39...

Rahul Dravid turned 39 today. He is a beleaguered batsman of a beleaguered unit. He was the first person to the nets today. About 15 minutes into his throw downs, with no other Indian players around the practice pitches, Dravid was approached by the media manager and asked to address a press conference.

What you see in italics above is an excerpt from today's cricinfo article written by Sid Monga. Just for the record, he happens to be my favourite author on cricinfo; just for the amount of poetry that goes into every Dravid article he writes.

Back in 1996, at the "Home of Cricket", two young gentlemen made their debut for India. One man batted at no.3 and made 131; another batted at no.7 and made 95. The two debutantes shared a partnership of 94 runs. My eldest cousin sister was getting married that day; the marriage hall had a TV in one of the rooms in the upper floors; something about him, kept me glued to the TV set. I was 12, cricket was just another sport back then; but still he made me watch; like the rest of the World; I paid no heed to the man at the other end!

And from that day on, whenever Rahul Dravid did something extraordinary; which was most of the time, the spotlight always shone on someone else. How and when Dada overtook Sachin as my favourite player; how and when Dravid overtook Dada as my favourite player, I will never know.

It was the '99 World Cup, when I challenged my Uncle without knowing what I was getting into; that Dravid would be the best performer. He commented saying Dravid was only good for eating Jam, that was the time when he featured in the Kissan Jam advertisements :). I am unsure if that comment triggered the affection, or the challenge, or the overwhelming joy that he fulfilled my challenge!

To this day; Rahul Dravid is the only cricketer for whom I have had an overwhelming affection. I had; and still have a passion for Dada; he is the best thing to have happened to Indian Cricket ever! Sachin; if you are born in India and if you like cricket and if you don't like him, you are insane. There are a lot who claim him to be selfish, useless, scores in lost causes only; yes, they are all insane!

Rahul Dravid, is a fighter. Each and every century he has scored can be used as a lesson for life. The fluency in some of those knocks; the support provided to a flourishing batsman; the struggle he undergoes in constructing some of those innings. There is a lesson to be learnt in every knock.

At 38; 2011 has been the best year for him. It all started with that dogged century he made in a winning cause at Jamaica. Then came a tour that the country will want to forget. I would have enjoyed the tour if I was ONLY a Dravid fan. Like him, I happen to love the team too, all his spectacular contributions were eclipsed. When usually his contributions are eclipsed by a bigger contribution from someone else, this time it was eclipsed by embarrassing losses.

Nonetheless; at 39; when someone has nothing left to prove to anyone, he still turns up first to practice, when he still wants to learn and correct his mistakes; how can anyone not like him!

Signing off with all the hope for one more special Dravid innings. For the sake of the team. For the sake of the fan. For the sake of the game...

India.. Down and Under?

Yes.

It’s over. Look at them on the field. Look at the body language. Look at the lack of confidence. Look at those field settings. Look at the captain. Does it remind you of something that happened in Jul-Sep  2011? It should.

I, personally am already waiting for the ‘no away test for two years’ season to begin. We can all happily watch the “young guns” being ‘glorified’ on the flat tracks at home! They will score close to 3000 runs in the next two years and go for an away test as heroes and return with nothing to show. Another spectacular home series will wipe the bitter memories away!

This is not the side that pounces and catches the opponent off guard. This is not the side that crouches before pouncing. That side had an enigmatic leader who never let shoulders droop. All you Ganguly haters, it’s there for you to see in plain sight. Look what the side was before him, look what it was when he was the skipper, and look what it is after him! Hate Ganguly, but respect him for what he has done! It’s not his fault we are not able to carry on after his time.

Whatever happens in this test match / series; day 1 of SCG will not be forgotten.

India.. Down and Under? Not Quite.. Not Yet.. (We Hope..)

First of all, apologies for the long and sucky title. Not that I always come up with some catchy and innovative titles; but today, definitely not.
What happened today at the MCG was quite stinging. So stinging to the point of getting me to blog about it!
Something like this was bound to happen at some point in the match and even though I was totally ready for it; I couldn’t really accept what I was seeing. Look at the scoreboard; Australia won by 122 runs. ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY TWO! That’s a huge margin; but wait, India were not THAT bad in this match. Which is where the problem for your average Indian cricket fan starts. If this had happened on the boxing day test of 1999; all our heads would have been high; “we gave them a fight” “we looked into their eye” “we fought our way”.
(Un)fortunately, an Australian tour in 2003 changed all that. A bunch of boys went under the captaincy of an enigmatic leader and silenced the cricketing world. A drawn series against the indomitable Aussies. This changed the average Indian fan’s expectations dynamically. It changed so much that a 1-2 loss in 2007-08 was a disappointment, but it was taken because of the SCG fiasco.
Why did the average Indian fan expect India to win in Australia after the series I want to forget about?
1. (s)he is crazy like that
2. India had some nice bowling talent coming into the frame with Zaheer Khan fast emerging as one of the best in the world.
3. Formidable batting unit
4. Inexperienced Aussie bowling
5. Waning Aussie batting
To be entirely honest, when Clarke won the toss and failed to put India in; I was sure this was either an Indian victory or a draw. I was sure this was the time to shed the “poor starters” tag. Lo and behold; we get a perfect test match for 3 days. No clear winner in sight. One team goes on top; the opponent then pulls the rug violently from under their feet and goes on top.. and this goes on… A great advertisement for test cricket for 3 beautiful days. And then the rug is pulled from under the feet of the average Indian cricket fan; what a fall! One session was all that was needed to let go of all the hard work; to give up all the fight. I will never understand them!
I am not going to go into the details of when happened what, where the match turned or anything of that sort. This is a rant; not a report.
In order to not sound entirely negative, there were a few positives to take in:
1. SRT was at his fluent best in both innings; augers well for the series.
2. Zaheer Khan in menacing form; looks a lot fitter.. Lean and mean if you want it to sound cool.
3. Ishanth Sharma: pacy and fluent.
4. Umesh Yadav: easily the find of the series; raw pace and good lines.
Negatives, apart from the usual I mean:
1. Rahul Dravid’s laboured 68 was not a good sight at all. Add to that a dropped sitter, you start fretting about the best ever hope you have.
2. Laxman needs to find his feet real quick, though he has never been good at the MCG; his away form is starting to creep in some concerns
3. Gambhir; may start feeling the heat if he does not contribute at SCG.
With talks of Harris making a comeback at SCG; it’s a big blow even before India travel to Sydney! There was so much hype about Shaun Tait before the 2008 Perth test; but he got hammered to all parts of the WACA; is this the same India though?
Despite the setback; the average Indian fan continues to hope. Because (s)he is crazy like that!

The Sachin Tendulkar of the Indian Bowling

It is no secret that the Indian bowling has never looked to threaten any batting line-up in the world at any point of time in their vivid history. Having said this, the Indian bowling ranks have consistently had one bowler who has distinctly stood out and performed brilliantly putting aside the fact that he can by no means depend on the rest of the bowling unit.

The latest on this long list of consistent and outstanding performers on this list is, I am sure you guessed it right; Zaheer Khan!

One is reminded of a rash 25 year old that ran in to bowl to a strong Australian batting line-up in a World Cup final. Zaheer Khan is now a very different bowler and person; he has indeed matured and come a very long way. The Zaheer of today has an excellent control, restraint and has the wonderful knack getting what he wants from the delivery he bowls.

The wide spectrum of frustrated Indian fans who have complained about the pathetic state of the Indian bowling contingent will be surprised to learn the fact that Zaheer Khan currently has the second leading wicket taker behind Shahid Afridi. This, amidst the pressure of having the most incompetent and non-cooperative bowling partners he has to share the ball with. One has to say, Zaheer has shouldered responsibility quite brilliantly.

This World Cup has seen Zaheer come to the rescue over and over again. The first over of most of his second spells with the old ball have been nothing short of phenomenal and have been largely responsible for turning the games in India’s favour.

There are loads of spectacular bowlers out there; Dale Steyn, Morne Morkel, Umar Gul, Shoaib Akhtar, Brett Lee, Mitchell Johnson, Shaun Tait, Lasith Malinga, Kemar Roach, James Anderson, Stuart Broad to name a few; but they all have an undue advantage over Zaheer Khan, they have other competent bowlers to share the burden of responsibility; but what has Zaheer Khan got? – Munaf Patel, Aashish Nehra, Santhakumaran Sreesanth! The only other player who Zaheer can rely on to an extent (as long as the ball is new and shiny) is Praveen Kumar who unfortunately is not playing in this World Cup.

This Zaheer Khan is a person who shoulders responsibility knowing fully well only he can deliver and fish his team out of troubled waters, which made him utter these words; maybe they just slipped, or it came out of pure frustration of lack of support after the match against West Indies: “As a bowling unit, I am doing well”.

This post comes with me fully knowing there maybe a chance some people may be reading this after Zaheer Khan takes a pasting against Australia; but I trust the Sachin Tendulkar of the Indian bowling to not do that!

India vs England

I am all pumped up and excited about this and hope it really lives up to all the expectations and build-up. A cake-walk for India would most definitely not disappoint me, a thrilling win for India would make me very happy; a thrilling win for England would disappoint me and a cake-walk for England would definitely sap out the renewed interest I have found,
What I aim to be doing just about 12  hrs before the start of this cracker of a contest is; a man-to-man comparison. This is of course, assuming India and England play unchanged sides from their respective first games. I also don't see a reason as to why they would want to change the squad (except maybe, Sree)
Ok.. Here goes...

Openers:
Sehwag vs Strauss - Strauss is a good One Day player, Sehwag is a devastating one day player. 'nuff said!

Tendulkar vs Pieterson - Pieterson is a great One Day Player, Tendulkar is God.

Gambhir vs Trott - This is a tough one.. Excellent players... In prime form, very good temperaments.. great application and excellent level of determination.

Kohli vs Bell - Kohli is in a purple patch, Bell is good, but going by current form, Kohli has an edge.

Yuvraj Singh vs Collingwood - Again, a tie.. Both the all-rounders are doing alright with the ball, but with the bat, both are in the middle of a very lean patch; but on his day, Yuvraj Singh can be a bigger threat than Sehwag, a slight edge to Yuvraj Singh.

Dhoni vs Prior - Dhoni wins; a better batsman, but when it comes to keeping wickets; Prior, probably slightly better

Yusuf Pathan vs Bopara - Yusuf Pathan wins hands down.. He has overcome his short ball woes and he can plunder the opponent and run over them in a small matter of two overs.

Harbhajan Singh vs Swann - Harbhajan Singh is probably the better choice here, he is slowly regaining his form and also the better bowler in home conditions and also a bit handy with the bat.

Zaheer Khan vs Broad - Zaheer Khan is definitely the better bowler; Broad is a handy batsman and can hit a few blows down the order.

Sreesanth vs Bresnan - Well, Bresnan is a good bowler and handy batsman too; not counting out Sreesanth though, when he turns up, he really does turn up

Munaf Patel vs Anderson - Munaf has all the luck in the world, but Anderson is the pick in this head-to-head.

Overall, on paper, India look like they can push over England easily. Lots of odds stacked against the Englishmen. But! You never know, an early wicket, a stupid run out, a needless wild swing outside the off stump is all it takes for a strong batting side to collapse!

Here is hoping!

Lesson Learnt

In the past 4 days life has taught me more lessons than it did in the 26 years and 30 days prior to that.

To be quite honest with myself, the losses I have suffered personally have been quite minimal I have been quite lucky in that regard. I lost my paternal grandma when I was 12; I did cry; it was an age where I knew what death meant, an age where I realized it meant I would never be able to see her again; I did realize I will not have her support when my father scolded me anymore; I did realize I cant eat her tasty home-made jam and home-made samosas; I did realize I can never sit on or sleep on her lap again; I cried, along with my sister who was 9; but my brother was just 6; he cried, because we were crying and all 3 of us were ok the next day.

I did not experience any personal losses for the next 12 years! My paternal grandfather died in September 2008. He was a very special person in my life; I was the first person to call him “thatha” and the mutual love was very high. I was 24 and I not only cried, but also sorely missed him and mourned for several days. I still miss him; but then, his death was not a surprise; he was 82, and he was deteriorating since 80, bad memory; there was once a time when he thought I was his son! I couldn’t really bear to see his suffering and a part of me was thankful that at least his suffering ended in a way. But; I missed him very badly and regretted that there was so much I could have done for him.

Two years later came the biggest shock and the worst tragedy to strike me ever. I am not sure how I can get out of this; not sure whether I would at all. Oct 3^rd 2010. This date would remain etched in my memory forever. It was back in April 2010 that I last saw my chithapa’s (I always called him cheenappa) smiling, handsome face; my chitthi’s beautiful face and my sister’s bubbly, bold, cute smile. Nobody except my mom knew how close my cheenappa was to me; I did not express to anyone else what he meant to me. He knew me before he knew his wife or kids. He loved me as a kid; and I loved him as a father. My dad is an angry person; my cheenappa’s temper was shorter; but it was extremely short-lived too. His temper and tantrums would disappear in a matter of 5 minutes and he would be a totally different person. He also possessed this rare ability of showing the anger only towards the intended person. I only too well remember the time when he was simultaneously blasting his son off to Pluto whilst engaged in a pleasant conversation with me sitting by his side. I was always special to him. All my numerous trips to Coimbatore and Salem had been extremely pampered with almost everything that I wanted. We always went to places I wanted to go to; ate at places I wanted to eat at; and dinner was mostly what I wanted.

He was highly respected by his colleagues; something that I understood later in life. He could get anything done at a short notice. He was a very practical person. I always forgot to wish him on his birthday; but he never forgot mine; not one birthday has gone by without him wishing me.

He allowed his kids to do anything they wanted; he was strict with them till he was sure they wouldn’t take the wrong route and then gave them their space and allowed them to do whatever they wanted. They never strayed; my brother and sister.

My cheenappa and chitthi had their last kid in September 1997; she soon grew into a courageous, bold, charming girl who never thought twice before speaking to a total stranger; she had no fear whatsoever. When cheenappa was transferred to Chennai once again in 2002, my bonding with this last daughter, Gayathri (called Pattu by everyone I knew till she drew her last breath) grew by leaps and bounds. We grew so attached to each other and became inseparable. In 2007, he was transferred to Salem. How much Pattu cried, came over, and hugged everybody with every bit of affection her little body allowed her to shower, cried with every little drop of tear her tiny eyes allowed her to shed. I was sleeping when she came over to hug me; her eldest brother; and I hugged her back; lazily! Pattu, if you are reading this; I swear I love you more than that hug conveyed. It hurts to think I can’t hug you again di. All her photos are a testimonial to the charm she carried. I wanted to snap her in her many innovative ways of posing with my DSLR; ironically she decided to go away the next day I got it.

Cheenappa got a transfer to a place called Purnea in Bihar in 2010. He did not want to go. None of us wanted him to go. He wanted to quit the job. If only he had. Cheenappa. Chitthi and Pattu went to Darjeeling; enjoyed their trip, went by train and God knows why; returned by car. The car fell into a gorge, apparently 500 feet; all occupants, including the driver died on the spot. Cheenappa – 50 years old; Chitthi – 43 years old and Pattu 13 years old.

I have hugged, kissed, carried, fed Pattu so many times. She has never slept on my lap; she has not even slept hugging me. I have never lied down on Cheenappa’s or Chitthi’s lap. I have never told them how much I love them. I have never thanked them for the so many zillion things they have done for me. I have never repaid them for all the love and affection they have showered on me. I have not even hugged Cheenappa or Chitthi. I just have waved a casual bye thinking I would be seeing them sooner or later. It was the same casual goodbye that I waved without any real thought or sincerity going into it in April 2010. That was the last time I saw those eyes look into my eyes. Come what may; I can’t look into those warm and pleasant eyes anymore.

I have learnt a lesson. I have seen so many movies talk about expressing love; so many messages about expressing love. I have never paid any attention to those; never taken them seriously; but now I know what they all meant; what those people meant. Do Cheenappa, Chitthi and Pattu really know how much I loved them? I will never know…

Rain Gods and Midnight Hunger

17th of August 2010 went on as normal and as monotonous as any other day at office; me droning on about viruses and worms and trojans and other unpleasant stuff that could happen to your computer (just part of my job, am not really a pessimist) and how you could protect yourself against other people from hacking into your computer or prevent your computer from becoming a generous give-awayer (I know that's not a word, thanks) of worms; and as always, 28 faces looking back at me with a longing as to when I would utter the three magic words "Take a Break". When I had finally decided I had doled out enough 'gyan' for the day, I realised that how much ever my brain tried to remind, my stomach did not seem to remember the 3 rotis, a mango ice-cream and a cup of buttermilk I had eaten in record time (because I was hungry). A normal person with normal friends who are hungry at the same time would just walk to the cafetria and hog together. Though I would never lay claim to being a normal person, I can swear on God that not all my friends are normal by any stretch of imagination. The friend who was as hungry as I was, never gets any ideas that you could call normal.

Who would suggest going to from Velachery to Egmore at 1 in the night to eat when you are ravenous? At this point of time, my manager was done with his work too and was getting ready to go home and had given his bike away and wanted a lift. He had this idea of the three of us going in the bike, drop him off an the two of us carry on. Even though his house was just a couple of kilometres away, people who have seen me would understand why exactly this is difficult in practice.

So, we did it, triples, on an apache, riding in the narrowest lane I have ever set my eyes on. Since this friend and I, happen to be the luckiest people on the planet, (if this was a voice blog, you would have caught the sarcastic tone, since its not, I have to mention it) it started to drizzle. We drop off my manager and come to the main road, the heavens opened up; I like rain, I love getting drenched; but I like it when I am walking; its not very enjoyable when you are travelling on the bike. This was a wild pour, so we decided to shelter; when in the shelter, we found out that we were as wet as wet can be, but still waited for it to ease up a bit, and three minutes or so later, it did. So, we started again, travelled about 5 seconds when it started pouring heavier than it ever did. We were now wetter than wet can be, decided against shelter and moved on. Lady Luck decided to be extra nice with us today; while I was busy appreciating the wonderful art forms being created on my trousers by the rain, the bike started wobbling a bit while riding down one of the gazillion fly overs; we were rewarded with a flat. We got down, pushed the bike a bit and to our surprise and amazement, something did go against our rotten luck; there was a petrol bunk just 10 feet away from where we realised we had a flat. I did forget to mention that my friend had, by this time decided to go to his house in Ramapuram first, take his car and proceed to egmore. (yes, we were quite determined on getting there even after all this) So, we filled in air in the flat tyre, he thought it would be enough to take us home. You guessed it, it wasn't.We had to walk a couple of kilometres, pushing the bike, though a graveyard at 12:30 in the night. To add to the spookiness, an old man was walking behind us for atleast 800 metres, he looked old enough to belong to the place we were walking through, so naturally, we were petrified till he entered a house after crossing the graveyard.

The unpleasant, though adventurous experience ends here. Reached his house, started the car at around 1 AM, went to egmore not knowing which was the best route. I am sure somewhere I mentioned we were very well favoured by luck, so we were also quite unsure of whether the restaurant which normally functioned till 2 AM would be open today. But yes, after giving us the flat tyre and after we had courageously walked through a graveyard at midnight and came out of it alive, luck pitied us and we heaved a heavy, audible sigh of relief when the guard at the gate of Mathsya opened the door with a salute.

So, for people who did not know, Mathsya in egmore is open and allows people to enter till 2 in the morning and don't deny ANYTHING you ask for. (anything thats there on the menu card) The ambience was fantastic; I would say the food was terrific too, but I was not in the right mind to judge as I was ravenous and even raw green vegetables would have tasted as divine as my mom's Pori Saathumadhu or Bisi Bela Baath.

Aahh yes, here is the route that we took that eventful night.