Ramwrites

Evaluating Cricket performances through World Cups

2015-03-01T22:21:00.001-06:00

How does one evaluate performances over time when the only constants are the numbers. Numbers in isolation mean nothing. They need an environment, some variables and a relative comparison to give meaning. How then does one evaluate if performances have improved over the past few world cups? How does one evaluate if AB De Villiers century against West Indies in 2015 was better than the one he scored against Netherlands in 2011? Was Tendulkars century against South Africa in 2011 technically better than the one he scored against Pakistan in 2003?

While it is never easy to give an absolute answer, comparisons can be made based on the general trends, the mindset of cricketers and the audience expectations.

Batting

This aspect of the three facets of cricket is probably the easiest to give a judgement on in regards to the standards of batting in the latest world cup. Over the past few world cups, while there have been many improvements made in regards to the strategies applied and the approach to an innings, what stands out are the scoring areas of batsmen in the recent world cups. More and more we see batsmen having the ability to score 360 degrees around the ground with minimal effort and difficulty. This and the ability of modern batsmen, seen increasingly in the current world cup, to not just score hundreds but finish them with such high strike rates that the innings almost feels like two halves of different characteristics. While centuries were hit in previous world cups, more often than not they remained a one-dimensional innings where they scored at a steady strike rate with a slight increase towards the end of the innings. In 2011 and increasingly in 2015, we are seeing strike rates at the end of the innings of the same batsmen going to imaginable heights.

The one argument against the batsmen is that while the scoring rates and their ability to score all around the wicket have vastly improved, the same cannot be said of the defensive techniques of the modern batsmen. On a pitch that offers movement and bounce, it may be safe to say that some of the teams in 2007 or earlier had a better chance of survival than the current teams. But given the vast majority of pitches that assist batting, this concern has only been marginal. Overall it is safe to say that the batting performances have vastly improved over the years.

Improvement in Performance: +2. Drop in Performance: -1. Overall: +1

Bowling

A look at the scores in the current world cup would suggest that the bowlers performance over the years has taken a beating and they have drastically dropped. While this is true to a large extent, it also cannot be taken away from the bowlers army the array of different balls they have the capabilities to bowl nowadays. While in previous world cups, a lot of bowlers had a standard delivery and a few other variations that were used sparingly, we are increasingly seeing that bowlers have more variations than they used to have and are also using them with much more(sometimes alarmingly high) frequency.

One visible drop in performance for the bowlers though has been their lack of death bowling skills and especially the ability to bowl the yorker. While the yorker may no longer be the threat it once was, it is still a major weapon and to see the bowlers struggle to bowl it consistently is a major concern.

The other notable difference has been the ability of spinners to consistently take wickets in the recent world cups. While there have been bowlers who have taken a lot of wickets in 2011 world cup and in the current world cup, spinners in general have tended to bowl more defensive and run stopping lines as compared to earlier editions when they bowled to take wickets. It should also be noted though that the number of variations a spinner now has in his armory are so high that a bowler can even bowl an over without repeating a type of delivery. It's a debatable topic on whether the performances of bowlers have improved or dropped but given the variations in results, it may have remained at an aggregated level without much change.

Improvement in Performance: +2. Drop in Performance: -2. Overall: +0

Fielding

The aspect which has the least debate. If the fielding standards of the current world cup were to be applied to world cup matches earlier to 2007, nearly all scores would be at least 20-30 runs shorter than their final totals. While there were always teams like New Zealand and South Africa in earlier world cups that had high standards of fielding, to see even a team like India field as good as these top fielding sides is a vast improvement from the earlier editions. The ground fielding levels have become so high in the current world cup that the arc of the ground a fielder can cover has increased by at least 25-30% compared to earlier editions. The throwing arms are faster and increasingly we see fielders chase down balls before reaching the boundary when it was often given up previously.

The only complaint about modern fielding, especially in 2011 and 2015 has been the number of dropped catches by fielders. While the standards expected have gone up, it still does not explain the number of easy ones being put down making this a definitive drop in their performance.

Improvement in Performance: +2. Drop in Performance: -1. Overall: +1

P.S - This blog is part of the Blogger Dream Team contest

Tokyo Diaries

2015-02-14T07:57:00.000-06:00

Japan was unplanned. The length of my stay is unknown. Language is a mystery. Work is work. Number of known people? 0

An unknown mystery is always fascinating because of the huge potential for being excited at every little step. My years in San Francisco Bay area were pretty much a haze without much activity. I made a very conscious decision to be more proactive in Tokyo and not let my weekends be spent on a couch watching movies. An advantage Tokyo has that the bay area did not is that the Tokyo' train system almost forces you to keep yourself active and explore even when there are other constraints that can hold you back. The greater force wins or has been winning so far. The magnetic force of the train system and its ease of use can pull anyone out of their couches.

Over the past 4-5ish months, I have made it a point to go out on every weekend to a new place. Sometimes it ends up being a place I have visited before but because of the number of different things that you can do at any given place, there is never a dearth of new things to be excited about.

Tokyo, in my view is a mixture of the advanced technologies that you see in US(plus a lot more) and the kind of culture one associates with India. That makes it nearly the perfect place right? There are barriers, especially the language and food if you are a vegetarian but if your profile says "I like travelling" then those should never be constraints that should bind you. There is always a way around everything. Google translate helps a lot and if sticking to a known food style makes travelling easier then so be it that I eat the same style every day of the week.

The most fascinating part of travelling through Tokyo is the mixture of old and new cultures one comes across. On one side there are major international brands and just across the street one would find local stores selling unique items. No area is unsafe. A visitor can walk around in any given area at any given time and apart from it being safe, one would also find many other people walking by, something that was always amiss in the states. The number of people in stations, on the road, near downtown's, shopping areas reminds me a lot of how it is back home in India but without all the indiscipline, noise and pollution.

Vegetarian food is hard to find apart from the Indian food places that are EVERYWHERE. At any given point of time I have always found an Indian restaurant within walking distance. The quality of the food may vary and the number of options as a vegetarian may also vary from just one to as many as 10 curries but there is always one around the corner. Italian places have been my next go to stop but of late I have realized that not all places bring the same item to the table as they are described in the menu. Some of them have "extra" undesired ingredients. But, you learn as you try different places and know which to avoid and which are safer bets.

Coming back to the comparison with India, Tokyo reminds me of Hyderabad and how it is divided into different areas and over the past few months my aim as been to cover at least one area on any given weekend. While Temples were exciting in the first few months, that has dried away. There are countless number of shops and malls that one comes across while walking but after a while they become just another building en route to a destination.

The more I travel around, the lesser I have seen of Tokyo and what is left to see is much more.
The transport provided through the JR and Metro is probably the best I have ever seen and as long as you have Google maps, it should be fairly straight forward to go to any place in Tokyo without much hindrance although there are times when some restaurants are not updated on google maps and one might end up searching for a place that shut down years ago.

People into electronic gadgets, manga, pokeman, anime can probably spends weeks here just going through the maze of things that are on offer. Unfortunately, apart from electronics, most of the others do not fascinate me. There are still other sub cultures that can be explored and something I will be looking to do over the next weeks.

As I await for Summer, the scope expands of what can be seen and explored.

P.S - For those who find adventure of the wilder side fascinating, Tokyo has many fascinating options that can be explored. Although, the word wilder may prove in some cases a very mild description of what they truly are.

How will History judge us?

2014-09-19T13:56:00.000-05:00

Everyone judges everyone. We judge those who lived in the past. We judge our neighbors. We judge our co-workers. We even judge God. But a hundred years from now, how will the future judge us? Or are we that generation that says "Who gives a damn what anyone thinks. My life, My wish"?.

The very problem could be the usage of "My" in that sentence but that is a topic for another blog. We as a generation, and when I say generation I talk of the post world war years until today, have not done that badly as one may be wondering. Before looking at it from a critical point of view, let us roughly remember our advancements.

We put a man on Moon, then sent objects to Mars and regularly send other objects to space.
Although the flying machine was invented by the previous generation, we have made such rapid progress that we have people flying all over world every second. Similarly, while telephone was invented by our ancestors, we have now reached the stage where it can be carried around in our pocket and has now been renamed the smart phone.

As far as the Medical History is concerned, we have probably made the most rapid progress with fewer deaths due to unknown causes than in any previous generations. As human beings, we are definitely a much fitter and healthier species than ever before. Just within the last 65 years the change in sports can testify to that.

Science and Maths, R&D are growing so rapidly that just trying to keep informed may be an impossible task for most of us. Last but not the least, Technology. Just trying to name a few things is difficult because we so much technology everyday with more new stuff coming every other day. All this stuff was just a dream a few decades ago.

So yes, a hundred or maybe two hundred years from now history will look at us a tech savy generation that really made a push towards making our lives easier with better communication and health systems. We probably will be credited for being the first of a kind in utilizing our knowledge and resources to make such advancements that are going to pave way for future generations to take benefit of.

But, how will the future judge us as human beings? The appreciation so far has been to about our minds, our achievements and our physical strengths. How will they judge us as us?

Are we as a generation more disciplined compared to our previous generations? Have we lost our sense of discipline even though we are much better educated than say the Romans?.

Are we kind, generous and helping? We seem to have become that generation that seeks for oneself and does not care about the rest. Yes, there are kind people who do really care about others and help those in need but the number has become so few that we have found the need to talk about such deeds on social media and applaud them. Instead of being the norm, it is now an exception that needs to be highlighted.

Are we as a generation doing enough to make sure the universe can self sustain and continue like it has for the past centuries? Climate change, ozone layer, depletion of natural resources, extinction of wildlife are just to name a few. The fight has begun but not enough people are talking about it and unless we as a generation change that in the coming decades, there may not be many future generations to judge us.

What about our moral values? Rape is a common occurrence. Racism exists even today. There is a large portion of our population fighting a war in the name of god and we have done nought about it although we pretend that we are doing a lot. Roman invasions and fights between kings of the previous generations can be attributed in small part to their lack of education but what can one attribute our generations misgivings to after being the most educated? Have we as a generation lost more moral ground even though we have attained higher intelligence?

As said earlier, the technological advancements can blow anyones mind but with them they have also brought about a system where we spend more time working and in the process of going after tangible benefits and having lesser and lesser time to enjoy the benefits of working. Are we as a generation the first of a robotic culture generation?

Is that how history will judge us? As the generation that attained high intelligence but lost Moral Values?

Lastly, on an after thought, irrespective of how our future judges us, if we were to judge our 20 working hour/day lives that we live in a mad rush to attain tangible benefits what do we make of ourselves?

Reversing India's batting line up - A fictional Tale

2014-08-17T15:50:00.001-05:00

In hindsight, India could have done a lot of things differently and given Dhoni’s conservative style of captaincy in Tests which borders on the line of being overly defensive, this would have never happened and hence why the fictional account of what could have been the 3rd innings of India’s 5th test against England at the Oval.

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Kohli walks into Dhoni’s room at the end of the 2nd day's play and asks him if he has ever heard about the famous 3rd Test of the 1936/37 Ashes Timeless series. Dhoni obviously had no clue.

“In the third innings, with the pitch and conditions behaving dangerously, Sir Don Bradman reversed his batting line up and sent his no 9 and no 11 to open the batting with no 10 at one down” said a visibly excited Kohli.

Dhoni seemed intrigued but did not show any emotion and asked who won.

Kohli triumphantly said “Australia won. KA Rigg his regular no 4 came in to bat at his usual position and along with no 10 played out 30 over’s by which time the conditions had dried out and batting became much easier and they went on to score 564”

“My no 4 has not played a total of 40 over’s in 4 and half tests. Can you find out if KA Rigg is still alive and we can swap him for our number 4?” asked a curious Dhoni with a dead serious face.

Kohli was not one to let his captains unemotional emotions run him down.

“I may not know where my off stump is but I have confidence in our tailenders putting up a better show than us. I’ve even thought of the batting line up - Bhuvi and Ashwin to open with Binny at no 3. If a wicket falls early we can send in Ishant or Varun”

Dhoni then stopped him mid way and said the rest of the batting order would be Rahane, Vijay, Pujara, Dhoni and then Kohli at the very end and said since he did not have worry about having to bat early he would go off for some shooting practice once the innings began.

At the end of the England’s 1st innings as the bowlers strolled back into the dressing room, Kohli raced past them and stood eagerly waiting at the top of the dressing room with their kits in his hands and handed them over to the tail enders and declared his master plan to them.

Unsurprisingly no one batted an eyelid as everyone went about doing their jobs like this was the most logical thing to do. There were a few laughs as the openers made their way out to the center and the English team was dumbfounded by the sight of the two right handed openers.

Pic Courtesy: Cricinfo(PA)

As Anderson and Stuart Broad bowled with their heart out at the two makeshift openers, Bhuvi and Ashwin played and missed in between their text book cover drives as the pair batted out 15 over’s (Bhuvi averages 56 balls per innings and Ashwin 36 per innings this series) before Ashwin played a shot too many and got out caught at square leg as he tried a reverse sweep off Broad. In walked Binny who did not seem to have a clue of what the scorecard was or what his role was and kept playing his shots, most of which ended up as boundaries over the slip cordon. Anderson worked up some courage to ask Binny in no polite terms on what his role in the team was to which Binny replied he was the Bunny of the team.

Bhuvi took his role in all seriousness as an opener and even talked to Binny about how he felt he was going to be the next Manoj Prabhakar of Indian cricket. Binny then fell hit wicket to Moen Ali at the end of the 25th as he tried to blast the ball out of the ground. As he walked away, he remarked to Moen Ali that he his beard was distracting the Indian batsman which was resulting in all their dismissals. In walked Ishant to torment the English bowlers as he played and missed every single ball of his 30 ball stay without scoring a run. Ishant in an interview later on being asked about his secret to the wonderful 30 ball stay gave credit to his long hair through which he could not see a single ball resulting in missing all of them. Bhuvi on the other end kept growing in confidence as he kept scoring and by the time he was dismissed in the 30th over India had racked up 120 runs.

The dreaded phase of the innings was now over and India had now faced more balls than they would have imagined facing in the rest of the series. With both Anderson and Broad visibly tired, the Giant Indian Batting line up then piled on the runs against Jordan and Woakes as Kohli went after Moen Ali with person venom to blast him for 100 runs in 14 over’s as Dhoni then finished things off in style with his trademark helicopter shots against Anderson who was bowling his 35th over to finish India’s innings with a lead of 230 runs with 55 Over’s left on the last day of play.

Ishant and Varun opened the bowling for India with Dhoni deciding to try his luck with the revere strategy and opting out of bowling Bhuvi. Varun with his pace and Ishant with his height struck fear in the batsman's eyes as they got two wickets each in a 4 over spell.

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Who are we kidding; the last part is a stretch even for a fictional story.

Mid-Season Transfer Window for IPL

2014-05-22T17:53:00.000-05:00

Nearly half way through this year’s IPL season, while some teams are struggling to get their balance right there have been teams like Kings XI Punjab which have got their winning combination. A look at their bench strength reveals some very interesting observations. On their bench are Thisara Pereira who played a pivotal role for SRH in 2013 and Shaun March who has been a stellar performer for Kings XI Punjab in previous seasons. Based on their franchises current form neither might get a chance to play unless there is an injury to another player. While it is a lot of talent sitting on the sidelines of a team, it is also a lot of money that is sitting idle from a business stand point. Nearly all teams have such players sitting on the side lines that are costing them money and for whom they cannot find a place in the squads either because of the limit on the number of internationals allowed or because they have a highly reputed player in their lineup they do not want to risk leaving out.

Sunrisers Hyderabad would love to get a good middle order batsman in their squad and given the plethora of spinners at their disposal they may not need the services of Parvez Rasool anytime soon. While teams have in the past had players transfer from one franchise to another between seasons, wouldn’t the Sunrisers Hyderabad love to be able to do something now that would boost their chances in the remaining matches than wait until the season is over?

Almost every team has a few players that they may either very rarely need or may not require the services off at all. Here are a list of players that are either sitting on the bench or have not been fully utilized by the teams so far and the list has some very big names which makes the proposition of a mid- season transfer window that stronger.

Samuel Badree (CSK), Saurabh Tiwary (DD), Cummins & Russel (KKR) , Michael Hussey (MI), Hodge & Tim Southee & Iqbal Abdullah(RR), Rampaul & Jakati & Muralidharan (RCB)

There are two possible options that the IPL can explore midway through the season to not just give teams a chance of picking up useful players but to also potentially earn some money.

Mid-season Transfer
Mid-season Loan

Mid-Season Transfer - Exactly at the half way point of the IPL, there needs to be a 24 hour transfer window where teams can negotiate with each other and buy players from other teams. The player fees will have to be based on the remaining contract balance the player is owed based on the number of games completed. Since the team that is selling a player will then be a player short, they should be allowed to add a new player from a pool of players outside the IPL within the budget limits.

Teams should only be allowed to buy players from outside if they have sold a player and have not bought any new players from other IPL teams leaving them short of the required number of players in a franchise. Independent purchases of players from outside the IPL should not be allowed.

Each team can be allowed a maximum of 2 transfers. Buying or Selling would constitute a transfer. If a team sells 2 players, they will have to pick 2 players from outside the IPL pool. If a team has a prospective player to buy but do not have a player to sell or a team willing to buy the player they then release a player from the franchise. Releasing a player does not count as a transfer so a team can buy two players and release two players from the team. Since the budget limits on the franchises will remain the same this will ensure that teams do not have an unfair advantage in buying international players and releasing players of lesser value.

Mid-Season Loan – While buying and selling existing players on paper sounds very feasible, there may be a lot of reasons to not sell the player even if he may not play a single game for the current season. In such cases, teams should be allowed to loan the player only for the current season of the IPL with conditions that prohibit the player from playing against their own franchise.

Each team should be allowed to have one player on loan or to be able to loan one player out independently. A player on loan should not be counted for the maximum number of players a franchise is allowed. This allows the team to pick a player on loan but not have to release a player or be forced into loaning another player out. The fees for the player will be based on the remaining games of the years IPL calculated from his contract and if the team loaning the player has the necessary balance budget remaining to do so.

While these may complicate player loyalty and having to shift between different setups mid-season, it may allow franchises the chance to rebuild a squad mid-season and make the competition more competitive. Also, mid-way through the season teams have a better understanding of their needs and requirements than when the auction takes places which places them in a better position to select players that can add value to their teams.

Vote for Change - Vote for Dr.Bhanu Prakash(Vijayawada East)

2014-05-04T03:15:00.000-05:00

For years now we have complained about the lack of choices in our elections. Why does it always have to be a choice between the Kauravas and Ravana. Why don't good people get into politics we ask. We lament and then do nothing about it. This time if we still do not do anything about it, we lose a right. The right to complain.

Lok Satta and the AAP have fielded many educated graduates in quite a few constituences. I cannot vouch for each one of them but for Lok Satta I can definitely do and more so for the candidate representing them in Vijayawada East - Dr.
Bhanu Prakash.

Bhanu is a friend of mine and I can vouch for his selection with all my heart. If 400 such candidates can contest and even 1/4th of them win, our countries politics will change forever. He is a PHD graduate from Texas A&M University. You asked for an educated leader and here you have someone who has attained a very high degree from one of the most reputed universities in US(which incidentally is very well known for its Aggie traditions and values).

Having played with him for our cricket club for which he served as the captain in a few games, I know that he has those leadership and man management skills along with everything a politician needs. Compared to the trash we have in other parties, it becomes a no contest if one were to vote on abilities and skills. Unfortunately, as a country we are not known to do so.

This is my request for people of Vijayawada East to vote for the Lok Satta candidate Dr,.Bhanu Prakash
Share it among friends and explain to people what an educated leader could do.

Voting for BJP/Congress? - Good Bye

2014-03-06T22:51:00.000-06:00

Elections are coming. Like Ned Stark's famous dialogue "Winter is coming", the elections in India which come only every 5 years(thankfully) pose a dreadful situation for a lot of people who have to chose between the lesser of evils.

Over the past 10 years, it has mostly been this way. You vote for congress if BJP is in power and are irritated with them and then vote for BJP if you have given enough choice to loot your money. In the light of each evil tenure, the other appears bright. Honestly, neither even remotely come close to being called good parties. I am not going to go into the evil nature of these parties and what they truly want to achieve and how they are bad for the country. Because if I still need to explain that to you, you should go back to school and sit in 1st grade and hope you learn this time around through the next 12 years.

We fight with each other, often between our own friend circles and very often for very petty issues. Then how "petty" an issue is if one of your friends is voting for a corrupt candidate because he is from the same caste or because he looks good or because he "likes" the party without any valid reason? For me, at least for this years elections in Hyderabad with voters having the option to vote for an honest party like Lok Satta, that truly means GoodBye.

If you plan to vote for Congress or BJP or TDP or AIADMK oKMIwillEatyouParty, then sir, You and I should not be talking any more because as "Sherlock" says, "Sir, don't vote, you lower the IQ of the entire voting population"

After everything we have seen over the past 10 years, and anticipating everything that could happen through the next 5 years, contrary to people asking you to vote, I would ask you to sit at home if you plan to vote for Congress or BJP or TDP. I would have asked you to chose the NOTA option, but if you were that smart, I would be writing a best selling fiction novel rather than write this piece.

By voting for corrupt, non-secular, caste crazy politicians, not just are you losing your right to live in a better India but also losing the right to make any complaint in the next 5 years on the state of Indian politics.

The amount time one spends on selecting a dress is spent on analyzing the candidates that are in the pool. If you have excluded yourself from the discussion so far by claiming a high IQ then start a discussion with your house maid, newspaper guy, auto wallah and the store guy to find out who they are voting for and then based on your "high IQ" enrich them about why their choice could be wrong and why they should instead for a more honest politician and how they could be benefited.

This years elections is not Congress's to lose or BJP's to win or AAP's to prove its popularity, this election is ours to show that we are capable of driving a nation forward through our forward, unbiased thinking and voting for the right leaders.

With 60 to win of 24 balls, we hope Dhoni can pull of a miracle. Why not just hope but play a part in pulling of a miracle in this elections and make a difference?

The Need to Recognize Depression in India

2014-01-06T19:18:00.001-06:00

How many of you can comfortably talk to someone if you are feeling sad or can open out your feelings and express yourself? It is difficult for most people.
How many of you understand that being sad or lonely is not depression and it is not often something you can just "think" out and become normal? I am afraid, not many know it either. It is like asking a guy who has fever to just shake out his fever. Mentally he can probably do so but physically he would still have a high temperature. Though depression does not have a physical form, it is still a medical condition that needs to be addressed and not something that solves itself by thinking positively or trying to be happy. At least in a majority of cases, it may not quite do the trick.

In India, we frown upon weak children, especially those who come across as weak mentally or are instable. This has to change. Even before we discuss about the need to have therapists and guardians with whom those in depression can talk to, we first have to cultivate an environment where the child/adult affected does not feel guilty about his situation and can openly talk to someone about it, at least in his immediately family/friends circle who can then guide him on the correct course of action rather than being afraid of becoming a laughing stock. While some families may be more open to hearing out someone who has a problem, they may not necessarily encourage or advice medical help. "He is going to a therapist" is not something they want to be associated with. There needs to be a lot of educating that needs to be done for people of all ages to know the signs of depression for themselves and also to be in a situation where they can identify it and give the correct guidance to someone who is in a state of depression.

The topic came to my mind yesterday after hearing the news of actor Uday Kiran's death. While suicide is never the answer to anything, rather than putting ourselves in his shoes and thinking of how he could have avoided it, it is important to put ourselves in the shoes of those who knew him and think what we could have done differently and one of the first thing that strikes to my mind is why was the person who had admitted to being suicidal not given medical help for the past 2-3 weeks? Is it because of our natural tendency to ignore it and "Tell" the person that everything will be alright and he will become a "hero" again or do we not genuinely believe that they would do something that drastic? Whatever the reasons are, seeking medical help has to be top priority in either case.

This suicide and Jiah Khan's suicide last year and a host of other actor suicides over the past decade also bring up an important question. Knowing that the industry is a high pressure place where if you have no background from the industry it is a tough place to survive and it is a high stress job, would it not be a good idea for each film industry to have an in house therapist to help actors/actresses deal with stress and other problems that arise from being a celebrity?
Fans should also not look at an actor going to therapist as a negative thing but be supportive if and when such a case arises. I hope incidents like this, while are unfortunate, will open up the discussion on depression and make it easier for those suffering from it to seek help.

The Karma of Karma

2013-11-01T21:22:00.003-05:00

Karma is a tricky concept. We either believe it because we think it is true or we believe it because it makes us feel safe or is a convenient way to think of life. There are probably multiple ways of looking at karma but each of them have their loopholes which is what makes the whole concept of Karma fascinating. If you have lived a very happy first 25 years of life, do you think that is how your life will continue because you have done no evil or would you be scared that life could turn upside down because of Karma? Or is life a balance of good and bad and hence after good does bad always have to follow?

The Theory of Past Life and Karma

According to Hindu Mythology, Karma is a result of your actions in the past life. On the face of it, it is quite easy to believe it because we do not know our past lives and also because we can then assume that we have had good past life’s which would automatically result in good present life. This is the safest and most convenient way of looking at life because it gives us peace of mind. There are two basic problems with this theory.

Problem

If our life in this current form is a result of how our past life was spent, then without any knowledge of the bad actions we did in our previous births, nor do we know what we are being punished for nor there be any repentance of those actions performed. Yes, there could be a small section of people who may pray and repent for anything they may have done in previous births but even they would not be able to do so wholeheartedly. There is a difference between just saying sorry and saying sorry because you hit someone and feel you should not have. So the justice system in place is flawed.

Possible Explanation

In the concept of rebirths, our soul is in a few mythologies said to be the same while we take different forms and shapes. If the assumption is made that while the body and form of this current birth is not aware of the sins committed but the soul is fully aware, then while the body is being made to punish(along with the soul), the argument could be made that the soul without the knowledge of the current form is having repentance. Soul is the bigger picture and this forms well with the argument when some saints say that in order to achieve a level of spirituality one needs to be able to separate themselves from their human form.

(It is here that Harshad Rajani’s harsh life makes you wonder and think that while in this life you may be safe, you probably are not in some unknown future birth and considering the unreasonable fate she has had, you do wonder what harsher things are in store in your future births if you continue to accumulate evil).

Problem 2:

There is another theory in Hindu Mythology that our lives are prewritten in Brahma’s (the creator of the universe) book and every action and event has been predefined and we are merely enacting the book word to word. If this theory has to believed, this directly conflicts with the concept of Karma. If we are only playing our parts, how are we punished for our “wrong actions” if that is the script that has been written. It is comparable to a director writing a scene where an actor kills the villain on screen and is then punished for it in his real life.

Possible Explanation:

This theory can hold true for two possible scenarios. If the different life’s we take are part of the same script and are sequels to one another then as part of the bigger “life” all of which are prewritten and we are merely the actors (The world is a stage). The other explanation is if the first life has been allowed to be lived in a freeform without any guidance from Brahma’s book while each of the next life’s are then prewritten based on the evil done in that life and based on the karma that has been earned.

While this explanations also have their loopholes because of the person repenting not being aware of their actions, if the full “n” life’s are considered as big life where one keeps losing their memory for each life before recovering it for a brief interval before their next life where they come to terms with the reality, then the sum of the evil done with the karma could be understood by the person.

Alternate Theory:

While in the previous paragraphs we have looked at the concept of karma as a result of actions in previous births, there is also an alternate theory which talks about the law of averages and how each life has its ups and downs and how everything from birth to death will eventually balance out.

Problem:

As Harshad Rajani points out in her article, when you have lived a normal life and been a good human being for 25 years how can the sudden huge fall be explained as an act of balance? From a human eye, it definitely looks grossly unfair. Heck, even unfair is putting it mildly. This explanation also appears to fail because the balancing of good and bad in a lifetime does not appear to be consistently done to all human beings with unique people going to either of the two extremes.

Possible Explanation:

The general view of this theory and how it is unfair is based on the human definitions of Happiness, Sadness, what is important and what is not important. The life we perceive as a “good” life with the absence of evil that has accounted for certain “happiness” can in reality be a far more “extremely happy” life event. Personally, I consider to have lived a good life which has kept me happy for 25 years. But in comparison with another person my life could be termed as “one of the best life’s you could live” and as being “infinitely extreme happy” life. In a similar comparison, the perceived “fall” in one’s life can either be seen as a “life altering” event that has sucked the life out of one person or seen as a “minor incident” that has put a speed breaker in one’s life if seen from another person’s perspective. Based on the definitions of living a good and sad life based on every human being on this planet, the act of balancing in a lifetime can gain a more plausible and believable explanation which may not make sense when seen from an individual perspective.

My Theory

Students in a school can be divided on the basis of their desire to earn knowledge vs. their desire to score marks. The person who is looking for knowledge is neither disappointed nor extremely elated at the marks he scores while the other people jump in joy, smile, get depressed and cry based on the scores they get. While marks are important, everyone would somewhere deep in their hearts agree that knowledge should be the single most important aim one has when attending school.

Similarly, rather than see our life’s as a continuation of our past life’s or our destiny being predefined or that our Karma is being served to us in a different birth or the fact that our life has its up and downs, each life needs to be seen as a series of events that help gain us knowledge. The unique thing about knowledge is that it is served in every event, every time frame and every mood. There is no disparity. One learns as much as when is happy and leading a pious life as much as he learns when he is leading a sad and depressed life. When seen from the perspective of knowledge, a lot of things that we feel sad about, feel happy about and feel disappointed in hardly matter anymore.

To say it in a nutshell, Karma is what you want your life to be. It has no meaning of its own.

(You can read Harshada Rajani's article here - http://www.huffingtonpost.com/harshada-rajani/the-ugly-truth-about-karma_b_4175951.html?utm_hp_ref=tw which acted as as the inspiration behind my own analysis.)

Butterfly - A potential Game Changer for Telugu Music

2013-10-15T17:09:00.001-05:00

While Hindi Pop Music prospered in the late nineties and even rivaled Bollywood songs for popularity for a short period of time, Telugu non-filmy music has never really taken off. Apart from a few albums here and there without any consistency there has been no real progress on this front.

Smitha is one singer that comes to mind when people talk about such music. While DSP has also done a few singles early in his career and there have been a few other artists, none have attained the popularity that Telugu film music achieves.

Almost like a storm in a desert comes Butterfly from Shekhar Ravjiani featuring

Chinmanyi Sripada. Rather than go for a fast paced tune, Shekhar goes for melody mixed with very soothing lyrics and a unique butterfly effect during the later stages of the song. This is easily one of the best songs of this year and probably one of the best singles in the past decade. Why it has taken so such a long time to come is anyone's guess. Shekhar has to be applauded and has to be given a lot of respect for choosing to do a single in Telugu when it is not a language he is comfortable with. And considering that the non-filmy music is virtually non existent in Telugu, it shows that he did more out of passion than anything else.

What he may have inadvertently ignited is hopefully the stepping stone for a second innings of non-filmy Telugu music. While it is still too early to talk about a revival, the appreciation Shekhar has been receiving on twitter and the views on his website show that there is an audience out there that would love to hear original compositions that do not have fit to the image of a hero or be trapped under the constraints of a story line.

Let us hope that both established composers as well as budding composers will take the cue from Shekhar and compose singles for Telugu Audience. Once again applauding the effort from Shekhar Ravjiani.

You can listen as well as purchase the single from his website - http://www.shekharravjiani.com/

Saas – Bahu – The Social Network War

2013-10-04T22:31:00.000-05:00

In India, we have seen numerous Saas Bahu wars, both on television as well as in real life. While the ego battle between Saas Bahu has gone on for a very long time, the new age social media probably spins a new angle to their war. This is a humorous take on some possible scenarios.

(The usage of Bahu and saasuma though not usual have been used inspired from one of my favorite serial Tu tu Main main)

Scenario 1:

Saas: Bahuuu, where are you?

Bahu: Here Saasuma.

Saas: Why has your profile picture only got 97 likes? Padma’s daughter got married and put a new profile picture and she got 157 likes. This is an insult to our house. Change the picture immediate and make sure we get at least 200 likes. How can I show my face to anyone of you don’t even get 100 likes.

Scenario 2:

Saas: Bahuu, What are you doing? How can you be so ignorant?

Bahu: I am in the kitchen preparing dinner.

Saas: You can do all that later. First go and reply to Manish Uncle who commented on your picture. What will he think of our family if you do not reply to him?

Bahu: I...did not…

Saas: Everyone will think we are not teaching you anything and this is the kind of values our family is teaching to our new Bahu. It’s been 45 minutes since he commented. I hope he has not been waiting for your reply.

Bahu: Ok Ok! I will go reply to him immediately.

Scenario 3:

Saas: Bahu, do you know what Ranjitha just told me. Her daughter in law got a reply from Amitabh Bachchan on twitter. I felt so ashamed sitting there when she went on praising her and feeling so proud. This is a grave insult to our family. We have to get a reply from Amitabh Bachchan and Shah Rukh Khan also immediately.

Bahu: But saasuma, it will be very difficult. They reply randomly. How will...

Saas: I do not know all that. You give me your account id and password, I will sit at home tomorrow and tweet him all day. Let’s see why he won’t reply.

A week later, Amitabh Bachchan does reply to her tweet in the afternoon.

Saas (on phone with her Bahu): Bahuuuuuuuuuuuuu, he replied. I am so excited!!! My hands and legs are shaking. Now take that screen and do whatever you do and put it on Facebook so that everyone can see.

Bahu: Ok, I will come home and do it in the evening.

Saas: Nothing doing. Do it right now. I will be meeting Ranjitha at 5:00 today. You have to do it before I meet her.

Scenario 4:

Saas is sitting on the sofa as Bahu enters the living room just returning from work.

Saas: Don’t you like me or what?

Bahu (confused): Of course I do but why are you asking like this

Saas: That Kavitha’s daughter in law keeps a status about her mother in law almost every other week. You have never put even one about me.

Bahu: Why do we need to show of saasuma?

Saas: What are you saying! Open your Facebook and put in a status about me immediately. Let’s see who will get more likes.

Bahu posts new status update:

“Came home to yummy food prepared by my wonderful saasuma. You are the best! Love you”

Saas: Call your husband and ask him to like it now.

Scenario 5:

Saas (calls her son and hands him a camera)

Bahu: Now what happened?

Saas: I almost felt like jumping into that lake when Sonal ji asked me why I don’t have a Facebook profile. She said her daughter in law created one for her. You are so useless. Are you trying to hide from me on Facebook by not creating an account for me? Just see what I will do now once I have an account. Now take a picture and upload it and create a profile for me without wasting time.

Once the profile is complete, she once again hands the camera back to her son

Saas: Bahu, now come and sit beside me and act like we are laughing. Everyone should think we are a fun Saas and Bahu.

Scenario 6:

Bahu: Saasuma, you are spamming every ones wall posts with those game posts.
Saas: Those games are so fun
Bahu: They are fun but you do not have to publish everything. What will every one think? That you are an illiterate social network user and that I am not teaching you anything. How insulting would it be for me. Please stop posting all those games and asking for lives in Candy Crush
Saas: But Bahu candy...
Bahu: I will create a game profile for you.

Scenario 7:
Bahu: Saasuma, do you have any idea what people are thinking about us?
Saasuma: That we are the best in law pair?
Bahu: No, that we hate each other and cannot stand each other at all!
Saas: Oh my god! Why would they think that.
Bahu: Because you do not like any of my pictures on Facebook or comment on them. Did you see Shilpa's mother in law? She writes a wall post every time she uploads a pic praising her. You don't even like my picture!
Saas: But I told you..
Bahu: Telling me here is not enough. You have to like and comment

Scenario 8:
Bahu(walks in angrily): Saasuma! How can you like Alisha's picture and comment on it saying nice picture?
Saas: But she does look lovely ..
Bahu: You cannot like her picture. That's it! I can't stand her!
Saas: I thought...you..were...friends

Scenario 9:
Bahu: Saasuma, please do not post all those pictures and tag me in them.
Saas: What is wrong with those pictures.
Bahu: I look so fat in them. If you want, I will select one and have someone Photoshop it after which you can upload a picture. Ask me before uploading or do not tag me at all. It is so embarrassing when people come and ask me about that picture at work.

Scenario 10:
Saas: You cannot put that as your profile picture. My saree is not good in that. Put this one instead.
Bahu: No way! I am not going to put that. My nose looks weird. I shall only put this one.
Saas: Bahu, put this second one.
Bahu: No, the first.
Saas: This!
Bahu: No! This one!

10 Point Marriage Contract for Introverts

2013-08-15T20:14:00.003-05:00

10 points that most introverts would love to have included in their marriage contracts.
(obviously, this is just a sarcastic take and something I plan to follow)
1) The marriage should be devoid of any participatory programs like sangeet, bharaat etc. If they are enforced, I should be free to go to a movie, sleep or play on on my phone during the duration without being disturbed.

2) In any family gatherings after marriage, I should not be expected to participate in dumb charades, antakshari, and pillow passing games or any games involving an audience of more than 2 people.

3) Don't expect me to come to your office parties or functions. If I am forced to, my behavior should not be monitored or assessed and I should feel free to walk around the party avoiding people and just eating.

4) Feel free to go alone with your friends for partying. Forcing me to go will only happen on the condition that I can bring a book along and sit and read while you dance.

5) Relatives coming to stay who are more than 1 person need to give an advance notice so that we are mentally prepared to handle such an audience. There should be no guarantee that I have to remain at home during their duration.

6) In the events that our guests at home and I happen to be in the same room, sitting with them on the same sofa while I watch TV is accounted to as "entertaining" them.

7) In the event of me staying alone at home, the home phone shall go straight to voice mail.

8) In the event of going to movies with friends, I am in my right to change seats elsewhere if your friends are making too much noise.

9) I will take as many photos of you as you want but I am under no obligation to participate in any artificial photo shoots involving artificial poses.

10) Calling relatives and wishing them or finding how they are doing is not something that shall be expected of me. I will write letters and post them and they can reply in their leisure.

- Thank you
Introvert

Keep it simple, ICC

2013-08-04T22:09:00.001-05:00

The first Test Match as well as the second test and third test of the on going Ashes series have had enough talking points, one of them being the DRS, its limitations, its uses and its usage. Personally I am not a fan of calling cricket as entertainment but since most commentators and people who run the game tend to include the word everywhere I shall make my argument with that assumption.

Before DRS, there were bad decisions. There were howlers too. As spectators watching the game they sickened us. The fact that it so obviously it hit the bat(for a LBW dismissal) as shown in the replay cannot help reverse the decision was a point bemusing to us. That was a howler. Then there were decisions where the ball pitched outside leg which were marginal howlers. Last there were those decisions that hit the batsmen on the knee role or slightly outside offstump which were marginal calls that could go either way. As cricketers have agreed, most spectators too would agree that the marginal calls don't bother us. They even out with time and while they make a good talking point to discuss the what if's we know that they are part of the game. What bothered the spectators were the howlers.

Then the ICC introduced the DRS and frankly speaking, most spectators were joyed that this would help remove the howlers. Close to 4 years since it has been used on a regular basis, the spectators are bemused. Yes, the percentages show the number of right decisions have gone up but the howlers still remain. The dismissals that have agonized fans of teams into believing the match could have been won or lost due to that howler have remained. So what has the 4 years of DRS achieved from the view of a spectator? Nothing. The marginal calls have been more accurate but those never bothered us. Some spectators might disagree but deep down they know they took them with a pinch of salt in 2008 and would take it the same even now if the DRS was not present.

The ICC now talks about giving the third umpire more television angles access to see the possibility of the third umpire overriding the on field calls and taking the DRS away from the players(hopefully). What the ICC missed in 2009 and are still missing is in understanding the basics of decisions which are referred to as "howlers". Most such dismissals are seen as wrong in the very first replay that is shown after the umpires decision, often on the big screen on the ground. The umpire does not need 24 different television angles and hotspot and snickometer to reverse such dismissals. All he needs is the chance to take another look. As simple as that. Most umpires would probably agree that had they had the chance to watch the ball once more they would have reversed their decision on a lot of wrong decisions they gave throughout their careers.

And this is really what the fans want. When we watch the replay and break our heads on how such a decision was given to have someone press a button and call the batsman back. Yes, hotspot, Snickometer and all the other technologies make for excellent viewing experience but they are only over complicating such a simple process. Since we have already set a precedent to overruling umpires decision, the saying "Umpires calls are final" does not hold valid any more so we might as well ask the third umpire to pick up their microphone and say "Hey mate, in the replay it was clear he hit the bat". The walk from the batsman's crease is a pretty long walk, especially if you are the batsman dismissed and will be enough time to watch a simple replay and reverse the decision. More than the batsman, the spectators will be happy.

Sticking to the topic of keeping the fans happy, since in Test Matches Captains are fined for not bowling 90 overs in a given day and ruining the experience of the spectators, can we also hold the ICC responsible for giving a batsman out wrongly and ruining the experience of watching him bat?

Modi is not your saviour, Rahul is not your destroyer. You are.

2013-07-30T20:39:00.008-05:00

I see two types of people on my timeline/feed.

1) People who think of Modi as India's survivor. The people who seem to think he is the person who will take the country beyond China and USA and take it into prosperity.

2) People who call Rahul Gandhi a fool and probably hate him as well for his foolishness and do not even consider him a PM candidate.

There is one common trend in both these sets of people which is their assumed sureness of these candidates ability to either save or destroy the country. Modi is kind of a magician whose followers are like those blind followers of baba's who claim to erase your sins. Rahul Gandhi makes foolish statements and is called a fool by the same people who despite being educated speak from half knowledge, ignorance and the belief that every article on the internet is true. For all we know, Modi could really be a magician and Rahul Gandhi could really be the most foolish person in India. For all we do not know, Modi could be the Baba who is fooling us and will run away with all we have once we close our eyes and for all we do not know Rahul Gandhi is working hard at the grass root level of Indian Politics and bringing small but significant changes.

Maybe you know, but I do not. Good for you if you really do know. But I doubt that you do. Personally, opinions will and should be there no matter how extreme they are. It could be Modi, Rahul or Nitish but it is not the opinions that bother me than the process at which people are arriving at them. In the age of social media and when information is literally at our finger tips, I see more and more people blinding posting links, articles and comments without checking facts, history or even doing a basic check to see if it is indeed a true article and forming an opinion based on them. The saddening part is not that they do, but it is that they do even after being educated. The Media may make mistakes, the politicians will make mistakes but I don't think the youth of this country should. We do not have the right to do so. No one does, but what is beyond us is not in our control. We have been called the most aggressive youth of this generation which has shown hunger, passion and a desire for change. Hence, it is sinful to commit the same crimes that we are fighting against. Blind faith, indecent mockery and more importantly the lack of proper thinking behind an action.

Whether Modi or Rahul becomes the Prime Minister, our lives won't change much. Small changes but nothing significant because we are not a dictator ruled country and no matter how talented or foolish a prime minister is, we still have a parliament that will act as a barrier to both development and destruction. I won’t go into the details of BJP Vs Congress because it is essentially going into an argument of the known devil vs the unknown.

Coming back to “Change”. Change always starts from us Do I see the change? No. Yet, I see people complaining, praying and hoping for a better tomorrow. A person trying to lose weight will not lose weight by complaining to his mother or praying to god. Your mother can guide you and give you healthy food but unless you start working out you will not see the change. This reminds me of a post on the AP Traffic Police Facebook page that I saw the other day where an update was made about the hike in minimum fines to Rs.1000. One of the comments from a particular person complained about how this will lead to them paying bribes because of the un-affordable fines and how when they are in a hurry to go somewhere and if they happen to cross a simple light, 1000 is a very large fine. There were other posts similar to this and yet there was no mention of the basic point of not breaking the signal. Instead of abiding by the laws, or at least looking to abide by the laws on the face of this huge increase, what we see is not a change to follow rules but a throw back at the government that they are encouraging bribes. I ask the simple question, why are you not following the rules? Before someone gives me reasoning of why it is difficult with the traffic, timings, being late for the office, let me remind you that it is no one’s problem except yours to go to work on time while you ABIDE by the rules. Period.

There is no interest in change and yet we expect governments to change and change our country. This brings me to another topic. We are all angry at the scams done by the government. Public money is been looted we claim. Yet, we are not reminded of it when we try to bribe the constable with an Rs.50 note instead of paying a recorded Rs.300 fine. The 50 goes into the Constable/SI pocket while the 300 goes to the government. How different is this from the 2G scam or ministers looting constitution funds? After all in both scenarios the money government should be legally having to work towards the people is not reaching the rightful hands. More examples? -For every 9 guys who bribe their way to getting a driver’s license knowing well that they know how to drive, there could be a 10th guy who does not and may cause an accident. It is as much the 9 guys fault as it is the 10th guy that he got a license. We create habit. Bad habits.

It takes close to 30 minutes of running every day to lose 1kg in a week and 1 hour if you continue to eat unhealthy food. It may take the present youth 5 years to reverse the habits and create change with the governments help or it may take us 10 years without help but unless you run on the first day and continue doing so, you will not see the change. It is not easy, but it has to be done. Because it is unhealthy to be in the state we are in.

Say No to Telugu Cinema

2013-05-22T17:18:00.000-05:00

Actions always speak louder than words. One can complain as much as he can, but until he initiates an action, the results will not be seen. There are a always a lot of things to complain about in our day to day life like Corruption, Pollution, Education and our Nation. The respite from these has for most part been Cinema. While English, Hindi and even Tamil Cinema have grown over the years and are fast expanding their horizons and giving their audience something new, Telugu Cinema has instead chosen to go backwards. Actually, it has gone to a point of non existence, as even the start of Telugu Cinema was better than the trash being dished out to us now.

Count the number of really good Telugu movies that have released over the past 5 years that will be remembered for decades. Eega, Arundhati, Magadheera(to an extent) and Gamyam come to mind. In fact, if one has to look for really stand out cinema, one has to go back to Chandrasekhar Yeleti's Aithe and Anukokunda oka Roju. If we were to relax our norms a bit and include commercial cinema, then the likes of Dhookudu, Gabbar Singh, Ishq, Ala Modalaindi, Vedam and a few other movies will make the list. But close observation would reveal that most of the movies in that list will only make anyone's top list in a relative scenario and not in standalone scenario. None of those movies are top class cinema with a proper story, screenplay or even good acting. They were just better than the rest and had one major ingredient that the audience enjoyed.

Even family entertainers have taken a beating. Dhookudu, Ishq or Ala Modalaindi are no Manmadhudu, Nuvvu Naku Nachav or Kushi. They are just movies that provide enough entertainment to make the audience last the movie. Relaxing the norms for "Good Cinema" and taking a look at some "Hit" movies over the past few years one would find, Racha, Naayak, Brindavanam, Julayi, Businessman, Simha, Mirchi and a host of other mass entertainers. Again taking a closer look at them in the grand totality of Telugu Movies will make all these movies pale in comparison to the likes of Indra, Samarasimha Reddy or even Simhadri. Let us not even compare them to the mass movies of 80s and 90s. Mass entertainers used to have a story, good dialogues and a certain emotional depth that is completely missing in the new ones.

So the question to all of us is, why are we watching this trash? For the love of cinema one would say. Or another answer could be the lack of other forms of entertainment. Either way, we are in our own way encouraging the makers in making more of this trash because they in their blinded worlds see the cash flows and assume that the audience are liking this trash. Little do they know that we are a bunch of overly rich people who do not know what to do with our money that we decide to spend $15 on a Friday night to go watch a movie like Thadaka or Rebel. So really, are we that rich or do we not care? If we are stupid enough to pay the high prices and watch the trashy movie even after knowing it is trash, then God save us. Also, we lose the right to complain. Since movie critics in Telugu are also non existent(Yes, I know the names of all those who review. Get the point) the best way is to wait for word of mouth and then NOT GO TO THE MOVIE IF THEY SAY IT IS AVERAGE!

Let us take a stand to not watch mediocre movies that are thrown at us.. Do not go to watch a movie because you like the hero. Buy his poster instead and stick it in your bedroom. If you really like a heroine, make her your wallpaper. Do not go to the movies just to look at her and in the process give funds to the producer for making more of this meaningless trash. If your friends force you to a movie that is average, disown them. If you are really bored and have no life and want to go watch a movie, buy a DVD instead and watch an old classic. The DVD's are cheaper, you know. Even if you are offered a free ticket, throw it in the trash. Let the producers see empty halls. If they do not want to make good cinema, then let us not watch bad cinema. We shall only watch the cinema we deserve. Not the cinema that earns the producers money.

Say No To Telugu Cinema.

Dear Men, Start acting like one

2013-04-22T13:44:00.002-05:00

Over the past few months, we have had many agitations, protests, articles and discussions on the topic of rape. There have been numerous brilliantly written articles on what women go through, what they need to do and how the government fails us. But it surprised me that no one was writing what men should do.

Learn martial arts, kick boxing, Kung Fu or whatever that teaches you how to protect and defend when you are being attacked. Use it to protect those women you see who are vulnerable and being attacked. Do not get scared and run away but go fight the bad guys, yes, like in movies.

Teach your sons, brothers, friends to respect women. Ask them to treat women with respect. Teach them that women are not just a physical entity made by god for lust. Punish them if you feel you guy friends/son/brother are not respecting women.

If you are in a bus, give your seat to the women who is standing, not because she is weak but because standing in a crowded bus leaves her exposed. The seat offers her protection. Give it to her.

Stop staring at every women you see on the road, especially at some of their body parts. Get a girlfriend if you really want to stare. Ask a girl out politely and then get yourself a girlfriend at whom you can stare and who would not mind.

At the bus stop, if you see some people on the road teasing a girl, do not act like it is not your business. If you do not dare enough to shout at them/fight them, at least stand beside the girl and offer her moral support. Also, call the police. Do not worry whether they would do their duty or not. It is first your duty to call them.

At clubs, just because you are drunk does not mean you have the right to misbehave. Remember morals, remember to be polite if you want to ask a girl for a dance.

In college, if you are aware of guys who are eve teasing/harassing girls, and trust me you will know about it, inform the management. If you think it is too risky to get involved with such people, remember that it is equally risky for other people to help you if you are in danger or your sister/girlfriend is. Change starts with you. Help people.

Stop making the argument that girls by wearing short skirts instigate you to rape her. If you take your purse out in a crowded bus and show off your money, is everyone in the bus after the purse? No, only those who are already thieves will go after it. They would have gone after the purse even if you had not shown it off. Because they are thieves. Rapists/Eve Teasers are similar. So stop bull shitting around with the argument that women instigate men.

Let us take the initiative for the change. Why are we waiting for women to write articles, for women to learn defense, for women to stage protests etc. Let us defend them, let us protest, let us fight and let us bring the change.

Marketing the IPL

2013-04-05T13:37:00.003-05:00

http://www.espncricinfo.com/blogs/content/current/story/629114.html (This blog has been published on cricinfo)

In its 6^th season, the IPL has sustained viewership incredibly well. What it has not been able to achieve is consistent full houses at all stadiums. A perfect example would be the Hyderabad stadium which has been consistently underpopulated. It would be wise to realize what the franchises are doing wrong and take lessons from abroad.

All the marketing strategies used by city based leagues in US like the NBA, NFL and NHL or the EPL cannot be used by the IPL because of its obvious differences, but there are probably a few good points that can be used in maintaining and improving the brand IPL. In the case of NFL/NBA the lack of international games works in their favor. Since the audience is not supporting TEAM USA every month, it is easier to support the home side and looking at every other side as rivals. For cricket, it is not a plausible option since while for 10 months the viewer supports the 15 players who play for India, asking them to support their home side and look at another of his favorite player as a rival is a tough thing to ask. This is where the marketing of the IPL Teams had faltered slightly in previous years.

Cricket is a religion in India and IPL teams in playing to that strength would have created a far greater viewing base than the current scenario. Most of the spectators who thronged the IPL in its first two seasons came to watch “cricket” first and then supported their home side if they felt like doing so. Instead, if the franchises had used “cricket” itself as a brand and promoted aggressively for people to watch the matches in the stadium, they would have achieved better results. A Deccan Chargers game with Mumbai Indians should have had publicity that also covered Sachin Tendulkar. Once the viewer’s became spectators at the stadium, the strategy should have then shifted to converting them into loyal fan bases of the home city. It is still cricket first for a lot of Indians even in its sixth season and fans support other “away” teams because their favorite player plays for them.

Secondly, the ticket structure needs some innovation. The ideal way to increase fan base is to have repeat audience who come regularly to the game. Like the NFL, having season tickets sold is one way of increasing this outcome. Having a prepaid discounted season pass also ensures a high percentage of repeat audience since those who have a pass do not want to waste it lying around. What works for the NFL and NBA which does not for the IPL are the timings of the games. The 4:00 and 8:00 PM games do not help office going public. Instead moving them to 6:00 PM and 9:00 PM games and ensuring that games end on time will bring more spectators to the game. But that is a point for the IPL committee to consider. Instead franchises should try to lure people into coming even at the half way stage with reduced prices for the second half of the game only sold at the gate if available.

Giving season ticket holders extra privileges that allow interaction with players, discounted rates for merchandise and the ability to choose seats in advance are a must. Franchises would also benefit considerably in tying up with universities and colleges in the city and initiating the ability to have season passes for the youth with transport facilities. The masses who make up the vast majority of the stadiums should be encouraged to buy more than 1 ticket at a time for a free franchise fan t-shirt. While the free merchandise is tempting, it will also increase the number of people wearing team colors on game day and here in increasing a kind of under current team loyalty.

April always had big movie releases until the IPL began. Marketing for the IPL should also involve luring these movie going public into watching the game instead. This could either be by showcasing the 3 hour game as an alternate entertainment get away to the stadium or by having screenings of matches live in theaters. The experience of watching the players on such a huge screen along with having game atmosphere created with 500 other people at such a low cost would make a very tempting offer.

Lastly, sustaining the kind of loyalty when a team only plays for 10 weeks a year will be a difficult task. Having franchises develop their teams by having under 15, under 17, under 19 and under 21 tournaments periodically without clashing with the domestic schedules will not only help keep the loyal fans in the loop with the franchise but also build fan bases for particular players who impress as they grow through the ranks and whose careers will be followed.

The Lost Alarm

2013-01-29T11:14:00.001-06:00

Every body has a set of alarm clocks. Not the ones you have in your pockets or the ones which you wear, but the ones inside your body. Each has its own trigger mechanism and their own set times and limits upon which they strike. It is upon each man himself to not just identify the different types of alarms but to also hear the alarm and raise a red flag.

Most of them are clocks everyone is aware of. The one in the heart, the one that controls sleep, that one with each hand and leg telling you they are tired and one which tells you it is hungry. While we listen to most of these, with the rare exception of the alarm in the heart, there is one that most of us pay little attention to or knowingly ignore the warnings. This is the clock that is present in the stomach.

This alarm clock was the most precious of all I had when I was a kid. Probably never realized how good it was back then until recently when I realized I lost it. I have been frantically searching for it ever since but with little luck. The tongue I believe has had a major role to play in its disappearance.

The art of eating food is not in what you eat or how much you eat but knowing when to stop. That is what keeps you fit, healthy and gives you the possibility of eating what you want without restrictions for most of your life.

Growing up, I hardly ate and had a very lean personality that bordered on being under weight but I was always fit. The secret as I have come to know in later years was that alarm that had told me when to stop eating. I might have over done it a bit but I usually stopped eating when most people would probably eat another item. Looking back, I think if I had maintained that and safeguarded that alarm it would have been really good.

But with age and the growth of the tongue which suddenly fancied all the different tastes and food items, the need to satisfy the tongue and a few other parts kept making me snooze the stomach alarm. The alarm on you watch/mobile will keep ringing no matter how many times you hit snooze, but the body alarms are not as kind. The more you hit snooze, the lesser they start working. In this case though, not only did not stop working but it disappeared.

No, I am not obese or that overweight, but if you saw me as a kid, you shall be surprised if you look at me now. It isn't difficult to control your tastes and eating habits and to lose weight and get back to your old self, but knowing that you had an alarm that did the job for you and you have displaced it is not a happy feeling.

To the alarm that kept me fit, please come back. I miss you.

Sincerely,
Ramakanth

An Open Letter to the Indian Cricket Team & BCCI

2012-12-07T20:04:00.004-06:00

To begin with, I am not one of those fans who burnt effigies or one of those fans who wants people to be dropped and sacked and fired left, right and center because we lose. I am one of those fans who believe India will save a test even if they have to play out the last 180 overs on a turning pitch. I believe in our players. That though does not stop me from being disappointed in our performances.

I started watching cricket when I was 4 and have also played enough competitive cricket to understand the little nuances of form, pitch behavior, player mindset, collective loss of form among a few other things the average fan may not care about while criticizing a loss. Yet, that does not explain a lot of things that I believe are common sense doubts. I will try and be to the point and list my problems with Indian Cricket right now. Before that I will remind you that while we as citizens of the country will support Team India no matter what, that does not mean you are not accountable to us.

1) What was Pujara with shin pads and protective gear doing in the slips? A 5th grader would know his movement would be reduced. If there was some logic or lack of other options, let us know. We may not understand every cricket concept or style of play but at least knowing it was a “plan” that backfired is better than thinking it was just random.

2) The fielding coach talks about how we only have few good fielders to place in good positions. Ashwin is a pathetic fielder. If he was taking 7 wickets/innings I would not complain but he isn’t. So what is the point of compromising for a bad fielder if he does not even pick wickets? Send him back to First Class Cricket with an ultimatum to improve his fielding before he is picked.
An average fielder should henceforth be only picked if he is the next Shane Warne or Wasim Akram in the making

3) What is Harbhajjan doing in the squad? I did not see him pick tons of wickets to force his way back into the squad. So what you are implying is once you create a brand for yourself, even if you are dropped, it does not matter what you do in FC Cricket, you just need to spend some time outside and we will take you back? Why will anyone be motivated then to perform exceptionally well on being dropped?
They cannot complain of not getting wickets on flat tracks because if he cannot get a few wickets on flat tracks against first class batsmen what are the chances of him getting a Kallis or Cook out? A Player dropped has to either bowl hundreds of maiden overs or picks tons of wickets to get back into the squad. Mediocrity should be unacceptable in Team India.

4) Post-Match Conferences should only be given By the Captain, Coach or Vice-Captain and they should answer the basic questions it is their responsibility to answer basic questions without trying to avoid them. Make the Vice Captain accountable to answering questions like what Pujara was doing or why Sehwag was not standing the slips.

5) About the DRS. Your argument about how only a perfect product should be used and a product being better now than it was last year implies it was not perfect then is as stupid as saying India should not play cricket unless they are perfect and have 7 brilliant batsmen, 2 All-rounders and 2 Brilliant world class bowlers. Stop being a bully and start using the DRS, will you?
Yes, the technology is not perfect but so isn’t the ad coverage filled with cricket. Should we stop watching cricket on TV until you make it perfect? Mind you, piracy is easier.

Teams lose. Brazil even in their best years lost. Manchester United has had some bad seasons relative to what people expect and we do not expect India to go unbeaten in every game. I have seen us lose worse in the nineties and I still am sitting here supporting Team India. Losing is not a problem. The problem lies in how you lose. Not numbers wise, but whether you are committing the same mistakes again and again and whether you are learning from them. From what I have seen, we go around in circles with the same mistakes which mean we are either not solving it correctly or do not care enough to give our all out in solving it.

What are our three major problems over the past year and a half?
1) Fielding
2) Overseas Batting
3) Lack of good fast bowlers.

Hang on; these were the same problems I heard in the nineties. So for all the talk about us being the richest board and having so much money has had no impact in improving our deficiencies. In fact, you have made that list increase to 4! Dearth of spinners! Let me also mention that since 2000 we have had only one Player who can be called an All Time Great in both formats of the game – Sehwag. Half credit each for Dhoni, the Captain, Harbhajjan occasionally and Yuvraj, the ODI Player. Even if I throw in small credits for Gambhir as a useful player and an emerging talent in Kohli, that is still a very small percentage over 12 years. 1.2 Billion People with crickets richest board.

This is probably just Part 1 of what is wrong with Indian Cricket.
Part 2, coming soon

Arranged Marriage - Myth or Mystery

2012-10-10T21:39:00.004-05:00

When we are in School, out of 50 students in class, we only hang out regularly with 7-8 people, are friends and talk regularly with another 10-12 people and the rest are our classmates. As a matter of fact, when we are kids, we are told by our parents to not be friends with everyone, but to only trust people that are good and helpful. In short, do not be friends with the wrong students. Do we know who the good students are immediately? No. It takes time

Later, during bachelors, we make a lot of friends, again some very close, some good while some just remain classmates. If you ask 100 girls, you will know that a lot of them are not friends with the same people as they were in the first year. Friendships break over a period of time, not always, but sometimes, definitely. It is not that guys always remain friends. Friendships are broken between guys as well. Once again, the parents are concerned about their kids being friends with the right people. The age is so fragile that they know it is easier to get into bad habits in the wrong company. Who are the wrong company? Only a month or two with them can let us know. After that, we can stay away if they are not the right company. There is the openness of the choice that gives us freedom. After all, even the thickest of friends have often parted ways due to differences.

For over a quarter of our life, we are taught to not talk to strangers, are asked to understand a person fully before trusting them and also given the lesson on not showing disparity in making friends based on caste, religion or monetary status. Yet, at the most important juncture of our life, as we make our most important decision, it is these above statements that we openly negate and act in the exact opposite manner.

Arranged Marriages have definitely evolved and progressed over years and there have been adjustments made, but the basic crust has remained the same. Parents, through common relatives, or trusted friends or in the last ditch resort, through a matchmaker, find someone from the opposite sex. The exact steps followed vary but they revolve around the parents showing us the picture and in some cases the bio data. We are expected to make an initial choice, based on which they will proceed forward. Initial choice based on looks and qualifications? Fair enough. Has its drawbacks, but you have to start somewhere and this is at least a move forward from seeing your husband for the first time on the night of your marriage.

If the match has come from someone we already know, indirect background checks are done to find out what kind of family they are, how is the guy, what does he do and roughly how much he earns. If all turn out well, you go forward and set up a meeting time where the guy and girl can meet, along with their parents.
Taking a step back, how can one be judged based on his qualifications, money earned and family? If you are the hiring manager of your company looking to hire someone, their qualifications and background may count but you are not basing your judgement based on it alone. There are numerous rounds of HR and Technical interviews that often last for days to determine to see if he is a fit for your company. Yet, most kids get only a single shot at talking to their potential match before they are expected to take a decision. Forget how much the parents have talked to him. Yes, in progressive families, maybe you get to talk more than once, but unlike a job that often comes with the option to terminate the contract at any point, though marriage also does, it is not the wisest option to consider at this point.

So the daughter/son is expected to talk with the other person for a couple of times before making a decision. Parents, in your life, you have had lots of friends, how many times have you been surprised to see their sons/daughters behave different to what your expectations have been? So, how fair is it to bring the argument that the family is good, so the match is good? Yes, a good family is important, but does that help in evaluating the guy? 30% maybe.
If family and knowing that they live a good life is important, why is it that you do not consider your friends daughter or your colleagues son? You do, only if they are of the same case/religion. How does case/religion stop one from being a good family or how is one good family different from another family because they are of a different religion?

Having said all that, I am not supporting love marriages. As a kid I had heard that the success ratio of love marriages was less than that of arranged marriages. I realized over time that it is not true, they are almost the same, but the number of people who have been in love and who end up getting married is very less. Love marriages have their share of problems, some before marriage and some after marriage. Some love marriages face a lot of hardships before marriage but end up peacefully. Some face no problems at all, but get disrupted after marriage due to sudden changes in behavior. Like a friend of mine said, after marriage, it does not matter if yours is love marriage or not, they could fail for the same reasons as for which arranged marriages fail. Similarly, they could also be successful for the same reasons. But intuitively, would you not think that the love marriage has a better chance of survival because they already know so much of each other?

All of us have taken some bad decisions at a young age in selecting the not so right guy. Love is sometimes blind, especially at a young age, which is why it fails even before it gets to marriage.

So we are stuck between the choice of falling in love at a young age when our selection is impaired and judgment prone to influence and the choice of getting married to someone with whom you have conversed a couple of times and are then expected to live with for the rest of your life's The enormity of the last sentence is often taken lightly, given the vast success ratio of arranged marriages and our acceptance of the word "compromise". We live a life where compromise is considered to be a natural process, where happiness takes a backseat and completing the activities that are expected of us in a natural process takes initiative.

What works for arranged marriages is its long successful history. For generations, people have lived happily on the outside at least, for their entire lives with people that were found through close relatives and whose matches were fixed after a few conversations. In reality, is it possible that you would know if it is a perfect match in a few meetings? No, but the argument is that life is not perfect and that you would never get a perfect partner. So, compromise is inevitable. But how much compromise is good? And how much beyond that borders on leading a life that almost kills who you are? How many daughters tell their problems to their mothers and not their husbands? Why not? Yes, saying it to your mothers is not a problem but in the long run isn't that the relation you want to develop with your husbands? So why is that not getting developed if not for the lack of compatibility between the two? But history supports the argument that a good family with good qualifications would enable the newcomer to settle easily and not have difficulty adjusting and living a happy life but my intuition fails to understand how.

In an ideal world, it would be great if the guy and girl are allowed to meet and be friends for a month or two and have discussions to see if they are suitable and only then give their decisions, but unfortunately this is not currently possible. In another ideal world it would also be great if you fell in love at 23 and not at 17 where your choice of selection and judgement are far more sound and you may take into factors that your parents want you to. The other alternative is for the kids to be proactive and find someone within the same caste/religion beforehand and make sure it is a right match. Yes, it no longer remains a love marriage but more of a convenient love-arrange marriage. Still, it is better than walking into your post marriage life blinded.

Marriage is not an alliance of two people so that they can live in the same house and have kids and develop two more people while earning money. Marriage should only be about the two people who are married. Nothing more, nothing less. Having said all these, I see a lot of my friends who have just got recently married through arranged marriages quite happy and in fact slowly falling in love with their other halves. There are quite a few happily married couples and there have been a lot for the past 50 years but in spite of all this, it is still like walking into an unknown house blindfolded when you have the option of switching on a few torch lights that could ease your way in.

Photo Credits: Vidya Pandarath

Hey Kid, No Uncle, Ok?

2012-09-08T19:13:00.003-05:00

When kids, younger than me came to my house, it was the little girls who would play with me more often than the boys. It was pretty obvious why. Though I was myself a kid I was and still am a Quiet guy, so that made it easier for them. They want you to listen, and just be a spectator to their cute little games they make up. With boys, you need to be pro-active, run along with them and keep innovating yourself. So the little girls used to tell me hundreds of stories that I listened to, took a look around their toys, and play all the imaginary games they invent and yet not do anything myself. Well, it worked for me as long as they were not irritating kids.

As I grew older, the trend remained; at least I thought it did. As I have been going around in my new area and I often run into kids at the park or temple I realized there was a difference in their behavior when I smiled at them. Previously they would come, talk and start playing where as now they just stare back weirdly. I wondered why.

Then one person who was with his daughter, who had just sung a song, was trying to convince her that she sang well but she was still sulking. I told her that she sang well. All good so far. The guy then asked her to "Say Thanks to Uncle". Now that just brain crashed me. I ate the rest of my food quietly and moved away.

I am 24, yes, I am no more a teenager or a little kid but uncle for a 24 year old is a bit too much right? Once I get married and have a wife with me, even though it will still be weird, I will give you the benefit of the doubt and you can call me uncle but please not now. It is just weird. The worst part is to have the kid’s parents ask them to call me uncle. I feel like saying, Thank you old man.

Then I decided to observe kids behavior with me and soon realized why the difference in attitude. I do not look young anymore, so they do not think of me as someone they could play with. Yes, after a few meetings they would but I am talking about the first time you meet them.

The bottom line is to not make your kids call me uncle. Hell, he can even call me Ram. In fact I would like that better. But please no Uncle. It is hard enough knowing you are 24 and turning 25 soon and to top it off with kids calling you uncle is just worse. It makes you feel like you have a big tummy, a moustache, a wife and two little kids. No, I am just a guy who is at an odd age where you neither fall in the student’s category nor the married people category. So I would rather prefer you think I am in the students category than push me into the Uncle category. The joke is on me, but the best thing about life is, everyone grows and one day you will be 24 years too and my kid will call you an uncle. Maybe that is what these parents are doing. Letting kids take their own sweet revenge and that is how the tradition lives on. Alright, maybe I will break it then.

Dream Game - Lee & Laxman Vs Safin & Roddick

2012-09-08T19:10:00.000-05:00

Dream Match - Lee & Laxman (On the other side, Left and Right) vs. Safin & Roddick (Near side, Left and Right)
Roddick serves to Lee - Deep and Quick. Ace

Roddick serves to Laxman - Fast serve straight on the line, moving away from Laxman. Bat in hand, he pulls it from outside off to the right of Safin. Winner.

Change of serve
Lee bowls to Roddick - Fast, pitches in middle of court and swings away. Ace.

Lee bowls to Safin - Fast in swinger, moving away from Safin to his right. Safin hits a Double Back handed return. Winner.

Who wins is up to your imagination.

Marat Safin, Laxman, Brett Lee and now Andy Roddick. Add in Agassi, and you will understand the pattern. Players who probably never achieved what they could have with the talent they who probably made you stop and watch them no matter what you were doing.

Each of them had a style. No one could hit a ball pitched outside offstump to the Midwicket boundary as Laxman could. Think Backhand, think Safin. Pace with swing? Lee could knock the stump off before you realized he delivered. Stay as deep as possible if Roddick is serving. You could serve faster than him on occasions, but you can never be as consistent and as mesmerizing as Roddick when he serves.

Today marked the end of an era for me in terms of my favorite players to watch. Yes, there is still my favorite cricketer Sachin, and Nadal in Tennis but as much talent and style these players have and play shots only they can, the names mentioned before have a style of their own, something you may never see again.

I do not understand poetry much, nor have I read too many poems but watching them in action is what I call Sporting Poetry. You almost feel at a loss of words to describe them in action. The English you know is almost always inadequate to write about them. You feel guilty that you are not William Wordsworth to describe a Laxman pull or a Safin Backhand. If you had to call a sports shot Romantic, then your best bet would be while watching them in action. And yet, after all you write, you feel there is something still missing to describe them. There always is. You cannot describe Magic. It needs to be watched, enjoyed and preserved in Memory.

Often speed is seen as a bad thing. It is in sports terms described as being too aggresive or too brash. Speed, they say is a hard thing to control and one which can bring down your fall. It all seemed true, until I saw Roddick serve and Lee hit the stumps. Never before did Speed in a non-racing sport seem this good to watch and so magical. There was another common thing for these two speedy servers, if you could call them. They both smiled, a lot. That just added an extra charm to what they did. The contradictory image of what they did with such pace to their physical image was in itself a charming conflict. While trying to describe them, you almost feel obliged to write your words at a quick pace, lest you do any poetic injustice to the magic that they show you.

While Safin has retired for some time now, this has been a sad year for my two favorite sports. First Lee, then Laxman and today Roddick. They have all played their last matches. Yes, Youtube will bring back memories, but there will not be any new instances where you watch these magicians in action and are awestruck by what they just did.

Life, As it is

2012-09-02T02:16:00.001-05:00

Being Happy and Being Content are two different things.
Having a goal in life has never been important to me, at least not more than being happy. Yet, there are times I know I have under achieved, especially with the talent at my disposal, or at least the talent I am supposed to have.
I have read a lot of books recently, Nadal, Maradona, Agassi, Jerry West. To become what they were, they gave it all, they gave everything to it, but more importantly they endured pain, long periods of pain. They also had a commonality. They hated to lose. They were not ok with it.
I will not say I mind losing, but I do not care. The experience of playing is more. As a kid, just playing cricket gave me immense happiness. I played with a bunch of older kids. I was always the youngest player in the ground until I left the area in my 9th. For most part, I would hardly ever get to bad, almost never bowled except on a rare occasion and my batting would most often just be about making sure I did not get out or giving the main batsmen at the other end the strike. Yet, I never complained. I went everyday to the ground to play cricket. EVERYDAY. I never saw it as bad or something I need to change. I just enjoyed playing cricket. It did not strike me that I needed to shout, cry and make them give me more batting time or take me seriously. My passion for the game far exceeded my involvement in it. I was just happy to be playing cricket.
Yes, maybe my life would have been different had I shouted, cried for batting like other kids, played my shots without bothering to hear my runner's call to tap the ball while he ran the single.
For all the talent I believe I had in cricket, I never played enough. I hardly ever batted in a match. I played a lot in the nets. My major problem with cricket is that I do not know if I had the talent to succeed or not. If you've seen me play, depending on when you've seen me you may think both ways. If you saw me in US, then I was just a very poor batsmen who could play a shot or two but had no real talent to do anything special.
If you saw me in the nets in my 9th grade, you might think I was a brilliant through covers and had a good solid defense. Both are true. The problem is that I had no idea how to play a match. You throw me 1000 balls in the nets and I can probably defend every one of them without getting out. And not defend any way but defend them properly with a correct technique. Throw me 500 balls and I could probably hit a century in the next game. Yet, I never did. I was never a go getter. In my first sem I played as an off spinner for the team. I had been a medium swing bowler all my life and a batsmen, but never a spinner. I had two first ball ducks and suddenly my team was playing me at no 10. From the team point of view it was fair enough, but I was much more talented that playing at no 10. I never complained. I never asked to be played much higher. I was scared of getting out again. I thought too much. Even in practice, I never got a bat, but I was ok with it. I was just happy playing cricket. My fielding which was always the thing I enjoyed the most became disastrous. Yes, I had a problem with my throwing arm but I had become suddenly so self consious that I became a poor fielder.
Like I mentioned before, as a kid since I hardly batted or bowled, fielding was one thing I always did, everyday. I remember some amazing catches I took. But that disappeared. Apart from one stunning catch I took at gully in a game against MA, my fielding at best was ordinary. I lacked the motivation to run after the ball, dive and stop. I could do all of it. I knew I could. Yet, I did not.
Was it the disappointment of my batting? I do not know.
This blog was not supposed to be about this. But its how it has turned out to be.
I recently started playing tennis, and when I first started the guy who was trying to teach me was very surprised. He repeatedly asked if I never played tennis before. I told him I did not. He said I had made unbelievable progress for a beginner. Yet 4 weeks down the lane, I have not made as much progress as I should have had over 4 weeks. Why? Not motivated enough. I cannot seem to serve, just cannot! I cannot even toss the ball up in a straight line. Maybe 100 serves straight will do the trick.
Once again, the natural talent is there. Am I doing something with it? No. Why does it not bother me, then? Because I am happy. or is it because I am content with everything I have ? How is either of them not good?

To succeed in life, you need to push yourself to the limit, endure pain and challenge the boundaries that you have. That success will give you happiness. My argument is that I am already happy. More happy than 99% of my age group people. How more happy can I get or how different can I get. Yet, I know there is more I need to do with the supposed Talent I have.

I just wish everyday was a Night.

Mr.India turned NRI is always Mr.India

2012-08-24T01:02:00.002-05:00

Random Person: Are you going to settle there?

NRI: No, I am going to come back,

Random Person: Good joke. No one does. I do not believe you.

Take a suggestion, and stop asking people if they plan to settle in USA if you have already made up your mind that they will. It is like asking a goat if she wants to drink milk. She probably answers, but you will never understand it and will make a decision yourself.

I've myself been asked this question many a times over the past few years. None seem to believe what I say and yet I keep getting the question again and again. The irony is when the person asking is himself/herself in a different state/city than where they usually are from. Yes, for me, it is an apt comparison.

I was first asked the question during my application process. Actually, it was not even a question. It was an open ended statement. I denied and told them my hopeful plan. I got the very predictable "Yeah, I have heard it too many times" reaction. Fair enough, I had not even set my foot on the land yet, so their doubt seemed genuine considering most of them assume USA to be this magical inward sucking vacuum which can only suck in but not suck out people. I give you the benefit of the doubt, but on second thoughts, do you have any idea what you will be doing 2 years after your graduation? No! Then why do you assume the same aged guy who goes to the same college as you and has been as aimless as you for the past 3 years will suddenly know everything about his future, just because he is going to the US of damn A. It is like a dog asking another dog the time because it was holding a watch from the garbage bag.

The next question comes right when people think you are supposed to be graduating. It is a different question whether you are graduating or not but considering it’s been 2 years since you left the country, you are supposed to graduate because in India, education always had a fixed term. Again the question is asked. Again I give the same answer. Again they give the same reaction. They believe that once I get a job and start getting dollars, why would I want to earn in Rupees, especially considering the conversion is growing high so steadily. Btw have you realized the fact that my answer has remained the same for 2 years now? And the inward sucking country has somehow failed its magic on me? No, you do not quite care because the dollar is rich and because you can do anything you want to in the US. I really wish they could tell me what is that anything. BTW, you are the guy who is working in a company for the past 2 years, saving money, investing and doing everything a 35 year old does while I am juggling between washing dishes to not sleeping for 2 straight days so that I could write some unique crap and yet you are the guy who has no idea what is going to happen 6 months down your life and expect me to know where I will settle in 4 years time. Oh I forgot, because I am in the United States of some Ca. The cat does not want me to bring her into comparison. She ran away to Australia and she says she plans to sue a white cat if it complaints about the Indian cat population.

There, now the NRI has a job, is literally earning X*55 per year, has a car, is travelling places and is very visibly enjoying himself in all photos. The question cannot be more obvious now. You have to ask me. Go ahead, ask. There you go; I give you my answer and your reaction has not changed over the past 4 years. You should probably consider watching Star Plus/ Gemini/ Surya TV to learn some new reactions. They have many angles too, and slow and fast motions. Coming back to my answer which has remained consistent over the same period, just like your question, I have a question now in return. You have been working for 4 years now, settled, almost 25-26, when are you getting married? There! Gotcha! That is always a Win question. Better than the worst.

`Indian’ Premier League. But where is the Indian?

2012-05-23T00:03:00.003-05:00

IPL 5 has seen more last over finishes than any other IPL season. The number of teams at this stage that can reach the play-pffs are seven.

But this post is not about who gets in and who stays out. This is about the missing `Indian’ in the Indian Premier League.

Halfway through the fifth season, Harbhajan Singh said he was still trying to find a middle order player and mentioned Smith’s arrival. MI had already tried Franklin, Blizzard and Levi. Yet no one spoke about T. Suman. He did play an odd match here and there but you cannot expect an Indian domestic player to play one match in three weeks and score immediately. There were other domestic Indian players but MI was quite clearly looking for an `international’ to fill the middle order slot.

Yes, there have been some amazing Indian players who have hit the headlines, but most of these players were given chances only because each team could play just four internationals. It is almost like they were forced into playing a Gurkeerat Singh or a Mayank Agarwal as they had to fill up the 7 slots for domestic players. The rule says a team can play a maximum of four international players and not a compulsory four international players. Yet, teams seem to be hell bent on playing the four international players, even though some of them are not exactly International players but just `domestic’ International players.

Ravi Teja misses out on a place in Deccan Chargers to a Daniel Harris. Glenn Maxwell plays for Delhi Daredevils while players like Varun Aaron and Negi warm the benches. Cheteshwar Pujara does not get a game while A.McDonald plays more a couple. David Miller played for Kings XI Punjab while Harmeet Singh sat out. For KKR Unadkat plays one game while Marchant De Lange plays three. The list goes on. I have nothing against any of these International domestic players. They are supremely talented, but I fail to see the point in playing them in the Indian Premier League.

The league is meant to, among other things, give better exposure to the Indian domestic players. So how would they feel watching the foreign players play while they sit out and carry drinks in our own `Indian’ Premier League? It is great to encourage these internationals, but a lot of these players are from countries that have their own domestic boards to encourage them, so why give them the push at the cost of our own players.

Even as a spectator, I would rather watch a Brett Lee play for KKR if an international has to be picked than watch Marchant De Lange, no matter how good the team management thinks he is compared to Brett Lee. The definition of an International player is vague in the IPL. But the mistake is not of the team management alone. Once you are allowing these players to be picked up in the auction, the team management can then do anything they want to. So the question is, why are they even being in the auction. Should there be a cap of a minimum number of International matches played for international cricketers to be in the auction? Maybe 25 International matches including T20?

One might argue, that there are not enough international players scheduled to be playing during the IPL for all the teams and hence this requirement to pick these fringe internationals. But shouldn’t that actually make teams play three International players and eight domestic players who are actually good than to play four internationals just for the heck of it.

The point raised about a cap for number of international matches played to be in the auction should also apply to Indian players. The fact that Saurabh Tiwary and Venugopal Rao are `purchased’ in the auction for outrageous amounts while Manish Pandey and Ambati Rayadu are paid 30 lakh rupees is something that is not just illogical, but plain stupid. Though I do not understand the entire concept of how a transfer works, but getting a player from another team which is already low on resources and then having that player warm your bench is something that I fail to understand.

This post has also been posted at http://tsr.net.co/2012/05/indian-premier-league-but-where-is-the-indian/4366