Tuesday, April 24, 2007

The Castists or The Elitists

I still vividly recall the address to the nation by the president of India, Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam on the eve of the 57th Independence Day.

His words:
"What should we be remembered for?

Let us for a moment pause to reflect what it is that for which we would like to be remembered by the future generations. Will we be remembered for how many churches our generation has added, will we be remembered for how many mosques our generation has added, will we be remembered for how many temples our generation has added or will we be remembered for how many gurudwaras our generation has added? No, not at all. We will be remembered only if we give to our younger generation a prosperous and safe India resulting out of economic prosperity coupled with our civilizations heritage."

He further added these beautiful lines to his speech

Oh Almighty, create thoughts and actions in the minds of the people of my nation, so that they live united.

Light the minds of the religious leaders of my country to evolve a bridge among religions with Compassion and Love.

Embed the thought 'Nation is bigger than the individual or party' in the minds of the leaders.

May God, bless my people to work and transform the country into a prosperous nation in a decade."

Clearly testifying the fact the Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam is really a visionary in the truest of sense. I can only hope that our politicians assimilate a modicum of “Wisdom” (Buddhi) from this great man.

Looking at the current Quota Quandary one sees The Indian society as clearly bifurcated into two extremely opposite factions, they are The Castists and The Elitists. The Castists backed by the politicians, the pro-reservationists and The Elitists backed by the youth-for-equality, the pro-merit and anti-quota supporters. Both the groups shouting out loud to prove their point and more importantly trying to prove the other wrong. The one thing, which worries me the most at this time, is the Hatred of each group towards the other, which can be easily seen in thousands of blogs, protests and debates taking place all over the country.

It is just a reminder to all of us that the need of the hour are Compassion and Love, the realization that Nation is bigger than the individual or party. I can only hope that both the groups instead of expressing vehement anger, come out with benign solutions which take the nations interests into consideration and not their own. I hope that rather than thinking on the lines of “what’s good for me” we will think on the lines of “what’s good for us”. The idea that “WE” are the center of the universe was found to be flawed many hundreds of years ago!!.

Thursday, April 19, 2007

Rain you are such a Pain ...

“some people walk in the rain, others just get wet”
Damn you whosoever wrote this line, you probably don't really understand what exactly does getting WET mean. Coz every single time I happen to walk in the rain I bloody get WET and I would like to make it very very clear that there is nothing to be excited about it. Man I have this desire to drag you in the center of any Indian cross-roads and make you stand there when it rains and I wanna see your face when vehicles from all over the place splash you with the filthiest of possible rain waters. I can already visualize in my head, you are pleading for mercy and let me guarantee you shall receive none.

I can say this right from the bottom of my heart that there is this one thing I hate the most in my life - the rains, the untimely rains, the torrential rains, the incessant rains, the rain that makes driving hell, leave driving even walking on the streets becomes such a pain in the ass, the rains which makes your own filth from the drains come to the roads and hence on to your clothes and if you happen to be unlucky at times like me, even onto your face. I say this because the most dreadful experiences in life have been because of this very monster as I would call it. Let me narrate a few.....

It was supposed to be an overnight journey by bus. When I bought the ticket and was told by the Travels guy that "Sir sirf 8 ghante lagte hai nagpur se hyderabad jane main aur apni Volvo bilkul makkhan ke jaise chalegi to aapko pata bhi nahi chalega ". I couldn't have even imagined in the wildest of my dreams what waited in stores for me. 2 Days before my journey date it started raining and it never stopped. I had to travel, i didn't have many options so I did. Half way through journey I was informed that there were floods in AP. It took me 48 hrs to reach Hyderabad from Nagpur a journey which was suppose to be a 8 hrs and was supposed to be overnight. 48 long hours in a bus which was still most of the times and barely crawling when it moved, each time I think about it, I happen to feel the shivers down my spine. I pledged that very day that never in the rainy season will I prefer a journey by bus and also I would suggest to you to please do take this piece of advice from me.

It also reminds me with one of my worst encounters with rains and this time didn't even had to fall to make my life worse. It happened to be during my class Xth board exam when I had to write an essay of about 250 words on "Paus Padla Nahi Tar ?" (What if it doesn't Rain?) and that too in Marathi, which most of my friends can stand testimony how good i am in. So then I had to write all the benign qualities of the thing that I detest the most, how Cruel can life be at times. I couldn't ooze out my real inner feelings about it or else the examiner would have really flunked me. Leave paragraphs I was struggling to write even sentences and I confess that I had to repeat most of them to satisfy the criterion mentioned above which was of 250 words !!

Let me sum up by quoting some of the famous lines from one of my all time favorite songs by the Indian Rock band Parikrama .

"
Well does life get any better
More yesterday than today
How I thought the sun would shine tomorrow
But it rained . . " :((

Sunday, April 15, 2007

The Class or The Mass !!

After a grueling week of workless ness I sought some fresh air and grabbed one of my friends to go to the latest Bollywood flick "Bheja Fry". I was totally mesmerized by the comic act by Vinay Pathak who reiterates the fact of being an excellent upcoming comedian. It seems that The Ranvir Shorey and Vinay Pathak Combo is grabbing everyones attention these days. Man!! They gave me a total recall of Khosla ka Ghosla. I had the loudest of possible laughs while i was watching the movie and so did most of the people around me. It was an entertaining 90 min show, and it managed to grip me throughout. The best thing about it being that it was a very vegetarian comic flick unlike many of its bawdy counterparts, the ones like Apna sapna money money , Golmaal , Bhagam Bhag etc etc... Clearly testifying the fact that "There are No Shortcuts to Success". So all you David Dhawans and the Priyadarshans of Bollywood do get some time to watch this movie!!

But as I was leaving the hall it came to my mind that "will this movie be a hit ??", "will it get what it deserves ??" of course not was the instinctive reply. It wasn't the first time that this thought had come to my mind. I now remember plenty of occasions when this has happened, i thought on similar lines for Kabul Express, Khosla ka Ghosla , Swades , Lakshya , Yuva etc etc. I keep wondering why movies like Dhoom2, Krishh , KANK and many others have flourished in terms of their box office collections and they manage to do so without any remarkable performances , stories , screenplay and innovativeness. May be I am being naive when i wonder about it, coz everyone around me seems to know the answer and each one tells me a unique version of his\her theory.

There are times when i think may be what’s "Entertainment" for a well educated IT professional with cosmopolitan tastes and open mindedness of a trendy city dweller like me isn't the same for many others OR may be that I am not looking at these movies as they are ought to be looked at. As often cited "We Don't see things as They are but We see things as We are !!".

Looking at the bigger picture I think that some movies are actually targeted for "The Class" section of the society while others are just meant for "The Masses". (Hey did i just say that i belong to "The Class”, What a bloody braggart i am!! damn me!!) But then is a successful movie the one, which is liked by The Class or The Mass?? The optimal solution sounds much better. But then how many of the successful movies will satisfy the optimum criterion? After giving it a thought i conclude that A successful movie is the one which does what it is meant to do, the one which fulfills the hype which it created, the one which satisfies the expectations either of the Producers or the Consumers. But like most things in life they can't always satisfy us all. Poor filmmakers they will always be criticized no matter what. Its true then that success doesn't come for free you have to pay some or the other price for it.

But then what’s the point of this whole blog ???? The problem i see with many of The Mass appealing movies is that they are released with the sole intent of making profit rather than the "ideal" motive of making movies, which has to be "Entertainment". So the masala makers will get a star-studded cast and a go for a hit formula based strategy to achieve it. After all The Masses definitely belong to the idol-starved section of this nation, and these stars surely dominate the Indian mindscape. Though there isn't a shortage of ideas and scripts here but the masala makers won't risk into these ventures by putting their millions at stake when plagiarism seems to easily yield what they seek.

There is no doubt that at the end of the day when it comes to evaluations (which are a plenty full these days) it will be the masala flicks which will receive all the accolades while "my favorite lot" will have to be satisfied with a trickle of critical acclaims which hardly counts :( .

"The way I see it" there is something definitely wrong with the products of Indian Film industry and most of its Consumers. May be that’s the reason that The Class like to seek solace in Hollywood!!

Monday, April 2, 2007

See the Stats Mr. Ian Chappell !!

Rather than me going gaga about sachin, lets directly look at the stats !!

SRTendulkar

Year

M

Inns

NO

50s

100s

HS

Runs

Avg

Ca

St

1989

1

1

0

0

0

0

0

0.00

0

0

1990

11

10

0

1

0

53

239

23.90

3

0

1991

14

14

2

4

0

62

417

34.75

4

0

1992

21

20

2

6

0

84

704

39.11

5

0

1993

18

17

4

1

0

*82

319

24.54

4

0

1994

25

25

2

9

3

115

1089

47.35

8

0

1995

12

12

1

1

1

*112

444

40.36

6

0

1996

32

32

2

9

6

137

1611

53.70

13

0

1997

39

36

3

5

2

117

1011

30.64

14

0

1998

34

33

4

7

9

143

1894

65.31

14

0

1999

22

22

2

1

3

*186

843

42.15

4

0

2000

34

34

0

6

3

146

1328

39.06

11

0

2001

17

16

3

3

4

146

904

69.54

3

0

2002

20

19

5

3

2

113

741

52.93

4

0

2003

21

21

1

8

3

152

1141

57.05

4

0

2004

21

21

1

5

1

141

812

40.60

4

0

2005

16

16

1

2

1

123

412

27.47

6

0

2006

16

16

2

3

2

*141

628

44.86

6

0

2007

10

9

2

3

1

*100

310

44.29

2

0

Overall (19)

384

374

37

77

41

*186

14847

44.06

115

0

BC Lara

Year

M

Inns

NO

50s

100s

HS

Runs

Avg

Ca

St

1990

1

1

0

0

0

11

11

11.00

0

0

1991

11

11

0

1

0

54

263

23.91

6

0

1992

21

21

2

9

0

*88

794

41.79

8

0

1993

30

30

3

7

4

153

1349

49.96

21

0

1994

14

14

0

4

0

89

479

34.21

9

0

1995

15

14

2

6

2

169

806

67.17

4

0

1996

15

15

3

2

3

*146

692

57.67

4

0

1997

18

17

2

5

2

*103

755

50.33

8

0

1998

8

8

1

3

1

110

386

55.14

2

0

1999

29

28

2

1

1

117

631

24.27

11

0

2000

11

10

0

4

0

87

359

35.90

2

0

2001

20

20

3

5

1

*116

732

43.06

7

0

2002

10

9

3

1

1

111

292

48.67

1

0

2003

21

21

2

4

3

116

888

46.74

12

0

2004

20

18

3

3

0

*59

484

32.27

7

0

2005

15

15

0

2

1

156

438

29.20

7

0

2006

28

26

5

4

0

87

660

31.43

5

0

2007

9

8

1

2

0

83

314

44.86

5

0

Overall (18)

296

286

32

63

19

169

10333

40.68

119

0

R Ponting

Year

M

Inns

NO

50s

100s

HS

Runs

Avg

Ca

St

1995

9

9

2

2

0

62

196

28.00

1

0

1996

24

24

1

3

2

123

733

31.87

3

0

1997

2

2

1

1

0

*60

75

75.00

0

0

1998

24

24

2

6

3

145

1166

53.00

8

0

1999

32

32

6

5

0

*87

1038

39.92

19

0

2000

14

14

0

3

1

115

510

36.43

1

0

2001

18

18

3

6

2

102

828

55.20

7

0

2002

28

27

4

4

2

129

882

38.35

11

0

2003

34

31

6

4

5

*140

1154

46.16

24

0

2004

24

23

1

7

0

91

840

38.18

9

0

2005

29

28

2

8

3

*141

1191

45.81

15

0

2006

23

23

1

6

2

164

798

36.27

16

0

2007

13

12

2

4

3

113

707

70.70

7

0

Overall (13)

274

267

31

59

23

164

10118

42.87

121

0



2003-07

M

Inns

50s

100s

Runs

Avg

Sachin

84

83

21

8

3303

43.46

Ricky

123

116

29

13

4690

45.01

Lara

93

88

15

4

2784

36.15

2004-07

M

Inns

50s

100s

Runs

Avg

Sachin

63

62

13

5

2162

38.60

Ricky

89

85

25

8

3536

44.75

Lara

72

67

11

1

1896

32.68



Plus sachin can bowl...
So whoever thinks that sachin should retire.... look at the stats before you try to be grandiloquent just as Mr. Chappel Tried to be !!

People have often criticised Sachin for not being a match winner. Here is a compilation of his 41 centuries. Out of the 41 hundreds, 11 hundreds have gone in vain.
lets analyse each of them.

1. 137 off 137 balls Vs SriLanka at Delhi in 1996 World Cup. India scored 271/3 in 50 overs. The only other 50 score was from Azhar. SL made 272 in 48.4 overs. Manoj Prabhakar had 4-0-47-0. He also opened in the innings with Sachin and scored 7 of 36 balls.

2. 100 of 111 Balls Vs Pak in Singapore- Apr 96. India 226 all out in 47.1 overs, When Sachin was out score was 186/4. Pak had a reduced target of 187 from 33 overs.

3. 110 of 138 Balls vs Sri Lanka In Colombo - Aug 96. Again India 226 for 5 in 50 overs, Only other 50 score from Azhar (58 of 99 balls).Sachin has also bowled 6-0-29-1, the second most economical bowler and the only wicket taker (SL were 230/1 in 44.2) of the match next to Srinath. 7 bowlers were used by Azhar.

4. 143 of Balls Vs Aus at Sharjah, Apr 1998. This was chasing under lights. The qualifying match before the final. The whole world knows about this match. Still one interesting point, when Sachin was out India were 242 at 5 at 43 overs. Target was 276 in 46. Still India finished at 250/5 scoring just 8 of the next 3 overs. Great performance indeed.

5. 101 of 140 Balls against SL at Sharjah in Oct 2000. Indian score was 224/8 in 50 overs. (No other 50 score). SL got 225/5 in 43.5, Sachin also bowled 5-0-22-0, better economy rate than everyone except Srinath.

6. 146 of 153 Balls against Zimbabwe at Jodhpur - December 2000 India made 283 / 8 in 50 overs. Sachin was the last man to be dismissed, score was 235/8 at 46.3 overs when he was out. Agarkar and Zaheer Khan propelled India to 283 in the last 3.3 overs. When Sachin has scored 146 of 235 in 46.3 overs, you can guess what the other 8 great batsmen were doing against the World class Zimbabwe attack. Second Highest scorer was Zaheer Khan with 32. Zim got 284/9 in 49.5 overs. Agarkar bowled the last over. Sachin also got 6-0-35-1

7. 101 of 129 Balls Vs SA at Johannesburg - Oct 2001 India got 279/5 in 50, Ganguly made 127 of 126 balls. When Ganguly got out, the score was 193-1 in 35.2 overs. Sachin was the last man to get out at 263. SA got 280 in 48.4 overs. Sachin bowled 9-0-51-0, second best in economy rate next only to Agarkar (10-0-45-1)

8. 141 of 135 balls Vs Pak at Rawalpindi, March 2004. India were chasing 329 and were 317 all out in 48.4 overs, 8 balls to spare. No other batsman made even a 50 (when chasing 300 ) and when Sachin was out, India were 245-4 in 38.4 overs. They needed 85 from 68 balls with 6 wickets in hand.

9. 123 of 130 Balls vs Pak at Ahmedabad, April 2005. India made 315/6 in 48 overs (48 over match), again no other 50 score. Second highest was Dhoni 47 of 64 balls, (third highest was extras - 39). Pak made 319 in 48 overs. The three quicks (Balaji, Nehra and Khan went for 188 runs from 26 overs between them taking only 2 wickets). Sachin bowled 6-0-36-1. No Harbhajan and no Kumble.

10. 100 of 113 Balls Vs Pak at Peshawar, Feb-2006. India were 328 all out in 49.4 overs. Pathan and Dhoni got 60 each. When Sachin was out when India were 305-5 in 45 overs. Managed only 23 in the last 5 overs. Pak scored 311/7 in 47 overs and won by D/L method. Could have been anybody's game. Sachin did not bowl.

11. 141* of 148 balls vs WI at Malaysia. India made 309 /5 in 50 overs. Sachin was not out. Pathan was the only other 50 scorer. WI made 141/2 in 20 overs and won by D/L method. Again could have been anybody's game.

In the other 31 instances India has won 30 times and once there was no result.

Now, think again when you say sachin's 100s were in the losing cause and that he is not a team player. It is a fact that for the entire 90's India played International cricket with only 1 player