Indian cricketers-- A robotic bunch?

Brett Lee, apart from sending down thunderbolt yorkers during his heydays, also puts his fingers to good use to strum guitar with his band Six And Out. Curtly Ambrose, the giant all time great former West Indies fast bowler, plays base for the band Big Bad Dread & The Baldhead. Matthew Hayden loves to fish with his former Queensland colleague Andrewy Symonds, besides being a more than a decent cook. Andrew Flintoff tried his hand at professional boxing soon after quitting Cricket. Mark Waugh loves to put his money on his horses during Derby in his country.

These are just a few examples of cricketers having a versatile personality and their life not being restricted to Cricket. Do we have similar examples in India? I am afraid not so. When i was small, i came across an audio cd of Sanjay Manjeraker's album. He is the only Indian cricketer i can allude to who we know has a good talent for singing.

But what about many Indian cricketers, past and present? Why don't we know anything else about their life than may be a famous celebrity girl friend whom they are dating or their favourite food? Are our cricketers simple robots with a single minded track of playing cricket or do they have a more colourful off the field personality? On the evidence of what we are made to see via  media, unfortunately the answer is not very impressive. We just do not see Indian cricketers having any other interest, serious hobby or any other serious creative talent. Let me make it clear that i might be totally wrong, but the point i want to bring home is that our media just does not cover those aspects of a cricketer which could reveal more about the person. We are provided with that perfect image of a cricketer who has no other mission in life than playing cricket and only cricket.

Even when we see our cricketers being interviewed, they come across as dull, monotonous, robotic individuals with readymade answers to readymade questions. Cricket presenters on sports channels are also not too good in terms of the way they present their questions. Our cricketers just do not showcase any kind of intellectual acumen during press conferences, there are absolutely no statements of disagreements or contradicting points of view.

This begs the question- are pur cricketers just a bunch of insecure serious cricketers who know they cant possibly do anything else in life but play cricket? Andrew Symonds was once interviewed by Harsha Bhoglen and Bhogle asked him a question with an extremely surprising look on bhis face as to why did he quit something that he liked most? Andrew Symonds' reply was that priorities in life change. Here our cricketers keep playing and playing until we find them being forced to leave.

In the past many Indian greats have retired, the likes of Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Saourav Ganguly, VVS Laxman, Anil Kumble, Javagal Srinath... Can we know if even one of them is involved in any creative activity or having any other talent? No.

It is true that in a country where millions and millions of people want to become cricketers and play for India, the ones who actually get the chance are indeed extremely fortunate and truly treasure their chance to be an Indian cricketer. I believe this is where it all stems from. They are just not encouraged to hone their other skills and end up being monotonous robotic cricketers. It then reflects in the way they speak--absolutely bland and devoid of flair. We have flair on the field but off the field there is absolutely no flamboyance. I guess this is an indictment on the system that produces these cricketers. 

FIRST TEMPT, THEN CONTROL

I am no internet activist but reading something yesterday on the front page of Times of India made me feel quite agitated. Yesterday's front page carried the headline "Local calls on Whatsapp, Viber and Skype may no longer be free."

Yes, the ruling BJP government at the centre recently came up with some recommendations made by its high-level commitee in which, while it has upheld the concept of net nuetrality, has quite smartly come up with the idea of charging calls made through applications like Whatsapp and Viber, which are as of now free (barring negligible data charges). The Department of Telecom (DoT) has favoured a policy regulation that would put curbs or tax these popular messaging services. As famous American author Neil Strauss had said once:

"When the Internet first came into public use, it was hailed as a liberation from conformity, a floating world ruled by passion, creativity, innovation and freedom of information. When it was hijacked first by advertising and then by commerce, it seemed like it had been fully co-opted and brought into line with human greed and ambition"

It is interesting to note that this is not the first time a government policy has come up which regulates something of daily use by the common man. I do see here some deep nexus between government and corporates who while enticing customers with cheap features of their products, then smartly up the ante when the customers have got used to them. Well, this is the flip side of consumerism which we as customers just cannot avoid. Right from daily services like Direct-to-Home (DTH) providers (like TATASKY) to dependence on private transport, we are being controlled by services that corporates provides. And them very smartly, when we are used to those services and can't do without them, these corporates, then raise the prices of their products and customers are indirectly forced to continue with them.

While i don't intend to portray myself as anti-capitalist, anti-consumerist, i think time has come for us to realise how increasingly we are being controlled without us even realising it. Our increasingly changing life styles demand consumption if many things, and corporates are happy to provide them. They not only charge us by first selling us their products, they then help other corporates through the massive source of Ad spaces. We think we are consuming what we want, but do we think that is the case?

Popular music app Saavn came up some time back with the promise of ad free songs. Initially it felt good, listening to songs without ads, but soon after they started making us here to snap-deal ads. Well, we should thank them because they don't air those ads after cutting short a song!!!

Yes, that's what most of the private radio channels in India do. Have you ever realised that you would never get to hear you favourite song completely on such channels? They invariably cut out a para of the song and then air ads for a good 5-7 minutes, before giving us the crumbs of two more incomplete songs. Do you think apps like Gaana.com or Saavn would have come up if we were satisfied with Radio Channels.

Most Hindi language TV series, whose stipulated time is 30 minutes, in reality show episodes of 20 minutes only. And the really cruel part is that before taking the last break, they show which scene viewers are going to see after the break, then show ads of 5-6 minutes, come back only to show exactly that scene which we saw before the break and boom!!! The next show starts. Even funnier is that we viewers are foolish enough to continue watching them.

In this huge government-corporate nexus, the aam aadmi is sandwiched. He cannot do away with it completely. Niether do i propose anything of that sort. All modes of entertainment are important in our daily lives as they provide a succour to us, albeit temporarily. But what i do suggest is that let us be more aware of how increasingly we are being controlled, choose only what we feel is good for us and yes, LET US FIGHT FOR INTERNET RIGHTS.

Book Review: Lunatic in my Head

For a person who has never been to the north east, Shillong can be even more exotic than it so very truly is. So as i sat down to read Lunatic in my Head by Anjum Hasan, it wrapped me with cold excitement- the kind of excitement you get when your are travelling en route to a hill station, away from the heat and dust of June time Delhi.

The structure of the novel has that serene, laid-back attitude of the place that Shillong is. The characters are intense and yet confused, they tend to grow on you rather than catch your attention as many strong characters do in novels. The constant accompaniment of rains that lash the novel are like constant reminders to the characters, as if exhorting them-- "Go and make something of your life". Rains are ubiquitous in the novel, as one would expect in a hilly area. It did come, personally, as a welcome relief from the scorching heat of Delhi that we are currently experiencing.

Firdaus Ansari, Aman Moondy and Sophie Das-- the three central characters of the novel-- are all in a way bound by each other, although they only meet for a fleeting moment--at a fete in the Football ground of Shillong. Their desires, disappointments, happiness are all inter-related. They all are in search of something that would give them eternal happiness but do not know what. They need freedom, from the shackles that the Shillong society imposes on them, they all are "dkhars"- a derogatory term used to refer to non-tribals outsiders in Meghalaya.

Firdaus, a young university professor teaches English to a group of pre-university girls. She finds it extremely difficult to comprehend Hemingway and is stuck with her MPhil thesis which she intends to do on Jane Austen. The constant demands of her job which includes writing an article for the school journal, is mixed with her colleague Nivedita's marital problems which are discussed by her colleagues on a round table. Each one has her own point to put across to Nivedita. Firdaus finds it abhorring that Nivedita still wants to stay with her husband, in spite of knowing that her husband is dating another woman.

At the same time Firdaus, who has a boyfriend named Ibomcha, finds herself going nowhere in the relationship. She cribs about the fact that Ibomcha never really pay attention to what her dreams and desires, her love for literature and desire to move out of Shillong and go, probably, to Delhi for a better career. As she says in the novel:

"Firdaus had often tried to tell Ibomcha about Ayn Rand (her favourite novelist), staff room intrigues, and her aborted dream of living in  Delhi. He would listen patiently while Firdaus spoke, his eyes seeming to comprehend, but as soon as she had finished narrating the plot of Fountainhead, for instance, he would clear his throat and begin telling her about his next money-making scheme. He didnt even do it to be rude, Firdaus realised, and this would somehow make her angrier. He just didnt understand that it mattered, that these figments and fragments were all that there was to her world."

Firdaus is always suspicious about Ibomcha constantly travelling to his home town in Manipur, skeptical about the righteousness of his travels. All this while, her thesis is stuck and one day Mr.Thakur, her supervisor, takes her out for lunch. It turns out to be a nightmare when Mr. Thankur molests Firdaus and she runs away and decides to throw all the papers of her research away in a carton. The constant loneliness of Shillong bites her every now and then. She does finally agree to marry Ibomcha after he has proposed to her, and life moves on.

Sophie Das, an eight year old girl, daughter of Mr.Das, a former university professor of English and Mrs.Das, a non-Bengali and pregnant, realises that she has been adopted and that her parents are some other people and this sets her heart racing. Without a trace of doubt she believes that her real parents will come and take her away and this is what drives Sophie for most part of the novel. The daily fights between her parents, does not seem to bother her much, and in fact she watches them like a spectator watching a performance. She constantly goes out to meet Aunt Elsa, the landlady of Das', partly because her mother wants Sophie to take care of her from time to time since she has been kind in not asking for rent for a few months now, owing to financial constraints of the Das family, and partly due to Sophie's own inclination to go out and have her own free time. something which she values a lot.

In one episode she meets Jason, Aunt Elsa's son and begins to befriend him. She is impressed by the appearance of Jason, but at the same time finds an air of arrogance in his tone, probably owing to the fact that he is an IAS officer. Sophie, feels the need to be a Khasi, when she goes out for a party with Aunt Elsa, where some people make her feel unwelcome, owing to her not being a Khasi. And while her performance in school is constantly on a downward spiral, she still expects that her real parents will come one day and take her. She ultimately resigns to the fact that her real parents would never come and carries on with her other parents, the Das'.

Aman, a college graduate and an IAS aspirant, is an ardent Pink Floyd fan. For him, music is the soul. Life without music, rock music to be precise, would be unimaginable.

"..music was Aman's silence-- it was the background against which everything else happened."

He spends hours and hours discussing music with his friends. Why didn't Pink Floyd respond to his letters? Is Roger Waters thinking on the same page as he? Music, joints, and the thought of Concordella, his dream girl, is what there is to Aman's life, or so it seems. His parents are constantly nagging him about his failed first attempt for IAS, and his all too casual approach towards the second attempt. He ultimately fails the second time as well and that is when he is sent to Delhi by his father, in search of better work opportunities.

A beautiful novel, it really brings out the best of Shillong. The author's immense knowledge of the city, coupled with beautiful description  of nature makes this novel a very endearing experience to read.

Ashes 2015: Reasons to look forward to.

Once every two years Test cricket, for a brief period of about 2 months, hogs the cricketing limelight with the Ashes: the jostle for that little urn with a huge history behind it, fought between two of the oldest countries to play Cricket: England and Australia.

And while Test cricket per se hardly draws huge crowds these days, especially in the sub-continent, it is creditworthy to see that the administrators of Cricket in these two countries have made sure that it remains the pinnacle of the game. It helps when the teams play attacking, high-quality cricket as has been since in the past few years, especially since the famous 2005 Ashes when funky hairdo sporting Kevin Pietersen and burly yet pleasing figure of Andrew Flintoff, sent an entire nation into raptures by winning the Ashes for the first time in---many, many years.

So, as Indians, why do we get fascinated by Ashes cricket? To be able to answer it let me make it very clear that i talk of a very selected group of people who are ardent and true followers of the longest format. We have passion, patient and knowledge of the game and hence appreciate it. It is true that the slam-bang version of 50 over cricket and instant-gratification of Twenty20 have badly dented the enthusiasm of Test cricket, but we still like to see the bowlers steaming in to bowl at batsmen surrounded by a strong slip-cordon and working them out.

However, i would like to stress that same feeling does not come with as much intensity when test cricket is played in the sub-continent. There are valid reasons of that. Dead pitches, not helped by the fact that climate usually is baking hot which makes the surfaces even more batting-friendly. However it has ti be said that the kind of cricketers required to come together to make test cricket exciting are genuinely lacked by the Asian teams. A group of 3-4 good, attacking, high quality fast bowlers that both England and Australia possess, virtually every time they go out for the battle, is the primary reason for Ashes to be highly exciting. When there is a genuinely even contest between bat and ball, it make for gripping viewing and results of test matches in the last few Ashes series will vindicate what i say.

Ever since i started watching cricket, from the mid-90s, till 2005 there was only one team playing Ashes and that was Australia. Their sheer domination of and utter pummeling of the English cricketers used to make Ashes boring, but that was only because England did not have good enough players. Even then because of climatic conditions and good sporting pitches in both England and Australia, the quality of cricket on view was never low. In spite of having some good quality individuals like Alec Stewart, Graham Thorpe, Darren Gough and Graeme Hick, England as a team just could not match up with the Aussie might. Australians on the other hand possessed such gifted individuals like the Waugh brothers, Ponting, Warne (to name a few), who as a team just brought the best out of each other.

The 2005 Ashes was a watershed series in the history of the Ashes. Played in England, Australia, despite having heavyweights such as Warne, Mcgrath, Lee, Gilchrist and their world class batsman Ponting, they lost the series 1-2 to a dynamic and determined England led by their talented skipper-batsman Michael Vaughan, Since then, England have gone on to win the Ashes 3 more times, but have also suffered two 0-5 mauling, both down under.

As we wait eagerly for the next edition of Ashes to begin, we can expect some high quality cricket again. While England had to contend with a 1-1 series result against New Zealand, Australia have started their test series against West Indies with a resounding win in Dominica and look set to have the edge going into the Ashes. With high quality players in both sides like Clarke, Johnson, Starc, Smith, Cook, Stokes, Bell and Anderson amongst many others this series will again ignite the passion for the purest form of the game. May it be another exciting an closely fought series.

PS: Before i end this piece it would be worth mentioning my favourite 5 Ashes moments from the last few years:

Shane Warne- 40 wickets Ashes 2005

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=96tevBt8jpA

Mitchell Johnson- 37 wickets Ashes 2013-14

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=mitchell+johnson+37+wickets+ashes+2013

Adam Gilchrist-57 -ball century (2nd fastest) Ashes 2006-07

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sn6gPE_jnBk

Ashes 2005 second test 2005 Edgbaston

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gZ_UVhZEnDo

Alastair Cook -235 Ashes 2010-11

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0jlJ5NmTKGE

Concern shown in installments

Hi guys ...I hope all who read this are in the pinkest of health. So here i am, trying to write a blog again after quite a while. Well this whole duration of absenteeism from blogs was due to a mixture of laziness, mind blockage and some genuinely busy schedule. Well, anyway, as i assume that you wont be very interested in knowing further reasons for my long hiatus from blogging, i should better hit off with my piece for the day.

The other day i was at my Uncle's place and my aunt, i.e. my Maasi had come over. And as is the usual "tradition" she started asking me about my career, my sister's marriage, my own plans for marriage and bla bla bla. Now here is someone whom i generally meet once a year and for the rest of the year there is no contact. By that i mean, ABSOLUTELY NO CONTACT. So, i begin to wonder why do a lot of people we meet only once in a while, begin to give us grand lectures and advises about what we need to do in life, and then vanish with no intent to even keep in touch. I am sure there must be a lot of people like this in a lot of peoples' lives as well. It is just something that screws one off.

As i begin to wonder about this conundrum, i feel that just like we buy a lot of things on installments, we also receive a few things the same way...Concern is one of them. Now, i do not for a moment doubt my maasi;s or anyone else's intentions when it comes to giving advice or showing concerns. However, when it is not backed by regular update of what is happening in the person;s life, the it begins to feel awkward at the beginning, boils over to irritation and and culminates in either a full blown argument, or a humble request of "Kindly stay away from my space". I do think i belong to the second type, for that is just the way i am. Come to think of it, we Indians really do like to give free advice on matters precisely on which we ourselves have lagged. I include myself in that and i am sure many of you also would belong to that category. I guess it is just the way we are.

But why to take it lying down is my question and actually the answer as well. Sometimes people give advice for the sake of it and at other times they just don't bother to find out what has happened with the concerned person. Now, there are many people of the rebellious nature who would just give it back to the "adviser" with toungue-in-cheek, spiteful words. I believe "ek kaan se suno aur dusre kaan se nikalo". I guess that's one of the most tried and tested methods.

It's another matter that the simmering heat might as well expand to a bursting ball of fire. Till then, happily receive your next installment of concern:-))))

We metro commuters: An Uncivilized Lot

It is quite interesting to see how the Delhi Metro has made our lives more comfortable. Everyday millions of Delhiites take to the metro for going to their offices, universities  or other daily tasks. If there is one thing that the Sheila Dikshit led government did well, it was the way they planned the different phases of the metro (although the plan was first mooted way back in 1969). Who would have thought travelling from West Delhi all the way to Noida would be a decently comfortable experience, taking into account the sheer mass of people?; or for that matter from Gurgaon to Delhi University? Be it in peak Delhi summers or winters, travelling in a metro has made all of us thankful to the governments.

However, as with almost every other state property, the Delhi Metro is only as convenient as we the people help it to be. The sheer mass of people who travel can sometimes make the experience a bit harrowing, especially at stations like Rajiv Chowk or Kashmere Gate. While i am a regular metro commuter, today's experience made me write this blog. There was nothing out of the ordinary or distinctly odd that happened. At around 2: 30 pm, i was at the Rajiv Chowk platform waiting for a train for Jahangirpuri. I had to go to my uncle's house in Shalimar Bagh. As always, today was also extremely crowded. However what i observed was an almost life and death kind of battle to barge into the train. People around me did not wait for the commuters inside to deboard and instead jostled with each other.

Of course, you might wonder what the hell is different or new in what i am describing. If this is what you are thinking, then it is precisely why i write this blog. People try to get in as if they have a battle to win. No sooner does the metro door open, that we are ready to pounce on the commuters inside, as if they were just ants to be trampled upon and dismissed out of sight. As soon a as metro arrive, people stand right in the middle of the door, not even realising, or may be rather not giving a damn to realise, that there are commuters inside waiting to get out. In spite of repeated announcements, it hardly makes any difference to us. what infuriates me even more is the smirk on the faces of people who have been able to defeat the commuters inside and gleefully share it with fellow passengers/friends. It is a seriously sickening sight to see what our society is becoming,

Something is seriously going wrong. We just don't seem to respect human dignity. We are all on our own ways, never paying attention to the comforts of others. And while we should rightfully blame politicians for their wrong deeds, it is we who must first realise the faults within. People throw trash on the metro floor without even giving a thought that there are foreigners travelling who would create a certain image of us. And in any case it is not for foreigners that we need to show ourselves as cleanliness conscious, We shout at fellow passengers over petty issues for space. It is disgusting to see the way we behave in such a public transport. We are no longer becoming uncivilized, rather WE ARE.

To give respect to human life, let us just make sure that we do not behave as if nobody else matters.
Let us not:
Stand in the middle of door.
Allow commuters inside to first deboard.
Not throw trash on the metro floor(at least leave some space dirt-free)

While i am not sure how many people would actually apply whatever is written in the blog, even if one person can take it seriously i would consider my purpose of writing this blog as served.

Monastery Market: a cozy tour

So friends, i finally ended up not going to Rajasthan as i had written in my previous blog. I was very excited for my trip, but as luck would have it, my health went for a toss. However, i made sure that i would visit some place in Delhi which i had never visited before. My mind went to a few places, like the Safdurjung tomb, or the Garden of 5 senses. In the end i decided to give Monastery market a try.

I had heard about this market a lot from friends, but was never really up for it. I used to feel, it would be just another market, i mean, what the hell would you get there, which you wont get anywhere else? However, i decided to go and give that place a visit, to see what all is available there. 

And so i picked up my tiny sling bag and took the metro. After i got down at Civil Lines station, i took an auto. The autowallah told me that most of the stock that they sell usually comes from different parts of Delhi itself. As someone looking for some unique Tibetan stuff, that came as a bit of a dampener.  But still, i was upbeat to discover a place i had never visited before, and with that thought i reached the entry gate. the gate is located under the ISBT Shahdra link flyover and on first glance it seemed quite an odd entry. As i saw a few auto-rickshaws enter, i could sense a typical chaotic sense which lot of Delhi markets give out. 

As i entered i saw a pretty narrow corridor running through up to about 700-800 metres, The weather was just perfect, with clear blue skies, Sun blessing us with its moderate rays, just the right amount you would need for a Delhi chilly winter day. On both sides of that long but tiny strip of passage, little shops with various winter clothing and accessories were lined up. It was a very colourful sight as shops were lined up selling different "brands". Almost all brands were available, you name them and they would be there. Write from Adidas, to Puma, to Nike, to Cantabil, were available, and at highly decent rates. Of course, those good at bargaining, would be able to get at even more handsome rates. 

I enjoyed my window shopping but didn't really feel like buying anything. It was just the feel of visiting this market that made me enjoy the trip. On that beautiful chilly yet sunny day, i saw a tea vendor walking with his stuff and calling out people for a garam chai. I took a cup of chai and that made my trip even more cozy. I went to a shop which sold gloves. With the winter reaching its peak, i needed a pair of gloves warmer than i had and so i finally bought something...a pair of gloves. 

After going through a set of other accessories, it was time to head home. My trip to Monastery Market was a pretty cozy one, just like the settings.