Month of Cricket World Cup 2011

Here we are....as I write this piece, we are some 13 days away from start of the biggest sporting event in the country...the Cricket World Cup. Everyone is busy in their own ways...marketers are pondering over the money they need to spend for their brands, workers at the ground venue are perhaps working over shifts to meet the deadline which we never believe in meeting, fanatics are figuring out ways to get hold of the prized ticket for the matches etc etc. In the midst of all these, some of our players are worried about their brand endorsements & regulations imposed by ICC.

Everyone feels this year the world cup is pretty open with the dominance of Australia in the world cricket waning...i would have endorsed the thought as well a week back but not anymore. England may have won the Ashes in Australia & every Brit maybe proud about that, but as their tour down under is culminating they have done some serious damage to other teams. They have instilled the belief in Australia that they are still a champion side & they can surely lift the cup again. Australian team was low on motivation post a series of losses recently & they were with their backs to the wall but the tables have turn around & just before the world cup the team is peaking & finding their form just at the right time. So if you would ask me now, I wouldn't discount this team.

For some strange reason I feel this world cup is going to be an event of surprises & of minnows. Though am pretty bad at predicting, am still taking a chance here.....I think Bangladesh is gonna surprise a lot of teams. Not too sure if they would go & lift the cup (dont laugh at me....funny things have happened in the past..dont forget 1983) but I do feel Bangladesh will break a lot of hearts this season.

And with the emotions running very deep & strong.... my heart wants the Cup to be lifted by a man called Mahendra Singh Dhoni....not for him as much as I wish it for the Little Master, the Little Champion - Sir Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar...what a fitting end would it be for a man who has given so much entertainment, so much passion & so much love to this nation & to the game.

If I am allowed to have my pick / choices..it would be something like this:

Gut Feel - Australia (Just because they are coming together at the right time)
Head - South Africa (Good team balance & a deep batting line up)
Dark Horse - Bangladesh (I know you are still Laughing at me)
Heart - India (Lacks depth in bowling - a major concern)

Well I have chosen 4 teams & I am not playing safe, these are my favourites with their reasons....lets see how many of them make to the Semis...

Adieus

Digitally Yourz,

Very recently I came across a nice piece of article in a newspaper that spoke about the complex new age modes of communication. The age of all the Facebooks & Twitters of the world.

Its quite acceptable that change is inevitable, but some changes that we presume that are interesting & amazing for the mankind are perhaps not so great in the hindsight. I am talking about how Social Networking Sites (SNS) that are affecting people’s lives. Every second day I come across articles that mention why & how a certain SNS have turned out to be a curse… like Facebook being blamed in a particular city in England for spreading a sexually transmitted disease (Syphilis)……wondering how is that possible??? …it said according to the researchers Facebook provided opportunity for people to meet strangers for casual meetings which further led to casual unprotected sex thereby spreading the disease. There have also been reports in the past of how FB is fast leading to break ups & divorce among young couples due to blatant flirting by few.

As it is rightly said…every coin has 2 sides & there are undoubtedly lots of positives about these SNSs as well. The point is perhaps most of the people fail to understand where to draw the line of privacy. The moment you bring your personal life out into such an open forum you are doing nothing but inviting trouble for yourself knowingly or unknowingly. Privacy seems to be something that’s not private anymore thanks to GMail, Facebook, Twitter etc etc. Anything and everything from a break off to a new relation, Marriage to a child birth, promotion to being ignored for a sal hike, vacationing on a beach to being sitting late in the office….you will find everything from various people flaunting their life as their status. Sometimes I find myself consoling a friend on a chat who just broke off and at the same time wishing another friend for his wedding that’s due soon. Jeez!!! How weird is that. Gone are the days of calling up your dear friend when you are feeling low & waiting to meet him/her to share your pain. Today we let the world know our state of mind. Maybe I belong to old school of thoughts but I find it really strange.

Going by the trend I shudder to think where will we end up? As it is most people are willing to provide an hourly if not minute wise update of their personal life. We hear celebrities don’t have a private life, I wonder do we have one today…and the worst part is we are not even celebrities & we don’t even enjoy their privileges. Food for thought…..look before you leap & think before you type.
Amen.

So Called Goliaths Have Fallen

That was 24th September 2007 in South Africa & the Indian Team had the world at their feet. They had defeated their arch rivals Pakistan in what looked like a match which had slipped out of their hand. Dhoni made some brave decisions throughout the tournament & it looked like he was a man with a midas touch. Everything & just about everything fell in place for Dhoni & he won the tournament, the World Cup of the shortest version of cricket as of today with a team that didnt have too many big names then.

Cut the scene to June 2009 England. The Indian Team had arrived after a season of cash rich IPL which saw many players around the world laughing their way to the bank having their pockets filled like never before. Couple of players were more than happy to be part of IPL than representing their national team for obvious reasons. Anyways, team India were one of the favourites to lift the cup this year too because of the star studded line up & also the captain at the helm was the same man - the super cool - Dhoni.

The tournament started with the minnows Netherlands upsetting the home team England in the first match itself. Not many complained because T20 is one of the most unpredictable format of the game & it just set the tone for the surprises that would be unfolded. And there was no shoratge of suprises as Australians failed to qualify into super 8 stage from their group.

Indians started tentatively with their game against Bangladesh but got their acts together against a fighting Ireland Team. First game of super 8 for Indians saw a defeat been handed over to them by one of the most unpredictable team of the tournament - The West Indies, you can never say what to expect from them. West Indies can come as a lethal bomb on one day if Gayle fires at the start on other day they might be the team with all kind of fielding & batting lapses. But watch out for them, they are just coming together at the right time as a match winning side.
Indias next encounter was a do or die against an English side that doesnt look too impressive. On papers India were clearly the favourites with the quality of players they have in their side. A modest English side handed a modest defeat to Indians, there by shutting the doors for India in this World Cup. There were few brows raised over Dhoni's decision to send Ravindra Jadeja over the inform Yuvraj Singh. But these were the same people who were all praise for Dhoni's courage when he handed the ball to a lesser mortal Joginder Sharma for the final over during the finals in 2007. It clicked then but it didnt this time & as they say uneasy lies the head that wears the crown. Suddenly everybody seems to be gunning down Dhoni & the media is more than happy since they would want to give their share as well after been subject to few harsh press conferences from him.

Team India takes South Africa in their last match which looks like the most probable team to lift the cup this year. This will be more of a practice match for South Africa & a matter of some pride to take home for India. Look out for a very comfortable win for India if am allowed to predict in this match. Three teams have qualified for the place in semi final so far- South Africa, West Indies & Pakistan. Sri Lanka & New Zealand play the decider for the 4th slot today. On a personal level I would like to see a New Zealand & West Indies in the final since they are the so called weekest of the remaining lot & all of us love to see the Dark Horses win, dont we? Dont forget its a T20 where anything & everything is possible. Amen

And the Oscar Goes to.......

So all the hype & hoopla about Slumdog making history at the academy awards is slowly & gradually settling now. No doubt it was a very well made movie....& deserves all the accolades that the movie has been bestowed with. But to call it an Indian movie & to take the credit is absolutely ridiculous.

It is no doubt a foreign movie, made by a foreign director & clearly made for international audience. Just to site an example of this is the fact that the movie didnt even release here in India officialy before winning couple of International Awards. Infact I would say, one of the reason for the movie not doing too well commercially here in India was the fact that most of the people had already seen the movie on pirated DVD even before its release in India. Lets also take this into account, now since the movie has done so exceptionally well & has been acknowledged by the premium most jury in the world of cinema (I personally dont know if thats true.....its just the craze among almost every movie maker to be at the Oscars & win someday)is this movie going to be nominated at any of our esteemed film awards??? Well, doesnt that say it all????

I think, we as Indians should be proud of the fact that 3 of our talented people (Resul Pookoty, A R Rahman & Gulzar saab) from the film industry has been acknowledged at an international forum. Nothing beyond that should we take home & be proud of. On the contrary, our film makers should be ashamed that it took an international director to come to India & make a movie like "Slumdog Millionaire".

When i saw the film, I was amazed that somebody who is not completely aware of our culture could come down & capture the sentiments like Danny Boyle & his team did. Well no doubt they must have got lot of support from their Indian team, but that cant be argued since they would have been available to our Indian film makers as well.

Then there were few in our country (including some film makers) who complained about the concept & story & the fact that it showed our country in poor light. Bless me...was there anything in the film that they showed which is not true?????....the slum literally sharing their property (if i can call it so) with airport, the riots, the way children are made to beg for money, the under world....perhaps the movie surely had its share of exageration, so what??? which movie doesnt???? So what do we make out of these people??? Are they ashamed of the fact that it showed India in a poor light or that none of our people could make such a movie with a story by an Indian the way Danny & his team did..........well we can imagine which of the one is the case, cant we???

One more aspect & the reason that slumdog won so many awards at the academy might have something to do with the viewership of the award show last year which was it seems the lowest it recoreded in recent years. Well you must be thinking whats the link. Well let me explain this, its a fact that there is a sizeable number of Indians present across the globe, thanks to our ever exploding population, so what better way to up the viewership & attract more sponsors...bestow the movie that would attract so many eyeballs & make news even before the awards, so that you ensure you achieve what you want to. So dont be surprised if we get few more awards in the coming years soon. Maybe the next would be the best international film. Wait & watch.

So finally with the dust settling & after some battering by few, some accolades, lets accept the fact that Slumdog Millionaire wasnt an Indian film by the stretch of any imagination & of the 8 awards, we deserved it in only 3 cases. So lets take this to our chin & hope that someday we will have directors like Danny Boyle who will make us proud by our own movie made in India by Indians....we will wait for such a day. Amen.

Cricket Crazy Nation

Often I come acrozz thiz statement that "Cricket is over hyped in our country"...by thoze who hate cricket for some reasonz.....I can understand such a statement by a sports person who iz doing well in hiz sport which may not be cricket.... but not getting hiz due recognition.

Then there are those set of people who feel bad for other sportz that not getting popular. And often Cricket iz held responsible for the lack of popularity of theze sportz....Alas! nobody ever triez to figure out the reason behind Cricket's Succezz in thiz Country.

I feel & thiz iz juz my thought...that India became a cricket crazy nation post 1983 World Cup succezz & luckily for all the cricket fanz like me..thiz waz the period when television started pentrating each house hold....1983 succezz waz followed by winning "The World Championship of Cricket" in 1985 & we all love winning & watchin our nation winning while competing against other country makez uz even more proud....thtz precisely wat happened....people started watching more & more of cricket & if not great succezz but atleast India performed better in thiz sport. Slowly & steadily with thiz support India waz developing into a power house of Cricket which it iz today. Older generation would perhapz argue on thiz sayin they say succezz of cricket much before 1983 when we won Test seriez in England & they are right. But winning doesnt count if you are not winning consistently & that waz the difference between the teamz of the 1970'z & 80'z......

Am sure the people who complain of Cricket'z popularity still would not like to agree to wat I say...but I would just like to say one thing to them...we all strive 4 that one medal at Olympicz(which v got finally), we wish we had one Tennis playerz who cud get uz grand slamz(In the individual category), maybe a formula one driver who would win one Driver's championship, one golfer who would give Tiger Woodz a run for hiz money...but till we get that one person why not boast & raise a toast for our Cricket Championz who make uz proud atleast once in a while?????

And dont forget India rulez even the World Cricket Governing Body becoz of itz power....so letz be proud of wat we have while we wait for other Championz of India 2 Rise.....