Monday, September 18, 2006

Big bad world

14 countries (6%) done, 200 odd to go! The world is a huge place, and here's where I have been. Neat tool from here.



create your own visited countries map

Here's what I would like it to be in a year's time please, thank you God! No, not asking for much- just 16 more, including a lot of them small ones in the West Indies.



create your own visited countries map

Friday, September 15, 2006

The Tendulkar myth

You know what I really hate about Tendulkar scoring a century? The attitude of many of my fellow countrymen - who immediately go 'oh, so what, India will now surely lose' - like it is a siamese-twin type occurance. Tendulkar century - India lose - joined at the bloody hip!

What utter bullshit - I feel like screaming. Heck, I have, many times over the years.

Yesterday was no different. Our man scored a wonderful century not out while everyone around him in his team struggled. Remember, he was coming back from a 6 month+ layoff. India notched up 309, with Sachin getting nearly 50% of the runs. Trigger enough for the blue blooded Indian fan to all but hand over the winners cheque to the Windies - why? because Sachin scored a century, so surely, but surely, India will lose!!!

Just when the match was shaping up nicely with the Windies taking the battle right up to the Indians, the heavens opened up, giving Duckworth and Lewis a chance to weave their sheer magic and brilliance again - and India actually lost. Did I sense a whole bunch of guys going - there we go again, see see India lost, you know why - because Sachin scored a century!

Here's my point - what the f*@$ can Sachin do to prevent Mr. Rain God from making his presence felt? I realised, 10 minutes of spleen-venting later, that I was cutting short my time on Planet Earth. I therefore turned to Encyclopaedia Cricketica - i.e. Statsguru. Some fiddling around gave me the stat I was looking for. Here goes -

Tendulkar has scored 40 centuries in ODIs (yes, that many. No, no one is close. The next highest, if you must know, is a gentleman called Ganguly, at 22)
India have won 28 of those matches (yes, that means 70%. yes, a significant number)
One no result, so India have lost 11 of the 40 games (27.5% of the games - yes, a big enough number, but not as big when you relate it to context of the strength of the Indian team over the years and the sheer base on which we are operating - 40 games is a lot of games).

Granted, Lara, Ponting, Jayasuriya and even Ganguly have much better winning percentages, but they have all scored half the number of centuries notched up by Sachin. That is staggering, and the percentage is not vastly different (Lara 85%, Ganguly - 81%, Ponting - 80%, Sachin - 70%).

So please, Sachin haters, appreciate the man for what he is worth. India wins much more often when Sachin scores a century. Let him go for it - ok? Good for your health and mine.

Thursday, September 14, 2006

The real thing

Awkward pitch, with many balls keeping low, and many others rearing chest high from good length.

Tendulkar wannabe #1 (Sehwag) - clean bowled playing back to a pitched up ball that kept low.
Tendulkar wannabe # 2 (or Sehwag wannabe #1 - Dhoni) - clean bowled playing back to a pitched up ball that kept low.

The current God in the batting line up (Dravid) - LBW, playing back to a pitched up ball that kept low.

Tendulkar - 100* and going strong (as I write this).

Wednesday, September 13, 2006

Ashes fever already

The Ashes is over 2 months away, there is an ICC tournament before that, and Australia are engaged in an ODI series in KL as we speak - but England and Aus cannot wait for the Ashes to start. Nothing else matters to England - though Australia seem to care that little bit more about the World Cup. ICC Champions Trophy - what's that now?

The Internet is buzzing with stuff re: the Ashes - yesterday England announced its team (on the anniversary of last year's fantastic series win at the Oval). I personally cannot wait for the Ashes - it will be terrific to watch, if England turn up fit and fine. English pundits are a bit worried - Boycott does not rate England's chances that highly, Mike Selvey is worried that England are carrying far too many players recovering from injury (why is that such an English trait?) - but the best writing on the Ashes this year will be from Tim de Lisle, who will be blogging on Cricinfo. I love his writing, and the blog format will encourage him to be more opinionated and incisive. Good fun, all of this!

I hope Australia stack up their online presence soon - Ian Chappell blogging will be great to read, as long as he does not mention Dougie Walters! Ian Healy can be counted upon to be to the point, and Mr. Steve Waugh must please get his hands dirty on the Internet.

My early prediction - Aus win this 3-1. All other caveats and disclaimers and what-ifs will come later.

Monday, September 11, 2006

A superstar if there ever was one

'Great' , 'superstar', 'genius', 'legend' - words used so loosely we don't even know what it signifies anymore. Dhoni has been called all of these, and he has not even faced quick bowling in Aus/SA yet. Sania was called all of these - and she is struggling to get past Round 1. The England football team (and Gerrard/Lampard/Beckham) were elevated to planetary status but couldn't make any impression in the World Cup.

However, one man richly deserves all these words - in fact they should perhaps retire one of these words along with him - so it is not used like confetti. M. Schumacher announced his retirement yesterday, and the world he dominated will never be the same again. To win one race in a sport that just 20 can participate in is great - but to win 7 world championships, to be on the verge of winning the 8th, to be on top of his art for over 15 years, to dominate and to be more hungry than fitter youngsters and to generally be synonymous with a sport where luck plays such a huge part is nothing short of genius.

Yesterday's race was indicative of his presence. Even though he qualified second behind Kimi, there was somehow a feeling of inevitability that he would get eventually win - which he did comfortably - timing his pits perfectly, generating the fast laps when it mattered (when Kimi pitted) and just pulling away easily to win.

Yesterday's press conference was also very instructive of his achievements. Flanked on both sides by teenagers in a sport meant for drivers like them, he clearly showed the world why he is special.

I got initiated onto F1 like many boys my age thanks to the nature of the sport - adrenalin, speed, glitz - I stayed on because of Schumi. And I am not the only one.

That is the man's power. A superstar if there ever was one.

Wednesday, September 06, 2006

Lage Raho Rajkumar Hirani and gang

I have pretty much stopped watching movies - too long, too hackneyed, too boring, too crowded, too braindead for my liking.

However, we went yesterday to Lage Raho Munnabhai and boy, did we enjoy it? Hilariously funny, thought-provoking, fast-paced - excellent movie. The hero, in my book anyway, was the director and screenplay writer - Raju Hirani and a dude called Abhijat Joshi. Kudos, gentlemen - to have the balls to write a script like this, weave in Gandhiji, make the whole thing contemporary, add humour, keep the pace going for 3 hours, and make it appealing to SEC A guys like wifey and me, as well as lower SEC junta in rural Bihar. It requires a special creative talent to make something like this happen.

If you haven't watched it, please go. I recommend a good multiplex, buy some good food and drinks, pay a bit extra for good seats and indulge yourself. We spent a good 600 Rs for food, parking and tickets - can't think of better ways of spending that money.

Tuesday, September 05, 2006

Sonia - please don't come to Blore

Apologies to my massive reader base for disappearing from these pages for a while - things have been very hectic at work - air travel in India is marginally better than tooth extraction, and I have been doing a lot of flying lately.

I chose to venture out this Sunday in Bangalore - and regretted every single moment of it. Sonia and her cohorts vandalized Bangalore, screwed our already-overflowing roads, and created enough havoc on what should have been a peaceful Sunday. A journey that should take 15 mins took 2 hours. A stranded few still haven't reached home!

200,000 people with nothing better to do were shepherded into government buses, tempos, rickety vehicles with 3 1/2 wheels and tongas - all with the promise of 100 Rs, some food and lots of illicit liquor in packets (sarai). I bet my bottom paisa that 98.25% of the attendees wouldn't have understood a word of the pearls of wisdom spouted by the lady with the accent.

I spoke to a guy who was asked to come, but refused - he was very happy because his neighbours went, saw and came back thirsty - let alone sarai, they didn't even get a glass of water to drink.

What a strange country we live in - where 85 year old people come in from far-flung villages to watch an Italian-turned-Indian dole out some shit for TV consumption. And the lady had the gall to criticize the current Govt. for showing apathy towards Bangalore's infrastructure problems.

Madam, you are part of the problem. Please conduct such rallies in some remote village - don't add to the mess that we are in already. Please don't come! Please!