If there is a truly memorable moment in VVS Laxman&rsquo;s glittering career then it is not the magnificent 281 against Australia in that Test match in Kolkata in 2001 or even the 167 against Australia in Sydney in 1999. It was when India was playing &mdash; who else but Australia? &mdash; in 2010 at Mohali. India, chasing a modest target of 216, had collapsed to 124/8 but Laxman had an 81-run partnership with Ishant Sharma.

The curious case of Laxman

Business Standard

&ldquo;I&rsquo;d like to consider a Ferrari a scaled-down version of God,&rdquo; Jeremy Clarkson, host of Top Gear on BBC, once remarked. Before Friday, I would have thought that Clarkson &mdash; given his strong opinions &mdash; was exaggerating. After all, he was just talking about a car. Well, that was because until Friday I had never driven a Ferrari. And after driving not one but three of them, I&rsquo;m convinced that Clarkson couldn&rsquo;t be more on the money.

Riding the prancing horse

The first sight that greets you in Sansarpur is the hockey ground. And why not &mdash; after all, this small village a few kilometers from Jalandhar cantonment was at one time the hotbed of Indian hockey. The village of 6,000 has produced 14 Olympians, 19 internationals who played for India and over 150 players who played for various national-level teams over the years. That&rsquo;s not all. From 1928 to 1980, the Indian hockey team won 11 Olympic medals and in all but four occasions, a lad from Sansarpur was in the team. But that was in the past.

Hockey's lost ground

Deposit your camera in the cloak room,&rdquo; says the elderly man behind the counter as he issues the entry pass at the Virasat-e-Khalsa in Anandpur Sahib, the magnificent, 250,000-square-feet monument, built at a cost of over Rs 250 crore, commemorating 500 years of Sikh history and 300 years of the Khalsa Panth. A crowd of at least 100, young, old, college and school groups, queues across the huge complex waiting to see what it holds for them.

A walk through history

Dutch fullback Paul Litjens was a penalty corner specialist. His hockey stick was of the maximum permissible weight. Those who played him in the 1970s and 1980s said that he hit the ball so hard that you couldn&rsquo;t defend it &mdash; you just grounded your stick on the turf, ran towards him at full speed and left the rest to God.

Flickers of hope

Mercedes-Benz opens a driving academy and brings its sports cars to the Formula One circuit near Delhi. Aabhas Sharma gets behind the wheel for a first-hand experience.

Right on track

The prolific best-selling author is impervious to critics and remains an unreformed big game hunter.

Lunch with BS: Wilbur Smith

Steam engines went out of use 20 years ago. But now Northern Railway is trying to revive them for heritage tourism. Aabhas Sharma visits the Rewari Locomotive Shed where steam engines are being restored and describes the labour of love that is putting them back on track.

Picking up Steam

Aabhas Sharma identifies the weak spots in his captaincy in Test matches outside India.

What's eating MSD?

A cricketer once mentioned that playing in front of an empty crowd is probably one of the worst feelings as a player. No support from fans or indifference can lead to a drop in the performance of any athlete.

Aabhas Sharma