Why are we hooked to Cricket?

Have you ever questioned "Is Cricket a global tournament?"
Comprising only nine full time members and a world cup format which continues to undergo constant changes with every edition, it certainly is not. Then what compels us to continue watching it? What keeps the media rolling? Why do celebrities rush to the stadiums to get even more glam?

Cricket on its own is a much more complex game than many others. Which other game comprises three formats and runs up to five days? (There was a time when timeless tests were played and they have ended in draw as well). The mind boggles to come to terms with the intricacies of the game that include no-balls, DRS, mandatory powerplays, optional powerplays, super overs and what not? Add to that the dynamics of the game that include crumbling pitches, the dew factor, a D/L formula, fielders at catching positions, fast bowlers, spinners and more. Then there are the law keepers including two on field umpires fighting the modern cameras, the third umpire and the fourth. Our childhood days only added complexity and layers to this myriad plethora by adding one-pitch-catches and under-arm-bowling.

Cricket has had its share of controversies. Controversy is very much like a mistress. You don't want one in your household, but if your neighbour has one, it gets the tongues rolling. You need the talk, not the pain. In essence, this is what makes for a wonderful time pass. We have had our brush with bodyline, sledging, drugs, match-fixing and more lately spot-fixing. And just as with your neighbour, over time, you forget the mistress, ease out the animosities and let life move on. The game of cricket continues on.

And then there is the eternal paradox. A batsman has to make one mistake to return to the pavilion whereas a bowler makes a mistake and lives to fight another ball - and we still call this a batsman's game? No other game has had one team ruling the roost for more than a decade(AUS). No other team-game has an unbeaten champion for 12 years. Add to the mix the eternal Chokers(SA), ones who manage to pull above their weights(NZ), the unpredictables(PAK), the waning force(WI) and the eternal underdogs(ENG). And this is the only sport where we, the Indians enter as favorites. The latest twist in the tale being an attempt at felling the gods of the game, the umpires, with reviews. My mind boggles to find another sport played as much in the field as in the brains. No wonder our no-brain friends from America are having a hard time to come to terms with cricket. Hopefully one day, it will get the following accorded to Football and the like. Until then, we will be the early torch-bearers who carried the game on our shoulders when the time needed it.

Turning 40

What do I want to be when I am 40?
A Writer? An Entrepreneur? A Professor? School Teacher? Sports Journalist?
Looks like I have no clue.
Let me poll my friends.

Results:

Inference:

...hmm...

...hmpf...

The future is still foggy. But not an Entrepreneur. Too much competition.
But if so many of my friends run their own business, I will at least not be out of a job.

Or will I still be?

Note-to-Self:
The raw data collected is stored as a Google spreadsheet.
May be 14 years from now, I can check if the others are what they want to be. ;)

Why I don't write...

Me: I have this great idea I want to write a book about
Ravi: Great. You at least have ideas. I have no inspiration. I don't exist.

Me: The thing is, I don't think I can write a book now. It takes months. Plus, there is no telling if it will even be published.
Ravi: Dude!!! You at least got balls and brains. May be write a blog entry of it. That way, you can build on it when you have time.
Me: WRITE!!! NOW!!! I am not sure. How about tomorrow?

What IF???

Thinking out of the box. Well, that is something that you cannot force on someone. You either can or you can't.
What about channeling your thoughts within a confined enclosure? That is supposed to be comparatively easy by some stretch of imagination.
What about focusing on something that you are forced never to ponder about?
Is that not the easier, lucrative and sometimes even compelling choice to make?
Is that not why Eve took a bite of that enticing apple?

What if, what you sometimes think about is considered taboo?

Thinking that someone looks hideous is wrong?
What if it is your own daughter?

Thinking someone is a loser is immoral?
What if it is your best friend?

Thinking of someone as a bad-luck charm is baseless?
What if it is your grandfather?

Thinking someone is naive to know what is good for him is despicable?
What if it is you?

Worse, what if these we ALL true?

Chennai and Hyderabad - Similar

I had written an entry about Sachin's 175 in Hyderabad and how it reminded me of his century in Chennai here.

Found an article in India Today substantiating my claims :)

But of course, statistics are a total BULL and the inferences are all totally in the eyes of the analyzer.

I am raining words

I have heard of people who have a deficiency with their words. May be I am on the pole opposite to theirs. I always find it very hard to say things with fewer words.

Sometimes, I think of short stories to write. But when I actually do start to write, the words consume pages and I end up using at least three times the space I had planned to. The next time I start to write something, I will think of a word limit and then start to write it up.

Yes. This does remind me of my English Board Exams :)

What this means is that, I find it so very hard to tweet. What is it with the 140 characters limit?
OK. Time to practice and wrap this entry up.

BYE!!!

Up And Running

Hooray Hoo!!

I have resumed reading after quite a long time.

Ever since I bought myself a thirty-seven thousand-rupee luxury called a laptop, my reading days have been stalled. Quite a lot of my time went to AVIs and VOBs. The remainder of the time was loaned out to EA Sports Cricket. Any meager time that had escaped the above two went for google and cricinfo.

With so many of my friends competing for my time and attention, I guess I would have to be forgiven for reading and writing less. Once the reality of my dwindling reading hit me, I even fell back to such demeaning books like Prison Diary, for lack of any unread books in my possession. So when I finally latched on to Ponniyin Selvan, man what relief to read some good book again.

As I would like to believe, reading is not my hobby, it is an obsession.

And it feels great to be back.

Sach a power - Still...

What would life be if I could unwind myself and go back? Say, 13 years.

I would still be going to my school in my half-trousers.

My fingers would still be a computer virgin.

I would not have known base tracks about trigonometry.

Petrol would have been 23 rupees in India.

Sachin Tendulkar would have kept my bottoms on a chair for 50 overs.

13 years on, in the present, the last entry in this list still held good.

On the fifth of November 2009, in Hyderabad, history was being made, again, by the little monster Sachin.

The action pulsating and riveting, never once bordering on insanity, Sachin managed to soar above the other 21 mortals on the ground, onto a pedastal upon which only he could dream thriving. The poetry of the innings was so breath taking, for a moment I was reminded of the song 'Loose Yourself' by 'Eminem'.

So complete was this innings, that it reminded me of every phase of his career over the last two decades.

There was the grit of the 16 year old from Faisalabad(1989).

There was the urgency of the 19 year old from Perth(1992).

The defiance of the 24 year old in Cape Town(1997).

There was the hunger of the 25 year old from Sharjah(1998).

The 30 year old rampaging man from Centurion(2003).

The 35 year old cautious veteran from Chennai(2008).

But, as fate would have it, what finally stayed etched in our minds was none of these flashes from the past. As he scooped the ball into the waiting hands of fine leg, as Jadeja and Praveen Kumar enacted the unbelievable run outs, as India stood inches from the finishing line of a marathon, one particular moment silhouetted itself in front of my mind's eyes. The defeated man from Chennai 1999.

As he looked on, forlorn and choked for words at the presentation, there were only profanities on my lips for every single person who blamed him for not crossing the last three inches (read as runs).

Time stood still. No, that was when it moved back 13 years and took me back with it.

Not only was Sachin the only one left standing between Australia and a defeat, his other 10 teammates were egging Australia on, to victory.

With an ache in my heart, I realized that if somehow I could have bribed the scorer to add another 4 runs on the Indian side of the board, I would have.

P.S: This entry was written around ten days back. Bear my lethargy.

An earlier publishing of the entry would have made more relevance to the context than today.

Random Updates

After almost six months of high pressure slog out I am back to the normal way of living I like. From now on, it means nine hours of working per day and will get some 4 hours of free time at my disposal. Now that I have a laptop with me and also some free time, need to do something worthwhile to justify the free time.

Looks like the marriage season has officially begun. Quite a few of my friends are getting married in the next couple of months. It means a fair bit of traveling for me which I look forward to thoroughly. The very next trip due is to Trichy (Srirangam actually) for Krishna's marriage.

Twitter is taking over blogger slowly. But it cannot substitute the love for writing that a blog can provide. May be they both have their own places to stay. Twit when you have things to say. Blog when you have thoughts to put. Even in the Twenty20 days, Test matches hold their own purity and I guess I am not gonna reduce my blogging any time sooner.

Thought of uploading a few pics of the laptop as well. Don't have one right now. Will try to upload one soon. Currently on the lookout for names for my laptop. Suggestions? Welcome....

Out of Touch...

Hiya,
What an isolated year it has been till now. I haven't said a hai to many of my friends out there in a long long time. No mails, No calls, No messages, Nothing. Come to think of it, I have 251 unread messages in my inbox, the highest ever till now. And I am ashamed to admit that I haven't knocked the ball on the Table Tennis court for quite a while now(I just tried a one-off game which I miserably lost 21-10). My mobile bill this month came down to a petty 600 bucks(pretty small given my big mobile history). Very sparse visits to Chennai. To be true to myself, I haven't been myself.

It surely hasn't been the all-pain-no-gain sort of a time. I have indeed shown my total spectrum of talent in the office and have got enough recognition, for me to give myself a pat on my back. But is this adequate enough for all the life I have lost in a hundred days? All the sleepless nights and all the weekends spent pondering over random segments of code? Do they really tilt the needle on the balance to satisfy me? For some time I did reason to myself that they do. But now I guess I need to rethink my priorities.

I guess I would have been more satisfied had I made progress over the new book I bought(Vairamuthu Kavidhaigal). I should have blogged more often. I even started writing my own story which hasn't gone beyond the first 1000 words. My original plan was to have around 6000 words in that. There was that small thing called fitness which I vowed to increase at the beginning of this year - but haven't. There was that really ugly article which I read in a New Zealand daily. I even mentally wrote a big reply to that article. Never got around to posting it anywhere on the net.

All said, I still will have to stick to this unreal, suffocating schedule till the 20th of May. Once that is over, I seriously decide to take some quality time off and gain some peace into this life of mine. May be I need a vacation, like the one I took back in August 2008

P. S.: All I want is a chance to prove that slogging alone can't make me happy ;)

When is a right time to call

Am I apprehensive and afraid of my future? Is the insecurity and uncertainty of it eating me? Do I sometimes sit back and speculate my future with a cloud on the horizon? Of course I do, for I am as human as the person sleeping right now in the cot next to me.


But daring has always been my forte. Seven years back I would have laughed at anyone if they had predicted I would go on to become a successful software engineer. But the bigger question has always been this? Is this what I am destined to be? To write random pieces of code for lesser mortals? I am here to make my own day and I will. May be I can say I am pilfering my days searching for my future. But I choose say, I am preparing myself for the future I am going to shape for myself.


With every passing year I realize that I am discovering myself all the more. And with each passing year, I also realize that I am not the man I wanted to be a thousand days back. So where finally is my so called destiny taking me. I think I know. The only place I
want to be.

Be back with a bang and that is a promise

Kana Kannil

I have no idea why i haven't added this song to my blog. It is long overdue :)

Surpassing Myself

I have beaten my best now. Without any post in the past five months, I have overdone myself in my lethargy and laziness. The best I could do for now is to put together a list of ten important things I have done in this interim period - to fill the big void.

1. I have managed to complete one full year of corporate life without any major hiccups. I can't remember any other phase of my life spanning more than 400 days that sailed as smooth as now.

2. Got myself a four-wheeler driving license and a PAN card - but I am still not prepared to say I am safe when I sit in a car that I am driving.

3. Made a trip to Gokarna. It is a place one MUST add to your best-and-cheap-places-I-ought-to-go-to list. Seriously lost myself in its mystique and serenity for three full days. I have for long wanted a break from my normal routine life. No mobile phones. No Internet. No computers. No ATM machines. No Electricity. God, it was heaven on earth.

4. Managed to crash my computer - Shivaji - for the first time. The motherboard is now lying dormant in a service center at Chennai. I really miss my Shivaji and am dying to lay my hands on it. May be a resurrected Shivaji will mean more productivity from me.

5. Dutifully fulfilled my resolution to buy and read at least one book per month. But most of the ones I bought are ones I had already read, but wanted to add to my collection. With my own dough, I can afford some now.

6. Managed to do an off-the-record project driven purely by my dreams. See more at http://www/miles2cover.net

7. Played in the TT tournament being organized in my office - it was fun, though I ended up on one of the losing sides. For a brief period of time, it felt as though I was back in my UG again. Sports - that gorgeous commodity of life. Man, I loved the adrenaline. We are now in the process of setting up a TT team and rumor has it that I am to be invited there too.

8. Made myself more sociable. In today's corporate life, it looks like the more fun you are at parties, the more sociable you are. So, I officially announce that I am a social drinker now.

9. Triggered the formation of a group with a Social Cause that calls itself 'Utopia'. I am not sure of the success of the group. But as with all endeavors, good intentions mixed with spirited souls always get more than they are due. Utopia just needs more time to sprout up.

10. Fell in LOVE - Come on. Not many newbies to Apple can resist it for long. I am as mortal as every one else. It sometimes feels odd to look at a windows machine, which has two buttons on the mouse instead of one, which does not have a horizontal scroll. Up until recently, I was thinking that a white computer was archaic and black was the order of the day. That was until I met Mr. Mac

Hoping to be swifter at least with my next post. Bye for now.

New Year

Well. I know it is very late by now. Still "A very Happy New Year" to the very few who visit me here. Come every December 31st I have a very big dilemma. People call me and ask me what my new year resolution is. What do you tell them when you don't have any?

Actually this time around, at the strike of midnight, when the new year dawned, I was on phone as usual. And there was this guy who asked me about my new year celebrations and my new year resolution. And I gave him my usual. "Nothing" :( Now was the more interesting question. The most logical sequel to it. "Why?" Oh God what should I say for that. Curt though I wanted to be I just blurted out, "I don't think the first of January is something special because the Earth has completed a round around the Sun. That too imperfectly. We keep correcting that blemish once every four years". :P How very typical of me.

Now I realize that it is time I broke that self-made jinx of mine. Ain't any day a good day to take a resolution that will do you good? At least let me use this first of January to correct myself. This is my new year resolution. "This year on I am going to talk less". For people who know me better, it shouldn't be hard to realize that this is as difficult to me as is scoring a test century to RP Singh. But I have indeed tried hard in the few days that this year seen and I would declare myself successful thus far. Wish me luck guys.

Back Where I Began...

One friendly glance. An urgent blur. A momentous glimpse. That is all it took. I had been craning my neck on the windows of the train for this one look. And it was worth the wait.

I had seen the place where I had spent 14 years of my life. That place means more to me than any other one place. It looks much like the settee of any R K Narayan story. But only, water was so scarce in this Sarayu. In the hustle and bustle of the city, which changes by the hour, this place has stood the test of time and borne it well too. The temple remains as solid as ever. The scent from the nearby paddy fields still fill the air with fragrance. Here did I play my last cricket on the streets. There are kids now, doing what I had left behind. While I quench my thirst with mineral water bottles and instant coffee machines, people here are still enjoying clean drinking water. While I am applying for my credit card, this place still has a place for a 25 paise coin.

I always loved doing strange things. I had once saved seven rupees worth 5 paise coins (140 coins). Those were days I loved eating the 5 paise candies. I guess they dont sell them anymore. I had learnt cycling here and bruised my leg many a times. I had done 12 years of my schooling here in 2 different schools.

I have now learned through experience that the world stretches even beyond this village. That there are people beyond here who love me just as the people here used to. That there are so many other tinsel towns that match Malgudi even better. But back then I was just Susi. In the bigger world, I address myself Susindhar T Kandan. But I still miss my middle name. T for Tiruvalam.

Song : New York Nagaram Urnagumbodu...

Life

Meeting and parting are the ways of life.
If one phase is dark, the other will be bright.
In tears do we part,
With a heavy heart,
With the belief that sometime, someday
We will meet again.
The darkness of parting will then see light.


I believed it seven years back.
And I continue to believe it.

P. S. :
The 'Crossing the LoC' series will continue later.
Once I have a proper connection in my room.
For now, this ought to do.

Crossing the LoC - Part I

Realizing that I have less than a 100 hours left to start my new journey, into a new world makes me apprehensive. After some twenty plus years, I seem under-prepared for my new life. I know neither the 'tie to wear for a given shirt' or the 'place I want to work'. Come to think of it, I don't know any place I wouldn't want to work. I know that it is going to take me an eternity to cross this border and settle myself safely in the world that awaits me. Does it or do I? Looking back I have had a lot of memories to treasure. Sharing them all in words would consume a lot of time. As they say, "A picture is worth a thousand words". Ain't it? Bear with me if there are a lot of photos. But each of them are so special that a further editing was next to nil.


This is the first outing that I have a soft copy of. Among the so many incidents from my school life this trip to Ooty stands out as one of the best. I don't remember a lot of places that we visited. But I still have a lot of incidents locked up, many which I treasure. The fun I had with my English Mam and the room that I shared with
Hari and Kandu are fresh still.
(L to R) : Radha Sir, Kandu, Nagaraj Vinayagam, Sriram, Hari, Selva Kumar, myself, Junior, Sathyamoorthy Sir and Karthick.


The place I spent the least time in when I was at school. My twelfth standard classroom. I was everywhere but here. The playgrounds, the labs or the Principal's room. Everyone of these saw me more than this small classroom. Believe me when I say that the class was small. It had four benches and housed the eight of us. That was our strength then. But the small number is no indication of the fun that we had.








This room was our pavilion during the first semester at Anna University. Better known as No 7 Kottur, it was our restroom. If we got an hour break between classes, there would be a minimum of fifteen guys in this room. My calculation says that there are only three guys in my classroom who have not come to this room at some point of time or the other.
(L to R and T to B) : Jawahar, Murugappan, Mallu's friend, Mallu, Annbuvel and Antony.







Doesn't some bell ring somewhere? Three pranksters trying the famous Yuva pose.
(L to R) : Murugappan, Annbuvel and Jawahar.








The birthday bash that I missed out. This was Annbu's birthday and this was an event which wouldn't recur for the next four years. He was born on 29 Feb 1984 and this was 29 Feb 2004. I unfortunately missed out on this late night outing and collected these photos as souvenirs. Stats say that Annbu was just 5 old years now.
(L to R, T to B) : Karthic, Jegan, Mallu, Dharmesh, Annbu, Hariharan, Dayal and Ramesh Chander.


That was room 204 in the Science Block. My first semester classroom in Anna University. This was a very instrumental place of my life, where people around me recognized me for what I was. This was the first time I started to get into the limelight. Also not the best thing in another sense. Many got closer to me because I was intelligent. Something I wouldn't consider inviting. But then this portal called Anna University gave us another 5 semesters to get to know each other. Now I can safely say that these guys are my friends not because I outshone them then. But because we love each other.
(L to R, T to B) : Ilamaparithi, myself, Jawahar, Ramesh Chander and Murugappan.


Within a fifty feet from here is the crux of the University. The canteen in front of us, the gallery behind us, the ATM center to its left, the Bank to the further left. To the right come the Ramanujam Computing Center, The Central Library and the Sports Center. That succinctly gives a picture for any new-comer a picture of what the university is all about. This circle with a hundred meter radius always had some friend you could wave your hand to.
(T to B, L to R) : Amit, Saravanan, Ilamparithi, Murugappan and myself.


204 again. But in a more casual outlook. Just after a lecture.
Members : Viswanathan (Boss), Mallu, Ramesh Chander, Sudhakar, Kathir, Shanthi, Murugappan, Jawahar, Vikram, Amit and others.





The proper induction into the MCA curriculum. Freshers organized for us by our seniors. Indeed we were welcome here. Later on we were to organize many more functions like this one.
(L to R) : Saravana Raj Kumar, Pramod and myself.


After No. 7 Kottur this room was to become the hangout place for us. Though this room didn't remain so for long, it still was a place where I made many new friends and acquaintances that include Viswa, Vikram, Balu, Arun Prakash, Pappu,...
(L to R) : Vijay, Pappu and Krishna



Believe me when I say that we studied in our PG. This was what we did on the eve of our 'web graphics' end semester examination. Satisfied with the output we proceeded to give the exam our best shot.
(L to R) : Balasubramanian and Lara Dutta
Graphics Courtesy : Ramesh Chander



Taken on the eve of the "Anna University Silver Jubilee Valediction". Taken in front of the Vivekananda Auditorium.
(L to R, T to B) : Guruvasagam, Vijay, Sudhakar, Balu, Senthil, Viswa, Sebastin, Rangaraj, Shanmugam, Vivek and Krishna.



This room still in its most primitive stage, was to become one of my most frequently visited places over the next couple of years. The smallest room(size) in kottur was soon to house more than 14 occupants at times.
(L to R) : Sebastin, Krishna, Velmurugan, Sudhakar and Vijay.



If you are ready to make the attempt, you can catch up with time. Five years after we went our separate ways, four of us school guys managed to meet up in one place. Though we occasionally get to see each other, it is something quite different to have a planned reunion. This was an attempt. I still have a burning desire to somehow arrange another reunion where all eight of us can actually meet up.
(L to R) : Sriram, Hari, myself and Selva.



These three guys are one of a sort. They are a gang that ought to be so. More so because of the chemistry that they seem to share. They too were no exception to No. 7 Kottur. Resting after a tiring day.
(L to R) : Saamy, Jegan and Hariharan



Yet another Sunday at No. 7 Kottur. Me with HP6.
(T to B, L to R) : myself, vikram and mallu.











Time : 2130. This was soon to become a pattern. From now on night outings to theaters, beach, hotels and all other exotic places was to become routine. From now on we are to remain nocturnal more and more.
(L to R) : Shanu, myself and Karthic



A third of our life here was over. The farewell at Vijay Park Inn. During those days we were more interested in a get-together than in a farewell. Just outside the pathetic hotel.
(L to R) : Hariharan, Annbuvel, Jegan, myself, Mallu, Vikram and Viswa.



Ain't it nice. Posing with the vice chancellor of the university. On the eve of the "Anna University Silver Jubilee Valediction", we met up with the then VC Mr. Balaguruswamy. God how I wish for those days when we could wear anything that we liked to college.
(L to R) : Karthic, Balaguruswamy, myself, Vikram and Mallu.



This is a very pranky group. Be sure you are not near when these guys are on a high. Trying to imitate the then famous album "Vaalameenukkum Velangumeenukkum" from "Chittiram Pesudhadi".
(L to R) : Pappu, Ilamparithi, Prasanna and Balasubramnian.

Pen is mightier than a (Movie)

Seeing Da Vinci Code recently reaffirmed my belief that when you make a movie out of a novel, it decreases the beauty of the novel. Movies don't let your imagination fly as wild as a book. The poetic license that is accredited to writers are not available to a script maker. None of the books I have read have made a better movie. Jurassic Park, The Lost World, Harry Potter, Lord Of the Rings, Time To Kill, David Copperfield... The list goes on. But the fact remains. Even the Star Wars series where the book came after the movie is no exception to it.

Think of the Harry Potter for instance. When I read about dementors, I had my own scary creatures, to imagine about. Seeing them in the movie was like showing me a calculator and forcing me to believe that it is a super computer. Another would be the Star Wars, The Phantom Menace. The book says that Anakin Skywalker could feel every part of the pod he was driving as if it were part of his body. He could sense an engine failing even before it actually did and switch to alternate power. How could they ever picture it in a movie without a narrative.

I am by no means demeaning the work of the film makers. They have their own restrictions to fight. I appreciate the hollywood style of preparing a manuscript and then going on to shoot, unlike their tamil counterparts who deviate from their plan after the shooting. You can identify parts of the film where the lip movement does not match the voice. Bad planning. All I ask of the book writers is that they have some foresight. If they know that their book is going to be made a movie let them make it known. I will avoid such movies. But still I see those movies when I sit at home with nothing else to do. Can't avoid it though. May be in such cases, I will avoid reading those books. :)

Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows

I haven't posted anything in the last couple of months owing to my busy project schedule. Despite all this I recently came across someone claiming to have read the Harry Potter and the Deathly hallows. Searching the net I downloaded a pirated copy of it myself. The first ten pages confirmed my worst doubts. This was no JK Rowling stuff. Some fanatic geek has invested his time into this venture. It was too good to be her work. What I mean by this is the fact that this book contained everything that a fan would ask of the author and I know Rowling well enough to have other claims. She writes for kids and teens and not for grown-ups. If after july 21st it gets confirmed that this whole thing happens to be the true book - well I be damned. I am willing to pit my twenty year reading habit against it.

But the most important thing I am pointing out here is that, amidst my busy schedule I have been able to afford myself a day and a half of time to read 659 pages. Goes to prove again the time-proven fact. You never have time for anything in this world. you got to make time for them yourself.

P. S. : I know it was plain stupid of me to have read another 649 pages after knowing it was spoof. But that just shows how addicted I am to books. I miss them these days. Hopefully I get back to my old habit after leaving the university in a month's time.

Cricket Is Indeed Cathcing Up