Memoirs of Cricket

Those were the days when life used to be a second priority against Cricket. The only thing which we look forward to the week was Sundays. The span of time between the Saturday evening and the Sunday morning, mostly, went dreaming of either taking wickets on every delivery or hitting sixes on each ball.

Train of cricketing thoughts used to board at the platform called sleep, only to be alighted at the station called Cricket Ground. Awaken on first sound of alarm at 4 am on chilly morning and frenetically calling friends to ensure they are all up and rushing.

Some used to steal themselves from their parents' eye, some unyielding as granite to their parents' chide but all as active as quicksilver used to march on the cricket ground on time.

Be it a freezing morning or an overly heated afternoon, nothing would matter except the lethal leather ball in the hand and the three wickets infront of the eyes. And whenever the sound of timber (wicket) reverberated in the labyrinth, like Alexander the Great, there was no more world left to conquer.

Oh! The mini heart attack when the ball missed the bails
Oh! The long cry of unfairness
Oh! The illusion of hope when trailing
Oh! The wild jump of elation when victorious
Oh! The crazy celebration, popping soft drink bottles after winning the match
Oh! The bitchy discussion on the way home- hailing the hero, chiding the villain

And the idea of relaxation after the match was to play more cricket matches (on terrace).

If Life could have been summed up in two syllables, they would have been "Cricket", if four then "Cricket, Cricket", if six then "Cricket, Cricket, Cricket”

Cricket taught us how to handle success, how to handle failure and how to fight back adversaries. We didn’t know while enjoying our first priority we were learning about the second.

Sometimes winning is everything| Wake the spirit| Leave your mark| Take a stand| Play with pride |Kill doubt| Choose a high| Live your dream |Now or never| Make waves| Never say die |Conquer your fear| Take risk| Erase boundaries| Beat the odds| Trust your instinct| Its your time| Taste Victory

The Strike

Like John Galt, Mamata Banerjee has called for The Strike and will stop the motor of the Parliament on Monday to protest the arrest of Sports & Transport minister of Bengal, Madan Mitra who is allegedly involved in Saradha Chit Fund Scam. But the difference is - Galt did for liberation, Miss Banerjee will do for destruction.

Miss Banerjee remarked, "I must tell those who are in power — stay within your limits or you will face the music"

There is nothing new when every word uttered from her mouth sounds like realm of malevolence- overbearing and threatening. The shriek of her hysterias is evident when her speeches, devoid of any logic, contain stream of profanities (shoving a bamboo in posterior of the PM). After the arrest of her minster, she is feeling weightless Earth and seeing starless Sky (She said, it’s the battle for survival now).

The school in which she went did not care to teach her to live by Reasons. Here are few reasons she must try to understand before agitating:-

1. It’s not the Modi Govt but the Supreme Court of India which handed over the Saradha scam probe to CBI after the initial inquiry revealed that 1.7 million investors (mostly poor) lost their money out of which 14 investors committed suicide.

2. The CBI is working under the watch of The Supreme Court of India (not under the watch of Central Govt).

3. Madan Mitra was produced in the CBI court whose judges are appointed by the state govt(not by the Central Govt).

4. Like every politician who is accused of crime, Madan Mitra also had the mysterious ability to fall ill when CBI wanted him to question him on the scam of Rs 4000 cr.

5. “There are reasons to believe that Mitra was involved with Sudipta Sen, MD of Saradha group, in plotting a conspiracy that ensured phenomenal growth of Saradha Realty within a period of two years at the expense of investors," said a CBI officer. Saradha Group’s biggest land assets were in Bishupur which is the constituency of Madan Mitra. Hence, there are prima facie evidences against him which is why CBI went ahead with the arrest.

6. Mitra had publicly endorsed Saradha Group, saying it’s MD Sudipta Sen who had shown “How to make ocean from a drop of water.” Mitra’s son reportedly got a Ferrari from Sudipta Sen.

It’s time for Mamata to face the music as lot of skeletons will come out of the closet in the near future. The next in line is probably the Rajya Sabha MP, Derek O’ Brien who had allegedly made fortunes when he was appointed as special consultant to Railway Minister during UPA II (Railways portfolio was with TMC from 2009 to 2012).

Penumbra

Her voice echoes
In the empty chambers of my heart
Whose walls once cemented with love
Beaten, black and blue

The abuse of silence
The equation unbalanced
Everynight is a fight
Between you and your memories

The attack of desultory thoughts
Mixed in anger and regret
In the reflection of dying fire
Refuses to die

Every drop of pain, moving
In search of palliation..like
A raindrop on a glass window, moving
In search of elysian happiness

Oh the ostentatious laughter
Oh the misery of acutest kind
Oh the pretentious smile
Oh the impatient longing

A lot can happen over coffee..

A beautiful monsoon weather sans rain. Here I am, sitting at Starbucks KP, observing people.

Next to two empty tables in front of me, a young couple, perhaps in college having heated discussion on a unique topic- Positive Attention! Wonder what does that mean..

Idle brain is devil's workshop and I decided to eavesdrop.

Broadcasting Live..

The upstairs of this store leads to a balcony with few coffee tables.

Two children are playing beside me, banging the big glass wall to get their mom's attention; their mom is sitting on the other side of the glass. They are making it impossible to eavesdrop. Also too much of honking on the street, difficult to concentrate on the couple's conversation. I have to improve my listening skills.

The young girl has shifted her topic to crushes and confession pages. She says some kind of confession would have had made her day.

She likes music and books. Great choices!

The girl is garrulous. The guy is suave. The guy is wearing a geeky black specs. I cannot see the girls face as she is sitting facing the guy. She is wearing blue top and has her hair untied.

Ok here it came- the topic of marriage! The guy just said "You change the diaper and I feed" The girl is definitely leaving, I thought. Or atleast will defend but to my surprise she is not defending but giving an example of probably a distant relative of how he literally changed after marriage, emphasising on the word literally.

Conclusion: the girl is not a feminist vampire and is relying on reasoning.

Thankfully the children have gone but the honking on the street continues.

Next topic - How relationship works! Both giving examples of their friends. The girl asked if he has any fears. Fear of water, he said. Embarrassed by his own answer, the guy tried to take sweet revenge and joked if she watches Fear Factor too much.

Now the guy starts his favourite topic! He mentions one of his favourite songs whose lyrics is all about sex. Coincidentally, the girl has listened to this song. They are unanimously talking in one voice now.

This topic has lead to parenting and openness of society.

"The more open the parents are, the less mistakes their children make", said the girl.

Interesting quote! Have to ponder if it holds true. Her mother is very open minded, she chirped.

She is 17, too young. Her birthday falls on 16th October 1997. I was wrong they must be in school.

The new generation (at 17) talking about sex, marriage, relationship, parenting et al.

I wonder what I use to talk when I was 17? Got the answer! Cricket it was.

Time to go! My coffee is over!

Oh, and the girl is wearing white shorts.

Why Modi Should Become The Prime Minister

According to Economic Times, at 63, Narendra Modi is clocking more than 100 rallies a month with an average of 4 rallies per day. Unlike the chaos that usually marks an Indian election campaign; a typical day in the life of Narendra Modi is a meticulously planned affair. His travails start at 5 am with Yoga and end in bed by 1 am. In between lays hectic campaign to blossom 272+ Lotus thereby dismantling the adamantine wall of Congress.

The element of conjecture and speculation surrounding in the media is that if Modi becomes PM he will steer economic policy, titivate foreign policy, lit up fire in Cimmerian darkness and what not. It cannot be said with certainty whether he can do this or cannot do that but one thing is sure that his work ethics will instill faith in millions of passionate young Indians.

Faith when blended with passion can produce wonders.

His meteoric rise from nobody to somebody will make an 18 year old of impatient desire cock-sure that one doesn’t need to be born with a silver spoon; with hard work, dedication, and determination one can achieve what he/she wants in life. Unlike uninspiring leadership of Manmohan Singh, his leadership is ardent and self-assured laced with great oratory skills. With a carte blanche style of functioning, he will ensure bureaucrats do not underestimate themselves and ministers do not overestimate themselves as had happened during UPAs regime.

His critics have had left no stone unturned to sustain fictions for several years. For 12 years (still on), the general prejudice against him in the media was so violent that it needed a miracle to place him in an amiable light. He has strained every nerve of his to fight the loathsome campaign against him. He has shown how to handle success; how to handle failure; how to handle criticisms; how to ignore hatred of shenanigans; how to bask in love of supporters and most importantly how to turn adversary into realm of opportunity.

The figure on the sand of times has reached a substantial sum; 10 years of little growth would suffice for a generation to become impatient. Before the abdomen of youths, heavily charged with molten lava explodes, the nation needs a good keeper to ensure that the country is not set on fire.

Will he become the Prime Minister?

After 16th May, the answer to this question will serve as a pointer to the future.

Choices I Had

I thought of becoming a Doctor,for one-I had handwriting & I knew the difference b/w pulmonary arteries & pulmonary veins. Then XYZ sex determination chromosome(punishable) forced me to quit

I thought of becoming a Lawyer,for one-I had good vocal cords and argumentative skills. Then I realized I cannot become a lawyer as everyone understands what I say

I thought of becoming a Gambler(share market),for one–I had the recipe of success : analytical skill, probabilistic skill and tenacity. Then I realized recipes don’t work without salt. Salt=Luck

I thought of becoming an Indian Novelist,for one–I had naturally occurring grammatical erring skills. Then I realized constructing a perfect sentence is the not the easiest thing in the world

I thought of becoming a Comedian,for one-I had timing and content. Then I was too strong to make fun of myself or too lean to make fun of others

After failing in the above vocations, I become an Engineer and got an IIM tag

*IIM= Indian, IT and Male

'Red' Face of Arvind Kejriwal

When Gopal Krishna Gokhale said "What Bengal thinks today India thinks tomorrow" he had AAP in mind. Delhi and West Bengal are locking their horns to take each other's idiosyncrasies. Delhi is hell bent to become Bengal while Bengal always wanted its pride of having the capital - Rape capital, if not capital. Let’s see some core policies of AAP.

Fight against Corruption:- The loudest noise on the streets of Delhi today is the silence of Kejriwal on Shiela Dixit. Justice Kejriwal led Aam Aadmi Party has come out with a list of corrupt politicians which includes names like Narendra Modi, Rahul Gandhi et al. The certificate distributing university of AAP didn’t include Shiela Dixit’s name, who was indicted by Shunglu Committee which investigated the CWG scam. Furthermore, the 370 pages proof which Justice Kejriwal himself had submitted to the Police before Delhi election was not enough for Mrs. Dixit to make the elite list. It’s only a matter of time when in Delhi Courts, the white statue of blindfolded Lady Justice holding a weighing scale and a sword will be replaced by the statue of Justice Kejriwal, wearing AAP cap and holding broom in both the hands. Within one month Delhi has been declared corruption free but Kejriwal doesn't have any legitimate evidentiary support to back his assertion rendering it incongruous.

Mohalla Sabhas :- There is little difference between Mohalla Sabha/Area Unions and Trade Union of Bengal or Khap Panchayat of Haryana. All are known for its vigilante justice. Mohalla Sabha is an organization of unelected mobs who are supposed to do bear the torch of doing justice without being held responsible or accountable. It leads to chaos culminating in dangerous and brutal society. What happened in Birbhum gang rape case? A 20 year old girl was brutally gang raped by 13 men on orders of Panchayat as punishment. Delhi health minister, Satyendra Jain dismissed the existing hospital management societies, the Rogi Kalyan Samitis, and that Aam Aadmi Party volunteers, with their trademark caps, were conducting inspections and helping out with administration in government hospitals, apparently without formal orders.

Look at the incident of Somnath Bharti's vigilante style raid on African nationals at Khirki extention. Delhi has always been xenophobic and even considers people of North East India as intruders (ban on the word Chinki by SC). May be few Africans were involved in sex/drug racket but arresting women(without warrants) at night and branding the whole African community as nuisance creator is obnoxious. Recently, an Arunachal Pradesh student (son of Congress MLA of Assam) was beaten to death by a mob in South Delhi, in an alleged racist attack. This directionless enthusiasm will create a fear among expats and migrants hurting the image of India globally. Governance is certainly not a de rigueur for AAP but dharna which holds a state to ransom, is its birth right. With mindless dharna can anyone have his way? Aren't we setting a dangerous precedent? The latest AAP theatrics had carried an immense security risk around Republic Day but thanks to law of diminishing returns, faced by hamletian dilemma- To Hold or Not to Hold, Kejriwal called off his dharna asserting false victory in front of media shutterbugs which provides oxygen to AAP.

Subsidy: - Subsidy is justified to be an effective instrument policy when it promotes not only equality but also growth. AAP’s water subsidy fails on both fronts. The intelligent acrobats had announced subsidy of 666 liters of free water a day to households who have meters but no free water for a large chunk of households(generally poor) who don’t have meters. Secondly, for a 3 member family 666 liters of water per day is more than enough and to believe basic human nature, anything free will be over consumed and wasted. But for a family of say 8-10 people, 666 liters of water won’t suffice and the said family ends up consuming less and paying more as any usage beyond 666 liters shall be charged. This decision was obviously political opportunism than sound ratiocination. AAP had made many false promises which they need to fulfill by hook or by crook. They never had any policies hence took succor in easiest way of governance –providing subsidy. Swaminathan Aiyar, a known critic of Narendra Modi, had showered encomium on Modi for solving water problems (Read here and here) in Gujarat which is a drought prone state, with 70% of its area classified as semi-arid and arid. Moreover, AAP promised to cut the power bill by 50%. The rationale provided by Kejriwal for increase in power tariffs was corruption in power companies. Instead of eliminating corruption, he took the easiest route and provided power subsidy. Isn't this self contradictory? Well hypocrisy is supposedly post-colonial. Shouldn't he had waited for audit of power companies to complete instead of burdening the exchequer?

Until now Kejriwal has been judged by prism of his good intention. But however a good intention may be, a bad idea is a bad idea. For example, if management of private corporations implements a bad policy, the company goes bankrupt and its shareholders take a hit. In case of public policy, if government implements a bad idea then the taxpayer bears the brunt. In both cases, the role of intention is redundant. Time and again Kejriwal has taken stands only to relent. AAP’s popularity is rapidly fading among middle class voters and is left with support base of only urban poor – auto rickshaw drivers, daily wage laborers et al. The much celebrated celebrities (Meera Sanyal, V. Balakrishnan ,Gopinath, Mallika Sarabhai) who joined AAP with media fanfare have either hibernated themselves or openly critical of the party’s functioning.