The voice within.

Ha! 5 hours.. It was worth the wait. India crushed the Gorey Langoors to a 4-0 series win at our own Bengalooru amidst all the rain that has been troubling the city for the last 2-3 days. I was expecting yet another carnival when Indians were put to bat by KP after winning the toss. But just when Veeru and Gauti were cruising through the innings, damn! It started raining and play was on hold for 2 hours and finally resumed at around 6 in the evening, only to last for 3 more overs. And this time, for 3 hours I was pacing around the TV room hoping that the match would start. Finally, the good news came at 9 o clock. Indians would get a crack at the English bowlers for another 5 overs as the match was reduced to 22 overs per side. I thought it was a bit unfair, considering the rate at which India had scored for the first 17 overs. England would have the advantage in that case. Anyways, as expected, Sehwag went after the bowling as soon as play resumed clobbing the first ball for a six over mid wicket. But then, pretty soon, he and Gauti departed with both finding James Anderson in the deep trying to go for the big one. Once again, the stage was set for Yuvi and his fireworks. With around 4 overs to go, and Dhoni and Yuvi at the crease, I was expecting something special from both the batsmen. Dhoni did exactly what was needed, a six of the first ball. Meanwhile, Yuvi at the other end, scored as though he had just taken a drinks break from the first match at Rajkot and come in to bat here. Sixes over mid wicket, deep square leg. There was just no stopping him. The last over however, was very well bowled by Samit Patel and Dhoni got out on the 5th ball for a well bowled york length delivery. Yusuf Pathan came at the crease with one ball remaining and Wham! The ball went sailing over long on for a biggie! Indians had made 167 in their 22 overs which was not so great a total given the 20-20 sort of game setup by the rain. Just when I was wondering about this, the revised target of 198 based on D/L method was announced which again brought back interest in the game. This method has been an enigma so far to me but in this case, I was glad that this method is there. :D 

The English came in to bat and scored at snails pace for the first 6-7 overs. Barring the Shah- Freddie partnership, they never looked like winning the game. When Munaf bowled the last ball to Broad , it was midnight and I was jumping on my bed, punching the air. Indians had beaten the English comprehensively, 4 times in a row and had sealed the series 4-0. :o)

I am back after a well-deserved break...:P Thanks to a certain Salmonella Typhae(read 'Typhoid'). And to be honest, it's real tough to be offline.. :D Last 10 days or so in Dharwad, I was completely cut out from all things that could help me be 'online'.. So, while I swallowed innumerable pills and drank syrups like water, lying down on the sofa, all I could do is watch TV, which surprisingly I do the least when I am in Bangalore. And to add to my woes, I had no clue as to what programs on the TV were good and when they aired. So, all I did was change channels, stall on one of them for a minute or so, and then start changing again. Thankfully, I had Star Cricket for company. So, I started watching all sorts of cricket matches that were being shown on that channel. Highlights of Classics, recent SA - England one dayers, Natwest Pro 40 County matches, Best Innings, Harsha Unplugged and Champions of the World (Quiz show).

Before I start writing, let me make my stance very clear :

1. I am not against bringing in youngsters into the Indian Team.

2. I do not support sacking senior players of the team without adequate and reasonable explanation.

On Monday I think,news was out about Dada being left out of the Rest of India Team that will play the Irani Trophy test match against Delhi later this month. Simultaneously, Sachin is declared fit for playing in the Irani Trophy match.

One of the selection committee members said in an interview to a website -- " We think that the senior players have received the message. 'Perform or Perish' is what we are looking at and we have made it pretty clear by dropping Sourav from the Irani Trophy team" ( Luckily for him, the website kept him anonymous on his request)..

When one of the press guys asked Niranjan Shah "Sourav Ganguly's name is not there in the team announced for Irani Trophy. Do you think that you have left him out by mistake??", all he could do was chuckle and walk away from the cameras. I mean, what the hell.. How short is the memory of the Selection Committee? Dada failed in the Sri Lankan test Series. So, is that a relevant enough reason to keep him out of the side? Sachin also scored the same amount of runs as Dada in the series. Why is he in the team then? Lets look at the stats of the recently concluded test series for the fabulous 4.

Ok.. Laxman and Dravid might be saved due to the odd 50 or so.. But is this table a good enough reason to keep Dada out of the side?

I happened to read this article on some website the other day.

"Why Ganguly, and why not Rahul Dravid or V V S Laxman? Laxman has the best record among the Fab Four in recent times, including the series against Sri Lanka. Dravid bats at the crucial one-down position in Tests and is a safe slip catcher. Ganguly is an embarrassment on the field and his bowling has declined over the years. Tendulkar is Tendulkar, he will time his exit, period. A phased exit of seniors will help the team management to build a new Test side without causing commotion."

Now what crap this is.. Nobody else to, so Ganguly.. Is that the policy??

The aforementioned 'anonymous' dut-head in the selection committee believes "We can't afford to do too many changes to the future side as we are yet to discover players who can fit in the shoes of the likes of Dravid or Laxman or Tendulkar. But at the same time, we have a bunch of talented upcoming youngsters like Raina, Rohit and Badrinath (for god's sake! Badri has played only 3 ODIs!) who need more exposure." So, which class does Dada fall into? Do we group him with the Odoyos, the Obuyas etc?? Before the Sri Lankan series, Sourav Ganguly was the Indian batsman with the best batting stats in tests for the last 12 months(1000 odd runs with an average around 44). His comeback after the Greg Chappell saga is counted as one of the best comebacks in the history of the game.

Coach Gary Kirsten says " Its your performance in the last 2-3 months that governs your selection in the team and not past laurels.. We had to get over this and its time to look beyond Sourav". Going by this rule, every player who has not performed well in the Sri Lankan series has to be kicked out of the team. Is the selection committee ready to do that? Why do we respect Tendulkar so much? Because his achievements speak for him. Same is the case with all the greats of the game. Ganguly is no different. A man with a combined 18000 runs to his name deserves more respect and credit.

The BCCI says they will give the senior players, 6 test matches to play on which their performance will be measured and further decisions on whether to retain the person in the team or not will be taken based on it. Looks like its curtains for Dada's career because the test side which will play Australia will be more or less the team that plays in the Irani Trophy.

The selection committee is due for a revamp after another week or two and I pray to god that there be more brains on the panel that respect the game and the players than a bunch of hypocrites and losers.

A player of such class, caliber deserves a more befitting farewell from the game that he has loved all his life and given it everything he has in the last 13-14 years. 

**A salute to the Royal Bengal Tiger**.

August 15th, 1947 

"At the stroke of the midnight hour, when the world sleeps, India will awake to life and freedom. A moment comes, which comes but rarely in history, when we step out from the old to the new, when an age ends, and when the soul of a nation, long suppressed, finds utterance..... We end today a period of ill fortune, and India discovers herself again."

-- Jawaharlal Nehru

(Source: wiki)

Frankly, this is neither my Independence day speech nor am I entering politics. The stuff written below is completely boring and its something that just crossed my mind. And if anybody has a problem with that, then I don't care...KEEP IT TO YOURSELF!!

For the first few years of my life, Independence day to me was:

Wake up at 6 in the morning.

Get dressed in my white uniform and rush to school.

Take part in the march - past, salute the flag when my school headmaster / chief guest hoists the national flag and sing the national anthem.

Listen to speeches, take 2-3 packs of the sweets given at school and run home.

Spend the rest of the day watching TV or playing.

August 16th morning, go to school as usual and continue as though nothing important happened the previous day.

I hope many of us had the same habit. After maybe 10th standard, we stopped doing even this.

Year after year, the Independence day image that I had in my mind changed. How do I see it now?

The Prime minister does the flag hoisting at the Red Fort & delivers a speech.

Tons of speeches from politicians on what we have to do to develop our country and take the nation to greater heights.

TV channels broadcasting all sorts of patriotic movies, music shows showing people dressed up in white with some tri-colored scarf or flags in their hands singing patriotic songs.

Some Bollywood icon playing on a game show to raise money for charity.

Programs interviewing war heroes and families who lost their loved ones in the war.

August 16th morning, we are back in the business!

Some terrorist activity killed so many people in such an area. Communal riots. The same hypocritical politicians accusing every other person of something or the other. TV channels back to their normal soaps and game shows.News channels covering stories like "Commissioner ka Kutta ghum" and "UFOs kidnapping cows" and "Gaya Viru ka form.. Gaye Viru ke baal" (Really admire their creativity though.. :P).

So, effectively, how much have things changed?

I am fully aware that I have done absolutely nothing to make things better.But on the other hand, I am content that haven't made things worse.

How long can we live being oblivious to this? Is it that hard to change? to do something good?? Have we really tried?

"You either die a hero or live long enough to see yourself become the villain"

Some 4 months ago, I remember a forwarded mail that came to me with "Batman - Dark Knight Trailer" as the subject line. It really didn't interest me much because I had not watched 'Batman begins' also. Somehow, I had the impression that Batman was one lazy superhero with no superpowers who comes out at nights only to fight the bad guys and so on. So, I didn't pay much attention to it.

Around 2 weeks ago, Pramod pings me up on gtalk and says " Just watched 'Dark Knight'... Man! Its amazing!". After that, I had around 25-30 people telling me the exact same thing for the next 3 days. If all this was not enough, I had our good old Naari puttar (Harry :P) telling me to go and watch this movie atleast 5 times a day. So, I finally thought of giving it a shot. Last Saturday, Harry was in Bangalore for his WORK (read 'Night Gaming') and so, I dragged him too for the movie. :P By that time, Harry had already seen the movie 4 times! And he wasn't done yet. :D

Since I was a noob with the Batman story, Harry puttar had some story telling to do so as to give me an intro into what all has already happened in 'Batman Begins'. And then, the movie started!

One word to describe the movie in true Barny style - "LEGEND -- wait for it to come -- DARY!". Heath Ledger is just awesome as the Joker. The Joker make-up, psychopathic laugh, his dialogues and his flawless acting simply make him stand out among all the characters in the movie. All his dialogues are just so good in the movie that most of my friends are on their way to memorising them. As most people say, he truly deserves a posthumous Oscar. Also, full credits to Christian Bale and Gary Oldman for their performance. I would have preferred Katie Holmes instead of Maggie though. :)

Also worth a mention is the Bat - pod. I was simply awestruck at its sight when it first pops out of the Mother Tumbler. :D

As a final word, a must watch for all.

**Bow to Heath Ledger (R.I.P) and Christopher Nolan.

Its another weekend..

Yesterday, I watched this animated movie "Kung Fu Panda" which has been around for quite some time now. The movie scores most of its points through Jack Black, who is simply amazing as Po, the giant Panda. Enjoyed most of the fight sequences, especially the one where Tai Lung escapes from the prison and Po's training sessions. 

This week has been rather strange. The first three days were marked by the political drama(in which I'm least interested.. except for the impact on the BSE), trust vote situation and Manmohan Singh's victory, blah blah blah. The latter half, however, was devastating where a combined 25 blasts in Bangalore and Ahmedabad claimed many innocent lives.

Around 8 blasts took place on friday in Bangalore city's busy market places like Madiwala, Adugodi etc. I could see the effect of the blasts immediately on the life of the people in Bangalore. There were increased security checks at most IT firm offices, employees being sent home early,not to mention "Visitors not allowed" and other rules being imposed. The usually crowded streets of BTM Layout were mostly deserted with a vehicle or two weaving in and out of the road.Even the ever-tormenting Hosur Road traffic had died down on Friday. All friends and relatives have been calling in to check whether I was safe, mainly because Madiwala, place where the first blast took place, is almost adjacent to BTM layout.

On any other Saturday, I would mostly be in office for some extra slogging. This time, it was different. I was at home most of the time, went out once or twice for food and that's it. In the afternoon, while everyone was still thinking over what happened in Bangalore the previous day, news started coming in about the blasts reported in Ahmedabad. By evening, the number of blasts had gone up to 17. Today, on Sunday, as I write this blog, the death toll in Ahmedabad is around 40-45.

All we can do at this moment is pray for our safety and peace for the souls of the departed ones.