Rebirth of an asteroid

Just create the following situation in your mind’s eye: you are in the hot seat of quiz show and Big-B, the inimitable host of Kon Bonega Krore Pati, is ready with his next question. What is Nadal?- blasts Big-B. You might be thinking, how Big-B can be wrong? On the other hand, you may be thinking about the poor English grammar of Big-B, so much so that he doesn’t know the difference between what and who. Well, Big-B might have been wrong if the question was set specifically for a sports quiz. On the other hand, if the question above led you to the never-to-be-tired Spanish tennis superstar Rafael Nadal, your conviction can’t be said wrong either. Let me break the jinx, you are correct in your first idea- an icon can’t be, and is not in the present case, wrong. Well, Nadal, in the question, is the name of an asteroid, named after the fierce Spaniard. Discovered in 2003 by the Astronomical Observatory of Mallorca, from where Nadal hails, the obscure asteroid with a 4-kilometer diameter, originally named 128036, has been rechristened as Nadal in honour of marathon Wimbledon victory over world number one, Roger Federer in 2008. While going through the news item, I got the answer of why my son was so ecstatic about Nadal’s victory in recent past. It’s the rebirth of an asteroid! However, the heavenly bodies hovering up there from time immemorial may question the wisdom of rampant renaming business down here. It was destined to be – I thought, albeit celestial bodies, far older than 22-spring-old Spaniard, may differ.

 

Tags: 128036, 2008, Amitabh Bacchan, Asteroid, Astronomical Observatory, Astronomy, Big-B, Birth, celestial bodies, Discovery, English, Grammar, Icon, Jinx, KBC, Kon Bonega Krore Pati, Mallorca, Nadal, Quiz, Rafa Nadal, Rafael Nadal, Rebirth, rechristened, Roger Federer, Spain, Spaniard, Sports, Victory, Wimbledon, Wimbledon 2008