poem : the ant and the cricket

A silly young cricket, accustomed to sing
Through the warm, sunny months of gay summer and spring,
Began to complain, when he found that at home
His cupboard was empty and winter was come.

Not a crumb to be found
On the snow-covered ground;
Not a flower could he see,
Not a leaf on a tree.

“Oh, what will become,” says the cricket, “of me?”
At last by starvation and famine made bold,
All dripping with wet and all trembling with cold,
Away he set off to a miserly ant
To see if, to keep him alive, he would grant

Him shelter from rain.
A mouthful of grain
He wished only to borrow,
He’d repay it to-morrow;
If not helped, he must die of starvation and sorrow.










Says the ant to the cricket: “I’m your servant and friend,
But we ants never borrow, we ants never lend.
Pray tell me, dear sir, did you lay nothing by
When the weather was warm?” Said the cricket, “Not I.
My heart was so light
That I sang day and night,
For all nature looked gay.”
“You sang, sir, you say?
Go then,” said the ant, “and sing winter away.”

Thus ending, he hastily lifted the wicket
And out of the door turned the poor little cricket.
Though this is a fable, the moral is good—
If you live without work, you must live without food.

Sachin Tendulkar ... Who Said What About Him

Last week Sachin celebrated his 36th birthday on 24th of March. I wanted to write a tribute to him but did not find much time. I will probably do that when he hangs-up his gloves and bat. For now, all I can say is that its a real shame that we are not getting to see him bat in the current IPL T20 season else Mumbai Indians would have been in much better position in the points tally. I just pray for his speedy recovery and hope he gets back to the field as soon as possible, and entertain the crowds as he has been doing for past 19 years.

For the time being, as a tribute, I have a listed a collection of quotes on Sachin. Read them and enjoy !!!

• K R Wadhwaney: "Batting has been God's gift to him. Candidly, Sir Donald Bradman, a boy from Bowrel, had not been as gifted as India's little young man."

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• Mohinder Amarnath: "A complete batsman- he's the best in the business."

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• Lalchand Rajput, Former Mumbai captain: "Even as a teenager he always seemed very focused and alert on the field. He learnt his lessons fast."

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• Prof. R. Shetty, Secretary MCA: "We are proud to possess him due to his commitment to Mumbai and Indian cricket."

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• Harsha Bhogle: "There's no better sight on the cricket field than watch Tendulkar bat."

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• Raj Singh, Former President Indian Cricket Board: "I was very impressed the first time I saw him bat as a little boy at the Cricket Club of India."

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• Don Bradman: I saw him playing on television and was struck by his technique, so I asked my wife to come look at him. Now I never saw myself play, but I feel that this player is playing much the same as I used to play, and she looked at him on Television and said yes, there is a similarity between the two...hi compactness, technique, stroke production... it all seemed to gel!

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• David Boon: "Technically he stands out as the best because of his ability to increase the pace at will".

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• Jeff Thompson: "Sachin is an attacker. He has much more power than Sunny. He wants to be the one to set the pace. He has to be on top. That's the buzz about him."

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• Shane Warne: You have to decide for yourself whether you're bowling well or not. He's going to hit you for fours and sixes anyway. Kasprowicz has a superior story. During the Bangalore Test, frustrated, he went to Dennis Lillee and asked, "Mate, do you see any weaknesses?" Lillee replied, "No Michael, as long as you walk off with your pride that's all you can do."

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• Mark Taylor: "He's a phenomenon. We have to be switched on when he plays allow him no boundries, for then he doesn't stop."

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• Ian Healy: "Tendulkar is the most complete batsman I have stood behind. I saw the hundred in Perth on a bouncy pitch with Hughes, McDermott and Whitney gunning for him - he only had 60-odd when No 11 came in. I've seen him against Warne too."

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• Ian Chappell: "Harder he works, the luckier he gets."

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• Richie Benaud: "He has defined cricket in his fabulous, impeccable manner. He is to batting what Shane Warne is to bowling."

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• Mike Coward: "Sachin's the best. I've had this view since I saw him score that hundred in Sydney in 1992. He's the most composed batsman I've ever seen."

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• Paul Wilson: "He's better than Ben Hur.

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• Mark Waugh: "The pressure on me is nothing as compared to Sachin Tendulkar. Sachin, like God, must never fail. The crowd always expects him to succeed and it is too much pressure on him."

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• Glenn McGrath: "I still think Tendulkar is the best batsmen in the world ahead of Steve Waugh and Lara"

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• Sir. Gary Sobers: "He is currently the best batsman in the world."

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• Brian Lara: "He's a genius. I'm a mere mortal."

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• Micheal Holding: "Sachin's undoubtedly no.1 today but I wouldn't start comparing him with Viv Richards till he scores hundreds against quality fast bowlers on fast pitches."

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• Vivian Richards: "He's 99.5 percent perfect. I'd pay to see him."

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• Wesley Halls: "The only way to stop him is to keep him off the strike."

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• Vivian Richards: "He's always ready, it's a mental preparedness thing. I too focused on being aggressive. But Sachin has something special. He's blessed."

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• Clive Lloyd: "He is a tremendous cricketer. He is young and has got a lot of ability. He's got his own style. He has got the temperament for big cricket and I hope that he goes from strength to strength."

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• Brian Lara: "He is a very good batsman. Perhaps he is the best in the world now. If he plays consistently he will go down in history as a great cricketer."

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• Tony Greig: "He is cool, has magnificent temperament, and is so mature you tend to forget his age. I can't think of any other example of a player who has so dominated the world before the age of 25."

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• Ted Dexter: (who chaired the panel, the Coopers & Lybrand award as the International Test player of the year) "This year Tendulkar has been the batsman nobody wanted to bowl at. He took Shane Warne apart in India, which illustrates his genius."

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• The Rev David Shepherd: "Sachin Tendulkar! If he isn't the best player in the world, I want to see the best player in the world."

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• Tony Lewis: "He has a most competitive temperament. He has not needed special coaches to teach him how to compete. It is inbuilt."

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• Adam Hollioke: "In an over I can bowl six different balls. But then Sachin looks at me with a sort of gentle arrogance down the pitch as if to say 'Can you bowl me another one?'"

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• Tony Grieg: "There's no doubt about it. He is the best."

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• Geoffrey Boycott: "Technically, you can't fault Sachin. Seam or spin, fast or slow - nothing is a problem."

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• Peter Roebuck: "Sometime back I had written a piece that said that Sachin's the master and Lara a genius with his head high up somewhere. That's it."

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• Kieth Fletcher: "A little genius. Reminds me of Sunny Gavaskar."

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• Eddie Barlow: "He is Sachin Tendulkar. I hope he stays Sachin Tendulkar. We need a new player, a player in his own way. He has a technique which is the hallmark of a great player. Everything indicates that he will be a great player and I am sure he will prove me right. Reminds me of Barry Richards."

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• Barry Richards: "Destined to be a great."

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• Paul Strang: "What we (Zimbabwe) need is 10 Tendulkars."

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• Dave Houghton: "Other players might keep India in business in the '99 World Cup but victory shall only come through his bat."

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• Wasim Akram: "He has everything a top batsman needs. Tendulkar is a classic example of a player being so good that his age is an irrelevance"

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• Asif Iqbal: (after India won at Sharjah) "He has given a new dimension to batting. Such dominance can break the heart of the best of bowlers. I was never tired of watching this wonderful batsman."

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• INDIA TODAY describing Sachin's 155* at Chennai, 1998 vs Australia: "There is no way to tell it. The art of fiction is dead. Reality has strangled invention. Only the utterly impossible, the inexpressibly fantastic can ever be plausible again."

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• Garth Jones (Scorer for the press in Napier, NZ): "We know a big innings from the prodigy means a definite loss for New Zealand, but it is worth it."

Let me end the post with these words: Cricket is religion, Sachin is GOD.

Prostitution Of Cricket

Let me declare at the very outset that I am a huge cricket buff. I have been watching cricket for 20 years now; every knock of Tendulkar gives me a reason to smile, every catch of Yuvi/Kaif raised my hope of winning, every inning of Dravid made me feel solid.....I can go on, but thats not the point here.

What I am trying to get to is that, inspite of my love for the game, the recent auction of players for the IPL [Indian Premier League] has left me dazed and confused. The astronomical amounts that the franchisees have gutted out is incredible. And in all this trade and commerce, the game has been sidelined. In a bid to cash-on in the name of the game, we have lost the essential meaning of cricket. Its turned into a milch cow for the entertainment industry.

India no doubt has only two passions - bollywood and cricket. And when these two big forms of entertainment join hands then a whole lot of revenue can be generated. You may then ask me what's the harm ?? Well, it's gonna hurt the game. We will have a whole lot of cricket but no real sports.

Anyways, what I detest most is the fact that the players were auctioned. That's so demeaning for the players, what is this .... a whorehouse?? Why couldn't they do this in privy and just make an announcement that 'x' player was signed up for a contract of 'yz,000,000' amount. Wouldn't this show the players and the promoters in good light?? But no, they wanted a 'tamasha' to display money power and do some body-shopping.

Now, the consequence would be that....the players will feel like they have been a part of major flesh trade racquet and they will have to perform out of their skins to justify the amount for which they were 'purchased'. If this isn't akin to prostitution then what is it ?? What's worse is that, they will be forced to give their best here and this will result in a below-par performance when they will be representing the country in international test matches and ODI's. We have already seen that in premier leagues involving other sports like baseball and football, players refuse to play for their home country and/or fake injuries so that they can keep themselves fit for the club they have signed-up to play for. They put their mouth where the money is.

Enough spoken about the game, now let's take a look at bollywood which indulged a great deal in the auctions. SRK had to dance half-naked to 'dard-e-disco' and he did a whole lot of gymanstics to sell his movie OSO whose production value was 60 crores. Now that he is putting 400 crores just imagine how much of heavy advertising and promotions he will have to do. He may have to sell himself or dance naked in the stadium to attract the spectators and boost the sales of tickets. And he is not the only one who will be doing so. He will bring a bevy of stars along with him. Then, there's Vijay Mallya who will bring in the glamour quotient with all those kingfisher calendar girls. Mukesh Ambani will also rope-in some bollywood stars and politicians because even he needs to generate profits.

The recently concluded ICL [Indian Cricket League] series was a small trailer of what's in store ahead. We saw a little bit of cricket a lots of item songs being performed by bollywood starlets at the beginning of the match and during the lunch session. ICL had lined up all the popular 'item' girls to perform and we could easy guage that the audience were more enthralled by the stars' performance than the cricketers. And this trend is going to continue.

So, be prepared to see some 'nautanki', some staged dramas, popular dance numbers, lots of lucky-dip winners, sales, promotions, meaningless ad campaigns, skimpily clad cheer-leaders and ramp models, tv stars, of course filmstars and bollywood personalities. And if you are fortunate enough, you will catch a little bit of cricket too.

The kangaroos have been tamed, at last ...

Though we don't find kangaroos in India, we have finally learnt how to tame them. There were no coaching manuals, no 'dummies guide' and definitely no study material on this; but the sheer mental strength, tenacity to claw out of tough situations, a whole lot of hard work and a little bit of luck has finally helped us achieve this feat. The land of snake charmers has finally produced kangaroo hunters.

If you still did not get what I am driving at, then do read my last post. I had ended that post on a positive note and my last few words were 'Go India, Go.....Jeetenge Hum'. I had an intuition that we would beat the Aussies in the 2nd finals and bring home the cup. But the manner in which it was done was emphatic. It was a tale that could not have been scripted better. It had drama, emotions, humour, character and a fantastic climax.

This was a retribution of sorts. And the credit of this series victory does not go to any particular player, it was a team work. All the guys played their part well. Sachin fired in both the finals and helped India put-up great opening partnership as well as steered the innings, Gambhir had played well in the first few matches, Yuvi did his bit, Sreesanth and Pathan bowled superbly, while Pravin and Ishant were a revelation. But best of all was Harbhajan's performance, he did so well under pressure. After all the flak he drew and all abuses that were hurled at him, he showed everyone what he is made of......steel. And I don't have enough words of praise for our captain 'courageous'. His captaincy was outstanding and the way he kept the team together was really laudable. This is a famous win and we shall be talking about this for many years to come.

Now that we have beaten the world champions, we have to bring consistency in our games. We need to win consistently and beat all the other teams as well. We need to win in style and get the juggernaut rolling. Getting to the top is not as difficult as staying on top is, and we have to stay there for a while......hopefully, a long while.

frenzied friday followed by super sunday

The Friday that just went by, was literally a fry-day. I was not exhausted due to extensive work, but I was tired of the farewells and send-offs. I was bidding adieu, wishing good luck and hoping the best for all the people who were celebrating their last day at office. I think they were kind of relieved that their journey was coming to a temporary halt.

Let me just list down the events of that day:

• a junior colleague quit and was joining our competitor, so he was having a farwell party
• a project manager was going on a maternity leave, so we had a baby-shower
• a lesser known colleague was travelling onsite [to US] for a project assignment, so he was partying to celebrate this
• a friend quit the job because she was marrying to settle down in another city
• two colleagues were taking a year's break from work, a sabbatical; so, they were celebrating the fact that they would soon be joining her hubby
• a colleague was celebrating the fact that she finally convinced her managers to transfer her to an office that was close to her home-town

Thankfully, the last the 3 listed events were clubbed together. That reduced the pressure of taking time off and meeting them in exclusivity.

So, after the fry-day I had a pretty laid back Saturday. I just relaxed, watched tv and ran a few errands. Then came the super sunday. It did not start off as a super sunday that it finally turned out to be. The day began like any other day; slow, lazy and dim. What made it super were the sporting events of the day.

Firstly, there was the 1st of the 3 finals against our new found cricketing rivals....Australia. Secondly, the Under-19 cricket team was playing the finals of the World Cup tournament against Sout Africa. Both the matches were important, but the former one was more prestigious and more bitterly fought. So, I was naturally interested in that.

I am glad that India won both the encounters. Sachin Tendulkar hit a blistering century and made my day; he took India safely home and we won by 6 wickets and 4 overs to spare. Harbhajan added insult to injury by claiming the wickets of Symonds and Hayden; that was a befitting reply to their off-field antics and misplaced arrogance. It was great to see India deliver the first punch by winning the first of the three finals, thereby drawing first blood. Now, they just need to keep the momentum going and knock them off their feet, in their backyard. That would be really awesome......

Well, now that the Indian team had exorcised the demons of Sydney, it was time for the young guns to deliver. So, I switched my focus to the U-19 World Cup Final. Indians were bowled out for 159, and they set SA a paltry target of 160. I was pretty sure that we would go down fighting although there was a ray of hope when SA were 17 for the loss of 3 wickets. But then came a divine intervention; rain stopped play and the targets were revised. SA were required to hit 99 runs of 96 balls, and India was back into the game. The boys made no mistake hereafter; the team was ably lead by Virat Kohli who made some good bowling changes and field placings. Eventually, they stole the game from right under SA's nose. And we won the U-19 WC, it was a great moment.


The celebrations had not stopped yet, and there was more reason to kick the dust in the festivities and join the party as the Indian hockey team beat Australia 7-3 in the World Hockey Olympic qualifying tournament. Althought this event took place on a Monday, I would like to count it as a Sunday event because, somewhere deep in the heart of the players, the cricketing win might have given them that extra bit of enthusiasm and self-belief.

Now that the weekend is over, party has ended and the noise has died down, I am preparing for a hectic week ahead. Although I will be busy at work, my mind will be on the 2nd of the 3 finals to be played in Brisbane on Tuesday. All I can say is Go India, Go.......... Jeetenge Hum.