OLD IS GOOD!!!

Was seeing one of my favorite movies "Chhoti Si Baat" a few days earlier... There are more than one reasons why this movie is one of my favorites... Firstly, this was the first movie which my parents saw together... Sweet story... Nice acting by Amol Palekar, Vidya Sinha, Ashok Kumar and Asrani... Melodious songs...

But this blog is not about the movie... This movie is about one thing which i noticed in this movie... Some supporting characters were glued to the radio listening to the live cricket commentary... they were continuously hooked to the small machine as if nothing else mattered... It left me wondering for a moment, before I concentrated back on the movie... But those thoughts came back to me today again...

My old cricket club's website mentioned that live commentary for the cricket match between England and India at Lord's is available now on BBC website... I had not heard any live commentary for years now... But I had a few minutes off during lunch and thought of giving it a shot...

I grabbed a headset and started listening to the live commentary on the website... What followed in the next 10-15 minutes was simply mesmerizing...

Gavaskar and Christopher Martins-Jenkins were on the microphone... Ganguly and Jaffer were on the crease (alas!!! sachin was back in the tent sipping tea) and Panesar and Ryan Sidebottom were bowling...

Whenever I closed my eyes and concentrated on the words flowing in the broadcast -- I could really visualize the possible plays at Lord's... Sentences like ---

"Glorious Silken Front Foot Drive from Ganguly"...
"Long shadows from the gallery now cast on the green lawn of Lord's"...
"Sun coming brightly on the ground now"...
"Elegant Back Foot Stroke from Jaffer"...
"Nice smooth action from Sidebottom"...
"Game is nicely poised at the moment"...
"Pitched on middle and leg, straightened a bit and beats Jaffer's stoic defence"...
"Jaffer arches his back and lets the cherry pass and stands tall again"...
"ooh!!! that's the perfume ball again"...
"Cracking shot that one!!! The willow gets even with the cherry"...

Sentences like these bring back the old romance of Test Cricket... It enhances one's imagination and visualization skills and sends one back to the era when cricket was more of a game than a media commodity...

I really enjoyed those 10 minutes and felt pretty fresh... and then the messenger window popped up... it said "Hey... could u look into test case #10 quickly... its kind of urgent"...

I was back to my bread and butter work, with a sweet after taste of the cherry and willow... You guys should try it too...
AND AGAIN !!!

The cricket season continues...

On 07/01 -- we were playing against another local team... this team too shares our home ground and is doing pretty good this year... they are in the top 10 teams in the region this year... Again, one of their players had played earlier for us and we knew each other's game pretty well... It was just a matter of playing well on the day...

Well!!! it was a similar situation a few days earlier and we did play very well that day... but this day, we let the game slip... we had them in a precarious position after a good bowling start... then, fatigue took over and we just let them take over things...

While batting, the target was not impossible but we didnt show enough character to make the "not-so-impossible" possible... I feel bad abt it... Just one fella stood there to fight it out... I admire him for the character he showed out there... its not easy...

So, again -- we were at the crossroads... whether to perform or perish... whether to be proud of our game or to be ashamed of the performance on that day... whether to qualify for the playoffs or whether to wait for the next yr...

Luckily, we took the correct turn... Last saturday, we were playing against another team which was performing pretty decently this season... I decided to opt out at the last moment due to some reason... it did'nt go well with the skippy and he made sure to give me an earful...

The team drove more than 100 miles and reached the venue to find a beautiful scenic ground waiting for them... it was one of the best grounds in the area...

we won the toss and elected to bat... openers gave a decent start... one of our players who has been on the wrong side of lady luck this yr had his share of luck today... they dropped 3-4 catches and he went on to make 94 and got out in the last over... other supported him very well... we hit 102 in the last 10 overs... and made our highest score of the season...

they started well chasing but eventually, good fielding, good catching and accurate bowling... and the wheels came off... they tried a couple of comebacks, but eventually, we held our fort and we won comfortably by 63 runs...

good times are back... we have 3 more games in the league phase and we are pretty certain to make it to the playoffs... that said, we have to win atleast 2 of the last 3 games to make it to the playoffs comfortably... if we lose 2 of the 3, then we may be in a difficult position and run rates (etc) may come into play...

next game is on 28th of this month and its against (yes!!!) another local team... we do share some bitter bits of history with this team and its more of pride than points which are at stake here...

Readers, wish us luck!!!
THE NEXT PRESIDENT...

Nowadays election and selection, both are pretty controversial... Every cricket playing nation is displaying its own gimmicks in selection of their coach... So, the politicians are playing ball and doing their own bit to make a mess of the Presidential Election...

As an average Indian, I feel very bad when I see someone of the stature of Pres. Kalam being insulted by petty politicians just for their selfish vested interests... the funny part is, the post of the President is supposedly apolitical… it does not really have any active powers and his role comes into play only when the powerful politicians are helpless in terms of numbers…

Here are some of the comic reasons given by some political parties for not supporting Mr. Kalam's candidacy…

1 - He is not a politician… He is a scientist -- so what? Atleast he has done India proud in more than one way… There are no scams, scandals and criminal cases against his name...

2 - He has had 1 term and no one shud have more than 1 terms… Where were these so-called Communists when Jyoti Basu was ruling over West Bengal for more than 25 years… Where were these Congressmen when Nehru and Indira Gandhi became prime-ministers for more than 10 years? What abt the Karunanidhis and Jayalalithas, who never keep on sitting on the Chief Minister's chair forever?

3 - And the funniest reason of all -- He shud respect the Constitution… Ha!!! Respect? How shud he respect? By indulging in scams and scandals? Or by initiating sectarian violence?

I felt good that Mr. Kalam decided to pull out this shambolic farce… Atleast he maintained his dignity… Most of the polls and opinion surveys have declared Mr. Kalam as a runaway winner… He has clocked atleast 80% votes in most of the polls…

There was a chat on rediff some days back in which a communist leader (Neelotpal Basu) was answering questions posed by the general public… this was one of the most brutal chats I have ever seen… the questions and the accusations made by everyone on the Left Front parties were a clear indication of Dr. Kalam's popularity and the sheer disgust for the Communist parties in the minds of the common citizen…

Another thing which really hurts is, the alternatives to Dr. Kalam are not even comparable to him… They are in the race simply because they are ready to be puppets in the hands of the string holders of Delhi… these ppl have got nominations because their politicial career is finished and they are here in the race because of gender or caste or religion or regionalistic views…

Today, most of the post holders, be it a Prime Minister or a Chief Minister or a President or a Governer, even a Mayor for that matter, are chosen because of caste, religion, language, race or gender and not because of qualification(s)… even sports teams are selected based on regional quota instead of performance…

I just dread the time when kids will ask their parents why were they not born in the reserved category or in a particular region or with a particular mother-tongue instead of being born intelligent and healthy…

Amen!!!
ONE YEAR SINCE !!!

Today, it will be one year since that horrific day... May the souls of the unfortunate ones, who passed away that day, rest in peace... May God give their surviving families lot of strength to go through this ordeal... May the injured recover soon and get on with their lives...

Amen!!!