View from the TOP!

Malcolm Speed must have watched TV on the 6^th December 2009.

His comments on India being the “biggest bully to ICC and non performers” must have been shoved under the carpet after we attained the coveted pole position in the test match rankings for the first time in the history of Indian cricket!

Till date India was the financial nerve center of world cricket, in fact, questions were often raised as to why the money power doesn't translate into becoming the world's number one team? The ghost has finally been buried. It has also established that while boasting of the money and the market that propels cricket forward, India also has the best Test team in the world.

Though India has been always looked upon as the next big thing, we have never made it big in the sporting arenas. Like most of the Olympic Games are dominated by USA and China, even smaller countries like Jamaica produce Usain Bolt and Ethiopia produces a series of marathon winners. We do send in our entries only hoping that someone does a Bindra or a Peas! 1 gold in 88 years of competing does make us a misfit in the schema of being the next superpower!

Soccer is even more far stretched….. We are perhaps one of the most soccer frenzy nations yet we struggle to clear the qualifying rounds. Countries like Ivory Coast, Costa Rica, Serbia, and Slovenia make the cut and we still stay glued on to our TV sets rooting for Argentina and Brazil.

In sharp contrast, when we turn our attention to cricket this despair ceases. Cricket remains the only realm where Indians can flex their muscles on the world stage. Two world Cups, number two in ODIs and now numero uno in test matches does make the situation a whole lot brighter!

In a nation where the cricket enthusiast oscillates between adulation and vandalism, playing cricket is no less difficult than governing the country. In fact, the Indian captain's job is as tough as the prime minister's. At a time when social strife is never far away, the camaraderie in the present team is striking. And it is for this reason alone that Mahendra Singh Dhoni needs to be applauded. We must not forget the role of Sourav Ganguly and Anil Kumble as well. This team deserves all the accolades because no cricket team in the world is forced to carry the burden of a billion, trying to prove to their countrymen that unity is still an achievable dream in Indian national life.

Amidst the Naxals, Mr. Liberhan, nuclear treaties….MS Dhoni and his team has given us a chance to rejoice…but still we will remember 6^th December for all the wrong reasons and Cricket will always be a strict NO NO in the headlines of our premiere broadcast channel!! J

“DE DAN A DAN”----test cricket!

If Ahmadabad was the worst advertisement for test cricket…..enter Dunedin. It produced the best test cricketing action for the year till now! Five days of high voltage drama…..the contest between bat and ball…..Swing and seam and pace….Stirring batting. …Wickets falling in a heap and then the batsmen fighting back. It just had everything.

The first day ended with honors shared; New Zealand pulled away on the second; Pakistan combusted in the first half of the third, and then a debutant stood up and stroked his way to a hundred. On day four, a 17-year-old left-armer and one coming back in from the cold, blew the New Zealanders away and day five began with all results possible.

Day 5 saw a wobble at the top followed by a fight-back involving, inevitably, the debutant, left the last session poised evenly. The final breakthrough was provided by a bowler who had worked up steam all match without a wicket. He bowled into the wind and swung it New Zealand's way after taking a blow to the finger so severe the physio had to pull the digit back into shape. That merely made it more poignant.

If it failed to move you, cricket will be never be your game!!!!

Overall it was a great week for test cricket……be it the return of the maverick Sreesanth at Kanpur….or the rise of the blitzkrieg Barrath at the Gabba! Even Sehwag and Gambhir’s batting displays showed there’s more to batting than just slam bam hitting in the T-20 mould!

Abandoning test cricket will not only be stupid but suicidal. The roots of the game lie in test matches and without it the core values of the game would wither away!

Cricket is a game that is blessed with a buffet of three formats…there’s enough space for all three to co-exist and only if the administrators keep the wits about them all three formats will flourish with great élan!

Test cricket needs a retaliator. It needs men with vision. It needs ownership and drive.

C’mmon Lalit…….just do it!

All izzzz well!!!!

White Balance thik nahi hai yaar…..oye focus hi galat hai….abe sale behen**** edit mein audio jump hai……transition laga yaar….slot nahi mila ya…

Whew….

This is what exactly I have been hearing throughout the last week.

What was I up to?????

Well, all of us were assigned to make short films of 6 to 10 minutes.

Initially, everyone was elated but as soon as one hit the floors what followed were confusion, fights, bitter rivalry and some serious hard work.

All this while I either wowed or bashed up films sitting in the cozy chairs of the glitzy multiplexes but trust me from now on I won't. When my group was assigned the film on the SONY PD 170, I had no idea how much effort will go in to make an 8 min 39 sec film.

To kick off the shoot we needed a script, and I had to make it. Scripting has always my nemesis whether be it C, C++ or VB on QTP! And I found out scripting a short film that to a technical one was no walk in the park. It took me two days and lots of GOOGLE-ing to finally land up with a seven page long script.

If scripting was a pain, shooting the film was an agony. Whatever I thought as a shot turned out to be shabby, shoddy and not upto the mark……then came in the famous lighting problems. We decided to shoot in a three point system and tried setting it up. We kept at it for more than an hour only to switch them off! At times I felt like banging my head against the wall. But I realized whenever someone has their back against the wall …..you just have to keep trying. We got our minds together and finally shot the film in a matter of 13 hours! Imagine thirteen hours of shooting for an 8 minuter…..imagine shooting a feature film….. Mid Longs, close ups, extreme close ups, over the shoulder….. You name it; we had it!

The footage was in……. and now came the toughest part……editing!

It’s more important to know what not to show rather than what to show!!!! So the real struggle began. Visual jumps, audio glitches, voice over laying…..arrrgggghhh!!! Sitting on the edit bay for hours with headphones on gave me bonging ears and dizzy eyesight! After three rough cuts we finally had a film ready to premier! It was hard work…..trust me guys me and my group worked our asses off. Night shifts….long hours…..no food….no change of underwares…..life literally seemed out of control….but then again we had fun and the 3 idiots of group 7 kept singing…..

“Bhaiya all izzzzzz well!!!!!”

“SACH…….Impossible is Nothing!”

The grandma keeps counting her japmala, the nuns keep praying, the young guns run home from school, the phone keeps ringing, the cup of tea remains unattended……..

An early ADIDAS ad claimed that the world froze frame when Sachin Tendulkar took guard!

Well….nothing’s much has changed even after the batting Maestro completes 20 years in international cricket.

Who is Sachin Tendulkar?

Is he just a cricketer, a batting legend, a role model or God to a few of us?

To categorize the magnanimity of Sachin Tendulkar in words would be as stupid as bowling him half volleys on leg stump.

To me he is a metaphor that signifies the common man of India. He is truly Mr. India. He represents the middle class of India at the highest level and through his game he keeps on spreading the deep rooted values of us all Indians.

The legend of the man started at the greens of the Shivaji park of then Bombay (sorry, Raj, can’t help it!!!!), where the Dronacharya of Indian cricket found his Arjun! Both Shivaji Park and Shardashram Vidyamandir had made it into the Indian cricket folklore thanks to the towering achievements of this 5ft someone….

What makes this man a legend?

Lots have been spoken about his technique, shot making, array of strokes, and the weight of his bat….. But very sparingly people actually focus on his real might, his intent and his adaptability. His intent is evident when he says I care playing for India….and his adaptability is visible when he pulls out the uppercut from his repertoire at Johannesburg, against the likes of Allan Donald, not to play it again in the entire series!

As the evening shadows lengthen over his cricketing career, we still expect him to perform like God every time he walks into bat, which in way reveals the place he occupies in our hearts. Ironically, we still recognize the hold he has on our psyche, especially in the venom that we spit on him whenever he fails to deliver. Ironically, the more we curse him, the more we express our need for him!

Perhaps, its only apt that he wears the SAHARA logo on his chest because that’s exactly what he has been for the past 20 years where he has marched on braving the tennis elbow, the back aches, the pulled hamstrings, the painful little toe and of course the hopes of 1.2billion ….

“SACH…….Impossible is Nothing!”

“Antel” Inside!

Who is an intellectual?

According to our Bible Wikipedia, An intellectual is a person who uses intelligence, i.e. thought and reason and analytical thinking, either in a professional or a personal capacity.

The word ‘Intellectual’ can denote 2 types of persons:

· A person involved in, and with, abstract, erudite ideas and theories.

A person of notable cultural and artistic expertise whose knowledge grants him or her intellectual authority in public discourse.

Uff… ki beginning mama!!!! Trust me guys, this is my first and last venture to write “intellectual” stuff. Being from the class of “Uncultivated”, I am a person who has a “low browed taste” in culture and art. So, I embark on this endeavor to find out why am I a non intellectual? (Main aisa kyun hoon???? pobblem ta asole ki?)

So this thesis of mine goes out to my philistine and uninitiated friends!

All of the above was Wikipedia stuff (what else can a non –intellectual, without a writing prowess, do?) so, let’s list it down…….

• 
  
  I love Govinda and David Dhawan….. (khali fajlami!!!!)


• 
  
  I don’t understand Franz Kafka!


• 
  
  I don’t understand the intricacies of Hussain’s evocative paintings!


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  I don’t find K.K. Menon more glamorous than Shah Rukh Khan.


• 
  
  I don’t understand the clichés used by great filmmakers (does anyone remember the cobwebs from Guide!!!!)


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  I don’t understand why Gabbar Singh killed an ant and didn’t ogle at Helen after “Mehebooba Mehebooba”!(does that conclude Gabbar was gay…..because he keeps mouthing ”Kitne aadmi the?”)


• 
  
  I prefer the 22 yards over “Do Bigha Zameen”! (Howwzatt!)


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  I indulge in “Inferior forms of arts!” like punning and mimicry! (dara ektu orna ta thik kore ni……Asha kori bhule jasni ke bolechilo!)


• 
  
  I prefer Nandan because of the wrong reasons. (Tikit hebby sosta kaka!)


• 
  
  “Totallyyy”prefer Bappi da over GnR and Metallica. (“Chirodinee….”…..uff total emotional…..getting goojbumps paagla!)


• 
  
  I am not a Bob Dylan fan.(I still pronounce Dylan and not “Dyeee”lan though)


• 
  
  I can’t ask questions “with insights” stretching up to 45 secs to a minute…..


• 
  
  I prefer six-packs over AF-PAK!

And the list continues…….now I know why I can’t be clubbed as an intellectual….

But I really want to be one because the great thing about being an intellectual is that if you bore people they still think it's their fault!!!! Even I want to get passes for the film festivals! So, here begins my pursuit to become one……

Ahhhh forget it! I would rather stick to my over the top self and keep tickling you guys with my non-intellectual gibberish!

Lekin Jaane se pehle……….ek non intellectual entity ke total non-antel dil se nikla hua chand alfaaz………

Bhabcho pore ki sob jata, likheche kisob shit…..

Thik dhorecho amar matha e ache total chhit!

Sukumar Roy Bhogoban r Gurudev amar Mir…

Punning jodi lage bhalo, kha paagla kheer!

Cricket amar passion kaka, kobita amar hobby….

Comment koro noyle sala EK CHOBOL E CHOBI!!!!!!

“Better fit than Sorry!”

M.S. Dhoni’s words must have been ringing in the years of Younus Khan’s ears after the semis of the Champions trophy. Yet another, finger controversy engulfs cricket and this time it’s a broken one!

A broken finger not only ousted Pakistan from the tournament, it has already started pointing in the wrong direction as well.

“When I ran Gambhir out, people said what a patriot, now the same people will say I was up to something” …..Being as smart as usual, Younus Khan called it before hand. And as one has it now, the Chairman of the National Assembly standing committee on sports MNA Jamshed Dasti has been quoted that Pakistan tanked matches against Australia and New Zealand. Typical of Pakistan cricket…..

It definitely hurts and Younus Khan must have been more pained with the match fixing allegations rather than his broken finger. The pain was visible when he said he would not tolerate the slur of match-fixing and would resign from the captain's job if he felt so.

But a few questions will always tickle him;

Should he have been playing? Well….it was a brave call, but at times bravery could lead to misery.

And why did he try to catch the ball the Aussie way?

He should have remembered, Aussies and fingers always point to some new controversies!

Oh! Captain…..My Captain!
“Rain rain go away, MS Dhoni wants to play”… it must have been the nursery rhyme that the Indian Cricket team skipper would have been chanting, sitting in the dressing room while watching the thunderstorm against the Aussies at the Centurion.
The Indian Team was already in a spot of bother after losing their opening game versus Pakistan but the thunderstorm against the Aussies definitely delivered the killer blow!
India’s hopes relied on the shoulders on their “best friend” Pakistan who, as usual, failed us! But why do we have to rely on someone else??
Of course we need to….because we had the “best bowling” line up possible!
Ishant Sharma refused to get back into his groove, R.P. Singh and Harbhajan Singh lost form leaving Dhoni “two to three bowlers short” and the less we talk about our fielding the better….. It definitely shows a drop in the testosterone levels!
This is the second ICC tournament this year that we have crashed out ….. In the Twenty20 World Cup it was attributed to the batsmen's failure to face short-pitched stuff and now, the bowlers need to put up their hands. But somewhere in these fiascos, Dhoni's modest captaincy has escaped the post mortem. MSD, under whom India is yet to lose a Test match, now seriously needs to re-evaluate his leadership skills. Is Dhoni's flair for captaincy is now becoming a victim of pragmatism? His cool dude image seemed to have frozen his imagination as a captain as well! His approach to batting is simply unacceptable. Instead of being the flamboyant hitter, he now builds his innings way too timidly. The result, India has lost its most fearsome bomber!
The India skipper let Pakistan off the hook by bringing in his part-time bowlers rather than go for all out attack when Pakistan were on the ropes .The result, Shoaib Malik and Mohammad Yousuf soon found their bearings and posted a mammoth stand to pile up the big score. Even against the Aussies the field settings and the bowling changes were way too timid!
Though we won against the Windies, let’s face it with just two good fielders in Raina and Kohli, two dependable batsmen in Tendulkar and Gambhir; just one medium pacer worth his salt Ashish Nehra, India couldn’t have gone the distance. We, unfortunately, did not play to our potential and hence….
But has “captain-cool” lost his Midas touch? Does his captaincy needs a makeover? Does he need to revamp his approach to batting?
I know he and his men in blue have done brilliantly well (six consecutive ODI series wins) throughout the last two years and we had a lot of injury woes but my captain….
It’s not about the defeats; its how one loses.