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)

Welcome to the Jungle....

And quite unlike me, a tear rolled down my face not even knowing where and why it is was going this way. Its easy to stop the first drop of tear but once it rolls down the eyes within a flash lot of others go with him like true friends. Today it again happened to me. As usual the teardrop brought a bunch of questions and mostly the helplessness out of me.

A wise man once said (or a wise writer wrote it for movie) "Life is not about how many breaths you take, its about how many moments you lived that took your breath away". I remember writing some time back that such moments are becoming far and few in between. Its indeed true. When i was a kid my mom always told me "don't worry, i am there for you" and i could sleep in peace. Today my mom thinks am grown up and matured so she doesn't explicitly say this and hence i don't explicitly sleep in peace either.

Today i miss that kid. I miss the kid who used to hold his mom's hand and walk around the place with absolutely no fear. I miss the kid who used to run up to dad and hug him for no reason and the dad who used to hug him so tight that he could never feel any insecurity. I miss my younger siblings who used to bug my head for no reason and could still give me sense of honor and respect that very few other people can ever give me.

I miss that one friend who used to sit besides me quietly, just put his hands on my shoulders and would say "hota hai yaar".I miss those nights when we used to go anywhere, talk anything and at the end of it, could feel good about ourselves, in fact feel proud about ourselves. I miss ppl around me who never had much of a say in my life but somehow unknowingly were such an integral part of my life. Some people stay in the background and their presence is never felt till the background is removed only to show you the black and white reality behind it.

And of course i miss HER presence in my life, an ever so wonderful and a truly out of the world experience with her. I miss those one in a million eyes, one in a billion smile and that genuinely most caring heart. I miss that life with her which has no connections with the planet earth and still exists on this earth.

Today i live in extremes. Am either too happy or too sad. Too enthusiastic or too dull. Small things affect me a lot and big things have no impact on me. I live on the edge and always end up trying to balance myself. Everyday is a new challenge, most of which i don't want to take, most of which makes no difference to me. Everyday is routine and weekend is the only festival. Every minute is of value and every minute spent busy doing something is complete waste. Today friendship is clocked on number of hours spent together and not on quality of time, today love is shown by the paychecks and not by the hugs, today food is ready to eat and is not cooked, today almost everything is modern and yet everything is so outdated and out of place.

Today when i look in the mirror, i realize what i have lost. Beard grown, hair all over the place, fatness starting to grow over large part of body and a face starting to resemble a 40 year old, this is certainly not what i had dreamt of 3 years back when i was leaving the college. Yes 3 years it is and 3 years is all it took to take me into this situation. Thats why rather than saying just 3 years i say 3 big fat long years....... Ladies and gentleman welcome to the jungle i just completed three crazy years in here........

Face Off...

It’s not every day that you see a stranger in the mirror..it’s not often that person in the mirror seems to be full of questions....u know the questions but not the answers...or at least u pretend not to know them.......it’s rare that person in the mirror stares at u as if ur a criminal...and you though not guilty still feel offended, helpless by his stares...and still u don’t have words to tell him the truth....or perhaps u know don’t know the truth urself....it’s that one strange glare that kills you....

so what is it? Where am I going? is this because my altitude and latitude has changed or it’s just a mere coincidence...is it because change in angle of sun rays that has changed the projection.....or it’s just my perception that has changed....or is it just that I am awake after ages and see a completely different world....a world where my logic and sense no longer works....neither does my brain......oh may be its just a case of blocked veins in brain....but then how can I think of all these possibilities......no but if the brain worked then how come I don’t know answers when I was always full of them........so does this mean that questions have changed but wait the person in the mirror is still the same....and he still looks fairly similar to me.....so why is this change........or there is no change and I still feel that there is a change.....and if I do then why do I think so......and am I really thinking or just playing around with myself....if not with myself then may be with person in the mirror....but why am I thinking about some person in the mirror.....there can always be only one person like me.....so why am I feeling bad when he can’t understand me.......or is it because he understands me and that’s why he is staring.....but if he understands me then he must know that I don’t know if there is a change....or maybe he wants me to understand the change......and if he doesn’t understand me...then why doesn’t he understand me...when he did it for good parts of 24 years......

so does this mean there is a change in my life....and if yes then is it just the physical environment or there is a mental adjustment.....or is it just an inertia to change......but if it is inertia then why is it taking so long to change....may be I am not applying the force that is required to travel with a constant speed.....but what is constant.....isn’t it all relative by somebody's law.....or is it an exception to the law....if its physical environment change then when was I so attached to it that its changing my views......and if its mental adjustment then why do I still smile and cry the same way I used to......or it just applies to something between these two.......do we call this confusion state or there's no name to it...coz nobody has still been able to put it in words....but why do I need to put it in words.....isn’t it the same thing that he must be feeling too...

where did I start and where am I heading....is there a start and an end.....or it’s also a journey......or its part of bigger journey....may be both...or their combination.....is it something called 20's uncertainty.....or is it something called loneliness that’s gripping me....but why am I feeling uncertain..lonely....who's always been there for me.....parents and some caring hearts called friends.....but they r still with me then why's this happening to me......is it all about being together physically....then when was the last time I was always with any one of them........or is it time to turn the leaf......or may be start of new chapter or a new story.......

if it is...then why is he staring at me.....doesn't he know that anything that starts has to end.....so that a new thing can start.....so am I ready for a new start....but wait if changes r symbols of start..then I have already......oh no....but if I had then I won’t be writing this.......but u know when I am writing this he is still staring at me.....maybe he knows no matter how much I write I still won’t know why he is staring at me....giving me that mysterious smile.......then why am I writing.......it’s better to go off to sleep and see some better faces in dreams than see a stranger in a mirror screwing the holy hell out of me.........

(Guys it’s a raw write-up …..I haven’t even thought of going back and reading it once more after writing this…so bare with my English , typo’s, grammar and spellings….)

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.

Cup of Hope !!!!

After 3 months of hibernation I finally found some time out to write about my first love and what better occasion than a day teams have started taking their flights for Caribbean where grand stage is set for biggest cricket “mela” which promises to be a mouthwatering event.
For now all the cricket has come to a freeze before this main event and air of speculations around chances of each team are reaching all time high. Here I try to list down plus and minus points of teams and their chances at this cup.

To begin with, it’s an exciting time to follow cricket as pure cricket lover. And as a pure cricket lover it is a fun to watch Australia get beaten five times in a row, loose two consecutive series, face a series whitewash and above all loose no 1 position in world ranking. Since the very inception of ratings that position was occupied by only and only Australia. It’s good for game that somebody else enjoys that spot now. They surely will miss Symonds and Lee as they were pillars of their memorable wins. Ponting is coming back from back injury and it’s not easy to get going immediately after back injury. After all the Great Sachin Tendulkar has never been same after such injury. McGrath has lost a bit of rhythm too. So things are not looking so good for champions. I believe that they need Gilchirst, Pointing, Symonds, and McGrath in good form to win world cup. But believe strongly that they are still the best contenders for this trophy.

Over to current no one team SA. They are in ominous form and have taken air out of powerful teams like India and Pakistan. Their strength lies in their lower middle order and list of Utility players. Pollock, Boucher, Kemp and Hall at 6,7,8,9 can easily give sleepless nights to many captains. But they have a strong weakness which might get exposed on slow tracks. Their top order is highly inconsistent and you cannot expect utility players to win 75% games for you. Also these utility players don’t have a lot of experience in WI which makes everybody doubt their chances of success. I don’t think SA stand a chance of even getting into semis. Their bad run at biggest stage might continue this time as well.

Now over to Pakistan. They are anyways most unpredictable side in world cricket and currently their cricket is going through bad phase because of doping and other external things. But they have a very balanced side with great mix of youth and experience, seamers and pacers, hitters and innings builders and mind you they have improved their fielding as well. If they can rise above their internal problems then I think they stand a good chance this time around. Only thing that worries me is that they don’t have any Imran Khan this time which might mean that they don’t have a man for crisis. If Inzamam can take that role then they stand a good chance this time round.

Kiwis for me are Dark horse of this cup along with Srilanka. Their heroics against Champions might be good moral booster for this most hardworking cricket team in world. Two Mc’s, McMillan and McCollum have given much needed strength to their lower middle order as have new breed of players like Fulton and Taylor. They have a quality spin option in Vettori and best leader in form of Fleming. But for me player to watch for in this team is Lou Vincent. I think he is going to have great world cup. My only concern with this side is fitness of key guys like Styris, Oram and most importantly Shane Bond. If they are fit and available then I think they will surely reach to semis and may be even to finals.

The second underdog team this time is Srilanka. They have wealth of experience, all players inform, fielding standards up their with the games best, quality spin bowlers and most importantly players who know how to use WI conditions best. For them it’s almost like playing in Colombo or Galle. I think in those conditions they become unbeatable side with list of spin bowling options that can cramp batsman and make run making very very difficult. I think this is the best chance and conditions for Srilanka to win the cup second time.

The hosts will have home advantage this time and they have been playing some wonderful cricket at home for a year now. They have just seen a dip in performance with loss in India and match fixing scandal still hovering over their head. This might be a difficult tournament for them to live up to expectations. Their fast bowling is only about stopping runs and on some flat tracks this may be dangerous. Also this cup will not have any team with just couple of wins under their belt into semis. They will need to show consistency that they have hardly shown for last decade. I think their dream will end after super eight round.

On to inventors of this beautiful game the England. They have just started to get back into form and have started to gel together as team. But they lack class and consistency which is in plenty with other teams. They need Vaughn playing all matches and Pieterson fully fit. Flintoff, bell, Collingwood hold the key for them but their bowling seems the weakest of the all test playing teams. Batting at the top looks unstable and I see a lot of dependency on middle and lower middle order. They have never taken their one day cricket seriously and will have to pay for it this time as well. I think they themselves also know that their best chance is super 8 and nothing beyond that.

And last but by no means least I come to team India. They have done it in past and do have players to do it again but still if you want to bet you wont bet for them. Such is their current record away from home that they hardly win matches. They have a bunch of experienced players who are not at peak of their career or form. Experience is preferred to youth and in current circumstances it’s a right move. But this makes this team vulnerable to a lot of things. This could be by far the worst fielding side in this world cup. They don’t exert that freshness and energy on field and I wonder if this could make a difference if team is in trouble. After all bad things I would like to say that I believe that this team can go the distance this time as well. Its not just heart but also brain that tells me this team has got people who can scare the hell out of any captain and any team. I think 6 batsmen or 7 batsmen is a decision that can decide India’s fate at this world cup. Pathan is a pain that Indian team is carrying for long time and if it heals in time then we stand a great chance. Because he is one guy who can give another dimension to this one dimensional team and play a role of batsman at no 7 and fifth bowler. Considering his current form that looks near to impossible. His bowling is all at sea, he is not completing his action, hurrying through run-up, his arm is not straight when he is bowling so he is not getting the swing for which he is known, he is just angling the bowl across and his seam and wrist position looks bad. On current form I think Sachin Tendulkar is bowling better than him. If he is not up to the mark then I think Sachin and Shewag hold the key to India’s chances. Their bowling needs a consistency for over 11-12 matches which is a tough ask considering the batting pressures that they have. Another man key to all this is Dhoni. He could well be the much wanted relief for India in lower middle order and in slog over’s. Although he had poor ODI series in WI last time I still think he has matured a lot to take the responsibility. I have no doubts about the three biggies i.e. Sachin, Sourav and Rahul and I think their run feast at world cup will continue. Fast bowling for once looks adequate enough to bowl their quota and middle order looks complete with Yuvraj fully fit. Spin bowling looks fat and experience with Bhajji and Jumbo. In all team looks very good on paper they just need to convert their promise into reality.

After these entire analysis if I was to shortlist two teams I think it will be Srilanka and India who have best chance to walk away with the trophy. What say guys??

A win at Last !!!!!!!

Here it is!!!! It finally happened. Although many will say it was unexpected victory i believe it was expected. But first let’s celebrate this rare moment of glory in Indian cricket.

After what can be called as pretty forgetful one day series, Indian cricket team has bounce backed with a resolute performance to clinch their first ever test win in South Africa, and deserved every bit of long celebrations that followed (believe me I was stunned when I heard the stats of party. 12 champagnes, 60 beers had already finished and still they had not seen the sunset.) We all know Statistics of the match by now and I won’t bore anybody giving the same details again. Rather would like to view all the performance from a completely different perspective.

At the beginning I mentioned that this win had to be called a expected win. I know most of the people will laugh at me but the fact is India is ranked 3rd in test rating while south Africa is 7th while in one days India is 7th and South Africa is 2nd so one has to say India were expected to win this. Apart from that I strongly believe we are not poor travelers any more. From 2002 England tour I cannot remember a many away test series where India has lost badly. (If I am not wrong the only bad away tour was 2003 New Zealand series). We have series win in West Indies, Pakistan, Zimbabwe, and Bangladesh and have series draws in Australia, Sri-Lanka, England. This is in addition to no Africa tour and a loss in New-Zealand (Yes New-Zealand was disaster fact is we did not have cricket pitches there. They were more baseball grounds where they hardly expected the ball to land on surface and hence had kept all the grace on the surface intact). That isn’t a bad record is it? I think no. So I will still say it was expected.

What haunted this team was failure in last 3 series. But lets all accept a fact that those African teams were 10 times better than this current African team. They had people like Hudson, Kirsten, and Cullinon at top with Kallis, Cronje, and Rhodes waiting to bat after them. Plus they had brilliance of Klusner, Boucher, and Pollock at the bottom. Bowling was furious with Donald, Pollock, and Hayward or in old age Fanny De Villiers and some help from Symcox, Klusner. Compare them to current team and you will find that no current batsman or bowler will get a tick over those legends (except for few who are still in the team). This batting line up looks very weak and lacks experience. Bowling though good is not good enough if all Indian batsmen can raise them game to their own standard level and certainly no way near to previous African pace attacks where every bowler applied tremendous pressure on batsmen. Their side in past was so much better that they came to India in 1997 and became the first side to beat India in India after almost a decade. And only Australia has achieved that after them till now.


Second factor worth considering is timing of the series. Indians are always very slow adapters to the conditions. For both series 1997 and 2001 we had test series first and then the one day series. So each time Indian team failed badly in first test and till they got used to conditions test series was already over.(I am specifically ignoring 1992 tour because that was first series after South Africa’s re-admission to international cricket and was treated more like a ceremonious event than a cricket series. I don’t say Africa was bad in that series but India went on that tour as if they were there to raise funds for charity and was totally unprepared for the tour.) So this time we got time to get used to conditions and that proved to be very vital for this success.

Having said all that I have said I still think it’s a great victory in History of Indian cricket because India often have failed to win the things that they ideally should win. So bad was our performance in past that we had lost even in Zimbabwe. And I believe the credit for this transformation has to go to Sourav Ganguly. Love him or hate him he was and is a differentiating factor between our teams of past and present. And just as if he had to write the destiny again, India needed him to bring on this tremendous turn around. May be this is a signal from almighty god to Chappell and Dravid that they cannot decide destiny or fate of anybody and they are just the peons of God. I strongly believe in destiny and also in the fact that whatever happens to somebody, happens for his/her good. And I think this fits best to Dada. Although manner of treatment given to him was wrong, I think Dada needed to be out of side to understand importance of a place in Indian Cricket team and to bring back the fire and desire that had started to slide away from him.

Although 24X7 media has not said it and have glorified efforts of other people I still think inning that changed the fate of the match was Sachin’s determined 44 along with Sourav’s 51 and VRV’s 29. He never got the due credit and Dada walked away with all the glory. I think that second session on first day was very critical since task of playing out that new ball on a pitch which was at its worst in that session was a great task and knowing Sachin I can surely say that he rates this innings very high in all the illustrious list of innings that he has played.

Finally a word about man of the match Srisanth and his Malayalam dance heroics. I admire Srisanth for his achievement and for his Malayalam dance and believe that this was a much needed treatment for Nel who throws his mouth at everybody at will and surprisingly gets away with it without fight. But at the same time I must say that I hated what he did when he got Amla with a beauty of a delivery. I think this was uncalled for and never fits in Indian cricket and tradition. He needs to be told a word or two by his senior members.

Overall in moment of glory and pride and lets take a opportunity to congratulate Rahul and Chappell for delivering under almost pressure of their career and lets hope that they will play well enough to take home their first ever series win from SA.

IT414

Does the name sound weird? It certainly did to me. But it was the name of my first ever flight and like every other first things this was highly awaited.[;)] Just before I go on to subject one question to you all. Who will be passengers traveling by flight IT420? (I think all hackers will be given free boarding passes for that flight)
But fun apart I really wonder how do pilots remember which flight they are supposed to go in. In short can’t they make flight names more user-friendly. Coming back to subject of first ever things, I was really tense while going into flight. My flight was Ahmedabad to Pune Kingfisher IT414. (I think expect the last thing everything else should be sufficient enough to make a unique flight name.)
The preparation for this journey began with flurry of instructions from my uncle and dad. Thanks to them at the end of that session I felt confident enough to go through the complicated procedures of flight and I left for Ahmedabad airport. But when I said bye to my mom and others at the outside gate, I was left all alone on that big airport trying to figure out where to go.
Suddenly I remembered that I had to go to Kingfisher counter to collect my boarding pass. I went to the counter and waited in a queue. This queue was taking more time than one I had been in SBI branch.(yes despite of the whole new look of SBI it still is a government bank and that day it lived up to its old reputation ) I started wondering if this was also run by government authority. But before I could confirm that I heard announcement of Security check for IT414. I got scared. I thought I was late and they wont give me ticket anymore. I was ready to give explanations like traffic and too much time taken at ticket counter but before that I was asked to join other queue which was moving relatively faster (absolutely faster as well ;) ). And before I realized I was at the counter. One lady (beauty I must say) smiled and said your ticket sir. I certainly got lost somewhere and when I came back from my state of being nowhere I had my boarding pass. Now I made my first mistake here. I was repeatedly asked to ask for window seat. But because of pure shame (and beauty) I didn’t ask for one. I thought the lady at the counter will surely know that it’s my first flight (I was at a complete loss on the airport). But unfortunately she didn’t and I got non window seat (I didn’t mind it as it will come in further discussion)
Next I went for a security check and again inexperience made me look a fool. I gave my hand bag for security check and stood at security counter. Now the guard started checking and he stopped pointing at my pocket where I had kept wallet. I said “do I have to show my wallet as well” and in return he gave me a look that made me feel like a complete idiot. How would I know that it meant that take your wallet out I need to do checking without it. But he least cared what I thought and started checking me more carefully. Did I look like a terrorist to him? (Sure I had not shaved for a few days but I think I look good in beard as well).
Then it was the long wait for flight. Unfortunately flight was ½ hour late and we had to wait there. In one of the instructions it was told to me to switch off my mobile so I had switched it off even before I left for airport (typically middle class isn’t it?). But I found people using mobile. But still I didn’t have guts to switch it on. Also there were around 6 TV’s all showing different channels. But only one showed the New Zealand Vs Australia match which was live on air. So everybody was sitting in front of that TV only. To make matters worse some people had kept their handbags on the chair next to them, so all the seats facing TV were full. Normally on railway station or bus stand I would easily go, keep that bag on the ground and use that chair but on airport I couldn’t (again typically middle class).
Finally the plain came and announcement to go was made. As I was entering the plane one airhostess greeted me with a smile. As always I looked back to see to whom she was actually referring to and this time to my surprise I realized that she was actually referring to me. This is the trouble of not being used to be with beautiful girls, all your life you wish if they could give a smile to you and when they actually do that you don’t know how to react. I forced myself towards my seat though I actually wanted to request that air-hostess to smile again.
My seat was next to the passage through which these air-hostesses serve people. Frankly speaking I liked that seat more than window seat, and I surely had a reason for that as well. There were not one, not two but four airhostesses, and boy o boy weren’t they marvelous beauties. I could go on and on writing about their beauties but that is a subject of separate article.
It was then time for flight to take off and I must admit I was mightily scared. I started thinking what if I die and about all the insurance policies that I have. In the end I realize that I have no policies and no dependents. But that didn’t reduce the fear. But to my help came that beautiful airhostess again with some snacks. While I was watching her serve it to all of my co-passengers and exchanging smiles with them, the plane had already taken off. And when I saw out through the window all I could see was clouds. And for next ten minutes I got lost in another of nature’s beauty. Clouds so beautiful and isolated, sky so dry and so huge and yet they still looked so together, making this beautiful environment around us. I wished if we human beings learn independence and still co-existence from clouds and sky then their will be no dearth of humanity on this earth. There will be no wars and no troubles.
Gods knows how much time I would have spent in these thoughts but thanks to beauties again I came back to real world. This time airhostess (till this point she had also became my crush) had meal dishes in her hand. She gave a dish to my neighbor, that fellow said “Thanks” and in return she gave a million dollar smile. But I thought my neighbor was quite used to it, coz I saw no expressions on his face. At that very instance even I decided to do the same and did it successfully as well, and got that smile from her. For a second I wondered if she also had started falling for me. I thought why not? Am I not worth it? I strongly believed that the smile that she gave to me was different from the rest. And I started expecting something to happen within next few min. Then she came back to take off the dish but at that time I was busy having desert so couldn’t catch her actions.
Till this time it was almost 1 hour in flight and I heard landing announcement. I was like no; I want to fly for one more hour, what the hell? I have paid 3000 Rs for it and its just one hour? But before I could pick up somebody to whom I can complain, we were already on the airport.
I said ok. Now I decided to go by DDLJ way and see if my crush turns back and looks at me when I am leaving. I was quiet sure that it would happen but just wanted a proof. And as usual I had heartbreak. I was turning back again and again to see if I can catch her looking at me. But she was still busy saying bye to everybody getting down. And hence one small love story ended then and there.
So the journey which started with questions ended with heartbreak. It was more like journey of life. You start with questions and till you get all the answers you realize that the answers are no more useful to you.
Next day I was back again to office and except for few moments of heartbreak, I had only good memories which I would cherish for rest of my life.