Watch Out

As the year draws to close, I have to admit it has been one of the most fulfilling year for an Indian cricket nut! It is strange that although there has not been a single big win but a set of confident victories (yes, I did call the Aussie bashing series win in India not a single big win). Many a time in the past Indian teams have achieved some big wins but they proved to be flash in the pan and the manner of the team was more of the underdog winning against the odds. Dhoni's men seem to truly understand that they have it in them to be the best team in the world. On this note I think it is a good opportunity to list the set of people (yet to prove themselves) who will contribute to making this team the best and also the set of people who will fight to ensure this does not happen, Watch out for:
Batters:

Rohit Sharma --- The next big thing after Sachin from Mumbai? His temparament is often under question but talent wise he is in line to be a master batsman.

Shaun Marsh ---- This Aussie guy has cricket in his blood and he can hit the ball as far as anybody has ever done, ask the IPL watchers! With the emergence of attacking batsmen like Sehwag as central performers in test cricket, Shaun Marsh is an ideal Test batsman in the new era.

J.P. Duminy --- This guy is a proven ODI performer who has come of age with a gutsy performance in one of the most demanding places to play cricket. He seems to ooze with confidence that stems from having played international cricket for a while. South Africa's middle order is secure in such hands.

Bowlers:

Ishant Sharma: The find of the year for India, what can one say, finally India have a true fast bowler who is also ready to slog it out irrespective of the conditions. As some believe this may be his greatest advantage and possibly a factor that can burn him out. Well, forget what happens later, let us relish him as long as he lasts!

Amit Mishra: This guy is a proven performer at the domestic level and shone against the Aussies. He is a gutsy old fashioned leggie who can turn the ball. He has to take a leaf out of the accuracy book that was the domain of his erstwhile captain, Jumbo.

Dale Steyn: He has proven himself at the international level, but South Africa's future is tied to whether he can be consistent like Donald & co.

Paul Harris: Again a spinner who does not mind tossing it up. He has to come to the party to make South Africa a worthy successor to Aus and a regular challenger for India.

Mitchell Johnson: He, along with Zaheer Khan, has effectively made sure that Wasim Akram will not be the last left arm great to grace the game. His discipline and craft promises a long successful career.

Australian Spinner: What? Aussie spinner? I think I will have to leave this blank but I will fill this place with another spinner who can single handedly take his country to the top, Ajantha Mendis. This guy is a freak in the true sense of the word, if things go right he could be the most unconventional success cricket has ever produced.

All in all, the next decade is going to be a great one for cricket watchers and I hope twenty twenty does not eat up test cricket!

Decembers in Madras

As I listen to MMI's rendition of Rangapuravihara, I am flooded by memories of many a December night of sleeping in the balcony where the gentle breeze put me to sleep. Mornings would dawn before the sun came out, MSS's version of the same song gently wafting in from the speakers of the nearby temple, coupled with the blissful aroma of fresh coffee from the kitchen. Evenings would be spent on more music from the 'season'. Madras in December is closest to heaven on earth :)

Jumbo!

Thankyou Anil Kumble for showing the world that the only indispensable quality to achieve greatness is the willingness to toil for it. If there was any cricketer whose commitment has never been under the scanner even for a passing moment, it has to be Jumbo. Time and again he has won matches for India single handedly and brought joy to the entire nation. He will continue to inspire a lot of cricketers and common men alike!

A conversation

Bum:(piss drunk and also smoking) Hello, can I get time.
me: what?
b: time(pointing at his wrist)
me:oh sorry, I dont have a watch!
b: you Indian/Pakistani? Pakistani?
me: (stunned, looking at that guy, looks not caucasian, a bit brown but very mediterranean!) No
I am Indian!
b: Brahmachari! Shashi Kapoor? do you know?
me: heard of it but I am not sure! I have not watched many old hindi movies, sorry!
b: You Indians have everything! music, cinema what not!
me: hmm! yes you are right( confused.... :))
b: (some incoherent stuff!)
me: sorry I dont get you. (oh man this guy is crazy!)
b: (says something, I figure out he is speaking french!)
me: i am sorry, I cant understand french! I speak english.
b: (slightly angry and flustered, probably thinks I am an pro-English crazy guy) You english very small! (puts his cigarette butt down and rubs it on the pavement and says) French do this to English!
me: OK! (this guy is getting on my nerves)
b: you know Nehru? he was in Paris, he was English (wtf? Nehru english?) he was small! Paris
me: alright I dont get you!
b: (loses interest walks away and sits on a dust bin!)

Dr. 'Meesai' I.S. Murugesh

Did you know that Meesai Murugesh played with Shakti band? I am bowled over by this discovery on the web. Basically I was listening to this old Shakti concert
At some point in the concert, John McLaughlin introduced a percussionist Murugesh as one of the greatest living percussionists. I was puzzled and a little bit of googling revealed that this guy was none other than our own Meesai Murgesh, who I knew was a crazy innovator who could make a zillion sounds and also play the thavil. His flair for comedy was showcased in a couple of Balachander movies but this new info just blows my mind!
Another Shakti concert where Murugesh played

Women

Its evening
Has been a day where I barely speak a word.
Lonely it was, then comes along this whiff of fresh air
I go crazy, saying stuff that I don't mean, will that make me special?
Thinking instead of existing, speak one too many, words they suck!
It ends on a happy note, so do I think. Until I realise,
I was pathetic, for she said less than me :)
Life falls flat

German Humour

The United Nations initiated a poll with the order "Please tell us your honest opinion about the lack of food in the rest of the world." The poll was a total failure. The Russians did not understand "Please". The Italians did not know the word "honest". The Chinese did not know what an "opinion" was. The Europeans did not know "lack", while the Africans did not know "food". Finally, the US Americans didn't know anything about the "rest of the world"!!

Source::http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_humour

He and She

She was a bitch
so said every sane lady
She said things that were true
She was truth, of our lives and theirs
I loved her.
-------------------------------------------------------------
He laughed, that was his signature
A laugh that can send your roof flying
He spoke as if he owned the world
And you paid him taxes,
He loved people
He said so when he was drunk!

The Death Of Free Television Media in India

With the acquiring of stakes in NDTV by NBC added to the association of IBN with CNN, two of the most daring and free spirited journalists who launched the Indian TV media revolution have fallen prey to trashy American media. This marks the beginning of the end of professional and sincere TV journalism in India!
To Hell with Rajdeep Sardesai and Prannoy Roy!

Taare Zameen Par

Every Indian parent must see this movie! Aamir Khan-- the director has arrived!

Ponniyin Celvan

Over 14 months ! I have finally completed Kalki's magnum opus Ponniyin Celvan, a five part novel in Tamil. Its amazing how I have been so ignorant about the rich literature of Kalki Krishnamurthy for large parts of my life.
I can immediately conjure up a few reasons,
I went to an English medium school and did not even formally learn Tamil for more than 3 years of my entire schooling!
Literature has little or no place in popular Tamil culture which has come to be defined and dominated by cinema and stupid politics.
Its been a while since Kalki wrote his books?
Kalki was a Brahmin and a forward thinking one at that! He was exactly the kind of Brahmin Karunanidhi and other dravidian ideologues refused to acknowledge the existence of! (As an aside I have to describe this scene in the movie Periyar, when Gandhi asks EVR whether there are no good people amongst Brahmins at all and cites Gokhale as an example! To this EVR in his characteristic wit and sharpness retorts, " If a Mahatma like you can see only one good brahmin , how can normal people like us see any good in them", I doubt if Periyar ever gave a thought about Kalki)

All said and done I am extremely satisfied that I have finally managed to read a full length novel and a classic at that. I have now become fairly familiar with the Kalki genre of Literature having read a couple of his shorter novels and non-fiction writing. Most notable among these is the book called "Sangita Vizhakkal". This work talks about how Carnatic Musicians in TN started accepting Tamil sahityams and giving them equal importance in comparison to other compositions predominantly in Telugu or Sanskrit! Here Kalki's love for Tamil shines through but he also shows how love for one language need not mean hating other languages( the message for linguistic fundamentalists!) I think it is now time for me to look beyond Kalki and read more modern writers like Jayakanthan. This marks the end for a conscious choice that I made two years ago. I promised to myself that I will read more Tamil literature than English for a couple of years. I have done that and from now on I hope to balance my time between English and Tamil. I got to know about sensible science fiction from Dr.Sitabhra Sinha's(IMSc) webpage and would like to try that genre since I seem to have done very little SF genre after Michael Crichton in high school!