Inspiration!

So after all the sessions and advertisements for voting, only 46 percent people voted from Pune. Mumbai also paints a similar voter turn-out picture. Seems people liked the ‘Jaago Re’ (wake up) campaign but decided to sleep over the polls. Initially I went to the wrong polling booth after reading half part of the address and mumbling “Ah! I know it”. Later I walked to the correct one as the parking lot was full and it would have been stupid to vacate my space and later finding no space at the new location. If there were so many vehicles, how come only 46% turn-out?? I noticed that last time there were far many (seemingly) educated people out there standing in queues to cast their votes. This time it was more of the lower class out there. Or at least that is what I felt. The most bizarre thing was when I showed my index finger to the lady who was applying ink, she demanded the middle one. Middle one? I wondered about the advertisement which urged youngsters to be proud to show the inked index finger rather than showing the middle one to the administration. I met a colleague on the way out and she said that photographs were being taken at her booth with the middle finger up showing the ink. Ha ha ha! A few days back the Mumbai election photographs showed many celebrities showing off their middle fingers. And some were laughing too. Anyways, 16^th May will decide the winners and I hope that competent contestants do win.

A good leader inspires people to have confidence in the leader; a great leader inspires people to have confidence in themselves.

Are you interested in cricket? Yes. Are you watching IPL? Yes. In case you have the answers as no then you are missing it big time. The point table is getting topsy-turvy with every match. It is really getting very difficult to predict the winner. I am rooting for Mumbai Indians like last time and sadly my team is sitting at 7^th spot out of the 8 teams. Sad indeed. Sigh! I am hoping against hope that they bounce back to form and win all the remaining matches to enter the semi finals stage. Sample these conversations in our company:

Guy1: It amazes me that Yusuf Pathan is a match winner in the IPL matches but when he plays for India he hardly scores.

Guy2: Well there is a very important reason behind it. The reason is ‘inspiration’.

Guy1: Hmm.. Shane Warne is a good captain.

Guy2: Nah! Shilpa Shetty is sexy. She makes everyone do her yoga thingie watching the DVD and the match winner gets to do a personal yoga session after the match. Carrots and stick approach, simple.

Guy1: Ha ha! Then why did the team lose the initial matches?

Guy2: Shilpa took her sister along with to South Africa and the guys got scared. But the baboons were not.

Guy1: Have you seen how sloppy is KKR’s fielding?

Guy2: Yeah, lack of inspiration.

Guy1: Hmm.. The captain himself has butterfingers.

Guy2: Nah! The team owner. Look at other teams like Punjab and Rajasthan. They get nice hugs after the matches. Remember how a guy had cried out on the field last year just because he did not get a hug. Incentives matter a lot. Are we working now? No. Why? Lack of incentives. Lack of inspiration. Simple.

Any sort of resemblance of guy2 with the blog owner is a mere co-incidence. Today’s match is between Mumbai Indians (my team) and Delhi Daredevils (wifey’s team). Looking at the current form of players of both teams, her team is going to thrash my team it seems. If her team wins I will have to cook the dinner and if my team wins then I will have to sleep on the couch. A contra-win-win situation eh? Quite an inspirational thought to leave for home.

Maa(r) ki bhasha

Move over reality shows; IPL is here to bring the TRPs’ down for the tear-jerky soaps and song-and-dance shows. But IPL is itself turning out to be a huge reality show; agreed it is ‘real’ but it is becoming more of a show these days. Where is cricket you ask? Well cricket is definitely there but the media attention is more on the stuff that sells in public and cricket for sure takes a backseat in this. Harbhajan’s tight slap to Sreesanth, the we-are-the-moral-police brigade hitting it out at the teeny-weeny costumes of cheerleaders, racism accusations within the cheer-girls squads, public spat between the team owners and team captains, ICC code-abuse with owners in players’ dressing rooms etc. IPL has been there, done that and seen all.

After watching a weeping Sreesanth on TV I really thought that he was crying ‘coz his team owner Preity Zinta had hugged Yuvraj and not him ha ha. But later the news trickled in through the news channels that Bhajji had hit him just after the match. How could Harbhajan Singh walk away with just… JUST… a 5 international matches ban? Yeah I agree he lost 3 crores for not playing in the remaining 11 matches for IPL but that was not enough for a person whom we all (probably all) supported during his racial-abuse allegation in Australia. After this incident I doubt whether I was right in showing my support to this guy who after the whole fracas stays calm and says to the media “It is a family matter please don’t interfere”. BCCI with all its money power had (definitely had) turned the Aussie incident in Bhajji’s favour and had set a very wrong precedent in doing so. After all the ‘we-are-still-brothers’ hugs and photo-ops I feel that 5 match ban was a very shoddy display by the BCCI… shoddier than the Bangalore and Hyderabad defeats. Harsha Bhogle had written a nice article in his Indian Express column, on this issue (will put up a link if I get it).

Initially when the IPL started off with a spectacular opening ceremony I checked the teams and was uninterested ‘coz it was hard to fight over national pride and root for a regional team especially when your favourite players are playing in different teams. But 2 days into IPL I was (and still am) rooting for Mumbai Indians. The basic concept of IPL (apart from the players and organizers drawing in huge moolah) is people rooting for their regional teams and not donning national colours for support. Such concept is more likeable by people akin to Raj Thakarey. Seems Yuvraj (captain of Mohali team) has not understood this when he complained that the Mumbai people were not supporting his team even when the team had our national team players. Aawww… I feel so sorry for this poor a$$hole. Especially when his team has advanced to semi-finals stage with the help of international players like Sangakarra, Pomersbach, Shaun Marsh etc. and he has not played well in any match so far. I feel happy that I never supported Mohali team (and I don’t like Preity Zinta as well); and even though Mumbai Indians didn’t reach the semi-finals stage I am glad I was rooting for a team which had players like Tendulkar, Jayasurya and Pollock who defied the T20-is-for-young-players tag and played well with all matches reaching a nail-biting finish. I should have supported Royal Challengers too for Katrina Kaif (latest Desktop Goddess) ;-), but then team owner Vijay Mallya, the beer baron, probably had all his players drunk before the matches and the team was defeated tamely on many occasions. Or else he did not get the Kingfisher models, we see on his calendar, out in the stadium to woo the other team players and distract them :D. One thing I don’t like about most of the teams is their dress colour… Jaipur team’s colours are the best I feel… easy on eyes.

IHL (Indian Hockey League) was a great attempt to revive the dying support for hockey and find budding players. IPL has outclassed IHL for mainly 2 reasons, loads of money involved and cricket being a more favourite sport than hockey. The national game might have gone for a toss but IPL is here to stay baby and it definitely is in. In case you might want to check the different sites of the teams...

Chennai Super Kings (Chennai)
Deccan Chargers (Hyderabad)
Delhi Daredevils (Delhi)
Kings XI Punjab (Mohali)
Kolkatta Knight Riders (Kolkatta)
Mumbai Indians (Mumbai)
Rajasthan Royals (Jaipur)

Royal Challengers (Bangalore)

The game I never played...

We are having our company's annual cricket matches (inter-department). For the last 3 years I was a team member of the spectator gang cheering our players and jeering at the opponents. This year one of my project team members added my name in the playing eleven and last Sunday I found myself on the cricket ground on the other side of the rope. I love watching cricket but I have never been able to play it; all I can do is field well. Our team bowled and fielded well to restrict the opponents for 85 runs but our lead batsmen returned to the spectator stand as quickly as they went in to bat. God knows what struck me when I stood up and took up a bat lying nearby and walked in to bat even when some 'I-bat-well' players in our team refused to go in. Well I did not turn out to be Bhuvan from Lagaan but scored 20 runs (highest by an individual in that match :D) which included 4 hits to the fence. We lost the match by 8 runs but all of us were smiling 'coz we had tried our level best. At the end of the day I was happy to show my 2 bruised knees back at home. I had been waiting for this moment for the last 3-4 years... glad to find my normal self back :)

Happy weekend and Happy Holi to all. Enjoy the festival of colours and may your life be filled with loads of myriad colours.

FINAL(ly)

This is what everyone in India was waiting to see.. the World Cup in our hands. Kudos to both the teams for a thrilling final. The shortest version of cricket has been conquered by beating Pakistan by just 5 runs. Now the Indian team faces their next test on the homegrounds with the Aussies visiting for the 50-over version. Woohoo!!! :-)

Slam, bam, bang!!

Sweet? Salty? Na re na na.. 50-50

This simple ad jingle of this Britannia biscuit is still one of my favourites and the biscuit as well. But nowadays the talk of the town.. err.. world is 20-20. If you are not into cricket let me tell you that this is not a brand of biscuit but the new version of limited bowling overs (20 overs each side) in cricket and the world cup is currently underway in South Africa. After the major Indian debacle in the 50 over world cup contest I had lost interest in watching cricket but this version of game has sort of rekindled the love. 20-20 is definitely an attempt to make cricket endearing to those sect of people who think it takes a long time to finish one match. Football, rugby, hockey etc take hardly a few hours while the 50 over matches take up the whole day and let’s not talk of test matches which go on over 5 days and that too mostly end in a tie. 20-20 match takes only 3 hours to get done with. I remember a conversation with my college friend Rohan, who is a die-hard football fan. During one practical class he was going ga-ga over the previous night’s match and I retorted that the score line was 0-0 so what was so interesting about the match. He said that the attack and defense that both teams put forth was worth watching. Now I am of the opinion that a game should be entertaining because I would love to play football no matter if it ends in a 0-0 result but if I am watching it then I should be entertained in form of goals. In cricket I don’t care if a batsman defends a ball well or the bowler swings the ball to perfection coz what I want to see is wickets, sixes, boundaries.. so match highlights is the best option. But 20-20 is the thing which provides all this stuff I want and I have started loving it.

Yesterday one cricket legend wrote in his column that 20-20 is detrimental to the game of cricket as it is a batsman’s game and fielders are mere spectators looking at the ball sailing over the stadium. I agree but might be this form is in a nascent stage, so a few modifications to it might improve it and it will be more acceptable and lovable format in cricket. India-Pakistan match never fails to arouse excitement and the one last week also lived up to its expectations. Had it been a 50 over match it would have ended in a nail-biting tie but the new bowl-out rule turned the same nail-biting finish into a finger-biting one (if I may use the word). Who had thought that castling over the stumps without a batsman in front of them can turn out so difficult that Pakistan couldn’t manage even a single hit? Many a times matches being played on a neutral venue can tend to become boring due to lack of spectators of the host nation but in 20-20 crowds are thronging to watch the blitzkrieg launched by batsmen and also the DJ and the dancing troupe have a lot of activity to keep the crowd on their toes. Cricket purists say that the dancers should not be brought in this so-called gentleman’s game (sledging is part of being a gentleman :D). I have started agreeing with them coz they are deceiving us. Last week the dancers were wearing Jiah-styled (of Nishabd fame) teeny-weeny shorts and suddenly this week they switched to ankle length commando pants. WTH! Lol.. my cousin bro during a match said that the dancers were dancing on a platform by Reliance (a highly reputed Indian company) and I was busy looking at the blondes shaking their booty (literally). Who had the time to look at Reliance label? Entertainment is the word. That is why I love watching women’s tennis as well even though many say it is slow and boring. Where would you get to see good tennis with such beautiful faces? How can it be boring.. Maria was resplendent in her red hot dress last month. May I request Star Cricket to stop Hindi commentators from boring the TV spectators to death and cutting down the commercials between the overs? Anyways, I leave you with a video of Yuvraj Singh hitting six sixes in a single over in yesterday’s encounter with England.

Have a good day all of you.. ohh that is also one of my favourite biscuits :D

Take it sportingly :)

South African team celebrating

12th March 2006 will definitely be written in Golden letters in sports history n I was lucky enough to be a witness to tht. South Africa beat the world champions Australia in the final one-day cricket match to clinch the series 3-2. Tht itself is big n wht makes it bigger is the score they chased. Australia had put on 434 runs on the scoreboard n such a huge score is unassailable in all terms of cricket. But, the SAFs’ proved it wrong n came up with 438 which included a scintillating display of strokeplay n superb catches. I m not gud at match analysis, so if u want to read a in-depth analysis visit Tarun’s blog. I m sure he will write on it (or might have already published it). Read Harshal’s blog for Formula 1 scenario. He has a gud post on the new championship race with info on all teams. Yesterday’s race confirmed Renault’s emerging domination but Schumi’s fans r happy to see the Red colour back on the podium.

Sunday was overall a gr8 day for sports lovers. Aust-SA cricket one-day match, F1 season’s first race, Arsenal-Liverpool showdown n India-England Test match… one should have a TV showroom to see all this at one time. Doordarshan (DD), our government channel proved once again tht it is very pathetic to watch. Has anyone watched ‘Aankhein’ on DD? Might be more bashing on this some other day. But, when it comes to showing highlights DD does not know the difference between highlights and live match. TV audience wants to see how wickets fell and how the batsmen blasted the bowlers. They don’t expect to see how a captain sets his field and how a batsman waits for the 12th man to bring him a spare pair of gloves.

Rahul Dravid (India’s captain) is setting the field according to bowler Irfan Pathan’s need. DD zooms in the camera on both of them get close to decide on whom to set on which position. The conversation caught is courtesy lip-reading skills…

IP: It is hot today.
RD: (eyeing suspiciously) Were u watching Brokeback Mountain last night in the hotel when rest of us were busy watching dancers in the strip-club?
IP: Stupid! I am talking about the atmosphere. I was practising on bowling last nite. Wht ‘bout the fielding strategy?
RD: I don’t think we will need it. Look at both the batsmen. They are not gonna keep their eyes on the ball u bowl.
IP: Wht makes u think like tht?
RD: The batsmen r staring at our wicketkeeper Dhoni. They think tht we have a gal as wicketkeeper. Long hair is definitely beneficial to the team.
IP: (sad smile) Yeah! Girls r going crazy ‘bout his locks. I seem to have lost the title of Most Eligible Bachelor to him. U know after the incident of the 2 gals who had come to my house for marrying me, no one has yet knocked my door. Even the count of fan mails has fallen down. Parthiv (ex-wicketkeeper) was better. He even carried our entire luggage and we could hit him in frustration when we used to lose a match.
RD: I m still wondering why the gals who had come to ur house did not …
IP: (cuts him off) Are Harbhajan and Laxman again fighting?
RD: Where? I can’t see them. My eye-sight is getting weaker day by day. I had told my parents tht I wanted to marry an ophthalmologist but they forced me to marry a General Practitioner.
IP: (points in tht dirn) There… they r fighting ever since tht Ganguly issue raked up.
RD: Hmmm… Greg (coach) is a dumbo. Ganguly is earning so much through advertisements and might feature in some movies also. Yet Greg said tht Ganguly wanted to remain captain for financial reasons.
IP: I am wondering wht will happen of all the established players if Greg keeps on experimenting the team n bringing in new faces.
RD: Thts why I have started to play fast nowadays. Wasim Jaffer plays even slower than me. When I play along with Wasim, I feel like I m Dhoni blasting the bowlers at the rate of 2 runs per over. Time to re-read Who Moved My Cheese?
IP: Hmmm… U know why I didn’t come to the strip-club yesterday. I was busy teaching ‘Bhangra’ to Greg. He said he didn’t look gud in the news channels last time doing the bhangra jig.
RD: But wht has to do with ur bowling?
IP: Not with bowling but it has to do with my place in the team. Munaf Patel also bowls pretty well.
RD: Ohh!! I forgot tht newbie.
IP: Shall we send Kumble near the boundary line?
RD: Yeah.. we will give him rest till he retires.
IP: I think he will quit now after reaching the 500 wickets landmark.
RD: Why are the batsmen not asking for bad light? I want to finish off this soon n want to catch with the next episode of Takeshi’s Castle on POGO.
IP: But, it is shown again at 11 in the night.

RD: But at tht time I have to see Kahaani Ghar Ghar Kii. I luv Ekta Kapoor’s soaps.
Irfan faints on hearing this n DD takes a commercial break reminding us tht it is time to switch channels.

The above is not intended to hurt anyone’s sentiments. Not of gals who r crazy ‘bout cricketers n guys crazy ‘bout the game of cricket n ofcourse espescially not of DD lovers. :))