Akram..the best?

McGrath broke Akram's record of 55 wickets in World cup matches. McGrath is THE most accurate fast bowler, but then.....There will always be a debate over "the best ever" in any field of expertise, especially in sports. I have personally been a huge fan of Wasim Akram , someone whom any young aspirant, regardless of nationality, would dream of being like. As McGrath said, Akram is one of the finest fast bowlers to have graced the earth. Pace, yorkers, bouncers, deadly in-cutters(I'll never forget his wicket of Chris Lewis Vs England in the 92 WC), and of course the sultan of swing; all the while never sacrificing accuracy. One of the things that stood out was his passion for the game. You could see the genuine anger/happiness when he played. A true 'genius' , he had a natural flair for fast bowling.
There is no question that he was THE most underrated all-rounders of the game. He's scored 257 in test cricket!! even if it was only against Zimbabwe. Only 2 Indians have got past that score.
To add to that, i think he was the most outstanding captain in the 99 WC.
Brian Lara admits that in his 16 yrs of international cricket, Akram is the best he's encountered.

Rewinding to 1982

This weekend my dad just sent across a tape-to-Cd converted audio file. What it contained is just incredible and extremely nostalgic: A conversation dad had with me when I was 1 and a half years old. Yes, more than 24 yrs back he recorded this laugh-riot(now it seems; it was a casual conversation) on a cassette('twas not the days of the camcorder). I speak in Mallu, with a spatter of English and Hindi. The other side of the tape had my favorite song "tere jaisa yaar kahan" from Yaarana, which i keep insisting be played the whole time.
My parents have taken extreme care of this tape for 25 yrs. Hope i can match up to them someday.