A Poem to the God

CELEBRATING A TON OF TONS

39 years ago,the journey started,

For till now,it has not been halted.

He has every record in the book,

When he is playing,no one can take just one look.

For a cricket crazy nation,

Where people always fill you with expectation,

He has handled the pressure like no one has,

For he has always played for India's cause.

There have been taller,stronger and beefier men,

Who could not survive in the long run,

Life in cricket is just too long to endure,

And no one has matched his undiminishing stature.

The hopes the little man carries,

Holds the key for his opposition's miseries.

He has tormented the wizards and the magicians,

For his armory was never short of ammunitions.

For him,centuries are mere numbers,

'cos numbers don't make winners.

So many times has he raised his willow,

That no one can ever dream of in their pillow.

All of us call him 'The God',

But he has said that he is not.

All the humbleness is what he is made of,

If you are against him,just bugger off.

He does not know the meaning for controversy,

And he is void of all hypocrisy.

He is the cleanest man you can find on the pitch,

Like him or not,it is your wish.

Ever since he started his long lonely journey,

Cricket has always been his best company.

He lives,breathes and thinks of the game,

It's holy even to say his name.

ALL HAIL THE MASTER

SACHIN RAMESH TENDULKAR

- Anirudh (One among the billion)

The Good vs. Evil Conundrum

THE GOOD VS. EVIL CONUNDRUM

It is the usual question. I often wondered why always the Good had to win over Evil. When I was 8, I asked my folks about it. They said, God is Good, which is more powerful than Evil and so it is always the Good that wins. I was convinced then. But again, the search for the question began when I began to think autonomously.

I had a few discussions with people in forums, from which I came to know a few facts. It was astounding that we have always overlooked these trivial things. There is, for the fact, no Good or Evil. As J.K. Rowling of the Harry Potter fame says,

“There is no good and evil, there is only power and those too weak to seek it”

Back then, when I was reading Harry Potter, this sentence did not mean a great deal to me. But now, it does. Ms. Rowling was spot on. There are deeds that we do which are deemed Good and Bad. In truth it is not. It is purely the ego, the brain, the perception of those.

If Adolf Hitler thought killing or evacuating the Jews was good for this country, his ego perceived the thought that way. It does not mean he was wrong. He was brought up thinking the Jews were his enemies. He did what he was taught about. So where is the Evil in it?

But was it? It is often the absence of a Universal truth that complicates the situation. There is no universal truth in anything. There is only a relative or perceptional truth. In general view, killing of people is Evil. But what do we do during war? We kill our enemies because we assume they are Evil.    So, Good and Evil are based on how we/our ego perceives a situation.

In generalized terms, the society does not want people harming it. So, it always sees to it that the Good wins over the Evil there by creating an illusion that only if you do Good, you will win, which it has done so very successfully that we cannot think beyond the point. In a ideal world, there would be nothing called Good and Evil.

Whatever you think is Good might not be good for others and vice Versa. So the next time you kill a fly and think you did a good, just re think about it.

Test Cricket-The Real Deal

TEST CRICKET- THE REAL DEAL

11 fielders, 2 batsmen and 2 umpires, all in white, with a red ball walking into a packed stadium. That is Cricket. That is Test Cricket. The heart and Soul of the game, the forgotten and unfavored form of the game these days. This article is an attempt to enlighten those who feel otherwise.

Test cricket derived its name from being called the form of game which puts all the skills of a player under the scanner. Only those few fans who follow cricket with such passion can develop that undiluted interest in this form of the game. Personally I’d give up 100 T20 games to watch one test match. The emotion the game carries, 5 days of struggle, to achieve supremacy, victory and greatness, is no equivalent to 20 overs of insane swinging and baseball style slogs. For me, a batsman scoring 70 odd in swinging and seaming conditions is far better than a 100 off 33 balls. It tells you about the technical skill and the mental conditioning of the batsman to play and survive in such hostile conditions.

Every test match, irrespective of the result has a story to tell. A story about a lanky young fast bowler proving himself, or a newbie finding his feet in the international arena, the resilience of a team or the inspiration one can provide for a whole team. Test cricket is all about stories that pans out in the 5 long testing days.

One another reason why I love Test cricket more is the fact that, it is the only form of the game where the bowlers are generally on top. Let alone, the placid and dead surfaces of the sub continent, elsewhere, it the bowlers, the swing bowlers who are in contention. Often, the game has favored the batsmen and seeing the bowlers being on top gives us that little pleasure.

A fast bowler steaming in, moving the ball sharply both ways with a packed slip cauldron and almost no fielders in the other positions is a sight to watch. It is also about surviving the difficult phases, going through phases when you know the bowler is on top.

Here are some of my interesting stat compilations on test matches played till date.

719 drawn games out of 2102 which is almost 34%

29 games – Team won by 1 or 2 wickets which is 1.4%

16 games – Team won by < 15 runs which is 0.8%

20 games – Team won with a margin of over 200 which is 0.1%

188 games – Team won by 9 or 10 wickets which is almost 8.9%

363 games – Team won by an innings which is 17.3%

From the above stats, I have elucidated the content in a more presentable form for easy comprehension.

No. of drawn games         -1 per 2.9 matches

No. of fair games             -1 per 2.7 matches

No. of one sided games    -1 per 3.8 matches

No. of close games           -1 per 45.5 matches

No. of tied games             -1 per 1052 matches

Now that we know that a draw is one of the most likely events, why should we watch it? It is often said that a wicket is not taken in a single ball. In test cricket, it is often setup for the complete over or spell where the bowler tends the set the batsman up and bowls his variation. Similar to it, test matches should not be considered in single. It is often about the complete series, how a team fares throughout the season.

The close games are more interesting than those of the ODIs or the T20s. Often with a lot of deliveries left, it is about how the last pair survives to score the remaining runs. Michael Bevan, who played very well with the tail in the ODIs, had a contemporary in VVS Laxman who more often than not did it for India. It is sometimes also about picking up the last or two wickets with a meagre runs to spare. Moments like these have tremendous pressure on the players since 1 mistake or brilliance can turn around all the events of the 4 long strenuous days. Now tell me, which is the pressure cooker situation, a 3 hour T20 or a 5 day test match?

 

THE ASHES

The historically famous Ashes series was born from an infamous test match for England. It was an English loss at Oval in 1882 which instigated the ‘The Sporting times’ to write an obituary stating that the English cricket was dead.

Ivo Bligh, the English captain promised the people than he would regain the Ashes by winning the away tour which had to come. In a controversial tour then, England won it 2-1 and regained the Ashes. Thus, the culture spread and now as a result, we call the series ‘The Ashes’ which was then not called so. It is believed that the small Ashes cup, presented to the English captain by a group of Melbourne women had the charred remnants of a cricket bail inside it.

Such rich history, test cricket had, which seems to be forgotten today. It is always special to see Australia and England battle it out who save their best for each other. Though I am an Indian, I love the Ashes. It, as of now, is the most competitive and hyped test match series. The other famous series played all around the world are,

   ·       The Aus Africa series between Australia and South Africa

   ·         The Border Gavaskar series between India and Australia

   ·         The NatWest series between England and the touring country

What about test draws? People usually deem a drawn game as a boring one. Well, if you think so, you are in for a surprise. The following is a collection of close drawn games. Look at the margin by which a result was avoided.

 

Runs remaining	Team	Score	Target	Opposition	Venue	Season
1	England	204/6	205	v Zimbabwe	Bulawayo	1996-97
1	India	242/9	243	v West Indies	Mumbai WS	2011-12
6	India	355/8	361	v West Indies	Mumbai BS	1948-49
6	England	228/9	234	v West Indies	Lord's	1963
8	Australia	238/8	246	v England	Melbourne	1974-75
9	India	429/8	438	v England	The Oval	1979
10	New Zealand	274/6	284	v Australia	Brisbane	2001-02

Here are some of the closest test match finishes. This is no ranking but a mere collection.

Ind vs. Aus, 2001, Eden Gardens

India followed on after being all out 171 in reply to Australia’s 445. India was forced to follow on by Steve Waugh when a miracle happened. Dravid and Laxman put on a 376 run stand to take India to 657. It was then left to Tendulkar’s 3 wickets in the final session to wrap up the Aussies for 212, thereby winning from an almost improbable position.

Match Highlights 

Scorecard

Eng vs. Aus, 1882, The Oval

This was the infamous test match were England lost to Australia by 7 runs. The media wrote the famous obituary to English cricket and from then on, the rivalry between England and Australia became one of the most celebrated and most awaited clashes by the name of ‘The Ashes series’.

Scorecard

Eng vs. Aus, 1981, Headingly

This was the 3^rd test of the 1981 Ashes at England. Australia were put into bat and scored a mammoth 401. In reply, England were bowled out for 174. The English 2^nd innings began dismally until Ian Botham smashed 149 off 148 deliveries and the rest was history. England then went on to wrap Australia for nelson, thereby winning the match by 18 runs. This was one of the most famous test matches simply for the fact that the team following on had managed to win it.

Scorecard

Eng vs. Aus, 2005, Edgbaston

This was another Ashes test match. Australia began the final day with another 107 more to win the game but had only 2 wickets in hand. With 62 more to win, Australia lost Share Warne. The English win seemed the most probable result, but Brett Lee though differently. He smashed the English attack to all corners of the park until 3 runs were required. Steven Harmison bolwed on down the chest of Kasprowicz who had edged it and the edge was gladly collected by G Jones. England had won the game, but then Kasprowicz had never edged it. Umpire Billy Bowden did not think so either.

Last moments

Scorecard

Ind vs Aus, 2010, Mohali

This match would stay fresh in most Indians’ minds. India were 8 down with 92 more runs required. Ishant and Laxman guided India through until Ishant got out with India still needing another 11 runs. Ojha, the last man walked in. India survived through the nervous times to seal a historic 1 wicket win. Incidentally 2 balls before the winnings runs were hit by Ojha, an LBW decision was turned down by umpire, which looked pretty plumb in front. Australia’s bad luck with close finishes continued.

Highlights of Day 5
Scorecard

A swinging ball, cloudy overhead conditions, players in their jumpers, batsmen struggling to keep terms with swing. That is the real fun. Legends were made by test cricket. Sir. Don, Sir. Ian Botham, Sachin Tendulkar, Jacques Kallis, Ricky Ponting, all these players were products of test cricket. It is the dream of every cricket player to do well for their country in the white kit, unfortunately, it is not the though process of their fans these days. 

LIVE LONG TEST CRICKET

For I am an Engineer

FOR, I AM AN ENGINEER

On the 14th of June ’13, at about 8.02 PM, I saw a status update in Facebook. It was from my friend who sounded relived because he had become an engineer. The adrenaline pumped in and I began fidgeting with my fingers on the keyboard trying to type out ‘www.annauniv.edu’, which would usually have been a cake walk. It looked like a herculean task, trying to locate the details regarding the results in the simple, yet confusingly murky Anna University website. I could not find it and had to send a message to my friend about where the result was published. He directed me to another website. There, I was typing out my numbers, trying to be extra sure because the last thing I would have wanted was to see somebody else’s result and get ‘trolled’.

Five boxes, on the right most in the table bore the words ‘PASS’ and then I let out a huge sigh. It was 8.04 when I realized for the first time with assurance that I was a Mechanical engineer. I had my hands up and shouted out loud, ‘ha I am an engineer’ and my father who was reading a book on the bed, sat up startled. He realized what I was saying in a moment and looked at the screen. Excitedly he ran to tell my mother about this and then the rest was emotion. Parents, who never became engineers, who wanted their son to become an engineer, had tears to show. My mother was literally sobbing and my dad was trying to hide his tears. It took some time to sink in that I had become an engineer and then I did what most people do, update a status. It was 8.07 when I reached out to the world as a Mechanical engineer.  

When the cursory ‘likes’ began to pour in, I pondered about the last 4 years. My father and mother were decent enough to give me some personal space at that moment or maybe it just happened. I sat alone in the room with my favorite track, Divernire playing aloud. The 4 years really did not seem to have moved in a blur. When people often confront me saying ‘4 years was like a jiffy’, I get really wild. Only the one who experienced the 4 hard strenuous utterly meaningless years would have known what I was. What did I really become? An engineer? No way. I still have no idea how an induction motor starts. It did not take many more moments to realize that all I had done is to have gone through the usual and well treaded paths. The wilderness then, which looked scary, looked inviting. In retrospect, I would have taken the path, rather, found a path through the wilderness rather than to have gone through this known path. All I have ended up with is being just another engineer in 350,000 engineers in India for the year alone. 1/350,000 is an exorbitantly high odds which even Thomas Alva Edison would not have faced.

In a world with a plethora of opportunities, I was forced to take up engineering and now I stand as an utter failure to the course. Failure does not necessarily mean to have literally failed. To not to have developed the passion for the subject even after 4 years of studies depicts two possibilities. Either the subject was not presented well or I did not want to develop passion. I would call this a paradox. It is a vicious circle wherein both the components point at the other one. If I get into the rhetoric topic of India Educational system, I would even have to attend phone calls from respected Mr. Kapil Sibal which I do not want to. 

There is one more lifeline, one where I guess most people get to the shores with. It is the fact that engineers are merely wanted not for their knowledge on the subject, but the way they think, the way they have been trained to think when problems arise. May be the meaningless and utterly dumb idea of solving problems during the 8 semesters did have a concept behind it. With no job and such a dull attitude (they call it so, I don’t) I am one among the myriad of youth in this country seeking a respectable employment, 

FOR I AM AN ENGINEER.

Dubai- Architectural Splendors

SPLENDORS OF DUBAI-ARCHITECTURE

Dubai, the City of Gold, as it is often referred to, is aptly also christened as the City of Dreams. Oil had been discovered in 1966 but was not of much use since they were dealt with by the British. Ever since the independence in 1971, Dubai took off in its Oil export. In a 40 year span, the city has completely transformed from a barren hot desert to an international hub of trade and business. The radical transformation has left us all awe struck. 

The transformation has left us with only one question. What is not possible in Dubai? Here, I aim to present some of the architectural splendor of the city.

BURJ KHALIFA 

The Burj Khalifa is one of the most famous skyscrapers in the world. In fact, it is the tallest skyscraper in the world with 163 floors. It height is around 829.8 m which is almost half the size of Mount Washington in Vancouver.

The Burj Khalifa was constructed under just 5 years. One mind blowing fact about the building is that one can witness sunset from the base of the building and can do it again if he/she goes up to the top floor. It is said that there is a time difference of 3 minutes between which you can watch the sun set two times. 

PALM JUMERIAH

This archipelago seen in the above images is called the Palm Jumeriah, the pattern representing the palm tree. It is completely man made, which took almost 6 years to finish. Sand had to be poured to artificially create land for about 10 meters deep. Along the coast lie hotels and villas which are  mindbogglingly expensive. 

It is the biggest man-made island in the world and are said to be visible to the naked eye distinctly from space.

THE WORLD ARCHIPELAGO 

The World archipelago, as you can see from the picture, is another manmade, sand dredged island structure. The islands are dredged in such a shape that it would look like the world map from above. There are about 240 islands and the project is currently suspended due to the financial crisis in 2009. It is said that Michael Schumacher was presented with an island by Dubai's Sheikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum which is worth 7 million USD.

THE BURJ AL ARAB 

The Burj Al Arab is a luxury hotel that stands tall and distinguished among the other buildings of the Dubai skyline. It is the world’s only 7 star hotel.  The hotel is located 280 meters offshore on an island. The structure is said to be the fourth tallest hotel in the world. The second photograph shows us an open air tennis court, exclusive to the hotel. It can also be converted into a helipad when not used as a court. It is alleged to be the world’s highest tennis court. Now, don’t ask me where the balls boys would stand. The two players seen in the photograph are Andre Agassi and Roger Federer who were invited to play a few rounds when they were at Dubai for the Dubai open. 

REFRIGERATED BEACHES OF PALAZZIO VERSACE

The above photograph shows us the Palazzio Versace, one of the most luxurious hotels in Dubai. Leave alone those expensive suits and roasted Turkeys, this hotel, believe me, has a refrigerated beach. Ask me how? They have coolant pipes under the sand through which the heat of the beach sand is absorbed which cools the temperature of the beach sand, thereby manually controlling the temperature of the beach. Well, this certainly is luxury, a little too much, I would say. 

SKI DUBAI

One can easily mistake the photograph here as taken somewhere in a hilly place. The truth is, the place is in Dubai. The Ski Dubai is one of the most popular venues to those who pursue skiing as their hobby. A temperature of -1° C is needed to maintain inside where the ambient temperature is roughly 40-45° C. The insulation systems are so rigid and perfect that it can maintain up to -6° C during the production of snow. The terrain inside has an artificial mountain of 85 meter and 5 different slopes for skiers according to their level of difficulty.

ATLANTIS, THE PALM HOTEL

Atlantis,the palm, the first hotel to be built on the Palm Jumeriah is one of the most expensive in Dubai. It boasts of underwater suites which, even to comprehend takes some time. The resort has a dolphin bay where guests can take a swim and interact with dolphins.

With two underwater suites, Neptune and Poseidon, one can see through the wall to wall and ceilings, the remnants of the old city and the marine animals.

Imagine staring at all the colorful fishes and other mammals while you doze off to sleep. Well, that, I would say, is extravaganza. 

If these are mind-blowing, wait until the future projects get completed. Now, you know why even the Americans want to visit Dubai. The crores of money spent on architecture is a pure reflection of how much the people of the middle east want to join into the big players league of the world. As of now, it looks like they have succeeded. Dubai plays host to more than 10 million tourists per year which is almost twice as that of our country, which welcomes only 6 million per year. But don't worry about the statistics, get a chance, then go for it. 

Photograph source- The Internet 

Good luck with your travelling amigos!!