Rain Rain Go Away . . .

As NOT predicted, India was saved in the last test match by the skin of their teeth as rightly said by Harsha Bhogle. How lucky can you get ?? :) But some of us might hv wished at the end of the day that England should win. Man, how many matches can you win by luck ? The bowlers fared well, but our famed batting line-up once again let us down. I can forgive the batsmen, for they are out-foxed by the superior bowling performance by the english. But how can you forgive the drooping shoulders, escorting the ball to the boundary line attitude of the fielders ? It was more evident in the second innings when pieterson was on his way to his century, and the match was slipping away from our hands (It was never in the bag at the first place!!) When things dont go your way, you just not wait for things to happen , You have to make it happen, and that includes not only the captain but also the fielders.

I was seeing a SA vs Aus match yday, and SA needed 6-7 runs from arnd 35-40 balls with 6 wickets remaining, but still the fielders where agile, no drooping shoulders, the body language was excellent, some field changes even at this point, trying to make things happen. Batsmen gets more confident to play his shots when seeing an Indian fielding rather than Australian or even SA fielding. The laziness or the casual attitude of the fielders does no good for the bowling side, even denting the bowlers confidence. This is suicidal when meeting truly professional teams like the Proteas or the Aussies.

and what bt the unimaginative captaincy ? I am reminded of Mark Taylor, who had an unusual field position for a batsmen when he was going gr8 guns, which made way for he getting out getting bowled!!! After the match he was asked why was the fielder kept in that position. His answer was "for no apparent reason", just to create a doubt in the batsman's mind as to why the fielder was there at the first place, and what sort of ball the bowler would ball to make him get out at that position. True greatness!! That was some captaincy!!! Dravid needs to learn some more lessons in making things happen even with his fast bowlers, let alone Kumble.

Anyways today the 2nd test starts in an hours time. Hope some constructive strict words were said in the team meetings and hope there is a positive response from the team, and by that a positive result.

This time wishing for the rains to keep away...

A Dormant Volcano in God's Own Country !!

One of the most difficult but also one of the easiest things to do,(What??!!) is not to do anything for a prolonged period of time!!! Ask me... After my MBA, this is a 4 month gap before my joining date. What could I possibly do ? Well, there was a plethora of options in front of me, the most probable of them being teaching at an MBA coaching institute near my home. By that I can be occupied for most part of the day and also wont be so hectic as to eat into my other past times. Already had this feeling that these 4 months was my last gap or lean period without any restrictions and responsibilities till the time I retire. Who knows??!!
Anyways... This small spark was all it needed to fire up my already lazy mind to make me do almost Zilch during the time. So what is the Zilch that I actually did ??!! ;)

This Blog was one good result of that inactivity. and also my Phlog which has become one of my new passions. Also tried to do some minor preparations over net before joining my company.

Other end result was 100's of random movies in star movies and HBO day-in and day-out. But was fortunate enough to see some very good movies also - notable ones of them were
Mozart and the Whale: A love story between 2 people affected by Asperger's syndrome. It is the unique condition of ones inability to express emotions or rather a type of Autism. Really liked the idea of 2 people affected by this falling in love for each other and the difficulties brewing from it.
Dont know if this subject has ever been made into films before, but this was a definite first for me. And the film does not just deliver on a nice idea but the picturization and the acting was also great(Done by Josh Hartnett and Radha Mitchell). No she doesnt have an Indian connection, just that her mom was enamored of India(who isnt?) :)

other good ones being
English : The Jacket, Walk the Line, When Trumpets Fade, Glory Road, SwordFish
Hindi : Black - Although I've seen this earlier, could not resist from seeing once again.
Tamil : Anbe Sivam, Autograph
and not to say about malayalam, saw almost all the movies running at the theatres and TV at this time,except for Mohanlal's Hallo, which I plan to see before I leave here.

There were also some good trips to Bangalore, Munnar, Kanyakumari, Poovar, Chennai and Delhi to meet my friends. Attended many marriages of friends. Even tried playing cricket and badminton after a very long time. Realized that I havent lost touch with my fielding, one of the aspects of the game that I enjoy, which most others dont. Much like the main 2 aspects of cricket, fielding is also an art ;) What a profound statement..Bahhh... Hope I'll be remembered for this, when the indian team 'realizes the reality' that cricket is not just about the 2 Big B's.

So that pretty much sums my 'activity' for my 4 months at home along with the usual chores of sleeping and not to mention the perennial glutton that I am. The level of laziness to which I had stooped to reached such a level that I watched US Open Golf live over the 4 days it was aired just because I had pretty much nothing else to do. My Favourite Tiger came second to Cabrera. Liked Cabrera though due to his unassuming nature.
Other Live's were Tennis - French Open, Wimbledon,(My darling Sania won her second title this year - cincinatti open, in doubles though), Cricket - The 20-20's, India in England,'Boss' :) (Thats the new punch line, just in case one is not following India's Tour of England ardently. and btw today is the last day of the first test at Lord's. India needs another 250 odd runs and england needs 7 more wickets. Jaffer, Dravid and Tendulkar GONE!! Hoping for the best...), then Baseball, Basketball, Football, American Football, Philippines Open Badminton, US 9 ball tour, Tour de france and what not...

So the only 'constructive' thing so to say that has happened over these 4 months is my Blog. Hoping to be regular on it. Dont know how much it'll be possible. Hope I am. Atleast my photo log is racing ahead.
~Hyderabad and NY, Here I come...