39. Just a number, not even a unique number - perhaps nothing really magical at all about it. It is not a square, it apparently has no "magic" to it (remember 1729, the so-called "Ramanujam" number?) - it is not even a prime number.

Yet, 39 it was that leaped off the front pages of my morning paper and hit me with a double whammy.

At 39, Rahul Dravid announces his retirement. (One of crickets' greatest - let me not do injustice here by even attempting to write about the sheer joy of watching him. He deserves better tribute, from better writers)



 At 39, while Rahul retires, Akhilesh Yadav is set to take the reins of Uttar Pradesh, as Chief Minister.

For one, the number is a sunset, for the other it is a "Son"rise. Delightful irony that.

Dravid, known for his under-stated elegance and grit. I do not recall any ocassion where he could be "accused" of displaying his emotions the way most Indian (and foreign) cricketers now seem to do. Just close your eyes and imagine a Harbhajan or a Sreesanth or a Yuvaraj or a Virat Kohli..... and close your eyes again and try to see Rahul Dravid's display of emotions. You know, now, no?

And, in the two months that have just gone by, try, recall the TV images. A Rahul Gandhi (much as I hate to admit this, there was a time when I did believe he was sincere, genuinely different from the rest of the politicians - somewhere, deep inside, I still think that he IS sincere though, perhaps, as naive as I have been). Television showed Rahul, angry, demonstrative, vicious images of carefully rehearsed anger, exhorting the voters to punish the political parties of the last two decades (carefully stepping just these selective 20 years into history).

The TV showed Akhilesh in better light - understated, positive, calm, speaking in a level voice.

Maybe there's more to Rahul and Akhilesh than just the coincidence of age? Am I being naive, again?

Rahul's already proved his mettle - and perhaps, at 39, life begins afresh.

Akhilesh..... was it the TOI that headlined "UP Proves to be Rahul's Akhilesh Heel"?

Time will tell....