God's (SACH) IN-carnate

19-Dec-2010 will go down as a memorable day for Cricket fans, especially Indians. No! Not because the Indian team achieved anything stupendous. In fact they were eight wickets down and still trailing by 30 runs when the rain gods smiled in their favour. They would go on to lose the test match by an innings and 25 runs the next day against South Africa, but not before the cricketing God showed why he is regarded so.

Even when the team was in such a pathetic position, the Indian news channels were celebrating. Sachin Tendulkar had achieved what probably no other cricketer might achieve. 50 Test match centuries!!! At the end of the 4th day’s play, the writing was quite clearly on the wall, as to the result of the test match. But, still I wrote on facebook, that I didn’t care if India lost, because Sachin’s magic had prevailed yet again.

In this cricket crazy country, Sachin’s batting is the one which makes the most sense. I remember a little anecdote said by someone which happened at a railway station in Mumbai. The railway platform had TVs installed for public viewing, and a particular cricket match was being telecasted. Sachin was batting on 99 when it was time for a train, on that platform, to depart. Sachin took another over to get to his century, and till that time the train stood their. Yes, Sachin can stop time, figuratively at least.

With the world cup coming soon, there is every possibility that Sachin would go on to make a hundred international hundreds. Even after spending two decades playing for the country, his passion for the game remains unmatched. Yet, he is so humble. Hats off to this master cricketer! Thank you Sachin for all the entertainment you provide and being a muse for budding writers like me. This coincidently is my 50th blog post and I dedicate this to you!

What's on TV?

When I watch some Hindi news channels these days, I begin to wonder whether I am taking myself too seriously. They seem to be having fun. I mean, look at this media… they do an hour’s airtime discussing with “experts” about the impact Sheela is having these days on India. Munni apparently has lost out, because the news channels after an extensive research on Youtube and Facebook have come to the conclusion, that on popular opinion Sheela outscores Munni by a big margin.

Both the videos are a delight to watch, especially for us men. However discussing them at length and that too on national television is a bit too much. So once my adrenaline stops pumping – this happens as soon as the news anchor grins at the end of the video clips – I change the channels in the hope of watching something a little more sensible.

Cyrus Broacha is on one of the channels, as usual making fun of others. He is playing the news anchor and Kunal Vijaykar is being the interviewee. Dressed up in an air-hostess’ uniform he has become a she, and claims to be the latest recruit in Kingfisher airlines. This (s)he says has happened after working with Indian Airlines for 33 years. Why on earth did Vijay Mallya hire her? Yes, even Cyrus asked this question. On this (s)he said (s)he has a special talent which Dr. Mallya likes. Her talent is – she is good with her lips and tongue. Cyrus Broacha went red-faced and asked her to stop. But she insisted that she wanted to show what her talent is. This again is happening on National television and I was feeling a bit awkward already. Thankfully, all the airhostess did, was say “Oo-la-la-la-la-le-o”. Yes, singing that Kingfisher brand song does need special use of the lips and tongue. Phew!!! I change channels again.

Tiger – the magnificent striped animal - is now endangered. Just some three thousand odd of them are left in the world. One news channel understands the gravity of the issue and runs a telethon to support the cause of saving the tiger. Celebrities are called in to discuss or perform. Tickers are being shown about some big names contributing some big money for this noble cause. They had run a greenathon before to support the cause of saving earth from the global warming phenomenon. Ah, this makes some sense to me. But having said that, this is an outright serious discussion, and hence not very fun to watch. I change channels again.

Katrina Kaif!!! Draped in a white satin sheet begins, the awesome item number. I keep the remote aside. Three minutes later, Malaika Arora fills the screen. It’s not just the news channels but even the music channels know what’s making news! Anyway, I pay my respects to “Badnaam” Munni (by watching the whole video) and change channels again.

This goes on and on till my eyes complain. Enough! I switch off the TV. I take a walk around the house, look in the fridge, and get an apple. Halfway through the apple, I look at the newspaper lying in the drawing room. Scams, scams and more scams!!! I throw away the paper and come back to my room. I look at the remote. I am changing channels again. I love TV. :-)

Wetter the better!

The sun is belting down and combined with humidity is making for a really sweaty day. A glance skywards confirms clouds gathering up and getting lower towards earth. The wind has picked up speed and there is dust flying all over. Little whirls of breeze are lifting up bits of plastic and paper and carrying them some distance until they fall.

The clouds meanwhile are turning grey and soon there is a flash of lightning. A few seconds later there is a loud clap of thunder. The trees have started swaying vigorously. The leaves slowly start looking greener as a result of the dust falling off them. There is another flash of lightning followed by even louder thunder.

A huge drop strikes the ground and then breaks into several little droplets. A few feet away another drop repeats the phenomenon. Then there are a few more drops and the sky is nearly black. The aroma of water mixing with dry sand fills the air. Another huge flash of lightning lights up everything and there it is. A downpour! Clear liquid falling from the heavens whereas a turbid stream flowing down the trees. The leaves have gone completely green.

Small rivulets start obeying gravity and flow down the gradients. That sight takes me back to my childhood, when we used to make paper boats and let them float. Scattered potholes turn into puddles, in which little kids jump and splash. The atmosphere is now cooler and that’s how it stays till the downpour turns into a drizzle and finally comes to a stop!

Well, it’s almost the end of October, and we still have rains. Little wonder, that I had to write this.

A moment of love!

We all encounter love in the strangest of forms. It’s purely subjective and hence others may not quite understand it although it makes great sense to us. A long time ago, something like that happened to me. It was not romantic love by any stretch of imagination. It was just a good human being showing care for another. I am a firm believer that care cannot exist without some form of love. I was 12 years old and she was around 20. She had no brothers and I was her neighbour.

I remember our household TV had conked off once and I the eternal couch potato used to shamelessly go to her place to catch something on the tube. One day while watching a cartoon show, there was a power failure. Amidst all that humor, this felt like a calamity and it instantly showed on my face. That female too pulled a long face and said, "Well, let’s hope that the power comes back soon." I took her leave and trundled back home, which was just the adjacent building. Five minutes had passed when I was shaken from my seat by a loud call of my name. The call coincided with my ceiling fan switching on. I rushed to my balcony and saw her waving to me yelling, "Come, come, the power's back, the show's still on."

Maybe then, I was too young to realize, but today I smile with a sense of gratitude. As nonchalant as it may seem, now I believe that knowingly or unknowingly that calling out to me was a moment of real kindness, a moment of love! We no longer stay there and I don’t know where she is now but wherever she is - May god bless her!

Love what you do?

Doing what you love to do, and getting paid for that; well that’s what you call a dream job. However, most of us are stuck in the rut; stuck in a job where we are doing it just for one reason – MONEY. To exist in this world, in some sort of decency, we need money. To earn it we need a job.

Every now and then big ideas crop up in my mind – How about starting a business? Now, self employment is indeed a great thing. No bosses to report to, no strict processes to follow, no waiting till the end of the month for the salary. Ah bliss! But even if we are self employed and doing what we love to do; it’s imperative that the others also like what we do; in fact like it so much that they start using it, obviously after paying us for it.

So the question is not whether we are happy with what we do. Are others who pay us happy with our work? It’s said that every individual is gifted. Even the most vegetative looking person possesses some talent. Channeling that talent is the need of the hour. Let’s not wait for someone else to find out our talents. As adults we all know what we are truly capable of. I am sure our talents will be of use to somebody. After all there are close to seven billion of us on this planet.

I hope that we all discover our true calling. Let’s start minding our own business(es). :-)

May god bless you!

Flip the TV channels, turn the news pages, almost everything is now breaking news!!! It’s becoming more like freaking news these days. Only floods, landslides, virus outbreaks etc are making headlines. I have this habit of reading the papers as soon as I am out of bed. Sadly though, all this negative content has started to make me feel miserable for the rest of the day.

There is a quote made by Leonardo Dicaprio in the movie BLOOD DIAMOND. It is “Sometimes I wonder... will God ever forgive us for what we've done to each other? Then I look around and I realize... God left this place a long time ago”.

Well this movie is about the ungodly things happening in Sierra Leone and Leo is referring to Africa in general when he says that. Nevertheless, I still feel there is hope. God has not left us. But he is angry and that is showing. I hope we learn quickly and start obeying Him.

Here’s a little poem I wrote dedicated to my dear God.

God created man, with all the love he can.
To play the game of life, and win all hearts; lose strife.
No one doubts, no one doubts, that god is the greatest.
He sees what we don’t see, just believe in his signs.
There’s nothing we have to do, just need to build on his designs.
No one doubts, no one doubts, that god is the greatest.

Happy Mother's Day!

Every child thinks, his or her mother is the most beautiful woman in the world. Poor Aishwarya; she will have to wait. Every mother believes that there is no one else like her kid. She is so right; the outcome of such a laborious – both literally and figuratively – task truly has to be the best.

They say the ones close to you are your greatest critics. Well, in my case it’s my mother. No matter what I achieve, she is always measured in her praises. Recently, when I kept saying no, to her calls to have lunch, she yelled, “Look at you! You weakling”! I retorted, “I may be thin, but I am not weak, you know, yesterday I pushed my motorcycle for 8 kms. You call that weak?”

Oh by the way, the other day, while returning home my motorcycle ran out of fuel and it was 8 km before I could find a petrol pump. I was bragging about that to her. “Well,” she said coolly, “You eat more and you will be able to push your motorcycle farther.” Stony silence at my end, while a smile at hers.

Life is a journey, not a destination. The moment you think you have arrived, you will see new avenues. Take them. Because, the day you don’t see a road ahead, it means only one thing. Metaphorically the dead-end; categorically death! I am beginning to sound dark, am I losing my spark? Okay, to light up let’s get back to the original topic – my mom.

Time and again, I tell my mom to quit her job. I am earning enough to take care. But she won’t listen. She is well over fifty and not too healthy either. However, she carries on relentlessly while setting a new example everyday. She recently showed me an appreciation letter she received at work.

Mom, my laziness notwithstanding, I’d want to follow your footsteps. It’s so difficult for me, though. Sometimes I feel like hating you. But then better sense quickly prevails and I reaffirm my belief – Mommy, I love you! :-)

Pune is my IPL team, but India is my country!

The IPL has caught the nation’s imagination, big time, albeit for more wrong reasons than right. By the recent turn of events one can easily conclude that cricket is no longer just a sport. It’s business. Period. Business can be both ethical and otherwise; and as long as it is raking in the moolah and not too many get offended; it’s good. It’s a different story altogether once the unethical bits are leaked out to public. Then, it can get bad, for some.

Regardless of whatever happens now, there is one question that I ponder over. In fact this is a viewpoint of one of my friends. His question was, “Isn’t the IPL dividing us further?” I think the answer to that is an emphatic YES! I agree; there are players from every culture or ethnicity playing for the IPL teams. Cheerleaders from different countries are dancing to Indian tunes. On the face of it, it’s painting a very nice global picture. But the masses, the common Indians who pay money to watch the game; they are cheering for different teams.

There could be a counter-argument to my premise here. Ranji trophy has been going on for ages. Regionalism has not come into cricket via IPL. But honestly, how many people are bothered about Ranji results? How many people stay glued to the TV sets when a Ranji match is on? Or for that matter, how many television channels broadcast live Ranji matches? Few!!!

I am a Punekar. However throughout the last three IPLs, I’ve been rooting fervently for the MUMBAI INDIANS. Thank goodness, at least they have INDIANS in their team name. But, I’ve been supporting them not for that reason alone. The bigger reason is that my favourite cricketer, Sachin Tendulkar - who calls himself an INDIAN, first - plays for that team. I was one of millions who prayed for his recovery after he sustained that hand injury. I was pleased to see him play the final, and equally disappointed when his team lost.

While this entire cricket extravaganza was taking place, two new teams quietly joined the fray. Next year, we are going to have 10 teams fighting it out to be India’s best T20 side. The two new teams are Kochi and Pune. I am a Malayali, born and brought up in Pune. My natural allegiance would be towards my city, Pune. However my parents would be backing Kochi. There you go; we have a divide right within my family. I also wonder if me or my parents would be praying for any other teams’ players if Kochi or Pune make it to the final. And I just can’t imagine what would happen at my place, if Kochi and Pune play the final. :-)

Having said all that, this competition is good for Indian cricket. It will definitely strengthen the Indian squad. So long as it is healthy, the better. My heartfelt wish is that this lovely country of ours, which prides itself on being united despite the diversity, doesn’t fall prey to yet another kind of regionalism. IPL induced regionalism.

We need our Tiger in our Woods!

I recently saw a campaign by Aircel. It says there are only 1411 tigers remaining in our country. The magnificent beast which we proudly claim to be our national animal is approaching extinction. We need to act.

One of my friends has a funny trait. Almost every night he imagines making love to different women. He has admitted that he more often than not gets wet dreams. Well, testosterone charged male, you’d say. I wish our tigers too were so high up on their libido. For every cub born two or more are killed. We need to stop this.

We all know the reason behind this diminishing number of tigers. We humans poach them. We want their hides, their teeth, their claws or we simply want our mantelpieces to showcase a tiger’s head as a testament to our so called bravery.

My brother-in-law recently told me that a single bullet costs about 36 rupees. Let’s put it to some better use. There are so many other uncivilized beasts in our society that cause us much more harm than a tiger would. Let’s save the bullets, to use against them.

Me and my friends had been to the Pench national park last year and just as we were about to start the tour we were given sweets by the forest guards. We wondered why and they told us that it was a momentous day and they were sharing their joy. That day a tigress had given birth to 4 cubs. I can’t describe the looks on the guards’ faces.

Let’s stop buying anything that is even remotely related to the anatomy of a tiger. Let’s read up, talk, listen and do whatever possible to know what those things are and spread the awareness. Let’s restore our national pride. Let’s save our tiger!