Expressions 2

"Those eyes like a solitary night...

So beautiful....so much of depth..

Expressing so much that you get overwhelmed

And yet...full of mystery."

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"Don't be a person who is so cynical and pessmistic that you are hell bent on extracting darkness from rays of sunshine."

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"So glad was I to leave that place,

 A place which taught me the pain of lonliness,

 A place which taught me that the opposite of love was not hate,

 But where the opposite was apathy, not giving a damn 

 Which is a feeling so full of misery....a feeling that sucks all the hope...

 the hope that makes you look forward to all things good in life

 the hope that makes you believe that you'll be happy again

 So after all these years, why do I find myself thinking of you?

 Was it because you painstakingly broke all the barriers 

 that I had built around me so efficiently 

 that not even a single soul could peep into

 a heart that was shattered into pieces, a mind that was hurting 

 Was it because in your serene face and your soothing voice,

 I found a sense of belonging which I didn't notice and took for granted

 because I was so busy feeling sorry for myself for all that I had lost.

 As I saw your taxi speeding away from me all those years ago,

 With my eyes filled with tears and my hardened heart aching with sadness..

 I should have known that time, what I realize today,

 And which I want you to know though you're 10000 miles away from me,

 That the place I thought was the most insignificant,

 taught me one of the most valuable lessons I have learnt till date,

 The lesson of unconditional love,

 Caring for someone not because that person fulfills a a selfish need of yours,

 But caring with a heart so pure that it makes the person feels alive again...

 A gift so rare that it can only be only send from the heavens above

 And it's all because of you.....

 Thank you for loving me."

Expressions

They call me the simple girl next door,
But to those who are close to me, I am so much more......
I might not be the most extrovert,
But an interesting person I am, I can confidently assert
Although silly movies never fail to reduce me to tears,
I am brave and strong beyond my years,
Family and close friends are incredibly important to be me indeed,
Because as the Beatles rightly sing - love is all you need
My mom complains I watch too much cricket per day,
But my favourite cricketers fill my life with optimism and hope, I say
Honesty and genuineness are qualities, with which I burst,
As my deep rooted belief is that nice guys always finish first
I dream to be the best I can ever be,
For this leading a balanced life is the best way I see
They call me the simple girl next door,
But to myself, I am so much more.....

'Lucky' Chelsea and the Zuckerberg hitch...

When I kept the name 'Meandering Thoughts' for my blog, it was to convey the intention that my writings can be about any darn subject on the earth and that my thoughts have no clear direction. So now, would just like to comment on a couple of 'light' things that made headlines last week -

- Chelsea wins the 2012 Champions League trophy

I greatly surprise myself writing about a sport other than cricket! And I don't profess to be an expert on this area of sport at all. But I'd like to think that I posses competent knowledge to get by all thanks to the footie fanatics that surround me
Anyway, coming to the point - Most people were downright surprised even annoyed that Chelsea won Europe's most coveted football trophy. It was incomprehensible to them that luck was so kind to Chelsea who were visibly 'inferior' in skill compared to the likes of Barcelona and Bayern Munich. But the fact is that a lot of times in life - it is not just talent but sheer resilience that gets you through the finish line.....and Chelsea possessed loads of that. Defending against class acts like Messi, playing with 10 men in the semis, your opposition scoring in the last ten minutes after defending your ass off against such class and dominance, playing the finals in front of your opposition's home crowd are all situations which could easily intimidate any team but Chelsea proved true the cliche that battles are won in the mind. According to sheer football logic, Bayern should have been crowned European champions that night, but as the saying goes - Fortune does favour the brave!
I think its for moments like these that people follow sport. Its not just the entertainment value or the emotional attachment to a team but its also the inspiration that they get from the human spirit viz a vi the action on a sports pitch which can never be underestimated and scoffed on. And God knows we need that in today's world.

- Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg marries long time girlfriend Priscilla Chan 
I was one of the many who saw their inspirational image of Mark Zuckerberg torn to shreds after watching the excellent movie 'Social Network'. After all, I don't hold betraying your best friend, arrogance and stealing from others (even if it intellectual property theft) without giving due credit even in the name of ambition of changing the world, in high regard. But the news of his marriage somehow managed to view him in more favourable light.
To explain how, I'd like to start by asking you - Have you noticed most famous sportsmen have girlfriends/wives who are models. It might be an unfair generalization but it seems to be that rich and famous male celebrities have the tendency to parade trophy wives/girlfriends. They say that a woman's loyalty is tested when the man has nothing and a man's loyalty is tested when he has everything. My point is Mark - with all his fame and wealth (he's a frikking 28 year old billionaire!) could get possibly any girl on the planet, but he opts to stick with his long time girlfriend who is bloody smart as her Harvard and medicine qualifications would suggest. Moreover, she was with him long before he became the phenomenon that he's now and has obviously been by his side through all the good and bad times. Hence, I laud Mark for not succumbing to the  temptations that come with being in the 'on demand' league and for making a seemingly good choice. I know for a fact that along with a lot of people, I am rooting for their marriage to work and wish them all the best.

Lastly, it is also the week where in Indian politics, the sorry, pathetic UPA 2 government has completed 3 years of its term. Their biggest achievement: Managing to hold on to power despite the the scathing criticism of its appalling governance and overflowing public anger.

*Picture sources: Troll Football and Google images

IPL: The 'Voldemort' of cricket?

Once Harsha Bhogle who is a keen follower of the Indian Premier League, tweeted about how the cricketing world viewed the IPL as the "Voldemort" of cricket. I cried laughing at the comparison with the famous fictional character who is more evil than evil itself in the "Harry Potter" series.
Though I do think that this analogy is extreme, I certainly am not a fan of the 'hit and giggle' league.
Contrary to popular opinion, it is possible to be Indian AND an avid cricket follower but still detest the hype and hoopla surrounding the league. Some of the reasons for this are -

- It's not cricket, its an overdose of cric entertainment
IPL can ever be a proper cricketing contest between franchises. In fact cricket is secondary to commercial interests. Mix Bollywood, business persons, VJ's, all sorts of cricketers with talents and ages at the extreme ends, unnecessary on field interviews (let the blokes play for crying out loud!),  some outrageously garrish team outfits (eg. golden helmets and pads!) and add a sprinkle of cheer leaders and the resulting product is an overdose of entertainment which is quite nauseating to say the least. And yeah, this carnival of foolery runs for not less that 2 months.

- What about the Indian national team?
Don't understand whether the BCCI is blind or plain stupid. After successive 8 overseas test defeats, don't they realize that something is fundamentally wrong with Indian cricket? Instead of the BCCI, with the money that they have, directing their efforts on a more or less meaningless tournament, why don't they focus on finding and correcting the wrongs. Whether IPL is responsible for the Indian team's pathetic run is debatable but no one can deny the 'fatigue factor' that the tournament brings. I pity Dhoni from the bottom of my heart. I don't think the poor fellow and lot of the others have had a proper break since the last 5 years. Honestly, I also think that the BCCI should consider the fact that by paying such fat pay cheques (which are many times the pay of being a contracted player for the Indian team) to players leads to complacency and less of a drive to win matches in the national jersey. BCCI should get its priorities right. Period.

- Impact on quality of international cricket 
Foreign players will be lured by the big money and no one can really blame them. But a genuine cricket fan feels pretty disappointed and cheated to some extent when a Sunil Narine does not play in the WI vs Aus test series or AB De Villiers misses out on the limited over series versus Australia because of injury obtained in Champions League (gosh! so wannabe football) or there is no decider test between Sri Lanka and England so as to allow the SL players to attend the full tournament. Situations like a Morne Morkel bowling to Albie Morkel in the death over and 2 bitter foes from different countries playing in the same team are mildly entertaining but at the end of the day the whole tournament is pretty shallow.

If the BCCI is rolling in that much of surplus cash why can't it .....

- Invest in nurturing the fast bowling talent in India
The Indian bowling is in pits and it is really no secret.  To think that in other countries talented quicks like Steven Finn find it so difficult to break into the test team! And for heaven sake, don't blame the pitches for the lack of fast bowlers in the country. Pakistan also doesn't have bouncy pitches but look at the difference in the quality of fast bowling.

- Invest in converting the dead pan pitches into result oriented ones which could possibly revive test cricket in India. Make no mistake, everybody does follow it but near empty stands in test matches in a country where cricket is considered religion is not exactly an ideal situation.

- Make sure that the Indian team have adequate preparation before an abroad tour
Some of the members of the English team arrived in Sri Lanka about a month in advance for a two match series in Sri Lanka in order to acclimatize themselves to the conditions. That level of advance preparedness would maybe not be possible given the packed schedule and the BCCI's dogged determination to dedicate 2 months to IPL.

- Do something to address the loopholes of DRS considering that they are that aggrieved by the technology (which I will for the life of me never understand!)

- Invest in other sports in India - a long shot no doubt but with great power does come great responsibility and it would probably generate some amount of good will for a body headed by politicians (a class of people who are considered comparable to slugs in India)

IPL being a form of escapist entertainment will continue to enthrall the masses. In a country devoid of sporting glory and in which people wake up to some scandal or the other, the glitz and glamour does provide a temporary relief but the question to be asked is who is really benefiting from this and has the IPL changed the game of cricket for the better?

The Beatles - Relevant then, now and always.....

"Ladies and Gentleman.....(the curtains dramatically open).........THE BEATLES!!! (a midst the craze, hysteria and all the screaming). This was how the fab 4 from Liverpool, England - John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr were introduced to America  through the Ed Sullivan show on February 1964. The rest, as they say is history......
Almost 50 years has passed since then and its phenomenal that this band still continues to be relevant. Instead of praising them to high heavens directly which I am quite tempted to do,  my way of paying tribute to my all time favorite band is to debunk some of the myths that exist among 'non' - Beatles fans who haven't really listened to their music (please make note i am not using the word 'haters' because I refuse to believe that anyone in their right mind could possibly hate the Beatles!)

- The Beatles songs are very happy-happy, lovey-dovey, boy meets girl type without any depth
To all those who have formed their opinions on the band based on listening to only songs like "I Wanna Hold Your Hand", my first question to you is - Have you heard "Eleanor Rigby" or "Helter Skelter"?
Yes, they started out with happy-go-lucky, feel good songs like "Please Please Me", "From Me To You" etc and yes, they got instant fame all over the world by introducing themselves through these type of songs. But if you manage to get past these songs and start listening to them album by album on a chronological basis, you will realize the way that they progressed musically that too in a span of just 6-7 years is simply extraordinary.
Not that I am apologetic for their initial songs that they made as a bunch of 21 year olds. I think that when you are in the mood of clean, light and innocent music, their first two albums - "Please Please Me" (1963) and  "With The Beatles" (1963) (especially the latter) are tremendous listening options.
To be honest, I don't know a squat about the technicalities of music. In fact I didn't even know what the significance of a 'bass' guitar was till I came to know that Paul McCartney played it. But I do know that their  sound was superior and incredibly advance for their times. That is one of the reasons that people like me whose grandparents are as old as the Beatles members are now, adore them!
Also, as a music fan in general, I feel that the beauty of their songs lies in the strong foundation of simple and heartfelt lyrics. The lyrics in most of their songs (especially the ones predominantly composed by Macca) have an undercurrent of optimism in them. This is probably the reason why people are so drawn and feel so connected by the simplicity and charm of their tunes. For example when I listen to the songs which talk about small everyday highs like coming back to a loved one after a tiring day or getting by with the help of  friends, I feel an overwhelming rush of hope and joy.


- Beatles are overrated 
I can understand this statement coming from people who have listened to only "Hey Jude"/"Let It Be"/"Yesterday" their entire life. I don't think they are overrated...in fact I think that they are grossly underrated. If you have listened to ALL their tracks you would have unearthed and gasped at some gems which never saw the light of day in the public domain.  If you don't believe my claim, listen to the albums "Rubber Soul" (1965) and "Revolver" (1966). Words fail me when it comes to describe these masterpieces. Also, it is worthy to note that they were in an era where there was no real help from technology in the beautiful art of making music.
I think about the hugely popular bands of my generation. Most of them don't even compose their own music, write their lyrics or even play their own instruments! The Beatles, with just 2 guitars, a bass and drums created magic that too in their early twenties. What insane talent is that? And of course their talent was backed up by the fact that they happened to be gorgeous looking...in short the entire package. Otherwise there is no way a group of guys aiming to be rock and roll stars would be able to do their stuff dressed in dapper suits and conquer the world in the process. The truth is that they revolutionized the music industry and set high standards for music in general.And oh! did I mention that they were AMAZING live performers, that is once you hear them over all the screaming of course!



- The Beatles songs are about love, love..................and only love
Yup very true that the word 'love' is mentioned in most of their songs and if I were entrusted with the responsibility of marketing Beatles songs, my main target audience would be the deep romantics. But again, love is a vast and universal emotion with so many aspects to it, which the Beatles managed to explore with such depth  and realness possibly a result of their own experiences in love.
I list some of the aspects and a few of the songs associated with it -
Thrill of new love -  "Do You Want To Know A Secret", "And I Love Her"
Lust - "I Want You", "Drive My Car"
Intensity, dependence and passion - "Oh! Darling", "I'm So Tired", "Help"
Emotional drifting apart in the course of time between once inseparable lovers - "I'm Looking Through You", "For No One"
Pain/Betrayal - "I'll Cry Instead", "No Reply", "I'm a Loser", "Honey Don't"
Jealousy - "You Can't Do That"
True Romance - "Here, There and Everywhere", "Something", "I Will"
Fear of getting hurt in love again - "If I Fell", "Don't Let Me Down"
Personally, the thing I love about this band is how they not only convey the positive dimensions but also the negative aspects of love. My biggest take-away from their songs is that - There are a few things in life worth getting hurt for....and love is definitely one of them.
But frankly the Beatles discography is more varied than most people give them credit for. This varied range I would credit to John Lennon who came up with psychedelic tracks like "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds", "I'm the Walrus", anthems like "Revolution", double meaning lyrics in "Happiness is a Warm Gun" and sheer poetry like "Across the Universe". So NO, they are not only about love.


- The Beatles were about Lennon-McCartney partnership and the other 2 were pretty useless in the scheme of things
The Lennon-McCartney partnership is one of the, if not the most prolific songwriting partnership in music history. But ignore/underestimate George Harrison and Ringo Starr at your own peril because they were brilliant in a much more low profile way. True that these two did not compose too many songs and let me take the opportunity of saying that the ones that they did were pretty darn good! But Harrison's lead guitar skills (I marvel at his solos in "Hey Bulldog", "Hard Day's Night", "Till There Was You" to name a few) and the classical Indian music influence he brought in were instrumental in contributing to the awesome way that so many of their songs shaped up. About Starr, Macca stated that Ringo's drumming was the 'central glue' which bound Beatles music. After all the bitter infighting that plagued the band during the late 60's, Ringo Starr remained the only beatle to maintain cordial relations with all his band mates. Makes you think that his positive role in the band dynamics must have been extremely vital in ensuring that the Beatles lasted as long as they did.
Even when Lennon and McCartney went solo, though FEW (i say this without hesitation) songs were great, you can always sense that the magic or the 'Beatles factor' is missing.
It basically boils down to this - Individually all 4 of them were supremely talented musicians, but collectively they were genius which was impossible to replicate.

- For a band that has such universal appeal, the members weren't good role models
Yeah, these guys did drugs, they cheated on their women and one of them pompously proclaimed that the Beatles were bigger than Jesus Christ (oh dear!). And probably all the unbelievable fame obtained at such an early age got to their head resulting in inflated egos which led to a heartbreaking and acrimonious split.
But ultimately, what remains is their musical legacy. We have/had brilliant musician(s) like Hendrix, Oasis, Rolling Stones just to name a few, who were inspired by them.

 As a person who was born long after the media circus surrounding the Beatles and years after John Lennon was murdered, I am thankful to God for their outstanding music which is and will continue to be one of the best things of my life.
To conclude, I leave you with the wise words of Ringo Starr in a Larry King interview -
"If anything is left, we (The Beatles) have left really good music....and that's the important part.".

A letter from the heart

The following is a very popular joke:

"Dear Past Self,

                        MORON!

Yours Sincerely,
Your Future Self"

How many times we look back and think, "Man, was I an idiot or what?!" for the stuff we did or thought.
Same applies to me as well truly speaking. But also when I look back I realize that probably I was so much less cynical and critical about life in general. For example I look at the few posts in my blog and all of it is generally groaning about one thing or the other! I guess that realizing that life is not ideal and perfect is one of the unwanted lessons we learn by the time we grow up.

When I was cleaning out my cupboard, from the depths of old, no longer usable material came a tattered, frayed and yellowing paper. It was apparently a letter that I wrote to my favourite cricketer when I was sixteen. When I read the letter, I was struck by the innocence and purity of the letter which only an optimistic, starry eyed and an utmost sincere fan would be able to write. And yeah I have no qualms of saying this in my own blog - I was a bloody good writer at the age of sixteen! Anyway, in my last post, I talked about the negative impact that a sportsperson has on a fan when he/she breaches the trust of the fan.
I want to demonstrate through this letter which I will present shortly the power of positive influence of a role-model. Any thing is bracket and bold red are comments from my present day self .

Dear Mr. -,

My name is Aditi Susan and I am a 16 year old Indian girl. I am a passionate cricket lover and have been following the sport since I was 6 years....ie ever since you started playing. So I can say that I have literally grown up watching you.
The truth is Mr. -, you have and will always be an inspirational figure to me....an optimistic thing in my life....a hero.
Whenever I watch you play , my heart swells with pride...whenever you hit a six I feel an adrenalin rush....whenever you take a wicket, along with you even I'm jumping. (Cringe, cringe, cringe!)
All the times you have won matches for your country, you have made my day...all the times when you have been caught up in troubled winds, I have almost been in tears. And yeah, this has happened for the last 11 years.
Its pretty ironical that a sport star, film personality, political figure or any individual can affect the lives of other people without even knowing. (Spot on! 10/10 for this one!) I look up to you, I admire you and deeply respect you.....You have inspired me with your sheer professionalism, dedication, passion with every ball you bowl, every delivery you face or even every ball you field.
You have taught me the importance of being the best you can ever be, never buckling under pressure and under the weight of competition. You have showed me that people stand out when they perform and reinstated my belief that good guys always finish first.
One quality that I really idolize about you is your consistency. Its one thing to perform a miraculous deed and be the 'hero for the moment' and hog all the limelight for a short period of time (i wonder who I was referring to when I wrote this) and another thing to keep on delivering the goods for about 11 years and not let arrogance go through your head.
They say you can comprehend an individual's personality by seeing the way he performs his duty. Your lively, jolly and pure-hearted self has never failed to bring a smile on my face. The dignity with which you have handled difficult circumstances and your ability to prove all your critics wrong shows your depth of character. 
So for your consistency, confidence, humbleness and for being a gem of a player and a person, I salute you....Like all heroes....you symbolize hope...and optimism as well. You have shown me that if I do my best, I can be someone great...if I give my 100% not only will I be able to fly..I will soar above the skies. (dramatic lines which make me smile now :-))
Very few people makes a person get such a feeling...(think I have learnt to be much more concise and to the point now rather than just rambling on!).a feeling that I am a person who is worth it....a person who has a lot to offer...a person who can achieve beyond her dreams and a person who people look up to.
This Mr. -, is the impact you have on a teenage girl. And for that...I thank you...sincerely....from my heart.
You are always assured of my support, my best wishes and prayers  in whatever you do in your life.

Always
Yours Sincerely 
Aditi Susan

I never did send this letter to him. I guess I wish I did. I might have got a reply back in the form of an autograph or a signed photo or maybe this letter would have just joined a heap of similar ones. The cricketer in question is long retired and my favourites these days include AB De Villiers and Alastair Cook but somehow they can never have the same impact or bring out the same intensity of emotion in me. Maybe I have just gone older and 'wiser'.

We go through a lot of experiences in life which mould us into the people we are today. We learn from them. But maybe sometimes it is good to turn back and rediscover some of the good things of our past selves. In my case, in a world full of wrongs, where no one can meet eye to eye on anything, where everyone is hell bent on finding fault I realize that it is a good idea to stop and believe in the good that exists in people and situations. Most importantly don't take life too seriously by being disillusioned by it for whatever reason. Learn to enjoy it...after all it's a gift.

Please earn our support....not blow it!

I read somewhere (and I sincerely believe) that the bond between a sportsman/woman and a fan is sacred. The fan derives hope, inspiration and joy from watching the sportsperson, the underlying and obvious assumption being that he/she plays with all guts giving it everything. In return the sportsperson gets the fan's unconditional support and trust. I might occasionally get angry or disappointed with my favorite cricketer (after all they are human) but I would never ever ever lose faith in him. No sportsperson has the right to abuse this precious trust of a fan. 

After the horrendous cricket fixing scandals of 2000 and more recently 2010, when that article, which originated from Sun newspaper, got published worldwide about how fixing was rampant in cricket, use of beautiful women to lure cricketers etc, I felt sick in the stomach to think that there was even a possibility that this kind of thing is the 'norm'  in a sport that I have followed since I was a small kid, a sport that I invest so much of my time, emotions and thoughts on. It would be a slap on the face and extremely hurtful for fans like you and me to discover one day that those matches for which you skipped school/college/work for, for which you would wake up to an alarm clock on the  first ring no matter what God forbidden hour of the day it was and the players for whom you were willing to endure roller-coaster emotions during the course of their career and for whom you were ready to get into heated debates in a heartbeat or even fist fights for that matter were nothing but a part of a money generating, pre determined conspiracy.

For my part, I don't believe a word of what those idiotic oafs (bookies) have claimed but somehow I do know that if one day overwhelming evidence is found of fixing in international matches featuring high-profile cricketers I adore and respect, I would feel so betrayed and disrespected as a shareholder of the game that I will stop following cricket from that moment. I think fans may be able to come to terms with doping scandals involving their favourite athletes because although it is totally not justifiable, one can at least say that the athlete's actions were governed by the burning desire to win. But throwing away matches purely based on greed under the noses of enthusiastic, passionate fans is plain revolting. 

I might sound sentimental and idealistic but I 100% agree with those experts who say that any cricketer caught fixing should be banned for life irrespective of age, circumstance, country etc because such a person could never regain the trust of even his once most ardent of followers. Every no ball, wide, dropped catch, runs scored, runs conceded etc would be viewed with incredible amount of suspicion. And I do not think it is fair for a cricket fan (and to a much lesser extent, the player....yeah, i know i'm nasty) to be expected to go through this.

India's flawed cricket culture and the curious case of underrated Kallis

I was reading this fascinating article on Cricinfo yesterday named 'Which teams are the worst travellers?'. Being  a huge cricket fan and a stats/maths graduate (which is a result of default rather than interest, trust me!), I really like the Numbers Games articles than come on Cricinfo. So this article I am talking about was about how not only subcontinent teams fare poorly in tests outside subcontinent pitches (SA, Aus and Eng), which is a well known fact but also how the non Asian teams especially England don't do well during subcontinent tours.

But the most interesting fact for me was the stats of SA player Jacques Kallis. So, after 2005 his batting average is a whopping 86.69 in Pak, India and SL combined. Sachin Tendulkar's average in Aus, Eng and SA combined is 48.81. Ok, let me out this in perspective - Kallis's overall batting average till date is 57.02 while for Tendulkar, it is 55.44. Fact is since it is way easier to score runs in dead sub-continent pitches than on the green bouncy non-asian tracks. I really don't think it takes a genius to figure out stats wise atleast, who is a better batsman. And yeah, not to forget that Jacques Kallis has taken 274 wickets!

It is astounding to me that a guy so superior in his game is so underrated. Apparently, even the other cricinfo readers thought the same after reading the article and there was a huge discussion about the same in the comments section. Think about it, when someone asks to to think of great batsmen, somehow Kallis is not the first choice to come in mind. He hardly finds himself in Test XI lists (point to note that all online polls are severely skewed towards Indian players as respondents are generally Indians). In fact even in his own team - AB De Villiers and Hashim Amla mange to overshadow him where batting reputation is concerned.

Despite being an Indian, I hate the cricketing culture of India. The Indian cricket team is all but considered a bunch of equally talented players. Some players are put on such elevated positions that it is quite irritating. Sachin, obviously is placed at Mount Everest. (Don't get me wrong, I honestly don't have anything against the man. In fact I adore him for being so humble despite all this.) You tell anyone that you find it absolutely ridiculous and obnoxious that India refuses to use DRS and comes the reply, "Oh! But even Sachin doesn't believe in DRS." like as if his opinion is the most logical justification and is the final word.

They say that in India, cricket is religion. I oppose this idea and say that obsession over Indian cricketers in the actual religion. I remember when my all time favourite cricketer and childhood hero, SA all rounder - Shaun Pollock retired in 2008, there was hardly a mention about his retirement in the Indian newspapers which annoyed me to bits cause if you claim that you're a cricket crazy country, the least you can do is acknowledge the achievements of great cricketers irrespective of nationality at least during their retirement. This hype over Sachin's 100th 100, I don't think there was this kinda hype in Sri Lanka before Muralidharan (who's bloody taken 800 wkts in test and 500+ wkts in ODI's) took his 1000th wkt overall.  But  I would certainly say that India is not the only country affected by this flawed sports culture. You check out the hype surrounding the English Football team before any FIFA event and you'll understand my point.

That way I like the culture of the SA cricket team in which no player is placed above the team where even shamelessly talented and underrated players with the likes of Kallis and Pollock are content with being low profile and let their performances so the talking. But I sincerely hope for the sake of cricket that Kallis gets his due and the worldwide recognition that he deserves at least when he retires.

Relevance of veto in SC

Last week, Russia and China vetoed a resolution for a peace plan for Syria. Obviously this was because they are good allies of the current controversial Syrian President, Assad. However considering the carnage that is going on in Syria, one would think that the U.N which is supposedly representative of the world would take a more proactive stand. But it is being blocked by its own rules.
My question is what is the relevance of veto in today's world? Are the US, UK, France, Russia and China really the most influential countries in the world to be privileged enough to hold this power?
Apparently veto was introduced in UN after the failing of League of Nations so as to ensure that a founding member does not pull out for any reason (like how Soviet pulled out of League of Nations).
But quite honestly, if common sense resolutions don't get past because it upsets a big crybaby country, I really doubt the purpose and effectiveness of the United Nations....

TOI vs Hindu

The new Hindu ad campaign started recently caught the imagination of the entire nation. Everybody was very smug about the negative potshots directed towards the 'sleazy' Times of India which sits comfortably at the top where reach is concerned among English dailies in India.
But the fact is isn't it a pity that marketing is becoming about drilling the consumer mind about the competitor's weaknesses rather than convincing it about its own product's USP?
Seeing the ad, though pretty funny, does not really make me feel positively towards the Hindu....all it does is makes me feel negatively towards TOI. For the record, TOI is incredibly bollywood and gossip centric. In fact sometimes they make embarrassing errors. I remember reading about their coverage about the chickungunya epidemic. They ACTUALLY printed that 'chickungunya' was a disease caused by CHICKENS rather than mosquitoes. Moreover, this horrifying error was right on the front page of the paper!
The Hindu is no perfect model of newspaper either.It does not make for easy reading because the language used is heavy and drab. (hence the TOI ad in Chennai about the Hindu putting readers to sleep) The Hindu is also very left-leaning and I don't know about now, was a China ass licker (Hindu must have suffered a huge blow because China, according to them which was a shining beacon of communism is very capitalist now).
Anyway, coming back to the point, rather than the process of consumers choosing options based on appreciation of product strengths, the trend is shifting towards the process of consumers choosing between lesser of the 2 or more evils.
And to be quite honest, I am not sure whether this is good for the marketing world....

Intro

Hello, Dunno who'll ever read this. But if you do happen to be on this page, so you know -  this blog to me is like what a pensieve is to Albus Dumbledore in 'Harry Potter', a  forum to clear my cluttered thoughts about anything random which I feel pretty strongly about, be it politics, sports (mainly cricket), current affairs, music blah blah.....