So, who will be Bharat’s ratan this year? Well, the award will go to the best bidder. This is ex-cricketer and jack of many trades Navjot Singh Sidhu’s opinion. One can’t help but nod in agreement with him, at least this once. Imagine, one of the most coveted titles in the country being rushed into a controversy like the one it has got into these days.
LK Advani has written to the PM requesting for the honour to be given to ex-PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee. You will not be the only one to doubt Advani’s intention here. I&B minister Priyaranjan Dasmunshi gave him his two cents when he said that Advani should be giving Mr Vajpayee enough respect within the BJP itself before asking for the honor of the Bharat Ratna for him. Speculation is that Congress could have even considered Vajpayee but since it is more eager to appease the Left, the title may go to Jyoti Basu instead. The chances are strong but then who can say. The biggest surprise came when Mayawati said that the Bharat Ratna should be conferred upon Kanshi Ram as he has worked towards bridging the gap between the upper class and the dalits in the country.
Boy, that’s quite a list of contenders. Mr PM should surely heed Sidhu’s advice this time and save himself a lot of worry. Let’s see what Soniaji has to say to this.
Via BlogBharti

If you are about to nod your heads, then think again! In this ever changing and ever developing world the game of poker is no exception. Yes, today playing poker is no more considered as impudent but a statement of style. An estimated 80 million people play poker regularly, making it the world’s most popular game.

And its not just a common man’s cup of tea, but the game has attracted a slew of celebrities, including James Woods, Tobey Maguire, Ben Affleck, Leonardo DiCaprio and Matt Damon, who starred in the classic 1998 poker film “Rounders.”

An author and a classical music critic can also be a die-hard poker addict! If you guessed it right, it’s a reference to Anthony Holden, a British, who has written biographies of Shakespeare, Tchaikovsky, Laurence Olivier and Prince Charles.

And his attachment to the game is so immense that Holden spent a whole year as a professional poker player and turned the experience into a charming memoir called “Big Deal”. Now he’s written an equally entertaining sequel, “Bigger Deal: A Year Inside the Poker Room”, which chronicles the game’s explosive growth into a worldwide phenomenon on television and the Internet.

“Where once it was a seedy, disreputable pursuit peopled by shifty characters, poker is now not just respectable but fashionable, even chic,” Holden writes in his breezy, ingratiating style.

“The colossal impact on the game of online poker can be summarized in one terrifying statistic,” Holden writes. “A teenager anywhere in the world, unable to play (legally) in an American casino until he or she is 21, can play more hands in six months than septuagenarian Doyle Brunson, the world’s most respected player, has in his lifetime.”

“Bigger Deal” is published by Simon & Schuster (291 pages, $26.)

More glimpses of the widespread fascination of the game:

Poker player Jerry Yang, of Temecula, Calif., poses with his prize money after winning the main event of the World Series of Poker at the Rio hotel-casino in Las Vegas,

Alex Kravchenko (L) of Russia watches as Jerry Yang of California pushes in chips during the World Series of Poker main event at the Rio Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada July 17, 2007. Nine players started at the final table to compete for more than U.S. $22 million in prize money with the first place finisher taking home $8. 25 million.

Holden’s exploration of the new poker world takes him to Yale for a “lecture” on the game, the Caribbean for a poker cruise, a fantasy poker camp run by brainy professionals Howard Lederer and his sister Annie Duke, and tournaments in Monaco, Barcelona, Atlantic City and, of course, Las Vegas.

Like me, are you too wondering on this vast popularity of poker? And also on the height of one’s addiction to the game so as to write an entire book on it, followed by lectures and camps!!