Flummoxed! Are you?

There was time when it was not just Cricket during the English summer - but even the cricket-writing that people would look forward to. It is sad that cricket-writing has lost its sheen in the bang-wham world of Twenty-20. Followers of the game would be reminded of the 1971 tour of England by India. B S Chandrashekar's magical bowling got India it's first series win in England. A term used by the cricket writers then to describe what Chandrashekhar's spin-bowling did to the English batsmen was 'flummoxed'! 
That's our word of the week - flummox. It means to bewilder or to confuse.

Melange

There are a number of words in English with French roots and our word of this week melange is just one of so many. It means an assortment or a mixture of things of different shapes, origins, forms or sizes. 
Delhi, with all its monuments of the mughal period, of Delhi sultanant,  together with Luytens' structures and other buildings of the time of the Empire to the modern glass-steel structures, presents a melange of architectural styles. 

Tristful Argentina!

The finals of the FIFA World Cup saw Germany compete against Argentina. The Argentinians played football in their typical Latin American style and created a couple of chances too only to give it all away in that one moment in extra time. For all the entertainment, thrill, excitement and hope...in the end it was a tristful finish for Messi's boys. That's our word of the week - Tristful. It means 'full of sadness; sorrowful'. 

Malady of Selfie-age: Bovarism

Its so commonplace these days. We normally confuse it to be a person's ego but it actually is bovarism. Bovarism is an expression used to describe a state of mind where a person carries an exaggerated estimate of oneself - often a glamorized impression of self. 
You can blame it on the beauty products, the gyms round the corner or the fake compliments passed on as pleasantries - bovarism is what most suffer from.  Selfies are just an indication. No?