The Knights of Wellington

As I write this, it is less than 24 hours remaining for the finale of cricket World Cup 2015 to start. Both the host nations will fight it out at the imposing arena of Melbourne Cricket Ground to lay their hands on the ultimate prize of cricketing world. Four time world champion Australia are well-known to such high-stake encounters. We know their at times abrasive style of play and it has not changed too much in 2015 as well. They have played hard, sledged, demolished opponents to their road to finals. But, I don’t want to talk about them today. I want to talk about their challengers, the blackcaps from New Zealand.

Playing with a smile

For years now, teams from New Zealand were labelled dark horses in almost every ICC tournament that exists. They made it to six Semi finals before this edition and every time it was considered as “punching more than their weight”. This time though, it was different. In the last year and a half, New Zealand beat Pakistan in UAE where Aussies got whitewashed. They defeated India and Sri Lanka comfortably at home. The momentum was there. Home grounds were getting ready for cricket’s biggest spectacle. Can they do it this time? Whispers started gaining strength by the time 14^th February approached.

On a sunny day at Christchurch, New Zealand blasted their way to 331 and won the match comfortably against Sri Lanka. Scotland took their catches gleefully but the kiwis got past them too. Then they arrived at Wellington or the “Cake tin” as they call it to face the Englishmen. It was considered a kind of test for kiwis as they were all over the Lankans for past two months and Scotts were never really a challenge. But it turned out to be a spectacular demolition job by Tim Southee. Old-fashioned swing bowling backed up by an aggressive captain. A captain who said we won’t sledge. It seemed too unreal in today’s time where sledging is considered a tactic. Southee initiated the demolition job which was completed by Brendon McCullum’s blade swinging like a sword. Any doubts on it being an aberration were put to rest against Australia in Auckland. Unlike the English, Aussies came hard at New Zealand. Tim Southee bled runs earning no initial wickets. The sky was clear blue with sun baking down on the brownish strip reducing hopes of swing by every over. Then came Trent Boult. 5 overs, 2 maidens, 4 runs, 5 wickets. One of the finest spells of World cup ended and so did any doubts over questions of over reliance on Southee. This is a team of fighters, if one bleeds, others will stand up. Aussies being the fighters they themselves are took the match to the end. 1 wicket to go, 6 runs to get; time for another kiwi to stand-up. Kane Williamson calmly lofted Pat Cummins for a six and sealed the match. 

B'Mac's captainship has taken a flight

After that, the Spirited Afghans were beaten easily. By this time New Zealand was already in the Quarter finals. Last league game against Bangladesh needed another whole hearted effort. In a tussle that threatened to topple the kiwi apple-cart, Martin Guptill finally came out of his slumber. His fine century took it down to 17 of 13 with 3 bowlers to bat. Still anyone’s game. One decisive moment can turn the match. And it came from the old guard of New Zealand. Daniel  Vettori effortlessly sent a Nasir Hossain delivery over extra-cover for a six effectively sealing the match. Yet again, a new face stood up for the team.

Semi-final against South Africa was an epitome of competitive spirit. Both the teams exchanged punches and counter-punches. After initial hiccups, the Proteas settled into a rhythm. Faf du’plessis was joined by the maverick AB De’villiers and the carnage begun. They attacked kiwi bowlers with intensity. Pure old-fashioned aggression of McCullum meant their fifth bowler had to bowl half the overs in last 12. Rain gods intervened briefly and the match was reduced to 43 overs per side. Still half the overs had to be bowled by New Zealand’s fifth bowler. Apprehensions took shape of reality when David Miller and De Villiers plundered their way to 281 which rose to 298 of 43 overs after Duckworth-Lewis adjustments. The kiwi fort was under real threat. Questions were raised if McCullum was over aggressive in using up his frontline bowlers too soon? Was he overconfident? Or was he simply not shrewd enough to play the games of manipulation? And finally, did the purist approach, almost old war type approach of single minded aggression with no sledging failing for New Zealand? All these questions started fading away in 5 overs of New Zealand batting. McCullum’s blade swung again and kiwis rose to 71 in no time. The “play with honour” sense was back. Wickets kept tumbling, target approached near. But all of the known match winners were back in the hut for final leg. Who can do it now? Again a new face emerged, a brown bearded face looking as calm as ever. Grant Elliot finally arrived to win the battle for his team and left South Africans in tears.

This team from New Zealand has played with honour. They have stood-up for each other. When a leading man was stopped, an unknown one emerged from the woods for that defining assault. They are lead by a captain who has hardly opened his mouth on the field just as his bat made deafening noise for the bowlers at receiving end. Now they are heading to the alien land of the tough warriors. Straight into their imposing den called the MCG. Would they conquer that land will be seen tomorrow. But they surely will give us the joy of witnessing raw aggression, passion and courage; all the while respecting the opponent. It will be the final act on this grand stage from the Knights of Wellington...

Shift in Performances in World Cups

As I am writing this on a spring evening, Zimbabwe fell just 5 short of chasing 332 against associates Ireland in ongoing world cup at Hobart. Instead of “What a chase”, we tend to say “Just fell Short” nowadays when 300 on the board have become as common as spotting an Indian during India’s match anywhere on this planet. This has been a world cup of 300’s till now. Somewhere some ex-cricketer turned commentator said it aptly, “300 is the new 250 now”. It surely has become just that. 

My first vague memories of Cricket world cup was 1996 when I was beginning to develop greater interest in the game keeping alive the Indian “middle-class” tradition. One of the stronger memories of a world cup was the unfortunate semi-final against SriLanka at Eden Gardens that left Vinod Kambli crying and around 1 lakh Bengalis throwing stuff around. I remember the excitement when Jayasuriya and Kaluwitharana fell in the first over. But Aravinda De’Silva in the form of his life scored a brilliant half century to give India a target of 250 odd runs. Almost every friend of dad was tensed because “250 is a big score”. Yes, 250 was a big score once upon a time in world cups.

I chose this topic of changes in performance for this blog is because the shift has been gigantic. Bigger bats, ICC’s decision of allowing only 4 fielders outside the circle and general nature of pitches going dry and flat over the globe has contributed to this shift. For people of my generation, the 90’s kids, it seems more like cricket tuning to speed of our lives as we grow up! Those were the lazy childhood days of ample time to see Tendulkar getting set, Dravid tiring down the bowlers and praying India would reach 260 at the end with some hitting. All this while spending whole day lying on the floor without the rush of million homework that today’s school kid have to face. Life has changed for us since then with rarely anytime to watch a full ODI. A Batsman getting set on the crease with classy defence doesn’t catch our eye anymore. We need more and we need it at a speed. 250 is too low a score now. It does not give us many sights of balls flying all over the park.

ICC thankfully has understood this changing demand of our life on fast lane (pun intended!). Only 4 fielders are allowed outside the 30 yard circle and the batsmen love it. Bats are becoming broader and broader to combine with broader muscles of today’s gym-trained batters. Our lives have become faster and so has the game. Batsmen nowadays don’t believe in tiring down the bowler but hitting him out of the attack. The general increase of love for more output at faster speed is reflected in cricket too. Nowhere has this change been as evident as in the World cups over the years. From a meagre total of 183 being defended to a total of 270+ being chased easily we have seen this jump.

In this world cup only we have witnessed two totals of 400+ and a 372. They feature in the list of top 5-6 team totals in all world cups. All made in 10 days span. So performances have increased at a great speed from world cup to world cup. It reflects the overall change around us in day to day life. While we enjoy the slam-bang cricket, somewhere the thrill of small total is diminishing. But then till the time game remains enjoyable, we are not complaining!

AAP is here,is the Aam Aadmi ready?

Exceeding all expectations the Aam Aadmi Party has formed a government in Delhi.Its debut was nothing short of Shikhar Dhawan's debut blitzkreig against Australia.AAP has already started making changes such as transferring officials and announcing 20 kilo litres of free water for Delhi households with water meters. Upto what extent they will succeed remains to be seen.But the important issue we seem to be missing is are we-the real aam aadmi are ready for the change?

One of the fundamentals of AAP and the Anna Hazare led janlokpal movement was to fight corruption. Even Arvind Kejriwal in his swearing in ceremony urged people to not pay bribe.It sounds very good and clean to stay away from bribes,make things work on merit and keep govt officers responsible to rules.But is our society ready to live by the rules? We generally blame rulers and govt for all the mess around us.From overflowing dustbins outside our houses to litter on roads.But who does it? Is the govt responsible for people spitting in public or urinating on roadsides?

It is a very Indian trait to blame everything else but ourselves for the mess around us.We curse people who have some connections and jump the queue at temples.We are outraged when people with links in corporates get their jobs easily.But the question is will you and me wont try and take advantage if we were in same position? We will and we do many times.Corruption is not only because of someone's greed but it is also because of someone's will to bypass rules to have his work done.

It is a very welcome change that AAP is trying to bring to government. It might stop the corruption at the top in passages of govt.But will it stop the day-to-day corruption and shortcuts that we indulge in? While on our way to office in rush hours,we might jump the signal or take a wrong turn.On being stopped by traffic police on such occasion, how many of us are willing to spend 10-15 mins for due process? Many a times it is the person who wants to take a shortcut that offers bribe to a govt official.Though it doesnt justify them accepting the bribe but it points a fingure at our own behavior & contribution to corruption.This phenomenon is not limited to public sectors only.May be the corporate sector is even more affected by this.The place where govt doesn't come to picture on daily basis.

It is hence that while welcoming Aam Aadmi Party,we should ask to ourselves - are we ready to follow the rules and be the change that we want to see? The answer lies within. 

Chulbul,Chetan and Class..

One of the eternal debate in this world has been the Class act v/s the Mass effect. People use different barometers to judge both of them and then classify whatever they see or feel in these two broad categories.Some days back I had an intresting conversation with one of my colleague about the questions they ask in MBA colleges during Interviews. She said if you are mentioning your hobby as reading,you should name some class authors.”Class as in?” I asked  curiously,”Not like Chetan Bhagat”,she quipped. Most of us know Chetan Bhagat and his stories.His fan base is almost equal to the number of people terming him as “mediocre” and his work as “Not literature”. At this point in our conversation,I put forward a point that its not about words or grammar,its about your appeal to the mass!

Many a times in our day-to-day life we come across people who we look upon as genuinely talented and classy or average,attention seeker. None of the spheres of our world is out of the scope of this debate,be it cricket,movies,literature or politics. Chetan Bhagat as an author is an excellent example of this. He is obviously not a Shakespeare or O.Henry,neither he claims to be one. His populraity is based on his appeal to the mass,he uses their language! If you give one of Shakespeare’s drama to someone today,most of us wont even read half of it because that language is not something that we are used to.We tend to get attracted to things that seems to be like us.20^th Century Literature of “high class” is not anywhere near to the SMS-Whatsapp language that we use today.

Same is the case with Salman Khan movies nowadays.The jury is out on the content and logic of his movies but noone can deny his tremendous success in recent years. His movies most often than not lack that cinematic asthetics or a logical story.But hey,If I am an engineering student working overtime to derive a formula in lab,I wont like overcooking my brains to understand the logic of a movie! On the other side of this spectrum is may be a movie like Black or Savariya,oozing with asthetic beauty but limited in their mass appeal.We live a normal life and hence when I enter a cinema hall, I want to see something abnormal or logicless.Rowdy Rathore flying everywhere like a desi superman is much more entertaining than Camera moving around on empty tea-cups in a Ramgopal Verma movie! 

We cant forget the best entertainment in India while debating Class and Mass,the Cricket. Purists in cricket most of the times criticise Twenty20 as “pyjama cricket” and well,to an extent they are right! If you want to see a batsman applying himself for long hours,testing his patience and grit to fight it out,T20 is not for you.Having said that, in todays fast world where we rarely get time to sleep,watching a match whole day is becoming more and more difficult.T20 provides you with that fast and furious pace that is becoming synonym to our lives in todays world. Batsmen hitting out as there is no tommorow is just like us dancing on weekends in pubs of metros!

We have such instances everywhere around us and they are quite successful as well. I am not in anyway degrading the Literary excellence of a Shakespeare,Cinematic beauty of a Black or the class of test matches. They do have a place in our lives and will continue to do so but the fact is a Chulbul Pandey or a Keiron Pollard will give you more entertainment then RGV or Rahul Dravid.Afterall,as Vidya Balan rightly says in Dirty Picture,"Ye duniya sirf tin cheezo se chalti hai..Entertainment,Entertainment..Entertainment! So Enjoy your Dabaangs and Rowdy Rathores,if you need a break,read some O.Henry..

Narendra Modi - As we see it!

In last ten years, the most talked about-hated-loved politician in India is Narendra Modi. There have been loads and loads of matter written about him. Some praising  his administrative abilities and many criticizing his role in 2002 riots. Incidentally, my interest and awareness about politics and modi’s entry in Gujarat happened at the same time. We have read so much about him written by people who analyze him based on facts,  figures or even their own prejudices at time. Here, I thought of putting up Narendra Modi through the eyes of a common Gujarati youngster who has seen his 10 years at the top post of his state.

Narendra Modi’s ascendance to Gujarat started in early part of 2001 when the state faced a destructive earthquake. Disaster management after that was all over the place and Keshubhai Patel, the then CM faced a lot of criticism for that. BJPs graph was steadily on decline and then modi was sent from Delhi to handle the political erosion. I remember watching him at that time and wondered why a non-Gujarati was made our CM! Of course with time more information about him started coming out but still he looked far from promising. The after effects of quake were still evident and another man-made disaster hit Gujarat, the Godhara train burning.

As a 14 year old boy, I felt deep anger on seeing those gruesome pictures of the carnage. The rage and grief was probably the same as millions of Gujaratis felt on that day. Although Eventually I was able to calm myself down, the same didn’t happen with some others and that led to unfortunate riots for next 3 days. Affected areas of those riots were sporadic and I personally didn’t witness any of that in my city. It was indeed an unfortunate incident that led to a permanent black mark on Gujarat and Gujaratis as a whole.Media coverage in those days was bipolar. While the local media reported causalities on both sides, English media was always of the opinion that Narendra Modi let it happen. The thing that aligned common Gujarati on the side of Modi was this reporting too in a way. It did hurt me a lot when Gujarat as a whole was termed “communal and violent”. It was this time when Modi, the master politician floated the concept of Gujarati “asmita”(pride) and in a sense common man began to look upon him as the one fighting against all the false propaganda against his state.

Ten years down the line, we had two assembly elections of 2002 and 2007 along with two Loksabha elections of 2004 and 2009. People, usually outsiders often argue that electoral mandate doesn’t vindicate Modi of his role or lack of it in the riots, but they forget the result of both the LS elections. In 2002, he rode the emotional wave and after affect of Godhara carnage.I personally believe that the feeling of injustice to the state through reports which painted all of us as communal did work in the favour of Modi. Congress’s weak leadership and silence in opposing those reports lead to their political erosion quickly and Modi got a thumping majority. The stage was almost the same in 2007, when congress leader Sonia Gandhi called him “Maut ka saudagar” on sohrabbudin encounter case. The master orator Modi grabbed that term and dragged all the votes based on it. People did had a feeling that Sohrabbudin was a criminal and keeping aside the dubious encounter, it failed to ruffle many nerves. Again Modi got a thumping majority and Congress was reduced to a mere spectator in the state.

In stark contrast to both the assembly elections were the two LS elections of 2004 and 2009 where congress won 12 and 11 seats respectively out of total 26. It does show the maturity of Gujarati voters and the clarity of thoughts where they can distinguish between what they want in state and at the centre. If this pattern is anything to go by, it makes clear that Modi is not Gujarat for us. In fact, people who try and confine him by bashing whole of Gujarat are doing a huge favour to him. He cleverly combines the allegations on him with the pride of the state and gets the emotional backing of people.We are on the verge of another assembly elections which can decide Modi’s fate on national stage. Modi is again talking about development and industries as we love to do our business.Gujaratis are not violent by nature and love peace because it is essential for their business’s growth. Gujarat has always developed no matter who is in power at Gandhinagar because of this very reason.Congress has also played their campaign well this time but is again failing in matching the charisma of Modi.

This time too we “gujjus” won’t vote for congress, not because we worship modi, but just because we are smart enough to understand that Congress, who doesn’t have a strong leader can’t bring in stability to our state. Once again, English media might credit this to so called “communal polarisation” in the state failing to understand the mechanics of it. Modi is not the only one for us; he is just a good option to the fragile congress and hence gets voted to power. He is not the boss, the common man on the streets is. He knows who is better and deserving enough to rule Gandhinagar. Unfortunately until the "seculars" understand it, they would keep treading the wrong path and until the congress attains clarity of thought and leadership, Modi will rule.

A year After...

Hurray!! India won!..i exclaimed alone on 26th november 2008 at around 10 pm. sachin,sehwag, dhoni i.e 11 indians crushed the english side on cricket field. i thought lets see some news channels who might surely be goin gaga over indias victory. to my surprise they werent showing that,instead news of some firing at CST station was coming. first thoughts i had were of some local gangwars and crazy goons firing at each other. i slept without even slight thought that while 11 indians won on cricket ground, a billion were losing a battle in real life. and the opposition were just 10,one less even for a cricket ground but they were more than handful for much bigger ground..the Battleground-Mumbai.
I woke up next morning to the news that some mad but extremely dangerous people held many humans,indians..hostages. the mood dipped in a moment and fell even low in next two days. the sites of blood spread all over on CST platform and crying people made me uneasy. even so because they were helpless and targeted as a result of some cowardly policies in my country. well, eventually after three days of crying and gloomy faces,the battle was over. Really?? in fact the battle was started well before that..in akshardham,in delhi,in ahmedabad. but our dumb politicians and to an extent us the society too,need a big blast to understand that we are in a battle. they made us hear them by slapping hard. they made us bled,cry and fear them. we got angry and took out some rallies and protests for sometime. but after a month, sharemarkets indices became more important,a party became cooler than a rally with candles..this will stay so till we are again slapped hard and left to cry and fear..till we become strong and make them fear us..i hope that day comes soon..

General Elections...a big democratic drama?

So they are back now..the priviledged "Netas" who dont show up for 5 years are now knocking our doors. i know most of us young people dont bother to vote or take any interest in politics. but its high time guys,take a step.atleast try and gather information about the candidates from your area and make other people aware of that.
the 15th loksabha will consist of crazy people because the elections are just a farce of democracy. literate people dont vote and illiterates dont know whom to vote. the result is expected ,poor voting percentages and even poor M.Ps. i know its hard to go for voting in hot sun but its the minimum your country is asking from you guyz.i just wrote this coz i wanted to..everybody is free to do whatever he likes isnt it?