This is the latest scandal to rock the beautiful game of Cricket. Don't know why ICC hasn't been able to weed out this problem once and for all. Even though this is something new compared to Hansie Cronje's days, one needs to get into the psyche of players to comprehend the reasons behind indulging in such deeds. The reason for doing this comes to down to one thing only i.e. Money.
Money has not been a problem since IPL started, we could pardon the past players on this reasoning that they didn't have this avenue to make money. Loads of money is being made by players since T20 came into the mainstream, especially IPL. We all missed one fact that the players who have been alleged in the recent spate of events belong to a country whose players have been barred from the IPL riches and to top it off IPL Nights as well. How can one bear not being a part of IPL Nights !
This ain't any reason to pardon the guilty, but this greed is not only because of the disparity of earnings between cricket and other mainstream sports. Cricket being a sport played my only few countries and having an addictive fan following only in the Indian Subcontinent; which is even now considered a developing region. Come to think of it these guys might be the highest earning sports-persons in their countries and way above their Per Capita Incomes.
The main reason behind players not being apprehensive about indulging in Spot Fixing can be lain on the lax regulatory and reprimanding policies of the ICC and respective country Cricket Boards. Everyone knows that all the players indicted in the earlier cases are still having a great time, they have found better sources to sustain themselves; some have been let off after serving bans of a maximum of 12 months and others have taken gladly to remunerating careers as Sport Commentators, Book Authors or Politicians.
So I feel the change should start from the top, making the ICC more responsible for the sport that it had been mandated to not only preserve but also spread.
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
Confusion Unlimited
This is that part of the year where one looks back at the goals and targets shortlisted at the beginning of the year.As always 2010 was ushered in with magnanimous goals and overflowing hopes. All's not well though, didn't clear one goal and dropped another due to under-preparedness and lack of motivation to pursue it. But there is light at the end of the tunnel, have pinned my hopes on a new goal, though am not sure whether I will pursue it or not. The clairvoyant's prognosis hasn't been encouraging, he told me that as per my stars I am not destined to achieve the new goal even if I try hard enough.
Thought about abandoning it as well, until I read a quote which goes as , " The difference between Successful person and Others is not a lack of strength, not a lack of knowledge, but rather in a lack of will ". So here I go once again on strength on this inspiring quote, this quote won't be strong enough to push me through, I will have to dig into the god given will-power. More than being successful this is one peak which I want to scale for the journey. And am doing it to beat my long time nemesis 'Sloth'.
Moving on from professional goals, other aspects of life are going pretty well. Waiting for Mom to get back. It's been long time since she left, and there's a constant feeling of something being amiss at home.
Thought about abandoning it as well, until I read a quote which goes as , " The difference between Successful person and Others is not a lack of strength, not a lack of knowledge, but rather in a lack of will ". So here I go once again on strength on this inspiring quote, this quote won't be strong enough to push me through, I will have to dig into the god given will-power. More than being successful this is one peak which I want to scale for the journey. And am doing it to beat my long time nemesis 'Sloth'.
Moving on from professional goals, other aspects of life are going pretty well. Waiting for Mom to get back. It's been long time since she left, and there's a constant feeling of something being amiss at home.
Monday, August 23, 2010
Malhar 2010
Malhar is the inter-college festival of St. Xavier's College, Mumbai. I couldn't make it to Malhar during my college days, ever. So when the opportunity came knocking, I was not going to let it go. Full credit for getting me in should go to Neha, as she was the one who arranged the VIP pass for me.
I spent my five year's of College, despising every tiny detail about my College ( am not proud about that fact, but still that's the truth ). On my way to attend the Festival, the sense of expectation was reigning high. Once inside, the first thought that came to my mind was, I should have taken admission in St. Xavier's. And I was thinking what could have been if I was in Xavier's. But no use crying over spilled milk, can't undone the past.
Positives about my visit are :-
1) Hot chicks - Couldn't get enough of the sights
2) Contagious enthusiasm
3) Amazing management of the event
4) Xavierites know how to have a blast
I went on the last day of the festival, and could catch only couple of the events - Rock Band Performance, War of the DJ's and The Fine Art Gallery. Not being a big fan of rock music I went to The Fine Art Gallery first, the art was contemporary and very well done. One can feel the kind of efforts put in by the pupils to get it up and running. Then to the War of the DJ's, it was good fun, great dancing, vuvuzelas and amazing music. A special tip for prospective aspirants to St. Xavier's College, the organisers get to dance on the stools, it's a great place to dance coupled with a great view of the event.
Finally we went to the Rock Music performances, won't be able to comment on them because for me it was just loud noise and a lot of screaming. But the crowd was having a blast, from the kind of cheering and hooting that bestowed on all the performers. Finally the best part about going to Malhar is getting an inside view of St. Xaveir's college itself, being a great fan of British Architecture, just being was there was intimidating.
By the end of it, I was thinking I got to be here next time too. Am not sure whether fate, will be kind enough on me once again.
I spent my five year's of College, despising every tiny detail about my College ( am not proud about that fact, but still that's the truth ). On my way to attend the Festival, the sense of expectation was reigning high. Once inside, the first thought that came to my mind was, I should have taken admission in St. Xavier's. And I was thinking what could have been if I was in Xavier's. But no use crying over spilled milk, can't undone the past.
Positives about my visit are :-
1) Hot chicks - Couldn't get enough of the sights
2) Contagious enthusiasm
3) Amazing management of the event
4) Xavierites know how to have a blast
I went on the last day of the festival, and could catch only couple of the events - Rock Band Performance, War of the DJ's and The Fine Art Gallery. Not being a big fan of rock music I went to The Fine Art Gallery first, the art was contemporary and very well done. One can feel the kind of efforts put in by the pupils to get it up and running. Then to the War of the DJ's, it was good fun, great dancing, vuvuzelas and amazing music. A special tip for prospective aspirants to St. Xavier's College, the organisers get to dance on the stools, it's a great place to dance coupled with a great view of the event.
Finally we went to the Rock Music performances, won't be able to comment on them because for me it was just loud noise and a lot of screaming. But the crowd was having a blast, from the kind of cheering and hooting that bestowed on all the performers. Finally the best part about going to Malhar is getting an inside view of St. Xaveir's college itself, being a great fan of British Architecture, just being was there was intimidating.
By the end of it, I was thinking I got to be here next time too. Am not sure whether fate, will be kind enough on me once again.
Friday, July 2, 2010
Amazing June
Come to think of it, June was an amazing month to watch TV. It couldn't get any better than this for couch potatoes. We had an amazing choice to choose from Asia Cup, England v Australia ODI series, Wimbledon, French open and the greatest of them all FIFA World Cup. All of them were amazing contests and for a sports enthusiast it was a difficult choice to make. But even after all these amazing sporting events I sorely missed watching Saina Nehwal win three world series in a row, they could have atleast televised the Indonesian Series ( the third and the latest one ).
It was a fantabulous achievement and a welcome change for Indians who are constantly bred on sports news based on the cricket team's ups and downs, a tennis star's ( supposedly ) marriage gossip and the hockey team's continuous spiral downwards. Hopefully this achievement might cause a revival in Badminton, which traces it's roots in British India.
Another TV show that begun in the last week of June was Glee on Star World, has caught my imagination and has filled the void left by Scrubs. Glee is a quintessential story of American High School where losers are trying to gain an entry in the school's happening crowd. So a professor, who also happened to the an ex-student of the school, resurrects a club which was the toast of the school in his hey-days,and he was a part of. The club is called the 'Glee Club', who are preparing for a song and dance competition with the help of the Professor, and the plot is of the underdogs taking on the big boys.
Moving on from Television, reading novels has also become a great past-time. Had taken a consious decision of not reading Fiction novels, so these days have been read books on History, Philosophy and Economics. Have bought a few books on the same and after a lot of procrastination, I have finally taken up reading 'Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World', am close to finishing it, probably by next week. My next blog would be on a personal review of the book, something which I have planned to do for all the books that I read.
It was a fantabulous achievement and a welcome change for Indians who are constantly bred on sports news based on the cricket team's ups and downs, a tennis star's ( supposedly ) marriage gossip and the hockey team's continuous spiral downwards. Hopefully this achievement might cause a revival in Badminton, which traces it's roots in British India.
Another TV show that begun in the last week of June was Glee on Star World, has caught my imagination and has filled the void left by Scrubs. Glee is a quintessential story of American High School where losers are trying to gain an entry in the school's happening crowd. So a professor, who also happened to the an ex-student of the school, resurrects a club which was the toast of the school in his hey-days,and he was a part of. The club is called the 'Glee Club', who are preparing for a song and dance competition with the help of the Professor, and the plot is of the underdogs taking on the big boys.
Moving on from Television, reading novels has also become a great past-time. Had taken a consious decision of not reading Fiction novels, so these days have been read books on History, Philosophy and Economics. Have bought a few books on the same and after a lot of procrastination, I have finally taken up reading 'Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World', am close to finishing it, probably by next week. My next blog would be on a personal review of the book, something which I have planned to do for all the books that I read.
Monday, May 17, 2010
Sweltering May
It's that month of the year which everyone wants to get over as soon as possible and usher in the rains. But like everything in this world, May also has it's pluses and minuses. So let us look at the positives and things we will miss after May is done and dusted.
1) Mango tops the list of things which will be missed as May comes to an end and rains start to pour.
2) Summer vacations come to an end.
3) Number of hours available for cricket will reduce, as rains play spoilsport.
4) The visit to the golawala, for a weekly dose of gola.
These are a few of the things that I would miss, when May days are over. But why do we forget the reason for the sweltering weather is of our own doing, Global Warming, so lets brace ourselves for an even warmer May next year.
1) Mango tops the list of things which will be missed as May comes to an end and rains start to pour.
2) Summer vacations come to an end.
3) Number of hours available for cricket will reduce, as rains play spoilsport.
4) The visit to the golawala, for a weekly dose of gola.
These are a few of the things that I would miss, when May days are over. But why do we forget the reason for the sweltering weather is of our own doing, Global Warming, so lets brace ourselves for an even warmer May next year.
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
Broke and on the Road in Goa
Come to think of it we just saved our asses from being booked for a misdemeanour: breaking into the Central Jail. But in our defence we weren't aware that it was a Central Jail, there was no one at the checkpost and the gates were open. This makes a pretty bad reading for our jail security measures, but isn't this how things work in India. To their credit they did catch us within a minute of entering the jail premises.
After cajoling them for 2 hours not to press charges, we continued our journey to Baga, Goa. I was apprehensive from the moment Sunny proposed that we hire bikes and go off to North Goa, but had to give in when Prajnesh, Viraj and Gautam concurred with Sunny and hence the stakes were against me. It was loathsome to leave the calmness and serenity of South Goa and head off to the more happening and lively parts. But as the day went by things got even more interesting. We had an amazing time riding in the rain and it was 6 pm by the time we reached Calangute Beach, June being an off-season we had the beach pretty much to ourselves. All of us hadn't drove for 2 hours to have the beach for ourselves, the action was missing, so we sent Sunny to find some action for us.
As per Sunny's prognosis we would have to kill some time as it was too early for any kind of action to begin; so we loitered around on the road connecting Calangute to Baga taking in the rare views. Between the five of us we had around 1500 bucks after paying for the bikes and petrol, as we weren't going to spend the night at Baga we were on a shoe-string budget. Party where-ever we can, if we could get in and then drive back to our base - Cavellosim Beach. Plans have a tendency to unwind into something completely different from what was conceived.
The clock struck nine and after having some crumps for dinner, we were on the hunt for rave parties or should I say a party. I haven't put in so much of effort ever before in searching for something and in the end not even coming close to finding it. Should have taken my Mom along with us, because she is very adept at pointing out the exact location of things at home which I am searching for. After scavenging every nook and corner of Baga-Calangute for 2 hours we deicded to assemble at the town-centre to contemplate our next move. Prajnesh, Viraj and I were the first to reach there, while we were waiting for Gautam and Sunny to turn up, Prajnesh decided to get some info from a passerby. He started by asking him about the hotel rates, the directions for Cavellossim and then out of nowhere he asked the fellow whether Goa police patrol the roads at night.
The mention of Goa police caught the fancy of the passerby and he asked us why we were so concerned about them, the big mouth Prajnesh had to tell him that we didn't have driving licenses, just when Prajnesh said that, the passerby unbuttoned his raincoat to reveal to our astonishment his police uniform. WOW! We were going get jacked 'again', the night just got better. So we started with the normal routine of blandishments and finally we had to bribe him because his asking price ticked upwards whenever we said something. Now left with only 300 bucks and lassitude, we decided to begin our journey back to the sanctity of our hotel beds in Cavellossim. Not paying heed to the police officer's advice of booking a room at Baga, due to paucity of funds we decided to leave.
By the time we reached the highway he came across another police checkpost and we had to go through the whole ignominy once again. So we offered them the only money we had, which was too less for him as we had paid a similar amount to only one office and here they were three. So after a lot of cajoling we were let go. But this time we did listen to them as they told us that several checkposts will be found at this time of the hour on the highway. The one of the two options was to continue on our journey and end up in trouble/jail as we had no money left to bribe anyone and the other one was to go back and crash in Baga.
We decided to go back and pass the night in some bar, on the way back we were being followed by a police van and we thought that they are chasing us. Now we didn't need this at this point of time. We made some turns and ended up in the middle of somewhere, there was a bar nearby which was open, we parked the bikes at a frantic pace and made a dash for the bar. The bar owner told us that he was taking his last order and if we wanted to stay back then we needed to buy something. Gautam found out that the cheapest thing we could do there was to play pool, we could stretch a game for a few hours, couldn't we ? So I don't know how but we could gather 75 bucks in small change, for one frame of pool, from that point onwards we were completely broke.
The bar was nearly empty, so the owner came over to the pool table for a chat, we were so happy to spill the beans and pour our hearts out. He was very sympathetic to what we had gone through but he told us that he shutting down in 30mins so we had to make a move. We tagged along with him on the way to his house, he then he gave us a brilliant idea to spend the night on the beach. This was our only way to spend another 4 hours till dawn, after 6 am there weren't going to be any police checkposts. So he showed us the way and told us to follow the sound of the waves to reach the beach. But our night wasn't going to end in such a lame manner, so while on our way to the beach, we encountered our final(hopefully) nemesis, 'stray dogs'.
We had had enough, so we decided not to go any further and camp on the road. We passed the remaining hours camped on a road in a resedential area, reminiscing about the day gone by and how it would be something that all of us would never forget. Those 4 hours we had a really great time talking to each other, it was time well spent in the end. At the crack of dawn we got to our bikes and rode non-stop for another 2 hours to Cavelossim. All of us crashed in our beds till.....
After cajoling them for 2 hours not to press charges, we continued our journey to Baga, Goa. I was apprehensive from the moment Sunny proposed that we hire bikes and go off to North Goa, but had to give in when Prajnesh, Viraj and Gautam concurred with Sunny and hence the stakes were against me. It was loathsome to leave the calmness and serenity of South Goa and head off to the more happening and lively parts. But as the day went by things got even more interesting. We had an amazing time riding in the rain and it was 6 pm by the time we reached Calangute Beach, June being an off-season we had the beach pretty much to ourselves. All of us hadn't drove for 2 hours to have the beach for ourselves, the action was missing, so we sent Sunny to find some action for us.
As per Sunny's prognosis we would have to kill some time as it was too early for any kind of action to begin; so we loitered around on the road connecting Calangute to Baga taking in the rare views. Between the five of us we had around 1500 bucks after paying for the bikes and petrol, as we weren't going to spend the night at Baga we were on a shoe-string budget. Party where-ever we can, if we could get in and then drive back to our base - Cavellosim Beach. Plans have a tendency to unwind into something completely different from what was conceived.
The clock struck nine and after having some crumps for dinner, we were on the hunt for rave parties or should I say a party. I haven't put in so much of effort ever before in searching for something and in the end not even coming close to finding it. Should have taken my Mom along with us, because she is very adept at pointing out the exact location of things at home which I am searching for. After scavenging every nook and corner of Baga-Calangute for 2 hours we deicded to assemble at the town-centre to contemplate our next move. Prajnesh, Viraj and I were the first to reach there, while we were waiting for Gautam and Sunny to turn up, Prajnesh decided to get some info from a passerby. He started by asking him about the hotel rates, the directions for Cavellossim and then out of nowhere he asked the fellow whether Goa police patrol the roads at night.
The mention of Goa police caught the fancy of the passerby and he asked us why we were so concerned about them, the big mouth Prajnesh had to tell him that we didn't have driving licenses, just when Prajnesh said that, the passerby unbuttoned his raincoat to reveal to our astonishment his police uniform. WOW! We were going get jacked 'again', the night just got better. So we started with the normal routine of blandishments and finally we had to bribe him because his asking price ticked upwards whenever we said something. Now left with only 300 bucks and lassitude, we decided to begin our journey back to the sanctity of our hotel beds in Cavellossim. Not paying heed to the police officer's advice of booking a room at Baga, due to paucity of funds we decided to leave.
By the time we reached the highway he came across another police checkpost and we had to go through the whole ignominy once again. So we offered them the only money we had, which was too less for him as we had paid a similar amount to only one office and here they were three. So after a lot of cajoling we were let go. But this time we did listen to them as they told us that several checkposts will be found at this time of the hour on the highway. The one of the two options was to continue on our journey and end up in trouble/jail as we had no money left to bribe anyone and the other one was to go back and crash in Baga.
We decided to go back and pass the night in some bar, on the way back we were being followed by a police van and we thought that they are chasing us. Now we didn't need this at this point of time. We made some turns and ended up in the middle of somewhere, there was a bar nearby which was open, we parked the bikes at a frantic pace and made a dash for the bar. The bar owner told us that he was taking his last order and if we wanted to stay back then we needed to buy something. Gautam found out that the cheapest thing we could do there was to play pool, we could stretch a game for a few hours, couldn't we ? So I don't know how but we could gather 75 bucks in small change, for one frame of pool, from that point onwards we were completely broke.
The bar was nearly empty, so the owner came over to the pool table for a chat, we were so happy to spill the beans and pour our hearts out. He was very sympathetic to what we had gone through but he told us that he shutting down in 30mins so we had to make a move. We tagged along with him on the way to his house, he then he gave us a brilliant idea to spend the night on the beach. This was our only way to spend another 4 hours till dawn, after 6 am there weren't going to be any police checkposts. So he showed us the way and told us to follow the sound of the waves to reach the beach. But our night wasn't going to end in such a lame manner, so while on our way to the beach, we encountered our final(hopefully) nemesis, 'stray dogs'.
We had had enough, so we decided not to go any further and camp on the road. We passed the remaining hours camped on a road in a resedential area, reminiscing about the day gone by and how it would be something that all of us would never forget. Those 4 hours we had a really great time talking to each other, it was time well spent in the end. At the crack of dawn we got to our bikes and rode non-stop for another 2 hours to Cavelossim. All of us crashed in our beds till.....
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
Dada rules my heart !
Good to see Dada in the thick of things once again in IPL 3, from the forgetful South African safari to this year's poor show in the great Indian tamasha. Things haven't changed much on the points table, other than the return of Dada's killer captaincy moves. He was more successful in his previous avatar as the captain of the Indian cricket team. Everything comes to a naught even after his deft bowling changes and field placements, the team's complete lack of performance and fighting spirit has led KKR to lose even from decent positions.
IPL 3 has caught everyone's imagination this year too and the most spoken/discussed topic is which team are you following ? Being in Mumbai one can't miss the euphoria around this year's table toppers, Mumbai Indians and Sachin's batting prowess accompanied with his recently developed captaincy skills. There is no doubt about the fact that he possesses one of the best cricketing minds in the world. So being a KKR fan in Mumbai is looked upon with indignation and ridicule.
Constantly being reminded about the team's mediocre performance and being a butt of all the jokes in IPL 2, I was relieved to see that this year's honour goes to Kings XI Punjab. The hostilities have not ceased as yet, the deteriorating performance of KKR in IPL 3 makes me question my unequivocal support for them. However, everytime the question arises from within or outside, my faith in the team is reiterated just because of one man, Sourav Ganguly. From Day 1 there is only one team oops one man who is worthy of my support. So this is for all my friends, relatives and to top it off for my Dad, that my partisan support will continue for any team that has Dada in it.
Realistically speaking I might have to choose a new team to support most probably in a year or two. But being a person who always favours the underdog I think I might end up supporting KKR all my life.
IPL 3 has caught everyone's imagination this year too and the most spoken/discussed topic is which team are you following ? Being in Mumbai one can't miss the euphoria around this year's table toppers, Mumbai Indians and Sachin's batting prowess accompanied with his recently developed captaincy skills. There is no doubt about the fact that he possesses one of the best cricketing minds in the world. So being a KKR fan in Mumbai is looked upon with indignation and ridicule.
Constantly being reminded about the team's mediocre performance and being a butt of all the jokes in IPL 2, I was relieved to see that this year's honour goes to Kings XI Punjab. The hostilities have not ceased as yet, the deteriorating performance of KKR in IPL 3 makes me question my unequivocal support for them. However, everytime the question arises from within or outside, my faith in the team is reiterated just because of one man, Sourav Ganguly. From Day 1 there is only one team oops one man who is worthy of my support. So this is for all my friends, relatives and to top it off for my Dad, that my partisan support will continue for any team that has Dada in it.
Realistically speaking I might have to choose a new team to support most probably in a year or two. But being a person who always favours the underdog I think I might end up supporting KKR all my life.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)