Lessons from Hyderabad : Part 2

When Ashish Nehra bowled the last over at Rajkot, with Lanka needing 11 runs, every Indian fan would have been praying for an Indian victory, except Sehwag. Or so he said during the post match presentation. In the end ,India clinched the game by a mere 3 runs, the margin of victory perhaps underlining the manner of the win.

The end result definitely resembled the high scoring Hyderabad horror. Yes, the Sachin marathon of 175. Whilst it is very easy to get carried away by yesterday's result, it would be suicidal to forget the shabbiness of the victory.

1. I think people will most probably remember the Indian catching , or rather the lack of it. Against the Lankan team , three drop catches did not prove costly , but it would be foolish to assume similar against teams outside the subcontinent.

2. Barring perhaps the final over , Ashish Nehra and the rest of the Indian bowling was literally all over the place , with only Bhajji managing an economy rate that would have been ok with Dr. Manmohan Singh. While it is easy to blame the surface and the size of the ground, the approach from the bowling unit could have been better. Hardly did we get to see change in pace, if there were they were off Dilshan's bat and of course Sanga's.

3. Probably the best thing the Lankans can do at this point of time would be to fetch the video tape of the Hyderabad horror only to console themselves.

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The shot that shook the country!

A billion hearts stopped twice that day. Once when the man was on the brink of surpassing a mere numerical milestone. The second and the most painful :

47.1 Tendulkar tries to paddle-scoop it over short fine-leg but alas for him it goes straight up and the fielder takes a dolly.

One of the most singlehanded efforts of the modern game came to end and with it , the frailties of a team which statistically hasn't changed for the last decade. One of the most tragic ends to a game , second only to the maestro's effort on the losing side against Pakistan in 1999. Interestingly Sachin has numerous centuries that have ended up on the losing side ( http://stats.cricinfo.com/ci/content/current/records/284237.html).

Scratch Scratch at the Kotla!

The manner in which the winning runs were scored did allude to the kind of game that it was. On a scratchy dusty 22yard strip at the Kotla Australia posted a respectable 230 in 50 overs. Contributions from the southpaw so perfectly named Mr.Cricket took Australia through, but it proved just a little short as Yuvi and Dhoni took India to a victory. The pitch in question , well , it was no pitch after all.

Life in the time of Swine Flew!

Health and hygiene seem to have hit a new high (or is it low?) in the country since a certain virus took over almost half the planet. Well, this might seem like Resident Evil or some of those SciFi movies, but it is true. What started not more than two months ago in Mexico is officially a global pandemic. Thanks to globalisation and reduced international air travel fares, Swine flu has officially taken the lives of almost 50 people in this country. Just the last week , TV channels began to put up numbers indicating the no of victims of the deadly disease. It was quite an ugly site with some of 'em putting nos at their own choice.

As a matter of fact, our country (atleast the majority of it) does not subscribe to even the basic diktats of hygiene. We are in essence a soft candidate to the disease which some are even frightened to say out loud. It could even become a cult one day such as you-know-who disease and I am not referring to Lord Voldemort here. As to when this disease would subside in this country remains more illusive than the everyday crossword. Every day contrasting reports come out making people even more anxious. And it is quite terrifying to find people wearing masks. It does give a kind of spooky horror movie feeling. And Mr. Swine seems to be very cunning indeed as it seems to have broken barriers of Language, caste, race , age and gender to infect almost every indian in sight. It is truly an Indian disease so to speak , since it has (as we have read in our civics text books) found unity in diversity. Whatever that means. So to say, there will be more masks seen is no consolation for me. Lets hope we can put up till turkey flu strikes.

P.S Chilean scientists have found H1N1 in turkeys. I don't seem to understand why the virus has taken a particular liking to the culinary delights of the Carnivorous!

Wembley goes blue as United see red in penalties!

“Revenge for Moscow”, I texted.

“Revenge for 0-3”, texted my friend.

These were my predictions before the start of the community shield match. This game was billed as a build up to the Prem League season. It was going to be a test for both the teams. It was Chelsea coach Carlo Ancelotti’s first competitive game in the country and the newspapers were predicting an early exit for the Italian, considering 5 different coaches at the Stamford Bridge in the last 2 years. Manchester United, on the other hand, was keen to shrug off the CR07 absence tag. Not that the burly Argentinian would be missed. There was much talk ahead of the game as Carlo’s “Diamond” was being thrown around.

After a round of applause for the Late Bobby Robson, the game kicked off. United fans would have to wait for the summer signings as Alex Ferguson chose to bench his new signings (Owen and Valencia). Plagued by injuries, United’s defense read – Evra, Jonathan E vans, Rio Ferdinand and John O’Shea. Carlo Ancelotti’s much touted “diamond” saw Florent Malouda starting at left , Michael Essien at Right , Mikel at Centre Defence and Lampard at the top. Chelsea’s signing Zhirkov had to pull out. As the game kicked off, Wembley saw a spell of United’s dominance for about half an hour within which Manchester United took the lead from a trademark Nani strike at the 10^th minute. His shot from just outside the box could not be kept out by Cech, though John Terry seemed to have been in an awkward position for the Czech goalkeeper to have a decent stretch. Chelsea seemed to be giving away possession far too easily as Rooney seemed to be everywhere on the pitch. Petr Cech had a tough time keeping out the shots from Park, Fletcher . The Chelsea goal never seemed coming as a shot from Ivanovic were kept out by a precarious Evra clearance that just bounced off the crossbar. Towards the end of the first half, Chelsea seemed to get a bite back in to the game. Ben Foster was given constant problems by Drogba up front. The Englishman, who Ferguson calls the number one in England, seemed quite wayward in the goal, was not in his form.

Whatever Carlo’s half time team-talk was about, it seemed to work. Chelsea brought in Bosingwa for Ivanovic (who never seemed to get going in the first half) at half time. And a Chelsea goal came in the 52^nd minute. Foster was only able to punch a cross and lost his footing, the ball fell to Carvalho who played a diving header into the net. It was a great moment for the Portuguese international who was constantly rumored to leave to join Ex-Boss Mourinho at Inter. Minutes later Nani, who had a great game injured his left shoulder in a fall and had to be subbed out. He was replaced by “Not Ronaldo Replacement” Valencia. Chelsea brought in Michael Ballack to replace an off color Mikel. A Chelsea goal came in controversial circumstances as Evra went down but Chelsea continued with the play. Man Utd were two men down as Berbatov was receiving treatment at the touchline. Lampard hit the ball into the hands of Foster who could not stop it from entering the goal. Ferguson was fuming at the Referee’s gaffe. He unleashed the quartet of Giggs, Scholes, Fabio and Owen. Nothing seemed to happen. With all things indicating a Chelsea win, ‘Wazza’ slotted in a Giggs through ball in the stoppage time to take it to penalties.

The penalty shootout was not as dramatic as the Champions League final 08. Giggs couldn’t score as Cech’s legs kept out the shot and Evra’s bad tuck was no problem for the Czech goalkeeper. But for Chelsea Lampard, Ballack, Drogba and Kalou scored. I was happy that Terry didn’t have to step up. The match was not the kind of start for the season that Sir Alex would have hoped for, but it has kicked off the season nevertheless. Maybe Man Utd can do with a Penalty coach – Roberto Baggio perhaps!

Kaatsilla....

In economic meltdown times, every government can do with money from tourism. Having seen umpteeen sci-fi flicks where aliens, predators, predators and aliens, godzilas etc take over New York(Yaaawn), one cannot wait the same happen here out in India. Think about it, all these elements in an Indian city would be a great sight right?


Probably not, well just to say a Godzilla enters (singara)Chennai. Just a proposition, may never happen. But a Godzilla(Kaaatu-Jilla in tamil) may have tough time wading through the crowd at T.Nagar. Probably no one would notice the poor thing mistaking it for just another Mega Building until it opens it's mouth. The other thing that a prospective invading alien may face in Chennai would be parking space. Where would it land that big a mother ship. In all english movies Aliens either get wiped down(with a small herd still lurking in the depths to pounce at the time of the sequel) or wipe the planet down, here CommercialCinemaDiktats would have them waiting till the climax(which comes after the Incredible Gaaana(song) song). Most aliens cannot wait for the 2 and a half hours and walk off(like many of the theater-goers). So this is why the next big film will not have an 80ft monster or 1000s of space ships invading the country.!!!

What it takes to be BeauCanon?

What a week for australian cricket! They let Monty (not the python) save the day for England. Well the real action started much earlier with one BeauCanon releasing a book on cricket and going by the number of times his book has been mentioned (in the indian media) it looks like he has made a clever move. This clever move should not be confused with those he made at a club where a fake player made more news than the real ones.

Coming back to the commercial tactics undertaken by BeauCanon, he took a dig (or more) at the indians he adores so much. Some of the recipients were ,little master one, little master two(not to be confused with reality show sequels), Turbanator and the Princes (of Kolkata and Patiala). One shouldn't forget that he had also showered praises at his former (what a relief it is to say so) employer King Khan. Actually he also went out to praise PoK(Prince of Kolkata- Wat else were u thinking) and downplayed the Patiala prince's ability to emulate or even better the prince of kolkata. Surely this would've been music to PoK's ears but he ,being the southpaw that he is, attacked Beau. What Beau (purportedly) says about LittleMaster I is supposedly based on LittleMaster's bias (against the Aussies?). He goes on to attack another Mumbaikar who became LittleMaster II, by questioning his effectiveness in the shortest form of the game( to this minute, bcos the ICC might attempt to reduce t20 into a five over affairs with StrategicBreaks).

The Turbanator was named the best disguised villain , so to speak. Now BeauCanon's multiple captaincy theory might ve been rejected he showered praise at KingKhan. Beau was couple of weeks late as he had already lost his job at the club. So to speak Beau would ve hopefully sold a couple of copies in Australia, but his has been a bestseller(!) in india ,with thousands vying for a copy. Unlike other big sellers Beau's copies will hit the street soon.

P.S -
The deliberate misspelling (BeauCanon) was deliberate in order to aid regional newsreaders who have for long launched a scathing attack on his name (ranging from ButchNaan to Bhoothnath! Even FIP did justice to the australian by keeping Beau's identity secret )

StrategicBreaks are a far cry from the I.Pee.Yell. They can be taken between the overs, during the press conferences etc.

Hold your nerve, hold your serve!

SW19 could have had an American men's champion for the first time since Pete Sampras, who won it in 2000. Roger Federer held his nerve in a gruelling 4hr battle at Centre court on Sunday. Andy Roddick, who had lost to Federer on 2 other wimbledon finals (2004,2005) was determined to rewrite history. But Federer brought out his best service game,slamming 50 aces, to see off the final set in an epic 16-14!!



It was 6pm (here in India). Having watched a dull women's finals the other day, I was looking forward to watch the most awaited men's finals at wimbledon. It was Fed-Ex's shot at his 15th grand slam of his career, a record. I ran into the live coverage of the William's finals by accident switching across channels on my TV. I was eagerly looking forward to the Rod-FedEx showdown as I tuned in to DD. I was shocked to see India-WI coverage going on. But rain gods favored the channel to switch to the finals.


What a game it turned out to be. Rod, who didn't lose his serve throughout the match slipped at the worst possible occassion by losing the most crucial game of the match. FedEx had created history by breaking his opponent's serve. The presentation ceremony had Rod apologising to Sampras for losing the match. But a lot of people will agree with me when I say that the game was there for Rod to win.

Talk about Clog-spot!

Not one post in the last 2 weeks.I am vex! Will be posting regularly.

10 Things I miss about SASTRA!

It has Just been about a couple of weeks since college ended. All this while that I've been absolutely vetti, I've pondered on writing something that would be a fitting encapsulation to the past 4 years of my college life. Well I think this post would be one. I have tried to put into words all those things that have made my day for the 4 years. Here it goes. They are in no particular order or preference.



1. Moments of Mad-Mess!
2. Going Hammer and Tongs
3. 11.10 to 11.30- 'Break'ing the Habit
4. Water, Water Everywhere
5. Movies that moved me
6. L.A.N
7. Why Five?
8. I.Pee.Yell
9. A Class Act!
10. SASTRA

BRAVO ! Dwayne leaves India MeSseD up!

Zaheer Khan running in to bowl what turned out to be a formality. Bravo tonks him over extra cover for a huge six, capping a determined performance from the Mumbai Indians player.


How painful a loss it was last night! The margin of loss wasn't too big, but the crudeness of it will surely hit every Indian fan. When Captain cool ( MSD for the lack of a better word) won the toss and elected to bat, few would have thought what the windies would do to the famed, beefed up batting line up. I think any T20 game is decided on basis of momentum and India quickly lost its momentum with the loss of Rohit Sharma very early on in the innings, falling to a bouncer in the second over. The windies were perhaps unearthing one of the oldest indian ghosts, the short ball. What a tactic it turned out to be as the batsmen were caught hopping. When Gambhir fell to Dwayne Bravo's first ball, it sent alarm signals in to the line-up and out came Captaan Cool.

MSD's stint at the wicket was nothing short of a nightmare. He hardly seemed to get going. Getting stuck at one end, the runs were drying up, whereas Yuvraj singh, prince of patiala as so called by FIP was playing like a prince. He showed signs of the form that the team badly needed. Watching Dhoni bat took me back to games in the IPL where Dhoni battled for the CSK. As if this wasn't enough, Lalit Modi was seen in the stands. (Thankfully he wasn't shown again and again as in the IPL days. Nor was he being referred to as the mastermind , the man running the show. Thank you ESPN STAR) I think a sigh of relief would have gone thro Lords as MSD departed, having wasted a huge portion of 8 overs that he was at the crease. While he was at the crease Gayle smartly bowled himself and his other dibbly dobblies with good effect. Once MSD departed, the team got on its feet as yuvi and yusuf got together in a blitzkrieg. Thank god for the duo and a late order lusty hitting from Bhajji, india managed a decent 153.


What hurt the team the most was perhaps the loss of momentum. The windies must ve been jittery when they lost their captain with team needing close to 9/9.5 an over. But in came Bravo, the man who had destroyed the indian batting with 4 wickets. From the moment he stepped in, he batted like he was possessed. Boy, the kind of strokes he played would make any cricket fan happy. After decent spells from the spinners, windies needed 35 to 40 off the last 4 overs. Then, the unthinkable happened, MSD introduced Ishant. This was a shocker, cos Lambu isn't a T20 specialist and was very vulnerable to leak runs. And Bravo went boom boom. 16 runs off the over and the rest is history. Bravo sealed a thumping win for windies. What was baffling was that Irfan and Zaheer had overs up their sleeve when Lambu bowled.

I think the high point of MSD's captaincy was always the kind of decisions he made, which more often than not, turned to gold. But his decision to bring in Ishant at that point in the match surely raised more than a few eyebrows. The people who were chanting his name till last month would i guess be vying for his throat if India gets knocked out, which I reckon is most likely to happen. MSD has lost matches but this would be one where he let the team and the fans down esp with his batting!

SCISSORS,KNIVES AND DAMN THATS OLD SPICE

I am not so comfortable with Sharp instruments!


Just the last week, having spent six hours to watch a 2 hour english movie(should be trying to watch), i decided it was time to let go of my hair. Not that I had too much, but not for nothing was I known as snake in the grass, wave in the head etc. Never have I had a good haircut. Wait, there would be one. But it was back at Tirupathi, it would hardly qualify as a haircut. Still coming back to last week, I got up and had one last look at what remained on my head. Frantically adjusting the part of the hair on the front of my head, I set out to the nearby barber's.


I have always been fascinated by people who have cut and tried to style my hair. I say tried to because after all the cutting part, there's this small part of hair on the front that would refuse to budge either way. I have seen barbers spend the most of their time and their patience on it, in vain. Perhaps I am every barber's nightmare???


The one funny thing about my hair is its desperation. Everytime I start to the Saloon, it tries to feign obedience. Now , that is not so hard to spot. Ordinarily, my hair tries to align itself in all possible directions. Sometimes I feel that my hairline was the inspiration for the discovery of the fourth dimension. But I don't give in and bravely proceed to get it cut. I don't know if it's me or the barber, cos i never seem to get it right. But the funny thing is that I can get my hair cut as long it is still der on top of my head, however unruly.

I know a lot of my friends would agree with me when I say that there are very thin lines between youth and middle age (or kezhats as its called in colloquial tamil), in my opinion , there are two - Waist line and the hair line. :)

The Colonial Predispositon of Being Fair!

What is Fair and what is not!

FAN FOLLOWER(S)

This is in response to the overflowing fan mail and follower cults. I sincerely thank all my follower(s). Guys just keep following. You are my inspiration.!

SHANMUGHA SOCCER

Shanmugha Soccer

ஷண்முகா கால்பந்து குழு

What happens with 30 ppl and a football.

I have heard people say -Football was never my cup of tea. In my case football was always after the cup of tea (or what was supposed to be tea). Every evening, after sipping a cuppa hot water (read tea) and swallowing down snacks, we used to go out to play what everyone else called football and we called it, well foot on the ball.

Players, Positions

1. Ramgiri a.k.a Delay Bass – Striker, midfield

2. Auto a.k.a Felix – Defender (Full back, Left Back, Right Back, Gravity prone), midfielder

3. TP a.k.a Vijay Shankar- Defender(Own Goal), Midfield

4. Baski a.k.a Thotti a.k.a Bucketthaa – Defender (fullback –alex), Def Midfield (Essien), winger(Tata)

5. Kaushik a.k.a Kaushik – Forward (lone forward beside the GK)

6. Moota a.k.a Mahesh – Winger(Left or Right)

7. Endhu a.k.a Harish (myself) – Defender( Right , Centre), Midfielder (Right)

8. Amrith a.k.a Rajsekara – Midfielder(right central, Attacking)

9. Dutch Bonda a.k.a Beno – Striker (forward), Midfield

10. Bounce a.k.a Surakshith – Goal keeper ( Acrobat Keeper)

11. Puli a.k.a Prabhakaran – Defender(Left,Right and centre, wild)

Along with the above mentioned players there were guest appearances from Jackson (like) and his incredible roommate Salim, Defender Cuttu,Pathsarthi, Koundamani Thatha etc. Those who do not find their names on this list are either too good footballers or do not comply with our team requirements and the entertainment quotient.

Our misadventures and other reports continue in successive posts.

When the world was all Down and Across!

“Crossie?”

“Got any”

“1a 6d 30a”

These would be my first messages from my phone every day. My daily ritual used to be simple. After getting up, I would go to get my cup of coffee and the daily newspaper. Missing either one of these would make my day incomplete. Sipping on my cup, I would eagerly turn to the crossword page to see if I could make out at least one on the first glance. My assumption was that no matter how tough the crossword, I could make out at least one of them on the first glance. Usually I did. Then comes the routine of going to class. It never varied too much. Every morning I would take off the crossword page and set off to class. Once I settle on to my seat, I would open the sheet of paper and start pondering. That would set the tone for the day.

Crosswords were never my first love. Not even my third or fourth for that matter. I got smitten by crossies since KS’07. It was the first cultural festival in the college and so we decided to take a shot at the English events. I fondly remember the days when we formed a team of three – Myself, Thatha and Boraat. Our performance was pathetic to say the least. The one that we faired the best was in etymology. I loved solving the anagrams and stuff. So from the day after the event , I decided to give a shot at the Hindu Crossword.

I have to thank people who chipped in with me from the first day. Amrith, Gaddam, Borat and thatha were the original partners in crime. How can I forget days when we would take the crossword to every classroom and lab that we attended? Initially I would come up with two to three answers every day. Amrith would get around 6 atleast. Gaddam was brilliant, he would solve the cryptic ones along with Borat. (Now Borat would otherwise be engaged with the hibernation experiment that he conducted for the three years of class that I spent with him.) As days went by, we got better and so did the clues. Some of the clues would be well framed. My most favorite one would be – “A little bit of weight added to spoil the rules of the language (7)”. Some would be downright baffling. We would break our heads the whole day trying to figure them out. I remember going from one room to another in the hostel trying out possibilities on the dictionary software to solve clues. I was practically absorbed into crossies. As days went by, we got better. We used to dream of solving the crossie completely at least once.

In the third year, people like Bounce, Pathsarthi became classmates. Though the concept of classmates may be controversial with bounce , he was more of the hostel co-inmate, if you could use the word. In class we would spend hours and hours on crossies. If there was a time when we would forego them it would be the Bhajji break. Those days were great . And One day we did manage to finish a crossie. Happy days. Thanks to Nita Jaggi, who we are not sure is male or female. Years rolled on, we would do the same. The classroom environment was very conducive to solving crosswords. Nowhere else could I find the kind of ambience required to concentrate.

All credit to all my friends who have made my college life so beautiful. I will and do meet these people regularly (online), but it will be hard to find the situation that we found ourselves in. I still try solving crosswords every day, it relives the memories of a classroom where we would spread that black and white sheet of The Hindu on our tables to solve that little thing in black and white (at least most days!)

p.s – I may have forgotten TP kaapi and thatha’s role in our daily quest. But it would be hard to forget their collective responses. Thatha being the senior citizen was the repository of non-answers. You could eliminate his responses J. Just kidding thatha would stun me with some blinders too. As with TP, the wannabe kangaroo, he was more intent in listening to class and hence he was not too much of a regular.

As for our terrible trio at the cults, I remember sneaking out through the window during an event!!!!! J.