July 14th comes back to haunt and the eerie similarity between 2021 & 2024

There were 3 highly anticipated sporting finales which got played out on the 14th of July 2024 viz

Wimbledon Final - Novak Djokovic vs Carlos Alcaraz

Euro Final - England vs Spain

Copa America Final - Argentina vs Columbia 

The day was all set and it was imminently clear that it was going to be a sporting extravaganza of epic proportion and a blockbuster of sorts for the sport loving aficionado.

Sporting clashes have happened across different formats and dates earlier on as well. But what really caught the eye and makes this one Sunday special is because it associates itself to a few incidents of the past which ironically played out in the same intervening period but across different years.

Let's traverse back to the exact day of 14th July, 5 years ago in 2019. That very same day witnessed a Wimbledon final and the ODI World Cup cricket final. On 14th July 2024 also we had the Wimbledon Final but instead of the cricket we had the Euro Football final. The common player/team running across both these days were Novak Djokovic and England. In 2019, Novak Djokovic claimed the Wimbledon title in a match for the ages against Roger Federer and the England cricket team claimed the cricket World Cup final in a super over through boundary count in the final against New Zealand which was heralded as one of the greatest ever ODI matches played. 

Both Novak Djokovic and England appeared again on court in the final in 2024 and a victory for both would have made it extra special and a day to savour for eternity for both Novak Djokovic and England as a sports team but alas it was not to be as Djokovic was swept aside by the marauding young Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz and later on in the evening the England football team were humbled by a mercurial Spanish side. The 14th of July 2019 which bought joy to Novak and the England cricket team bought despair to the same Novak Djokovic and England football team on the 14th of July 2024. It was perceived that Novak almost did the impossible by saving 2 match points on his opponents serve to register a famous victory much to the chagrin of the partisan British crowd who were cheering and egging on Federer to create history in 2019. In a similar vein, it was also felt that the Kiwis were robbed off a World cup title in dubious fashion since the win was awarded to England in controversial circumstances. Both Federer and New Zealand felt dismayed on the 14th of July 2019 but things came back to haunt Novak and England in albeit a different manner by taking defeat off them coincidentally and ironically on the very same date 5 years later. Hence, there were a lot of coincidences and patterns emerging across these 2 dates 5 years apart but the result ended up being completely opposite from one another.

Talking of coincidences, there was one more eerie similarity taking place in 2024 but this time the year in question is related with 2021. The very same 3 sporting events that happened in 2024 also took place in 2021 just 3 days apart on 11th July 2021 and once again there was the common theme of one player/team being weirdly the common link across the 3 major sporting finales. 

Let's take a look at the commonality.

2021 & 2024 Wimbledon Final - Novak Djokovic appeared in both finals

2021 & 2024 Euro Final - England played in both finals 

2021 & 2024 Copa America Final - Argentina took part in both finals

The results however were a mix & match across these 3 years. Novak Djokovic emerged victorious in 2019 but came a cropper in 2024. England football team ensued heartbreak both in 2021 at home and 2024 in Berlin. The Argentinian team emerged triumphant on both occasions beating the home side Brazil in 2021 and winning the finale again in 2024.

Documenting the tale of sporting finales loaded with numerous twists & turns arising across different years resulting in so many weird and varied patterns indeed makes sport so very special and thrilling.

A Quadrant of Theme Music Classics!

This was an impromptu shot at attempting a few well known pieces of re-recordings. I still don't know how this straddling happened from one end of the spectrum to another to play these classsics but it happened just like that. The 4 tracks played include:

1) Punnagai Mannan theme music
2) Godfather theme music
3) Mouna Ragam theme music
4) Jurassic Park theme music

I am usually a fan of theme music as they have such an uplifting appeal especially when the output leaves you with an everlasting effect that reverberates far beyond the movie. Some of the pieces produced locally at home in Kodambakkam easily stands testimony to some of the all time great pieces produced in Hollywood though many a time these kind of mind blowing pieces appear in totally obscure movies unable to comprehend the mastery of the mesmerism in the music. 

These are just some small minor phrases from 4 mega path breaking pieces of music. I don't know which among these sounds better but I hope the end result is justified to a reasonable extent.

Sitcom - The cafe enticing Friends & Food

Sitcom with the caption 'The Drama Diner' is one of the latest cafe's to hit tinseville. From the name it's rather apparent that it borrows heavily on the theme of tv series and this is where they cash in with their set up. It's located on the lengthy stretch of ECR in the Neelankarai road in a complex occupying 2 storeys. The downward side is predominantly a bakery cafe consisting of plenty of stuff like puffs, pastries, quiches, mousses, eclairs, sorbets and a host of other items in the attic. And on the upstairs is where the real dine out cafe action takes place.

The ever popular Friends and Big Bang Theory are the 2 serials which make a big impression on this place. They have quirky dialogues from the sitcoms plastered on the doors apart from having posters depicting characters and footage from the show. In tune with the drama culture, they have also placed sufficient tv screens playing episodes of these shows. I believe these large screens will also cater to sporting action as and when they occur. The decor feels laid back and relaxing with those bent orange couches igniting the comfort factor. It looks like an ideal place to come as large set of folks to spend quality free time and in the process also do some binge eating.

The menu touches different borders with American cuisine being the most significant. Whatever an outlet tries to showcase through it's ambiance, there's no denying that food plays the numero uno part and everything else takes a backseat. In that line, I must say for a new place the food served appeased quite a lot especially with the starters being of the highest order.

We began our dinner sojourn with a french onion soup which was wonderfully presented in a large bowl with a circular piece of soaked bread immersed right over floating on top of the soup. The sprinkle of caramelised onions was well played and this one was really flavourful and a good way to begin proceedings.

The starters totally lorded the show. First up, I fell in love with the Mozzarella cheese sticks. The orangish cheese sticking inside that hollow tunnel covered on the exterior by a breaded texture was all gooey and drool worthy. Dipping it with some chilli mayo added to the excitement. The cheese stuffed mushroom croquettes were not far off from the show. Just childishly poke these balls with a fork and you will witness cheesy awesomeness enveloped all over juicy chunks of mushroom. The outer layer comprising the breaded texture was super solid and the interior had a molten perfect liquid material oozing out providing for a delicious confluence which can be felt when inserted in the mouth. To add a crispy touch were the onion rings which was a great snacker to consume along side the white cheesy dip.

They have an interesting combination of momo's and we tried 3 veg versions viz spinach & corn, mushroom and the sticky rice dumplings. The former two were lovely to munch with just about the right bunch of ingredients and being delicious in taste but what really stole the headlines were the sticky riced one which was quite a revelation. They almost looked like a porcupine with thorns holding up firmly on all sides of the momo's and when picking them up they were so soft, floaty and loose that you almost wanted to play with them. It had a nice curried veg taste to it with the ingredients melding and mingling well. This was truly one of a kind and very interesting and innovatively made.

In the main course section, it was the pizza that was top notch. The 7 cheese pizza was messy with variants of cheese meltingly flowing across all directions but the joy I tell you of biting this cheesy delight was another level. The Sun-dried tomato pizza may not have had the same level of attraction as it's predecessor but it was strong on the base and that's what mattered. It was really delivered well and gave that feel of eating a good thin crust pizza. On continental, we tried the Fettuccini with Basil. I kind of felt this was slightly short on expectations and pretty pale on flavour not really embarking the desired taste. We were also served a thai green curry which was remarkable. It was a little darker than the usual one's I've had but the aromatic presence of coconut cream was hovering all over and it was lovely to eat with plain rice.

They have an extensive array of desserts and we just tried a sample few. The Peach flan was soft and creamy. The Mississippi mud pie was one amazing chocolate based cake. The choco caramel mousse could have been a tad better as the caramel taste was hardly prevalent. The Tiramisu was strictly okay and I've surely had much better ones. We also had a bite at few exotic pieces of little chocolates in various flavours and they were all nice. We ended the evening with sorbets where both the raspberry and blood orange hit the bulls eye. The iced chill which you get complementing a fruity sweetened essence is quite a surreal feeling. It was like the perfect tonic and it doubly sure ensured to end the show on a high.

Looking at it from a holistic picture, it was a very satisfying and engaging dinner with majority of the items denoting a plus point. The ambiance can be spruced up a little more as there are lots of empty grey spaces where lot more can be done. It felt a little gloomy and a dash of colour could invigorate the place all the more. From the little sample that we savoured, the food can be termed a real win. They have lot more stuff such as burgers and steaks which I'm looking forward to try. On the whole, Sitcom is a lovely little cafe in this neck of the woods where you can shower in a bit of nostalgia with the place invoking you snippets from memorable tv series from the bygone era and which also serves some appetising food to rejoice to your heart's content.