No I still can't believe....

No the feeling has not sunk in yet, no the beats of drum, band or for that matter heartbeats have not stopped playing yet. The image of MSD's last six over mid-on, the victory lap of wankhede for "God", the mighty hearts and calm heads of Indian cricket crying after a dream come true situation still refuse to leave the memory. No this is not true, no it surely isn't.

A man lives his whole life trying to do something meaningful, worthwhile in his life and most of us rarely find that illusive meaningful something ever. And that is why when MSD took control of the situation and his fate in that Final, one could sense a feeling of achievement never felt before. Very few men could do that, even the almighty warriors before him had tried and failed. Even the better and the more tested have waited their lifetime and could never get this.

In that light what the "minnows" of Indian cricket did that day would always inspire the nation. It wasnt the god SRT or the bulldozer of Sehwag or the sheer class of Yuvraj with the bat that did the job, it was the ever improving Virat, limited yet sensational craft of Gambhir and a calm touch of Dhoni that did it for India in the Final. And mind you it came after a dismal and utter waste of team place bowling from Sreesanth, some real class from Mahela and a brilliant late order slog for Srilanka.

It was remarkable world cup in another sense too. You could recognize a pattern in play for India. When it was batting first, the top two would more often than not deliver the goods, when it came to chasing the middle order did what was required, when it was crunch time Zak and Yuvi got the crucial breakthroughs and when it came to tightening the situation Bhajji and Munaf were there. It was as if everybody had a role and they played it perfectly. It almost looked like a perfectly executed drama.

And the director of the drama deserves every bit of credit for that. He is the Midas man of Cricket. Everything he touches turns to gold and no one can claim it to be fluke. It takes planning , preparation, innovation, risk taking ability and the calm head under pressure to do what he has been able to do. It takes a big heart to accept the mistakes and get on with life. It takes a lot for a boy from small town to come and rule this world the way he has over the last 4 years. He does what many would have never believed they could, he thinks as if nothing is out of his reach, he plans as if nothing else could happen, he executes a plan with a ridiculous ease, and he pulls out a surprise when you least expect him to. Whatever happens to him after this, his innings of 91 in final would stay on as the best innings of the tournament for me.

Every director has his preferred actor, the one he trusts on even though he is going through some trouble, keeps up with him when no one else believes in him. Yuvi was one such actor for MSD and how well did Yuvi respond to the captain. He found the place in the team because there was no other left arm spinner in the team, but as the tournament went along became the old Yuvraj we all know. His bowling was immaculate, accurate and mostly very thoughtful. His batting on the other hand was cautious, laborious and gritty. He slowly found confidence that he has long lacked, and as in T20 WC he played his best knock against Aus which really turned the tables for him and the country. Two WC wins, and man of the series in both of them is not a bad accomplishment for the spoilt brat of Indian cricket.

And of course when you talk about world cup, you have to talk about Him. No one does it better than Him at this stage, no one will ever do any better and no one deserved this win more than Him. Times have changed in Indian cricket, the coaches, the methods, the captains, the team has changed over the years. Only one thing has stayed the same, and that is a sheer ability of this great genius to churn out one good performance after another. Here too he took India to security in the early stages when team looked most vulnerable, and dished out a lucky yet mighty effective 85 against Pak in Semis when some others couldn't even reach 50. That for me was his innings of tournament. He has walked, talked, carried Indian cricket for long and it was only fitting that he lifted the trophy in his hometown after taking the whole world in his grasp.

What SRT brought in batting, Zak brought in bowling. The leadership, the skill, the planning and the execution all fell in place. He delivered when team needed it the most and delivered it with such an impact that the team lifted itself from there on. His performance against Eng is well documented but for me ball of the tournament was the one he bowled to get rid of Mr Cricket. The slow cutter that stumped the best was a moment to cherish.

During the tournament when Munaf bowled Razzaq, or when Raina and Yuvi took it to Lee and Tait, when SRT showed Swann what it means to play against India as a spinner, or when Sehwag tormented Bangladeshi's and later Umar Gul, or when Gambhir scored that priceless 97 in the final or when Harbhajan got Afridi, all of India took all these moments and stored them in one separate compartment of brain. That for them are the memories for lifetime. With them they will tell their grandchildren how impossible was made possible and how history was made in their own backyard against all odds by these few brave young men.

It takes a lifetime for a country to take such a turn around, and that's why when the Midas man and co. did it in less than 4 years everybody is ought to be awestruck. Lets not forget a lot of them are still just kids, and so when kids do make their parents feel proud, parents generally have tears of joy in their eyes, and that's why when India achieved the crowning glory on that fateful day in Mumbai, a lot of Indians had tears in their eyes too.

No I still cant believe it has happened, no I really cant.

Few Good Men ......

When things are right at heart more often than not they turn out to be fine if not great. When intent is right and the means are right, more often than not end result turns out to be just right or i would say it turns out to be "Just".

When you love something or someone so much that you cant live without it, you do anything that it takes to get your love and once you get it, you do anything to hold on to it.

There can be a million distractions around in the world but when you are sure what you want to do, there are no complications in life. If you know the way you want to take, the only thing left to do is to walk on that road and walk like you always belonged there. And when you do that sky is the limit.

This is a story of few such extraordinary gentleman, who have achieved a lot in life because of their ability, will to succeed and more than anything else their pure clarity of thought. These are the men who define Indian cricket now.

Sehwag who reminds us mortals everyday that he has something in him that a lot of people would die to have. And its not the ability, its the clarity of thought that's am talking about. For him life is very simple, cricket and batting is equally simple. When he is batting he wants to hit the ball. Surely every single ball bowled at him. His first instinct, his first decisive foot moment ( if there is any) everything tells you that. There's no hiding there. He wont mind pulling the fastest bowler or the slogging the best spinner or milking the medium pacer. Because for him it really doesn't matter who's bowling and what's his strategy. He knows his and he follows his. Similarly there is nothing wrong in life, there is nothing unfair either. Oppositions don't bother him, Failures don't give him nightmares. He would miss out on hundred or a double or a triple but would never shade a tear about it. His simple theory, its not the last time i will have a chance to do that. The same goes in his personal life as well. He owns a fortune still prefers to be what he actually is. Money is no distraction coz hunger for runs doesn't originate from his stomach. Its somewhere in his heart that everything stays. And till the time it stays that way, am sure there is nothing stopping him.

Then there is Dhoni, a man who clearly makes everybody shelve their cricketing books for good. No technique, no stability, no calculated foot moment, and yet the man keeps on piling runs better than most in the game. He still keeps on playing critical innings far more frequently than his more illustrious and gifted colleagues. Tag of being arguably the ugliest batsman around doesn't bother him, neither does his changed status from being hitter to being an accumulator. His no B school pass-out but knows all the management theories around. For a man doing a commerce graduation, the language, the tone, the attitude that he brings in press conference is a treat to watch. There is never a wrong word said, the voice is never raised, even the uneasiest of questions are answered in the most dignified manner (that doesn't necessarily mean in politically correct way). Clearly he knows his way around everything. And make no mistake, when the situation calls for, he knows he needs to take his ace weapon out. So if its press conference he speaks candid truth or if its a cricket match, he opens his arms and lets loose those mighty shoulders who then take care of posting deliveries out of ground. He is a man who knows what he should do and most importantly knows what he shouldn't do.

Then there is Gautam Gambhir, who redefines his abilities every-time he goes out to bat. Every time he scores runs one gets a feeling that this is not real, this man cannot be so good, he cannot be outshining his better talented colleagues and despite of this he is clearly way pass the rest in terms of consistency, durability, determination and belief. For someone who had no fix place couple of years back, being player of the year doesn't come easy. For someone not sure of his place couple of year ago, taking a test off is now an option. For someone with limited strokes and abilities, its his jump to elite division that stands out tall. This has been a pleasant journey watching him grow, mature and slowly become a mainstay of Indian batting and if everything stays the same, i am sure we will be hearing a lot more about him in future.

And then there is a little matter of Sachin Tendulkar, who just completed a small milestone of 20 years and 30000 international cricket, and yet continues to grow in passion, continues to innovate, continues to get even the best by surprise. In this world there two kinds of players. There is tendulkar and then there are rest. When others play well, you appreciate their achievement, when he plays well, you mentally emotionally and physically become part of it. There is class written in every shot he plays. When he plays you know only he can play that shot, you know that only he could have measured that angle and could have perfected his shot to pierce the field. When others play well, they play their shots , they either find fielders or go to boundaries, when sachin plays well, there is no fielder, there are only spectators some on the field and some outside of it. And that's why even after 20 years he manages to make your heart beat louder for him than for any other player. For 20 years there has been no distraction, no excuses, no half measures. Because for him life is cricket, the world outside of it barely exists and hardly excites him. That's why every time injury forces him out, he comes back bigger better and sharper. Everyday he lives cricket, he eats cricket and he sleeps with cricket in his head.

For all these men, nothing in life has come easy, but for them it doesn't matter. What matters is they have it, they hold it with pride and with respect, they worship it, they love it and they live it. If for not these men, Indian team couldn't have been at the top and if not for these few good men, cricket wouldn't have been a such a holy place in India. Its a salute to them for what they have achieved and for reminding us the essence of loving and living.

Being Freddie

Maths is such a bore. Moreover its so impractical. I learned nothing more than a word "derived" from the books running multiple hundred pages on topic called "derivation" and the "integration" that i learned and the "integration" that I do everyday are poles apart from being "same". Stats is another of math's "subsets" and it inherits all the bad properties of maths. Its unreasonably lengthy, inappropriately inhuman and at the end of the day its just being another number which can only state "couple"of things about the past but nothing at all about the future. In the world where no two people are equal i wonder how the same maths is applicable to all. When the same medicine cannot cure same decease of every person, how can the same stat give equal analysis of the different people playing the same game.

If you don't believe me go through the stats of Freddie Flintoff. If you are to go by numbers he didn't do anything that would make him one of the most admired, loved and respected cricketer in the world. Because what stats say is that in tests, he scored runs at 31 with 5 centuries and took more than 200 wickets at an average of 32 with 3 five wicket hauls. If i was going through only stats i am sure i wont have even wanted to search about this player more. Coz in an era where great all rounders bat at an average of more than fourty with 15+ centuries and take more than 200 wickets mostly at around 25-28 he is far far behind most of them.

And that's why stats suck. I believe there is a world of difference between scoring runs on the ground or taking wickets and writing it down in record book. A difference that i believe is same as the difference between being human and robot. Stats will tell you he took 3-25 in a match and am sure everyday around the world some bowler gets approx same figures and has its entry. What stats will never tell you is that he took those wickets within a span of 4 overs, bowled some breathtaking stuff that even shook the best batsman in the world and in turn got the wickets which turned the match on its head. It neither tells you that a fast bowler ripped apart a top class batting line up on a flat dead pitch nor does it tell you that he bowled his heart out in the scotching heat of 40 degrees when other bowlers were even struggling to complete their run ups. It will tell you batsman scored 29 runs but it will never tell you that they were scored in the last hour of the game when team was fighting to draw the match or it will not tell you that he scored those runs opening the batting on a green track and he played out first two sessions of the match till the pitch could dry up and ease out for batting.

That's why i believe Freddie should be measured on his "impact" than on stats. For somebody who broke onto national scene as a promising batting all rounder, he later turned out to be more of a bowling all rounder. He was one the safest fielders in slip cordon for Englant. When he played whether batting or bowling he wore his heart on his sleeves. He held nothing back and played the game at its competitive best.

When he bowled, he always bowled in the awkward in between length, got the bowl to bounce more than others because of the extra power he generated through his strong physic and good height. Got the ball the swing both ways from a same length and got it to reverse with same ease. When he bowled he always bowled it very tight and gave nothing away. He did put the batsman under such pressure that they would more often than not try to break free at the other end and would eventually end up gifting wickets. Those were as much flintoffs wickets as of anybody else. Unfortunately stats had them going only for the "other bowler". I remember watching that famous 2005 ashes series and i found it amazing that he consistently troubled the best batsman like Gilly and Punter and had them as his bunnies. I cant remember any bowler in the world who could put a claim to having both of them as bunnies together. That was the only series during which Gilly looked human and Australians looked beatable in more than a decade (Yes India beat them once but then Aussies never looked a vulnerable side that they looked during 2005 Ashes). Such was his impact on the same and such was the level of threat he possessd inthe mind of opponents.

When he batted he did it with an attitude of not caring about the world. He didn't believe in getting set, having a look at the wicket and the other traditional crap that is taught in cricketing schools. He liked to play his shots and played it at any time he thought he could play it. 31- his average in tests is so only because it took him time to realise that his wicket is more precious to be thrown away in cheap/high risk shots. He has scored 5 centuries and most of them are scored during very critical times during a series. They are all probably the series turning centuries and should weigh twice as much but again record books are no neural networks to weigh input and then produce output.

He was an inspirational test cricketer who did literal heroics on the field. He inspired a lot of people outside and within the team . He was a crowd favourite, he was the one for whom people paid their money. And yet he was not crowd-pleaser. In his mature years as player, he did a lot of acts after getting wicket or scoring important runs that could grace any acting stage but until he got there, he used his skill , his genius cricketing brain and his incredible ability to do what he had thought of doing to achieve all that. At times you felt like he was a master craftsman slowly going through his routines and yet making a near perfect craft. The way he did set up batsman before he got their wickets was sheer fun to watch. He was like that break dancer who did set the stage of fire with his near impossible moves and yet he did them so effortlessly that you could do nothing but watch and applaud it. He was an mount Everest of confidence and conquering it hasn't been a cup of tea for most of the people. And the most lovable thing about him was that although he did put everything in the game, he never played the game too intensely. He always wore a smile on a face, even when catches were dropped his bowling or people were throwing some unplayable stuff at him. I remember one time when he was comprehensively beaten for about 2-3 overs by a good bowler and after every good delivery he used to smile and go back to his batting routine as if nothing happened. In that sense he was more like a sehwag who is rarely rattled when faced with any top class bowling for any amount of time.

For someone who was born with a sore back and fragile knee, for someone who has had multiple operations on both knees and long layoffs from the game, for someone who made a comeback almost every year, what he has done on the field only becomes more admirable. He was undoubtably the best player in the world for almost 3 years between 2004-2006. He surely was the only inspiration that English cricket had to offer after Sir Ian Botham and more than anything else he was someone who made you fall in love with this beautiful game and its evergreen longest version.He gave test cricket some unforgettable memories and much needed revival. And for that and much more he should always be treated as one of the game's great. I know that Being Freddie hasnt been easy but watching Freddie has been an experience of a lifetime.

And as of numbers, i know i am 4 days late in writing a blog which would have looked most appropriate on Sunday but for me its just another number and i for sure don't care a damn about it....

(Disclaimer: I know there is a lot of past tense in the write up but its only because i am intending to put him as former test player and not considering the fact the he will still be playing one day and 20-20 cricket)

Better Late Than Never....

Writing can be such a pain in the backside at times. Sometimes it flows just like that and at times it makes you beg to the knees. After writing a couple of poems which finally saw trash box, i figured that poems are not going to work anymore. And if you think its just about thrashing few poems its not. Its actually the process that is making me go mad. I tried to patau few poems for the whole weekend and i just got cold stares ( a special mention for the word "patau". I like it the most and all the treasures of this one arent quite as naughty and mischievous as this one) and now all of a sudden i have this urge of the highest degree to write about a trip that happened around 8 days back (I am not sure if i ll get through this one or it will just add up the space in drafts box but hell i want to give it a try).

Anyways the event happens to be our trip to Malshej Ghat (Ref : 'our' stands for group of people whom i went with to the trip and will be introduced to at some point in this writeup). As is the case with any other trips, it happened after lot of hitches and hatches, a lot of changes, cancellations and "patauing" (the words back yeee :-) ) finally the 10 of us got into that bus. This Place happened to be liked by a lot of ppl who had visited it but none of us had been there before which looking back seems an excellent thing because we went without any idea or expectation about this place.

And like all trips this one started almost 1.5 hours behind schedule which is something me and Manav ( He's a Dude. If you dont trust me talk to some other people in ODC ) should have interpreted earlier and should have caught more sleep. So in we walk 'into' the bus ( and slowly the rest joined as we went through all the pickup points) the first thing i realised about the group was a fact that everybody had tremendous enthu for the trip. I could see that almost everybody was happy and was really looking forward to this trip. And tell you its not a bad thing at all because sometimes these team events can be such an boring affair that you feel like ripping your hair apart for being part of it. The other thing that i quickly realised was the fact that there was a fair bit of age difference between all the attendees but it didn't really matter who was of what age. Everyone just seemed to be on the same level which again was a great advantage going into a day out.

As we started 125 KM journey, the normal routines of teasing and taunting, fooling and laughing started as did the process of gelling with some of the lesser known entities (at least till then) in the group. Followed by a normal tradition of Antakshari. Every group has a singer and he invariably starts stealing show after a decent opening by all the contributors. In our case it was Rajesh (To be named the New MJ II very soon). I had heard that this boy has talent but boy o boy he's got much more than that. It seems like he eats sleeps and drinks (?????) songs. His vocab was impeccable, his stamina unmatchable and his enthusiasm untouchable. He was clearly the winner of mornings antakhari session but few others need a special mention. Ketaki was up and going right from the start and was almost neck and neck with MJ while Poonam surely knows a thing or two fighting. I cant forget how single handedly she fought her way through that Rapid Fire Antakshari. Others also contributed their bit in between but mostly they (including me) were dumbstruck by a brutal onslaught of songs that Rajesh and his experienced co were putting on us. In between all this we got down at one not so good and one decent place for breakfast and had our stomachs filled to almost a level where we could survive without any more food till almost evening. A special mention to Poonam' s Sandwiches which were simply amazing. (God i could do with couple of them now :-( )

Then as we entered the ghat section all eyes started turning outside. Nature had painted an amazing picture on the entire horizon. Mostly grayish but with loads of shades and lights. This was accompanied by a complete greenery on the surface and a beautiful freshness that's so typical in the early monsoon season in Sahyadri Ranges. I must admit one fact here, i have been around a bit and i have seen places but theres nothing that comes even close to the beauties of Sahyadris. Maybe there is a rustic, raw and unadulterated look to this region which appeals more to me than sophisticatedly architectured sculptures. It was drizzling in the beginning, then it started raining and that got all of us really really excited. This was almost as if we all had imagined something like this in our mind and we couldn't believe in the fact that we were seeing what we actually imagined. As we went along we saw some lakes and some spots which were absolutely picture perfect. Then suddenly it started raining heavily and we were all fogged out. We could barely see the things within 5 meters let alone anything far distant. Some of us were saying out loud whatever they were thinking or how they felt but in general we all felt short of words to describe what we were seeing.

Through all this we finally reached our destination (never mind that it turned out to be our only destination). We entered MTDC resort and as a gesture of honour clouds lowered there heights and welcomed us. Only one phrase fitted the scene there "Just Like Heaven". From here it was a journey that i will rarely forget. It was foggy , it was raining , we could hardly see each other.And it was here that we started a click me season which lasted for almost 2-3 hours. We went all out with poses and frankly it was the only way to capture our real emotions then as we all fell short of words to describe what we felt. We clicked photos at almost every possible spot and in almost all possible poses.With Solo, group, natural, intended poses we went berserk and kept on clicking. When i look back i see some really very happy people there. There was a couple of in Anita and Mohit who fell more in love with each other as click count increased, there was a shy and almost reluctant couple in Sachin and Surabhi who when combined formed a picture perfect frame (Surbhi Ji's Cap rocked even more as it could be seen on almost everybody's head in some pic or the other). MJ was as his usual best in solos and groups while Ketaki turned out to be miss Photogenic of the group. On our way back, one legged jump that Zoozoo (Sayali for those who are still not aware of this name) tried is the most refreshing memory of the trip for me. She was hardly able to lift one leg above the ground let alone the thought of making other leg touch it midway in the air. But yet she tried not just once but multiple times. It was a Million Dollar scene :-). There's a child in her like all of us have, and that child completely took over her when she saw swings and sea-saw (god is it the right spelling ??).

After a break and many more clicks in and around MTDC resort. It was then time to find waterfall (which btw continued to elude us all the way through). We started in search for that and never found it but we found a really good place to eat some corn , wada pav and a tea. After all in that rain "wada pav and chai to banta tha yaar". After a bit of search we came back to resort changed and started back to pune. On our way we stopped by a beautiful lake (???). There was water on one side , land on other and mountains on the other two sides. It was very very picterous place and as usual we found out that best way to describe it is to click pics let people decide what it was like. So we all went again, in all possible permutations and directions and clicked some memories that will stay with us for long time. One such memory is of Manav becoming a Hanuman and going after Sun pic while in other me and rajesh posed to Rishimuni. (It was a mad mad day i must say :-) )On our way back from there we stopped by Ozar ganpati temple (after all whats an indian trip without a visit to temple). I visited this place after a long time and it was nice to see some development going into this holy place.

In our journey back we played another game called damsharaj which for me was the best game of the tour as it got everyone completely involved into an act and guess game. This was followed by another version of Antakshari in which boys were comprehensively defeated by a strong gang of gals. This antakshari saw tendulkars of Singing like Rajesh go into shell while their lesser fancied partners like Sachin and Manav chipping in with more than handy contribution and although it couldn't save a defeat it surely gave mental strength to try and compete next time.

Time flew by and then it was time to say goodbye. It was then that i realized that i had to drag myself home because i was dead tired but mainly because my heart never wanted to come out of a place and a group that was such Divine. I am not sure if its the place or the company but in any which way this trip made me happy and made me feel better from within. And at the end of the day its this pursuit of happiness that drives us all towards something like this.

(Hell after a long time i seem to have completed a blog and it seems yawningly big in size so am sure no one's gonna care reading it till end. But again who the hell cares :-) )

Chords Of Life....

“Every action in our lives touches on some chord that will vibrate in eternity” and if it’s the musical magician pulling the strings and striking the chords, you can feel a complete symphony inside your heart. Such is the scale of penetration that you almost lose touch with everything else in the world and get directly attached with your soul. It’s one of the rare times when you have a direct unbiased and free conversation with yourself.

Yesterday gave me one such occasion when I had the privilege to be in the spectators for a live concert by AR Rahman. The day started pretty early and it was very hectic to get in the ground and stay afloat in that burning heat. But it was a worth a wait since every bit of tiredness was washed away in hours to come and when I walked out of the ground I could feel no signs of fatigue.

The show started with a fanatastic music piece which combined Indian and western music master class. It set the perfect tone for the legend of AR Rahman to enter the arena. A dramatic entry and a punchy first line “Jage hai der tak” set the stage of fire. If ever I hadn’t paid attention to this fantastic song I did it yesterday and understood something more than what lyrics had to offer. This was followed by a fantastic Tamil dance number which unfortunately I can’t even pronounce.

Then came a part of underperformers where few new singers couldn’t match to the level of start AR had given to the show. First up was recent blockbuster “Ye Delhi Hai mere Yaar” sung by various artists and “Masakkali” by Raja hasan. Surly Raja hasan is no Mohit chouhan and asking him to perform this class act was way out of his league. He returned after a while for “Gujarish” originally sung by Javed Ali but was again no match to the original. In between that Hariharan came on stage with one of AR’s early hit and path breaking song “Roja Janeman”. This guy is a class act as he showed throughout the night and those slight variations from originals with one or two notes and pauses elongated were real gems. Then in came the surprise of the evening Blazay, a hardcore rapper who looked out of league with AR in terms of clothing and appearance but he made us all swing to his tunes throughout. Then came couple of low key song like dreams on fire and “Ring Ring Ringa” by Niti mohan and shweta pandit. They were both ok at best and nothing more.

Then AR came back with ever beautiful song “Dil Se” and that one really rocked man. This song got maximum response and once mores form the crowd and thankfully tempo set there was ably carried forward by everyone who came afterwards except for the “Genda phool” team which lacked all the coordination that was required.

Next up was the highest point of the evening when AR sat in a mahfil with Roop Kumar rathod, hariharan and Rashid ali. Hariharan rendered the love and pain in “Tu hi re” with ease and as always was bit more special and different in almost every node he sung. The gang had also given up all the loud instruments and music which meant lyrics stood out more and every word was properly rendered and heard. Hariharan followed this with a forgotten gem from 1947 earth named “Dhimi dhimi” and we again lived every alphabet of the lyrics with him.

Then it was turn of Roop kumar rathod to sing “Khamosh raat” from “Takshak”, another of AR’s lost gem. He was as usual fluent soothing silken and influential in conveying every bit of music and lyrics that song had to offer. Then the mike was handed to relatively inexperienced Rashid Ali who matched these heavyweights note to note with his super hit song “Kahin Toh”. The first line itself cleared all the fears of him not being able to match to these legends and rest as they say was history. AR then told crowd that next one is his favorite song and Hariharan started the iconic “Sarfaroshi Ki Tammanna”. If Sonu did a fantastic job in the original track, Hariharan was no less in the theatrical performance. He followed that with another beauty named “bharat humko” and as always we all felt proud about the home land.

Rashid Ali followed that mahfil with his highly popular “Kabhi Kabhi Aditi” and was again fantastic with his singing and his Guitar. As he left the stage AR was back this time with “Rahna Tu”. He sat there on stairs along with the chorus, carefully singing each and every word of the lyrics which in itself is a beauty and we could do nothing more than agreeing to every feeling he expressed. When he sung “Tu zakham de agar, Marham bhi aakar tu lagaaye, Zakham mein bhi mujhko pyaar aaye” we almost felt the same Zakham and pyar that he felt, and when he sung “Hath thaam chalna ho to…..” we almost walked hand in hand with our loved ones.

Next was my all time favourite song “Chupke Se” from sathiya and Sadhna sargam did a fantastic job as did a team which sang my fav part “Doston se jhooti mooti dusro ka name leke….” perfectly fine. Next was Niti Mohan sensation “Mayya Mayya” from Guru. She is rightly known as Indian shakira and boy she lived up to every bit of that reputation. Not only she sang well for almost 4/5th of the time but danced as good as any professional in the last part of song. Then came Blazay and Benni dayal with kala kala bundar followed by a thunderous DJ mix of all AR dance numbers. For first time in my life I felt DJ work could also require some class. The DJ mix fever was then topped by heavily loaded “Azeem O Shan” where I literally felt that thousands of warriors were singing this song for their emperor. This was followed by a high beat tamil number which also rocked big time.

Benni dayal then combined with Shweta pandit to render a classical “kaise mujhe tum”. The duo sang and danced with same fluency and had set a really romantic tone which was abruptly interrupted by an AR kavvali mahfil where he was accompanied by Raja hasan and moshrafe. AR first sang khwaja mere with supreme ease and raja hasan finally came to party when he sang “Arziyan Saari” pretty decently.

And then came the end and it was as grand and big as you want. All the singers combined together on stage to sing the new anthem “Jai Ho” which for very first time sounded sensational to me thanks to the loud clarity of each instrument played in it and it all ended with AR’s magical “Maa tujhe salam”. By then the levels had reached so high that I could almost feel my body shivering as I was trying to write down the final song in the sequence.

It took me another half an hour through the heavy traffic to finally come to terms with the ground reality. But by then I have been through a world that has no connection with earth and has unlimited freedom, emotions and energy which is fast drying out from our lives. Looking back, yes I felt that more songs and more artists could have made night more special but I still can’t take any credit away from Rahman for putting up a memorable show within limited resources.

It is said that “Music expresses that which cannot be said and on which it is impossible to be silent”. Yesterday Rahman reiterated this to everyone who might have started to lose track with it and yesterday I fell in love with music all over again.

A Twist and A Tale....

In a country where low quality scripts in television are a norm, IPL has well and truly disobeyed the rulebook. And if anything till today wasn’t a good enough proof then today was full of it.

First in an upset of the tournament, champions were knocked out of the tournament by a team that barely looked like winning all season and then the battle of kings looked all set to go to the northern state but instead ended up going down south. If in the first match Warne’s winning combination wasn’t able to live up to reputation they so very earned last time then in the second one Dhoni just gave yet another proof why he is a safest bet amongst all at this time.
So now where does this leave us with points table? Delhi with strong early performances sits firmly on top. They have had two prolific inform batsmen in Ab and Dilshan while Karthik is showing some signs of class that Chappel must have seen in him. Amit Mishra continues to impress in shortest version as well. It’s so good to see players giving ball so much air and imparting so many revolutions on them. Bhajji take few cues, quicker ones will hardly do the trick for you. Delhi is followed by MSD’s very strong Chennai ruled by batting powerhouse Hayden and not only a batsmen Raina but also the bowler Raina. MSD himself isn’t doing that bad either. Then we have two resurgent teams who occupied last two positions last season. Deccan although haven’t tried anything fancy or new throughout, have been able to put together a team that has gelled well and has a good set of Indian guys who on themselves can take team to a win. Rohit, RP , Ojha continue to shine under able leadership of Gilly who himself is still setting the lawn on fire. On the other side we have Bangalore with a fairy tale like comeback. What a season they have had. First they saw highest priced player taken up in the team followed by sacking of their captain. Then we saw angry x-captain showing what he is made up of in the first game itself. A classy and steely performance I must say. But that did a little good as did their new captain as their campaign looked in trouble till another Indian veteran took up the charge and changed the fortunes. Luckily they have also got tournaments one of the most successful stories in Ross Taylor who just got back in form at right time. That man has got one hell of a bat swing at an unbelievable speed and a beautiful ability to get low and under the lower full tosses and to hit them out of the park. Man I wish I could hit one like him.

Then we have Kings Punjab with a very indifferent season with lots of crests and troughs in their graph. Their captain btw has two hat-tricks this season but they had Appam Ch**** to negate all that and much more. Really why would they play him or anyone as a matter of fact? Then we have team of Aila (I must say I am mighty impressed by Fake IPL player and his names) which could make just about everything correct into a dirty and ugly mess. Aila himself had indifferent season with the bat and his captaincy has never been short of serious questions. I mean why drop Pinal Shah when he scored some good runs, why put youngsters at the top when you have tried and tested batsmen who can do the job and why bowl dhawal kulkarni when any of your spinner can bowl much much better than him. If they win tomorrow they might end this season with exactly same position but anything below 4 would hardly please the highest priced franchise owners representing a city that has been benchmark in providing top class cricketers. Then we might have Champions lying almost at the bottom. Big Sister hasn’t been lucky for them neither have been Asnodkar and lesser known Indian Co. Big Pathan was their only hope and he couldn’t always be expected to be win matches on his own. After all Big sister is paying all 17 members not just him. In retro they might regret the fact of sending Kaif back who could have played a anchor they so dearly missed. But Warne magic still continues and the flight the drift the guile the spin is still intact. A True legend and a great mascot of his art he is. And then to the stars of the show and undoubtedly the biggest bunch of losers. KKRs had problems everywhere and in everything except loosing which they religiously did until they realised that they can spoil somebody’s party and they did it by knocking down champions today. Mind just goes back to 3 narrow last over losses they had and what would have happened if they had won them. And on top of all this they had this Fake IPL player who has been the real star of the tournament. Hats off to you man, am in love with your writing.

And any guesses who is going to win this time. No No, am not guessing this now. As I know this isn’t a bollywood script which can be guessed just by looking at a poster. Am gonna see it through to know. But whoever wins it the real champion is cricket which has almost certainly been taken a notch above and the money isn’t doing this game any harm for sure.

शब्दानी कसे सांग तुला मी सजवू
शब्दात कसे या तुला मी वर्णू ....
शब्दाना काय ठाव भाव अंतरीचे
शब्दाना कसे सांग गुज मनीचे सांगू ......

शब्दानी ज्या हुरहुर कधी न भोगली..
शब्दाना त्या तुझी आठवण कशी समजवू ....
शब्दानी ज्या न कधी पाहिले तुला...
शब्दाना त्या सौंदर्य सांग कसे दाखवू ....

शब्दानी ज्या नुसत्या जोडल्या ओळी ...
शब्दाना त्या गीत प्रितीचे कसे ऐकवू ....
शब्दानी ज्या ठोकले दावे स्पष्टीकरणाचे..
शब्दाना त्या प्रेम सांग कसे समजवू .....

शब्द जे नेहमी फिरले एकट्याने ..
शब्दाना त्या मिलनाची गोडी कशी समजवू ..
शब्दानी ज्या फक्त मोजली अंतरे ..
शब्दाना त्या साथ तुझी सांग कशी दाखवू ...

शब्दांचेच हे प्रश्न सगळे ....
शब्दांचीच ही त्याला सगळी उत्तरे ...
शब्दाना या सांग वेड्या ...
शब्दाच्या पलीकडले सगळे कसे सांगू ...

शब्दानी कसे सांग तुला सजवू
शब्दात कसे या तुला मी वर्णू ....

.......निनाद (13/10/2008)