About the Black monkey...

The current controversy continues to rage, and I continue to wonder, the relation between monkey chants and racism.
If crowd sentiments and favouring towards the local side are acceptable and understandable behaviours, then dislike for
the one player who perhaps single-handedly took the serious away from the Indians should be just as acceptable.
Doing monkey actions towards him, is perhaps a better thing than hurling verbal abuses. I guess, the aussies, being
the masters of such words on the field, are resilient towards them and hence find them more less "hurting" than calling
someone a "monkey".
One thing that aussies are probably not aware of is about the existence of a monkey-avatar Hanuman, who is worshipped
by hindus across India! Maybe, if Symonds came to know of this, he would start enjoying the monkey chants rather than
feeling "hurt".
Ofcourse, its obvious that the intent of the "monkey chants" is more of an abuse rather than a worshipping gesture, but then
again, the intent is to abuse the top scorer. In my opinion, Symonds is at the butt of these remarks not because he is a black
but because he has consistently taken the match away from India in this future cup series.
Unlike countries like Australia, USA, and UK, racial discrimination and abuse is not a particularly common feature in the Indian
subcontinent. What one is more likely to encounter are discrimination and abuse of a different kind(read sexual or religious).

Knowing all this, it is my belief that the "racial" tinge to the whole controversy sources itself from the aussie mentality itself, coz
however much brotherly they might feel, deep down they are consciously aware that Andrew is a "black".
In light of this chain of thoughts, I believe the best way to nip this entire controversy is not by trying to control or moderate the
crowd(coz if that was possible, then it would be a "crowd" it would be a "civilized gathering") but by encouraging the crowd to
be more generous and uniform with their "abuses" and "chants". Why single out Andrew Symonds? Give monkey chants to them
all! ;-)
And the T20 match in Mumbai is last place where this could be achieved!
Go on Mumbai! "Ape" them all~

The Destiny of Potter

With less than 24 hours left, before the world will know the destiny of Harry Potter in his 7th and probably the last book, I thought about wondering how it could end...
Its a well known fact that authors, when they manage to create a larger than life character, tend to ensure that the character ends with them, so that no other author can continue with the legacy. Call it an intuitive defense towards one's intellectual property, but the world has seen it happen many times. As was the case with Sherlock Holmes, who was eventually wrapped up towards a "the end" albeit a not so happy one, by his archenemy in the final book, as intended by Sir Doyle. That public outcry/or pressure from his publisher made him revive the detective is as yet unknown, but I believe Rowling would be aware and probably would have shared the feelings of ensuring that the Potter saga ends, as and how she has planned.
There is the perennial fear of some other author continuing the story, which could perhaps make her decide to kill him off. Surely, if Voldemort kills him(and gets killed himself), the audience wont really be surprised as by now the-one-who-must-not-be-named has reached gigantic proportions, with his closest adversary Dumbledore also out of the way...
So will it be the end of probably one of the most popular fictional characters in the history of the world?
I somehow dont think so.
Reason? Well I believe JKR is much more sensible. Unlike Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, JKR knows that a movie is set to follow the book. And a happy ending would yield higher and much better revenues for the film.
But after the Rise of the "dark lord" can the boy who survived, keep surviving again and again? And better still manage to kill the murderer of his parents? That, although heroic, and suiting Harry Potter's current image in front of his followers in the wizarding word, would be very hard to swallow.
Due to all this, my prediction is that Harry would succumb to his archenemy, though he would be able to rise again, just like Voldemort himself, and ultimately manage to get rid of the Dark Lord. Moreover, to bring the story to a conclusion(and to avoid possible extension of the story), I expect JKR to settle Harry into a married life(assuming ofcourse that he survives) and/or blast him into the future after which a kid's book would not be that much of a possibility.

How correct my prediction is, I would know tomorrow, when the pre-ordered version should be delievered(hopefully). How I will manage to survive the night, with the pirated e-book so easily available over the interenet, is something that I do not know.

P.S: for those who didnt realise, I am back! ;)

Howz this for an Advertisement?

I know and understand the technical difficulties that the site might be facing, but surely the occurence of the "24 hour" advertisement on a page that says otherwise is avoidable!!!

Dormant

The Author of this blog, has reached the juncture in his life, where doing some work and earning his own living has become the need of the hour, thereby the moments when he used to indulge in free thoughts and ponder upon his musings are far and thin.
He will return, with a venegeance, that is a promise.

The woods are lovely, dark and deep,
But I have promises to keep
and miles to go before i sleep
Miles to go before i sleep....

~(lots to come from yours truly, very soon)~

Another Sad Day for Indian Cricket

Another day in the life of Indian cricketers, another ODI, another sad page in the ever increasing group of disappointed and saddened Indian cricket followers...
Will this change?
...Ever?

For a long time it had been said that Indians(cricketers in particular) lack a certain quality known as Killer Instinct. In simple terms it is an instinct to go for the kill when the blood of the opposition is smelt. Putting it even simply, the Indian cricket team lacks aggression. As a follower of ardent follower of Indian cricket, I had often ridiculed this statement and even the neccesity of such an instinct in sports like cricket; but the more I see of the "new-age"[read Chappell-Dravid led] Indian cricket team, the more i feel that the above said remark is not just a statement but a fact, a bitter truth. And the sooner the Indian team realises it, the better it is!

For ages, Indian pacers had lacked the need of giving the batsman a cold look after a good ball, and even the need of bowling bouncers as a weapon has been long ignored. The players refuse to indulge in the art of sledging. In a way its almost like its a group of "nice guys" finishing last in what is called the Gentlemen's game.

Which is why, I for one, was pleased when an Australian captain, became the coach of the team. I believed that this would bring some much needed aggression or "Killer Instinct" into the players. I guess the BCCI followed a similar though process, but that was not to be.
After all this is not a Hollywood or Bollywood mushy story in which the nice guys get some guide to push them in the right direction (of the heroine) and a happily-ever-after ending...

Good guys,more often than not, finish last. Its high time that the players realised that.
Letting the South Africans off the hook, after 73/6* and 137/7* is something that really astounded me. I was shocked by the lack of aggressiveness in Rahul's captaincy. Enough is being said about India's repeated batting failures, but for this match, I will just continue to wonder how the hell the SA team reached 274 after being 73/6*. Why was Zaheer Khan saved for end-game, instead of pushing for the kill and making it the end-game then and there? Why wasnt Sachin(having gone for an economy of <4 in that match and also in the previous match) brought on when all the bowlers were being belted left right and center?!What was the point of persisting with a noticable-off-colour Harbhajan Singh when he was bowling atleast 3 loose deliveries every over? Why continue with complete pace attack when fast ballers can be hit farther?
All these question ridiculously simple in hindsight, but I for one believe, that a good captain should have been able to think of and counter atleast a few of these questions on the field!
After the dream start, the Indian bowling and captaincy were appalling to say the least. Having said that doesnt mean that I dont blame the batting for the loss. On a batting pitch, the absolute lack of approach by the Indian batsmen was shocking. One would have thought that after the Durban rout, the batsmen would have atleast tried somewhat to take responsibility or in Guru Chappell's words "stand up and be counted". I fail to accept it that a team which has in the past successfully chased 350+ runs fails to cross even the 200 run mark with the batsmen taking some initiative.
Sehwag, surprises me with his absolute lack of care with regard to his consistency. Playing the natural game is fine, but India cannot start 9 out every 10 innings with one wicket down! There has got to be some sense of responsibility!
Sachin Tendulkar, with his return, had showed some promise of return of the days of yore, but disappointed yet again. A batsman of his calibre should not be getting out in that manner at such crucial junctures.
Dravid, will you please return to number 3 position?! And why have you gone back to being a test batsman yet again?
Kaif, Rhodes gauranteed his place in the team only by improving his batting and consistency. You are good in the field but that alone cannot and should not reserve a slot in the playing 11.
Dhoni, lone performer yesterday... but these performances need to be more consistent!

Will this tunnel ever end?
Will there be a light at the end of tunnel?
Will Indian Cricket team ever touch the heights that it has long promised of achieving(atleast on paper)?

*For accurate scores, refer to a cricketing website like cricinfo.com. The scores mentioned in this blog are from my memory and thereby prone to major errors.

Living in a terrorised world...

I had very recently sent a courier to a friend of mine, which contained a perfume as a birthday present, wrapped in a gift wrapping and all. I was shocked to have it returned to me after literally being "strip-searched"!
The gift wrapping and the container envelope had both been torn open and the contents analyzed! On contacting the courier people i found out that this had been done by the airport officials, and the package had been returned because it contained a liquid. I am well aware of the new norms casting restrictions on taking liquids(or cosmetics) with you during a flight but this is just plain ridiculous! As far as my knowledge goes, the liquids cannot automatically convert into explosives and explode by themselves, they need a piece of machinery (which could easily have been discovered in an X-ray scan) or manual triggering for that to happen!
I fail to understand whats all the paranoia with sending a courier containing a liquid in it. Is it just in India or is it a worse situation in west(which are usually said to be much more easily scared), is something that i wonder...

Aah the banes of living in a terrorized world.

Thank you Mr. Osama Bin Laden(and the other major contributors).

Sometimes, the best driver doesnt win...

Schumacher recieving award from Pele awarded
by the FIA in recognition of his achievements in F1

What a race it was, F1 ace Michael Schumacher fought bad luck to prove that he is still the best! After a mechanical failure during qualifying, MS had to start from 10th position on the grid, but from the start the determination was there for all to see. Then a daring overtaking maneouvre on Fisichella which bordered on being maniacal and brilliant, but bad luck that has been haunting him since Japanese GP came to its full fore and MS and a puncture pushed him back to the end of the grid.
Still determination, grit and most importantly uncomparable talent was on display for the rest of the race as Schumacher ran on a full tank and yet progressed up on the charts. He passed the backmarkers only to be stuck behind Fisichella again, but this time Schumi's relentless pressure drove Fisichella to do a mistake and in a flash Michael was on P5, chasing his substitute for the 2007 season, Kimi Raikonnen. But next year is a different story and Raikonnen was playing for Mc Laren this year, so any hopes that Raikonnen would let the overtake be easy, were dispelled when he fought hard against Schumi's first maneouvre pushing him back. But after this realisation dawned on MS, he had none of Raikonnen's defensive drive as he overtook him by sheer pace. Next was Jenson Button and a podium position but just 2 laps to go and Kimi's defensive driving had increased the gap so much that there just wasnt enough time. Time was the only factor that Schumi couldnt conquer, and this was proved when Schumacher's drove his penultimate lap, the fastest of the race, over half a second quicker than team mate, and the GP winner Felipe Massa’s best!

Inspite of such brilliance, Schumacher was let down by bad luck through his car's mechanical failures. All the followers of F1 know that it is a team game, where the machine is just as important as the men, but just this one time, my heart wished "let the best man(driver) win"...

Schumacher’s competitive Formula One career may be over, but true to form, the great man entertained us to the last. Thank you Michael.

[Read about Michael's records here]