Main Sachin...tu Dravid....

Saturday, 02 April 2011....Wankhade Stadium, Mumbai. The finals of the costliest cricket world cup ever.....Australia Vs. India...2 of the best teams in the competition....a packed stadium...and India need to chase a chunky Aussie score and that too under lights. The stadium erupts into a roar to welcome the Aussies back on to the ground....Ricky Ponting is setting the field and suddenly the roar gets deafening....the Indian Openers walk in. For one of them in the team...this is probably the last time he will ever walk into such a moment. After 21 years, this was his only cricket dream that he had dreamt several times but yet to realize. He started playing cricket when India won the cup in 1983...its only fitting for him to retire with India winning it again. There was 1983 and then 2011...and in between Sachin happened :-)

We came close to it once...and humiliated in the last pursuit in the west indies...the dream to be part of a WORLD CUP winning team, and what better place than his own home ground to do it, before he bids adieu to the sport. By 2011, I'd say...21 years...over 400 matches....over 12,000 One Day runs with help from over 50 centuries and over a 100 half centuries....he walks one last time in a world cup....for one last chance....one last shot at that dream. Can Mahi's boys do it....26 years after it happened the last time....or will the 'Sachin-Dravid-Gangauly'...the 'Big 3 era' of Indian Cricket be denied of such an honour. If this happens....and god willing, I will do my best for one ticket of the 50,000 available at the Wankhede.

This Article will probably be best appreciated by fans of Cricket...and more if an Indian. We have consistently linked being a cricketer to being patriotic..."Playing for the country!". Probably the most 'PATRIOT'ized sport in India...especially after the tragic state of hockey. Am not sure if The HPL...Hockey Premier League, that started years before IPL, is even happening anymore. Well, back to the topic.....CRICKET....my tryst with Cricket started when I was about 4 years old I think. My father played for his college and at that time all of us wanted to play like Kapil and Kris Srikkant....and I sucked at it. Later I went on to play for my school and eventually proved to be a good bowler, an average batsman and a pathetic fielder :-)

When someone played a super shot we'd say....like Srikkanth for power shot or Azhar for a wristy shot...as a bowler if you uprooted the middle stump you said "come on Kapil!!" That's the extent to which cricketers mean to Indian kids...Give way superman and Mr Spidey...these are India's super heroes.....the Gladiators of the 21st Century...and Sachin, is Maximus.

Recently I was watching a few kids playing and one of them said I will open and be Sachin! Well, well...wonder what Sachin's son says...if he plays cricket that is...man I cant imagine the pressure he would be under if ever he dons the cricket gear. Do we even remember Rohan Gavaskar...we are a merciless society, wherein all want to be nothing but the best...and hence our society gives those who are the best a Godly Status. Even in my job, people are so offended when they are given a MET EXPECTATION rating during appraisals...ideally Id be happy I met expectations and manage to retain my job! All of them want exceeds expectation, nothin less. Well back to the Little Master...even in a recent movie '99' Cyrus Broacha wanted to lead a certain act in a scene and be the hero...so he shuns his accomplice Kunal Khemu by saying...no no today I will lead "Main Sachin...Tu Dravid!"

So much has been the impact of the master, even the present Indian captain confessed he switched off the TV as a lad when Sachin got out....the scene maybe different today...we may be winning more games even after Sachin got out....but, this man showed us impossible is nothing...not just through his ad for Adidas where is writes "Impossible is nothing" in reverse running hand writing standing behind a glass surface, so that it seems normal and readable to the viewer...I assume its not a camera trick :-) Today he is called the genius, a legend, the GOD of cricket, and has a wax statue at Tussuad's....even a certain political party slandered him for cheap publicity. I remember my mother, who hates cricket, commenting when it was reported that he flunked an exam in his younger age..."That evaluator should have given him 5 more marks...poor fellow", that's when I though...Sachin has arrived! He left his partner...one Mr Kambli far behind...who now is part of a reality show!

An eventful career...which simply got better as he played. He excited us like a wizard with using his bat as a wand...but what I loved the most was the last over he bowled against South Africa in a Hero Cup Final. SA needed a mere 6 runs in 6 balls and a Sachin alare walked up to bowl to some good SA batsmen, who only managed to score 3 runs and India WON!! I almost tore apart the sofa at home in excitement that evening....or the sand-storm innings that he played in Sharjah against the Aussies, which I am sure they wont forgte in a hurry....the 'BOMB'-Bay innings he played in NZ...the emotional ton he dedicated to his father against Kenya...he has been an exemplary representative of the game and the spirit it holds for this nation.

From meeting Don Bradman, or selling products on TV...driving his gifted Ferrari, or interviewing with his sweet childish voice.....Sachin has underlined his presence on earth. An Aussie fan even named his child after Sachin...Sachin Austin.....and god knows how many Indian Fans have named their child 'Sachin', after the Little master....well atleast for all those kids....they don't have to argue...they can proudly say..."Main Sachin...tu Dravid"

The first Ever Night F1 Race

Vroooom.....not the name of the character from a Chetan Baghat book...just the closure of another wonderful year of F1, where yet again....we have new champions...and some hope for Force India, yes folks we are ahead of STR Ferrari...not the last on the list!! For most Indian F1 enthusiasts, watching an F1 race is closer to reality with a possibility of a race track coming up near Delhi...but how affordable is it going to be, is something we need to see. My job, thanx to my company, takes me to many places in the world...am sure all of us, well atleast most of us heard of the much hyped F1 night race in Singapore. I was fortunate to be in Singapore during the weekend when the event happened last year..."The first Ever Night F1 Race"…..well, I’d let you, the reader decide if I was fortunate or not, I guess it’s the F1 fan in me that tries to be optimistic about the whole incident. So read on...

My quest for a ticket or a pass started the day I landed in Singapore. I learnt from the website that, Singtel, Singapore’s largest telephone company (similar to BSNL), was the official sponsor of the race. So at the airport I picked up a Singtel Prepaid SIM card and got a 10% discount coupon to the race and a complimentary F1 T-Shirt, which today my cousin proudly sports, ‘cause when I wore it, it looked like a stuffed pillow cover.

I held on dearly to the 10% discount coupon and started hunting for a ticket. Mentally calculating, if I get a USD 150 ticket, I save USD 15, yippee!! Typically Indian you see....$ 15 = Rs. 750/-!! Websites, contacts, friends, colleagues…..all exhausted in just 2 days and no good ticket in sight. This was almost 5 weeks before the event! Unbelievable, eh? Well, that’s thanks to the brilliant HYPE the marketing agency created around the event. After all, it was the first ever F1 race in Singapore and that too a NIGHT race!

After 3 days of research I gave up and decided my destiny was to watch the race in my apartment with my feet up and over a few beers. Sounds just too good, but the F1 enthusiast in me would not shut up and kept egging me to watch the race from close proximity. I kept imagining the power of the engines when they whizzed past....the deafening noise......I had to get a ticket.
Tickets were ridiculously priced, well atleast that’s what my wallet felt. At sharp turns, where the cars slowed down, the price went almost to USD 2000!! My quest for tickets sprang to life when I learnt tickets were suddenly made available owing to an additional stand that was added. They were priced at USD 500 and USD 350. Like most of us, I immediately converted it to read INR 24,000 and INR 16,000……a thought crossed my frowning head…“oh, I would get slaughtered if my wife or parents learnt of this”.

It took another 2 days to decide if I must go for it….my mind pendulum’d between, “well it’s a lifetime chance, dunno if I can make it to Delhi when it comes to India, if it comes to India etc etc"...."its so many years away, what if Kingfisher airlines and the ever crashing Force India cars makes Mallya bankrupt, all will be down the drain......"

Finally after 2 days of contemplation and a lot of extended hours at office, I decided I deserved a reward for the hardwork I had been putting in and went to the nearest ticket booth, a MAN deserves his kicks you see………..SOLD OUT!! All I ended up with was superb looking complimentary post card, courtesy Singtel "the official sponsor of the race."

With all options exhausted, I traced the 5 KM track by foot, on a Saturday, to identify a restaurant or a pub enroute the race track where I could sit and watch the cars and the race on TV……guess what, all booked!! With 2 weeks to go, all that Singapore was talking about was F1. The side protectors for the tracks and the light fixtures started moving in….traffic diversion notices were put up at almost all traffic displays in the city.

Finally, I though it was god send....an e mail from my own Office in Singapore, inviting employees to its lounge to watch the race from there. I was simply thrilled and excited……was it true, it was!! I immediately accepted the invite and waited eagerly for RACE DAY!!

Saturday...QUALIFIERS - The Eve of RACE Day!!
I was thrilled that Saturday…I finished laundry and cleaning in record speed.......had watched the pre qualifiers/practice sessions on TV the previous evening and the setting looked AWESOME! I could even picture myself watching this from the office lounge....Come evening and I was on my way to the nearest MRT (public trains) station and reached the office. As I got into the elevator, I could feel pangs of joy in my stomach….and a hungry one too, was beginning to growl asking for food. I was so excited that I had forgotten lunch! As the elevator started going up and I saw the floors increasing on the display…..the ladies chit chat in the lift, speaking the typical Singapore slang…. "Hope the race is good ‘la’….." the thought that had never occured to me for so many days crossed my mind…..floor 18…..19…..20 and kept climbing…….the office lounge was right next to the track allright...but...on the 33 floor…….Bing! The lift had arrived….at the 33 floor.

‘What can I see from here???’

I was greeted by a full house in front of a large TV screen, watching the a pre show on TV...a lady dressed like a film star was speaking very animatedly. I couldn't hear a word in the din of the crowd. A host of people lined along the lounge’s glass walls overlooking the race track. I walked upto the glass excited, the qualifiers were about to begin…..I wanted a small gap to squeeze in to the front to watch it. I had made it to the front finally…and as I watched, all the excitement just washed away, I felt like I was watching toy cars race far below on a well lit race track. Many had come well prepared with binoculars and people took turns to watch from the sole telescope on the floor.

After spending about 20 mins watching the large screen and a Tiger Beer, I decided to head home. I took the lift down and walked out of the building….as I walked on the street parallel to the street where the race was on I could hear the booming sounds of the cars…..how I want to drive one of those atleast once in my life and here I was trying to catch a glimpse of it. Then a shimmer of hope shined to my left. There was one street which was barricaded at the end and a crowd stood watching the race.

I couldn't believe it, I ran toward the crowd…..pushing through like a few others there. In a few minutes I was drenched in sweat owing to the Singapore humidity and the crowd. After 10 minutes of pushing, I had navigated through just half the crowd. Suddenly a car whizzed past followed by a booming noise, I think it was Kimmi….or Alonso, no idea, I was ever more intent and focused on reaching the front row. I diligently continued navigating through the crowd.....this reminded me of my childhood while traveling in crowded buses back in Mangalore. The humidity in Singapore was bang on as if I were in Mangalore....

Finally reached the front line, feeling all sticky with sweat...mine and others....much to the dismay of a lady standing there, who was now behind me…….I could hear a car…..yes I could finally see an F1 car less than 5 feet from me……I could feel the Doppler effect I learnt about in school….and Vrooooomm…..a car painted in red whizzed past…..in I think less than…well less than a split second…..it was unbelievable. The thundering engines that sped past and the deafening sound that followed, left just a beep in my ears. It was awesome, though just for a split second…..I could feel goose bumps under the sweat. As I stood there I realized, there was no way of knowing who was leading and if anyone crashed, watch them overtake, lap speed etc etc….I guess I was so used to watching F1 on TV. I managed to stand there without being evicted for 10 full minutes, until another guy bigger and stronger than me evicted me of my space. I then looked around for another spot and found only angry frustrated faces trying to move to the front like I was a few minutes ago.

I bailed out and returned home soon.....watched the rest of the qualifiers and the race the following day in the comfort of the apartment and over a few beers. An amazing experience nevertheless...a few months later I learnt that one of the crashes in the race was intentional!! It pretty much ruined the careers of a few people....well...the race must go on...this year the race finished its second year...and it still rocks!! Hoping that we will have an F1 race in India by the promised 2012....See you soon.

Masala World……not a cookery show….

I kept struggling to decide on a topic for my first ever Blog post….looking for inspiration... I was channel surfing....and lo! I happened to catch the movie BOMBAY on TV… I decided to watch it for the nth time, an all time favorite of mine. A love story between a Hindu and a Muslim set in the backdrop of the Mumbai violence following the Ayodhya – Babri Masjid issue. I remember watching this movie on the big screen....the craze of Dolby sound spreading in all theaters, I still don’t know what it means…..I think in 1996-97. A controversial issue, AR Rahman’s feet tapping Humma Humma..and Mani Ratnam’s heartening scenes were a perfect mix for a super success at the box office. The most memorable scenes for me from the movie was when the rioters try to burn the twins and pour fuel all over them….with them being totally petrified, their father running in from one side to save them and screaming …their mother running in from another direction….the rioters trying to light up a match that wont burn…and worse the cops are lining up to fire bullets!! Jeezuz!! I think this is worse that Catch 22…is there a Catch 222? By the way they escape the ordeal with minor dirt on their clothes and body that a good bath cannot take care off. Total Masala….that’s probably why I still remember the scene. Well 13 Years on and the movie still works…and had a lot of commercials during breaks, that too at 10 AM in the morning on a week day!
I remember writing a review on the movie in college for an English assignment and received a lot of appreciation for it. It was even put on the 'notice board that no one read'. Well atleast until my article got in there….I stood there for full 10 minutes, for the first and the last time at the 'notice board no one read' and re read my article from the notice board. Waited and acted as though I was engrossed reading the article, but I was actually looking at the reflection on the notice board glass, at each person passing, especially pretty girls, who bothered to take a glance. I hoped they would stop and read the article so I can tell them “That’s my article…”. Well high hopes…. I never saw that notice board ever in college after that…oh wait! I saw it once more, cause someone managed to slide in some hot gossip about a happening girl in college.
I was trying to read the content wading through a crowd that was assembled... mainly guys, trying to read it. Gosh! It was more crowded than when the results were put up on notice boards. Remember...those boards when you tried to see if you managed to pass and someone in the crowd would say "SHIT I failed...." and you almost fainted or another shrill girly voice saying..."Yippeee...Distinction!!" And all you wanted to do was stuff her face into the notice board.

I was angry with this crowd….my article which I spent a week and a lot of feelings to write; an article which I dreamt would have a 'full house' notice board reading it and friends patting my back on what a good article it was....being POPULAR in college and all! Alas...I think I found may be one or two readers, and here an article someone just wrote….well I can’t say “wrote”, I think he just puked on the page, was getting so much attention. I just wanted to see what the hell was it that he wrote...and honestly, also what and who the gossip was about. I continued jumping and pushing to read it….I could see a picture of the gal also….oh man, I had to see this, just then I turned and saw our student welfare officer….a popular guy in college and a math genius…BOSCO…was shoo'ing everyone to try and open the notice board and pull the article out. He caught my eye…and I could see the words in his eyes…”You too Brutus…” Oops I meant "You too Vinod...?" I had this fizzled out smile..."Chammal Smile" as they say in malayalam...and made me realize "he thought I was a good student...", until now atleast. Well, he quit the role of a student welfare officer the following year...he is still one of my favourites, we even have a group in Orkut "Bosco Sir Fan Club". His classes were really interesting...to all...I think cause he made it hilarious...so we'd never doze off even if we dint understand calculus...did I spell it correct? I remember, he once told an NRI student, who failed to answer a question...."You GELF fellows have an extra tail, put it inside the hole near the tail when you come to class"....Masala again....
Masala works…and that’s the fact…Om Shanti Om was a greater hit than a meaningful movie like Swades. 20-20 Cricket draws larger crowds that Test cricket…or for that matter even one day cricket. Stardust and cine blitz pay their reporters more than most reporters in some of the most read Indian Magazines. Come on…dint you notice the comments written on your Toilet walls than the “No Entry” Sign on the road…or the "Keep the premises clean" sign where you just dropped a chocolate wrapper. I mean...I still remember some of the comments on my college wall – 13 years later- but not a single math formula! My favorite one, exclude the perverted ones, was that of a vertical scale drawn with a pencil…and the top most metric line was darkened with a comment that said… “If you can piss above this you are wanted in the FIRE Department!” Or another one that said “Shake Well after use!!” Masala simply works…..
So, when my wife said…I need to start writing and hone that skill before I look at going on to the big league....I decided to start by blogging. I am sure she would be disappointed at my choice of the first article…but am positive she will still read the article a coupla times atleast….'cause Masala simply Works!!

Thanx for your time…if you liked what you read, please tell your friends and keep comin back…..