As promised I am back after celebrating Irish Christmas and Boxing Day. I am about to end my sojourn in Great Britain only to watch the final day of Boxing Day Match in India. Lets hope we can give them a fight that has become so rare against them in last 5 years or so. I enjoyed to an every possible extent the exotic beauty of Northern Ireland so cold and dark but yet a place to remember. I have been fortunate to have found good number of Indians here mainly Vilas and Nitin and they did every possible thing to make my life happier here. I can never forget the Christmas gift from my boss, Michael Wood exploration of the Trojan War.
I will really miss the Lagan river, River side office, Holiday Inn and my work place. Thank you Belfast and thank you all my newly made friends here.
Now back to my first love i.e. Cricket, we have got yet another opportunity to make a World Record and lets hope the Fabulous Four will prove to be the nemesis of the Australians. Hats off to the Indian Captain who had a remarkable Test match so far.
Once again a year is passing and we are galloping towards an even year. My heartiest condolences to the People of Orissa and to Mohatarma Benazir Bhutto who died a typical subcontinental politician's death as experienced by Mahatama Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi, Indira Gandhi, Premdasa, Muziburrrahman and many others. May Pakistan rise from the Ashes as the mythical bird Phoenix. I wish my all avid blog readers and fellow countrymen "Happy New Year" and to Team India a Regular Good Luck.
Friday, December 28, 2007
Tuesday, December 18, 2007
My Trip to Angles Land
Belfast an inspiration of Jonathan Swift's Gulliver Travels, Belfast where the grand Titanic was made and where the people say "Titanic build by Irishmen sunk by Englishmen" is currently my home and I am so far enjoying the quite and beautiful, cold and serene, tranquil and mannered stay here. My Trip to Belfast (Capital of Northern Ireland, a province of UK) is quite a memorable trip not because of the fact that this is my first trip but of the fact that I have learned a lot by just observing the manners and culture of the Irish people. My current employer is a big UK giant and thus I got this opportunity to visit its one of the many offices in UK.
I reached Belfast via London on 11th December and I am here till post Christmas. I am in love with this place. This place looks like a Beethoven's symphony created in utter bliss. And being an Indian it gives me a sort of inspiration, a sort of energy to make our country a better, organized and enjoyable place to live. The light in day appears only for 7-8 hours and sun can rarely be seen in this period, the weather is absolutely chilling with an average temperature varying from 3 to 9 degree centigrade and velocity of wind varying from 20 to 40 kilometers per hour so an ideal condition for swing bowling. India is travelling to its much hyped down under tour and now its time for her much vaunted, famed batting line up to stand and match the attack of Hayden, Gilchrist, Ponting, Clarke and Hussey hook by hook, pull by pull, sledge by sledge.
Marry Christmas to all of you, signing off till the Boxing day.
I reached Belfast via London on 11th December and I am here till post Christmas. I am in love with this place. This place looks like a Beethoven's symphony created in utter bliss. And being an Indian it gives me a sort of inspiration, a sort of energy to make our country a better, organized and enjoyable place to live. The light in day appears only for 7-8 hours and sun can rarely be seen in this period, the weather is absolutely chilling with an average temperature varying from 3 to 9 degree centigrade and velocity of wind varying from 20 to 40 kilometers per hour so an ideal condition for swing bowling. India is travelling to its much hyped down under tour and now its time for her much vaunted, famed batting line up to stand and match the attack of Hayden, Gilchrist, Ponting, Clarke and Hussey hook by hook, pull by pull, sledge by sledge.
Marry Christmas to all of you, signing off till the Boxing day.
Wednesday, December 05, 2007
Tour de Hampi Part 2
After taking a good sleep of 8 hours and having continental breakfast we started for the lands beyond Tungabhadra river(Ancient India had known it as Pampa). The ferry wala takes 5 INR to take us across the river but for foreigners the rates are 15 INR per person. The land after crossing Tungabhadra is known as Kishkindha. The same land that had its glorious kings in Bali and Sugreev and God Hanuman (as mentioned in Ramayana).
The birth place of Hanuman is situated at a height of 591 steps(as counted by yours truly and Divya Alok Agarwal) on a hill top. Its around 80-90 meters from the ground level or may be more but our stamina has its limits but atlast we managed to get the top in nearly 30-40 minutes and they say that it can be easily done in 10 minutes even by the octogenarians.
There is a small temple on the top of the hill dedicated to Lord Hanuman signifying his birth place. It was a great experience and that can not be described. This is really a rarest of rare honour to visit our beloved God's birth place. The descent from the hill was as always an easy
exercise.
After paying our tributes to Hanuman we started for a place called Chintamani (about6-8 kms from Hanuman Birth place). This is the place from where Lord Rama had shot down King Bali by his arrow as told by the old lady residing in that place. She told us that Bali and Sugreev were fighting near a mountain on the other side of the Tungabhadra river when Lord Rama shot him down. Its really an unbelievable thing to walk through our childhood books
and finding them true to every scintilla. Near to this place there is an old building (rather ruins of palace) of Tara (queen of Bali). She also told us that some arrows of Lord Rama are still there and one can easily find the bones of Bali at a place near to Chintamani. Due to exigency of my companions we missed that opportunity. This place was the last leg of our journey.
One thing that i was staggered to observe was the number of foreign tourists. They constituted around 90% of the total tourists or may be even more and this clearly suggests that we Indians do not respect our treasures and history. After taking delightful lunch at Laughing Buddha we started for our shopping and then to Hospet and from there to Bangalore by BUS. All credit for making this itenary a grand success goes to Saugata, Ravi Bhushan and Divyalok.
Hoping for a next tour and i think that might be Ram Setu, when I can not say?
The birth place of Hanuman is situated at a height of 591 steps(as counted by yours truly and Divya Alok Agarwal) on a hill top. Its around 80-90 meters from the ground level or may be more but our stamina has its limits but atlast we managed to get the top in nearly 30-40 minutes and they say that it can be easily done in 10 minutes even by the octogenarians.
There is a small temple on the top of the hill dedicated to Lord Hanuman signifying his birth place. It was a great experience and that can not be described. This is really a rarest of rare honour to visit our beloved God's birth place. The descent from the hill was as always an easy
exercise.
After paying our tributes to Hanuman we started for a place called Chintamani (about6-8 kms from Hanuman Birth place). This is the place from where Lord Rama had shot down King Bali by his arrow as told by the old lady residing in that place. She told us that Bali and Sugreev were fighting near a mountain on the other side of the Tungabhadra river when Lord Rama shot him down. Its really an unbelievable thing to walk through our childhood books
and finding them true to every scintilla. Near to this place there is an old building (rather ruins of palace) of Tara (queen of Bali). She also told us that some arrows of Lord Rama are still there and one can easily find the bones of Bali at a place near to Chintamani. Due to exigency of my companions we missed that opportunity. This place was the last leg of our journey.
One thing that i was staggered to observe was the number of foreign tourists. They constituted around 90% of the total tourists or may be even more and this clearly suggests that we Indians do not respect our treasures and history. After taking delightful lunch at Laughing Buddha we started for our shopping and then to Hospet and from there to Bangalore by BUS. All credit for making this itenary a grand success goes to Saugata, Ravi Bhushan and Divyalok.
Hoping for a next tour and i think that might be Ram Setu, when I can not say?
Tuesday, December 04, 2007
Tour de Hampi Part 1
Continuing our Quest of the Holy Grail we "The Fab Four" decided to visit the ruins of the greatest Hindu Empire of South India as inked by the European travellers and Historians in 14th, 15th and 16th Centuries after Christ. Divya Alok, Saugata, Ravi Bhushan and yours truly started for Hampi on the last friday.
In order to reach Hampi one can go either by taking a train(Hampi Express that starts at 10:30 PM from Bangalore and reaches at 7:20 AM at Hospet) to Hospet (a town around 14 km from Hampi and around 458 km from Bangalore if you go by train and 350 km if you take BUS) or by Bus. We took the train and reached Hospet at around 7:40 AM. We took an auto for around 120 INR and in 40 minutes we reached our destination "Hampi". Its very easy to get a guest house or so called hotel in hampi if you have money, nevertheless in 400-500 INR you can get a decent(Some people may doubt this word) room for a night stay.
So after having regular mundane work we started for the ruins. The HAMPI ruins are located between mountains one one side and Tungabhadra river(This was known as Pampa in ancient India). Hampi was also known as Pampa in ancient India. We took cycles for rent (40 INR per cycle for the entire day) as they are very handy there. One can take bikes and scooters too if he has got enough money. We travelled and travelled for almost 6 hours on the tight seat bicyle and that effort culminated in a huge pain in our as***. The ruins are spectacular and one can only curse the victorious Muslims armies of the surrounding kingdoms of the great Vijaynagar empire for these ruins. Just to brush up historical facts the Vijayanagar empire was founded by Harihara and Bukka in 1336 AD and it had reached to its pinnacle under the reign of a great king Krishnadeva Raya(1509-1529). This great empire was famous in whole world for its grandeur, richness, temples and its architecture and this capital was claimed as the most grandest city of the world in those times. But as they say after the prosperity comes
the adversity so in this case also that came. In the water shed year of 1565 this great empire was pillaged to dust by the Muslims confederacy of Deccan sultanates. Vijayanagar army had a portion of Muslims as well but this portion joined the ranks with the invaders and thus that resulted in that great pillage.
Nearly every temple and building is destroyed even in the ruins no one can deny the grandeur of "Hazar Ram Temple", Krishna Temple, The Pushpkarini and the carvings on the rocks and mind it this is one of the finest carvings one can ever see. The only temple that is still in function (as far as we have learned) is the Virupaksha temple and this temple is situated in the Hampi main bazar itself. It has sanctum sanctorum dedicated to lord Shiva and it possess one of the finest stone carved pillars and a typical south Indian architecture. We finished
the day by taking our dinner and after cycling for almost 20-25 kms and i guess even Lance Armstrong had never cycled in such a place.
Next part will include our journey to the other side of the river, the Kingdom of the Bali and Sugriva and the birth place of our beloved God Hanuman.
In order to reach Hampi one can go either by taking a train(Hampi Express that starts at 10:30 PM from Bangalore and reaches at 7:20 AM at Hospet) to Hospet (a town around 14 km from Hampi and around 458 km from Bangalore if you go by train and 350 km if you take BUS) or by Bus. We took the train and reached Hospet at around 7:40 AM. We took an auto for around 120 INR and in 40 minutes we reached our destination "Hampi". Its very easy to get a guest house or so called hotel in hampi if you have money, nevertheless in 400-500 INR you can get a decent(Some people may doubt this word) room for a night stay.
So after having regular mundane work we started for the ruins. The HAMPI ruins are located between mountains one one side and Tungabhadra river(This was known as Pampa in ancient India). Hampi was also known as Pampa in ancient India. We took cycles for rent (40 INR per cycle for the entire day) as they are very handy there. One can take bikes and scooters too if he has got enough money. We travelled and travelled for almost 6 hours on the tight seat bicyle and that effort culminated in a huge pain in our as***. The ruins are spectacular and one can only curse the victorious Muslims armies of the surrounding kingdoms of the great Vijaynagar empire for these ruins. Just to brush up historical facts the Vijayanagar empire was founded by Harihara and Bukka in 1336 AD and it had reached to its pinnacle under the reign of a great king Krishnadeva Raya(1509-1529). This great empire was famous in whole world for its grandeur, richness, temples and its architecture and this capital was claimed as the most grandest city of the world in those times. But as they say after the prosperity comes
the adversity so in this case also that came. In the water shed year of 1565 this great empire was pillaged to dust by the Muslims confederacy of Deccan sultanates. Vijayanagar army had a portion of Muslims as well but this portion joined the ranks with the invaders and thus that resulted in that great pillage.
Nearly every temple and building is destroyed even in the ruins no one can deny the grandeur of "Hazar Ram Temple", Krishna Temple, The Pushpkarini and the carvings on the rocks and mind it this is one of the finest carvings one can ever see. The only temple that is still in function (as far as we have learned) is the Virupaksha temple and this temple is situated in the Hampi main bazar itself. It has sanctum sanctorum dedicated to lord Shiva and it possess one of the finest stone carved pillars and a typical south Indian architecture. We finished
the day by taking our dinner and after cycling for almost 20-25 kms and i guess even Lance Armstrong had never cycled in such a place.
Next part will include our journey to the other side of the river, the Kingdom of the Bali and Sugriva and the birth place of our beloved God Hanuman.
Sunday, November 04, 2007
Emergency in Pakistan, democracy flourishing in Hindustan
I was a mere teenager and a school going boy when i read that Mr. Sharif, the then PM of Islamic Republic of Pakistan was ousted by Parvez Musharraf in a blood less coup (as i remember) in second half of 1999 and when i heard the yesterday news that Mr. Parvez Musharraf has declared emergency in Pakistan i can only thank God that Pakistan is not my Fatherland. Musharraf started his reign with some good intentions and but the monster in the form of Taliban and Al Qaeda had made him to read legendary Hindu story of Bhasmasur. The basic problems of Pakistan are religious fundamentalism as well as chauvinist attitude of Punjabis , which form a major chunk of Pakistani population.
Balochis consider themselves exploited by the Punjabis and that feeling had only enhanced by killing of their octogenarian leader Nawab Bugti. He was a great Balochi nationalist. North Western Frontier Province thinks that Punjabi Army of Pakistan is interfering in their internal matters so a backclash has to happen. Its a well proven fact beyond a fraction of doubt that no body can control the violent tribes of Pathan and If General Parvez has any doubt then he can ask the UK or even the USSR.
Emergency has given Mr. Parvez Musharraf a chance to wipe out every trace of Fundamentalism and militancy from Pakistan and restore the Democracy then only it can become the true Holy Land. May their Gods help them in restoring peace in their lands. Amen. I am highly fortunate that i am living in a real democracy (People can doubt this line too) and may this democracy remain forever.
Balochis consider themselves exploited by the Punjabis and that feeling had only enhanced by killing of their octogenarian leader Nawab Bugti. He was a great Balochi nationalist. North Western Frontier Province thinks that Punjabi Army of Pakistan is interfering in their internal matters so a backclash has to happen. Its a well proven fact beyond a fraction of doubt that no body can control the violent tribes of Pathan and If General Parvez has any doubt then he can ask the UK or even the USSR.
Emergency has given Mr. Parvez Musharraf a chance to wipe out every trace of Fundamentalism and militancy from Pakistan and restore the Democracy then only it can become the true Holy Land. May their Gods help them in restoring peace in their lands. Amen. I am highly fortunate that i am living in a real democracy (People can doubt this line too) and may this democracy remain forever.
Saturday, October 20, 2007
Book Reviews [3-6] : Some must read books and a "Pyasa"
I have taken enough rest from this matrix and am back to continue writing posts on this blog. These days i am on reading spree and i have finished quite a few books namely 'Religion in Politics', 'Falling over backwards' and 'A Secular Agenda' (all three) by Arun Shourie and Herman Hesse's Siddhartha. I will recommend every Indian to read atleast two books out of the 4 i.e. A Secular Agenda and Siddhartha.
A Secular Agenda (by Arun Shourie) is about contemporary Indian problems including national, social and ethno religious problems. It exposes the double standard of Indian government about Secularism and the huge problem of Bangladeshi Infiltration. Currently there are more than 30 million Bangladeshi nationals living illegally and consuming national resources of our country. No political party has courage to say anything against this infiltration as theses parties are the bellwether of the peculiar Indian secularism.
Highly Recommended (9/10)
Siddhartha is about a journey of a person in the age of "The Light of Asia". Its a noble prize winning great philosophical work by Herman Hesse. Read this book to understand your true goal, true identity and world.
Highly Recommended (9/10)
Highly Recommended (9/10)
Religion in Politics and Falling over Backwards (by Arun Shourie) are also very good books. The first covers the use of religion in politics and second covers quota politics.
Recommended (7/10)
Today i saw Pyasa a cult movie acted and directed by legendary thespian Gurudutt. Its a great movie and every person who exists independently should watch this movie. Its a great classic and its strong enough to make you a rebel against the old rigid hypocrite society.
Till i write again good bye.
Monday, September 24, 2007
Pulsating Team India
Johanesberg, RSA, 23rd March, 2003, Team India lost the biggest match of her history (Taking nothing from Kapil's Devils). Today on the same ground India defeated their arch rival to win the inaugural T20 World Cup. This win is the manifestation of the spirit of Young India that wants to become World beater in all the department of modern civilization. Kudos to Dhoni and his young blood to give us a moment to cherish, the moment that has become so rare in recent cricketing history. This win is not a win of a single man but of entire Team. All players from Gambhir to RP Singh have played their role to the perfection and I see a bright future for this team. India has found one very good player from this Tournament and he is none other than Rohit Sharma. To win Man of the Match award in his debut match is totally unbelievable. The two keys players of this tournament for Team India are Gautam Gambhir and RP Singh.
Irfan Pathan has made a great come back and he has every flair to become World's best all rounder and he should be handled with extreme care. But i have little observation against his Man of the Match award in final. I think that award should have been given to Gambhir.
Take my salutations Team India, you deserve many more CUPs. Give this country which is suffering with so many ethno-religious problems moments to enjoy.
P.S Sachin, Sourav and Rahul you just missed this thing in 2003.
Irfan Pathan has made a great come back and he has every flair to become World's best all rounder and he should be handled with extreme care. But i have little observation against his Man of the Match award in final. I think that award should have been given to Gambhir.
Take my salutations Team India, you deserve many more CUPs. Give this country which is suffering with so many ethno-religious problems moments to enjoy.
P.S Sachin, Sourav and Rahul you just missed this thing in 2003.
Friday, August 17, 2007
Indians soiled the English Dream
Sourav ran to clasp Dravid from behind and thus announced the victory quenching the 21 year drought although it could had been an emphatic series victory if Dravid had given English the follow on nevertheless its a great gift to Indians on their Independence day. Everybody from Wasim Jaffer to Sreesanth have contributions in this victory but i want to give some name honourable mention (taking nothing from other players) and the names are:
1. Zaheer Khan
2. Sourav Ganguly
3. Dinesh Karthick
All the three were fighting hard for their places and that acted as a huge motivation for them.
This month is the most contemplating month till now so not doing any active blogging sorry for that. Will come back after a short hiatus.
1. Zaheer Khan
2. Sourav Ganguly
3. Dinesh Karthick
All the three were fighting hard for their places and that acted as a huge motivation for them.
This month is the most contemplating month till now so not doing any active blogging sorry for that. Will come back after a short hiatus.
Tuesday, July 31, 2007
Test Match Report (IND-ENG) 2nd Test: Indians rule the Britishers
No sight is worth watching than seeing the sea of Tricolors flying high in a country that never allowed our ancestors to fly the Tricolor when they were in India. They say Zaheer prefer blue over pink and i say that they prefer to be f***** by Men in Blues. Indian performance is best described by the last picture of the match. It is incumbent on me to delineate the performance of Indian players
1. Waseem Jaffer (7/10) 62+22=84 runs
He played his role with perfection along with Dinesh Karthick and laid the foundation of great Indian Victory.
2. Dinesh Karthick (7.5/10) 77+22=99 runs
The highest scorer for India in this match and he started the Indian proceedings with great assertiveness. He has enough talent to reserve a regular opener place.
3. Rahul Dravid (6/10) 37+11*=48 runs
He found some touch in this match. He made some very good decisions like taking new immediately in the English inning, giving ball to Ganguly in first Inning and asking England to bat first. He has started learning the art of captaincy and we all know that he is a fast learner.
4. Sachin Tendulkar (7.5/10) 91+1=92 runs
He found his nemesis in Simon tauffel in first inning. He was well set for that inning but luck deserted him, nevertheless he produced a inning of character.
5. Sourav Ganguly (8/10) 79+2*=81 runs and 1 wicket
He is going from strength to strength in this series. He was instrumental in curtailing England first inning by dismissing the highest scorer of England. His figure (8-4-11-1) resembles with the figure of a top class bowler. His first inning was one of the most fluent inning of recent past and second best inning of the match after the Vaughan's innings. He also found his nemesis in Simon Tauffel just like Sachin.
6. VVS Laxman (7/10) 54+DNB=54 runs
He also played his role with perfection and proved all the nonsense about the credibility of Indian middle order wrong.
7. MS Dhoni (2/10) 5+DNB=5 runs
After the Lords heroic he decided to take rest and did nothing in the match apart from catching the leather.
8. Anil Kumble (6/10) 6 (lower order wickets) and 30 runs.
He was not that Kumble that we all know. Some how he managed to grab the lower order wickets but he was far from impressive. His first inning 30 runs was the most impressive contribution he made in the match.
9. Zaheer Khan (9/10) 9 wickets and 10* runs
He was Man of the Match. His performance was exemplary in both the innings. He has been giving scathing replies to all his detractors. By showing bat to English players after that insult he showed that "Gone are those days".
10. RP Singh (7/10) 1+2 = 3 wickets
He took the key wickets of Pietersen in both the inning and the ball he bowled to Matt Prior was the beauty. He played his role as a partner of Zaheer with perfection.
11. Sreesanth (3/10) 1 wicket
He was far from impressive in this match but no one will forget the beamer that he bowled to Pietersen. He was partially responsible for the prize wicket of Pietersen in the second inning.
It was a well deserved victory and India dominated all the sessions of the match except the first two sessions of the fourth day. It was a sight to watch Sourav and Sachin performing under Rahul and they say they were conspiring against Dravid for the sake of captaincy.
1. Waseem Jaffer (7/10) 62+22=84 runs
He played his role with perfection along with Dinesh Karthick and laid the foundation of great Indian Victory.
2. Dinesh Karthick (7.5/10) 77+22=99 runs
The highest scorer for India in this match and he started the Indian proceedings with great assertiveness. He has enough talent to reserve a regular opener place.
3. Rahul Dravid (6/10) 37+11*=48 runs
He found some touch in this match. He made some very good decisions like taking new immediately in the English inning, giving ball to Ganguly in first Inning and asking England to bat first. He has started learning the art of captaincy and we all know that he is a fast learner.
4. Sachin Tendulkar (7.5/10) 91+1=92 runs
He found his nemesis in Simon tauffel in first inning. He was well set for that inning but luck deserted him, nevertheless he produced a inning of character.
5. Sourav Ganguly (8/10) 79+2*=81 runs and 1 wicket
He is going from strength to strength in this series. He was instrumental in curtailing England first inning by dismissing the highest scorer of England. His figure (8-4-11-1) resembles with the figure of a top class bowler. His first inning was one of the most fluent inning of recent past and second best inning of the match after the Vaughan's innings. He also found his nemesis in Simon Tauffel just like Sachin.
6. VVS Laxman (7/10) 54+DNB=54 runs
He also played his role with perfection and proved all the nonsense about the credibility of Indian middle order wrong.
7. MS Dhoni (2/10) 5+DNB=5 runs
After the Lords heroic he decided to take rest and did nothing in the match apart from catching the leather.
8. Anil Kumble (6/10) 6 (lower order wickets) and 30 runs.
He was not that Kumble that we all know. Some how he managed to grab the lower order wickets but he was far from impressive. His first inning 30 runs was the most impressive contribution he made in the match.
9. Zaheer Khan (9/10) 9 wickets and 10* runs
He was Man of the Match. His performance was exemplary in both the innings. He has been giving scathing replies to all his detractors. By showing bat to English players after that insult he showed that "Gone are those days".
10. RP Singh (7/10) 1+2 = 3 wickets
He took the key wickets of Pietersen in both the inning and the ball he bowled to Matt Prior was the beauty. He played his role as a partner of Zaheer with perfection.
11. Sreesanth (3/10) 1 wicket
He was far from impressive in this match but no one will forget the beamer that he bowled to Pietersen. He was partially responsible for the prize wicket of Pietersen in the second inning.
It was a well deserved victory and India dominated all the sessions of the match except the first two sessions of the fourth day. It was a sight to watch Sourav and Sachin performing under Rahul and they say they were conspiring against Dravid for the sake of captaincy.
Tuesday, July 24, 2007
Test Match Report (IND-ENG) 1st Test: Lord Rain God saved the Indian blues
Well, I dont have any obnoxious comments left in me to censure Indian players. But as some of our great players are playing probably for last time in England so its worth while to view a glimpse of their greatness in flicks. So this post is delineating the performance of Indian players in the Lords Match.
1. Waseem Jaffer (5/10) Runs 58+8=66
He played an anchored inning in India's first inning although that inning was deprived of any sheen still good enough to save blushes. He failed miserably in 2nd inning. I gave him 5 points because he is partially responsible for the draw as he played more than 156 balls in the first inning.
2. Dinesh Karthick (5/10) Runs 5+62=67
He was at sea in first inning, dropped the catch of Strauss that cost eventually the match, played a brave knock in second inning.
3. Rahul Dravid (1/10) Runs 2+9=11
He got one of the best delivery in first inning and in second he was bit unfortunate.
4. Sachin Tendulkar (3.5/10) Runs 37+16=53
He along with Dravid were responsible for the pathetic showing of much vaunted Indian top order.
5. Sourav Ganguly (6/10) Runs 34+40=74 and wicket of Cook in first inning.
He brought India back into game twice first by taking the scalp of Cook in first inning when Indian bowling was exposed by the Englishmen and second by saving the Indian doom in the 4th day after the decimation of Dravid, Jaffer and Sachin. He got a beauty in first inning by Anderson.
6. VVS Laxman (4/10) Runs 15+39=54
It was not a great sight to watch Laxman felling with the bells in second inning. His second inning partnership with Dhoni eventually saved the match for India.
7. MS Dhoni (6.5/10) Runs 0+76*=76
Got a debut duck at Lords and started poorly in second inning but his guts and pluck saved the match for India. A great inning under pressure.
8. Anil Kumble (4/10) 2+1= 3 Wickets
He didnt get any chance to play his role and some times he was just looking like an addendum.
9. Zaheer Khan (6/10) 2+4=6 wickets
He started the attack as he has done 5 years back in World Cup final. He was consistent in bits and pieces nevertheless he played his part.
10. Sreesanth (5/10) 3+0=3 Wickets
He was arguably the best bowler in first inning and impressive in the later as well. He will go places.
11. RP Singh (8/10) 2+5=7 wickets
His bowling was as majestic as the batting of Kevin Pietersen. The ball he bowled to Vaughan was one of the best Indian swing ball in the recent past and the short ball that surprised Collingwood was the best Indian bouncer i have ever seen.
Now over to Nottingham with a hope that Fantastic four will fire there. Amen.
P.S. My favourite living legend has just completed his office tenure. My best wishes to him in all his future aims and i hope that i will be able to play a role in his Mission 2020. Amen.
1. Waseem Jaffer (5/10) Runs 58+8=66
He played an anchored inning in India's first inning although that inning was deprived of any sheen still good enough to save blushes. He failed miserably in 2nd inning. I gave him 5 points because he is partially responsible for the draw as he played more than 156 balls in the first inning.
2. Dinesh Karthick (5/10) Runs 5+62=67
He was at sea in first inning, dropped the catch of Strauss that cost eventually the match, played a brave knock in second inning.
3. Rahul Dravid (1/10) Runs 2+9=11
He got one of the best delivery in first inning and in second he was bit unfortunate.
4. Sachin Tendulkar (3.5/10) Runs 37+16=53
He along with Dravid were responsible for the pathetic showing of much vaunted Indian top order.
5. Sourav Ganguly (6/10) Runs 34+40=74 and wicket of Cook in first inning.
He brought India back into game twice first by taking the scalp of Cook in first inning when Indian bowling was exposed by the Englishmen and second by saving the Indian doom in the 4th day after the decimation of Dravid, Jaffer and Sachin. He got a beauty in first inning by Anderson.
6. VVS Laxman (4/10) Runs 15+39=54
It was not a great sight to watch Laxman felling with the bells in second inning. His second inning partnership with Dhoni eventually saved the match for India.
7. MS Dhoni (6.5/10) Runs 0+76*=76
Got a debut duck at Lords and started poorly in second inning but his guts and pluck saved the match for India. A great inning under pressure.
8. Anil Kumble (4/10) 2+1= 3 Wickets
He didnt get any chance to play his role and some times he was just looking like an addendum.
9. Zaheer Khan (6/10) 2+4=6 wickets
He started the attack as he has done 5 years back in World Cup final. He was consistent in bits and pieces nevertheless he played his part.
10. Sreesanth (5/10) 3+0=3 Wickets
He was arguably the best bowler in first inning and impressive in the later as well. He will go places.
11. RP Singh (8/10) 2+5=7 wickets
His bowling was as majestic as the batting of Kevin Pietersen. The ball he bowled to Vaughan was one of the best Indian swing ball in the recent past and the short ball that surprised Collingwood was the best Indian bouncer i have ever seen.
Now over to Nottingham with a hope that Fantastic four will fire there. Amen.
P.S. My favourite living legend has just completed his office tenure. My best wishes to him in all his future aims and i hope that i will be able to play a role in his Mission 2020. Amen.
Monday, July 16, 2007
All Time Best Indian ODI Cricket Team
The second and the last post in the current sequence regarding the selection of all time Best Indian ODI Team. Needless to say that i am considering the ODI generation of Indian players i.e. after 1971 AD and minimum qualification for a player is 50 Matches (i.e. He should be a veteran of 50 matches). There is not a huge vier for selection. And the team is:
1. Sachin Tendulkar
2. Sourav Ganguly (Captain)
3. Rahul Dravid
4. Mohammad Azharuddin
5. Yuvraj Singh
6. Mahendra Singh Dhoni
7. Irfan Pathan
8. Kapil Dev (Vice Captain)
9. Zaheer Khan
10. Javagal Srinath
11. Anil Kumble
12th Man Virendra Sehwag/Harbhajan Singh
The openers were obvious choices and we are fortunate to have Sachin and Sourav as our openers. Both are having 40+ averages and both can be called as all rounders. Sourav has taken nearly 100 ODI wickets with a decent average of 37 and Sachin has taken almost 150 wickets with an average of 43 not bad at all.
There was no contest for number 3 slot and Rahul was right there.
There was a huge contest for middle order slots between Vengsarkar, Ajay Jadeja, Kambli, Azharuddin, Yuvraj, Siddhu and Sehwag. Azharuddin got the place because of his exemplary fielding skills. Yuvraj was able to win over Sehwag (for fielding and average) and Jadeja (for strike rate).
Dhoni was an obvious choice for wicket keeper.
People may laugh over the selection of Irfan pathan but he has a great ODI average in bowling as well as in batting(nearly 25 in both). He was given preference over Manoj Prabhakar and Ravi Shastri. All other bowlers were obvious choices.
I have chosen Sehwag as 12th Man over Jadeja because he has a comprehensively better strike rate than Jadeja as well as he is a better bowler.
This is a great team with 4 players having 40+ batting average. 4 world class fielders in Yuvraj, Azhar, Pathan and Kapil. 2 World Class all rounders in Kapil and Pathan. 3 average all rounders in Sourav, Sachin and Yuvraj. 4 players with more than 9000 runs each and 3 bowlers with more than 250 wickets each.This team has scored more than 60,000 ODI runs, 93 centuries and has taken nearly 1500 wickets, what else is required.
1. Sachin Tendulkar
2. Sourav Ganguly (Captain)
3. Rahul Dravid
4. Mohammad Azharuddin
5. Yuvraj Singh
6. Mahendra Singh Dhoni
7. Irfan Pathan
8. Kapil Dev (Vice Captain)
9. Zaheer Khan
10. Javagal Srinath
11. Anil Kumble
12th Man Virendra Sehwag/Harbhajan Singh
The openers were obvious choices and we are fortunate to have Sachin and Sourav as our openers. Both are having 40+ averages and both can be called as all rounders. Sourav has taken nearly 100 ODI wickets with a decent average of 37 and Sachin has taken almost 150 wickets with an average of 43 not bad at all.
There was no contest for number 3 slot and Rahul was right there.
There was a huge contest for middle order slots between Vengsarkar, Ajay Jadeja, Kambli, Azharuddin, Yuvraj, Siddhu and Sehwag. Azharuddin got the place because of his exemplary fielding skills. Yuvraj was able to win over Sehwag (for fielding and average) and Jadeja (for strike rate).
Dhoni was an obvious choice for wicket keeper.
People may laugh over the selection of Irfan pathan but he has a great ODI average in bowling as well as in batting(nearly 25 in both). He was given preference over Manoj Prabhakar and Ravi Shastri. All other bowlers were obvious choices.
I have chosen Sehwag as 12th Man over Jadeja because he has a comprehensively better strike rate than Jadeja as well as he is a better bowler.
This is a great team with 4 players having 40+ batting average. 4 world class fielders in Yuvraj, Azhar, Pathan and Kapil. 2 World Class all rounders in Kapil and Pathan. 3 average all rounders in Sourav, Sachin and Yuvraj. 4 players with more than 9000 runs each and 3 bowlers with more than 250 wickets each.This team has scored more than 60,000 ODI runs, 93 centuries and has taken nearly 1500 wickets, what else is required.
Wednesday, July 11, 2007
All time best Indian Test Cricket Team
After reading and learning a lot these days about all time best Indian Cricket Team i contemplated for a while and then i thought to pen down my Team. This series is divided in two parts ODI team and Test team with my best possible reasons.
My all time Test Team
1. Sunil Gavaskar (Captain)
2. Vinoo Mankad (all-rounder)
3. Vijay Hazare (all-rounder)
4. Rahul Dravid
5. Sachin Tendulkar
6. Mohammad Azharuddin
7. Farokh Engineer (Wicket Keeper)
8. Kapil Dev (all-rounder and vice captain)
9. Amar Singh (all-rounder)
10.Anil Kumble
11. Subhash Gupte
12th Man Sourav Ganguly (as an all-rounder)
There was a close fight between Vijay Merchant and Vinoo Mankad for an opening slot, and Vijay Merchant got the place because of his all round abilities. There was no contest for second slot and Gavaskar was right there.
There were close fights between Vengsarkar, Dravid, Hazare, Sachin, Azhar, Laxman, Mohinder Amarnath and Ganguly for middle order. Dravid and Sachin were obvious choices. Vijay Hazare got the place because of his all round ability. After that there was a close call between Azhar, Vengsarkar, Ganguly, Amarnath and Laxman for remaining 1 place. They all are equally capable batsmen (I am slightly unjust to Azhar). Taking Ganguly as an all rounder will add variety to our bowling attack as he is rather susceptible to fast bowling but he is equally good against Spin bowling. Azhar got the place because of his acrobatic fielding and thus he was able to beat Vengsarkar, Laxman, Amarnath and Ganguly. We need a proper full time keeper. Dravid wont work so i am taking Farokh Engineer over Syed Kirmani and M.S. Dhoni.
There were no great fights for the bowlers. All the bowlers deserved their places.
I have given Captaincy to Gavaskar and Vice Captaincy to Kapil Dev. Sourav Ganguly is the 12th Man in the team but he has been taken for his all round abilities so he has to work really hard otherwise place may got to either Laxman ,Dilip Vengsarkar or Mohinder Amarnath.
Wait for the next article for the the all time Best Indian ODI team.
My all time Test Team
1. Sunil Gavaskar (Captain)
2. Vinoo Mankad (all-rounder)
3. Vijay Hazare (all-rounder)
4. Rahul Dravid
5. Sachin Tendulkar
6. Mohammad Azharuddin
7. Farokh Engineer (Wicket Keeper)
8. Kapil Dev (all-rounder and vice captain)
9. Amar Singh (all-rounder)
10.Anil Kumble
11. Subhash Gupte
12th Man Sourav Ganguly (as an all-rounder)
There was a close fight between Vijay Merchant and Vinoo Mankad for an opening slot, and Vijay Merchant got the place because of his all round abilities. There was no contest for second slot and Gavaskar was right there.
There were close fights between Vengsarkar, Dravid, Hazare, Sachin, Azhar, Laxman, Mohinder Amarnath and Ganguly for middle order. Dravid and Sachin were obvious choices. Vijay Hazare got the place because of his all round ability. After that there was a close call between Azhar, Vengsarkar, Ganguly, Amarnath and Laxman for remaining 1 place. They all are equally capable batsmen (I am slightly unjust to Azhar). Taking Ganguly as an all rounder will add variety to our bowling attack as he is rather susceptible to fast bowling but he is equally good against Spin bowling. Azhar got the place because of his acrobatic fielding and thus he was able to beat Vengsarkar, Laxman, Amarnath and Ganguly. We need a proper full time keeper. Dravid wont work so i am taking Farokh Engineer over Syed Kirmani and M.S. Dhoni.
There were no great fights for the bowlers. All the bowlers deserved their places.
I have given Captaincy to Gavaskar and Vice Captaincy to Kapil Dev. Sourav Ganguly is the 12th Man in the team but he has been taken for his all round abilities so he has to work really hard otherwise place may got to either Laxman ,Dilip Vengsarkar or Mohinder Amarnath.
Wait for the next article for the the all time Best Indian ODI team.
Monday, July 09, 2007
A visit to a rainy paradise.. Mahabaleshwar
Last Sunday due to enthusiasm of my junior Shiv i experienced the bliss on earth. Mahabaleshwar a place near to Pune (You can reach there from Pune in 3 hrs by public transport). So we reached there to explore things. Our Taxi driver "Raja Hindustani" told so many anecdotes about various films that shot there. It was raining and raining and water pouring every where due to heavy downpour that lasted for about an hour followed by sporadic showers of rain and between all this we captured and relished the nature at its best. Our Raja Hindustani gave an animadversion about the place that this place is second only to Cherapoonji in terms of Rainfall. It was bit fogy and rainy out there so we were not able to make our camera click. Some fortunate pics are located here. One thing i learned there that "Its sacrilege to visit Mahabaleshwar without your girl friend with you". I dont know how much time i will waste in this no so google search.
Monday, June 25, 2007
A trip to Kohinoor "The historical Golconda Fort"
This weekend i got a chance to show my presence in Hyderabad. I joined Manu to reach Fubu's home. Some of my friends (Divyalok, Vivek Ranjan, Ravi Bhushan and Saugata) started for the same from Bangalore and after reaching Hyderabad we all decided to visit Golconda fort during heavy cold rain. But we have the modern incarnation of Manu's boat at our disposal. They call it Qualis.
We first started for the 7 tombs built by Quli Qutub Shah. These tombs are great piece of Indo-Persian architecture. While myself and Divya were enjoying the splendor of the tombs the other party was busy in hearing the cheap jokes on Indian epics by our religious Manu. After devouring the beauty of the tombs we started for our main destination "The Golconda Fort".
Before going into the trip details lets give the honour to the fort by giving few minutes to its history.
This fort was built by Kakatiya empire of
We enjoyed every bit of our visit in the fort. Puneet Issar was shooting for a Hindi Film (Highway) in the premises and we had great fun about it. The sound of a clap in certain tombs can be heard up to a huge distance and this shows the maturity of our engineering some 400 years back. We stayed in the fort till 8:00 PM to attend the sound and light show (in the voice of Amitabh Bacchan) about the history of Golconda. The show was truly worth attending and despite of prompting by fellow friends we enjoyed every bit of it.
We consummated the trip by devouring the famous Hyderabadi cuisine. Overall it was a great tryst with the history of Deccan as well as with the old friends. Vivek captured all those memorable moments by his camera and they can be accessed here. Enjoy the rut till we meet again.
Sunday, April 29, 2007
Glen McGrath "The Lord of the Cricket Gods"
I am quite sad as i am writing my fourth tribute in a sequence of tributes to the true Legends Of World Cricket. After Brian Lara, Inzamam and Anil Kumble, McGrath announced his retirement from Cricket. Cricket is very fast becoming more human as all legends are retiring one by one. Now no one can see the top spin of Kumble, cut shot of Lara, power hitting of Inzamam and tight line length of McGrath. No farewell is better than getting the highest accolade (Man of series in the Crickets supreme tournament) in the last series and winning the World Cup for the team.
Indians do believe that Sachin gave a great fight to McGrath but when i look back at the history i only found Sachin struggling and giving his wicket in the very first over he faced. The first super six match in 1999 world cup was very crucial for India as well as for Australians as both teams had reached the super six stage with zero points. India crucially needed Sachin to fire as some 280 odd runs were required in 50 overs but McGrath had some other intentions and he single handedly demolished the much vaunted Indian top order including the prize scalp of Sachin in very first over. The same thing was repeated by McGrath in world cup 2003 final when he took the wicket of Sachin in the first over of India's inning.
I faintly remember the contribution of McGrath when Australia won the Frank Warrell series by defeating West Indies in 1994. In that series McGrath was a great reply to the fierce bowling pair of Courtney Walsh and Curtly Ambrose. And from that series McGrath never looked back and now we all can see he has become a True legend.
Although he was never a gentleman on the field and he showed the same by referring Jayasurya as black monkey, spitting gesture to Lara and shameful duel with Ramnaresh Sarvan. The world will remember you as the greatest bowler it has ever seen.
Indians do believe that Sachin gave a great fight to McGrath but when i look back at the history i only found Sachin struggling and giving his wicket in the very first over he faced. The first super six match in 1999 world cup was very crucial for India as well as for Australians as both teams had reached the super six stage with zero points. India crucially needed Sachin to fire as some 280 odd runs were required in 50 overs but McGrath had some other intentions and he single handedly demolished the much vaunted Indian top order including the prize scalp of Sachin in very first over. The same thing was repeated by McGrath in world cup 2003 final when he took the wicket of Sachin in the first over of India's inning.
I faintly remember the contribution of McGrath when Australia won the Frank Warrell series by defeating West Indies in 1994. In that series McGrath was a great reply to the fierce bowling pair of Courtney Walsh and Curtly Ambrose. And from that series McGrath never looked back and now we all can see he has become a True legend.
Although he was never a gentleman on the field and he showed the same by referring Jayasurya as black monkey, spitting gesture to Lara and shameful duel with Ramnaresh Sarvan. The world will remember you as the greatest bowler it has ever seen.
World Cup 2007 Final (AUS-SRL)
Australia won their 4th World Cup title and made a hatrick of winning three in a row while Sri Lanka also made the hatrick as it became the third Asian team to get a defeat in World Cup final after Pakistan and India in 1999 and 2003 respectively. The final was just a replay of last world cup final when Ponting single handedly won the last final here Gilchrist did the same in this final and he played his greatest inning. Murlitharan and Vaas were not able to induce any affect on the Aussies the only consolation was Lasith Malinga.
To make 282 in 38 overs was never going to be easy for the Lankans and their start was disastrous but then Jayasurya and Sangakkara gave a rare hope for a setback but Clarke and Hogg sealed the match for Australia. I never saw such a dominant world cup campaign although Australia won the last world cup without a defeat but there were some memorable encounters in last world cup like Eng-Aus, Nzl-Aus etc.
Another legend has said adieu to Cricket and this time he is my favourite bowler Glenn McGrath and he reserves a separate post. Australian dominance is certainly not good for cricket and other teams have to improve their games otherwise people will lose their interests in the the game.
Australians, you deserve this accolade and cheers for you.
To make 282 in 38 overs was never going to be easy for the Lankans and their start was disastrous but then Jayasurya and Sangakkara gave a rare hope for a setback but Clarke and Hogg sealed the match for Australia. I never saw such a dominant world cup campaign although Australia won the last world cup without a defeat but there were some memorable encounters in last world cup like Eng-Aus, Nzl-Aus etc.
Another legend has said adieu to Cricket and this time he is my favourite bowler Glenn McGrath and he reserves a separate post. Australian dominance is certainly not good for cricket and other teams have to improve their games otherwise people will lose their interests in the the game.
Australians, you deserve this accolade and cheers for you.
Thursday, April 26, 2007
World Cup 2007 Semi Final 2 (RSA-AUS)
Millions were hoping that the second semifinal would be The match of the world cup but so far it has been a pathetic match as far as RSA is concerned. I havent seen such a pathetic display of batting in such a crunch match and it will find its parallel in World Cup 1999 final when Pakistan crumbled against the Australians. For me it seems that Smith and company played this match without any game plan and it can easily be proved by hearing the sound of cracking of timber when Smith and Kallis were batting. McGrath was supreme in his bowling and SW Tait was awesome. Gibbs tried to recreate the World Cup 1999 magic but he failed to do that and he passed the baton to Justin Kemp to give certain credibility to the South African score. Nel tried hard to give full support to Kemp and his commitment was exemplary. Kemp played a gem of a inning but it was never enough.
Well again my prediction came right as Australia is in cruise control and i am bit afraid about breaking of Sachins record of (673 runs in a single edition of World Cup) by Mathew Hayden. RSA doesnot deserve to play in the finals as they were beaten comprehensively by Bangladesh, Australia and NewZealand in the league and super six matches. They are the 4th rank team in the World cup after Sri Lanka, Australia and New Zealand. So they deserve a defeat in the semi final. Now over to Grand Finale between the acrobatic Sri Lanka and audacious Australians. My favourite is Sri Lanka in the final.
Well again my prediction came right as Australia is in cruise control and i am bit afraid about breaking of Sachins record of (673 runs in a single edition of World Cup) by Mathew Hayden. RSA doesnot deserve to play in the finals as they were beaten comprehensively by Bangladesh, Australia and NewZealand in the league and super six matches. They are the 4th rank team in the World cup after Sri Lanka, Australia and New Zealand. So they deserve a defeat in the semi final. Now over to Grand Finale between the acrobatic Sri Lanka and audacious Australians. My favourite is Sri Lanka in the final.
Tuesday, April 24, 2007
World Cup 2007 Semi Final 1 (SRL-NZL)
It was a treat to watch Mahela Jayawardene in the first semi final of cricket world cup 2007. His inning will be placed as one of the topmost ODI inning in all time great innings list. He came at a stage when Sri Lanka was struggling after losing their top two batsmen JayaSurya and Sangakara. Jayasurya is the only batsmen in Cricket history who has scored the equal number of runs in the two semifinals that he played. In 1996 world cup semifinal against India he scored 1 run and now he scored the same against NZL in this semifinal, quite an amazing feat. When Jayasurya was returning to pavilion then Vaas showed him that he got out on a straight ball.
Now let get back to the match. Upal Tharanga also played a good knock while riding on his luck. He scored 73 runs of 74 balls. Two bad decisions could have damaged Sri Lankan chances but they had their Captain at their disposal. Jayawardene once was scoring at such a slow rate (29 runs of 61 balls) but just after 35 overs he started playing some great shots. It was a treat to watch his sixes and fours against the bowling of Mr. Bond. This inning will certainly go as one of the greatest inning ever played in ODI history in all Cricket chronicles. He was not out at 115 runs of 109 balls that means that he has scored his last 86 runs in just 48 balls.
Well i was betting on Sri Lanka to win this match before today and Jayawardene has proved me right. Now the ball is in New Zealand court and i firmly believe that they will crumble against the supreme bowling attack of Sri Lanka. Cheers to Sri Lanka who is trying hard to play the finals (In last 6 world cups, Asian teams have played 5 World cup finals and have won 3 finals). As i hoped NewZealand batting crumbled in the match despite some good knocks from Styris and Fulton, and Franklin and Patel later in the match. Murlitharan as always gave his best and demolished the NZL sedan. Sri Lankan fielding was as acrobatic and agile that even RSA will find hard to compare them, their team spirit and commitment has no parallel and i think Sri Lanka deserves to win this world cup and if they do so then no body will be more happier than me.
My heart goes sad when i look at the situation of New Zealand team as they were good but Sri Lanka was a better team this time and they deserve to play in the finals. But i feel we must congratulate Stephen Fleming and his team for a good show of NZL in this world cup. He is the most unfortunate captain in ODI history. Stephen Fleming announced his resignation as captain of ODI side in post match conference and best tribute for him came from rival captain Mahela Jayawardene "Stephen's been a great leader for New Zealand for some time, and you could learn a lot from him," he said. "He was a very attacking captain, but it's been a long time [at the top] and he probably feels he needs a break. He's been one of the top captains of the last ten years."
Now let get back to the match. Upal Tharanga also played a good knock while riding on his luck. He scored 73 runs of 74 balls. Two bad decisions could have damaged Sri Lankan chances but they had their Captain at their disposal. Jayawardene once was scoring at such a slow rate (29 runs of 61 balls) but just after 35 overs he started playing some great shots. It was a treat to watch his sixes and fours against the bowling of Mr. Bond. This inning will certainly go as one of the greatest inning ever played in ODI history in all Cricket chronicles. He was not out at 115 runs of 109 balls that means that he has scored his last 86 runs in just 48 balls.
Well i was betting on Sri Lanka to win this match before today and Jayawardene has proved me right. Now the ball is in New Zealand court and i firmly believe that they will crumble against the supreme bowling attack of Sri Lanka. Cheers to Sri Lanka who is trying hard to play the finals (In last 6 world cups, Asian teams have played 5 World cup finals and have won 3 finals). As i hoped NewZealand batting crumbled in the match despite some good knocks from Styris and Fulton, and Franklin and Patel later in the match. Murlitharan as always gave his best and demolished the NZL sedan. Sri Lankan fielding was as acrobatic and agile that even RSA will find hard to compare them, their team spirit and commitment has no parallel and i think Sri Lanka deserves to win this world cup and if they do so then no body will be more happier than me.
My heart goes sad when i look at the situation of New Zealand team as they were good but Sri Lanka was a better team this time and they deserve to play in the finals. But i feel we must congratulate Stephen Fleming and his team for a good show of NZL in this world cup. He is the most unfortunate captain in ODI history. Stephen Fleming announced his resignation as captain of ODI side in post match conference and best tribute for him came from rival captain Mahela Jayawardene "Stephen's been a great leader for New Zealand for some time, and you could learn a lot from him," he said. "He was a very attacking captain, but it's been a long time [at the top] and he probably feels he needs a break. He's been one of the top captains of the last ten years."
Monday, April 23, 2007
A tribute to Brian Charles Lara who inspired almost a generation
Cricket has lost it topmost ambassador. Brian Lara has been a true ambassador of Cricket and he always graced the game in true spirits. I hardly remember his involvement in any incident harming the spirit of the game. Such was the aura of Mr. Great. We are so fortunate to see the art of worlds greatest batsmen of all time. Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar and Brian Charles Lara reserve a place in golden color in all Cricket chronicles. We are very lucky (i think all Indians are) that we have not seen Laras greatness against Indian team but that cannot take any thing from him.
The game has been losing its greatest artists in the form of Shen Warne and Brian Lara and it will see through its tearful eyes the loss of Sachin Tendulkar, Glen McGrath and Ricky Ponting. As they say Game is greater than the players and time is the greatest heeler so new people will come but the void created by these giants will never be fulfilled.
May God give them success in all of their future endeavors. Amen.
The game has been losing its greatest artists in the form of Shen Warne and Brian Lara and it will see through its tearful eyes the loss of Sachin Tendulkar, Glen McGrath and Ricky Ponting. As they say Game is greater than the players and time is the greatest heeler so new people will come but the void created by these giants will never be fulfilled.
May God give them success in all of their future endeavors. Amen.
Thursday, April 05, 2007
The Apocalypse of Indian Cricket
Mathew Hayden gave a bold statement in 2001 immediately after the great IND-AUS series
"Cricket is a religion in India and Sachin is God". And when some points a finger or put a blot on his attitude then there will be an apocalypse as Gods are above all blames.
Mr. Chappell, i tried to decipher his methodology for full 22 months (you can read in my last posts) but i failed to grasp even a 1% of that and the Team India reflected the same by giving their comments against Mr. Chappell. How can be Sachin's attitude questioned? Who can forget his coming back in 1999 World cup final after the death of his father and scoring a blistering hundred? and yet Chappell says he is a mafia and he is an honorable man. Who can forget his back to back centuries in Sarjah when storm stormed the entire stadium? Who can forget his century against PAK in 1999 at Chennai despite of his back injury? and yet Chappell says he is a mafia and he is an honorable man. Who can forget his centuries against AUS in 1999 when all team members were failing like bunch of jokers? and yet Chappell says he is a mafia and he is an honorable man. Who can forget his relinquishing of captaincy when India suffered embarrassing defeats against AUS in 1999-00 (still much better performance than this world cup) and look at Rahul Dravid he is silent like a dead dodo and Greg Chappel says Sachin has an attitude problem and Chappel is an honorable man. Who can forget his bold statement when India suffered early hiccups in World cup 2003 and after that he single handedly took India into the finals and yet Chappell says he is a mafia and he is an honorable man.
Chappel did the right thing by resigning as you cannot live by pointing fingers on your own Gods. Now its upto Rahul Dravid to come forward and break his silence and give a real picture of Indian Cricket and let the truth prevail. Amen.
"Cricket is a religion in India and Sachin is God". And when some points a finger or put a blot on his attitude then there will be an apocalypse as Gods are above all blames.
Mr. Chappell, i tried to decipher his methodology for full 22 months (you can read in my last posts) but i failed to grasp even a 1% of that and the Team India reflected the same by giving their comments against Mr. Chappell. How can be Sachin's attitude questioned? Who can forget his coming back in 1999 World cup final after the death of his father and scoring a blistering hundred? and yet Chappell says he is a mafia and he is an honorable man. Who can forget his back to back centuries in Sarjah when storm stormed the entire stadium? Who can forget his century against PAK in 1999 at Chennai despite of his back injury? and yet Chappell says he is a mafia and he is an honorable man. Who can forget his centuries against AUS in 1999 when all team members were failing like bunch of jokers? and yet Chappell says he is a mafia and he is an honorable man. Who can forget his relinquishing of captaincy when India suffered embarrassing defeats against AUS in 1999-00 (still much better performance than this world cup) and look at Rahul Dravid he is silent like a dead dodo and Greg Chappel says Sachin has an attitude problem and Chappel is an honorable man. Who can forget his bold statement when India suffered early hiccups in World cup 2003 and after that he single handedly took India into the finals and yet Chappell says he is a mafia and he is an honorable man.
Chappel did the right thing by resigning as you cannot live by pointing fingers on your own Gods. Now its upto Rahul Dravid to come forward and break his silence and give a real picture of Indian Cricket and let the truth prevail. Amen.
Wednesday, April 04, 2007
Anil Kumble The jumbo jet of indian cricket
It was a truely sad feeling from the bottom of my heart to observe the worst possible farewell of greatest match winner India has ever produced. Anil Kumble belongs to a team that does not play much test cricket against the weak player of spin (read New Zealand, England, RSA, WI, AUS) otherwise he would have reserved the same status as enjoyed by Shen Warne in international media. Here i will be talking about Anils ODI record, his test record is impeccable. Anil started his career when indian team was struggling to get a quality bowler as Narendra Hirwani and Maninder singh were performing in bits and pieces. He got the offer and he performed that with total commitment. He had a dream ODI run during Azharuddin captaincy. When Sourav took captaincy anil took the senior role and played a major role in nurturing Harbhajan singh, Murli Karthik and many others. It was pathetic to see Harbhajan getting an edge over Anil during those days and may be that cost us the world cup. His fielding has always been the area of concern but his dedication and fighting spirit require no certificate. He played a major role in the finals of ODI tournament won by India. Some of the finest ODI moments provided by him:
His dream 6 for 12 in Hero cup final in 1993, WI was bowled out at 123. Anil was Man of Match in this match.
His 4 for 25 in Titan Cup final against RSA in 1996. India won the cup and Anil won the MoM.
He was the leading wicket taker in World cup 1996.
He won the Man of the series in first Sahara Cup 1996.
He is the one who was appointed the Vice Captain of team India only to be removed within 3-4 months and thus he lost the chance of leading team India that was ultimately grabbed by his 6 year junior in international cricket. Those were his hey days when we used to say proudly that Anil is our trumph card. Lets wish to see his glittering farewell at least in Test Cricket. Amen.
His dream 6 for 12 in Hero cup final in 1993, WI was bowled out at 123. Anil was Man of Match in this match.
His 4 for 25 in Titan Cup final against RSA in 1996. India won the cup and Anil won the MoM.
He was the leading wicket taker in World cup 1996.
He won the Man of the series in first Sahara Cup 1996.
He is the one who was appointed the Vice Captain of team India only to be removed within 3-4 months and thus he lost the chance of leading team India that was ultimately grabbed by his 6 year junior in international cricket. Those were his hey days when we used to say proudly that Anil is our trumph card. Lets wish to see his glittering farewell at least in Test Cricket. Amen.
Sunday, March 25, 2007
Some pages from the darkest nights of Indian Cricket
Being an ardent fan of Indian Cricket it is extremely difficult for me to live in the agony of strange exit from the Cricket's Most extravagant confluence. This is not the first time and this wont be the last, Indian cricket has given us so many moments to cheer and as well as to weep. Since this is the time of dense clouds let me remember some of the blackest days of Indian Cricket according to me.
1. Sri Lanka defeated India in 1996 World cup at Eden Gardens. I was mere 13 that time but still i was not able to eat food in that d/n match. I still remember the tears of Vinod Kambli and torn bottles scattered in the ground with scoreboard reading IND 120/8 in 34.1 overs, 132 runs needed in 15.5 overs and 2 wickets in hand. In this match SRI Lankans score once read 1 run for 2 wickets (Jayasurya and Kaluvitharna both gone) and Indian score once read 97 for 1 and Sachin and Sanjay Manjrekar were batting comfortably.
2. Bangladesh defeated India in World cup 2007. I am still not able to believe that this can happen.
3. Sri Lanka defeated India once again and that happened in a do or die match for India in 2007 World cup. I am still suffering from some unkown shivering.
4. The defeat of India against West Indies in 1997 Test match in West Indies. In the last inning India required 120 runs to win the match and series but India was all out for 85 runs. This defeat still pinches Sachin and many others including me.
5. Indian defeat in World cup final 2003. Ponting single handedly demolished the Indian sedan at wanderes, RSA.
6. Indian defeat against Pakistan in the first test match of 1999 test series. Sachin played best inning of his life but the last 4 indian batsmen were not able to make 17 runs. (Courtsey Shobhit).
For me these are the worst days of my life and i hope many will share agony with me. India where sport is religion and all players are equivalent to GODs, a defeat is equivalent to a curse and we all have to live with curse. This is an appeal to all of my friends to please condone the players as the same players had given us so many victories to cherish.
1. Sri Lanka defeated India in 1996 World cup at Eden Gardens. I was mere 13 that time but still i was not able to eat food in that d/n match. I still remember the tears of Vinod Kambli and torn bottles scattered in the ground with scoreboard reading IND 120/8 in 34.1 overs, 132 runs needed in 15.5 overs and 2 wickets in hand. In this match SRI Lankans score once read 1 run for 2 wickets (Jayasurya and Kaluvitharna both gone) and Indian score once read 97 for 1 and Sachin and Sanjay Manjrekar were batting comfortably.
2. Bangladesh defeated India in World cup 2007. I am still not able to believe that this can happen.
3. Sri Lanka defeated India once again and that happened in a do or die match for India in 2007 World cup. I am still suffering from some unkown shivering.
4. The defeat of India against West Indies in 1997 Test match in West Indies. In the last inning India required 120 runs to win the match and series but India was all out for 85 runs. This defeat still pinches Sachin and many others including me.
5. Indian defeat in World cup final 2003. Ponting single handedly demolished the Indian sedan at wanderes, RSA.
6. Indian defeat against Pakistan in the first test match of 1999 test series. Sachin played best inning of his life but the last 4 indian batsmen were not able to make 17 runs. (Courtsey Shobhit).
For me these are the worst days of my life and i hope many will share agony with me. India where sport is religion and all players are equivalent to GODs, a defeat is equivalent to a curse and we all have to live with curse. This is an appeal to all of my friends to please condone the players as the same players had given us so many victories to cherish.
Friday, March 23, 2007
Dying to say Hooha India Gaya India
Well, started the day with a bad stomach hope to finish the day by saying India rocks. Taking fielding after winning a toss can have repercussions in this match and Sri lanka proved that by scoring 254 /6. It is quite a decent total after if we take SriLankan bowling and fielding then this score become equivalent to 290 so we have to pull our socks really hard.
I am quite critical of Dravids Captainship, why he gave bowling to Sachin in slog overs when Sri Lankans had two of their set batsmen doing their job. Indian fielding was bit better than it used to be in the past, even ganguly saved some runs. Well still my favourite in this match is Sri Lanka. Agarkar, Patel and Zaheer all bowled some good spell. Harbhajan was bit expensive and i am still wondering why he is not able to pick wickets. Dravid&Co. You can do it just play your natural game and believe in yourself.
India started their innings to finish their World Cup campaign. Sri Lanka won my last ODI in a grand style. Very sad to see the farewell match of the big three of Indian Cricket..
I am quite critical of Dravids Captainship, why he gave bowling to Sachin in slog overs when Sri Lankans had two of their set batsmen doing their job. Indian fielding was bit better than it used to be in the past, even ganguly saved some runs. Well still my favourite in this match is Sri Lanka. Agarkar, Patel and Zaheer all bowled some good spell. Harbhajan was bit expensive and i am still wondering why he is not able to pick wickets. Dravid&Co. You can do it just play your natural game and believe in yourself.
India started their innings to finish their World Cup campaign. Sri Lanka won my last ODI in a grand style. Very sad to see the farewell match of the big three of Indian Cricket..
Monday, March 19, 2007
Indian Juggernaut starts rolling. Beware Srilankan Tigers
Exceptional, unbelievable, incredible performance by the wounded Team India. They came back and came back in style by producing a world cup record breaking batting performance. Earlier i was thinking about 350 score but Yuvraj and Sachin did some exceptional hitting the best i have seen in recent past. This batting performance is equivalent to the Taunton performance by Team India in World cup 1999. Cheers to Team india lets hope that they will continue with this form in the next match. I was shocked to see Sourav struggling against the third rate bowling attack of Bermuda. He is struggling and he has to quickly improve as i am bit scared about Srilanka match. Good to see Sehwag back in form. Much has been said about his batting abilities now is the time to pay back.
Indian bowling was not up to the mark. Its pathetic to see Kumble giving runs at a rate of 4 runs per over to the 3rd rate batsmen of Bermuda and Agarkar getting a huge six. If Indian bowlers continue to bowl in same lackluster way then we are going to have a very tough time against the Sri Lankans. I will give India 30% chance of winning a place in super 8.
Well just want to replicate some lines i heard a year back.
Abhi to yeh angdai hai, age badi ladai hai.
Indian bowling was not up to the mark. Its pathetic to see Kumble giving runs at a rate of 4 runs per over to the 3rd rate batsmen of Bermuda and Agarkar getting a huge six. If Indian bowlers continue to bowl in same lackluster way then we are going to have a very tough time against the Sri Lankans. I will give India 30% chance of winning a place in super 8.
Well just want to replicate some lines i heard a year back.
Abhi to yeh angdai hai, age badi ladai hai.
An obituary, a salute and a hope
I saw my first International match at Green Park stadium in Kanpur in India between India-South Africa. This was last test match of the 3 Test match series held in Nov-Dec 1996. Bob Woolmer was the coach of the buddying South African team under the stewardship of late Hansie Cronje. He used to take a round of the stadium with some young lady of ESPN. Myself and my friends hooted him in Hindi and he smiled and waved his hand towards us and that was my closest encounter with Bob Woolmer. A tough coach and a good human, that is the defining line of Bob. He was the person along with Hansie Cronje who took South Africa to such an envious great height. He will be missed in the Cricket world and World cricket has lost a true coach. May his soul rest in peace. But surely his last coaching assignment result was very bad and that led to his breakdown.
Inzamam, Sachin and Jayasurya are the legendary figures of subcontinent. Inzamam was a great fighter in both forms of the game. He was a true batsman. 20,000 runs under his belt what else is needed, his only bad luck was he messed up in wrong team. No one can forget his hitting in world cup 1992 (semi final and final). My favorite inning is his 122 runs against India in Karachi due to which Pakistan came very near to beat Indian score of 349. A gem of all his innings. Hope to see his farewell in a decent form against Zimbabwe.
India will be pulling her socks against Bermuda in order to save a place in super 8. Now the time has come for the big three (Tendua, Dada and Captain) to take all the responsibility and to take India home. They should remember some thing, Before the sun rise the night is darkest so be it. Let give your fans a toast of joy. Amen.
Inzamam, Sachin and Jayasurya are the legendary figures of subcontinent. Inzamam was a great fighter in both forms of the game. He was a true batsman. 20,000 runs under his belt what else is needed, his only bad luck was he messed up in wrong team. No one can forget his hitting in world cup 1992 (semi final and final). My favorite inning is his 122 runs against India in Karachi due to which Pakistan came very near to beat Indian score of 349. A gem of all his innings. Hope to see his farewell in a decent form against Zimbabwe.
India will be pulling her socks against Bermuda in order to save a place in super 8. Now the time has come for the big three (Tendua, Dada and Captain) to take all the responsibility and to take India home. They should remember some thing, Before the sun rise the night is darkest so be it. Let give your fans a toast of joy. Amen.
Sunday, March 18, 2007
Indian Cricket is dead, Long Live the Indian Cricket. Dedicated to Team India.
Ignominious, humiliating, debasing and many words which i am not able to put are the reflection of the trauma through which we all Indians went through last night after watching the death of Indian Cricket against the Bangladesh. This can happen and happen only to Team India that vaunts about her famed batting line up to the last limit.
The Wall, Mr. Dependable and Mr. Cool did some very horrible errors in the Match. On a pitch that favoured movement to bowling Dravid chose to bat first and this error is the beginning of many errors to come. Prince of Kolkata and Nawab of Nazafgarh opened Indias inning and Sehwag opened his gate to welcome Robin Utthapa who chose to offer his wicket by offering a lolly to Bangladesh. Sourav continued with his current form he adapted his game to the pitch and played a sheet anchor role but Sachin and Rahul got out at wrong time. Yuvraj supported Ganguly and they both played to make a platform for a good score. India was 133/4 in 40 overs. In the next three overs Sourav and Yuvraj scored some good fours and India was well poised at 154/4 in 42 overs and we were hoping about 220 but unfortunately for India both got out in quick succession followed by their ardent followers with Dhoni, Agarkar and Harbhajan all scoring ducks and score was 159/9 in 45 overs. Munaf and Zaheer fought hard to gave india some decency.
I failed to decipher why Dravid came to bat at 5th position why not at number 3. Still the score 191 was not too less. I was quite hopeful about Indias win.
Bangladesh started and started well with Shahriar Nafees firing and firing like hell. Agarkar and Harbhajan failed to take a single wicket combine together while spinner like Mohammad Rafique was able to take wickets of Dravid, Ganguly and Dhoni. Dravid started the procession of bad fielding by dropping a catch in the start of inning followed by Dhoni dropping a lollly, Utthapa dropped 2 catches and harbhajan followed the path shown by his captain by dropping a catch. Mahendra Singh Dhoni was seen smiling after dropping a lolly what an act, that simply showed the his non seriousness. Well i dont think that any Cricketer reserves a right to play with the feelings of millions and millions of Indian fans. Again a blunder was done by Dravid by giving a ball to Yuvraj not to Sehwag and when Sehwag got a chance he got 2 wickets but the time was over. I was shocked by this ludicrous defeat still have some hope left about our chances in the Cup.
Ireland gave the same to Pakistan.
In the memory of Indian Cricket that died on 18th March at Trininad&Tobago, Port Of Spain. May the soul of Indian cricket rest in peace.
The Wall, Mr. Dependable and Mr. Cool did some very horrible errors in the Match. On a pitch that favoured movement to bowling Dravid chose to bat first and this error is the beginning of many errors to come. Prince of Kolkata and Nawab of Nazafgarh opened Indias inning and Sehwag opened his gate to welcome Robin Utthapa who chose to offer his wicket by offering a lolly to Bangladesh. Sourav continued with his current form he adapted his game to the pitch and played a sheet anchor role but Sachin and Rahul got out at wrong time. Yuvraj supported Ganguly and they both played to make a platform for a good score. India was 133/4 in 40 overs. In the next three overs Sourav and Yuvraj scored some good fours and India was well poised at 154/4 in 42 overs and we were hoping about 220 but unfortunately for India both got out in quick succession followed by their ardent followers with Dhoni, Agarkar and Harbhajan all scoring ducks and score was 159/9 in 45 overs. Munaf and Zaheer fought hard to gave india some decency.
I failed to decipher why Dravid came to bat at 5th position why not at number 3. Still the score 191 was not too less. I was quite hopeful about Indias win.
Bangladesh started and started well with Shahriar Nafees firing and firing like hell. Agarkar and Harbhajan failed to take a single wicket combine together while spinner like Mohammad Rafique was able to take wickets of Dravid, Ganguly and Dhoni. Dravid started the procession of bad fielding by dropping a catch in the start of inning followed by Dhoni dropping a lollly, Utthapa dropped 2 catches and harbhajan followed the path shown by his captain by dropping a catch. Mahendra Singh Dhoni was seen smiling after dropping a lolly what an act, that simply showed the his non seriousness. Well i dont think that any Cricketer reserves a right to play with the feelings of millions and millions of Indian fans. Again a blunder was done by Dravid by giving a ball to Yuvraj not to Sehwag and when Sehwag got a chance he got 2 wickets but the time was over. I was shocked by this ludicrous defeat still have some hope left about our chances in the Cup.
Ireland gave the same to Pakistan.
In the memory of Indian Cricket that died on 18th March at Trininad&Tobago, Port Of Spain. May the soul of Indian cricket rest in peace.
Saturday, March 17, 2007
A tale of two matches (NZL-ENG) and (HOL-RSA)
16th March witnessed the two world cup matches, one having a fight per ball and the other having a record per wicket. Herschel Gibbs created the World Cup record by becoming the first player to hit 36 runs in an over and Boucher created the fastest fifty record of the world cup with Kallis scoring his world cup maiden hundred. I still remember his 96 runs in a match against India in world cup 1999 the same match witnessed the fighting and sedating 97 by Ganguly. Well i guess minnows are killing the interest by going down so badly against top teams. ICC has to rethink its strategy.
The England-NZL match is progressing towards an exciting finish with Styris and Mcmillan fighting for their country and Flintoff/Collingwood/Anderson for the Queen. England lost the control of the game by allowing NZL to come back strongly after putting a brave 80 odd run partnership between Collingwood and Pietersen. Pietersen was looking good but Mr. Bond had some other thoughts. Nixon and Plunket gave England a hope by putting some 70 odd runs in last 12 overs. English players must be praying "May God save the Queen". Well taking nothing from NZL, England is my personal favourite in this match.
The audacious Indians will start their campaign against upset champ Bangladesh. Hoping for a run feast at Trininad and Tobago, WI.
Time to take a nap.
Over and out from St. Lucia, WI.
The England-NZL match is progressing towards an exciting finish with Styris and Mcmillan fighting for their country and Flintoff/Collingwood/Anderson for the Queen. England lost the control of the game by allowing NZL to come back strongly after putting a brave 80 odd run partnership between Collingwood and Pietersen. Pietersen was looking good but Mr. Bond had some other thoughts. Nixon and Plunket gave England a hope by putting some 70 odd runs in last 12 overs. English players must be praying "May God save the Queen". Well taking nothing from NZL, England is my personal favourite in this match.
The audacious Indians will start their campaign against upset champ Bangladesh. Hoping for a run feast at Trininad and Tobago, WI.
Time to take a nap.
Over and out from St. Lucia, WI.
Wednesday, March 14, 2007
A rollicking start to the World Cup.. (Match Report)
An exciting start of the World Cup, West Indies showed the beauty of the game by capitalizing
About 20 days back I declared my World cup semifinalists (RSA, AUS, WI, (IND/SRL)). I hope to see it right.
Now over to England- New Zealand match on 16th March. I am betting on
Tuesday, February 27, 2007
Good Luck Team India
Last world cup was a great treat for us save the grand finale. That time I was in my college and what a scintillating experience was that. I still remember Aviral telling me to remain standing throughout the India-Pakistan league match when Sachin was firing full steam at one end and at other end Sehwag/Ganguly felled cheapely. Its really difficult to define a line between superstition and passion. This world will not be the same for me as all my friends are not around me but if some how they are then we can relive the old moments once again and this time we will force
The photo of the prize distribution ceremony (Sir Sobers giving Man of the Tournament trophy to Sachin while World Cup Trophy can be seen in the background) still makes me to cry. Sachin/Sourav/Dravid and team please bring both the trophies this time and I can promise you that I will be writing eulogies in praise of you forever. This is my pledge.
May Rahul’s Devils Win the World Cup. Amen.
Tuesday, February 13, 2007
The Cup of Joy has to return
The BCCI selection committee has finally selected the team for the mission “Cup of Joy”. There is no surprise element in the team. But I think my team would be slightly different from the team selected by Mr Vengsarkar’s team (I would have gone for Lakshman, Kaif and Romesh Powar in place of Sreesanth, Sehwag and Kumble). But as the decision is finally out so better look at the composition of this team
Well words are not enough to describe his capabilities and no domain can bind him. He is the one who will play the role of Neo in Smiths (Ponting) world. This world may become his last world cup so he must be longing to give us a cup. His bowling is a great advantage to
Gone with a whimper back with a bang, what a character he is? With Sachin he forms the world’s greatest destructive ODI pair. They are the true legends of ODI cricket with more than 63 centuries and 24,000 runs under their belt. Moreover Sourav can bowl if utilized properly. He has a great ODI bowling average and he can become a good 1st break bowler. Fielding is a bit concern here so he has to do a lot of work.
He was known as the wall of
His performance will decide the height of Indian score peaks. His fielding and bowling is a big plus. He will be the must watch out man for team
They have to convert the score of Indian team to a big score. Sehwag bowling can damage any good partnership but his form is a big worry for team
Just like Yuvraj he will be a watch out man for the team. His clean hitting is a great bonus for team
He can play the role of a batting all-rounder for team
He is going to
9. Harbhajan Singh
He will be the key bowler for team
He has to repeat the form of last world cup when the holy trinity of Srinath, Zaheer and Nehra demolished every team except the Aussies. Depending on the pitch Kumble can replace him.
He is going as the main strike bowler for team
I believe Sachin and Sourav should open and I am sorry for Robin Utthapa. He is not the one who can replace either Sourav or Sachin. Lets keep our finger cross and to have the salvation under the thunder of victorious Team
Tuesday, February 06, 2007
Good artists copy, great artists steal
Last week I read the unauthorized biography of the greatest entrepreneur ever born Steven Jobs who made the world to kneel down before him in order to give him the grandest salutation human race can ever offer. The book iCON is a very interesting book it documents the history of Apple Computers, NEXT as well as PIXAR animation lab.
Microsoft would had been a disaster if Scully had not ousted Jobs from his Apple. It also gave me a cause to remember our final year in IT-BHU when I watched the movie titled “Pirates of Silicon valley” along with my close friends. This movie renders the rivalry between Jobs and Bill Gates in celluloid form so beautifully that the every other thing in the world looks secondary. There is one famous line by Steve Jobs “Good artists copy, great artists steal when he convinces his guys to copy XEROX PARC gui.
In his own words “One has to find out what he loves, stay hungry stay foolish” and this line has become my signature line since my advent in IT world. Steve Jobs is an example of exemplary leadership qualities and hunger for achievement that one cannot ignore him even in his dreams.
This weekend I watched one of the worst films of my life, the Traffic Signal and it was ironic that the movie of the same director Page3 reserves one of the top positions in my favorite films list. This film is such a pathetic film that I slept twice during those boring hours. The subject was great but the direction was direction less. Madhur Bhandarkar, what a magnificent waste! Meanwhile I am beginning to enjoy my stay in Pune as I have plenty of time at my home after office to finish some unfinished past ventures.
Saturday, January 13, 2007
Guru Review -- A magnum opus
Last Friday Reliance Industries witnessed the story of its Founding Father Late Dhiru Bhai Ambani in celluloid form. I also got the chance of watching the movie on first day courtsey my team. The film really justifies the creativity of auteur Mani Ratnam. His Yuva was inspiring in political front and Guru in common sense. It reserves some remarkable performances from Abhishek, Mithun and Roshan Seth. The acting of Abhishek in second half of the movie breaks all past time best hindi movie perfromances. The music of Guru is refreshing despite some nonsense Bappi Lahiri songs in middle. Barso re, Sensational Mallika Sherwat's item Mayya Mayya and Jage hain are some good numbers. Vidya Balan looks scintillating and Aisharya as always titilating. Madhawan is not fully exploited in the movie. Well the film is really inspiring and worth watching so dont miss a rare inspirational movie from Bollywood.
Well BCCI has atleast made some good decision by bringing Sourav back in to ODI team. He has got tremendous ODI record second only to Sachin as far Indian record is concerned. Lets hope that this trick will do the magic for Team India and will reverse the fate of India in World Cup 07.
I also got a rare chance to visit Karla Caves last weekend. These caves are on Sahyadri Mountains and are some 45 kms from Pune and 5 km from Lonawala Hill station. These caves are Buddhist Viharas and are 2100 years old but they are poorly managed by administration. A temple dedicated to Ek Vira Mata is also situated near these caves.
"The Wonder that was India" by A. L. Basham has got some very nice pictures of Karla Caves. So if you happen to be at Pune or Lonawala dont miss the Karla Caves.
Well BCCI has atleast made some good decision by bringing Sourav back in to ODI team. He has got tremendous ODI record second only to Sachin as far Indian record is concerned. Lets hope that this trick will do the magic for Team India and will reverse the fate of India in World Cup 07.
I also got a rare chance to visit Karla Caves last weekend. These caves are on Sahyadri Mountains and are some 45 kms from Pune and 5 km from Lonawala Hill station. These caves are Buddhist Viharas and are 2100 years old but they are poorly managed by administration. A temple dedicated to Ek Vira Mata is also situated near these caves.
"The Wonder that was India" by A. L. Basham has got some very nice pictures of Karla Caves. So if you happen to be at Pune or Lonawala dont miss the Karla Caves.
Monday, January 08, 2007
The Postmortem
Well indian team is back and the World cup is also back after a gap of 4 most happening years in Indian Cricket that saw the ouster of most sucessfull captain, First test and ODI series victories in pakistan, drawn series in Australia, Test series victory in West Indies, 6-1 series victory against Sri Lanka, 4-1 defeat in West Indies and 4-0 series defeat in RSA. We are gearing towards our most important mission for 4 years i.e. the WCup 2007. But its my responsiblity to write some viral writing about last test match which we lost by burrying ourself in a pit of shit.
The wall is no more a Wall and The Boss is no more a Boss. Our greats have become GNOMES in their respective area as they proved this by treating Harris as Lords of the balls.
I havent seen such a show of pathetic captainship who allowed game to slip in a matter of an hour. What an ideal platform Ganguly (Although he should have stayed more) gave to india 90/2 and india win was just a sleight of hand distant from there. But our greats had some other thing in their minds and we justified it by iving 211 as a target for their life.
I dont know why Mr Dravid promoted Sehwag up the order and disturbed the right combo of Jaffer and Karthik.
Why he allowed Munaf to play in the game as all know he was limping in the ground.
Why he gave bowling to Kumble in start despite of knowing that the weather suited for Medium pacers at that moment of time.
Well the moment is over and we got a well deserving defeat. Now we are all set for the World Cup 07. I think that ganguly should be brought in ODI team and he should be given an opening alot with Tendulkar. Pathan should also be give a place.
My 15 member team will look like this
1. Sachin Tendulkar
2. Sourav Ganguly
3. Rahul Dravid
4. VVS Lakshman
5. Yuvraj Singh
6. Dinesh Mongia
7. Mahendra Singh Dhoni
8. Harbhajan Singh
9. Anil Kumble
10.Irfan Pathan
11.Sreesanth
12.Jaheer Khan
13.Munaf Patel
14.Virendra Sehwag
15.Dinesh Kartik
I dont know what our bunch of jokers will decide. Happy new year Team India and good luck for the Cup.
The wall is no more a Wall and The Boss is no more a Boss. Our greats have become GNOMES in their respective area as they proved this by treating Harris as Lords of the balls.
I havent seen such a show of pathetic captainship who allowed game to slip in a matter of an hour. What an ideal platform Ganguly (Although he should have stayed more) gave to india 90/2 and india win was just a sleight of hand distant from there. But our greats had some other thing in their minds and we justified it by iving 211 as a target for their life.
I dont know why Mr Dravid promoted Sehwag up the order and disturbed the right combo of Jaffer and Karthik.
Why he allowed Munaf to play in the game as all know he was limping in the ground.
Why he gave bowling to Kumble in start despite of knowing that the weather suited for Medium pacers at that moment of time.
Well the moment is over and we got a well deserving defeat. Now we are all set for the World Cup 07. I think that ganguly should be brought in ODI team and he should be given an opening alot with Tendulkar. Pathan should also be give a place.
My 15 member team will look like this
1. Sachin Tendulkar
2. Sourav Ganguly
3. Rahul Dravid
4. VVS Lakshman
5. Yuvraj Singh
6. Dinesh Mongia
7. Mahendra Singh Dhoni
8. Harbhajan Singh
9. Anil Kumble
10.Irfan Pathan
11.Sreesanth
12.Jaheer Khan
13.Munaf Patel
14.Virendra Sehwag
15.Dinesh Kartik
I dont know what our bunch of jokers will decide. Happy new year Team India and good luck for the Cup.
Monday, January 01, 2007
End of days 2006
The earth has once again completed her revolution around Sun and we witnessed the coming of 2007 with cracking sound of some noisy crackers. When i retrospect about the year that has just become a part of history i found it as most stagnant. This year i left my first job and ventured around for some sort of illusion known as salvation. I found that in T-Systems and dont know whether it is ephemeral or permanent. Time will tell. This year i have some very good books and visited some very good places in the form of Ajanta, Ellora, Puskar, Ajmer, Jaipur, Qila Rai Pithora and many small but important places.
Well nothing much to write about 2006 i am still un clear about my future and i dont know when i will be able to clear all the clouds that are so prevalent over me. I know that "The biggest depravity in human life is the life without any purpose". Hope to solve the riddle in 2oo7.
Wish you a very happy and prosperous new year 2007.
P.S. We got a much deserving gift from Team India... After getting so many chances to thrash RSA out of the test match... They gifted the match as a new year gift to RSA'ans. A great act of charity. I think there were two stages where match was inclined to india's favor (1. Tendulkar and Ganguly got out in quick sucession in India's first innings and 2. RSA was able to score 265 in their 2nd innings after having a dead score of 143 for 6) but our great players are univeral donors as they justified the suffix of "DIA" in the name of our country INDIA on a lighter part of it. Good luck Team India for 2007 mission.
Well nothing much to write about 2006 i am still un clear about my future and i dont know when i will be able to clear all the clouds that are so prevalent over me. I know that "The biggest depravity in human life is the life without any purpose". Hope to solve the riddle in 2oo7.
Wish you a very happy and prosperous new year 2007.
P.S. We got a much deserving gift from Team India... After getting so many chances to thrash RSA out of the test match... They gifted the match as a new year gift to RSA'ans. A great act of charity. I think there were two stages where match was inclined to india's favor (1. Tendulkar and Ganguly got out in quick sucession in India's first innings and 2. RSA was able to score 265 in their 2nd innings after having a dead score of 143 for 6) but our great players are univeral donors as they justified the suffix of "DIA" in the name of our country INDIA on a lighter part of it. Good luck Team India for 2007 mission.
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