Thank You Sachin!

I was one of the many millions who hung a cricket ball from a sock and practiced my straight drives the way I saw him do it. Was glued to the television set for endless hours and patiently watched that flawless cover drive and once in a while a cheeky lofted shot where the ball sped past the bowler to the boundary, even that slight movement of the back-foot just before the other one fiercely chased the pitch of the ball and thrashed it out of the stadium.

I have put harmlessly stupid statuses on facebook (and orkut?) when he missed out in a big game and questioned if he should have retired long ago, only to come back and cry tears of joy a few matches later when I saw him improvising a paddle sweep and making it look classy!

I have seen my frail frame swell up with pride when who's who of cricket from across the world called him the 'master'. I have seen the fear of anticipated decimation in the eyes of bowlers from Pakistan, Australia, England and seen that glimmer of hope in the eyes of the millions watching the game when India is in a terrible situation and the spectators whisper in each other's ears - "Abhi Sachin hai!"

I'm glad I've seen the days when the younger generation of cricketers have restored the faith of their fans in the Indian cricket team even when we all know all too well that no one is ever filling those shoes! I've shared and liked those youtube videos of Sachin's son displaying some cricketing shots during a net practice in a controlled indoor stadium environment and hoped that he's the chip of the old block.

I've tried to imitate his voice on drunken nights and realized that the falseto of my timber has only the quality of an old, drunk Lata doing an alaap from Kuch Kuch Hota Hai.

I've fought with random people on the streets when they questioned his shot selection, people who know nothing about cricket but yet watch it ball by ball only because Sachin is playing! I've dampened my cheeks when I read stories of small school kids imagining a great future for themselves because their hero has inspired them enough to at least have that dream.

I've cursed him for collaborating with lousy brands and for getting into those controversies about the export duty on sports cars only because I've thought of him as an infallible human being.

I've pointed fingers at the likes of Virat Kohli when they've shown absolutely no consideration for their fans and asked them to learn more than just aggressive batting from the seniors like Sachin. 

I've had that old poster of his that came along with 'Sportstar' on my wall (next to that Kapil Dev's poster that has him levitated in air, a shining red ball in his hand held by the seam) when I was a kid and still have cricketers posters.

I've always known that this day would come when he would gracefully carry that heavy bat of his out of the ground and we would see it in action again only in recorded highlights in DVDs stacked on that old shelf by the computer table. But, somehow this does not feel too bright. He's just a cricketer for God's sake as some would say but I don't quite know why my eyes have swelled up, my brains is refusing to think more and my hands fail to punch more letters on this keyboard.

India's Heros didn't vote!

The people of India are deciding the future of its land by getting involved in one of the biggest (and most intriguing) genaral elections ever. Perhaps for the first time many sections of the society which were otherwise indifferent to anything involving politics are coming together and are gearing up to vote for a change in the way our country is run. Youth are participating in large numbers and are infact inspiring thier elders as well.
I have been a keen follower of politics always and have encouraged the people around me to vote and make a difference. However, 23rd of April, when Bangalore came out en masse to make one of the most important choice of thier life, I was sitting in my home, watching the election saga on TV! Though I feel embarrassed and angry about this fact there is nothing that I could've done to change the fact that I can't cast a vote as I'm very new to this place and there is no way my name can be included in the electoral rolls and since life at office is hectic I can't travel 2000 km to cast a vote in my hometown (Allahabad, one of the Mecca of politics in India!).
There are many youngsters like me who have a strong political will and understanding of the situation prevailing in the country but are forced out of participating in the celebration of democracy.
Interestingly, while I (and thousands like me, recently displaced from their hometowns and thus unable to cast their vote) may be an insignificant individual as far as the list of my followers (on CnC, twitter, facebook and life) goes, even the heros of India did not vote! Our heros who are fighting hard in foreign land (read South Africa) to prove to the rest of the country that their city has the biggest cricketing talent (and cricket is one of the few common religions on India) are missing out the general elections 2009!
If someone takes the pain (I think the EC already does that, not sure) of producing the stats on how many people missed out their chance to vote as they are currently not in their hometown (for work or other reasons) the numbers would be startling.

It’s not always BUTT obvious

It’s not long since we had heated arguments over a ban imposed on the use of the national flag on sports gears, costumes and dress materials.
"The Prevention of Insults to National Honour Act, 1971 lay restriction on the use of national flag as a portion of costume or uniform by the members of public, in general, and sportspersons, in particular."
But in 2005, the then Information and Broadcast Minister, Jaipal Reddy amended the Act, and the restriction on the use of national flag was withdrawn.
Then on, Sachin Tendulkar was allowed to wear the flag on his helmet, Narain Karthikeyan was allowed to use his special F1 helmet with the flag designed on it, other Indian players in various sports were allowed to use flag on their sports gears and even as a part of a costume or uniform of any description but not as undergarment or below the belt.
Now look at the new jersey launched today by the Indian Cricket Team.


As it is, the colour and design of the jersey are very weird, on top of that couldn’t the designer find a better place to mention the Team Name – Name of our country, than the butt ??
Well, obviously all parts of our body are equal and we needn’t be partial to the upper half of our body compared to the lower, and even the law is not to have flag on below the waistline, no such rule against the name of the country; but then whatever said and done, one can look out for better places to flaunt the country’s name than this..
Lemme know if anyone liked this jersey..!!

Tracking the newspapers these days, I believe the major share of it goes to articles related to Aarushi murder case, IPL( still articles on front pages, thanks to Mohammed Asif, the editorials, and obviously the sport section; and I believe it will have its presence till the fad dies off), the oil prices, and loads of blah..
But there were two articles which I made me think a little. First was an appeal to all youngsters to "focus on their studies as well, particularly on spoken English as it would help them getting better jobs if they do not turn into good cricketers. Sehwag in his initial days faced a lot of difficulty in speaking English while he interacted with the anchor person after winning Man-of-the-Match awards. But later he practised quite a bit and now able to speak fluent English though making some grave grammatical mistakes here and there."
Think about it, I realised how relevant and important this statement is. Come to think of it, imagine so many children venture out in an effort to become Sachin Tendulkar, and be tagged "Men in blue", but how many of them finally make into Team India, a handful of them; so what happens others? Some manage to make it to the State teams and play Ranji and continue their effort to impress the selectors, but other who lose this battle fall apart. People who have a decent educational background manage to find jobs and come to the main stream but people who have even sacrificed their education for the sake of a career in cricket, are left no where.
An extreme case, I remember a year back, Subhas Dixit (former under-19 captain) committed suicide by jumping over a high rise near the Green Park Cricket stadium (the place where he might have dreamt of playing wearing the national jersey) in Kanpur.
Hope all young aspirants lend there ears to this message from Sehwag and understand the serious implications behind it.
Second thing that struck me was an initiative taken by an NGO at Villupuram, Tamil Nadu. Looking at the alarming rate of dropouts and very low literacy levels among the Muslims, the NGO has started paying Re one every day to students attending state run elementary school at a village called Sankarapuram. The area supposedly a Muslim dominated region with Tamil or Urdu as their mother tongue. So the scheme was launched at Urdu medium Panchayat Union elementary School.
At a time when the cost of education is increasing day by day, if NGOs and other organisations don't take up steps like these; poor people especially in economically backward areas would back-out from even primary education. So let's try to encourage such initiatives and help in increasing the literacy level which will give a big boost to all our national development plans.

IPL Mania

This was the telecom I had last night seconds after the last ball of DLF IPL finals was bowled and Sohail Tanvir hit Balaji for a four and Rajasthan Royals went on to win the series.

S: "Hey!! Yipee. My team has defeated yours, I'm so happy.. hurray"

Me: "yea.. congratulations."

S: "cheer up don't be so disappointed"

Me: "hmm.. its ok. But I would have preferred an Indian captain to take the trophy."

S: "chal chal.. its not patriotism; your idea reflects a very shitty mentality with zero sportsman spirit. Warne deserves every bit of it.. la la la"

Me: "true.. but its not that im against good cricket, its just had dil hi dil main, I get a little patriotic and cheer from Indians, be it Sania up against the William sisters or Naren battling out with Ferraris and McLarens"

S: "haan. Theek theek. Raat ko bhaashan math de. Rajasthan has won, I m happy"

Me: "hmm.. congratulations once again. It was really a good match"

S: "yea.. true"

Me: "so have a nice time tomorrow.. Another treat from u then ;) "

S: "hehe.. sure.. bye. Good night"

Me: "good night"

It was a little tough to me to think for a topic to restart blogging. After being in a state of hibernation for over 9 month (because of numerous reasons), now I am all set to get back to my old passion of posting my views on various issues.

Of late blogging has become a glamorous art in India, with lot of Bollywood (though Indian film industry deserves its own identity; but now we can't do much after being tagged by this name) stars like Big B, Aamir Khan and a few others, are using this as a medium to get associated with public (fans or otherwise) and even criticising their colleagues in such open forums.

And talking about film stars the next thing that comes to my mind is the Indian Premier League. I remember telling my Economics professor that cricket and movies are indeed two very big unifying factors in our country and it would be really great if we had something which would bring them together. There were a number on movies based on cricket like Chamatkaar, Lagaan, Iqbal etc but then unarguably nothing comes close to the success of IPL. Thanks to the BCCI and its marketing techniques, almost all teams were even, all facilities were spot on and the entertainment associated with game was just mind blowing.

The format was simple and easy for people to understand. Eight city-based franchises owned by different genre of people ranging from liquor barons to media houses, infra structure developers to our very own Film stars. Slowly formed the team, under eight internationally renowned coaches and national and international players auctioned for huge amounts. All the players were very professional to patch up as a team and perform towards a common motive – VICTORY.

It took a little time for the audience to form loyalties with these teams and supporting a player of otherwise a rival nation to knock down the wickets of most your national players. Indian audience did their role, they came in numbers and supported good cricket. They cheered for both the sides, but silently prayed for their city team to win the match. This is best reflected in the telecon I quoted above: "my" team, "your" team. I believe the ownership of the teams are no longer restricted to the people like Mukesh Ambanis or Shah Rukh Khans but number of cricket enthusiasts who formed loyalties with their respective sides.

It was also a good occasion for all young Indian players to showcase their talents, who otherwise need to strive hard for selectors to notice them. They got an opportunity to learn from all top players and coaches in the world.

And yeah how can I forget the cheer leaders, and as always we Indians like import items more than the local ones ;) Also the format especially because of the shortened length, increased excitement, loud music, drew huge crowds, all popular movie stars, industrialists all over, even in the players' den ;)

Its popularity was not only restricted to India; but it had good viewership in all cricket playing nations and also nations which otherwise not even aware of all cricketing rules.

As a management student it is also a lesson for us; how well the IPL with such huge investments managed not only to break even but also reap good profit in its very first session. Some franchises like Kolkata Knight Riders, Rajasthan Royals earned double their investment.

So now it definitely looks to grow bigger with coming years and we would surely see more skilful players, better infrastructure , fierce competition and an ultimate entertainment for all. People have already calling this as the cricket equivalent of the Barclays Premier League, so may be some day this would become the most popular and challenging format of cricket.

NOT JUST A GAME PERHAPS !

Cricket is not just a game! I know, quite a cliché. There have been a lot of incidents recently which made me say that. The furor created over the suicide of a young aspiring cricketer, Subhash Dixit, has made many critics and people associated with the game think beyond the money and fame involved in the game. Selectors making huge profits over the selection process are not a secret anymore! Selection of an Indian coach turned out nothing but BCCI hoopla without any results as yet.
There is something with this game, especially in India. I don’t wish to comment on the viability of the claim that ‘we love cricket because cricket is in our blood’, I would just wish to bring to you a small incident that happened today.

PJ: ‘Hey lets go to civil lines guys. We’ll chase around some *%&$# …’

Vinay: ‘Ya lets go. We’ll ask Anuj and Sam as well’

Sam: ‘I’m fine with it. Let’s get our engines kicking!’

Anuj: ‘Sure, let’s go. Haven’t had any funs in a while’

So, all four of us set out on our bikes to have some fun. Meanwhile, Anuj gets a call.

Anuj (on the phone): ‘Ok. I’ll be there in a moment.’

PJ: ‘Hey what happened?’

Anuj: ‘Yaar I’m sorry. Can’t come with you guys. Have a cricket match.’

Vinay: ‘But your match was tomorrow na?’

Anuj: ‘Ya my match is tomorrow guys. I’m umpiring on today’s match!’

We tried to convince him but he was adamant. In the end he evaded our questions and queries and we remained silent. How anyone can miss loads of fun in the company of friends just because he has to umpire in a cricket match! I’m still clueless.

Team India

This post is coming after a Theirry Henry’s recent interview to an Indian journalist mostly taken during his recent visit to Asia, China to be more specific and more so for a campaign of Reebok products for which he is a brand ambassador.. What surprised me the most was the had Indian taste buds.. this god of football like to eat Indian food while at UK though is fully aware that they aren’t the best for this health and fitness,, And the moment he was asked his favourite dish.. pat came the answer Baigan.. and then he continued the list of items he eats.. naan, chicken tikka, bread and other chicken curries..
Then he was surprised to hear that he has lot of fans in India.. and people love to wear arsenal t-shirts with number 14 on back.. though he is one among the 100 most influential men declared by the TIME magazine for the being one of the greatest players of the most popular sport in the world he doesn’t expect himself to be noted by the second largest populated country..
He knew Indians are obsessed with cricket and do not play much football. And when asked about cricket he said, he knew all the rules and follows a little, more because of the media excessive reaction to England’s victory in the pervious Ashes series; but then he complains the matches to be too long..
But truly, I am surprised why we aren’t that good at sports, especially in all the popular ones? Is it true that cricket is ruining the other sports or is it because of our genes?
International Cricket is certainly a lot dependent of the Indian sub-continent atleast as far as the viewer ship and sponsorship issues are concerned. The game is not just treated as a sport but a gets lot of emotional attachment as well. It makes people go crazy, many worship for the Indian team and many yagnas are performed before big tournaments like the World Cup (May be this time gods didn’t want our countrymen to waste their time and money over this sport and our team was knocked out in the 1st stage). And then when our players don’t meet the people’s expectations their houses are stoned and painted black. And more amazingly Team India stands for the Indian cricket team as if it is the best in terms of team efforts and working together as a group.
Infrastructure and sponsorship are treated as the primary problems in the growth of other sports in our country. Now with the advent of number of MNC who wish to leave no stone unturned to get recognition and publicity are coming up big way in sponsoring sports even other than cricket.
Western Union money transfer was the prime sponsor for Premier Hockey League, Nike is sponsoring football teams at junior level, ABN-Amro sponsors few golf championships.. Mittal Sports Foundaion sponsors younger and emerging player to help them nurture their potentials and achieve international fame.
Hope these initiatives bear fruits and we do good at sports.. Hope India too gets to produce players like Henry and Federer and leaves a mark even in the world of sports (I mean beyond cricket)..

SAI BABA

Very often in my discussions with friends we look out for incidents and people who can really act as a good unifying factors in the country especially between the hindu and muslim communities.. Cricket as the most popular option (though I still remember many people cheering for Pakistan and celebrating on Sachin’s dismissal during the Ind-Pak in 2003 World Cup).. Abdul Kalam is a close second, though not interested in taking a second term as the President of India, which he rightly deserves, he was a very popular and is well known and admired people of all communities, all age groups and all regions of the country.. The third choice was Sania Mirza and I needed say any thing about her.. do i?? ;o)
Recently I visited the town of Shirdi which was home to godman Sai Baba.. learnt from the localites there that the town is getting more and more devotees in recent times and the curve is on a rise, reaching new heights every year.. Andhra Pradesh Tourism Development Corporation (APTDC) provides good bus service to Shirdi and especially from Hyderabad, organises various package tours providing number of options for people to choose.. We took a 3-day package; covering Shirdi-Nasik-Triambakeshwar.
After a 13 hour overnight bus journey we reached Shirdi, a nice cool morning breeze welcomed us to the temple town. Very quickly we got ready to go for darshan as we learnt that Sundays have peak rush.. My father even arranged special VIP passes for all four of us.. it was my first visit to the place but as my sis and mom were there already so they guided me and we got the darshan in just half an hour.. the main idol of Baba, carved out of milk white marble, was located at a big hall.. very beautiful and very peaceful..
Then while we were visiting the surrounding temples started the afternoon Aarti.. Suddenly all talks ceased and everyone started joining their hands and clapping to the tune.. it was so wonderful to see EVERYONE getting united in the act.. it was a long (compared to the regular om jai jagadish) and melodious tune.. But the best thing is that the moment u start thinking that its going too long the tune changes.. the Aarti prayer has several verses each having different tunes and the more uniquely – different clapping style which adds beauty to the prayer..
It is this Aarti at Shirdi that found as a great unifying factor.. people of all communities and all social and economic backgrounds shed all the differences apart and devotionally get involved in it.. Baba being a fakir himself, the place has number of fakirs still there and lot of Muslim devotees.. I also spotted few Sikhs(easy to recognise, thanks to their turbans) and few foreigners (either Christians or Hindu followers)..
There are 4 Aartis performed at Shirdi each differ form the other and are performed at different timings through the day..
So anyone wishing to have peace and wish to see a really secular India visit Shirdi and make sure u attend as many Aarti sessions as possible..