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Showing posts from April, 2007

The Difference

Cricket is a huge obsession in India. Movies are an equal craze in this country. India has played 646 ODI matches in 23 years. That would make around 30 ODIs per year. Indian cinema makes about 1200 movies a year, Bollywood alone accounting for 200. Cricketers and cricket establishment make tons of money, with zero professionalism. Movie stars and producers earn billions making pseudo-emotional NRI Indianism garbage. Half of the major brand ambassadors are cricketers. The rest are film stars. Our cricket is rarely world-class. Our movies in general are nothing to write home about. For all you time conscious people, a person watching all the India ODIs in one year spends 30*7=210 hours on cricket. An average man in India watches at least one movie a week (either in cinema halls or television), which comes to 52*3=156 hours a year. India had won the 1983 World Cup. There were a few other achievements like reaching finals of 2003 World Cup, beating Australia in a test series in Australia

The Boring Game, Thats Called...

I am not too much of a sports person, but I have had my decent share of association with sports. I am quite a talent when it comes to domestic cricket (playing in front of homes) I used to play shuttle badminton and carrom as a child. I am crazy about playing table tennis. And hey, I did not count watching the girls of my class play throw ball during my high school days ;) So, why are people basically interested in sports and games? The easiest explanation I can think of is that games pose tremendous physical and mental challenges, overcoming which gives people a great sense of accomplishment and satisfaction. Now, some of the games are played between two people - like carrom, table tennis or boxing. And some are between two groups of people - like soccer, basketball, cricket. In some games, both the parties play simultaneously and try to outsmart or outpower each other, while some are asynchronous. You can even count computer games, as these ones are played against virtual opponents.

Rainy Night

"Its raining", shouted a colleague as he entered the floor. "No!", I wince as I am getting ready to catch the cab. I remember that I dont even have my raincoat. With due respect to the Yash Chopra brigade, I somehow dont like going out in the rain. I love watching the rains, but I dont like getting drenched in the rains. I always prefer drizzles. By the time I go down, the rain has stopped. Thank God! The smell of the soil hits me, I love it. The weather has never been this cool from a very long time. I get a window seat in my cab. I open the window, the cool breeze hits my face. The breeze is so powerful, that I can barely think. I listen to the albums "Sky Kisses Earth" and "Water Down The Ganges". Nothing suits a rainy day better than sitar. May be Santoor, only in some cases. The day that comprised of working on traceability matrix, hot weather in the afternoon, having lousy lunch while FM played "Shakalaka lakalaka boom boom" (forg

Talking To A Stranger

I was browsing through the TV channels inside the living room of a resort in Kerala. A foreigner walks into the room. "Whats the score?", he asks. He is a tall man, with green eyes and a nose so sharp that would give Hrithik Roshan some serious complex! He is wearing an orange T-shirt with some sanskrit letters and strange sybolisms, and a rudrakshi maala that perfectly compliments his shirt. "80 odd for 3", I remember the score I had seen before switching on some other channels. I switch back to the cricket channel. "You like cricket?", he asks me. "Yes, I love it. Like any other person in this country" "India were out so early, must be disappointing" "Not exactly, they did not play well this time, they did not deserve to go to the next level". Rahul Dravid would have been proud of my diplomatic answer! "Where are you from?" "I am working in Bangalore. I am basically from Mysore" "Oh yeah? I had been

The Bus

Its late evening. I am inside a bus, half asleep. When did I get into it? Where am I traveling to? Are these questions so very important? No, I will search for those answers when I wake up fully. The bus stopped. The electronic display sign on the bus reads "Stop Requested". A fat old man wearing a green t-shirt carries his bag and gets down. I hate these fat people, they take so much time to even get down from the bus, I crib. I cannot sleep if the bus is not moving. I curse the old man for spoiling my sleep and wake up fully. I look outside. All I can see is a broad, long road (may be 12 lanes) and no other traffic, I love it. Feels so peaceful. Why did the old man get down here? I dont see any bus stops here. The sky seems to have that bluish gray effect on the whole place. Is it the effect of the sky? Or the blue cooling paper on the window? The land on either side of the road looks barren and I dont see any other persons there. The light is very dim inside the bus, I can