Cricket fever

So here it is.. I cannot NOT write about what just happened yesterday…No way, I've been an ecstatic kid since the past 19 hours and 37 minutes. And I know I’m not alone…

So much has been written and is being written right now about Saturday night and that makes it more electrifying. Cricket is probably the only passion that we all have in common as a country. I do not want to begin about where we could go as a nation if we developed more such common passions.

Anyways, like many Indian cricket fans, I am no different. I have followed this team very closely ever since I could sing the Indian National Anthem.  As one of the optimist fans, I hated all the criticism about cricket being a silly sport, Tendulkar being over-rated(!!), lack of good all-rounders, the collapse once Sachin departs etc. I failed to understand the critics. Why would one watch a game so closely only to find faults in it? I shut my ears to everything negative that was being printed and said; especially the news channels and print media, which took every opportunity to show the team in bad light. Patience is the key to success, and what better example than looking at Sachin’s career as a sportsman.

I, like most of my friends never knew what it was to win the World Cup. We had only heard from our parents and grandparents about the 1983 World Cup. They spoke about how India played the entire tournament, where they saw the finals, how they celebrated et al. The only thing that perhaps came close to that feeling was the win at finals at the T20 Championship against Pakistan. Cannot forget Misbah’s shot straight to Sreesanth’s hands. Then again, every win against Pakistan in the World Cup was special. But all this hype was just a consolation to the bigger cup that we failed to get. The loss at Eden Gardens in 1996 against Sri Lanka pinched me really hard too. I was in middle school then, but still remember that one Indian who was left on the pitch to shed tears, and that Sachin Tendulkar had to take rounds of the stadium to tell the crowd to calm down. He was my hero right then. He was probably consoling us then, by saying – “I am not leaving this game till I hold that cup in my hands for all of you”. Yes Sachin, most of us had heard that and we continued to shower our undying love and support for the game. We were not giving up, not even after the numerous match-fixing scams.

By 2007, I was already in my 20s. Was ready to watch the great trio – Sachin, Saurav and Dravid take us all the way through the tournament. Little did I know that it was going to be India’s biggest let down performance? I was shattered. I didn’t want to watch the remaining of the World Cup and for heaven’s sake not the cup going to Ricky Ponting. Was it the worst Indian team ever? I didn’t think so…but something was wrong, terribly wrong.  

And then there was a change in the overall game itself. T20 had been introduced for the impatient generation. It was a lot of fun though. And the change in the Indian team? Our coach from the World Cup had gone; the trio had decided NOT to play the T20 World Cup and I wasn’t sure about a team which didn’t have Saurav as captain and Sachin-Dravid as team members. But one thing remained the same. The Indian jersey. My take on the newly appointed wicket-keeper turned captain- Hair is too long, plays risky shots, and has no experience as a leader. But this gentleman – Mr. MS Dhoni proved me and many others wrong in just a span of a month. Yuvi hit 6 6s, India beat Pakistan twice, Joginder Sharma bowled the last over and India had WON the T20 world cup – without a coach and the trio. Watching it at a small hotel in Srirampur in India made it a feeling to remember for a lifetime. Yes, Indians can be Champions, and I was witness to it. It wasn’t the real cup…but to hell, it was a World Championship!

2007 till date, the only time I was really saddened was when Saurav Ganguly announced his retirement. Apart from that, Dhoni and company had only impressed. We had now become the top team in Test cricket and 2^nd best in ODIs, Sachin had made 200* (and reached a million other milestones) and India had entered the 2011 World Cup as one of the favorites. Bring it ON! 

From a college-goer to an office-goer, life had changed for me since the last time India played a World Cup. This time expectations were higher, excitement higher…we were playing in the sub-continent! Through the easy Bangladesh, easier Netherland, fierce England, shaky Ireland, firm South Africa and nervous West-Indies, we were placed, rather destined to play Australia in the Quarterfinals at Motera. Aussies had just lost to Pakistan, and we too played our best to show the former World Champions how it is done. Yes, we had just shown the exit door to Ricky Ponting! No more yellow ruling the World Cup. In fact I will support any team that defeats Ricky Ponting. Watching this win at Uptown with a bunch of friends only added to the excitement of watching that Ponting face.

Bring on the Pakis, our favorite team to play against at the World Cup. In that one week I can only remember being super nervous. 30^th March was taking forever to come. Meanwhile Afridi’s remarks on Sachin weren’t that comforting. But I knew India was going to win… we all knew it. India was not going to lose to Pakistan, not at the semi-finals in Mohali. This time at Nirvana, we jumped and cheered and screamed at every Pakistani wicket that fell. We were overjoyed, and this time I didn’t want to miss out the winning moment. I have it saved as a video to be played multiple times. It was a moment to cherish – India had beaten Pakistan by 29 runs to reach the Finals of the World Cup.

I am not running out of words here. I have so much to say.

India vz Sri Lanka in the Finals – 2^nd April, 2011 on a Saturday at the Wankhede stadium in Mumbai. The buildup was nerve wrecking. But India was going to win for SURE. There was no doubt in my mind about that. May be coz I wasn’t even thinking of Sri Lanka. I was just waiting to see that cup in Dhoni and Sachin’s hands. 31/2 when I reached Nirvana, wasn’t really the start I expected for a chase to 274. Sachin wasn’t going to make his 100^th 100 here as well. But India winning was far more important than anything else. From rocking back and forth, rubbing my nails, sweating and every other act of nervousness…it was really getting to me. Being in a swarm of jittery Indians was probably a bit comforting though.

And then the moment came. MS Dhoni hit a 6 above the bowler’s head. Just stood there waiting, looking at the ball go into the stands followed by a swirl of the bat. He stood there watching how he had perfectly aimed at winning the world cup, how every decision of his had proved to be the best and he was just being responsible for an entire nation going mad. Not just the nation, but every Indian cricket fan across the world. From watching on projector screens on terraces, at home with family, in a bar with friends, or on the TV in an electronic shop…this shot was for all of us! Dhoni had played the innings of a match winner, Yuvi the innings of a series winner and Sachin – the hero was paraded on the shoulders of his team mates. The cup was OURS ..And we finally saw Sachin hold it too. Team India, you have shown our generation what it feels like to be the World Champions. 

Virat Kohli summed up the feelings of every Indian very well – “He has carried the burden of the country on his shoulders for 21 years, it was time we carried him on ours”. Well said fella, we will remember you for this for a long time. 

Ancient Graves

 

Buwa, North of Fanja

A very very special place

How old are the graves?

Who were they?

Where did they go?

I saw these on 17th March 2011, so many of them. They have survived 1000s of years, untouched by modern times. But I don't  know if they will be there when I go again. The entire place around shows signs of quarrying. I'm not sure the yellow cranes will know what they are going over when they come looking for 'precious' stone here. As much as I want to know the answers to the above questions, I'd rather not know them, if it means digging and ruining the graves.

Till there is a generation which respects ancient history... let these graves survive.

Alone

(photo by me, taken at Russayl, Oman)

Alone

From childhood's hour I have not been
As others were — I have not seen
As others saw — I could not bring
My passions from a common spring —
From the same source I have not taken
My sorrow — I could not awaken
My heart to joy at the same tone —
And all I lov'd — I lov'd alone —
Then — in my childhood — in the dawn
Of a most stormy life — was drawn
From ev'ry depth of good and ill
The mystery which binds me still —
From the torrent, or the fountain —
From the red cliff of the mountain —
From the sun that 'round me roll'd
In its autumn tint of gold —
From the lightning in the sky
As it pass'd me flying by —
From the thunder, and the storm —
And the cloud that took the form
(When the rest of Heaven was blue)
Of a demon in my view —

Edgar Allen Poe
(1809—1849)

 

Change

Some changes are obvious, while others not so much. I know I change quickly.. And here's looking at how my photography has changed.. The output is mostly the result of thought process. So, if there are any changes in my pictures then it can be blamed to my change in thinking. Of course, I am definitely better equipped with camera technicalities than I was a year ago. Hmmn..too much to say when I come to this topic, but before I get carried away, I'm just going to cut forward directly to how my pictures have changed :

 A year ago... I didn't have the courage to click strangers up front, forget interaction. The moment was always more important and the composition mostly forgotten. And technicalities -- I experimented a lot.

This is a recent one. Now I'm clicking not 1 but 3 strangers up front! I now prefer to take a few minutes to compose my photo. I love lower angles, or rather subject-heights. And when your story can be told through black and white, colors are just unnecessary!

Hmmn

It's an embarrassment of sorts.. when you leave something unfinished, untouched or unspoken. I feel the same way about this blog. But, I'm making a comeback.. and I'm going to try harder to keep this going.

Another baby (a website) is under production.. and hopefully once that is up, things will sail smoothly..

Since I can't start off a new topic this way.. I'm just going to end my post here.

*

Mr. Crap Bag

Phoebe's husband Mike named himself Crap-Bag in revenge for the weirdo name she got herself - Princess Consuela Bananahammock. I found this episode about F.R.I.E.N.D.S very amusing :)

Lock-free!

"I'm going to lock you in", she said.. "Hahaha, that only means that you will locked out", came the reply.

Let there be a world free of 'locks' !

Let the sun set...

You can't stop the sun from setting, but you can change the position from which you view it.

Sometimes in life some things will be beyond your control. What you can change though at such times is your point of view.

Nathdwara

Its afternoon, maybe evening.. its difficult to tell.

"It doesn't matter. We feed them when we get the money and not because its their lunch time", she tell us as she shouts "Radhe!" in the next second.. I don't know whether she mistook my name or was calling one of the cows.

She calls them by names...all 156 of them.

Re-do your space!

It takes a little bit of effort to energize and bring more life to your daily spaces... so why wait? I'm going to start with the work spaces today.. and more to follow soon!

Work Desk :
~you have a pile of files and papers - get really cool paper/file holders or separators. Your work stays organized, and desk looks cleaner.

~wires - even though we are moving towards wireless technology, we are still going to need them to charge our phones and laptops. Get a round shallow basket or a big mouthed mug and put it close to the socket. Wind up the wires and put your chargers in it, when not in use.

~get note-clip holders. Let them hold your appointments for the day, your favorite photos or quotes that you live on. One looks too lonely, so make sure you get about 5-6 of them. Cluster them randomly but close to each other.

~get rid of boring calenders, after all you have to look at them all year long! Get customized photo-calenders with photos you or a family member has clicked. Its all become very easy with the internet now. Really worth the effort.. and you don't necessarily have to be a pro to make one!

~a soft-board is too cliche - get small mirrors on the wall next to you!

Design like a child

Children are the most creative in this world, for the simple reason that they are not influenced by anyone. Their creativity comes from the modest joys of life - color, sand, clay, puppies and other things that most of us have stopped noticing.

Ask a child about his artwork once he is done. More often than not, it will be an exaggerated story expressed with animated hand-actions. They like everything to be larger than life and there is a reason to that too. When you look at the world from their eye-level, everything seems l a r g e…the people around, the cars, the furniture, the trees, etc. They believe that most things are larger than them and thus, like to portray a lot of 'big' things in their stories. Notice the words million, zillion, big, thousands, huge when they are telling you about something.

However this also makes them feel more connected to small scale details which we would tend to miss out on... crawling under the table, playing with low-height switches, patterns on the floor, insects to name a few.

Thus, it becomes important for designers to work in the "child-scale". A simple experiment to experience this would be to get on your knees and walk around the room…the ceiling will feel higher, the window inaccessible, the wash-basin too high to reach, the door handle unreachable and the dining table chair too low for comfort.

An essential thing to note when designing for children is their growth. If the same child is going to use the space for a long timeframe (5+ years), like a bedroom, then the space needs to be able to accommodate the child's needs through the years. However, in the case of a school, where a constant age-group of children is utilizing the space, the overall design can be more permanent.

Two most important people to connect with, while designing a space for children are the children themselves and the adult concerned (parent or teacher). If you are neither of the two, the best thing would be is to spend time with both. You will learn more than what any book can tell you. Participation of users in design just helps us learn and design better!

Looking forward

Don't look at your life in the rear view for too long (however pretty it was)...or else you will miss out on whats ahead.. and CRASH!

Live Safely :)

Handle with Care

Trust is like ceramic - Once broken, it can be put together again..but the marks will always remain...

It takes a trust years to build, and a minute to break...

So.. Handle it carefully!

I love COLOR!

Aren't we so damn lucky...? I mean, firstly for the reason that you can read what I'm writing... and another - that when you look around, you can actually see SOO many colors!

Take a minute...relish the richness of being able to see and distinguish between the awesome colors around us :)

Indulge in what you love most...

Once in a while... we all deserve a little bit of luxury, a little extra care and a spoonful more of sugar in our lives... :)

Let's treat ourselves with what we love most...not just on 'special' occasions but on regular days.. just to get the extra boost, the extra perk and zest into our lives..

PS - As you might have guessed, for me its good coffee.. :P

Life is Beautiful...

Just read an article about a student committing suicide in Delhi... I really can't imagine what the young man must be thinking before taking such an extreme step... or what anyone would be thinking before taking their own life.. A life, which was given to us by someone else.. We have no right to take it away..
Didn't the young man have someone to talk to...didn't his friends see him going in depression or they weren't successful in showing him everything beautiful that life has to offer .. ?

When I feel low.. I just look to shift my mood to children.. They have the super power to cheer you up in a way no one else can.. They are God's little gifts to the world.. Let's smile with them :) It's really worth living for... ;)

Reaching Out...

Nature continues to inspire us everyday in unique ways..its how we choose to look at it.. The last thing we should do, is take it for granted..

Look around...stop to stare at nature...relish its beauty...reflect it to your life...and smile :)

The String of Life

Sometimes images evoke emotions, and emotions make us philosophical... This particular image is one of them...it really got me so emotional that if I had the talent, I would write a song on it :P... but since I do write a little bit...let me share with you what it made me think...

Like the image above, our life is also like a string...the little lamps being the different people who have touched our lives... They bring the color, joy and festivity in our lives and our life is filled with darkeness without them. They all come into our lives at different times, in numerous ways and for unique reasons... When we look back to those whom we are no more in touch with, we realise that their impression still remains on our lives even after their physical absence.. From our side, it is important that we pick up the positive impression that they have left on us...isn't that the reason to live life - to always see the brighter side :)

I hope to write down more such thoughts with my other pictures...'coz when they make you think, you know you have clicked a good one!

The Art of Giving...

A mother feeds her child milk, a teacher imparts knowledge to her students, a doctor nurses the needy...etc... These are the BIG acts of givingin our lives... and these are specialties of just a few. It is not necessary to aim at being the biggest givers... What matters most is the small dad-to-day acts of kindness..
How often do we give without expecting anything in return... how often have we heard people saying that they stopped sending cards to their friends, because they weren't getting any in return or stopped sharing food with their neighbors because they never did the same? What are we going to get by being so selfish? And actually speaking...it is more difficult to keep account of what others did for you or didn't do for you than anything else! Why waste time on such trivial matters... when life has so much more to offer to us :)
When I'm baking a cake for a friend, why should I think about what I will get in return..? When I'm looking for a cute dress for my niece, why bother about when I will get a return act of favor... or keep account of when was the last time I bought her something...
Giving today is going to bring a smile on our faces today... The frowns on our faces need to go. And trust me, giving without expectation is one of the warmest human feeling ever...
There is so much to live for in life.. why worry about what happened in the past when it is something we can never change forever? But small acts of giving can give the joy which can heal wounds...which can bring smiles...which can create lasting impressions...which can strengthen all bonds... Isn't this why we have this beautiful life?
Give, give and give... not necessary expensive gifts or money.. It can be a flower, a card, a phonecall, an email or even better - a letter! Can you imagine the joy of receiving a letter.. and how much time does it take to write one? Maybe 10 mins...but it is something the receiver will hold on to for life..and place it in his treasure box..
Life is like a treasure box...lets keep filling it with wonderful things :)
God Bless!

Miss watching cricket....

When I was growing up....cricket was a part of our daily lives...series would come and go and we used to watch the matches, enjoy them, critique them, and then wait for it to start all over again....I never knew what it would be like to not be able to see a match Live...

Cricket has been in my genes...Grandad follows it (and even makes grandma watch it!), Dad passionately watches it (juggles between office work n somehow manages to watch a couple of overs) and Bro has been in US for over a decade, but still follows every match online... So there is absolutely no surprise that I am a major cricket fan!

When cell phones were only for the lucky few, Dad had a pager...and I remember when there was a match going on and if he was at work, I would send him the score on his pager as a numeric message..the last digit was for the number of wickets and the rest was the score...And now thanks to cell phones, he calls home every hour and either mom or me would tell him the current score...

Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Sourav Ganguly and Ajay Jadeja were my favorites (and some of them still are)...As a school kid, I had their posters on my wardrobe and wrote the Indian team congratulatory messages via the newspaper reader's column...I guess I can owe it to cricket to my first foray into the print media...

Moving to India only increased my passion for the game. The whole atmosphere during matches was something I never experienced in my school days. Living in a hostel meant that we woudlnt get to watch the matches that went up till late, but that's when the radio would help! Radio as entertainment was beginning to catch popularity and what better combination than Hindi songs and cricket updates! I was totally hooked on to it...

I lived so close to the Wankhede stadium, that if there was a match going on...I could actually hear the thousands of people from my room...though all I could see were the shining lights in the black sky... Watching the matches in the hostel tv room was quite an experience too! One match stands out in my mind... the Ind vz Pak match during the 2003 World Cup...when India won.. The girls had gone bezerk watching the match... the room was overflowing the over enthusiastic girls and some of them actually managed to break the sofas in the room... after which all seating was removed from the room and they places mats for us to sit on to watch tv! Sometimes when we did'nt have the time to watch the match, we would be working in our rooms and we would here the ectatic cheers of the girls from the ground floor till the 5th floor every time Sachin hit a six or Bhajji took a wicket....

Another good part about being in Mumbai was that we actually made a girls' cricket team in college and played inter-batch matches...it sure was fun.. One compliment I got from a guy-friend in those days that I shall never forget - "I've never had a gal-friend who would talk so much about cricket with me!" It was true... I never got tired talking about cricket.. and I guess I still dont!

Coming to America was like such a BIG disconnect from cricket.. I had never imagined that it would ever be this way... but this was my new way of following cricket.. cricinfo.com... the only problem I have is of the time difference.. The matches start when you are about to sleep and by the time you get up the result is in.. On most days, the first thing I do as soon as I wake up is pick the laptop and check the score...ya even before I stepped out of bed!

And now I am yearning to watch a Live match... I realise that it sure is such a luxury!