Japanese GP - what the *%&# happened to Suzuka?

Yesterday's race was, quite honestly, the most bizarre I've ever seen. I have never seen such immense stupidity exhibited by the FIA in it's desperate compulsion to get a race in. Cars were acquaplaning (go look that up if you don't know what it is), drivers couldn't see the red light of the car ahead of them and, to be perfectly honest, pushing the first 19 laps of the race (that's a lot) behind the Safety Car ought to have given them an idea of the mayhem out on the track?

In terms of results, Heikki drove a great race, especially the scrap with Kimi at the end. So too the last half lap of racing between Massa and Kubica for 6th. Since there was no 'dirty' OR 'dry' line - they actually managed to pull off a whole half lap of racing side by side and pushing each other off the track before Kubica succeeded in doing so on the last corner - only to see Massa race past him after exiting the grass!

Hamilton drove a great race, hardly any mistake that I can recall. Kubica fishtailed him in the middle of the race and he was lucky not to have been completely shunted there. Alonso reserved his only retirement of the season for the worst possible moment in the season. Hamilton just needs to cruise in the remaining two races to get himself the championship.

The moment of the race goes to Sebastien Vettel, who driving the Toro Rosso (the Red Bull 'B' team) decided to absolutely cream the back of Webber's Red Bull (the 'A' team) while the safety car was still out!! He's a talented 19-year old, but that's not going to help him very much, especially considering that Webber was driving for a podium finish and had vomited inside his helmet within a few laps of the start. That must have been a hard drive...

Law Making

Is this a far better way of getting the law you want? Well, yes and no. On the one hand, it would reflect precisely what the janta (not junta and therefore steering clear of recent controversy) may actually want. I think that the average citizen would actually be pretty non-frivolous and fair when it comes to submitting his own draft Police Code.

On the other hand, legislation drafting is a serious matter requiring some skill and perhaps best left to the bureaucrats. No doubt, India's staunch civil service would never allow it. All that we get to do is write critical papers reviewing proposed legislation and even those are barely publicised. (On the other hand, considering the quality of some of the legislation I've studied - see esp. Land Laws, Sem VIII - I dare say a bunch of drunks hooligans trying to get themselves a loophole in the law may actually be more subtle than the blatant doors that are left in many of the laws)

RIP Colin McRae

See his official website here , BBCs run down of his career here and the tributes here.

Pitter Patter

I have now been up for over 3 hours and the rain has been coming down in NYC for just as long. I would have been quite happy to see Bombay-esque rain (at least you get that wonderful smell from the earth), but this is very London-esque rain...quite depressing.

I was hoping to go down to Ground Zero for the memorial function this evening - if this keeps up, I think we may be in for a little more reading tonight...

Distractee's distractions

In what it is usually the only time I blog, I have tried very hard and unsuccessfully to get some serious reading done all morning. The inability to concentrate has led me to do the reading for Intl Law which is pretty much the easiest and arguably the most enjoyable class I have, primarily thanks to the presence of an Aussie at the helm...

There are a number of reasons that reading has been rather ineffective this morning:

• Following the triple Rugby mauling by NZ, Aus and Eng on BBC Sport (although one can argue that Eng's win was far from a mauling)
• Following the 2nd innings of the Lord's match on radio - it was wonderful to hear Henry Blofeld's voice again. Not quite the same reaction about India's performance though.
• Watching Monza qualifying online
  
• Lack of food in the stomach and excess of other things from last evening - details are best left undisclosed
• Lovely riff
• Trying to find a site where I can watch the WC.

Amex has sponsored a large screen in Madison Square Park where the tennis is being shown and I am now considering packing a few books and heading there for the 2nd Semi-Final. Somehow I have absolutely no inclination to catch the women's final this evening.

In other news - I bumped into IS at one of the numerous receptions I have been attending over the past 2 weeks in our eternal quest for free food and daru. IS turns out to be someone I knew from Delhi nearly 10 years ago. Having said that - it did take us a fair bit of PC to establish the link - god bless the Brits and all that they have taught me.

NYC continues to be bathed with wonderful weather, which is an absolute pity since I seem to be stuck indoors battling with reading backlog.

"We were always free to choose
Never free enough to find"

- Overcome by Live

Heartbreak

Of all things, something as stupid as not carrying KRs mobile no. and not waiting at my comp for an extra 2 mins have deprived me of the chance to watch the US Open...

My only consolation is this:


which is not much if you consider my last experience with him at a Slam - see here.

I think DM may have to wait for her postcard...