Ok,  so this is a blog about Mangalore so what am I doing with a post that seemingly has nothing to do with Mangalore?

Well, the answer is simple. A great part of me was shaped in Mangalore and while I’m on the topic of shaping I also have to mention one man who has had a profound influence on my life.

That man is: Stone Cold Steve Austin!

And this year, Stone Cold is going to take his rightful place in pro wrestling history by being inducted into the Pro Wrestling Hall of Fame.

For the uninitiated Stone Cold is a professional wrestler who was active during the period of 1996-2003 in WWF (I still refuse to call it WWE).

And ironically those 7 years were my most definitive years as in ‘96 I had just finished SSLC and was looking forward to joining college. And at the same time Stone Cold burst into the scene and captured all our imagination like nothing else.

1996 saw Stone Cold win the King of the Ring and with his acceptance speech began the Austin 3:16 era. Frankly speaking, I missed this year for various reasons.

I caught up next year with Austin feuding with Bret “The Hitman” Hart and losing a match that catapulted him to stardom. By next year he was locking horns with none other than his boss, the vindictive Vince McMahon, who resolved to make Stone Cold’s life a hell and screw him out of WWF championship.

McMahon’s reasoning was he did not want a rebellious anti-authority figure like Stone Cold to be the champion and represent his company.

But Stone Cold would not have it that way. He became a multiple times champion and usually at the expense of McMahon.

Although pro wrestling is a work, I admit I was (and am still) a major Stone Cold Steve Austin mark!

And this one guy provided me, and us, the confidence (and the stupidity) to take on the authority. Many of my suspensions in college have had direct relation to one Mr. Stone Cold’s professed attitude.

I have moved on, by the way

But even today, Stone Cold’s appearance in the now crappy WWE ring is a treat and brings back good old memories.

And I also admit, I have not completely abandoned Stone Cold as my all-time greatest hero and I don’t think I ever can.

That is because a little of Stone Cold is still left within me that makes me rebellious and anti-convention, like he professed, and it is likely that this will be the case all my life!

Nonetheless, I wish my hero a great future and no one could have been more happy that Stone Cold is getting inducted in the WWF HOF next month than I.

While on the HOF topic, there is a great speculation about who is going to induct good old Stone Cold into the HOF. Vince is keeping this bit as a secret as much as possible and I can bet my last rupee that Stone Cold is also enjoying the situation, playing along with Vince.

Personally I have very few people who I would want to indust Stone Cold into the HOF. Chief among them is none other than Vince McMahon as he is the one who was a big part in building the immortal Stone Cold persona. I know Vince does not involve himself in HOF ceremony directly but I guess he can make an exception this time.

Other candidates are Undertaker and Bret Hart. These 2 have had as much share in building the Stone Cold persona as Vince. Stone Cold’s legendary match with Bret Hart catapulted him to stardom and his matches with Undertaker shoved him to super-stardom. These 3 make my ideal candidates.

Certain people I would NOT like to see induct Stone Cold into HOF: The Rock, Triple H, Ric Flair, Good Ol’ JR, and Shawn Michaels.

Rest is upto WWF!