Men in Blue or Blues?

I am quite disappointed by our team's performance on the last day of the test match at Bangalore.

I was reading an article on rediff and couldn't have agreed more with the author when he said,

Had this Indian team gone out and played to win, it would have won the hearts of all those watching, even if it eventually succumbed to defeat. The greatest test of courage is to bear defeat without losing heart.

Today, on the cricket field, Ganguly's team lost heart.

And if there is anything in the world that hurts the team's fans more than losing, it is losing without putting up a decent fight.

I am not expecting a win every time you go out. But at least you can try it, or at least show that you are trying for god's sake. Hard to imagine that this is the same Indian team which was winning against Australia and Pakistan some seasons ago.

I had sent a mail to my friends when Sehwag got out: "Sehwag is out: the guy who could have won us the match. Now according to me Indians would go into the "save match" mode. And this might be "the" chance for pak to win!". And the Indian team proved themselves just like an overtly predictable bollywood flick. Pakistan would have been too foolish to let go the chance. I heard Inzy saying in an interview that "Woh log defensive khelte rahe. Maine socha main hi kyon naa attack karoon?". Luckily it did not rain yesterday, while today in Banglaore it's all cloudy. Come to think of it, the future looks more cloudy for the one-day series from here.

Too many negatives and no positive make a dull day anywhere in the world.

signing off,

Chhota

That's me. I mean, that's one of my nicks over the years.

Btw, even "niks" is my nick.

So is "nku".

Sometimes I was even "bachcha" and "kiddo".

For some, I am "shonu".

For some other hostile types, I am "dukkar", "shembdya", "khadoos" or "kanjoos".

At times, I am "stupid". And yes, "kuska" too.

For one of the classmates, I was "kuls" (or "kulks", I couldn't tell the way he pronounced).

In short stints, I was even "tau", "backbencher", "ghatotkatch" and "Pentium II (after sunset)".

signing off,

If you have some new one in mind for me, please let me know :-)

रिस्क

too much!

दारू पिताना मी कधी रिस्क घेत नाही.

मी संध्याकाळी घरी येतो,
तेव्हा बायको स्वयंपाक करत असते,
शेल्फमधील भांडयांचा आवाज येत असतो.
मी चोरपावलाने घरी येतो,
माझ्या काळ्या कपाटातून बाटली काढतो,
शिवाजीमहाराज फोटोतून बघत असतात
तरी या कानाचा त्या कानाला पत्ता लागत नाही.
कारण मी कसलीच रिस्क घेत नाही. ||१||

वापरात नसलेल्या मोरीतल्या फळीवरून मी ग्लास काढतो.
चटकन एक पेग भरून आस्वाद घेतो.
ग्लास धुवून पुन्हा फळीवर ठेवतो.
अर्थात बाटलीही काळ्या कपाटात ठेवतो
शिवाजीमहाराज मंद हसत असतात.
स्वयंपाकघरात डोकावून बघतो
बायको कणीकच मळत असते
या कानाचा त्या कानाला पत्ता लागत नाही.
कारण मी कसलीच रिस्क घेत नाही. ||२||

मी: "जाधवांच्या मुलीच्या लग्नाचं जमलं का गं?"
ती: "छे! दानत असेल तर मिळेल ना चांगलं स्थळ!"

मी परत बाहेर येतो.
काळ्या कपाटाच्या दाराचा आवाज होतो.
बाटली मात्र मी हळूच काढतो.
वापरात नसलेल्या फळीच्या मोरीवरून ग्लास काढतो.
पटकन पेगचा आस्वाद घेतो.
बाटली धुवून मोरीत ठेवतो.
काळा ग्लासपण कपाटात ठेवतो.
तरी या कानाचा त्या कानाला पत्ता लागत नाही.
कारण मी कसलीच रिस्क घेत नाही. ||३||

मी : "अर्थात जाधवांच्या मुलीचं अजून काही लग्नाचं वय झालं नाही."
ती: "नाही काऽऽय! अठ्ठावीस वर्षाची घोडी झालीय म्हणे!"
मी : (आठवून जीभ चावतो) "अच्छा .. अच्छा .."

मी पुन्हा काळ्या कपाटातून कणीक काढतो
मात्र कपाटाची जागा आपोआप बदललेली असते.
फळीवरून बाटली काढून पटकन मोरीत एक पेग मारतो
शिवाजीमहाराज मोठ्ठयाने हसतात
फळी कणकेवर ठेवून शिवाजींचा फोटो धुवून
मी काळ्या कपाटात ठेवतो
बायको गॅसवर मोरीच ठेवत असते
या बाटलीचा त्या बाटलीला पत्ता लागत नाही.
कारण मी कधीच .... ||४||

मी (चिडून) : "जाधवांना घोडा म्हणतेस? पुन्हा बोललीस तर जिभच कापून टाकीन तुझी ... "
ती: "उगीच कटकट करू नका.. बाहेर जाऊन गप पडा."

मी कणकेतून बाटली काढतो
काळ्या कपाटात जाऊन एक पेग मळतो
मोरी धुवून फळीवर ठेवतो
बायको माझ्याकडे बघत हसत असते.
शिवाजीमहाराजांचा स्वयंपाक चालूच असतो
पण या जाधवांचा त्या जाधवांना पत्ता नाही.
कारण मी .... ||५||

मी (हसत हसत): "जाधवांनी घोडीशी लग्न ठरवलं म्हणे!"
ती (ओरडून): "तोंडावर पाणी मारा ऽऽऽ "

मी परत स्वयंपाकघरात जातो.
हळूच फळीवर जाऊन बसतो
गॅसही फळीवरच होता.
बाहेरच्या खोलीतून बाटल्यांचा आवाज येतो.
मी डोकावून बघतो.
बायको मोरीत दारूचा आस्वाद घेत असते.
या घोडीचा .. त्या घोडीला पत्ता लागत नाही.
अर्थात शिवाजीमहाराज कधीच रिस्क घेत नाहीत.
जाधवांचा स्वयंपाक होईपर्यंत
मी फोटोतून बायकोकडे बघत हसत असतो
कारण पण मी कधीच रिस्क ... ||६||

signing off,

Go India Go!

Great weekend this was for the Indian sports lovers. What more could have they asked for?

First it was team India coming back very strongly to beat Pakistan quite convincingly (so much so that my friend here is tempted to term it as crushing). But it was never a one sided game. In fact had it not been Dravid and Kaarthik in second innings, Pakistan had a fair chance of winning. Again if Afridi hadn't given away his wicket, who knows? Once again it proves how much we underestimate Kumble as a match winner, when he has delivered time and again with his relentless efforts on the field.

Second, Narain Karthikeyan finished 11th in Malaysian grand prix. Mind you, to go from 15th to 11th in only second race is by no means easy. It's a feat which would give the young man immense self confidence and recognition on the f1 circuit. As I said earlier, he would grow only better from here.

Keep it up men! You are making us proud.

signing off,

A Day in the Life of ...

A day in the life of me, that is. Without any earphones.

Imagine, from the morning I haven't got a chance to listen to any of the songs I got from friends yesterday. As it is I am not in a particularly good mood since -
- my report is not working out to be *exactly* same as the users want,
- my stomach has finally given up to my eating habits and is on non-cooperating terms since couple of days,
- Pakistan have a bit of upper hand in the second test match at the Eden gardens. (I'd say they can win the test match too!)

And I don't have my earphones to listen to "Do Naina" to take my mind off all these.

Goddamn dis, why didn't you tell me it earlier?

signing off,

She's Gone!

Well, she was not mine anyways. So why should I be unhappy that the bike I was driving for some time is not with me anymore?

But frankly this bike was starting to grow on me. In fact, she already had, I think. She had taken me for a ride all over Bangalore. Well, not literally though! Alone, sometimes with friends, sometimes with strangers. People changed, but the bike was always there. It was quite an old bike and the age was starting to show. The gearbox and clutch and brakes were giving some trouble. Hopefully now that she's in the owner's hand, she can hope a better treatment for herself. :-) Bless you.

Btw I am doing my annual appraisal today. If I finish it today, I can write a book, "Appraisal for Dummies in 21 hours". And I am sure no one is going to buy it.

signing off,

Busy

I am quite busy these days. And missed Mark Knopfler too on Monday. It's no less than a criminal damage! Why he had to come on 7th when on the very day I had an important release?

Life ain't no fair maan!

Btw, before leaving for the day, I thought I'd just listen to some retro songs, and I stumbled on Def Leppard's Vault in my collection. They say each song can make you forget of present and takes you somewhere in past. It is indeed true. Vault was one of the first 5 cassettes I had purchased from my own earnings long back in Feb 2002. Those were quite happening days really. And every time I listen to Photograph or Let's get Rocked or Love Bites or Pour Some Sugar on Me or Hysteria, my initial days in corporate world come back to mind. It's like your first crush, isn't it? Magical.

But this is not to say today was not magical. :-)

signing off,

The Greatest Country of the World?

Last week sometime, I was watching Derek O'Brian's quiz show on some channel. The participants were young kids from India, China and Korea. After all of them introduced themselves, Derek came back to the Indian kids' desk, and called upon the other kids. What he said exactly I don't quite recollect, but the gist of it was that he was calling the other kids to the desk of the greatest country in the world.

I found this quite arrogant. Come on Derek, those were just kids of probably 8-10 years of age and do you want to enforce your feelings that India is greatest country of them all, on these kids? I doubt what prompted him to do so. Clearly if he had been quizzing older people, he would not have pulled the stunt, would he? China and Korea are two beautiful countries themselves and he had no business belittling them. I wonder what would his reaction might have been, if one of the Chinese or Korean kid had argued with him on this.

Call me preachy, but like Mohan Bhargava (Swades hero, in case you have forgotten), even I don't think we are the greatest country in the world. And with such people having an illusion at large, we have light years to go.

signing off,

A Mimic and a Siddhuism

The other day I was watching NDTV's some programme featuring Navjyot Singh Siddhu and a mimic artist. Not surprisingly, in recent years, position of commentators has changed and they too have become glamorous like cricketers. So it seems, a person who can imitate one of those has same glamor value as an entertainer for these TV shows. This guy was indeed good at his skill. He started by imitating Geoffery Boycott and then came back to Imran Khan and Siddhu's conversation last year, which is why I am writing this stuff.

The incident goes: Imran Khan was saying something about Pakistan's chances in the series when Siddhu broke him, "Wait, Imran bhai, wait. Optimist is one who thinks bullshit is a fertilizer!"

You can imagine the scene after this, my rolling on the floor laughing hysterically.

signing off,

Who Is Indian Idol?

What do you need to do to watch Indian Idol on Sony? Go home, switch on the tv, [optional:] get yourself some cotton to stuff in your ears and enjoy!

Indian Idol is clearly a case of bias over talent. What ranked Ravinder Ravi in the top five while denying same for some more talented people? Why people are urging me to bulk SMS for Amit Sana, while I think Abhijeet has better evolved as a singer and performer over all the ten rounds? What makes Aman and Mini to boast whatever Amit does but shun Abhijeet's exploits? What makes the judges to be in favor of Amit clearly sidelining Abhijeet?

It is bias my friend. Even I am biased towards Abhijeet. :-)

But alas, just my thinking is not going to make Abhijeet win this. Amit Sana is going to be first Indian Idol, you like it or not. I do hope that all three toppers work hard on their singing and get ahead, rather than just being Indian Idles, oops Idols.

signing off,