Coke studio India Season 2

The first episode of season 2 of Coke Studio India was pretty awesome. I had not heard much of Clinton Cerejo up to this point, so had no idea what he had to offer. I will keep an ear out for his music henceforth. From 2nd one onwards, every episode has a couple of great songs, but the rest feel like Leslie Lewis is still masquerading somewhere around there. Please don't force music genres to marry without their consent. Hopefully Shantanu Moitra will get rid of the unnecessary complexity in the 7th episode and give us something easy on the ear.

Talking of easy on the ear, Karsh Kale has come up with the best song of the season. The piano riff works like a magic. After getting stuck on it for a day, I was disappointed to learn that it was lifted from some American hip-hop singer's tune, but my faith was restored, when someone else commented that it's an original Kale composition, lifted by the hip-hop singer.

The 4 girls look stunning and sound beautiful, at least to my untrained ear. Monali Thakur looks the cutest. And once you know that Shruti Pathak wrote the lyrics for this one, it just adds to her turn on factor. But it's Shilpa Rao's re-entry at 5:02 that takes the cake, not least for how the drummer delays her verse by a beat. She waits midway through her aalap, and when he finally re-appears, 1 beat late, she gives him a knowing smile. Brings a smile to the guitarist as well, don't know if it was all pre-planned, but it sure makes the song interesting to watch.

Shankar at Sawai

This video brought back memories of my first visit to Sawai Gandharva in 2002. I was never really a fan of classical music until then, and I am not much of a fan even now. But I still remember Bhimsen's performance of "kanhoba tuzi ghongadi". It started around 2am and it was one of the few occasions when I have felt close to the divine being. The first time I ever felt this way was back when I was in 9th standard and visited the Vivekananda Smarak Sheela at Kanyakumari. I stood at one side of the Smarak looking at the endless waters around me and I still remember the thought of jumping in and being a part of it crossed my mind.

Coming back to that performance, I did not understand Bhimsen, the classical virtuoso, but it will be an experience I will cherish for the rest of my life.

When Bhimsen passed away earlier this year, a friend said the news brought tears to his eyes. And again I did not understand what would trigger that sort of emotion from someone, especially since I had never known him as that big a fan of Bhimsen or music in general. But when Shankar switched to "Maze maher" in the above video and the focus appeared on Bhimsen's photo, watching it in the near dark and lonely atmosphere of my office, I must admit that a lump did lodge up my throat.

KK's visualization

KK, being the only outsider (read non-maanus) in our current circle of friends, is always amazed by the complex graph that has existed in the inner circle. We always wondered why. Just to check, I decided to visualize the pre-Seattle edges. Here is the index.

* SM = Schoolmate (a rather weak relationship and hence not drawn for simplicity)
* CM = Classmate (Shown only if the relationship is not captured through a UPP or UUPP or GPP edge, also implies SM)
* UPP = Undergraduate Project Partner (also implies CM, so wherever there is UPP edge between 2 nodes, it also implies an additional CM edge, not redrawn for simplicity)
* GPP = Graduate Project Partner (also implies CM, so wherever there is GPP edge between 2 nodes, it also implies an additional CM edge, not redrawn for simplicity)
* UUPP = Under Under graduate Project partner (a rather sad relationship, drawn only on the insistence of the 2 nodes hellbent on being recognized for it)(also implies CM, so wherever there is UUPP edge between 2 nodes, it also implies an additional CM edge, not redrawn for simplicity)
* RM = Roommate
* S = Spouse (may or may not imply RM :D (Remember, this is pre-Seattle))
* OM = Officemate

click to enlarge



Turns out KK was right. We are a rather sad bunch of people.
Some interesting observations -
1. The graph is disconnected if we don't make use of the SM edge.
2. There is an overdose of AKs.
3. As suspected, KD and DC have a very tight connection.

Long time back... a rather hilarious attempt :)

A new cricket blog

Dear Readers (however small that clan might be),

Here's my new blog covering all my cricket posts!
Cricday
I will try to separate my cricket posts and miscellaneous writing here onwards.

India's Road Ahead

So we finally have been kicked out. Theories abound regarding why it happened and who is responsible and we will see how the BCCI responds on 6th of April. Many organizations having a pathetic quarter generally tend to hold the head of that particular division responsible and ask him to resign. I think BCCI are going to do the same to Dravid and Chappell. But it's time for a reality check.

We were supposed to be cup favorites, but I would say only if Aus, SA and NZ had their worst one month in cricket. These 3 sides were definitely better than ours and we were inconsistent even against teams like SL and WI. Proabably the only 2 teams out of the top 8 we could be fairly confident of beating were Pak and Eng. You should not be surprised too much if you start at 6th place and then can't make it to top 8. Of course we were not so bad that we should have lost to Ban. But that's the thing with World Cups. People have to accept that there are going to be a couple of minnows upsetting the giants in every world cup. It happened to WI (by Ken) in 96, Pak (by Ban) in 99 and SL (by Ken) in 03. I am sure that if we had played SL first or lost one of our warm-up matches, the compacency would not have crept in. And guys let's face it, complacency is in our blood, it's not something that's going to go away in a matter of days. Bangladesh should also not read too much into the victory - beyond the fact that it's definitely a good start for their transition - as the shock element is over and they will be thrashed now on since sides will be more alert against them.

So we come to the dissection table. Is India's domestic structure incapable of producing good cricketers? I would say that depends on how India controls cricketing world. Does it bow to Twenty20? We don't have the natural incline for that format. Again there will be a difference of opinions here, but I think we are more reliant on craft than power. And the Twenty20 effect on cricket would be similar to the one astroturf had on hockey. So we have 2 options, either we oppose it strongly enough that it cannot generate revenue and dies its own death, or we embrace it wholeheartedly and form a bandwagon of our own pune kobras (excuse the pun), andhra gultes, chennai veerans and all and paint the domestic circuit with it. But that's a different topic altogether and warrants a separate post.

Where do we go from here in the more traditional forms of cricket? Greg Chappell's time is probably up and it's time we go back to a foreigner who understands the Indian scenario better, which is why I had thought that Tom Moody was a better choice 2 years ago, since he cuts less of a prima donna figure and lets the captain seem in charge of things. My choices would be, a Dermott Reeve, a Dave Whatmore, a Jonty Rhodes, or looking back at home, an Anil Kumble (if he is going to hang up his shoes) or a Robin Singh, somebody who has a Chappellesque work ethic, minus his revolting nature, which was responsible for him trying to change the whole system too soon. The simple truth he forgot was you have to stay in the system to change the system. Rahul Dravid doesn't seem to be blessed with the leader's luck or the bastard's blood, or the Greame Smith persona, the things that I believe make an effective leader. But do we have a choice? I think we do. My top 2 choices would be Yuvraj Singh and Mahendra Dhoni. One of them should be the skipper and other should be the deputy.

There will be changes to the Australian team even if they go onto win the tourney. You will see guys like Hayden being dropped right after the world cup even though he is the man who is bullying all attacks right now. These guys won't be around for the next tourney in 2011 and so they would be asked to leave. India needs to start implementing such things right now instead of starting on it in 2010. So I would say Ganguly should exit from the ODI circuit. He has had a tremendous come back but I don't see him lasting four years. Tendulkar? Well I think he should take a sabbatical from ODI cricket and should access what he wants to achieve. There's no point playing the game just because it pays you. Dravid? He seems to have good enought touch and fitness to last 4 years.

I read a masterpiece by Mukul Kesawan about Chappell trying to change too many things. I completely agree on the fact that the domestic system isn't the most ideal but it is good enough to serve the first purpose of throwing up talent. It would be nice to have 3 paid selectors who can be made accountable. But barring a couple of incidents of alleged parochialism they have done a decent enough job over the last decade or so. The system has thrown up enough talent in the form of Raina's and Pathan's. Where it fails miserably is in its second objective, that of achieving sustainability in development of this talent. It's not a coincidence that India - if at all they fail to win the age group world cups - generally make it at least to the semi finals (this is not only in cricket, also in hockey). And don't give me that bullshit that we have players who are above their age-group. The British commonwealth, where the game is played, has all these countries - barring England and Australia- which are more or less in the same state of development and so if you allege India of malpractice, I am sure you can't let go the Lankans, the Pakis, the Banglas, or even the South Africans.

These young blokes of India are lost in transition. We, the software engineers of India, are dying for an opportunity to go abroad for studies or work, since it's quite obvious that we become smarter people after that. I don't know why the richest board in the world doesn't spend money on its foreign collaboration programs. If really Sharad Pawar decides, is it impossible for him to send a Piyush Chawla to play for a Warwickshire or a Suresh Raina for the Cape Cobras? Better still, why can't we have a 1 year Raina development program headed by somebody like Sanjay Manjarekar (as I said earlier, in coaching I prefer people who haven't had a heroesque figure as players) or a Pathan development program carried out by Javagal Sreenath? These guys must go through the rigors of domestic cricket for a full season and have all their bad times here rather than while facing a rampaging Sanath Jayasuriya or a Muralitharan in overdrive. Just to make a guess, my next candidate for second season blues - Munaf Patel. He will definitely fail in the next 7-8 months, either through injury or through a dip in form and must be withdrewn and put into an incubator as soon as that happens, rather than being made to carry drinks. Talent doesn't come so cheap and when it comes we got to exploit the last bit out of it rather than turn it into a Vinod Kambli.

As a sidenote before I end, I see Indian economy growing steadily. People now have a life of their own to live, rather than to flock the airports to abuse their fallen stars as they return. We will always gather on the nooks and corners of the roads or the smoking staircase of our company or the lounge of our school and laugh at the forward they received last night about Tendulkar selling chai at Dharavi. This time it's more of the media who have lead the bandwagon of knee-jerk reactions. But it's encouraging to see more and more of the actual public trying to strap up their knees tight and put things into perspective.

नवकाव्य

हे नवकाव्य समीक्षकाच्या पाककलेला समर्पित --

पाण्यात तरंगसी,
फ़्लॉवर आणि ढबू मिरची,
सांगती कानात मला,
मसाला हवा आम्हाला.

My World Cup lineup

Here is what I will go for in my world cup lineup.
1. Ganguly
2. Uthappa
3. Yuvraj
4. Tendulkar
5. Dravid
6. Dhoni
7. Powar
8. Harbhajan
9. Agarkar
10. Kumble
11. Zaheer
12. Sehwag
13. Sreeshanth
14. Raina
15. Karthik

The usual suspects -
The 3 men I have dropped from my squad and who are bound to raise some eyebrows are
1. Irfan Pathan. - I don't think he looked like picking up a wicket in the solitary game he got against WI. There are suggestions that he should play as the number 7 batsman and somebody who fits in 5-6 overs every game. But let me tell you something. If as a captain, while picking him, you don't feel that you will be able to bowl him for more than 5-6 overs, you might as well pick Sehwag, who really can win you matches with bat and who assures a few quick overs every game. And Rahul Dravid, rather than being hopeful, should be honest with what he feels about Pathan. I might be harsh, but I would like to see him play somewhere near a full domestic season, may be a season in county cricket and come back as a frontline bowler. Pathan, the bowler, is far too important for Indian cricket, rather than have him earn that reputation of a batsman who bowls a bit.

2. Munaf Patel - Fitness woes personified. At present he doesn't give you the confidence that he will last a full month and a half trip. Maybe the Indian physio team is in a better situation to judge him than I am. But really it's a two way tussle between him and Sreeshanth for 1 spot and the latter wins it any day, with his enthusiastic bowling and spirited batting and fielding. Apart from when the ball is in his hand, Patel is an absolute liability and needs a lot of work on his match fitness. Some may argue that Sreeshanth is rather profligate in the one day game, but I would really put my confidence him since he looks fit and ask him to sort his length out rather than asking Patel to sort his fitness and fielding out in this one month period.

3. Gautam Gambhir - Well again, there was a race between him and Uthappa. Some may argue that it was a 3 horse race between these two and Sehwag for 2 spots. To me Sehwag, for his experience and his bowling, and Uthappa, for better performances and his athletic fielding, are clear winners. I would go 1 step ahead and put Uthappa in my starting 11 since he is still an unknown commodity and could hit the opposition hard before they know it.

Now for the men I got into my squad.

1. Ramesh Powar - Anybody who even has a cursory look at my blog, would notice my bias for this man. For me, he is an absolute must on slow sluggish tracks where the ball spins a bit. He has looked like one Indian spinner who could break through at any moment in the match. And when he does, he has that old-fashioned Montyesque celebration style which pumps life into a situation. If you notice over the past year or so, Harbhajan has been just a miser, returning 10 overs worth 40ish, which is a commendable effort in its own rank. But he has hardly picked up 3 wicket hauls in ODIs. An average of 31 (30 in case of Kumble)is not what you want from your frontline bowler. I would again get ahead of myself and advocate this strategy of opening with a spinner. India should really pull a rabbit out of the hat and go for it. After all, if you are not the best side in the tournament to start with, you need that element of surprise to make any impact, ask the Crowe- Patel- Greatbatch- Harris formula of 92 or the Jayasuriya-Kaluwitharana-Muralitharan combo of 96. With 3 specialist spinners in the starting 11, India can push Kumble or Bhajji to take the new ball and let Powar handle the middle overs. It may sound weird, but I still don't believe India have enough firepower in their fast bowling department to scare the crap out of oppositions, especially when it matters.

2. Suresh Raina - India, with many old bodies on the turf, definitely need a permanent 12th man. India need to be smart about this trick and get him on the field regularly for 20-25 overs, particularly at the slog. The tussle is between him and Kaif, and although I don't have any grudges about selecting the latter, I go for the former since Kaif has kind of fallen out of the band.

Others select themselves on merit and recent form.

Laxman's back

Sambit Bal exactly shares my views, starting from why he should never have been in the team 6 months ago and why he must be in now -
Laxman is back

India must play Powar

So we are down to the most meaningful ODI cricket tourney. I call it the most meaningful since there aren't easy pickings in this one as there are in the world cup. And the 2007 edition in the Caribbean is stretched like a chewing gum, lasting 47 days. Hell that's a long time, considering the recent soccer world cup lasted just about 1 month when 32 countries participated, whereas the 2004 Athens Summer Olympics lasted all of 17 days with participants from around 202 countries. I suspect it will come to a yawning end if popular countries are knocked out earlier. Hence to me the Champions trophy presents a much condensed and competitive world.

Coming back to the point and to India's fortunes during this tourney! India have done well in the previous editions, but I think they are pitted in a tough group this time. The irony is that on recent form, it seems like the 2nd qualifier, be it Sri Lanka or West Indies, is the one that will stake a semifinal claim with the mighty Aussies.
The line up I will like to see India follow for a while now looks like this -
1. Sehwag/ Mongia
2. Tendulkar
3. Raina/ Kaif
4. Yuvraj
5. Dravid
6. Dhoni
7. Pathan
8. Harbhajan
9. Powar
10. Agarkar
11. Munaf/ Srishanth / Zaheer

Sounds interesting? I am sure the 1st spot itself will spark the 1st debate. But to me, Sehwag is an absolute ODI lottery. He gives me very little confidence that he can ever be consistent. The management’s gamble of promoting him as the next captain is certainly of some concern. His real strength is his hands. He has extremely skillful cricketing hands, the ones he uses to craft out some astonishing strokes, the ones he uses to bowl stump to stump offies that hardly bounce and the ones he uses to take some astonishing catches (his bulging tummy prevents him from being very athletic, but if you want to put a player in a position where the ball tends to fly, something like the gully position, Sehwag will be one of my top bets, just for the hand-eye synchro he possesses). But productivity isn’t always related to skill and Murphy’s law tends to get the better off Sehwag most of the times. I have a gut feeling that he will always be a hit or miss kind of a player and might not average more than an ordinary 32-33 in ODIs. India can’t afford to assign their top ODI batsman role to a man who can only be as good as that.

Somebody like a Mongia should be kept as a ready replacement for Viru. The man possesses a sound temperament, decent array of strokes and decent slow bowling credentials, something that will be handy in both India and the Caribbean. Besides he is more athletic, a southpaw which can add value to the opening partnership and he revels more when given more time in the middle.

I really think India should stop asking Pathan to come in at 3. And I am not an opponent of the experimentation theme taken by Chappell-Dravid combo. But it’s obvious that this uncertainty about role is affecting Pathan’s bowling. It happens to a lot of allrounders and it comes to a stage where they have to make a decision what their main trade is going to be. Remember what happened to Jack Kallis’ bowling when he made the transformation to the premier batsman of South Africa and the world? Pathan the swing bowler, is too crucial an aspect, to give up for Pathan the batsman. He would do well to go back to no. 7, now that he has enough batting practice under his belt.

So the number 3 spot should go to Suresh Raina or Mohd. Kaif, whoever is picked. The former is clearly the more classy and in 2-3 years everyone expects him to graduate to the next level. The problem with Kaif is that he has always been the lowest priority batsman in this lineup. When marking out the lineup, I think captains have always filled out the other 10 spots and assigned him the remaining one. In a way, that’s unjust to a man who has been a yeoman in a star-studded line up. He is also one batsman who needs to get his eye in before he starts improvising, which is why the number 7 spot is a complete mismatch for him, ironically where he has batted most of the time. Besides he is just about the fastest runner in cricket and hence having him at the non-striker end for longer periods can help others. John Right moved him up the order with quite some success towards the end of his reign.

Rahul Dravid and Yuvraj Singh have to be at number 4 and 5, the most crucial spots along with the openers in any ODI lineup. It should also be made clear to Dhoni that he is not a hitter, he is the 6th batsman of the lineup and tail starts after him. “Agarkar the allrounder” is also like “Sehwag the consistent batsman”, a dream that people outside India might laugh at. So he better be placed after the ever-optimistic blade of Bhajji.

That brings me back to the most crucial selection. India, with all the decent new fast bowling kids they have developed over the last few years, must not forget that ODIs tend to make a mockery of the best pacers in the business. The 2 main opponents they will face during this tourney, England and Australia, for all their might, are still not very capable when it comes to playing offspin. That makes Ramesh Powar the top choice along with the miserly Harbhajan. The one experiment that really should strike the management and that should really work like pulling a rabbit out of the hat is opening the bowling with a spinner, particularly on shirtfronts. I have always advocated this policy, more so against the Aussies. I was in favor of dropping one of the highly successful Zaheer-Srinath-Nehra combo and opting for Anil Kumble instead in that dreaded final at the Wanderers 3 years ago. The Aussies just posses too much confidence against pacemen. If they ever fear a species, it’s the offies. Besides, Powar is of a different type than Bhajji, as he flights it more and hence spins it more.

So coming to the most interesting part of it, the winner predictions!! India, for some reason, don’t give me the confidence of doing it. A determined bunch of Aussies looks like the most formidable choice. But then Pakistan cricket was running too smoothly for everyone’s liking for the past couple of years. Now that they have gone back to their awry methods of musical chairs, they should also be considered by the bookies. After all, a chaotic bunch of Pakis is as dangerous as a determined bunch of Aussies.

finally

After a whole day's effort, I could download the midi files from my synth.

I was so eager to post them that I haven't really bothered to correct them. Don't mind the odd keystroke here or there :D

parineeta 1

parineeta 2

Here is the full version added. (Had to record it using a mic as my laptop has no line-in port and line-in port of a PC refused to work)

piyu bole

सखाराम गटणे

(ही कथा पूर्णपणे काल्पनिक असून त्यातील पात्रांचा खऱ्या आयुष्यातील घटना अथवा पात्रांशी काहीही संबंध नाही. ही कथा पूर्णपणे original असून (लेखक इतरांचे लेखन वाचतच नाही हो) यापूर्वी इतर लेखकांनी लिहीलेल्या एखाद्या कथेशी याचे साम्य आढळल्यास तो निव्वळ योगायोग समजावा).

"३४१ तुम्हीच का?" ३४१ हा course number नसून कैदी नंबर आहे अशा अविर्भावात मला विचारत सखाराम गटणे माझ्या हपिसात आला.
"ये बस बाळ, बोल तुला काय doubt आहे?" ब्रह्मदेव असल्याच्या थाटात मी ज्याकिटाची वर केलेली कॉलर तशीच ताठ ठेवत भेदरलेल्या सखारामाला धीर दिला.
"परवा submit करायचाय आणि आज compile होत नाहीये" रडवेला चेहरा करत सखारामाने आपली दिनवाणी कहाणी मला सांगितली.
"काही नाही होत हो, मी आहे ना" g++ compiler मीच लिहिला आहे अशा अविर्भावात मी उत्तर दिले.(आता या कथेमध्ये जर मी एक पात्र म्हणून असलो तर तो मी वर दिलेल्या काल्पनिक पात्रांच्या नोटीशीचा भंग होईल आणि समीक्षक लगेच मला "कारणे दाखवा" म्हणून नोटीस बजावेल, त्यामुळे यापुढे मी माझा उल्लेख ब्रम्हदेव म्हणून करेन, OK?)


जाड भिंगाचा चष्मा, तोंडावरती केविलवाणे भाव, लॉगिन करताना थरथरणारे हात, आणि C++ चे अगाध ज्ञान यावरून आपल्याकडे आलेला विद्यार्थी हा सखाराम असावा हा अंदाज कुठलाही ब्रम्हदेव लगेच बांधेल. त्या थरथरणाऱ्या हातांनीच त्याने लॉगिन केलं - sakharamgatane@appasahebbirnale.edu आणि ब्रम्हदेवाची ट्यूब पेटली. ब्रम्हदेवाने विचार केला, मागच्या semester मध्ये आपण हाच course शिकवत होतो तेंव्हा तपासायला सगळ्यात सोपा असणारा पेपर ज्या मुलाचा असायचा त्याचं नाव सुद्धा असंच काहीसं होतं ना! ४०-४० पेपर तपासता तपासता बिचाऱ्या ब्रम्ह्देवाच्या नाकी नऊ यायचे. पण मग सखारामच काय ती थोडी फ़ार दया दाखवायचा. आपल्या लाडक्या TA ला त्रास होऊ नये म्हणून सख्या काही लिहायचाच नाही. त्यामुळे सख्याच्या पेपरावर मोठा भोपळा काढून ब्रम्हदेवाला लगेच पुढचा पेपर बघता यायचा.

"इथे error येतेय" सख्याच्या त्या south east asian accent मधल्या तोडक्या मोडक्या english मधल्या बोलांनी आदली रात्रं chatting करत जागल्यामुळे बसल्याबसल्या पेंगणारा ब्रम्हदेव जागा झाला.
"कुठे म्हणालास?" ब्रम्हदेवाने झोप झटकत विचारलं.
"हे इथे, class not found म्हणतोय वेडा कुठला." "च्यांव च्यांव SS, प्यांव प्यांव SS, " सख्याच्या शुद्धं उच्चारांनी ब्रम्हदेवाच्या सदाशिव पेठी english ची (खरं तर कृष्णाकाठी english ची म्हणायला हवं, पण कृष्णाकाठी english हे थोडं छत्रपतींच्या राज्यातलं वाटतं, ब्रम्हदेवाचं english हे जास्ती पेशव्यांच्या राज्यातलं असल्यानं ते कृष्णाकाठी पेक्षा सदाशिवपेठी वाटतं, असो.) चांगलीच परीक्षा घेतली.
आता या सख्याला कसं समजावं की याने तो class कुठे शोधायचा ते त्या वेड्याला सांगितलंच नाहीये, तर तो वेडा तरी काय करणार! हे समजवण्यसाठी सख्याला आधी class काय असतो ते समजावं लागेल. खाल्ल्या मिठाला जागून कर्तव्यभावनेने ब्रम्हदेव जीवाचा आटापीटा करू लागला. आजपर्यंत "चेहऱ्यावरची माशी सुद्धा नं हलणे" ही म्हण फ़क्त slip मध्ये शांत उभा राहून captainship करणाऱ्या किंवा match मध्ये सपाटून मार खाल्ल्यावर presentation ceremony मध्ये काहीही उत्तरं देणाऱ्या मोहम्मद अझरुद्दीनलाच लागू पडते असा ब्रम्हदेवाचा भ्रम होता. आपल्या explanation ला निर्विकारपणे प्रतिसाद देणाऱ्या (निर्विकारपणे प्रतिसाद देता येतो का? जाऊदे, लेखकाचे limitation म्हणून सोडून द्या.) सख्याच्या चेहऱ्यावर माशी येऊन बसली नसल्यामुळे सख्या सुद्धा अझरुद्दीनच्याच category मध्ये येतो का ते काही ब्रम्हदेवाला पडताळून बघता आलं नाही. तास दीड तास गेला, ब्रम्हदेवाने सगळे मार्ग वापरून बघितले. आधीच रुंदावत चाललेला ब्रम्हदेवाचा भालप्रदेश या जोरदार लढाईत गळालेल्या २-३ केसांमुळे अजूनच निस्तेज दिसू लागला.

पण ब्रम्हदेव करणार तरी काय! ओरडावं म्हंटलं तर सख्याची सशासारखी भेदरट मूर्ती बघून ब्रम्हदेवाचा राग पाघळून जातो. शेवटी पाटा पिचवर test match चे सलग २ दिवस bowling करायला लागल्यावर bowling team जी युक्ती वापरते ती युक्ती ब्रम्हदेवाला सुचली- वेळकाढूपणा. आपली स्वर्गातल्या duty ची शेवटची १० मिनिटं राहिली आहेत हे लक्षात येताच, सख्याच्या वडिलांचं खरंच आप्पा बळवंत चौकात signboard painting चं दुकान आहे का बघूया म्हणून ब्रम्हदेवाने त्याची इकडची तिकडची चौकशी सुरू केली. पण कुठलं काय! आप्पा बळवंत चौकात तर सोडाच सख्याच्या खानदानातल्या कोणीही पुण्याला सुद्धा भेट दिलेली नाही हे त्यानेच ब्रम्हदेवाला सांगितलं. कसे देतील म्हणा, visa कुठे आहे त्यांच्याकडे! अशा गप्पा मारता मारता सख्या आपले doubtsचे दु:ख विसरून गेला आणि ती १० मिनिटं संपली. आजकाल course number 341 ला call center सारखं 24 X 7 coverage असतं. त्यामुळे ब्रम्हदेवाची duty संपल्यावर लगेच विष्णू आला, आणि सख्याला त्याच्याकडे सुपूर्त करून ब्रम्हदेवाने काढता पाय घेतला.

Posting a comment on -

http://salilb.blogspot.com/2006/02/sachin-and-his-last-25-tests-time-has.html
The million dollar question to ask is - can his replacement average 47-dot-something over a period of 24 tests - playing against minnows or no minnows?
It's very clear and is there for everyone to see that he's a less effective batsman than he was 5 years ago, but still he isn't crap. Everyone would love to replace Sachin at 33 with Sachin at 28, but is Mohd. Kaif at 25 good enough to replace Sachin at 33?
The answer is we will not know unless we see it. I still would think that the answer is no. We have 2 options - drop Sachin at 33 and try Kaif at 25, or keep on trying Sachin at 33 and see who can get closer to Sachin at 28. Currently they are trying the latter option with some justification. Let's see where it leads for some more time. The decision they have to make is what should this time be. I would say World Cup 2007.
And I really don't see any point, getting into Sachin's shoes, that he should play any ODIs after he returns from the Caribbean in 2007. He has got nothing left to achieve in ODIs.

कंटाळा आला की मी असं काहीतरी करतो!

माझ्या innovative chords for पसायदान. किमान मला तरी त्या innovative वाटतात.
बी टी डब्ल्यू, मराठीचा माज असणाऱ्या माझ्या समीक्षकाने मला छातीठोकपणे सांगितलं की पसायदानात दोनच कडवी आहेत. म्हणून मी इथे दोनच लिहीली आहेत, पण आत्ताच मला "चन्द्रमेचे अलांछन" वालं तिसरं कडवं आठवलं, त्यामुळे मी जरा समीक्षकाची लाज काढून येतो.
तोपर्यंत, presenting पसायदान
(माफ़ करा ज्ञानदेवा copyright laws धाब्यावर बसवल्याबद्दल)

C#m आता विश्वात्मके देवे
E येणे वाग्यद्ने
C#m तोषावे
Bm तोषोनि मज द्यावे
D पसायदान
C#m हे
C#m जे खळांची व्यंकटी सांडो
A तया सत्कर्मी रती वाढो
F#m भूतापरस्परे पडो
D मैत्र जीवां
C#m चे
A दुरितांचे तिमीर जावो
F#m विश्वस्व धर्म सुर्ये
C#m पाहो
E जो जे वांछील तो ते
F#m लाहो
D प्राणिजा
C#m त
C#m वर्षतसकळमंडळी
E ईश्वरनिष्ठांची
C#m मांदीयाळी
Bm अन्वर्तभूमंडळी
D भेटतू भूता
C#m आणिग्रंथोपजिवीये
A विशेषीलोकिये
F#m द्रुष्टाद्रुष्टविजये
D होवावे
C#m जी
C#m येथ म्हणे श्रीविश्वेश्वरा
E हो
E आवो
C#m इलदानपसाओ
F#m येणे वरे ज्ञानदेवो
D सुखिया झा
C#m ला
D सुखिया झा
C#m ला
D सुखिया झा
C#m ला

This is why Laxman isn't in the ODI team

The Ausralians who are often baffled by the fact that Laxman isn't in the ODI team, should see the last few overs of current session (Day 3, pre lunch Ind-Pak test 2). All those who want to see what is meant by lack of street smartness should also see this as a nice example.

Scenario - Dravid on 97, obviously a bit nervous to get to 3 figures and lunch approaching, a dilemma that batsmen hate facing, whether to go for it or not. Generally they like to get the monkey of the back before heading to the pavilion.

So what does Laxman do? Out of around 6 overs before the session close, he takes singles on at least 5 occasions off the last ball of the over, constantly denying strike to his skipper. Of course he isn't doing this on purpose, but this is where he lacks a sense of the moment, this is where he lacks the street smartness to manufacture a single, this is where he lacks the agility to steal a single. You could feel the frustration in Anand Vasu's cricinfo commentary when he had to repeat "And still Laxman keeps the strike!".

Not that this is a big issue and Dravid possesses too great a temperament to get affected by it, however some other batsman can easily get desperate in such situation and throw it away.
Laxman could have been such an authoritative figure if he could have exchanged some of his artistry for this kind of smartness!

If I were Inzamam

What a shame of pitch! I haven't seen in even 1 ball bowled in this test, but I can feel how hard it must have been to go out and bowl on it, in particular to people with big blades and powerful muscles. Such pitches must be nipped in the bud. People have been suggesting ways to preserve the art and the skill in cricket which really merit an attention from the ICC. Spectators who don't want to watch this art and are interested in slam-bang stuff should go and watch baseball.

Coming to the point of the post, Pakistan have gotten a headache. There is no doubt that India have gotten an equal share of it, but the one that Pakistan are facing is a dangerously recurring one. I have not seen how they countered Sehwag in this game, but I presume that they tried their unsuccessful ways once too often against him. Of course, it's easier said than done, but if I were one of Inzamam or Bob Woolmer, I would totally give a revamp to my plan A against him. The thing that I would do before that is not call him a slogger who hits the bulls eye once in a while. To be able to smack the likes of Lee and Shoaib and Kaneria and Hoggard, that too with immaculate consistency and break a long standing Donald Bradman record of crossing 150 six times in a row after crossing 100, you need serious ability. So what if he doesn't move his feet, he doesn't need to. He has gotten such a great eye and hands that he can attain balance without moving feet, and that's what you need to move your feet for- to balance yourself for playing the shot - right? So it'a a divine gift, if you can balance without feet movement.

Talking about revamping the plan, I confirmed this from one of my Pune pals, that Pakistan hardly ever had a short leg in place for him. True, as the "on the ball" http://content-usa.cricinfo.com/ci/content/story/233300.html would tell that he patiently left all the bouncers hurled at him. But then, they bowled only 10 of those at him, which was appalling.

Going ahead, I would go in with something like this in my plan A, and I am talking about the 1st over of Indian innings.
On the off side (you don't need to know rocket science to predict he loves them there) - 1 slip, 2 gullies (as he is more likely to get thick edges than thin), 3rd man (my most attacking position and a must on any pitch for Sehwag), deep point (may be I can cut down on at least 10 of those 38 boundaries and frustrate him a bit), extra cover.
On the on side- a forward short leg, a deepish backward shortleg and a conventional midwicket.

Unless really necessary, don't bowl a single ball in his half and take out the straight boundaries, remember you haven't gotten mid-off and mid-on. Consistently try to angle in or cut into his ribs of shortish length. You need quite a bit of ability though as a bowler to execute this and be accurate enough. With the dose that has been given to the Paki bowlers, I doubt how they can manage this.

If he resorts to the pull against the short ball and does that well, then I might bring in my subsequent plans, by putting some more protection on the on side, but I won't take out my deep point and 3rd man unless I give up hope.

Having said all this and given the whacking to the curators, I can only clap for the mental makeup of the man. He just doesn't care a damn about who he is facing, what the score is or what the situation is. As much as you will criticise his irresposible play had he gotten out while attempting his 1st boundary itself, you have to salute his self-belief for daring to try and execute 47 of those.

I hope Inzamam isn't in my fans' list and doesn't know enough English to be able to read my blogs. For I can never have enough of "Sehwag against Pakistan", makes me feel like he is the one who will repay Ijaz, Afridi and Anwar along with the interest of so many years.

I still fear...

Within 6 hours from now, the annual (I don't know if it will continue to be that way) India-Pak summit clash is about to get under way at Lahore and heaps of free time has made me read on every scrap on the reams of (web) pages expended by various pundits in anticipation of the event. That's what I am filled with, anticipation.

On paper, I would say that both teams start neck and neck. Riding on the high of their recent home bashings, there is no shortage of winning habit. For all the might of Inzamam, Afridi (note that he is number 2 on my list), Shoaib, Kaneria and Yousuf whatever, India have gotten Dravid, Kumble, Sehwag, Dhoni and Pathan (excuse me for some notable absentees) in their ranks. And as my cricketing knowledge tells me (unlike that of some, on some pathetic websites, who can write with enormous aplomb about how Yuvraj Singh will beat the hell out of Pakistan one day and the very next day can come up with a masterpiece of immature writing about how Mohammed Asif will win it for Pakistan), it's hard to predict anything about the outcome. One thing seems certain though, whoever wins the 1st test, with due consideration for the 2 coaches who have brought in fighting spirits in their teams, will have to lose the series from there rather than being beaten. Which is exactly why teams have to be at their ruthless best right here tonight (my time).

Having been a follower of the match-fixing era of Sharjah and the post-Javed-Miandad-last-ball-six-time, I still have some apprehensions about India playing Pakistan, especially when the neighbors are close to their best. And hence my list of Indians to watch out for contains those names that I mentioned. Dravid, I think he will experience an Inzamam Ul Huq effect on his batting with the captaincy coming his way, if at all he can bat better. Kumble, the tiniest smell of blood and he will be there running in over after over after over. Probably the best ever to have bowled on subcontinental pitches (his offset away from subcontinent to that in subcontinent makes me weigh in his favor rather than Murali's), he will not be kept out of the match at any stage. The other 3 are young, talented and thankfully never been a part of the apprehension against Pakistan times. They will believe that they are better than their opponents and hence are pivotal to Team India's success.

Talk about subplots for India, and Sachin Tendulkar and VVS Laxman come to the mind. Still formidable mind you, Sachin is past his dominating best, which is not a cause of concern at all. He will score runs, just based on his willpower and reputation, but I believe that gone are the days when he could be termed as the deadliest Indian weapon who, within a couple of sessions, would set up the test match for his side. He is in more of a stock batsman role, the role that Shaun Pollock plays for South African bowling. Laxman, well he is an enigma, and you better not predict about him. But I get the feeling that he will also play the supporting cast.

On the other hand, how dearly would Pakistan love their captain to play the way he has been doing for the last couple of years? I hope that the law of averages in deed catches on him and at least 30% of the battle will be won for India. I also hope that Greg Chappell has devised a strategy for Shahid Afridi and it works out in the middle, for it is this man who can remind the Indians of their butchering days with Ijaz Ahmed and Saeed Anwar. It's this sense of fear that made even a bowler as pathetic as Arshad Khan (only Rameez Raja, the Pakistani counterpart of somebody like Maninder Singh, has the wherewithal to spit into the mic heaps of praise for this gentleman) to eat them away during that shameful 2nd innings of Bangalore test and Afridi is well capable of pushing India into that mode. Danish Kaneria, it's a challenge for him but so far he has done extremely well against the Indians, mostly because he has gotten a reputation against them. I don't know where it sets in, but there are some players (quite a few of them Pakistanis, on another thought quite a few of them southpaws) who just fail to do badly against the Indians. The Haydens, the Andy Flowers, the Saqlain Mushtaqs, the Saeed Anwars, the Aquib Javeds, the Shivanarine Chanderpauls... I don't know why the same Indians, who make Brian Lara and Shane Warne look ordinary, take a bow to these guys. Kaneria seems to be following Afridi up that ladder.

Time to think about the most unpredictable factor of the series, Shoaib Akhtar. He could finally be a telling difference between the 2 sides. If he gets a hammering from Sehwag and co. (Sehwag is the lead), advantage India. If Sehwag doesn't last his 1st session with the new ball, advantage Pakistan. However, if Dravid and Tendulkar cannot blunt out his spell with the old one, it could just be game-set-match Pakistan.

I am a pessimistic writer, ain't I?

gareebee

I don't know who pays them to throw in such heaps of bullshit -
http://cricket.indiatimes.com/quickiearticleshow/1293710.cms

मी म्हणतो ती पूर्व दिशा

बरेच दिवस मी अधून मधून विचार करायचो की आपलं इथलं घर नक्की उत्तराभिमुख आहे की दक्षिणाभिमुख! माझं ताऱ्यांचं ज्ञान अगाध असल्यामुळे (सप्तर्षि बनवायला मला आकाशातले कुठलेही सात तारे चालतात)दिशा ओळखायला मला सूर्यच जास्ती भरवश्याचा वाटतो. शेवटी काल बऱ्याच दिवसांनी सूर्य ढगांबाहेर आला आणि माझ्या लक्षात आलं की आपलं घर पूर्वाभिमुख आहे (सध्या सूर्य बराच दक्षिणेकडे असल्याने आणि मला तो भर दुपारी १२ च्या सुमारास दिसल्यामुळे हा निष्कर्ष चुकण्याचीच जास्ती शक्यता आहे). तसा माझा direction sense काही येरा-गबाळा नाही. "बबन 'अ' बिंदूपासून निघून ४ पावलं पूर्वेकडे जाऊन १३ अंशातून उत्तरेकडे वळून १९ पावले दक्षिणेला गेला तर तो आता कुठे आहे" असल्या निरुपयोगी प्रश्नांच्या ४ पर्यायांपैकी मी जो ठोकायचो तो सहसा बरोबर यायचा (आणि दर वेळी याचं कारण योगायोग कसं असेल?), त्यामुळे मी हे म्हणू शकतो. पण याचा उपयोग नेहमीच रस्ते किंवा दिशा ओळखण्यात होतो असं नाही.

विशेषतः हे पुण्यात जाणवतं. तिथे सगळे चौक हे चौक नसून छक्के आहेत (उगाच काहीतरी अर्थ काढू नका, मला असं म्हणायचंय की अशी जागा जिथे ४-४ नाही तर ६-६ रस्ते एकत्र येतात). त्यामुळे नक्की कुमठेकरांकडे जायला ३३ अंशातून वळायचं की भांडारकरांकडे जायला ५७ अंशातून, असा विचार करता करता मी बऱ्याचदा ७९.५ अंशातून वळून ढोल्या पाटलांकडे पोहोचलोय. पण पुण्यात हे सगळं चालतं, कारण की तिथले बगळे हे सांगलीतल्या बगळ्यांपेक्षाही निरुपद्रवी आहेत, तुम्ही No entry मधून उलटे आला तरी ते गोड मानून घेतात. No entry कसलं One way मधून! ("विकेटकीपर नही गोलकीपर, गोलकीपर बेवकूफ़" मोड मधे वाचणे ).

इथे बाल्टी-मोरीत मात्र सगळी तऱ्हाच वेगळी आहे. मोरीतून बाहेर पडायला २-३ फ़्री-वेज आहेत. कुठेही जायचं झालं तरी त्यापैकी १ वापरायचा. आणि मला नाही वाटत की वर दिलेलं बबन्याचं गणित इथे कोणाला सोडवता येईल. काहीही हवं असलं की लगेच ते mapquest किंवा google चा आधार घेतात. त्यांचंही बरोबर आहे म्हणा, रस्तेच इतके मोठे आहेत की स्वतःचं डोकं लावून काही झेपायचंच नाही.

मधे एकदा रात्रीच्या वेळी एका अक्राळ-विक्राळ दिसणाऱ्या टॅक्सी ड्रायव्हरने आम्हाला असंच गंडवलं. त्याला exit 12A घ्यायला सांगितलेलं असताना सुद्धा त्याने स्वतःचं नसलेलं डोकं चालवलं आणि आम्हाला अंधारात होवार्ड कौंटी फ़िरवून आणली. शेवटी अगदी आम्ही जीवावर उदार झालेलो असताना एकदाचं exit 12A दिसलं. आणि ड्रायव्हरसकट कोणालाही कळलं नाही की नक्की कुठल्या दिशेला वळल्यामुळे ते आलं. एकंदरीत काय, तर (ब्लॉगच्या) नावात काय आहे? mapquest किंवा google म्हणतं ती पूर्व दिशा!

Pathetic pundit

Many times people with zero knowledge get into event reporting or journalism. Here is one classic example from rediff.com that I came across. Even "dainik puDhArI" might not make such a preliminary mistake I guess.

Context - India vs Srilanka, 2nd ODI at Mohali.
The writer says - "India could have well opted to use Agarkar for his spell of ten overs and then had him replaced by Super sub Sreesanth, who could have exploited the helpful conditions, but they chose not to." http://us.rediff.com/cricket/2005/oct/28india.htm?q=np&file=.htm

The guy who has written this (seems to be an official rediff correspondent, not just someone from readers' comments), seems to have never read what the substitution rule says - "Once you replace a player, the substitute is allowed to bowl only the overs that were not bowled by the player he substituted out of his quota of 10 (i.e. if the player has already bowled 5, then the supersub can only bowl 5) and bat only if the player he substituted had his wicket in tact." You don't need to know rocket science to figure out why it is so. If he replaces a player who has already lost his wicket and is allowed to bat, then the opposition will have to get 11 wickets and not 10 (or else leave 2 batsmen not out at the end). (This 1 is for the pundit himself).

I don't know why I still read those pathetic rediff.com and indiatimes.com cricket articles, may be because they feed me for my blogs.