Insanity

It's been quite some time since I blogged about something. Initially I thought about blogging about the mumbai attack....but then everyone under the sun was talking about the same thing....not that it didn't deserver such importance...But still, I didn't want to be another voice in the crowd. While majority focuses on the terrorists, our lovely neighbouring country and the politics of all this, let me take some time to remind you of the 300+ lives that were lost. My latest poem is one of the darkest ones that I have ever written....once my friend said that however dark your poems begin, there is always a ray of light in the end....I tried for something like that here too....but for me atleast, there isn't one...So here goes...dedicated to all lives lost in Mumbai

The sky goes black
Sun spewing flames of darkness
The lights go out on the world
And the universe is a mess
Life starts colouring outside the lines
And when the colours run out, blood starts flowing from the eyes
Life, being painfully ignorant, colours on
With the whole picture now blood red tone
Only questions remain in life
All answers seem to have given up the fight
Question upon questions bury you deep
And doubts are the only company you keep
Fear, with its tendrils infinite
Grips the world and the souls in it
Was that a bullet? Was that a scream?
Or was it a remnant of a terrible unholy dream?
Death in its lovely pale dress
Waits with its alluring smile and open arms
One by one she takes lovers into her embrace
Where they lose their souls and the world forgets their face
Bodies become numbers and numbers cease to matter
And false, hollow promises doesn’t make it any better
Cries from the grave fall on deaf ears
Righteous anger fails to hold back the tears
Blood demand Blood, Blood demands justice
But where water is costlier than blood,
The red fluid loses its sheen
Patience runs out, Frustration kicks in
Unbridled horses with no direction
Running everywhere, going nowhere
The road ahead is unclear
Unsure destination, hesitant travelers
Where time will take them, noone can tell
When insanity lords and logic is dead,
Be prepared to find strange partners in your bed.

The joy of an underdog win...

Whenever I watch sports, as long as India as a team is not involved, I tend to side with the underdogs...Maybe it's because it is a win-win situation..if they lose, it's because they were the underdogs anyway...and if they win...well that's great too....or maybe there is a mysterious romance of an unfancied side taking on much more established opponents and winning....

Right from the time David fell Goliath with his slingshot, the joy of an underdog win has been something else...It has the story of hope...it has the charm of the fight against the odds...it has that few moments of disbelief when they finally pull it off....it just makes my day...

So when I rooted for Greece in the 2004 Euro cup finals or when I was step in step with the most unfancied team of the IPL to their pinnacle of glory or when I desperately wanted Lewis Hamilton to win the F1 Championship on his debut, I was siding with the underdog....

Same was the case why I chanted "Rafa..Rafa..." when Rafael Nadal took on Roger Federer in the finals of the greatest grass court tournament in the history of Tennis. Before this final, the turf division was clear...Nadal rules the clay and Federer reigns over all that is grass....if the World No.2 has to go in to a final as an underdog, it just has to be Roger Federer across the net....They met 2 times before in the same situation and Roger's crown was not disturbed...But this time, there was an impending feeling....that something has changed....

So when Federer, who hadn't dropped a set on grass since the last Wimbledon final, dropped the first 2 sets, that impending feeling was getting an aura of certainty....then again the story twists....showing why he is World No.1, he wins the next 2 sets....even the rain gods dropped in from time to time to check the score....But at the end of the heart stopping 5th set..it was the underdog who took a bite out of the World No.1's aura of invincibility...

This might be the beginning of an exciting new era in Men's Tennis....where the World No.1 status switches hands quite often....each of them biting on other's heels constantly....the status of the underdog being traded from tournament to tournament.....Well, interesting times lay ahead....and as always, I'm with the underdog...

IPL - My picks so far...

All of India is dancing to the tune of IPL. I ensure that I reach home from office by 7.45 PM so that I won't miss the beginning of the match and I don't have to sit through the insufferable Extra Innings....(How I wish Mandira Bedi still was a part of it....). But the matches have been amazing...Shane Warne carting Andrew Symonds for 16 in 3 balls to win the match in the last over...The return of that 1000 watt smile to L.Balaji's face after his Hat trick.....Badrinath ekeing out the last ball win for Chennai to end its streak of 3 loses....It has been a real treat....So here's my list of the best and the worst of IPL....

Batsman of the Tournament: Ok, so Gautam Gambhir is the top scorer in the tournament as of now...but my pick for the Batsman of the tournament is Sean Marsh. This guy has 295 runs to his credit and just from 5 matches. See him batting along with Yuvraj Singh and try if you can make out who just played that flick off his hips for six.

Bowler of the Tournament: Again...Irfan Pathan, Sreshant and Zaheer Khan has 13 wickets in their kitty, making them the leading wicket takers....but my pick for Bowler of the tournament goes to Glen 'Pidge' McGrath. If he hadn't retired, he still could lead the Aussie pace pack....Even the bowling machine may err in line and length...but don't ever expect that from Pidge. This fact is further proven by his economy rate 5.71. In a 20-20 tournament where 8 runs per over is supposed to be really good, Pidge shows why is a class apart from the rest of them.

Fielder of the Tournament: Virat Kohli has been outstanding in the field for RCB and so has been Sean Marsh for KXP. But my fielder of the award goes to Ashish Nehra....for his full length dive and stop at long on in the match against Rajasthan Royals.

Captain of the Tournament: Well...no doubts here...take a team of rank youngsters...mix them with a couple of International stars....add a pinch of Midas touch...and shake well...you get the IPL's cheapest team but leading the board both in terms of wins and fair play. The man who made this possible goes by the name of Shane Keith Warne....the best captain Australia never had...Seeing his magical hand at work with the Rajasthan Royals, many an Australian might have wondered...If only his other 'head' didn't call the shots from time to time......

Non show of the Tournament: Pick a 20- 2o match....any 20-20 match...now think of a team with Andrew Symonds, Adam Gilchrist, Hershelle Gibbs and Shahid Afridi. It would take a really brave man to bet against them...but it seems sometimes the whole is way lesser than the sum of the parts....if even 2 of the had fired consistently, there would have been no stopping the Deccan Chargers...but instead, they went from bad to worse....but one silver lining in this dark grey cloud has been the batting of Rohit Sharma...man he bats like a dream....The questions to who at No.4 when Sachin retires seems to be getting an answer at last....

Ball of the Tournament: There have been many outstanding deliveries in these matches...but the title goes to the twin of the "Ball of the century" also known as the magic ball...Shane Warne to Dhoni...pitched outside leg...turning viciously...taking the outside edge on the way to hands of First Slip....Gatting might have had something like a De ja Vu seeing that ball...

Best Package of the tournament: When teams could not get over the obsession with Kings and Royality, SRK's Kolkatta Knight Riders showed us how to do it...and in style....with arguably the best uniform in IPL and without doubt the most innovative name, their packaging rocks...Their anthem/theme song..Karbo Larbo Jeetbo re is an instant classic. Once you hear it you keep humming it...contrast it with the Royal Challengers' song..Jeetenge Hum Shaan se....Other than the once in a life time sight of Vijay Mallya with no female accompanying him, it does nothing for you.So in terms of packaging, as the song goes...aami Kolkatta....We rule....

So my dear readers...that's all from my keyboard right now....maybe if IPL throws up something extraordinary in its second half or if I feel like it, I'll be back with more IPL buzz...till then..Peace out.

Thanks Sachin...

Like any average Indian, I started following cricket as soon as I could hold a plastic bat in my hands. At that time the legends were Sunil Gavaskar and Kapil Dev. I used to hate Ravi Shastri for his slow batting and then I was witness to the birth of a phenomenon. The first thing I remember about this baby faced teenager called Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar is how he danced down the track repeatedly and hit Abdul Qadir for 4 sixes in an over. Sunil Gavaskar was no longer my favourite batsman after that knock. That crown was awarded to this little genius. I grew up watching Sachin play...and play as only he could. As time went by it was getting clearer and clearer that this was no one hit wonder. This was a class act and he was here to stay.

He is often considered the next best batsman after Don Bradman. I wouldn't argue there. But I seriously doubt if any other batsman in the history of this game called Cricket has had a heavier weight of expectations on his shoulders. 1 Billion people hoping for a century every time he adjusts his crotch guard and takes strike....We even had a phase before the emergence of Ganguly and Dravid where the Indian Cricke Team rose and fell with Sachin Tendulkar. With his failure meaning the failure of the whole team, look how he has delivered....Just for that I would say that he is the best batsman ever.

Sachin was there when Ganguly and Dravid started playing ODIs. He is there even now when the senior-junior debate led to the axing of these two. When it was touted that the Juniors were going to rock Australia in the one dayers, finally it was Sachin who showed that age was not a criteria as long as one could perform.

He has been paid many complements by people all around the world. But I guess the best reference of his ability to single handedly win matches came from the bookies. According to them, as long as Sachin was at the crease, all bets were off. The betting would begin only once he got out.

Before we close, an excerpt from today's Cricinfo. "The silence when Micheal Hussey under-edged one from Dhawal Kulkarni was all-pervasive and it suggested that IPL fans are quickly becoming one-eyed, like every good home crowd should be. The sole exception was when Sachin Tendulkar was spotted on TV, talking to the commentators. God, after all, transcends parochial boundaries."

In India, where Cricket is a relegion more unifying than any other around, the highest seat on the pantheon of gods belong to one man and one man only: Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar. Thanks Sachin....for all those memories....

The Letdown that is IPL

The whole cricketing world is going Bonkers at the mention of the Indian Premier League. Supposed to be the next biggest thing to happen to the cricketing world since Kerry Packer, I have to say it has been a letdown for me. It's not the matches....it's the packaging that sucks. Take a few guys from the Sony soaps and put them in the anchor's seat. Their lines seem very forced and the kind of spontaneity that you see from someone like Harsh Bhogle is zilch...non existant..they go according to the rehearsed lines and still make a royal mess out of it. The commentary team sucks big time...ICL had a great commentary team..Even with little known faces on the field, listening to the commentary made it worthwhile....here even though the superstars and the international players are lighting up the scene, we hear Arun Lal saying how the batsman "skied the ball in the air". That acts like a literal haddi in the kabab....spoils the taste of the whole thing.

Moving on, the camera men seem to be in a hurry to get somewhere...often they cannot wait the microsecond to determine where the ball has actually gone....Someone playing a cover drive and gets an edge. The viewers can see that the ball has gone towards mid off but the camera is in a hurry and pans towards the extra cover region. By the time they realise the mistake, the ball has been fielded and returned to the bowler. That's really low quality camera work. Not something expected in such a high profile event.

Don't even get me started on the advertisements....As soon as the batsman plays his shot on the last ball of the over, cut to commercials...if the last ball was a no ball, chances are that you miss the free hit. And in screen commercials which drown out the commentary...especially Godrej and Vodafone...I feel like tearing my hair out on occassions...then I remember how little of that I have and go back to cursing the TV Channel.

All these are the norm rather than the exceptions when you are watching a telecast on Doordarshan...but a channel like SetMax which till now used to provide us with high quality cricket telecasts...this is simply unacceptable.

Last but not the least....another complaint is that they don't give the cheerleaders enough screen time...Cut back to the 20-20 world cup when they used to focus on the cheerleaders after every boundary or six. Come on guys...the Washington Redskins, the first ladies of football were flown in exclusively to cheer for Bangalore Royal Challengers...and you don't give them enough screen time....talk of sacrilage....

Farewell

I am sure we have all come across the situation of saying farewell to a very close friend....It is a whole gamut of emotions that goes through you at that moment....You wish to say a lot of things but words are really hard to come by at that point in time....My latest poem deals with all this....So, aptly, this is titled "Farewell"

And you’re off
With a final wave and that lovely smile
Off to take on the world, take hold of your life
Leaving me further behind with every step you take
Leaving nothing but memories in your wake
I remember the first time I saw you
I was lost in the crowd and friendly faces were few
Then you came and you smiled
And we started talking like old friends meeting after a while
You’ve seen me in my happy days and held me through the sad ones
You were always by my side and did never falter once
I am what I am because of you
Because of you I was able to start anew
And then it was time for you to leave
I didn’t know whether to be happy for you or to grieve
There were a million things I wanted to tell
But all that came out was
Farewell my friend, Fare ye well
I wanted to tell you what you were to me
How our friendship was just meant to be
I wanted to thank you for being by my side
And helping me out when I was not able to decide
All these and a million more things were to be said
But I chose to hold your hand instead
‘Coz somewhere within me I know
That words hardly play a part when I talk to you
When silence speaks and the unspoken is heard,
You would know that I mean much more than my words,
When, for lack of words, I just manage to tell
Farewell my friend, Fare ye well.

Some Pics from our East Coast Road Outing...

The Strangers

This is one creation I have been thinking for some days whether to delete or not….finally I figured what the hell…I took the pains to write it...and I own a blog...So why should it go unpublished? So the thing is like this….The poem is a 2 in 1. The words in red can be replaced by the words in brackets…If you replace all the words in red with the words in brackets, you get a new poem. Here is a question…In each version of the poem, who do you think the lady is and which version would be your choice?

The sun was burning like a ball of rage
But still there as an eerie chill,
I was on the road and beginning to tire
And then I saw an inn beyond the hill
I entered through the door and had a look around
Two others sat there on the floor but making no sound
Making myself comfortable, I looked at the other two
The first one an old man, he seemed to be blind
And deaf and dumb and seemed to be losing his mind too
The other, a young woman with a pale white (heavenly) face and a killer (brilliant) smile.
To look away from her eyes, it took me a while
Getting tired of the silence, I spoke
Where do you come from and whither goest thou?
And then she spoke, voice tinkling like silver
I’m taking him to my home (the beginning), where he will be peaceful forever (able to start over)
“What happened to him” was my next question
“What robbed him off his senses?”
“He had just one dream in his life”
“And when it shattered, it robbed him off his sight”
“His ears were thirsty for words of trust and love,
But he got betrayal instead and chose to hear no more”
“He always spoke of the good in everything,
Then the best thing in his life went sour,
After that he spoke no more”
As I listened to this lady,
I could not help but feel sorry
“The place where you are taking him,
Are you sure he will be at peace?(able to start over?)
“Oh yes my friend, I assure you, Once there, everyone is at peace (It’s again a new life)”
A bit relieved, I spoke again
“Pray tell me your name oh beautiful dame”
With a smile she replied,
“You know me. I am a part of your life”.

New Year Sunrise..