This is Ganguly!

VRV Singh is batting with Sourav Ganguly at the crease. Its the last Indian batting pair. Commentators are talking about how Ganguly should retain strike as much as possible, avoid unnecessary singles and singles of last balls: everything that'd keep VRV Singh off strike. And what does Ganguly do? Exactly the opposite! He keeps hitting singles and bringing VRV Singh on strike. He doesn't hesitate to run off last ball of any over. VRV Singh, consequently, comes to strikes and make the South Africans pay! He hits them like no one ever expected! That sums up Ganguly rather the 'returned' Ganguly if you will. Unselfishly not playing for his half century and keeping faith in his tail-ender partner he helps India reach 250 when 180 was once the best case target! This is precisely the Ganguly of the late 90s and early 2000s that instilled confidence in his younger players. It was good that he was dropped an year ago when he had lost it. Its better that he has now been taken back since he is now what The Ganguly was all about. Welcome back Sourav Ganguly!

Let The Ashes Begin

The Ashes begin from tomorrow and thank God we finally have some serious cricketing atmosphere. No more "cricket weds entertainment", no more Mandira Bedis, Charu Sharmas and Rohit Roys (??!!) on cricket shows! No bullsh*t. Phew! Pure, unadulterated and classic Test match cricket !! Added to it the likes of Ian Chappell, Ritchie Benaud, Mark Taylor, Ian Healy and last but not the least Bill Lawry commentating!! Although the Aussies start as clear-cut favourites we can hope for some surprises for the sake of cricket.

Watch out for Al-Gebra

Sometimes email forwards are worth your time. Like this one I'm quoting below. It depicts the present American paranoia and disillusionment in a genuine but amazingly funny way!

A public school teacher was arrested today at John F. Kennedy International Airport as he attempted to board a flight while in possession of a ruler, a protractor, a set square, a slide rule and a calculator.

At a morning press conference, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales said he believes the man is a member of the notorious Al-gebra movement. He did not identify the man, who has been charged by the FBI with carrying weapons of math instruction. "Al-gebra is a problem for us," Gonzales said. "They desire solutions by means and extremes, and sometimes go off on tangents in search of absolute values. They use secret code names like 'x' and 'y' and refer to themselves as 'unknowns', but we have determined they belong to a common denominator of the axis of medieval with coordinates in every country. As the Greek philanderer Isosceles used to say, "There are 3 sides to every triangle."

When asked to comment on the arrest, President Bush said, "If God had wanted us to have better weapons of math instruction, He would have given us more fingers and toes."

Now that is something, isn't it? !!

Penalty for celebration

Andriy Shevchenko scored for Chelsea after a big hiatus, got exalted and a yellow card for the celebration. Unfair one would think, but I guess he'd take it. Rules anyway seem unfair when applied in festive situations. A goal in football can be equivalent to a half-century in cricket as far as a non-scoring player goes. Hopefully this will break Sheva's deadlock. Ballack too scored after a long time! Lampard breaks the jinx next? Sure hope so!

Do You Know?

Tommy Lee Jones has an unparalleled dialogue delivery style!
Quoting him (Agent K) from "Men in Black" speaking to Will Smith (Agent J),

"...1500 years ago, everybody "knew" that the earth was the center of the universe.
500 years ago, everybody "knew" that the earth was flat.
And 15 minutes ago, you "knew" that humans were alone on this planet.
Imagine what you'll "know" tomorrow..."

Can't imagine anyone else saying that with an intensity to drive home a point! 
You've got to see it to believe it..  Too Good !!!

First release 1976

You've got to listen to this amazing ABBA song. Its called "Crazy World". Firstly its a bit of an offbeat ABBA song since no girls are involved in the singing. Well that easily eliminates 99% of ABBA's songs! Anyway peruse through its amazing lyrics below and enjoy the surprise at the end! It was quite uncanny how I concentrated over these lines hearing them while on my bike amidst Pune's evening rush hour traffic! So here goes-

I was out for the morning sun
Couldn't sleep so I thought I'd take a walk
I was thinking of you and me
And I went to your house 'coz I had to talk
I could hardly believe my eyes
When I saw this guy closing your front door
Had a feeling of emptiness
Like I've never had before

And I close my eyes
Will you leave me, girl?
And I realise
Its a crazy world

As he disappeared in his car
I was stunned and I didn't know what to do
Everything I had ever been
Everything in my life's a part of you
And I just couldn't move my feet
So I stood on the pavement as you came out
You acted as you didn't know
What it was all about!

And I close my eyes
Will you leave me, girl?
And I realise
Its a crazy world

Baby how could you do it?
You just told me lies
Had you been behind my back with other guys?
Baby how could you tell me
There was only me
I was stupid to believe you
I was blind but now I see

Then you smiled and you took my hand
there is something, you said, that you may not know,
There's a couple of men in my life,
And one of them is my brother Joe!
He's been gone for a long long time
But now he's back and I think he's gonna stay,
You'll be seeing a lot of him
He's so nice in every way.

And I close my eyes
Never leave me, girl
And I realise
Its a crazy world!
So I close my eyes
Never leave me, girl
Then I realise
Its a crazy world

Song performed by the ABBA boys - B.Andersson & B.Ulvaeus

(First release 1976)

Lyrics original link

Food for thought: Analyze This!

First a few words of why I'm making this post. I was sent an article in email. Due to multiple forwards before it got to me it had been totally distorted in text and paragraphs. So I decided to find the true source of the article. I browsed through the garbled text to find what the heading of the article would possibly be. Now you'd think why should this be so difficult? Because a heading is always that - a heading i.e. at the beginning. But its not necessarily so simple with forwards! That is so because there were many lines added in the beginning by forwarders themselves which made it difficult to find the heading! So then I found one line which didn't have any related sentence before or after it. Bingo I thought! Copy pasted the line in Google search bar and voila! I had the original link to the article. (And yes, I had correctly guessed the heading!)

The article presents a good point of view of normally taken-for-granted things when it comes to Indians living/studying/working in the US. If you've been to the US for study or work you'll identify with it. If you haven't it is still a good read. Food for thought guaranteed!!

Twenty20 Hit Hai Fit Hai !!

I just found some tangibles which indicate that Twenty20 matches have it in them to become a rage in India. One of them is this: My mom watched an entire Twenty20 game between Essex & Middlesex a few weeks ago. And she was enjoying it. Now THAT is not normal. She normally cannot sit through even 5 minutes in a ODI, leave alone Tests. So basically this format has some zing which makes even the teams playing it irrelevant. Thats why I think it will work wonders for India's 1st Class circuit. If not more, it'll at least develop some good hitters and death-overs bowlers. My suggestion for the selectors: Make a Twenty20 team for international matches that has only young players from the current international squad along with a few good hitters coming out of the 1st Class circuit.

Purists will keep ranting like they did when ODIs were first introduced. They then claimed that ODIs would destroy Tests. They now claim that Twenty20 will destroy ODIs. That ODIs have enhanced Test matches where teams now go for results with aggressive gameplans is the actual effect.

Butterfly's Chaos

When I was reading Michael Crichton's Jurassic Park, I first got to know of the existence of the concept of chaos theory. Of course it was through the character of Ian Malcom (played by Jeff Goldblum in the movie). The theory got more coverage in its sequel novel The Lost World again through the character of Malcom. For starters chaos has nothing to do with the literal meaning. No nobody is creating chaos here in its nuisance connotation. To explain chaos theory in layman's terms - any system which has an expected outcome is said to be chaotic if its sensitive to the way it begins whereby the outcome becomes unexpected (chaotic). This of course is a very loose definition and also an incomplete definition. For more technical details see this.

Another related jargon is the "Butterfly Effect" which effectively summarises what or how a chaotic system is: Imagine a butterfly flapping its wings happily on a summer day! Now imagine that the air disturbance caused by its flapping sets of a series of events or series of such air disturbances which then result in a fierce tornado at some other place! So in the event if the butterfly were not flapping its wings in the first place the tornado wouldn't have happened !! Wow, that's something! In my childhood I used to think of such incidents. e.g. If I snap my fingers right now (or let out a low whistle or jump or anything else for that matter!), the series of events happening later will follow a certain course. But if I don't snap my fingers maybe a different set of events will follow! Who knows! I must choose to snap them or not, so cannot verify events following both! Something similar to the Butterfly Effect! Very very interesting indeed.

Icon

A legend came to an end yesterday. A maverick who became an icon after his first Wimbledon win in 1992 finally called it quits after his loss to Rafael Nadal at Wimbledon 2006. While his official career will end after US Open 2006 it was his last at the haven of professional tennis. For me Agassi's win in 1992 was why I seriously watched tennis thereafter.

I had initially discounted him for being just another junk American interested in style and fashion rather than his game. When he entered the international tennis scene he was mostly famous for his long hair and his women. But then he matured. (Lost all the long hair too!) In his entire tennis career he really hung in there. Pete Sampras first dethroned him but Agassi stayed on. Stars emerged, stars faded but Agassi stayed on. He kept fit, changed him game and did all that was needed to exist among incoming talents. Yesterday's match could had been different had Agassi won the first set but it was not to be! An emerging champion got the better of him. For the first time I saw the vanquished getting a standing applause. Deservedly so!

Beat traffic irritation

You'll find many people constanly cribbing about traffic in Pune. Slander will involve: lack of traffic sense, violation of traffic laws, bad roads etc etc. But I have found a solution to eliminate all that. Works for me. So I don't really care much if it doesn't work for you. But there is no reason why it won't work for you. Its totally foolproof actually. Basic: If the environment is causing trouble, beat the environment. Let me explain.

So here's my recipe for calmness while travelling on Pune roads:

Ingredients:
- A Bike (get rid of you Car)
- A gaudy coloured raincoat (obviously when raining) - fluorescent green or pink is best!
- A big hanky which can serve as a pollution mask
- A helmet (to protect your eyes)
- SONY h.EAR model headphones
- A discman in your bag (or Walkman or iPod etc) playing your kind of music.

Assumptions:
1. You are decent enough rider.
2. You love some kind of music very much.

Procedure:
1. Don your gaudy raincoat if its raining
2. Put on the SONY h.EAR headphones
3. Tie the hanky to cover your mouth and nose
4. Wear the helmet (SONY h.EAR come handy here since they fit well inside)
5. Turn on the music on slightly above-normal volume
6. Start riding with a slightly above-normal speed

Observations:
The gaudy coloured raincoat makes people shudder. Naturally they get out of your way or take your notice making your riding smooth. If its not raining you lose this advantage but that's OK. Assuming you are a decent enough rider, your subconscious mind takes control of the riding while you are enjoying your music. All turns, braking, acceleration, slipping through gaps in traffic etc is negotiated by your subconscious mind! After some time you feel as if you are in some different world and flying. The riding continues automatically. Rain, ditches, potholes, traffic-jams all just seem to vanish. In no time you have reached your destination! As you continue this everyday it becomes easier and easier.

Conclusion:
Adapting to the environment is the secret to survival and success !! Just give this technique a try! You'll know what I mean.

Poetic Justice?

Australia's football team got a raw deal yesterday. A "foul" in the D cost them a penalty and the match and thereby the dream to win the World Cup. Italy can't be blamed much really since it was the referee's call finally. This referee/umpire acumen issue is gaining much importance when it comes to identifying what is genuine and what is feigned. In cricket more and more batsmen are getting away with innovative "not playing a shot" techniques which save them from lbw decisions.

But leave that aside. As a cricket follower, I can't help but think that the Law of Karma was in effect yesterday. Simply put, the Australian football team paid for the ill-deeds the Australian cricket team commits on the field and gets away with it umpteen times. The complicity of the cricket match referee with Australia went against them with the football referee's decision. All this may sound absurd but in the words of former WI pacer Michael Holding - "God never sleeps. He may rest for a while but never sleeps"

Saturday Musings

7.30 pm: Cannot extract some really neat stuff from a external hard disk since the data was written on Linux and the Windows PC is confused !!? Sigh..

8.30 pm: Barbecued Chicken Pizza by Smokin' Joes! Wow. Smokin' Joes is THE Pizza brand!

8.45 pm - 9.30 pm: West Indies play some really poor cricket before lunch. Having 500+ on board with only 5 wickets down, instead of accelerating they score 20 runs from 14 overs. Shit. Some Lara subterfuge for sure.

10 pm - 12 am: Good session for the Indians with lots of wickets for Bhajji and some blazing batting by Sehwag and Jaffer.

12.30 am - 12.40 am: 2 goals scored in the first 10 minutes each by Argentina and Mexico. !! The World Cup gets alive and kicking.

12.40 am - 2.15 am: Argentina and Mexico maintain the 1-1 scoreline and play goes into extra time. I cannot resist sleep and doze off.

8.00 am: CNN-IBN website shows Argentina scored the winner goal 8 minutes after I slept last night.

Yeah Right!

You might have received an email (forward of course!) titled "How Niagara Falls Originated". The email has pictures of Niagara Falls (claiming the year to be 1869) with no water flowing over it. The picture also shows some construction vehicles/equipment nearby. That picture claims to be the Niagara Falls origin scene! I have had the privilege of seeing Niagara Falls and want to categorically state that the email is FALSE.

The pictures that you see in that email, where no water is falling over the Falls was a repair effort undertaken by the NY water authority some decades back. This was in response to a portion of one of the cliff rocks falling over due to erosion. To avoid such cases and thereby potential injuries, susceptible portions of the land mass were reinforced. The Niagara river was diverted for some time to fall over the horse-shoe section of the falls while the repair took place at the main location. That's why some photos show no water over the falls. After the repair was completed, the river was re diverted and the falls resumed.

(How Niagara Falls originated!...Yeah Right!)

Forsyth is King

That I am a fan of Frederick Forsyth's writing would be an understatement. I have thoroughly enjoyed 'The Day of The Jackal', 'Icon', 'The Fourth Protocol', 'No Comebacks' and 'The Odessa File' before. But the book I finished yesterday has surpassed all those! 'The Devil's Alternative' is by far, his most complex and thrilling book according to me. I should not be making such opinions since I have to read many of his novels yet but this is surely one of the best.

I can't remember sleeping so peacefully after digesting any climax. I finished the book at 12.45 am yesterday, 5 weeks after I started reading it! (I am a slow reader and many would laugh at my speed, I admit!) As always the book's Epilogue changes perspectives so dramatically that you awe at the literary and formulation skills of Forsyth. The last 3 paragraphs of the Epilogue makes an absolute mockery of the reader as to how he has smoothly been taken for a ride like one of the protagonists in the book!

For those who have not read the book here is a short synopsis.

Charlize & Deepkia

There's an uncanny similarity between the South African bombshell Charlize Theron and our very own supermodel Deepika Padukone ! Both are unusually tall, both have sandclock figures and both have the most awesome eyes.

Daughter of the ace badmiton player Prakash Padukone, Deepika is proving to be an ace on the Indian fashion scene. Entry into Bollywood is inevitable. Charlize on that front has been quite advanced with some dynamic academy-award winning performances.

From some of her interviews I've seen, Deepika seems to have a sensible and down to earth personality. May she attain all success in her career like Charlize. After all there is some similarlity!