My perspective : Out on something new....

A common Indian lives for 58 years which is approximately 21170 days but he hardly remembers 20-30 days for rest of his life. After joining TCS these sort of days are few and far in between. But this weekend I found couple of such days which were a great relief and relaxation after some hectic weeks in the office. The occasion was our trip to Ganpati Pule.

As Vipul has done most of the hard-work of putting places and schedule correctly in place, I would like to take you all onto this trip with my perspective.

I started this trip with more passion than I have ever shown before. One of the well known reasons for this is the pain that I go through everyday in my workplace with circus of people running me all around the place and I must say that only these guys give me an essential break at lunch time. I knew it will be a good fun with them on trip but I got hell a lot more than just pure fun. I saw almost every angle of life through somebody and some incidences.

The first and most striking memory of this trip will be the Marleshwar waterfall. It was I think most memorable moment of trip and I must say thanks to Vipul for being the first one to drop the fear of wet cloths and giving inspiration or ignition to many people like me who were too much involved in materialistic things. The next 15-30 min will always refresh my mind as that falling water cleaned up all the dust and rust that had started to stack up in last year or two at great pace. I thought the pain of climbing 500 stairs was all worth for those incredible moments.

The second incidence is that of Dream theories of Imran bhai and an all inspired, completely unique story by paddy that literally scared the hell out of Vishu. Imran bhai was at his best that night and as usual gave informative and interesting insights to our different and sometimes weird dreams, making everything in life look very scientific. I also know the pain Imran bhai had to go through because of this informative session as the rest of their trip went into looking into hands and futures of other people. I just wonder if Imran bhai had seen this future of his before as he seemed to be prepared for that as well.

What can one say about paddy’s narration abilities? He has this unique and delightful way of taking sweet revenge of people who almost everyday try to make his life a living hell and I can’t agree more with vipul than when he says that paddy has more patience than most of us collectively have.

Third incidence is about singers. There were four of them, each one with their own style and flair. Amit has amazing nasal singing abilities and believe me that he can irritate anyone at any time but at the same time he and vipul has got great vocabulary of songs that made them go this far against an more than decent opposition of Sapna and Apeksha. As we all have at some time seen glimpses of what Sapna is capable of doing, I can say that fight from Sapna was expected but Apeksha was a pleasant surprise. Looking at her if somebody could bet that she can sing in such a loud voice for such a long period of time I would have been ready to bet all the money that I have. (Actually I don’t have a lot since I work in TCS but still would have betted all that I have got.) But she proved me and all others predicting about her abilities very wrong.

Fourth incidence is of Gang of Slanger’s who just couldn’t control their tongue. First day morning in the room it was raining slang’s with everybody contributing their own. There were some unexpected people joining the fun who don’t generally use this beautiful form of language but they showed that they were equally brilliant in this art if they were required to use it. And it was a place where all language barriers no longer existed as slang’s poured in from all directions in all languages. At the same time I saw People were as happy to see Television as man in ancient age was when he first discovered fire.

Apart from these incidences there were some qualities of people that left mark on my mind. There was series of Shayari by Imran bhai, Vipul. Sid with his Guitar singing beautiful, romantic songs and “Out of Pune and Not in Bombay” phone calls. There was Vishu with his ever ready business proposals even late in the night when common man is in Second phase of his dreams (Imran bhai hope I am right). I saw a religious side of Ashish which I had never seen before. There was a cameraman in Swaroop who captured almost everybody in good poses and most importantly took some good pics of mine which in itself is an achievement. There was a naughty cat in sapna who was good enough to scare the local tribal with her looks. There were Paddy and Amit who rocked the trip. There was Hema whose bag had almost the same weight as she has. There was Apeksha, the only person who found that bus specious. There was Shrenik who I think was the only guy who did not give away any slang’s. He has always believed in simplicity and modesty. I just the love the way this guy behaves even on trips and would love to be a good boy like him atleast for a day (Although it will be very very difficult for me to live without slang’s). But even he was their when needed with his unbeatable one liner’s. And last but by no means least there was Nitin who for me was a stand out silent lover boy with lot of time on phone, remembering his GF just by looking at NH4 the Pune-Banglore highway. I love the way he blushes when he talks about her. And there was Shruti di without whose support this trip would not have been a reality.J

Kudos to the organizing committee of this trip, who gave us a memorable trip.

In the end I would like to sign off with couple of lines from famous song.
“Dil chahata hai, kabhi na bite ye chamkile din,
Dil chahata hai,hum na rahe kabhi yaaro ke bin”

Class of 2007

As the teams start reaching their destinations in Caribbean their prime focus will be on getting key players in fully fit and in form. Game of Cricket despite being a team game is always won or lost by individual performances. If we have a look at last 8 world cups the fact becomes more obvious than before. Even if even just we want to concentrate on modern day one day cricket i.e. WC’s after 1992 we will always find that some tremendous individual performances have managed to win the world cup for their side. Who could forget the heroics of Wasim Akram with that round the wicket superb bowling performance that won Pakistan their only world cup. And 1996 was all about Sanath Jaysurya and Kaluvitharana taking all the bowlers for a ride of their lifetime. Such was their threat that allegations like springs in their bats were believed to be true. And of course 1999 will be always remembered for two men Shane Keith Warne and Herschel Gibbs. One ignited a fire in a low in confidence side while other made a mistake of his lifetime. A mistake that will never be forgotten no matter what he goes on to achieve in his career. 2003 was always Sachin’s world cup. His great performances almost single handedly took India too the finals and failure there meant India had to be satisfied with Runners Up title.

Although team composition and conditions will have a lot of impact on the outcome of the matches in this world cup focus will always be on individuals who can make the difference between good side and winning side. Here I try and list my players for this series.

Before I turn to individual teams I must say 6 batsmen in the elite league of 10000 + will be most watched batsmen this time. Fortunately 3 of them are from India and that is why I believe India stand a good chance. All of them namely Sachin, Sourav, Lara, Inzamam, Jaysurya and Dravid will be most probably playing their last world cup and hence will try and give more than just their best to be on the winning side at the end of 2 months of intense cricket. Although all of them are not on peak of their careers I will still want to put my money on them. After all there is nothing like class, is there?

Same is case with some veteran bowlers like McGrath, Vaas, Murli, Pollock and Kumble who will be trying to give more than their best and as usual I am ready to put my money on all of them (although I am not sure if Kumble will as many games as others).

Apart from them my list of dangerous players will have a lot of players from NZ. Lou Vincent has finally realized his potential and importance of consistency so watch out for him. McMillan, McCollum, Oram (not yet fully fitL), Vettori and Shane bond. My god almost all the team seems to be dangerous!!! J

Srilanka will be second with Sangakara, Dilshan, and Jaywardhane as my strong favorites. For me Sangakara is up their in the running for Player of the tournament. He has matured a lot as a cricketer and has improved a lot in his keeping department as well. He provides the balance that Srilanka needed after retirement of Desilva and Rantunga. Also don’t discount experience of Attapattu at any point of time that could be a costly mistake.

Aussies for me have all players as dangerous as others but Hussy, Gilchirst, Ponting, Symonds, Hayden are stand out performers over the years. And I must say none of the bowlers will feature in this list (since McGrath already covered). My pick from this side will be Michel Hussy and I don’t think lot of people will disagree on this. Just when people were thinking if we can ever replace somebody like Beven ever, came this player in the side and has taken cricketing world by storm. He is a complete package with ability play all round the wicket, play with tail and has ability to finish the close games, a role which Beven played so well for a Decade. Although his record as Captain of side is worst in Australian cricket history, his individual form has never seen a low for last one and half year.

Pakistan’s strength is always in their fast bowling but without Akhtar, Asif and Razzaque there is nothing to talk about their bowling. But in batting they still have a lot of promise in form of Younis and Yusuf. Both of them along with Inzamam can take game so much away from opposition that their bowlers will hardly require any hard work.

English side also seems to have some dangerous players but unfortunately their other team mates are very poor. Freddie Flintoff, Collingwood are enough to scare lot of teams. But my choice for player to watch out is undoubtedly KP or Kevin Piterson. He has had a tremendous last couple of years for England and they will need him badly if they are to give any serious challenge to the title. But I do strongly believe that he is a waste of bowling option if England is dreaming of using his slow bowling in Caribbean.

Hosts don’t have lot of dangerous players but still class of Chanderpaul, Sarwan along with Lara and Mr. controversial Samuels is enough to make them a difficult side to beat especially on their home turf. But my picks are Gayle and Bravo. Gayle can single handedly win matches for hosts and is a very effective bowler as well. Although I believe Bravo is more hyped than his abilities, conditions in WI will make him a dangerous player.

SA side has some very effective player but it’s always difficult for somebody to figure out an individual who has the ability to win the cup. So I will go with experience of Kallis, Boucher and to some extent Ntini. But my favorite is and always has been Pollock. Very few players manage to be still on top of their game at this age but this fellow is not just anybody, is he? He is king of control, line & length and at this moment is touch better than all time best McGrath. His batting has become almost as good as his bowling. Now days I wonder if I should call him batting all-rounder or bowling all-rounder but then I just decide to call him all-rounder. After all he and Kallis have explained the world real meaning of an All-rounder. Also watch out for their captain, who on his day can have a big demoralizing effect on opponents.

Finally over to my team. If I list down dangerous player I must write the full batting line up including Dhoni. This time I will hesitate to call Sachin the deciding factor although I would like him to be one. I think Sourav, Yuvraj, Dhoni and Dravid are also going to be equally important. And I also believe Sehwag is a key player and not a player to hide. In bowlers, watch out for Zaheer Khan and Harbhajan. Zaheer has come back and looked better than ever. Also he would be very keen to wash away the disappointment of poor finals last time. I hate to say this but I think trump card for India will be Agarkar if he is managed and used well by team. Don’t forget for a minute that he was India’s best bowler in last WI series and looked as dangerous as anybody in this game.

At the end if I still have to pick player of the tournament I will listen to my heart than head and have no regrets in saying that my choice will still be Sachin. He is fitting well into his new role at no 4 but my gut feeling says they might ask him to open in some matches especially against Pakistan. And don’t be surprised if he still comes out as best Indian player on display in this mega event. And for the sake of his great career I pray to the god to give him the Cup that he needs the most to complete his list of astonishing achievements.