Circa 1998

I just happened to go through some old papers on my dad’s desk, when I came across a particularly old newspaper. And when I say old, I mean old as in nearly 7 years old. Maybe 7 years for you may seem a trifling, but for a chap of but 21 years, that figure accounts for nearly one-third of his life.
And as I gazed through this time machine, I was transported back to an age that was so unlike todays, and yet was so different from it.

1. As now, even then, and I am speaking of September 1998, Osama Bin Laden was the CIA’s most wanted man. The newspaper carried an exclusive, though I am sure, every other paper on the block would say the same, picture of the fugitive relaxing at his base in Afghanistan. Surely he must reminiscence, “Ah, those were the days of innocence!”


2. Of late, there is a heated debate as to whether the judiciary needs to be made accountable to some one. Well, even then, the recommendation of a former Chief Justice, J.S. Verma, sparked off the same debate, to the extent that it was proposed that the higher echelons of the judicial system be brought under the purview of a law akin to the Prevention of Corruption Act. Mercifully, the debate soon died out.


3. Recently the vote by India against the Islamic Republic of Iran caused a furore amongst the leftist intelligentsia who called this a most shamefaced submission of Indian interests. Of course the only interests visible to me at that juncture were the economic ones, as Iran and India per se have really never been very close buddies. Well, in 1998, our “close” friend was Afghanistan, and the same arguments of non-aligned solidarity, of maintaining a check on Pakistan, were stated, “sadly” to no avail.


4. Titanic had just released and would continue to haunt me for exactly one and a half year more, thanks to a most persistent friend of mine, who simply adored Kate Winslet, not that I blame him, but please, must you always sing hosannas in her name, irrespective of where one is standing and what is the occasion?


5. Jim Carrey’s “The Truman Show” also had released the same season, and despite my finding it to be the most splendid performance of Jim in all his movies, inclusive of his latest ones, I was surprised when the Academy chose to ignore him for the Oscars. I guess they were too busy handing out James Cameron his statuettes.


6. Ah, now shifting to sports. In 1998, the Swiss-miss Martina Hingis was at no.1, and Lindsay Davenport was just emerging on the tennis arena as a powerful contender. Last time I checked the rankings, Ms. Hingis was nowhere to be found, whilst Ms. Davenport of course is the Regina Impetarix, though a shaky hold, what with all the Russian assaults. Again in 1998, stalwarts like Monica Seles and Steffi Graf were still a force to contend with. Sadly both have retired now.


7. In 1998, Mohammed Azharuddin was the captain of the Indian cricket team, while his “able” deputy was a young chap by the name of Saurav Ganguly. Of course, there were slight tiffs between the captain and the coach, but all had been settled in the interest of the game. As of 2005, Azharuddin has been dispatched to cricket Hades, while Ganguly, once a triumphant monarch, has been thrown off the throne, and seems likely to follow his leader.