Winter of Cricket Madness

Anybody who has been following the Indian tour of Aussies, must be wide eyed. Wow! What a series!

Shed your sensitivities and how Indians have been offended - this has been a perfect series. Its got drama, emotions, fast bowlers back in fashion, low score, villainous umpires, Goliath vs. Goliath, great upset. Why the hell are we complaining about it?

There have been suggestions by BCCI to put a ban on sledging but seriously what good would that do? It would just end up making a dour sport duller. Atleast, India’s tour of Australia proves, that cricket can be maddening fun and even a hardboiled player can be such a bitch.

Its great to see Indians competing against Australians in Australia and not holding anything back. However, its easy to see that the young team is getting carried away and almost being brash in their field antics. At the other end, Australian players are playing experienced and its easy to see how they are leading Indians to get charged up and make mistakes. Some clear examples:

• Ponting slipping in a couple of words to Harbhajan as he returns to pavilion
• Symonds mouthing off as he gets out. (And with all that animated gesture shown clearly on the video, he wants us to believe all he said was “Good ball”). C’mon
• Hayden’s recent “Obnoxious weed” comment.

All were meant to unsettle the opposition and all were successful in doing so without getting Aussies into problem (except Hayden). As Dhoni said the other day, sledging is an art (mastered by Aussies). It has to be perfected, to give as much back without getting charged.

I love the way Aussies play - hard, aggressive even though a tad unfair. They go about things believing in their ability and desire to win. But I will give it to the Indian players that they have proved to be a worthy foe and not just rolled over.

If I was to pick one player to come out worst of this series, it would undoubtedly be Ponting. He has been acting like a schizophrenic all the time. One moment he talks about hard and fair play, next moment he is all worked up when somebody says his appeal for a catch was unfair (based on video evidence). One moment he gives suggestions to umpire about a decision and next moment he grins a devious smile when interviewed about gentleman’s catching agreement. One moment he gives it as bad as he can to the opposition but the next moment he is next to umpire when he gets some. I was a fan of Ponting, when all he knew was how to put the opposition to the mat. He now acts like a wussy. What a stark change!

However, the biggest issue of this mid-winter madness is the marked animosity between the citizens of two countries. Australians think Indians are louts and degenerates, and Indians call Aussies crooks and whiners. And this feeling is spreading like fire, more so over the web. There are millions and millions of forums doing nothing but abusing each others country and countrymen. Articles and blog sites having a field day with all the bi-polar comments that are flying around. Surely the matter of winning a game or a series can not be as important that you come to a point where both the country sees each other but objects deserving vilification. Players have done nothing to help and boards of both the countries lesser so.

I would say we are being treated to best cricket on display with a very heady mix of a great cricketing rivalry. Lets just keep our sensitivities aside and stop labeling Australians for what their players are doing on the field. Lets just support our own team and let Aussies take care of their own bunch. Finally, lets enjoy the Cricket!

Technorati Tags: Cricket,India,Australia,BCCI,CA,Ponting,Dhoni,CB Series

Calvin and Hobbes: The Anatomically correct Snowman

Hyper-imaginative Calvin at it all over again. Easily my favourite Calvin and Hobbes comic strip! Click on the image to view the complete strip.

Bill Watterson is a GOD!

Writer’s block at work

[*Mulling over a topic to write upon.*]

Pondering over the past few weeks. Things have been unusually busy. Topic… Topic… Topic…

Charlie came visiting last week. Was great catching up with a person who I have been talking to over messenger, skype and phone over the last two years. Great person! Even accompanied our team to watch our Inter company Cricket matches. Hmm, that reminds me we lost both our matches and were out of tournament in 3 days time. Have to work on our cricket team.

Visit to botanical garden (with Charlie and Jonas) was amazing. Did learn a lot about birds and insects. Could make for a great blog topic (and would give me a chance to show off my recently acquired knowledge).

Hmm… that’s it!

Take 1: “My experiments with Nature”.

[*Thinking of the story line*]

Let me think… I set alarm to wake me up at 8:00 am (tough life). Bird watchers and insect gazers are habitual early risers or so I am told. I remember getting up kicking myself at light filtering in through the flowing curtains, deadly sure that I was late again. For first time I was pleased to find I was wrong - the timepiece had 7:33 am on its face!

[*Thinking....*]

[*Still thinking...*]

[*Suddenly becomes aware of that vacuum in his mind and his fingers over the keyboard that have now been stalled for almost half an hour*]

This topic obviously isn’t working right now.

[*Realises he is not in a mood to write a travelogue right now.*]

hah! Let me write a sarcastic post on Ricky Ponting and his big mouth. The buffoon’s statements over the last year would give me enough spicy material to write a two pager.

Take 2: “Captain Hillarious”

That was a smart choice of topic and a great name for the post. That was a smart play on the words “Captain Courageous” that are associated to Ponting.

[*thinks to himself - "Well done m'boy"*]

Hey what about “A little less Po-i-nting”? Hmm.. I think I would go with “A little less Po-i-nting”. That ain’t so bad afterall.

Take 3: “A little less Po-i-nting”

[*Thinking of how to start the piece*]

Let me give an analogy of a kid seeing a candyman. That would be interesting. Hmm.. but how do I develop it further? What about start with a funny quote on big mouth gorillas or hypocrites or double standards. Nothing better than a funny Twainesque or a smart Churchillish quote at the beginning of the post, gets the readers going all the time!

[*Thinking of a quote...*]

[*Googling now...*]

[* Getting frustrated...*]

This is a bad day to be writing blogs.

Footnote: All you writers who ever had a writer’s block - I feel for you.

[*Decides to leave blog post to another day and retires to give his brain some rest*]

Kahani kis ghar ki?

P.S. - The views expressed on this post are those of the author (whose senses have been randomly assaulted by the slew of Ekta Kapoor serials) and do reflect his views on this deeply personal topic.

 

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This post is dedicated to the drama queen of Indian Television industry (Ekkta Kkapoor) and all the belan-waali behenjis.At the outset let me make it clear I absolutely have no interest in the serials made by Ekkta Kkapoor except for finding material to write this post and also that I do not hate EK, its just that there have been numerous occasions when I have been forced to watch her serials even when all important matches are running on the other channel. In otherwords, I want my revenge. Comic shows, Infotainment, News and Sports Channel dominate my spent time of glaring towards the idiot box. For me - Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu thee, Kahani Ghar Ghar Ki, Kkarishma, etc. are only those fuzzy images that pass by when I am at work with the remote (unless faced by an EK serial fanatic).
I can never understand that statement where they say “An Indian woman can relate to characters of Ekkta Kkapoor’s serial”.First of all how do Indian woman relate to Ekkta Kkapoor’s characters? As far as I can think of - to relate to Tulsi Ben, you have to qualify on the following prerequisites.

1. You have to wear heavy Kanjivaram sarees (as if I know the difference) at all times.
2. You should be staying in a joint family, which, by sheer weight of numbers, could easily create a football team and a cricket team, with complete support staff for medicals, physiotherapy, coaches, referees and bench.
3. You should fancy cooking meals for such an eclectic mix of people.
4. You should have (or often come across someone having) an illegitimate offspring.
5. You should have (or often come across someone having) an adulterous spouse?
6. When you do decide to sleep, you should do so with all the jewellery that could ever fit in a bank vault.
7. The people around you should have a morbid habit of dying prematurely.
8. You should live in the plush confines that are shared by Veerani parivar.
9. Now to THE MOST important prerequisite. Your husband should be phoenix reincarnated. By which I mean your husband should die and be cremated, and then should be able to rise from the ashes to return after 42 episodes of weeping.

If you do fit all of the above criteria, go ahead and sue Balaji Films, because the resemblance to yourself can not be coincidental or unintentional. Ekkta Kkapoor has been stalking you.

Also have you ever wondered:

• How do the ladies of the house in EK serials find time to do anything after cooking 20 odd dishes for 100 odd people every meal?
• How come no one ever says:
  “Aate hue Baa ki dawaai lete aanaa. Aur haan saath mein saabun bhi leke aanaa, ghar mein saare saabun khatam ho gaye hain”?
  (Well that can be explained they have naukars). But why do we never see Tulsi Ben giving naukar any list of items?
• Linked to the above point - why don’t we see any servants/maids except for dandiya night preparation? Where art thou Ramu kaka?
• Why do Vamps wear bindis that look like tattoos related to some ancient voodoo art?
• Finally, why do they show recaps before every episode when actually whole of the last episode was spent showing close up of Tulsi Ben weeping with assortment of people along with a funereal music playing in the background?

As an ancillary observation, I was shocked to find the ladies from my earlier organization spending the first half of a working day discussing the happenings of the serial. In that sense I do give it to Ekkta Kkapoor for bringing the womenfolk together as one. Truly Inspirational!

Hyderabad flyover collapses.

September 9th - 9:03 PM.

Its finally stopped raining after almost 2 hours. The lights have just come back, the cable is still down, only just connected to internet. Went out to grab some groceries, when my HR guy calls me and tells me that a part of the Panjagutta flyover (an in progress project, to link Begumpet and Jubilee Hills) had collapsed, killing at least 15 people. Unacceptable but again the life will move on without anybody being held responsible for such a tragedy.

The ambitious flyover is an 11 km project and had now been under construction for almost an year. The project had not even been completed yet. Seemingly weak stilts & heavy rainfall were the reasons for the collapse.

When recently a bridge collapsed in US on August 2nd, killing 7 people it became a national tragedy. I hope again we do not continue our knee jerk reaction and forget about this incident before finding out the exactly what & who were responsible for this glaring failure.

Most of our guys have checked in to say they are all fine, which is a relief.

Tragedy comes in twos - first the twin blasts in Hyderabad, where one of the blast sites was about 4-5 KMs from our apartments and now flyover collapse a section of which is barely about 700 meters from our apartments.

Godspeed Hyderabadis!

And we want ANSWERS.

***Update September 10th - 01:10 AM***

The cable is still down most probably because my cable provider’s office is in Panjagutta and some lines may have been effected due to the collapse, thats the only explainable reason. However, was able to see the story on IBN Live. The death toll mounts to 30. This is really turning out to be worse than I had expected. Trying to catch news on NDTV 24×7 but there is a big discussion going on over being overweight.

***Updates 11:25 AM***

The death toll has been lowered to two now, three by some accounts.

***Updates 03:40 PM***

Andhra Pradesh Government has filed a case against the Gammon Constructions India and suspended 3 government officials. It has setup an inquiry which has been asked to submit a report in 3 days. They have been quick to act against the private company and the administrative, what they have not addressed up to now is what of the gross administrative neglect and failure of its ranks and files. Would we see a politician taking blame? I think not! In India, the polity is virtually never wrong, its only failure all around them.

The casualty reports are now at 4 dead and 10 injured. Government has announced a 5 Lac compensation for those dead and 20 K for the injured.