given the fact that this blog was meant as a scratch pad for myself, i have consciously never publicized it before. Moreover, given it's bias towards sports in general, and football in particular, the blog does not command a mass audience anyway. That's fine with me. i look at this blog as a memory lane a few years down the line.

Back to football. Arsenal beat Liverpool 3-0 at home on Sunday to jump to 3rd sport in the EPL standings. It may be a case of too little too late, given that they are 10 points behind Man Utd, and 7 points behind Chelsea, albeit with a game in hand. Amongst their next 5 fixtures are visits away to Bolton and Chelsea, and i will be very surprised if they return with a combined total of more than 1 point from these 2 visits. i see the gulf only increasing betweeen Arsenal and the top 2 teams. A heartening feature though is that Arsenal have beaten Man Utd away and Liverpool at home, beaten the big teams. However there over-elaborate play has made them take only 3 points at home against Aston Villa, Everton and Middlesborough, results that have perhaps already sealed their fate as far as the EPL title goes. Before the game against Liverpool, they had taken only 5 of a possible 15 points in all competitions (Loss to CSKA Moscow away, win away to Reading, draw against CSKA Moscow at home, draw against Everton at home, loss to West Ham away). This run has also put pressure on them to qualify for the knock-out stages of the Champion's League. In short, their season so far has been stop-start.

The touch-line bust up Wenger had with Pardew, and more importantly his refusal to shake Pardew's hand after the game, struck a sore note. One must learn to be gracious in defeat as well, that is something that neither Wenger nor Mourinho have learned. They have a multitude of excuses every time they lose (Mourinho has them even when Chelsea draw). Mourinho is a fantastic manager, no doubt, but his arrogance and that of his team have made me support any team they play against. Nov 26 will be the match to look forward to when Man Utd host Chelsea.

ich bin zureuckgekommen! It's good to back home, after close to 100 days abroad, most of them battling an irritating illness, that may still have the final word. I spent the last week recovering at home and took in a couple of sports books, and followed my only love, football. i wish i can get back on to the playing field soon.

"Health is Wealth". i completely realize the significance of this saying. Everything else pales, priorities get readjusted, and one acquires a new perspective on life. i also realized that life can be quite short and one must persue one's likes/wishes without delay, there may not be a tomorrow when that can be done. In my case, it means spend more time with family, relax in their company and enjoy sports in general and football in particular to the hilt.

i feel i have been stabbed in the back. ok, i may be over-reacting...But events of today make me feel so. To be frank, it musn't come as a surprise, such things have happened before and will keep happening. In due course of time, i might realize it was justified, but the fact that it came without asking me (i was simply told about it), rankles. i don't expect anything better from the people in question. Anything positive, from my viewpoint, from them, is a bonus and a pleasant surprise. Everything else is to be taken with a pinch of salt. Anyway, this realization follows the maxim "Lieber spaet, als gar nicht".

Just had a highly enjoyable chat with a Kill Bill bhakt, my good friend Samir...After which i felt that i should pose some of the questions i posed him (and Christoph, who is, i think, also a Kill Bill devotee), here.. They were, i felt practical questions about the plot of the movie (and gave me a kick imagining somebody trying to answer them, or even just reading them)... Here we go:

- How does Bill fail to eliminate the main protagonist when he fired a gun-shot 1 inch away from her head? Was she that thick-headed, or was he just a very bad shot? (Note: i haven't seen Part 2, in case the answer to this question is present in it)
- How does the main protagonist find her passport after 4 years, to travel abroad?
- How did she pay for the plane tickets to Japan? Did she remember her ATM pin number after so many years? Or was her credit card still valid?
- How does one smuggle such a big sword on a plane?
- Don't gangs in Japan use guns anymore, instead of engaging in sword fights?

The aim with these questions, is to get a good laugh, and i certainly did :-)