Random Thoughts ... Random Musings ... Blog about Nothing

2015

noreply@blogger.com (Vatsa) — Sat, 02 Jan 2016 17:04:00 +0000

A short but sore note on 2015.

Realized and Re-realized (I know this word doesn't exist)

Gratitude is in a huge shortage. May be it always was. Tried to ignore it for a long time. How long does it take one to say "Thank you". In 2015, repeatedly came across this with very many folks. People don't even reciprocate. The easiest course correction is to reduce expectations. I have been trying to learn, but it is difficult. The benefit of doubt always is people are busy with their own lives. In a specific situation, managed to put across exactly what I felt (this was standing up for someone else) on a person's attitude. One wants to avoid confrontations and hurt other people's feelings but this time I just let go and did feel better for it.

The other thing which was abundantly available was free advise, with the Chennai floods. What made my blood boil was, people sitting in luxury bungalows, with an AC in each room which are perennially on in non-winter Chennai weather, driving several luxury cars and buying several apartments, hence driving up the real estate price resulting in price rise (demand vs supply bla) and generally leading a luxurious life, asking people to reduce their Carbon foot print, to Car pool, us public transport and other such matters of World importance. I know it doesn't matter what I think, it's the individuals hard and rightly earned money to flaunt and enjoy but for heavens sake shut up. This was like the Western countries asking the Developing ones to reduce usage of fossil fuels. The average Indian gets creamed in the summer heat, whereas the AC is on 24*7 in several western country. You get the drift.

Had to get it off my chest.

Note to self, nothing matters as the viral video you are a speck of dust in the larger scheme of the universe.

On a positive front, the relationships which have lasted the many many years, continue to be strong. I can pick up the phone and call to the other end of the country or the world and have a lucid conversation with some of my friends. Had some lovely moments in family reunions as well.

Grieving

noreply@blogger.com (Vatsa) — Tue, 28 Jul 2015 11:28:00 +0000

Why do we grieve for someone we haven't met or don't know. I have been suppressing an out pour nearly every hour.

Abdul Kalam today
MS Viswanathan a few weeks ago.
Even Clive Rice a few hours ago.

All of the above have given us immense joys while being grounded.

How did APJ become so big in India. There were numerous accusations that he wasn't a scientist, he wasn't a nuclear man, he used the media, he was the poster boy of the ruling party. May be all of this is true.

Abdul Kalam won hearts in his ability to connect with people. He threw open the gates of the Rastrapathi Bhawan. Had numerous interactions with school children, artists and asked all of us to do the right things in life. How many of our leaders take the stand and ask us to take pledges and be good. Everyone has their own agenda to be pursued.

I will just quote three examples why APJ will ever be endeared to all of us.

During his swearing in, numerous relatives made the journey from Rameswaram to New Delhi, in an AC coach from Chennai. The cost for the trip and any future guests in the Rastrapathi Bhawan was borne by this man.

Not for APJ the grandeur of a President like menu. He closed the kitchen and had one cook to take care of his needs.

In the times we live, where we want to ensure that we make our loved ones comfortable using our positions, not a single relative of APJ has been in news.

There is no need to mention about Presidents present and past, leaders present and past on how they have conducted themself. People talk about Lal Bahadur Shastri, Gulzarilal Nanda, Kamraj and P Kakkan.

In our times it has been Dr. APJ.

Test Cricket ... New beginning for India and me

noreply@blogger.com (Vatsa) — Fri, 20 Dec 2013 18:08:00 +0000

The past two days have been absolute pleasure for a Test cricket fan and an Indian fan. I started following cricket from 1983, Pakistan's tour of India after the World Cup win, followed by the West Indies tour were the ones Televised. Gavaskar was big, Kapil Dev was bigger. During the early learning days, it didn't matter if the match was Won or Drawn. In true Indian fashion what mattered was a personal milestone. Gavaskar/Vengsarkar/Azhar century, Krish Srikkanth quick fifty, Ravi Shastri sixes, Kapil Dev wickets (it took a while to appreciate bowling and the hard task of bowling in Indian wickets) and so on. After Gavaskar there was a lull which was followed by the ever increasing expectation on Sachin ably supported by the rest (Dravid/VVS/Ganguly/Kumble/Srinath and the rest). With the brave new Indian team led by Ganguly, there was still a huge emotional attachment. I have skipped whole World cups, after jinxing the first match by watching and Indian losing the same. Would be up at odd hours following the match on radio or cricinfo, just couldn't watch as the very thought would jinx India. Many hours worrying for Sachin, VVS, Dravid to score centuries. Prayed through every ball of Azhar's last century.

Dec 2013, is hopefully going to change all this. Will be watching Indian Test cricket with absolutely no expectations, except that the team tries hard and gives it their best. I am not going to pray if a batsman is in his 90s nor for Zaheer Khan to take a 5er on his come back match. Just sit back and enjoy and if this is the way India will play I would most certainly not mind if they lose a few on the way.

Ponniyin Selvan ... finally

noreply@blogger.com (Vatsa) — Sat, 29 Jun 2013 12:54:00 +0000

"Kazhudai ki theriyuma karpoora vasanai" goes the saying in Tamil or in Hindi "Bandhar Kya Jaane Adhrat Ka Swaad".

I finally managed to get all the 6 copies of Ponniyin Selvan by end of April. What started off in the Madras Book fair in January with 3 of the last parts, had to patiently/frustratingly call Ravi Book house every week to check if they had got the first 3 books. Not to blame the book shop or the publisher, how many illiterates would buy a classic not in its original language and go for a translation. But thankfully for the illiterates the translation by Mr. Karthik Narayanan helps.

There is no point writing a review of a classic enjoyed by Tamil literature lovers over the past 70 odd years when the story was published in Kalki's edition. The anticipation of waiting for the next part is something which cannot be understood in this fast Internet age. (I was used to Tin Tin as a one page story per week, in "The Week" magazine in the early 80s).

Some aspects of the story which I absolutely loved (not able to list it all)

1. Beautiful names for the main characters, always used to wonder how someone could call their daughter Poonguzhali or Manimeghalai. No wonder after reading a novel as such one would get mesmerized. Samudrakumari again, what a beautiful name.

2. The passion for Tamil and Sri Lanka, goes back many many centuries and I was able to understand a little bit why there is so much support for the Lankan Tamil's, sadly politicized now.

3. The language used to describe the Chola kingdom and the main characters, again lost in translation in English but get a feel of how best the author has dreamt/envisaged the same.

4. The characters, I just loved the development of Adithya Karikalan, his anger and frustration that something was happening around him and he had no control on that. As someone wrote on the net, was very similar to the Sonny character in The God Father movie series. Most of the other characters are fully developed, Van

5. How people stood for honesty and valour and how diplomatic and polite they were. The sad part is some of these proud people followers in the recent centuries have had to resort to freebies and political gimmicks like reservations to get benefits in the society.

6. The quality of the conversations written. One piece I recollect is the one where Aniruddha Brahamar is interrogating Poonkuzhali.

7. The way the suspense is built and the explanation there after.

8. The post script piece by the author also helped. I did feel that the story had ended abruptly, but the explanation given for what possibly could have happened to the characters later on and the justification to why he felt it was good enough to stop at that point made me very satisfied.

9. Fully etched characters whether it was Nandini Devi (who is an enigma till the end), Aditya Karaikalan, Arulmozhi Varman, Samudrakumari, Anirudhhar, Azhwarkadiyan (Both Guru and Sishya are super characters), Periya Pazhuvettarayar, Sendhan Amudan, Ravi Dasan (also not fully explained from his point of view) and of course Vandhiyathevan.

Centuries ago, when the speed of communication was at snail's pace compared to where we are with technology today and such political conspiracies could be hatched, wonder how deep the political intrigues of current day would be if we do get to hear about it someday.

BTW, Who was the Pallava Child King/Prince. Don't think Kalki has explained the back ground about him. Should ask one of the Ponniyin Selvan experts in my circle or may be that's another loose end.

This year seems to be an year of books where there are sequels, started off with The Shiva series, which flattered to deceive, Ponniyin Selvan which was smashing and currently on Harry Potter to give company to my 8 year old.

Lesson: One should certainly know to read and write in one's mother tongue.

Living in Denial

noreply@blogger.com (Vatsa) — Sat, 13 Oct 2012 17:33:00 +0000

Confession: I was a huge fan of Azhar, aka Mohd Azharuddin, the former Indian cricket captain and still am a sucker for his nimble wrists, amazing agility in the field. A little bit of PR skills could have helped him better during the later part of his career. The admiration for Azhar, possibly relates to seeing him at a very short distance outside his grandfather's house in Himayat Nagar, Hyderabad, the day he returned after his heroic entry to the Indian cricket team in 1984 when he started with 3 test centuries. (India lost the series 2-1 at home to a very average England team, but who cared) I have practically bored anyone whom I have had a conversation for > 30 mins with this story on how it is one of the enduring highlights of a childhood in Hyderabad to have seen Azhar so close. Azhu bhai was very shy those days and after his heroics SBI promoted him to an Officer and he was given a TVS 50. It was certainly a wonderful time and a time of innocence. His school, The All Saints Convent used to trash Keshav Memorial in every school level cricket tournament. The best of me can't comprehend how and why I felt such a compelling to admire Azhar. I am pretty sure I would have been very much tongue tied, given an opportunity to meet him, as it has been with the few celebrity sightings in more recent times. What does one talk to a celebrity anyway.

Azhar admiration continued to the late 80's and 90s. When rumors of match fixing broke out in the 90's, I used to be a fierce supporter of Azhar in all living room discussions. Prior to the match fixing fiasco, every T,D,H and sundry were questioning his commitment and the attitude when he led the team, his lack of communication with juniors, being aloof etc. I prayed through every single ball of his last century scored in his penultimate inning against South Africa in 2000. Then the scandal broke out totally with the Cronje tapes, followed by multiple investigations and enquiry commissions, which I followed like a hawk on the net. It was always one man's word against another and when the the so called final decision came, I thought it was pretty hollow considering there was no definitive proof. Someone had to be made a scape goat and it cannot be one of the two biggest legends of Indian cricket. There was one secret video tape, transcripts of which were released by the likes of Tehelka where Manoj Prabhakar interviewed top Indian players who had mentioned clearly off the record on who could be involved. That was not used at all as evidence. Ultimately only Azhar, Jadeja and Ajay Sharma were handed out bans and it felt so convenient to get some scape goats out to cover up the larger thing. Till 2007 or so, I never believed that Azhar was involved and was waiting for the appeal to over turn the ban by the BCCI, till some where, some discussion hit the situation that there was no going back and Azhar would have to live with the tag of being involved in the betting and fixing scams. Some where I realized with a lot of sadness that the branding was done and it hurt badly. (It is similar to the way the different parties keep claiming that BJP is not a party which doesn't have secular credentials and it has become a common term of reference in the media also, plainly there being no difference between most Indian political parties)

The last few days have been fascinating reading the USADA's report on Lance Armstrong's drug usage to win the big cycling events and there has been lot of support for him as well as people saying "I said so". One of the comments in nytimes, mentioned that a lot of real fans who had been following Lance Armstrong, his remarkable story of recovery from cancer are still in absolute denial and would go to great extent to defend him. Was having a conversation with one of the customers yesterday and he was very quick to brush off the allegations on Lance Armstrong, saying it was all fabricated in total. Looking at the number of confessions from the US postal team and the people close to Armstrong, I don't think it would be fabricated. Personally didn't have an opinion on Lance Armstrong either way and the first time heard about Livstrong and all the arm bands, thought it was very commercial and typical of the American culture.

To a fan who believes the super star sportsman (or woman, remember one Martina Hingis one Marion Jones) he admires, it is denial at first and when realization set in it becomes too much to take.

Education systems

noreply@blogger.com (Vatsa) — Sun, 30 Sep 2012 14:16:00 +0000

I have always been very proud of the different schools, which I have studied in. Whatever shortcomings I have faced notwithstanding, I try to put a brave face and try to defend the alternate views on how the particular school could have done better for the children. Was in a fascinating discussion with a very old friend yesterday on what ailed the education system in the school in which we studied in Madras. One of the better schools, which provides good results, good value systems and focus on education first. I strongly believe that in an Indian context, it is important to focus on education first and the rest (sports,cultural's, creativity) can follow. Moreover for all the other aspects of education, the parents also play an important part and it is not just the schools. But these days, with modern learning concepts and exposure to western system of education, most parents want their kids to be creative and look for the "different kind of teaching". Only time will answer what works for the kids.

Having digressed successfully, let me get to the point my friend was making. In the South and possibly in lot of schools in Chennai, the teacher doesn't like being challenged. What are the chances that a student gets up in the class and says, "I don't understand this and I don't understand why we should learn this" and he/she gets a teacher who is patient enough to explain. When I looked back at this argument, I had to agree this was perfectly valid. You were told something and had to follow that. Of course there were/are exceptional students/teachers who do understand/explain the concepts and hence one has a successful system in the South in the form of results. Apparently in certain schools in New Delhi, the kids challenge the teachers and the teachers understand and respond. The school culture differs quite a bit in Madras and New Delhi for sure and there are many negative aspects of schooling in Delhi, but I found this aspect to be very interesting and never could have happened in my school, plus there was always the bracketing of students under different categories, which if one thinks back is totally bad and insensitive. Kids are categorized according to one's marks and none of the teacher makes an attempt to understand what the child is actually interested in.

The other piece of information which came up during the discussion was that, why do teachers in the South/Madras/My Almamater behave in this way. One of the aspects of teaching in New Delhi is, that people actually want to be teachers. It is not looked as an alternate employment. I am not sure about the compensation scales in New Delhi schools but common sense economics makes one conclude it is certainly not going to be as high paying. There are also lot of male teachers who teach as a matter of choice and the ratio of female:male teacher is not as skewed as it is in the South. Male teachers in the South usually handle PT, there is one male teacher for Maths/Physics/Chemistry/Computer Science. English/Geography/History is very very rarely handled by male teachers. All points to ponder, but wrong to generalize. We did have some very good teachers who inspired the lot of us to look beyond books and also had a bunch of real bad teachers. This is similar to any profession, but there is more of a pinch here, as it involves children's education and their outlook after they leave school. No immediate and perfect solution (unlike MRTS problem in Chennai, pls refer prev post)

Looking at it another way, it is too much talk and hyperbole, considering quite a majority of kids in India don't even get basic education.

Reading the post, it seems put in a very muddled way, it did make a lot of sense when we were discussing :-)

Delhi Metro

noreply@blogger.com (Vatsa) — Sun, 30 Sep 2012 13:30:00 +0000

The Delhi Metro is truly a marvel and God send for a country like India. Experienced first hand the near hassle free travel in a Metro. The technology, hard work of thousands led ably by Mr. E Sreedharan apart, what stuck me was the social aspect of the Metro. No spitting, no garbage, no beggars ... makes the commute a very pleasant experience. Park and Drive facilities and very good connections with the local buses. I have used the London Tube and New york Subway and the Delhi Metro is very much comparable. Apparently the line to the airport was more hifi with internet connections and direct luggage check-in facilities, which has been closed down temporarily for maintenance. Other aspects of the cool Metro experience, reserved seats for Ladies (which most folks do offer), for the elderly and the physically challenged. Delhi ladies don't hesitate to ask the Gents to get up and the Gents oblige. With lot of handhelds and a cosmopolitan outlook, one could be forgiven to think that India is indeed shining. Chennai eagerly awaits the metro in a few years from now and hopefully we learn from Delhi. The MRTS stations can also learn a lot from the Delhi Metro, all it requires is some plain common sense to clean up the stations and make some profit for the railways/Government. Possibly there is something obvious, which the powers in hand, do not want to take care, which results in the abysmal state of the Chennai MRTS. What does it take for the State Government, the Railways, the MTC bus and the Police authorities to sit and chalk out a feasible/profitable plan that keeps all stakeholders happy. Sigh!! If only our problems can be solved in a simple way.

On a slightly silly note, got ripped off 10 bucks, at least 4-5 times when buying the tickets in the stations. In the interest of the people in the queue behind, didn't bother to question the person issuing the tickets on the correct change. Very dumbly believed, that correct change was been returned. The last time, patiently waited and asked him why it was 10 bucks shot and with a very sheepish face, the Gent across the counter placed the change back. Silly me.

Brett Lee's autobiography

noreply@blogger.com (Vatsa) — Wed, 29 Aug 2012 17:01:00 +0000

It is always fun to flip through Aussie cricketers autobiographies. So last weekend in Landmark, was glancing up Brett Lee's. As someone with an image who is mostly smiling, but playing a tough game, Brett Lee was possibly a popular Australian cricketer along with the likes of Mike Hussey, play hard but don't cross the line was something these cricketers mastered well, unlike some of their more talented and successful colleagues. So I wanted to flip through 2 specific episodes in the book, the first one was (no surprises) ... the sydneygate event. Lee briefly talks about his relationship with Bhajji, whom he wasn't particularly not too close but in decent terms. So Lee bowls an yorker, which Bhajji manages to dig out and Lee follows it up with an "I almost got you" dialogue. Bhajji smiles and gives friendly tap to Lee, all good so far. That's when the great Australian tradition of standing up to one's mate emerges, so Mr. Symonds buts in and it was all down the drain after that. A little common sense would have helped, but no that wouldn't do and basically the Aussies didn't like Bhajji because he liked to give it to them as much they gave it.

The second episode was the dispute between Lee and his skipper Ricky Ponting, someone who wasn't/isn't very popular in most parts of the world. Happened in open view, during one of the test matches when Australia visited India in 2007-08. Very very refreshingly Lee comes out honestly and in retrospect finds himself at fault. I have read Steve Waugh's auto couple of times, gone through some of the other Aussie player's books in recent times (Warne, Hayden, Gilchrist) but couldn't find something so candid in their stories.

It would be good to read, what Dravid, Kumble, Laxman if they ever plan to write on some of the controversial aspects of Indian cricket during the last successful decade. The Chappell years being one. But knowing these gents, all that would be under close wraps only meant for the dressing room.

Instant recognition

noreply@blogger.com (Vatsa) — Wed, 29 Aug 2012 16:47:00 +0000

It was really heart whelming to note that the Olympic hero's have been recognized in India so fast. Apart from the usual saga of cash rewards thrown by different Governments and political organizations, the Khel Ratna awards for Vijay Kumar and Yogeshwar Dutta, both of whom stuck a chord with the Indians watching in Television was a job well done by the Government. Both Vijay and Yogeshwar won over the audience by their simple celebrations and well deserved victory. Yogeshwar won 3 continuous bouts and Vijay was so well composed during and after his silver medal performance. In fact all the medal winners wore the dignified look which made us very proud, we had winners who had grace. Saina empathizing with her Chinese opponent who defaulted, the magnificent Mary Kom, who truly put Manipur on every one's lip before we get back to our Cricket, Sushil Kumar who did the back to back stuff nonchalantly and Gagan Narang, who one had thought would never make it big in the Olympics after good shows in all other events.

There were other athlete's too, long distance runners Ram Singh, Irfan Kolothum, Basanta, shot putter Gowda, the promising PT Usha protege Tintu Luka, discuss thrower Poonia, shuttler Kashyap, pugilists Devendro, Jai Bhagwan and Vijender who brought in lot of pleasure and hope by their performance.

Of the Indian Hockey team, the lesser said the better. One of the factors is the total chaos which exists between IHF and HI. But excuses cannot be made, when the likes of Germany, Australia and Holland are vastly superior to the Indian side. There is no magic wand and it is going to take years of effort to recover.

Like all sports fan, it is time now, to forget our Olympians now and retreat to cricket and occasionally tennis till the next Olympics.

Cricket musings

noreply@blogger.com (Vatsa) — Wed, 29 Aug 2012 16:28:00 +0000

An exciting but short test series between England and South Africa, made us ask for more. Although South Africa won comfortably, England did fight gamely, an aspect of the game which was very sadly missing for most of India's tour of England and Australia last year. More of that later. The SAFers seem to have a well rounded team, except for the spinner and possibly Paul Harris might have bowled better than Imran Tahir. Without Mark Boucher, a much admired cricketer across the world the SAFers had to sacrifice a good fielder for De'Villiers to take up wicketkeeping duty, giving the depth in batting. Confession, huge fan of De'Villiers, especially his fielding. Did notice after the one dayer yesterday that this dude averages close to 50 and strike rate is greater than 90. His best years are hopefully ahead. Amla has been an absolute pleasure to watch. All orthodox strokes, the fastest to 3000 one day runs, faster than Viv Richards. An average of 58+ and a strike rate close to 90. How does this guy do it. Easily the successor to the Dravids and Laxmans. Hoping to see many more wondrous innings from De'Villiers and Amla. Smith led from the front with no nonsense batting and captaincy in the tests and with a fast bowling attack to salivate this is the team you want to support after your home team.

Shocked with the happenings in the English camp. First the incident with Kevin Pietersen, another favourite for the way he can change the game and his attacking style. The KP's enliven the game so much they should be given a little more room. I felt it was similar to the Andrew Symonds affair in Australia, another phenomenally talented cricketer who was needlessly lost due to off field shenanigans. It looks like KP will find it very difficult to come back to the set up, but one hopes he is able to make a come back, especially to the Test matches, where England will surely miss a match winner.

Strauss retirement was out of the blue today. Some lessons for the aging ex-cricketers in the sub-continent, who still barb in the press on how they retired early at 37. Strauss brought in a lot of respectability and saner proceedings to English cricket after the glorified likes of Flintoff as captain, the KP-Moores episode, the route in Windies for 51 and also holding together a group who specialize in autobiographies raising criticism on fellow mates. Strauss to me was close to the Mark Taylor setup. Last year after the cricket WC, it was a surprise to see him retire, especially after making a brilliant 158 against India, the test retirement is a very sad blow to England. Thought he would have wanted to lead against the Aussies in the next Ashes at least. Cook will have the support of his Essex mentor Gooch and Andy Flower, but is he a natural level head captain like Straussy, remains to be seen.

As for Indian cricket, the VVS retirement wasn't totally unexpected. Touch of drama though, with yaada yaada type statements on Dhoni-Laxman relationship. All making for good press, but I don't think there would be anything behind the smoke. Knowing the Laxmans, Dravids and Dhonis they would possibly take any differences to their grave if they had any in the first place, than to rake up needless controversy's in the larger interest.

The U19 win was a surprise, beating the Aussies at home is no mean feat, but as rightfully commented by former cricketers, a long way to go. Leander Paes did win the Jr Wimbledon, but the Pro's are different. Would be good to blood some of the youngsters, after one Mr. Sachin Tendulkar in 1989, don't think any of the other gambles paid off. On an unsurprising note, there were comments that the youngsters need to be "mentored" by the likes of Rahul Dravid and Anil Kumble. Why doesn't anyone say, that mentoring can also be done by the likes of Sourav Ganguly :-) Oh well we all know the answer for that one.

The test match win, against the Kiwis wasn't surprising. This is the type of series, where you don't win you get blasted, you win, one says whats the big deal. This phase of India cricket, reminds me of the time after the 92 World Cup. India lost 4-0 in Australia, lost a very defensive series in South Africa with poor scoring rates and extremely poor World Cup. It followed the retirement of Vengsarkar, Ravi Shastri, Srikkanth and Kapil Dev was just hanging in for the sake of the record. Youngsters Manjrekar, Tendulkar, Kambli, Amre, Srinath and the recalled Kumble were expected to be given a longer run, with possibly Azhar the only one of the Class of the 80s. So here we are with Kohli, Pujara, Raina (once again a break), Rahane, Ashwin, Ojha and Yadav.

Some of the most practical, sensible and forthright thinking Indian cricketers don't get their dues. A few names which come up are Murali Karthik (who incidentally wrote a brilliant piece on VVS), Akash Chopra, Sanjay Manjrekar (one of the saner voices, who is now being pulled by the dark side :-) ), Ashwin seems to be headed in the direction. For an youngster who has bowled (and batted) so well in the short span of International cricket, the number of voices against him seems surprising. He comes out as a very forthright guy (possibly due to the upbringing, the kind of school and education he has had) and without being boastful or sugar coat statements is refreshing in interviews. Unfortunately that is interpreted differently in an age of cliches. Ashwin's record in Australia is held against him, not forgetting the fact it was his 2nd test series. In comparing his record in Australia against the like of Bhajji, Venkatraghavan and more recently Saqlain, Mushtaq, Murali I dont think there would be too much of a difference. (Point to be noted that Saqlain and Mushie had the W's on the other side for support). Someone had written that Bedi and Prasanna had 30+ wickets in Australia at an avg closer to the lower 30s. Statistics can be only so much helpful. Both Bedi and Prasanna had one 5 match series against the weak end Australian team in 1977. So guys we need to be patient with Ashwin, it is as if we have a cup board overflowing with talent and he is blocking the same. Wish to see Ashwin successful in the future. Badrinath probably got the best farewell gift from Cheeka Srikkanth. How very unfortunate for one person who has been scoring by the tons, to being overtaken or multiple chances given to the rest in the name of being young or performance in one dayers. Badri should have played test much much before the likes of Raina or Yuvraj, who for every successful oneday series against a visiting country never did have the technique for tests. All we asks as cricket fans, is 3 consecutive tests for Badri. I think its a long shot, unless there is a spate of injuries before the 2nd tests, Dhoni's preference of not making changes to the teams (whether we win or lose, like we saw in Australia). So Raina will get one more turn, before the next bunch of selectorial committee comes in.

The weekend

noreply@blogger.com (Vatsa) — Sun, 22 Jul 2012 14:18:00 +0000

A super packed weekend, one which makes one ask for more and also totally exhausted. Friday evening, the kid's oldest friend dropped in at home with her grand parents. The kids had a terrific time, they didn't even remember when they had met last. Hopefully one of the many such meetings in the future. Saturday early morning drive, in the now familiar path to Ravathanalluar, on NH45/GST. Very good roads and a simple pujai at the temple. Drove back and reached home a little after 11 am. After a lovely meal which was the prasadam in the form of Puliyodharai, hit snooze for a while. Evening, we went to Bharatiya Vidya Bhawan for dance Arangetram program of a cousin. Simple and elegant performance. The chief guests of the evening gave very humble speeches, overall an evening well spent. Some of the experts, spoke about how difficult it is to encourage, teach, practice an art form outside of our country with completely different cultural backgrounds and value systems. The efforts of all those involved in encouraging and sustaining the Indian art forms whether Carnatic/Hindustani or different art forms really needs lot of appreciation. The evening was not yet done, after a quick dinner went for the night show of "The Dark Knight Rises". The movie was good, although possibly a tad below the brilliant stuff brought in the previous version. Enjoyed it thoroughly. Thought most creative people, consciously try to bringing in differences in their creations. Not able to identify it clearly, but there seems to be a similar kind of hangover over the recent movies from Christopher Nolan. (The Dark Knight, Inception and now The Dark Knight Rises), not that I cared. It was very good entertainment and with all the hype, there seems to be a mass following in the theatres, for the Batman series. It took me a while to recognize that Nolan apart from keeping the heavy theme in, also got in some of his artists from Inception. A good English movie in theatre, after two years. Now the wait for the concluding part of Daniel Craig's Bond movie.

Sunday was spent lazing around and afternoon for the kids karate belt test.

The week ahead beckons.

Curiosity kills the cat

noreply@blogger.com (Vatsa) — Sun, 15 Jul 2012 16:54:00 +0000

Was reading, Peter Roebuck's "Sometimes I forget to laugh" which gives a fascinating insight to the inside story behind the successful formation of a strong Somerset team in the early 80s and its break up. It was fascinating in many aspects, more so from the aspect of the thoughts of different individuals who form a team and their expectations, insecurities and reaction. Not too different from a team one has at work place where we see different individuals. Having followed Peter Roebuck's articles for quite a while, he did seem to take extreme positions and contradictory as well, there was certainly a lot of passion in his writings especially for one who follows the traditional game. Suddenly became very curious as to what had happened of the supposed inquest and tumbled upon this. Sydney Morning herald with its Peter Lalor's and Malcolm Conn's could be the Australian answer to TOI. Still it was shocking and was not able to complete reading the article as it progressively went south on a man who seemed very principled in his writings. Pretty shocking if true and the shocking the extent to which a man could go to attain his craving. Just hope it isn't true for Peter Roebuck did a lot of good with his frank writing on cricket and the foundation he established did good to people.

Shame

noreply@blogger.com (Vatsa) — Fri, 13 Jul 2012 16:00:00 +0000

We live in shameful times, when all morality and decency of human behavior goes for a toss. One just has to be at the wrong place at the wrong time and any of us can be caught.

A few days ago, we heard the news of Pinki Pramanik, a national and Common Wealth games champion who was arrested without bail on charges filed, which could/could not have been flimsy. The cops literally dragged her out of her house and photos published in as respected newspaper as the Hindu had a policeman holding her what I would consider inappropriately. She spent 26 days in jail.

... and today we see the ghastly video of a 11th standard girl being molested by a shameless mob in Assam. We read news of how safe most of our cities are for women alarmingly on a daily basis, but this video pips it all.

The likes of ND Tiwari who had a paternity case filed against him after the prostitution ring case when he was the Governor of AP gets protection from courts, the Ramalingaraju's live in the comfort of their 365 houses made through swindled money, the Kalmadi's out on bail will go to Olympics possibly sponsored by the Government. Who protects the Pinki Pramanik and the 11th standard girls or a Sonali Mukherjee.

Instead of governing, when our Government body spends the best times in canvassing for a Presidential candidate and the opposition is equally culpable, what hopes do we have.

The upper middle class continues to live in delusion and denial, one look at the comments in the article indicate how much the Westernization has led to a confused and irresponsible democracy. People now drink to unwind, drinking is a fashion and part of regular lifestyle. Ironically a large group of the same set of people who are against the Mumbai police commissioner are the ones crying out loud on twitter and Internet on the Assam issue.

Very disturbing times.

... my Father, let my country awake.

Rant

noreply@blogger.com (Vatsa) — Sat, 23 Jun 2012 10:48:00 +0000

Television programmes in India have to be the most unoriginal. I have to watch "Chotta Bheem", given prevailing situations at home. One of my friends had gifted "Chotta Bheem" comics a while back. The characters are introduced Asterix style. The story's lack total imagination. If fantasy is everything, then our writers/creativity is close to zilch. In the name of imagination, Aliens are brought in randomly. Today morning was watching yet another episode of Bheem, where the gang is lost in the desert. They turn up at a place similar to Al Khazneh, a direct lift from the location of the grail in Indiana Jones, which itself was a hat tip to one of the art works appearing in Tintin, Red Sea Sharks. No surprises at all after that. There is a secret path way across crevice, in Last Crusade, where one has to trust God and step forward.

Some Originality required please.

On the subject of originality, was catching up on a few movies on long flights during a recent business trip. On the record, I think the number of heist movies are exceeding one's appetite. Watched Don 2, Mankatha, Man on the Ledge and a hindi movie called Players. Questions first

1. Haven't security agencies/cops become smart and started blocking air conditioner vents after watching so many movies in the 90s where security gets breached through these vantage points.

2. However complicated a security system, with lasers, cameras, combination locks, retina/finger print scans our hero's will be able to break through the same.

3. Why do cops in Hindi movie are always called "Khan" and mostly these are good cops.

4. The cool guys who pool capers are all called "Charlie".

5. Don 2, Mankatha very bad. By wearing long coats, (trying to) mouth cool/glib dialogues and very average plots. Both movies were hits right ?

6. Hindi movies, there is a genre in the past decade or so. One must have lost count on the type of movies being made in this way. Bring in dozen stars who are working together for a heist and there is the cool guy, the quiet guy, the babe in leather and a few more odd characters. Was amazed how the Dhoom series were hits, I guess I should stop wondering.

Books read recently

noreply@blogger.com (Vatsa) — Sun, 20 May 2012 06:51:00 +0000

"What do they know of cricket who only cricket know" ... CLR James's romantic novel on cricket, "Beyond a Boundary". Am certain it would have been an inspiration to Ramachandra Guha's book, "A Corner of a Foreign Field". Traces quite a bit of West Indian history, with 4 chapters devoted to West Indian cricketers, George John, Wilton St. Hill (whom I never heard off) and Learie Constantine and George Headley. Narrated in inimitable West Indian style. Had to skip numerous pages as it covered extensively on British-WestIndian politics. Lot of similarities to the way cricket Administrators operate world wide, the handling of Roy Gilchrist incident, how Frank Worrell was made the West Indian captain (should get hands on the 1960-61 Windies-Aussie series, for a lot more anectodes), analysis of crowd trouble in matches. Certainly a must read for a cricket aficionado.

The other book, I briefly caught up was, Sharadindu Bandyopadhyay's Byomkesh Bakshi's The Menagerie and other mysteries. Set in Kolkata in the 40s and 50s, studious friend who narrates and stay in together, a client with some past, mysterious motor parts on the door steps intended for someone else (a la Th Adventures of the Dancing Men), travel from Kolkata to nearby town by train, suspicious characters all around the client. A good old fashioned mystery, Indian style made for Indian audience and thankfully acknowledged for its inspiration.

This weekend

noreply@blogger.com (Vatsa) — Sun, 29 Apr 2012 17:12:00 +0000

The weekend was spent visiting the Anna Centenary library, Kotturpuram and the Rail Museum, ICF, Avadi.

The Anna Centenary library is possibly the greatest achievement of the previous DMK government. After my first visit to the US and the Denver Public library was left amazed at the library facilities. We have our Connemera (which I have never visited) and the British Council (for the elites). The Anna library is a terrific start. It is free, at a good location in the city, right across the planetarium and very close to the two best institutes in Chennai the IIT and Anna University. The staff are very cordial and I am sure with some more years of experience they will bring in the right knowledge also. We spent an hour in the Children's section and if this was 20 years ago, I would have been there every Saturday. They have a huge bunch of comics, Amar Chitra Katha, Tinkle, Chandamama, Enid Blyton all neatly racked up. They have a whole bunch of other kids stuff also encyclopedia's, activity books and an excellent ambiance. (But for the odd IT crack, using his cell phone and doing project management when the walls have clearly asked the patrons not to use their mobiles). There are two rooms for research scholars and there was a room for Braille books. A great initiative by the previous government and I hope they continue to maintain and encourage people. In a city obsessed with cinema, malls, cricket and fast food, it was so refreshing to see a library maintained so very well. With a lot of talks on RTE in recent weeks, I hope the Government in partnership with educationists and volunteers is able to use the Anna library for a good number of Government schools in the city, which lack infrastructure.

Sunday evening, we drove down to the Railway museum, in ICR, Avadi. Was in the news a few weeks ago. A very small museum but well maintained within the ICF area.So much greenery on the approach road, once again a pleasant surprise within the city. A toy train ride which goes round the park. Real models of coaches, railway engines of yester years, a delight for kids to climb up and poke their noses. A small museum building which is just the right size to prevent you from feeling bored. Small model of railway station, tracks, signals, level crossing, trains being controlled from a control room and miniature depiction of some stations in the city. The moving model train is the attraction. At whatever age, I guess playing with trains is fun :-) An evening well spent.

Worries

noreply@blogger.com (Vatsa) — Sun, 29 Apr 2012 16:56:00 +0000

The biggest worry in life presently surrounds the little one. Are we bringing him up the right way. I know very well the missus puts in a lot of effort to keep him doing well academically and ferries him to classes in the evenings. He has shown a good interest in reading books, TV time is limited (although the choice of Korean serials dubbed makes one squirm plus the cartoons translated into Tamil), PC games were also limited and this year he has taken a resolution which he seriously believes and has not played a single game in the 4 months.

What I am more worried, is he is not getting enough of "general unorganized kids play". Most of it is organized either through the classes in the evenings or the board games, which he likes. Children should just go out and play. Problem #1, there aren't any kids around. For the past 4 days he has spent time with his grandparents and parents in prime summer holiday time. Where are the kids in Chennai. One has to get into a gated community these days, to have a safe play area and kid groups. At seven and half years, we had a whole bunch of 10-15 kids in the colony in Hyderabad where we grew up and some form of ball game was always on. At 8 years, we used to go fearlessly to the school grounds or the neighbourhood parks and the parents never even lifted an eye brow, except when the curfew hours were violated by half hour. But otherwise it was all for the outdoors. This is a huge worry, if the kid doesn't go out and play, hang out with friends how will he learn to grow up and be independent. Currently it is all supervised.

Speaking about friendship, he has had two close friends so far outside of school. The girl, who is an year elder and the kid got along fabulously well for the past four years plus, till a few months back when she goes to out rightly ignoring him. As sensible adults, it is best that one doesn't get involved into kids general fights and stuff, so we didn't and both have gone there separate ways. It would have broken my heart if a friend stops speaking to me all of a sudden, but so far not even a flicker of an eye brow. Strange are the ways of kids. The second friend, a boy two years his junior gets whisked off to his grand parents native the day the school closes and returns on the morning of the day the school re-opens. Where are the children these days ?

The other big worry, that keeps crossing the mind is are we doing enough to help him with his life skills. It took me 35+ years to realize that in succeed in life, one either has to be absolutely brilliant in his field/subject of interest where people will not have any choice but to respect or else one has to be extremely smart (that's a mild word, mind you) to manipulate/work one's way through. Any one caught in between, is for every one's for taking. One might be doing the correct thing, with solid facts and follow commonly accepted principles and behaviours, but it doesn't matter, if someone talks trash and you aren't the kind to respond then you are at the receiving end. You have to be in one of the two categories mentioned. No amount of good schooling, good habits, staying grounded helps you to be ready for the life skill of "interaction" with people and how one is effective in that. Some folks are so great in the second sort of behavioural approach and it helps that these people let their brain do the talking rather than their heart. One of my friends remarked a few years ago, that in middle management or a few notches below middle management you get paid only to think and act effectively with different sorts of people. If you don't do that you can not successful, get ready to face it.

How does one help one's child be ready for scenarios like this and not be simple minded. A few weeks ago, during one of the evening classes he was unfortunately at the wrong end of a short tempered instructor. A different kid would have possibly given back to the instructor in kind with the parent supporting, but being the non-confrontational natured folks, we let it pass and the kid was mightily upset. A scenario which is likely to occur many such times in the future and he has to deal with it on his own.

noreply@blogger.com (Vatsa) — Mon, 16 Apr 2012 15:56:00 +0000

Looks like Ashwin Ravichandran isn't likely to win too many popularity contests soon. Poor chap seems to be the object of ridicule in websites, first for giving very candid but down to earth interviews which made press conference refreshing rather than get bland answers. Secondly he got lot of abuses for claiming in a cricinfo interview that he understands offspin better than Sachin. Now coming from Inda, where leaders/seniors are always sung paeans (Rajni Sir/Bacchan Sir/Telugu Hero Sir/Political God Father Sir) and of course in cricketing World where every one claims, Sachin bhai inspired him, Sachin bhai did this, Sachin bhai is a friend for life. This normally coming from some of the show ponies and abrasive characters in the field. So what's wrong in being frank.

Ashwin got a fair bit of stick coming for Mankading a Lankan batsman in Australia and a similar incident a few days ago in the IPL match. Per the latest law, it is very clear that if a batsmen over steps, the bowler can run him out without warning. Even before this law came in, why should a batsman have an advantage. It is plain common sense and all talk on bringing in the Spirit of the game totally irrelevant. If one Courtney Walsh hadn't been magnanimous enough in 1987, maybe the Aussies wouldn't have dominated the last 20 years like they did. The likes of Mahela Jayawardena for their double talk on whether "Mankad doing" is right or wrong should be clearly asked to take a stance. That's a different matter anyway.

Staying on subject, the same Ashwin was the toast of the country during the WC last year, when everyone was asking why Ashwin wasn't playing. For a chap who is well educated, grounded, tasted decent success in the little time he has been on the International scene, this probably shows the taste of the Indian fan who prefers a show pony. Possibly why Venkatraghavan was least popular amongst the Indian spinners of the 60's and 70s. It would be good to see Ashwin have a long international career and have the face of Indian cricket brought on by Dravid/Laxman/Kumble. We have enough role models for the types of Ganguly and Sehwags. (Keeping Sachin out of the role model as it would be too much to expect from anyone on Sachin's overall aspect which he brought to the game)

The IPL this year has been strangely competitive. Rajasthan and Pune have been surprise bright spots and Delhi looks to have a pretty strong team. Would like to see Bangalore and Mumbai out, money should not buy them trophies, although Bangalore does have some of my darling cricketers led by Dan the Man Vettori, AB Devillers (now who ever thought AB should keep and for the fan to miss out his out fielding) to name two. Not that the other teams are not culpable from a money aspect, to quote the obvious the IPL is all about money. But for some reason whether it is Mumbai Indians or Mumbai in Ranji Trophy, they remind me of the Lakers, the Manchester Uniteds or Australia. Always the over lord. If not Chennai, let it be Rajasthan or Delhi this time.

The Diary

noreply@blogger.com (Vatsa) — Sat, 14 Apr 2012 14:13:00 +0000

Calendar Diary's used to be very attractive and fascinating as a kid. We probably used to get 2-3 diary's every year, which were closely guarded in the locked Bureau. A great feeling used to envelope, just looking at the glossies, but we were prevented from using the diary's for scribbling our daily irregulars, books read, quiz questions etc. They were meant for writing house hold accounts mostly and later on Sriramajayam.

Chanced upon this bunch of treasure trove recently and although it was all up for grabs, there was no point taking it, because I hardly ever write anything on pen these days and even if I had to write not sure what would be filled in.

Moral of the story, Diary's are best left vacant to retain their glossiness.

The Art of Confrontation or the lack of the same

noreply@blogger.com (Vatsa) — Sat, 14 Apr 2012 13:49:00 +0000

When you are the sort of person who is generally soft, prefers not to get into a confrontation with anyone and doesn't have a smart give back to hecklers how does one handle rude behavior. A little over 3 years, got into this type of a confrontation with a colleague who was a friend for many years, in trying to keep the sanctity of friendship was totally in the defensive in the beginning and in the end never had an opportunity to give it back. Didn't want to create a scene and an embarrassment to supervisor's in the company. Was left with lots of sleepless nights and a general feeling of anger and frustration to deal with it on my own. On hindsight, should have given it back, round and sound and through the proper channels, without worrying about embarrassing others.

Was in a similar situation today, didn't involve me directly, ended up confronting, which didn't leave me with a great taste at the end of it, even though the person was rude in the first place. Situations like this bring the worst out and I just get incoherent and everything negative about the person which was getting built up inside comes out in one shot.

God, help me avoid or deal with confrontations. Let me lead my life.

Sportstar Farewell Issues

noreply@blogger.com (Vatsa) — Sat, 31 Mar 2012 14:43:00 +0000

A post 2 weeks late.

Rahul Dravid big a pretty low profile farewell. Not for him, the raised bats of team mates as Guard of honour, opposition clapping him onto the field and crowd giving a standing ovation. Farewells of those kinds are of the fairy tale type. The best I remember is what Ambrose and Walsh were given in every ground in Australia. Would have loved RSD to go that way, but he went his own practical way.

Was browsing through the Sportstar archives and being the magazine which brought sport into the living room in the 80s and 90s, chanced upon a few farewell issues. The farewell issues for Viv Richards, Krish Srikkanth, David Gower and Steve Waugh.

On Viv Richards, a photo of Viv walking out to his last innings against England, with Botham and the rest of England players cheering him in. A typical grumpy looking Gooch. Viv made a 60 in a match which the Windies lost and England tied the series 2-2. Not the best way to go out. Views on him by most Indian players of that time and looking at some of the comments, it would have helped if Sporstar had helped edit the comments. Some very brutal, that he didn't have a technique, he was out in single digits before he hit the 192 in his debut series and so on, not a great and someone actually said that Larry Gomes was better than Richards :-) Very amusing to read. Players spoke about his fielding skills, pride in being a black man and delivering and arrogance, which justifiably comes with the talent. A brilliant piece by Ted Corbett, which speaks on 3 special innings from the master, the 189* in the onedayer in England, the 110* fastest test century and a little known knock for Glamorgan vs Hampshire in a remarkable fourth innings chase, timed to perfection with the winning hits being smashed against his team mate, Malcolm Marshall and lot of love from the Hampshire team, Mark Nicholas, David Gower and the rest.

On Krish Srikkanth, who retired after the 92 World cup, during India's Wadekar/Azhar led Golden Home Spin era, article had feedback on Cheeka from a lot of Indian players, present and past, on his idiosyncrasies, on being unpredictable, on the careless debut run out and on being a team man to the core. There is an interview of Srikkanth and typical of him, in wanting to be very frank it borders on over eagerness to play himself down. Cheeka started talks about the unfair comparison with Viv Richards and in fact one of the persons to write a tribute to Viv Richards in the previous edition.

David Gower, the golden boy's farewell issue is dominated by the acrimony with the powers to be, Gooch, Dexter, Lush, May on one side and his popularity as a cricketer, with the masses and his peers in other teams. Richie Richardson gives the biggest tribute which says, that he was closest to a West Indian batsmen in their peak. There is the usual coverage on Tiger Moth issue and the surprise MCC meeting called in 92-93 when he was not picked for touring India. Gower retired in 93, and the news reached the world through one of his syndicated columns.

Steve Waugh's farewell in 2003 is probably lot more recent for cricket fans to remember. Waugh delayed the inevitable for an year, by playing a glorious 103 in little over a session the previous Ashes against England. The drama of the last over century. Waugh's career is traced from the time he made his debut in the mid 80's, the early defining moments in one day career, the brilliant centuries in England the 89 Ashes, getting dropped and then changing his playing style. All Indian players name him as inspirational one. The twin centuries in Headingly, his connection with Kolkata and an article from Bob Simpson.

Missed getting the RSD farewell Sportstar.

Of Human Behaviour

noreply@blogger.com (Vatsa) — Sat, 10 Mar 2012 13:59:00 +0000

It is quite remarkable how the human mind functions. Cliched statement :-) We live in a world of cliche. Was observing the behaviour pattern of an acquaintance. Spouts spiritualism, relationship, calmness of mind and thought in different online portals but comes of as a pretty obnoxious person in direct face to face interactions, doesn't make an effort to work with a group, emails in a very condescending way, what a contrast and what a hypocrite. Most of us are hypocrites in the way we actually are and the way we want to be portrayed but some folks are bigger hypocrites than others, I guess.

Enid Blyton

noreply@blogger.com (Vatsa) — Sat, 10 Mar 2012 13:33:00 +0000

My son has been hooked onto Enid Blyton for the past week or so. It has started with Secret Seven adventures, like it happened close to 30 years back. I am hoping that there is a quick progress from Secret Seven to Famous Five, Five Find Outers, rest of Enid Blyton adventure books for kids, a little of the Hardy Boys and the Three Investigators has to be read completely, and the complete Sherlock Holmes. Did quite a bit of Agatha Christie and Alistair McLean in between. After which is where I got lost in my reading habits. Couldn't make a transition to Jeffrey Archers or Sidney Sheldon's, nor Irving Wallace. Found them to be very long drawn and dull.

Was checking Enid Blyton out online and was quite horrified by the criticism coped in England in the 50s and 60s. The comments ranged from the language being very banal, the plots too thin, characters not built up properly, gender bias and lot of cliched stuff. I totally loved the stuff when I was a kid and used to gobble up anything served in the form of a paper back. Regarding the criticism goes back to say that, anything and everything can be commented and criticized. Not sure how Enid Blyton promoted her books in the 30's - 50's when she was most active, I am sure it wouldn't have been a media sleaze like what happened with the Potter stuff a few years back. Apparently Enid Blyton, said that the less than 12 year old loved the books and that's all that mattered for her, which I think is fair point, rather than getting into a hyper analysis mode, which is what happened with Potter. The Enid Blyton novels were essentially for kids below 10 and an indirect way of improving one's basis English (from an Indian perspective) apart from the joy of reading. Apparently a number of the stories are being re-written from a modern language perspective, by keeping the plot intact :-)

My Hero Rahul Dravid

noreply@blogger.com (Vatsa) — Sat, 10 Mar 2012 13:19:00 +0000

My hero Rahul Dravid has called it a day. In 1986-87 when Sunny Gavaskar quietly retired, as a naive Cricket fan, it took me many many months to come to terms. The 80's and the 70's when India was playing, it was mostly about, "Is Gavaskar still batting". It didn't hurt as much this time, it was a question of when the big 3 are going to call it a day. Indian cricket has had a glowing time after the Gavaskar era, it cannot match the glorious West Indies era of Lloyds and Richards, nor the ruthless Australian machine lead by Border/Taylor/Waugh/Ponting. Still the Indians have done stupendously well in the past 15 odd years, with the arrival of Tendulkar, consistent wins at home with Azhar, brilliant captaincy from Ganguly and result oriented performance from a whole lot of cricketers. Out of which Dravid stood out the best. Whether it was India down at 10/1, whether it was a hand to be put up to open the innings, whether it was someone to take up wicket keeping to lend balance to the team, to Captain when the Captain stands down on the morning of a Test match, to keep the peace within the team and bring a sense of calm to the surroundings. Dravid mattered most to the Indian cricket, in a team of superstars which could have gone any different way, given the distractions it has had in the past few years in the form of the IPL, crony administrators, some dominant coaches to name a handful.

The initial few years of RSD's international cricket so much mirrored another technically perfect cricket just prior to him, Sanjay Manjrekar and it was almost a de'javu for Indian cricket in a short while. But Dravid did wonderfully adopt to One day cricket and achieved so much more than Sanjay did in Test cricket. Read a while back, that Sanjay had similar thoughts and was grateful for Rahul's adaption and re-discover of his self in donning on different roles. It would possibly have been pretty tough for Dravid to break in to the team and hold on if Sanjay had been more consistent and successful, so much for ifs and buts though.

It would have been great to see Rahul go out, atleast with couple of sparkling 50s but like someone had written fairy tale endings have an element of luck to them. It would be easy to say now, that he should have called it a day after England, but hindsight doesn't matter. Too many favourite Dravid moments, the blinders he held at slip, the agonized look of a simple dropped catch which have been too many in the last year or so, the well left outside of the off stump (and someone recently wrote how this is least appreciated when you face a genuine swing/pace bowler), the clam shown in front of mindless opposition break down a Donald 97 or a Slater 2001 to name two. If there is one to pick, I will pick the 50 odd he scored against Australia in Sydney 2007. Scratching around desperately, he took ages to move from 18 to 19 and the part appreciative, part critical crowd acknowledged that with a rounding applause, RSD raised his bat in mock acknowledgement. Went onto score a 50, when a lesser man would have nicked the next one to slips. That was Dravid for me, the struggle and doing it the right way.

Few excerpts from cricinfo commentary ..

29.6	Symonds to Dravid, no run, and Dravid calmly lets the ball go outside off, he's been scoreless for 30 deliveries but he's still there and that's what counts at the moment from India's point of view

....

33.1	Clark to Laxman, 1 run, cut off the back foot through point
33.2	Clark to Dravid, no run, defended on the front foot
33.3	Clark to Dravid, 1 run, a lesser-spotted run from Dravid brings up wild cheers and Dravid gamely raises his bat
"That brings up the century," says Healy, "Oh no, it's 19."
33.4	Clark to Laxman, no run, defended on the front foot
Great to see from Dravid, raising his bat, gives a good sign that he's mentally untroubled and can play along... oh and ha, they shook hands. He he, the crowd will love it, as do we

Thank you Rahul for being you, I missed Viswanath, but had the pleasure of seeing a high class batsman with down to earth attitude and great values.

Time for change

noreply@blogger.com (Vatsa) — Sun, 08 Jan 2012 15:51:00 +0000

Like most discussions featuring around the Indian performance in Australia on seniors, I also feel it is time to get a move on the seniors. The anticipation is that Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman should be announcing their retirement during/after the series. VVS has delighted us so much since the 167 scored in anger in 2000, so many critical 60s and 70s which have brought joy to the Indian fan and all the while keeping calm. 100+ catches, 8000+ runs and contributions in a lot of Indian victories. What can one say about Rahul Dravid, the perfect role model for any Indian and aspiring cricketers if they want to make a mark in the longer version. Appreciates cricketing history, very articulate in his comments and from the Karnataka stable of cricket will surely be seen in the future in meaningful contribution. At his struggling best, it was still a pleasure to watch the struggle he put in ball by ball to survive, where a lesser batsman would have preferred to nick one behind to end the agony. A classic example being the 50 odd he scored in Sydney in 2007. But for the 2 year period of captaincy, where the team was plagued by politics and bad luck in the form of Sachin not being at his best, Rahul's career would have been really complete, he deserved every bit of success as a Captain for his selfless contribution. Still he managed Test series wins in England and West Indies. It would be good to see if we can see the two of them go out in style, I don't expect Test match wins in the last 2 tests but atleast couple of good confident knocks from RSD and VVS would be good.

Can think of the 1991-92 Indian tour to Australia, where we narrowly a white wash, Dilip Vengsarkar struggled throughout and the Perth test was his last test and it was really disappointing way for a 80's stalwart to go out the way he did in that series. It was also the end of test careers for Krish Srikkanth and a few other seniors like Kapil and Ravi Shastri struggled after that. Keeping that in hindsight, the decision of phasing out RSD and VVS has to happen now. The next fifteen months is full of home series and would possibly be the best times to get some confidence into the likes of Kohli, Sharma, Pujara and possibly Raina. It is going to be the beginning of a period where we will get to see a lot of reverses especially abroad. There was this time after Sunny Gavaskar retired and India was really exposed. There wasn't even one batsman to whom one could look upto a decent knock, till Sachin turned up. There were many articles and letters asking Gavaskar to come out of retirement. It is going to be interesting and frustrating times for an Indian cricket fan.