  ESPN-Star is still down. I have threatened my cable operator that I will disconnect but it seems to have fallen on deaf ears. After all, how does Rs. 200 lesser every month matter to someone who is reportedly serving 800 households. Monopolistic trade practices be damned. I've tried praying also but it doesn't seem to be working.
So in the absence of Wimbledon , the next most exciting thing I do is watching movies in my CD player. Monday night, dunno why, I revisited that ageless classic urlLink Casablanca ... Ahem...The enigmatic Rick Blaine helping the divine Ilsa and her husband Victor Laszlo to escape and then walking into the sunset with the unimaginable ally Louis Renault is one of the most memorable cinematic sequences I have ever seen.
After watching it for the umpteenth time, I sat back and thought. (Danger ahead) It’s been 60 years since then but why hasn't anyone ever bothered to find out what might have happened in the lives of these characters. Positive that there must have been something that happened, I googled and was not at all surprised when it threw up some of the following results. 1. A horrendously stupid movie sequel idea unfortunately called urlLink Brazzaville that has to be the product of some retarded bloke.
2. Micheal Walsh's book " urlLink As Time Goes By " released by Warner in 1998 , sort of a prequel and sequel to Casablanca . It answers a lot of hypothetical questions like Do Victor and Ilsa make it to America? Do Rick and Louis join the Free French garrison in Brazzaville? Why can't Rick return to New York? Will Rick and Ilsa ever see each other again? I, for one, have never been bothered to seek out answers for all these questions. However one thought that's always haunted me is " Can Ilsa ever be happy with Victor? " My good friend Girish and I have had a million discussions on this one and other similar situations.
While he feels that it’s more important to be loved and contends that Ilsa's memories of Rick will soon fade away, I am of the firm opinion that even it doesn't last long, it’s important to get the person you want - Ilsa would have been much better off with Rick. Wot's your take on this? 
