Innings of a life time

Sachin plays out of his skin and unfurls one of his masterpieces. Maybe one of his top 5 innings (test + one days).  I was in a sad meeting but was still looking up cricinfo whenever required. So I can say that I was there :)

This was poetic justice at its lyrical best in more ways than one. Sachin hitting the winning runs on Chepauk to wash away the tears of another fretful fifth day, completing the century with the same shot. A Mumbai boy playing a stellar role after the Mumbai carnage, the English coming back to show solidarity with India. 

Bhajji on first day, coach on second day and Sehwag on fourth morning, bullish about Indian victory, while the English dominating the ground with two centuries from Strauss. Was that just intuition or positive thinking or New India (TM), no one is sure.

All of it is just like a dream, something that has never happened before.

But I for one won't consider Sachin's innings, even if it is one of his best, best of this match.

It did everything: ensured victory, avoided defeat, he played as if the huge crater at good length on off stump did not exist. But if we are to rate contributions objectively, here is how I rate them:

1. Sehwag

2. Sachin  (Yuvraj+Gambhir) (Harbhajan+Zaheer) tied at second spot.

I know it is a flamebait but before the bhaktagana in their torpor forget what cricket is all about and what exactly happened, I am documenting it, the truth and nothing but the truth.

Prasangi hou vajrahun kathor (when doves turn hawks)

The air force and the navy are gearing for a sudden strike.

I am changing from a dove to a hawk. There was some deadline given and looks like the actions was not effective. And Indian forces have come up proactively (for once) a doctrine called "cold start".

So I am putting my neck on the block and saying that if Pak does not do anything in next week, we will see some commando attacks/surgical strikes. So dust your copies of Art of Wars and Chanakyanitis. 

For once the Indian blood spilled will be avenged for. A definite time for an arm chair strategist to be an arm chair military strategist. 

And for the doves to be hawks.

The Beginning

The stand-off at Mumbai has really caused a number of changes.

The anger against the political system is palpable. And it goes across party lines. Even the people who are strongly behind their parties no matter what (hint hint, BJP supporters), have to introspect and come up with a reason for change from the bottom of their hearts.

One news that caught my eye is that Delhi has polled above 60%. With Kashmir polling more than 60% as well, who knows, our democracy might be on the way to be stronger.

The theory being that, as the number of people voting increases, the possibility that they are thinking goes up, and the ballot becomes truer and truer representative of the peoples' wishes and aspirations.

Heck, even the news channels did cut down on advertisements and focused on  reporting on the issue at hand. Most of the times with thought provoking discussions interspersed.

Only if this is really happening, I am glad that we are doing at least this to commemorate the innocent and the brave who lost their lives. This looks so little for such a great loss, but at least this is a beginning !!

The Shipping News

I just browse the usual suspected channels just before I go to sleep and I have been uncovering gems on an off :)

The Shipping News is one such.

More touching because somehow I feel it matches my current state of mind (I am just overreacting here. Life has never been happier or simpler ;), but then a state of mind *is* a state of mind) if I would use the word "poignant" for anything, this movie is one such.

I leave the exercise of finding out more about the movie (and the book) to the reader. Too lazy now.

The Birdcage : hurrah to the pause

It was late night and the only reason I lingered on a sad fag comedy was Robin Williams.


The movie was "The Bridcage" . Where Robin plays a gay drag club owner. His son wants to marry the daughter of a senator (Gene Hackman). After the thoroughly predictable scenes and cliched chaos the lovers unite and maybe live happily ever after as well. And with Robin having done all this in Doubtfire anyways, it was just another variation in the same opening.

But one thing I noticed (maybe for the first time), was the "method" used by Robin. He is so bubbly and over the top as a comic that I never expected anything else. till now most of his roles, comedy as well as serious, I always perceived him to be eager, over the top. Even in "Good will hunting".

But I discovered something new. His non-verbal acting is tremendous. He pauses, intentionally, and reflects before belting out his one liners and these pauses are full with meaning. Now that I look back, the compassionate-understanding pause of "Good Will hunting"; the maverick-I-am-always-right pause of "Patch Adams" and the ok-I-will-play-along pause of "The Birdcage".

They are filled to the brim with meaning and the words that follow them have better impact because of them.

Really the best way to learn acting (if there is any such way as learning acting, which I really doubt), is watching the masters, knowing what they are doing, why and how.

Definite proof of aging

I just realized that over the years my favourite poem has changed, here are the two of them.
And apart from the greying temples and bulging waistline, that is a more concrete proof of aging.

Here are the two:
My current fav:

TWO roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,


And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

And my old favourite:

IF you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise:
If you can dream - and not make dreams your master;
If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with worn-out tools:

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breathe a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: 'Hold on!'

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
' Or walk with Kings - nor lose the common touch,
if neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And - which is more - you'll be a Man, my son!

:(

10% Loose Canon

Mr Zardari had caused the clock to turn full circle.

In the eighties, his wife threw her full weight behind the then nascent terrorism in Kashmir. In what could be termed as a total turn-around Zardari has named them as terrorists and not as freedom-fighters as they are called in Pakistan.

This is the most controversial action/statement in the short time he has spent as the president of Pak. And believe the list is already impressive and pretty huge.

What does it mean to India? Not much. An honest and true to is word enemy is preferable to an indecent and conniving ally. Zardari till now has only been true to his reputation. His manoeuvres to get to the president's seat have been none other than diabolical. But while doing these, he has been tactically very strong but very weak on strategy.

He is not going to last long and even if he does, is not going to cause big changes in Pakistan's policies. So just sit down with a bowl of pop corns and enjoy the show till it lasts.

Five monks of Indian Cricket

We met the Great One in 1989, when he introduced himself to us with high notes hit by bat and vocal chord. Tendulkar may have two children, but for my generation he is always favourite son. Then the rest came. In 1990, The Precise One, a scholarly warrior who unveiled his spinning craft with devotion; in 1992, The Defiant One, a steely, stylish man of amusing, aristocratic belligerence; in 1996, The Intense One, cricket's student who batted like a monk upholding a vow of discipline; and finally The Elegant One, who was a Japanese haiku master in a previous life.

And the article continues:

They were, and are, our champions, our companions, our obsessions, our sporting best days and our very worst, a part of the calendar of our lives. Remembering the last time I went home to Kolkata requires no thought: it's when VVS Laxman wrote his finest concerto. Whenever life seemed to get away from us, when the water dried in the tap on a hot day, and bosses stank, there was always them. When Tendulkar stood on tiptoe to drive, as if God had him by the collar, or Sourav Ganguly hit an off-side drive with such style he might well have been wearing a tuxedo, life somehow got better.

Some of the best lines I have read for quiet a while. Do enjoy the full article here:
http://content-ind.cricinfo.com/magazine/content/current/story/372146.html

IPL: some turds

In the good old days, the Forrest Gump saying "life is like a box of chocolates, you never know which one you are getting" could be applied to cricket. "Cricket is like a box of chocolates, you don't know which gem each game will unearth".

But during and post IPL, the line needs some major modifications. Now it looks like: "cricket is like a community toilette commode with the seat down. you never know which turd will show up when you really want to have a go."

In the one and half month long jamboree that was IPL, I used to switch channels to Set Max with almost similar dread everyday. My only limited expectation was that it should be anyways better than the Marathi soaps the female population of our household forces on me everyday. And one fact I (re)learnt is that one very easy and fool-proof way to be happy in life is to lower your expectations so that you overachieve all the time. With that fixed, I paid my daily obeisance to the megalomaniacal melee of Indian cricket administrators, cricketers, movie stars and who's who of Indian industry.

Let me confess that most of what was served exceeded expectations by a large margin. Let's talk about that, too. But later.

Of course I did not expect anything out of ordinary and got everything expected. The biffers biffed, the ballers generally prayed and hoped. Most influential were people with the state of art training and attitude also known as the Aussies. Nobody was expecting this format to be the pinnacle of strategy. But it was proved that it does not even have a place for tactics. The baller tried things and prayed; the batsman picked his fav hitting areas and hoped. The result was almost as random as a toss of a coin. We can not prove it is otherwise in one dayers or tests, too. So let's not talk about it.

Here is the list of some of the worst turds I dreaded and came across, not necessarily sorted by their sizes:

1. Commentary: A confession- I like cricket more on the television than on the grounds. You can burn me at the stake for this but that has always been the case. OK, now that this is off my chest, let me continue with the point I am trying to make. One of the reasons for this is the thoughtful analysis of the experts. For me it is one of the forth pillar of cricket along with batting,bowling and fielding. Nothing like a Ian Chappelle-Naser Hussein banter in the commentary box or a generally tongue tied Wasim suddenly waxing eloquent about left hand swing balling. Now the Indian commentators were never worshipped for nutrality but some of them (esp Gavaskar, when he is talking abt Sachin) came up with small gems here and there.

But what was on display was even worse than the cheer-leaders exposing as much as legally possible. Not only did they not have anything meaningful to say but even the semi-respected one's like Sunny also pimped my most precious part of a cricket match, i.e. the commentary with turds like "DLF maximum strike".

2. The fabulous fours: The revered ones failed in different degrees.
a. Dravid was not only an absolute and abject failure but an undignified one also. I was feeling like putting him out to sleep when he used to come up with pathetic excuses after yet another thumping defeat. Failed in team selection, failed as a batsman,failed as a captain, failed as a cricketer, failed as an ambassador of whatever is good with current versions of cricket.
b. Lakshman: Was lucky as he did not as much falter in team selection. Learnt reality fast and was the first non-playing captain of any cricket tournament soon.
c. Ganguli: Held together only cos of his tenacity and never say die attitude. Managed to have non-insignificant contributions in almost all insignificant clashes.
d. Sachin: Generally saved by the groin. This reduced his attack surface area. 10 years before he was a fidgety one day captain, incompetent test captain. He is a clueless 20-20 captain as well, after all these years.


3. Slapgate: When our new-born Indian team gave it back to the brits, the pakis and most importantly to the aussies, we applauded. But apparently there is something wrong with what we are teaching our kids. Otherwise why there is no aussie slapping/kicking another one? Still I will consider this a blessing if these two learn their lessons from this. At least this happened in this bastardized version and not in any of the "standard" matches!!!

4. Aussies: I don't know whether you noticed but once the Aussies left the tourney was running on half tank. Almost a ship without sails fully up. In fact the momentum was held together majorly by remaining Aussies themselves with some noted exception of some Indians and a couple of Paki ballers.

Hey, let's come back to this later. Russia not only is giving the dutch a tough time but generally controlling the game and they are about to head towards the shootout. Nope, as I write this they have got one across the goal line !!! Far more interesting things are afoot. I will share some more views on this for sure. But let's keep that for the laters :)

Square peg in a round hole

Have been devouring management books for quiet some time now.

Where Asimovs, Hugos and Hemingways of the world jostled for space; there now elephants are elegantly trying to dance, Mount Fujis are being moved, Jack of the Welch heritage and other management junkie clones.

And boy!! Hasn't that made a difference!!!

This square peg is definitely ready for the round hole now. Bring it on!!!

The red headed boy next door

He runs in smoothly, very loose and relaxed, he is so composed and cool that he gives an impression that he is confused.
The wiles of hiding the shine behind the other arm are not for him. His right arm shows the cherry loud and clear. It is going to be the inswinger.

The best batsman in the world is waiting for the delivery, relaxed at the crease, the bat resting lightly besides his pads like a magic wand.
Head still, thoughts focussed, like the ball which is static at the top of its flight, just holding it before he decides which way the ball
should be hit as soon as it is released.

Bowler’s red head shines in the oblique summer sun of the western hemisphere. His approach to the popping crease is also breathtakingly smooth.
He does not have those extravagant jumps before the final delivery. His left foot lands so near to the stumps that it is obvious he is going to fall into the stumps
and disturb the tranquil picture. But within a fraction of second he manages to still maintain his stance, right arm is stretched along the right leg,
left shoulder comes across, left leg lands exactly in line with the off stump and the ball is delivered almost from the top of the stumps before the
bowler glides to the left side, surprising sparing the stumps, the ump and the danger zone.

It lands half a foot away from the off stump, exactly on good length, calculated with the batsman's height and reach taken into consideration.
Any other bowler and he would be flicked through the midwicket for a single. But respect is paid where it is due. The batsman has read it beautifully even
before the ball pitches, he gets on the front foot, executing one of his compact air tight defences. Not even a daylight can pass through the front pad
and bat. But surprisingly the ball does, and takes only the one thing that was possible, top corner of the off bail.

The ball has sped just enough to beat the bat meeting the pad and has created the opening for itself.

The batsman is Sachin Tendulkar and the bowler is Shaun Pollock. One how the greatest batman should be and the others how the heirs to the cricketing dynasty
should be, but rarely are. Hardworking , affable, humble, down to earth, smiling. His uncle one of the best batsmen of his era who never played, his father one of the best
bowlers his country has ever produced. He was always expected to do more than 100% and only after that his achievements are grudgingly conceded.

Aged 13 he replaces his injured father in a state game and grabs seven wickets. But still he is the joker of the pack,
and was not even considered the best amongst his cousins. The will to improve takes him far further than his cousins. His is an exciting exhilarating story of the talent, dynasty effect of politics on cricket and the good and bad things about cricket. Life is pretty good with Hansie Cronje and his then deputy Kirsten taking care of an emerging side.
With some very good batsmen and terrific bowlers; all exceptional fielders. Hungry to perform and prove. They reach the second spot and apart from frequent choking;
are a team to match the mighty Aussies. He is very happy hunting with his favourite hunting partner Donald the snake.

But that is just a facade, something evil is simmering inside. Something so black, it will smear name of the team and the game forever. Turn away millions of believers.
There are some ripples which show the monster lurking below especially when the vice captain retired without any intimation. And one day the hell breaks loose.
From a far away country news of unearthing the grave of cricket float on the air. Jadeja, Prabhakar, Ajhar, Malik are gone; Kapil,Inzy,Waugh,Warne are doubted.
About two generations of cricketers are under the scanner. The world of cricket and especially South Afrikan cricket is in tatters. Cronje is out, gibbs-Boje are doubted.
A closely knit hard working family is hit where it hurts most. Their captain, who represented them, invigorated them and held them together has turned kaput.
He who created ambition out of the glory and will to improve and fight back through their defeats has let them down.

And the mantle of captaincy falls on his unassuming shoulders and world is fun no more. The heir of the dynasties rises up to the challenge. The fun of playing has
somehow not gone out still. And along with the flair of the Tendulkars and Laras, the steadfast tenacity of Waughs and Ranatungas, the simplicity of the Pollocks
of the world is something that provided straws to clutch for the believers.

Still he was straight enough to dedicate the West Indies whitewash to his tainted captain, Cronje. He hoenstly believed he owed the improvements in the team
to the foundations laid by Cronje and he acknowledged it.

He partnered with Ntini as well as he did with Donald. Always keeping it tight and setting it up the other bowlers to get the glory. Use the long handle pretty effectively
and quiet frequently, good enough to be called a bowling all rounder. As a senior statesman of the team, always supported upcoming bowlers and
Now that this simple, straight talking guy is retiring, the world of cricket is definitely poorer and less simple by his absence.