The Curious case of Sanjaya Malakar

Not too long ago, a certain Indian actress won a reality show on British tv. And many, including me, would like to believe that she won due to the sympathy vote being firmly in her grasp. Now, I'm not taking away anything from her success. She played to her strengths and manipulated the competition as well as the audience to her victory - just what is required to be done in such reality shows. And needless to say, I cheered for her. And not because she's Indian. The fact that she was an Indian did make a difference though - had it not been for that, why would someone like me, sitting in a far off land, be hearing about a run of the mill reality show in the UK? Note that the Indian version of the same show overlapped its counterpart in the UK, but I barely noticed what was going on there. But how could I avoid the daily reports in the newspaper or the systematic analysis of her campaign on news channels on Indian tv? I read the newspaper and watch news on tv too. Anyways, that's besides the point. It just struck my thoughts because of the parallels it draws with another similar case doing the media rounds these days - The case of Sanjaya Malakar.

Sanjaya is another person of Indian origin participating in another reality show on tv far away from India. The Indian media is vociferously following his campaign too. But the parallels dry down there. Neither is Sanjaya a celebrity nor is he doing just what is expected of him on the show. Then why the big hullaboo over him? Is it still a hangover from Celebrity Big Brother in the UK that the media has taken upon itself the responsibility of following all people of Indian origin participating in reality shows? Even if they come out with an excuse of highlighting how mediocrity can shine, I don't see why there has to be a weekly update of how Sanjaya is succeeding on American Idol. A piece highlighting their thoughts at the end of his campaign would have been more than apt for that reason.

I'm sure that if the media wants to look for heroes, they'll find thousands of cases more deserving than Sanjaya. For example, you have children who are presented with bravery awards on Republic Day every year. I don't remember having seen more than a passing mention of them in newspapers. And tv news channels are a different breed altogether. Even the passing mention is too much for them. And I'm sure there are many other myriad stories of heroism they'll find in India and related to Indian diaspora. I also don't have any doubts about the mediaworthiness of such stories. Pains me that the media doesn't show enough effort in unearthing these stories.

Not very long ago, we were being fed a daily diet of Sunita Williams. Apart from having an Indian parent, what's Indian about her? Still, she was depicted as an example of Indian success abroad. Why? Why do we still hanker after the likes of V.S.Naipaul and Nirad Chaudhuri (may his soul rest in peace), trying to establish their Indianness after they have quite overtly disowned India? An Oscar has become the de-facto standard for achievement in movies. Every year, we bemoan the failure of India's "Official" entry to the oscars. Nobody bothers about awards won by other Indian movies at numerous film festivals of repute.

Somehow, a combination of these two factors makes me think of the Indian media as an adolescent in the midst of an identity crisis. They clamour for attention from the west. They want to be like the media of the west. But they forget the relativity factor here. In trying to follow the american media system, they're nothing more than aping it. Would American news channels bother about an underperforming American in some Indian show? I'm sure they won't. They definitely would pick on someone like Sanjaya...because he's a participant in an American show and not because he's an Indian. Somehow, this objectivity is missing from the Indian media. Another cause for this behaviour is the lack of pride in both our glorious past as well as the good side of our present. The Times of India starts a campaign called India Poised. They're trying to highlight the good side of our present day state. Not even 6 months into it, they dump it like a hot potato. Possible reason being that it might have ended up as a branding failure. When the media tries to weigh its national pride against monetary benefits, one can safely assume that it stands in a very poor light in terms of morality.

Yin & Yang! The cricket way.

Wow! Can it get any hotter than that? Its been quite a while since cricket has been hogging top headlines. But yesterday was the motherlode. Two huge developments - one quite promising, the other somewhat disturbing - hit Indian cricket yesterday. And these were not the run of the mill media shockers that sizzle, fizzle and die ten deaths in the matter of a few hours on Indian TV. These were developments that will have a long term effect on Indian cricket, and I sincerely hope, it'll be a good one. My take on both the happenings...

Let's bring on the good news first. Zee's Subhash Chandra, in a Packeresque move, announced the ICL (Indian Cricket League) amongst heavy fanfare. Starting with 6 teams sometime later this year and targetting another 10 in the next three years, ICL will be played in two formats (One dayers and 20-20). Chandra announced that the contracted players will be getting a monthly remuneration as well as performance based incentives. The teams would comprise of 2 India internationals, 4 overseas players & 8 juniors. The league would be aimed at building a competitive spirit and killer instinct among Indian cricketers. The league is to be governed by some well respected names in international cricket, a move that'll definitely add credibility to the final product. Going by the success of PHL on ESPN-Star, it can be safely assumed that ICL will push Zee Sports into the turf of major sports channels on Indian TV. So far so good. But two questions loom large in my mind.

First is the BCCI. How would they react to this? So far, there's been no comment, official or otherwise, from them except that they've recieved a communication from Chandra regarding the issue and they'll respond to it. I wonder whether they'll try throwing some spanner in Chandra's works by not releasing their contracted players for the league even when not on national team duty. This could take the initial sheen out of the product and could kill the marketing momentum. This is not a vague and random thought. Usually the official line in such development would always be guarded - the sit back...watch the waters kind. In Packer's case, Cricket Australia went to the extent of a confrontation with WSC, though I expect the BCCI to be wiser. Second is the composition of the teams. With the kind of money Chandra is throwing up, I don't see any reason why they shouldn't be able to get some top grade overseas talent. The India players issue would be in BCCI's hands and if they decide not to relent, ICL would have to settle for some also-ran ex-India players - neither a very healthy sign in terms of the quality of the product nor in terms of viewership. The 8 junior players would be the most crucial, as this is going to form the bulwark of the league and grooming them into international grade cricketers is one of the league's visions. We still don't have any clarity as to the selection criterea for this pool. Answers to these questions would make the future direction of ICL much clearer.

Now comes the tough part. The bad news. Senior players from the side are up in arms against coach Greg Chappell. Sachin Tendulkar, probably the most graceful and humble of the current lot came out in the open with a scathing statement on the the coach's tactics. Along with him, other senior players too, have openly criticised the coach for being a divisive force within the team. Good that the players have come out openly against the coach in full defiance of the BCCI gag. Now we have both sides of the story. Its now upto the fans to choose who they want to believe - the players who till not very recently were being looked up as heroes for having achieved things not many had done in the past or a coach whose reputation as a tenacious terrier with no aversion to hitting below the belt to gain an upper hand goes hand in hand with his much tomtommed reputation of a batting great. Those who feel Team India bashing to be the in-thing will accuse me of a bias here. Maybe many ex-aussie cricketers including Steve Waugh were biased when they warned Ganguly not to support Greg's candidature for coach. Maybe australian cricket in general was biased too not to have given Greg a decent coaching run in their own country. I'd always been against appointing him as the coach and still hold strong on the same view.

However, every cloud, as they say, has a silver lining. Some heads are bound to roll in the aftermath of the WC debacle. This could be a good chance for Zee to rope in some really nice talent who can be the torchbearers for the ICL atleast for the first 2-3 years. Talking of heads rolling, the BCCI is all set to appoint a committee of ex-players to look into the current and the future of Indian cricket. Something they should keep in mind, but I know they won't, is to avoid any cricketer with any kind of media involvement in the recent past. This might bring in vested interests of the individual or the organisation he represents. Well...they say that I keep dreaming. Why not? As an eternal optimist, don't I have the right to?

The Spiritual Store

Spirituality is in vogue again. One sees astrologers and soothsayers having a field day. No property ad is deemed complete without the mention of Vaastu. Lifestyle stores are filled to the brim with Feng Shui articles. Alternative therapy like Reiki and Pranic healing have reached every nook and corner imaginable. And the less said about numerology, gemstones etc., the better. Lovely, isn't it? Life's so easy. Change your name, wear a dozen rings, shift to a new house that faces east, keep a few objects here and there, do a 8 hour course on Reiki that gives you immense spiritual powers and you're all set to face the world. The bunch of money you lose in the process is worth it...isn't it? Nothing...no one...can even dream of harming you ever and you're safe - insulated from all the karma you've accumulated.

They say astrologers base their deductions on planetary positions. Since all heavenly bodies follow certain basic rules of physics, this seems very much plausible. But one thing conveniently missing out of this workabout is the involvement of Karma. How does an astrologer factor in the past Karma of a person he hardly knows? And without such a crucial input, are their predictions really that believable? Vaastu specialists are another set that's making hay while the sun shines at its cruellest. Vaastu is a science that works entirely on the principle of air and light circulation. It was written at a time when there were no multistoreyed apartment complexes; when there was a lot of greenery around; when there were no artificial sources of light and when people didn't know a bit about fans or airconditioning. Is the science still just as relevant in its original form? We haven't heard about any research being done on Vaastu in recent times. And then there are name changes and gemstones. Not even worth commenting on.

The general line here is that these things actually bring you prosperity. People tend to forget that its finally only your Karma that brings out results in your life. They tend to ignore the effort they've put in to attain the prosperity. All credit is given to whatever hogwash they went through. I've heard people saying they bore children due to a visit to some temple. Wrong! You bore children because you fornicated buddy! Success is attributed to changes in names. As if the name change changes the person himself. My wife was talking about how a few changes prescribed by a Feng Shui expert (hanging a few objects here and there in the office; changing the size of their letter head from Letter to A4 etc.) brought a sea change to the fortunes of the company she used to work for. Conveniently forgetting that the business they got was something they'd been working on long before the Feng Shui expert stepped in. And as if their prospects noticed the change in their letter head size and immediately changed their opinion about the company. Its true that these things set in motion a reverse psychology. This actually adds on to one's efforts after they've undergone a process like this. But how far is this helpful? Wouldn't a simple realisation that one needs to increase the quantum of their efforts do the same trick? I guess its a matter of choice and people still prefer to be gullible about such facts.

Alternative healing is a slightly different proposition. I don't doubt its authenticity or relevance. Since its all based on the power of the human mind (which borders on the infinite), it sure can be very powerful. But what disturbs me is the crass commercialisation of an ancient science. You have single day Reiki & Pranic Healing courses which proclaim to make you good enough to practice the science at a basic level. These courses are open for anyone who can shell out the required fees for the course, which is "nominal" (I love the lovely positioning at work here). Pay a couple of hundred rupees and become a doctor in a day. There's no qualification procedure in place to judge whether one really has the aptitude for the stuff or not. There's no evaluation done at the end of it. A bunch of people are taken through a day long ritual of some sweet sounding but complex theorising interspersed with some feel-good exercises and presto! They are healers now...with powers to heal the world. And thus is set loose a highly motivated team of sales reps to bring in more of the "nominal" fees.

Karma is all about cause and effect. And this furious spate in the incidence of alternative therapy is actually disturbing the balance of cause and effect. Notice how great prophets were extremely selective in healing people from their maladies. The reason for this is simple. The people who were healed by them had it coming. The healing was actually a part of their Karmic cycle. The prophets were just a medium for them to get through the part in question. How many alternative healers of today actually understand that they might be harming their subjects in the spiritual long-term by giving them an immediate relief? For if the healing is not supposed to be a part of their Karmic cycle, they'll have to go through the balance at some other point in their life. Moreover, the healer adds an extra Karmic debt to the subject in this case. And we'll all agree that the earlier a debt is paid off, the better.

Human civilisation is in an advanced stage of scientific evolution. And as a result of this, is regaining a lot of its old glories - ancient sciences that are extremely powerful. But the scientific evolution should be accompanied by an equal level of intellectual and spiritual evolution too - otherwise these very ancient glories would become dangerous tools in an infant's hands. May The Almighty give us all the strength to achieve the intellectual and spiritual evolution needed.

The taste of India

India is a big country. And home to cultures as diverse as chalk and cheese. And the diversity just begins at culture. It veers on to the economy, education, information and myriad spheres. But nothing levels this diversity like....aaah...not cricket...I'm talking about the humbler, but far more popular paani-puri/golgappa/puchka/whatever you might call it. Here's my presumption of the stats. More than 80% of the people of the country would have eaten it atleast at one point in their life. And a majority of that do so regularly. I might even be talking about an industry worth a few crores, though mostly in the unorganised sector.

A paani-puri/golgappa/puchka is a small puffed ball of flour filled with a part solid mixture-part spiced water filling. The filling is the beauty here - it differs from region to region. But the fervour is the same - be it for golgappas in the north, puchka in the east and paanipuri in the west and south. Also worth mention is the assortment of other snacks, colloquially and collectively called chaat. Needless to say, the chaat varieties too vary from region to region. Yours truly has been lucky enough to have tasted it in different parts of the country. And this is my tribute to the snack that exemplifies India. A strong unit despite the diversity.

My first tryst with this wonderball was at Faridabad, now almost a satellite town bordering Delhi. I wasn't even into double figures then, chronologically speaking. Every evening, a golgappa vendor would walk through the noisy sector 10 lane where I stayed. And roaring business he did. I remember waiting impatiently for him to reach the vicinity of my house while he'd be busy serving his loyal customers at the beginning of the lane. The golgappas of the north are not for the weak hearted. The filling is made of mashed boiled potatoes mixed with boiled chickpeas, spiced up to the max. The water too, is spicy. One though, has the option of tempering it down with the meethi chutney, a delicious sweet-n-sour sauce made of tamarind, dates and jaggery. And at the end of the golgappa course, the vendor fills up your saucer with a cup of the paani to wash it down with. The golgappas are followed by chaat, the choice being between aloo-ki-tikki (a spicy potato cutlet), dahi bhalla (flour dumplings in whipped curd) and papdi (puris that don't puff while frying). The choice is then topped with the meethi chutney, teekhi chutney (a mint-coriander-chilli chutney) and whipped curd. This is then sprinkled with various spices. The king of north indian chaats, the Aloo-ki-tikki is also served with chhole (a mouthwatering chickpea preparation). Some outlets up north also give you the option of sooji ki puri (puris made of semolina). These are crispier than their atta counterparts.

Although the snack has many names, the most popular among them would be paani-puri. Maybe its the Bombay connection. And till recently, when the vada-pav took over, paani-puri shared the top spot on the snack podium in Bombay with its country cousin, Bhelpuri. Paani-puri in the west is much more mellow as compared to the north. The filling consists of sprouted green gram with a hint of salt and the paani is less spicy with a stronger mint flavour to it. The west is also where the custom of eating your paani-puri with finely chopped onion finds its origin. An alternative filling is ragda (dried white peas boiled in a mellow gravy and left simmering over a low flame). The bonus at the end is a puri sans paani but with the filling and spices sprinkled on top. This is called masala waali puri. The chaats here are different from the north. You get to choose between sevpuri (puris filled with boiled potatoes, meethi and teekhi chutney and garnished with sev, an indian snack I find somewhat difficult to explain); dahipuri and chutneypuri (the same sevpuri with an extra shot of whipped curd and chutney respectively). Then you have ragda-pattice - a potato cutlet topped with ragda and the chutneys. But the royal chat of the west would be bhelpuri. Its a hotchpotch of puffed rice, chopped onions & tomatoes, chopped boiled potatoes, crushed puris and sev, laced with 3 distinct chutneys - the ubiquitous meethi and teekhi chutney with a new partner, a garlic chutney that forms the base of the hotchpotch. Some new age garnishes popular with some outlets in the west are slivered beet and pomegranate seeds.

Puchka is what the wonderball is called in the east. Haven't been lucky enough to have it at a regulation outlet but I did have it at a friend's place, who's usually quite authentic with her bengali dishes. The filling was mashed potatoes and boiled chickpeas and the water a bit on the tangier side. A different, but likeable flavour. And yeah...have eaten at a smattering of bong/bihari roadside stalls in Bangalore as well as Hyderabad. Which brings us to the south. Though its not a snack native to the southern parts, paani-puri has firmly established itself in this region too. The know-how comes from the localised marwari population, that has seeped through to the locals over the ages. Paani-puri in hyderabad has somewhat dampened my passion for it due to the excessive use of tamarind in the paani. That makes it irritatingly sour. And to add onto it, the ragda here is bland...to say the least. Even the chaats are a misnomer - anything and everything looks the same. Its either a hollow samosa or a potato cutlet mashed beyond recognition; sauteed with a scoop of ragda and topped with onions, crushed puris and curd. But then, there are some outlets that do serve you a decent enough fare, though nowhere in the league of what you get in other parts of the country.

Well...that kinda concludes my round up of paani-puri. However, it might seem incomplete without a look into the evolution of this snack from its humble origins to a rage. What exemplifies this metamorphosis the most is a small snippet I came across a year or so ago. It talked about some upmarket pub having hit upon a novel idea. They have liquor puris on their menu. Nothing jazzy...just that the paani has been replaced by a shot of your favourite liqour. And vodka-puris have become one of the top-selling items on their menu.

BOOM...err...rang!!!

Just the other day I was discussing the theory of Yoga in general and Karma in specific with black_beetle. We both concurred on Karma being akin to a boomerang. And yesterday, I watched what probably is one of the most telling commentaries on Karma ever filmed - Stanley Kubrick's Clockwork Orange. And while the peerless Syd Barrett invigorates my intellect with his Madcap Laughs, I'll try to pen my thoughts on the boomerang theory vis-a-vis Kubrick's masterpiece. Warning : This may contain spoilers.

Let me first introduce you to the boomerang theory. Karma is nothing but action, or if you care about a sudden Einstienesque spurt in my cerebrum, the lack of it. I say lack of action since that constitutes a plethora of activities in itself. And since the human mind is accustomed to great quantums of action even when we're in the deepest of slumber, lack of action would entail a huge amount of energies spent to restrain the boundless flight of the human mind. Hence, hereforth, when I refer to action, it'll also imply the lack of it. Moving forward, every action of ours comes back to us. Just like a boomerang. And to an untrained soul, it sometimes becomes too much to handle. And this happens when the living entity (the body, soul and intellect) starts getting hit from all sides with boomerangs he's himself thrown at some time in the past. And then there are the numerous boomerang it throws in self-defense. That's just the start of the chain reaction. And this is where Yogis are born. A yogi is a trained soul, ie. a soul in sync with its intellect. A yogi is someone who is in control of the boomerangs he throws. So when he throws one, he knows when and how its going to come back at him. This allows him to be prepared to catch it on its return and avoid hurt to the living entity. Now, I don't mean that yogis won't ever make mistakes. But for them, the mistakes are strong learning experiences and they'll take care not to throw a certain boomerang in a certain way if it has hurt them in the past. Guess that was the boomerang theory in a nutshell. I agree that this by itself might not be enough for a complete understanding of the theory, but my scope is much larger here and I'll try and address any specific issues through comments on this post.

Now, the movie. Its a first person narrative of Alexander DeLarge, a degenerate of the top order and his journey through the cycle of reform. We see various facets of Alex in the first few minutes. The only son to a naive and hardworking pair of parents; a nasty teenager with a complete lack of compassion; a spoilt brat with a love for worldly effects; a nocturnal animal who indulges in lawless activities to satiate his hormones; a dagger wielding leader of a gang of similar hoodlums and last, but not the least, an ardent fan of as he himself would put it, "lovely Ludwig van". He's tricked by his own gang and ends up getting 14 years in the bin for murder. This begins a medley of different colours of reforms he undergoes. Starting with the tough prison life, where he finds comfort in the bible (though not in a way one would imagine him to). Then on to being a subject for a revolutionary medical concept, brainwashing criminals into vegetables, for whom the very thought of sex and violence gets nauseating and revolting. The "cured" Alex is released and he finds his brainwashed state conflicting with his instincts. That's when the boomerangs start hitting him. They hit him real hard. And he sees life coming a full circle. Reeling from the boomerang hits, he finds himself at the mercy of a reactionary professor, one of his old victims. This begins the return of the most viciously thrown boomerang depicted in the movie - also the next phase of his reform - an exercise at exploiting his brainwashed state to drive him to suicide. The climax shows Alex in a hospital, recovering from a botched suicide bid. And we see him really "cured". At home with his instincts. A cynical footnote screaming out the hypocrisy of the establishment is thrown in for good measure. But the most hard hitting part of the movie is the last line - "I was cured, all right". Cured he was, because he regained his strongest power. The power to choose, the power to throw the boomerang he wants to. And IMO, that's the cure a majority of humankind needs today.

The cup runneth over

The Indian team's moment of truth is over. And they came out of it not like the phoenix, but more like a scared novice debuting in a war exercise. The lack of a tactical approach and the lack of application is something I've already talked about and will not care to elaborate further. What hit me in yesterday's match was the lack of self-belief among the Indians. Had it been a team of WC greenhorns, the self-belief factor would've been more understandable. But here was a batting line-up that boasted of the "holy" (not anymore though) triumvirate of Sachin, Saurav and Dravid - three batsmen with more ODI runs between them than any 3 batsmen in the history of ODI's put together. Skipper Dravid had proudly proclaimed a couple of days earlier that Sehwag is back in touch. So, we also had two of the most murderous willows active today - Sehwag and Dhoni. Add to that the youthful exuberance of Yuvraj and Uthappa, what more do you need? As a bonus, they had a record smashing outing in their last match. And although 255 was atleast 20 runs more than the target India should've eyed half-way through the first innings, it was very much doable.

Anyways, lesson learnt. As my friend black_beetle put it when I spoke with him in the morning, "Never support mediocrity in such tournaments.". I wouldn't say that my support for the men in blue stemmed completely from motives of nationality. I had faith in the talent and experience of the team. Though a stray thought in my mind pointed to the inconsistency and docile on-field demenour of the Indians, the optimist in me invariably got the better of it. Alas, the men in blue let me down, along with millions of their supporters worldwide. Am I feeling bad about it? The Indian in me is. He's feeling extremely upset about the fact that his team is out of the showpiece event. The logical thinker in me is trying to temper down these feelings. He says that I shouldn't have kept my bar of expectations so high - I was one of the very few who sincerely believed that the Indians had it in them to get the coveted cup back.

But one part of me is also happy about the goings-on. The cricket lover is happy that so far, the wind has stayed in favour of the talented and the brave. I'm happy about the fact that teams like Bangladesh and Ireland would get the exposure they need at the biggest stage of the game - something that'll do good to them as well as to the game. He's also happy that till now, every match has been won by the better team on the day and that's what the game is all about. India didn't perform, they paid the price. And quoting black_beetle again "The future rounds of the cup would be better off without India".

There's also a scary aspect of the goings-on though. And that's the aftermath of yesterday's result. For starters, heads are going to roll. The skipper, the coach, the selectors. One or more of them are certain to be replaced soon, if my understanding of the way of functioning of Pawar, Shah & co. is correct. The top contender IMO, as things stand now, looks like guru Greg. And yesterday's match was something like a commercial watershed. Industry talk has hinted that Sony will have to take heavy cuts in the ad revenue for the future rounds in the absence of India. And this won't stop just at that. The result is going to bring a sharp downfall in cricket viewership in India, thus affecting the revenue coming from the game in a big way. And since an overwhelming majority of cricket moeny worldwide comes from Indian companies, the aftershocks will be felt all over. Does one see a relationship between this scenario and what I referred to as responsible reporting by the cricketing "elite" in my last but one post?

Anyways, time for some fun now. Did anyone ever give a thought to the small snippet that India still has a theoretical chance to go through to the next round? If Bermuda manages to beat the Banglas, India would tie with B'desh on points and scamper through on NRR. With the kind of money involved, doesn't it give enough fodder for the conspiracy theorists to come up with the idea of the Bermuda-B'desh match getting fixed?

The infinite joy of parenting

I recall a small conversation between an ex-boss of mine (He's departed now, may his soul rest in peace) and myself when my wife was carrying. He, a father of two, was teasing me. Quoting his words, "You have no idea what's gonna hit you for the first 3 years of being a parent.". And he followed it up with a jocular laugh. And the customary rejoinder was not far behind, "I was just kidding yaar", he said. And as my daughter approaches her second birthday with boundless packets of energy, I can't get enough of telling myself how true my ex-boss' words were. I have no idea what hits me every moment I spend with the lil 'un, but there's no doubt its what our scriptures describe as Satchidananda - Eternal Joy.

For starters, the girl shows an above average intelligence. She's hardly 22 months old but is already showing signs of being a linguist. She's at ease understanding 4 languages (English, Hindi, Konkani and Telugu) and can converse quite a bit in telugu and konkani. Living in a multilingual environment definitely helps - my wife being a telugu speaker, my mother tongue being konkani and our medium of communication shuffling between english and hindi. And it doesn't stop at languages. She can count till ten. No...not just recite numbers from one to ten...but actually count objects. She can distinguish between vehicles (buses, cars, bikes, scooters, cycles) quite accurately. And yes...how can one forget identifying a smattering of animals, fruits and veggies (not just from her picture books, but also in real). She knows where different things are kept in the fridge and reaches out accurately for butter, chocolates and juice whenever she wants any. She's extremely inquisitive too and is already asking questions way beyond her age.

Another quality in her that adds to my joy is her compassion. She truly cares. She cares for her mother and father, her aunt and grandmother, her friends, the pet mongrel downstairs and anyone else within the spectrum of her radar. Never has she eaten anything without sharing it with whoever else is around. The slightest of inconvenient feelings around her affect her disposition. And if she sees happiness around her, her energy and excitement increase multifold.

And her last, but not the least endearing quality is her expressiveness. Her face can be used for a body language video. Her eyes give out her feelings so clearly. And she knows how to shade her lovely smile the right way - mischievous, affectionate, happy, imploring. By the Almighty's grace, she doesn't have a sarcastic smile yet. As I mentioned above, she's on her way to be a linguist. She also uses her verbal skills to the best of her abilities. And her kisses and hugs are magical touches that give you a high no narcotic can ever give.

Well...I wish that this joy remains throughout my stint at parenthood. Some people may call it wishful thinking, but I've enjoyed being an optimist and a romantic. And as a firm believer in Karma, I know we can shape destinies. So why not this?

The opening salvo

"India shock India" screamed the newspaper headlines yesterday. The titans had crashed to their most humiliating defeat ever in World Cup history. Save for the 1996 semi-final fiasco in the eden gardens, no other defeat will pinch the Indian cricket fraternity as this one. True...Bangladesh played with the abandon of one who has nothing to lose, but didn't they also have everything stacked against them right from the beginning? They were facing a team fresh from 2 emphatic wins in warm-up games, including one against the Windies, who have been displaying some mercurial talent over the past few months. They were playing on probably the most unpredictable track among all the cup venues. And they were a grieving lot, having recently lost one of their former teammates. Full credit to the hitherto unheralded, and often ridiculed lions from Bangladesh, who took all adversity in their stride and even got on top of it with grace. And this is one point where I agree with the general opinion.

Where I don't agree with the general opinion is the reason why India lost the match. Armchair critics and the junta alike are unanimous in shouting from the rooftops that India lost due to the lack of application in the middle. According to me, though that was a factor that contributed to our downfall, that wasn't the only one. There were three major tactical errors that if avoided in hindsight, could have well allowed India to get away with even the much-maligned lack of application. I'll come to that in a moment. But before that, I'd like to elaborate a bit on the nomenclature used by me to classify the voices of the cricket "elite" and fans.

I was texting a friend during the match and we also had a couple of quick conversations during the match and a long one after it. Now, this friend is what I've classified as "Junta". These are the ones who form the bulwark of the economic momentum of cricket in India. The passionate fan, who unfortunately, is also not well conversant with the tactical nitty-gritties of the game. During my text and telephone conversation, lines like "India has lost 2 quick wickets, and the rest won't stay for long either."; "Every strong team is scoring big. India should have scored atleast 280." etc. flowed. The "junta" sees the game in a very unidimensional light, and for them, good batting is all about hitting the ball as hard as you can and possibly scoring atleast 2 boundaries in every over. And good bowling is about every ball being either a yorker, a vicious turner or a copybook swinger. They form opinions on the game based on their own passion and also what the "elite" say. The "elite" or the armchair critics as I'd like to call them are the "expert" commentators who're having a field day on sports and news channels. And they are the ones who I really have a bone to pick with. Because the "junta" forms its opinions based on what they say. Guess I've made myself clear with the definitions. So lets move on to the reasons why India lost.

I mentioned 3 major tactical decisions that more or less cost us the match even before the first ball was bowled. Two of these decisions were selection errors. First being the exclusion of Kumble from the team. I don't see any reason why India's most successful bowler in the Carribean should have sat out. Ideally, the playing XI for this match should've had 7 batsmen, 2 pacers and 2 spinners; with atleast 3 of the batsmen offering bowling possibilities. This, because the track was tricky. And spin being our strength, our spinners could have extracted more from the track than our swing bowlers. And even if they wanted to emphasise on swing, I don't see why the best swinger of the ball in the current squad, Pathan should have been left out. The bowling line-up had no logic backing it. And there was the curious case of Sehwag's inclusion. I've been a strong votary of supporting guys with a slump in form. But this was taking the support too far. The fact that Sehwag had not performed well in the warm-up games goes to show that his inclusion was more of an emotional decision rather than one based on some gameplan or logic. This too, could have been avoided. Karthik had a better claim for the other opener's slot on the basis of some doughty performances in the recent past. The third, and the most crucial error, though I'd like to give Jammy the benefit of doubt here, was the decision to bat first. There was a devil in the pitch in the earlier part of the day, which was well evident from the dismissals of Dravid and Sachin, and the Banglas exploited it to the maximum. This also gave Bangladesh the psychological boost that they beautifully capitalised on, in the second innings.

Now, my mention of these reasons is not to take away anything from the Bangladeshis. They deserve every pat on their back for their performance. And neither am I trying to exonerate the Indian team's lifeless performance from its part in the defeat. All I'm trying to say here is that the "elite" should be a little more broad-minded while handing over their "verdicts" on the match. Their ultimate aim should be to educate the junta on the aspects of the game that have escaped them so far. This, in the long run, will prove to be extremely beneficial to us as it would help shape us into a mature cricketing audience. And we could well be the leading lights of decorum to emerge from the sub-continent, where the crowds are popular for being passionate but also notorious for being fickle too - a reputation we can do without.

The journey begins

Although I've been familiar with the concept of blogging for quite some time now, this happens to be my first active foray into the actual blog world. The first thing that stumped me was writing about myself in my profile. Mind you, this is something I've done umpteen times in the past and have always ended up with atleast one point that I wanted to mention but could not. But things were different here. I just couldn't write anything there. Is this something others might've experienced too? Or was I just being too paranoid about the whole concept of blogging? I mean...when we were younger, a lot of us used to maintain diaries. And these diaries would be a reflection of the owner's inner feelings. More or less on the same lines as blogs are supposed to be. But that's where the similarities ended. The diaries were sacrosanct. Utterly private. Nobody but the owner would be privy to whats in it. Quite unlike a blog which is open to the whole world to see. But then...what the heck? What if my feelings are out there in public domain? Aren't feelings supposed to be voiced? Isn't it a psychological no-no to keep your feelings bottled up? Though I never kept a diary, I always had a lot on my mind. Things I wanted to say, things I wanted others to listen to and react, things I wanted to stir discussions on. And here I am. They say, better late than never. So Mr.Narcissus...or Mr.Narcissus' understudy....whoever I am....welcome to Blog World! And may your reign here last long.


Amen!