Technology, I hate you!

All things have their ups and their downs, you like them for a reason and you hate them for another.

Technology too has improved our lives in a great way but today I just want to talk about the bad things that it has done.

Gone are the days when we had one landline, one number. Everyone had to call you from 'their' landline to your landline to speak to anyone in the family. Infact the word landline came only after we started having a mobile phone. Now everyone has it, but it restricts us. We speak to only that person whom we have called, others remain out of the conversation. Gone are the days when to speak with a kid, you had to first speak with the elders, then the middle one and then the youngest. That struggle, that patience, is no more.

Gone are the days when to wish someone on their birthday you would either call at midnight and wake up the entire house or wait till the next morning and wait in line.

Now you can set an alarm on your phone, you can pre-load a card on a website and it will be delivered, you can send a simple cheap SMS. The personal touch has gone, the little effort that you had to make to call up a person has been snatched away by Technology.

Gone are the days when with each Rakhi, sisters would send a small letter, a note to say hi and ask about your health. Thanks to the electronic age, we send e-rakhis. Some sisters still send physical rakhis but the letter has taken a backseat.

Who wants to take the pain to jot down a few lines. They think, didn't we just speak to him last night, so what's the point of a letter. Sometimes, you express more in a letter than you ever would in person or on phone. Try it.

Facebook, another invention from the labs of a certain guy called 'Technology'. People leave a scrap on your wall, they peek at your albums, they keep tabs on your status messages and changing relationship statuses. All in the name of 'socializing'. The gossip mongers are beggars now, they hate this subtle stalking websites. They allow you to find about people with the click of a button, there is no strategies involved anymore, there are no rumours being spread, the aunties of the worlds are cursing Facebook, they've ruined their chai-time talks.

Everyone knows everything about everyone. It's become too easy now.

The fun is gone and I don't like it!

The Rains

Love them, hate them, you can't ignore them, especially when you are in a city like Mumbai. It is just the end of July and the city has already had about 75% of its seasons' quota.

It's not been raining the proverbial cats and dogs but yeah, it has not also stopped in a while. If I am counting it right, it's been almost 9 days since the last dry spell.

Personally, I love the rains, the smell of the first drops on the soil, the greenery it spreads, the fall in temperature, the happy kids jumping in small puddles.

Yes, this blog is more about that. The kids in a puddle and enjoying the rains. The smile that they have and the innocence that they carry.

It was about a few days back, I was on my way to my club to play a game of squash with my buddy. It had just started to rain and I was trying to get my wind-cheater out of the bag. I was about to cross the road when I saw an autorickshaw had got stuck in a small pothole. It was full of muck now due to the on-going Metro work in the area. The rick guy came out trying to free the wheel that had got stuck in the hole.

He was trying to get people's attention to help him out but to no avail. Then suddenly out of nowhere these 7-8 toddlers, dressed in a white and biege school uniform came trudging out of the rickshaw and started pushing it. It was a sight to behold.

As I made my way towards them to give them a hand, I realised they were so excited at being able to get wet in the rains in the name of pushing their vehicle that they actually managed to get it out of the hole!

And the next scene was something right out of a scripted children's show. The kids were literally basking in their glory, rather getting drenched in it! They all left their bags in the rick and were jumping with joy and the innocent smiles made the people looking at them remember their childhood when they would find reasons to get wet in the rains and enjoy the weather.

It was one of the most beautiful sights I have seen in a city which is so busy in itself that it hardly looks at people around.

The rains made me realise one thing, if it is summer that gets people's tempers high it is the rains that gets them down...and how!

Killing the nice guy...

Enough I've had,
Enough of this,
I cannot take it even a little bit,

When you want to laugh,
when you want to have fun,
you come back to me and say let's get this done!

but when it's not needed,
you think oh i have not pleaded
so it's all hunky dory coz he's not bleeded,

It is not that common, it does not happen with everyone and it is a big deal,
think i should just tape my mouth and put a seal,
coz if I cannot deal with this one I don't think i can ever put an end to this,

the decision has been made,
I will not put a lid to this,
no more being the nice guy, no more being the good friend,

am not going to be the shoulder you need,
nor am the friend you need,
I am just going to the guy who do not want to meet!

Sometimes

In love with a face,
In love with a smile,
If I get to see her I stand up and rise,
If not then I try to not think of her otherwise,
She is close to me and yet she seems distant,
Her one look and I would give up my existence,
Weekdays go in thinking about her,
Weekends go in talking about her,
Days, weeks, months have passed,
Still no surety of the future or the past,
Want to just hold her hand,
Hold it tight and say it all,
Don’t know why there is a fear,
If she says no, won’t get to go anywhere near,
At times I think I may not be right,
And then I feel I should just tell her with all my might,
Sometimes a lot can change over a yes or no,
My only problem is I don’t think I can let her go,
The time is right, the time is now,
Hope I do this soon just don’t know how!

One liners

When you get rich, you start getting the things you always wanted...as gifts!

Stupid is just a feeling.

Why can't I ever find a razor that will last more than 2 weeks?

Never feel unloved, coz no matter who you are and what you do, someone, somewhere always has a crush on you.

If life wasn't complex we wouldn't need alcohol!

Come to the IPL office

The exact same words changed my life in a matter of seconds. From sitting at home for months, doing crappy little projects to make ends meet, suddenly God...and am not referring to Sachin, had this sweet little gift for me.

It was like he felt bad for me on losing my job and opting for cricket and he decided to do justice.

What does a cric-fanatic want in life? Watch cricket matches, meet the players, get to talk to them, may be even move around and travel with them. Go to the best stadiums in the country to witness the drama unfold right in front of their eyes.

And now how about if I tell you that you do all this and you get paid for it? Well, it's nothing short of a dream. And a dream it was, from the first day to the Final of IPL 2010.

A dream, a unforgettable memory, an opportunity of a lifetime. It's all combined in one. The feeling is such that I really cannot express it in words. The more I write about it, the less I think I am writing.

I do not know where to begin and what to write about. Should I talk about my first encounter with some of the legends of the game or should I talk about the newcomers who I featured? Or should I talk about the predictions I made or the analysis that I made which got great appreciation.

Should I talk about the chance to shake hands with the God or should I talk about seeing the best of international talent in one place. Should I talk about the experience or should I talk about the excitement.

The topics are endless. But write I shall, because I won't do justice to my blog if I don't share my feelings.

Somewhere in between

It's what I am feeling for the past one and a half years. Is it her or is it me, I don't know whose responsible for this but the fact remains that I am still clueless. Why do women play such games and keep giving signals? Its neither this nor that.

The girl I think I like at times behaves like my girlfriend and at times is as cold as a freezer! She just won't respond. At times I feel I really have something going for me here and at times I feel like an out cast.

Simple things in life just do not seem to happen in my life! But may be it's just God's way of getting back at me for the pranks I play on people.

So there it is then, we are good! ;)

Foreign IPL players shifting to India permanently!

Now before you start wondering, who, what, where and why. Let me tell you that it’s just a wish! They say wishes come true, so we thought what if they do plan to shift to India! How would things change for them? Our first and foremost task would be to give them an Indian name for them to blend easily in the Indian culture. Players playing for a particular team would definitely have a flavour of the state in their names. This would only make them more popular within the team and city they belong to! So we quickly noted down some names of popular cricketers and rechristened them and indianized their names! Take a look at some:
Jean Paul Duminy (MI) – Jagan Pav Duminikar!
Sanath Jayasuriya (MI) – Sainath Jayasurwekar!
Kieron Pollard (MI) – Kiran Patil
AD De Villiers (DD) – AB Dilli waale!
Dirk Nannes (DD) – Dirki Nannhe
Kemar Roach (DC) – Oomar Roz
Herschelle Gibbs (DC) – Harshal Ahmed Gibbs
Brendon McCullum (KKR) – Arindon McCukerjee!
Owais Shah (KKR) – Owais Sengupta
Graeme Smith (RR) – Graam Singh Rathod
Shaun Tait (RR) – Shaan Tatte Singh Sharma
Cameron White (RCB) – Kumara Whitelingam Naidu
Ross Taylor (RCB) – Rassi Prasad Taiylar
Makhaya Ntini (CSK) – Maikhayan Namboodripal Venkatini
Jacob Oram (CSK) – Jaikobi Venugopal Oraram
Shaun Marsh (KXIP) – Shaninder Singh Matta
James Hopes (KXIP) – Jasmeet Singh Hoshiyaar!

Play fearless cricket guys!

Same old feeling? Yes, in some ways it was. Thissara Perera it was! You could see the fear Indian bowlers had even before he had faced one ball. Dhoni had his homework done, and had set him an legside field in the powerplay and had all three fielders on the legside and asked the bowlers to bowl on the legs.

Its difficult anyway to bowl in the slog overs and to top it you ask them to bowl in an area of 6 inches??? Dhoni would know if he was a fast bowler!! Not his mistake, a senior maybe a Zak should've told him it's gonna be difficult. We bowled to his strengths and he played to our weakness. he cleared his front leg and would attempt to get bat to ball and aim on the offside...that's all it took and the ball would speed away to the boundary!

All i want to ask is, why could we not make him struggle. In his entire innings of 15 balls, Zak bowled one bouncer! Why did we not try some more of that? Some chin music when the pressure was on them could have done it. Instead we were scared of him and were trying to bowl fast and yorkers at him while at the other end Samaraweera milked the bowling for some singles managing his century.

Remember the times when we used to bowl to Jayasuriya's strength? Wide outside the off stump and have him caught at 3rd man or point? So, why could not we do the same thing for Perera? He is still new to the game, he could have faltered and given up under pressure...fact remains, we did not test him enough!

Now, let's look at the other side...let's go back home...here's a bowler...a fast bowler who bowled his heart out on a slow Indian wicket and got just rewards...a bowler by the name of Abhimanyu Mithun...this guy bowled as good as some of the top notch fast bowlers I have seen. Some experts do agree with me, if i can quote then i would like show you what Mr. Satish Vishwanaathan had to say about the lad -

on Tuesday it was the turn of 20-year-old speedster Abhimanyu Mithun, who all but sealed the final spot for the hosts with a most impressive display of fast bowling rarely seen on Indian soil.

From TOI - 6th Jan, 2010, Mumbai Edition!

Mithun bowled as fearlessly as he could and got the desired results. He was not afraid of the big occasion or the big match, he did what he knows best...bowl good balls. And that is what we struggled to do.

Agreed that ou bowlers did bowl pretty well and it was the due factor that came in and made it a little easier for the Lankans...but all said and done, we lost and thus we need to look and analyze where did we go wrong...!

The reply

How is it that you melt my heart
Even though its just the start

How is it that you know just what to say
Is it your flirty and charming ways?

Did you learn it at some school
If you did, I say its cool!

As long as you just use them on me
And just let the other girls be!

Your secret tells me your smitten and so am i
But we are still playing the game..don't know why!!

Guess its cause we don't want it to be a fling
We are both looking for something everlasting

Who knows if we'll get what we are looking for
But as of now we are in an "LDR"!

The Secret

A secret is what I have for you,
A secret is what i wanna share with you...

But sometimes I feel I should keep it away,
Not tell you for one more entire day!

Keep guessing coz that's the game,
Told you we're Leos but not the same,

Somethings are kept best when hidden,
You of all shouldn't know am smitten,

Oops...I let this one slip...
I should've taped my lip!

You wouldn't have known had I not told,
Now I have no choice but to scold..

Not you or my bloody lip.
But my stupid heart which has given this tip...

That secrets remain secrets only when,
The person you know is more than a friend!

Cricket and Life – The seamless Connection!

Cricket has always been such an integral part of my life that sometimes I wonder what my life would be without it. No, seriously, it has made such a big impact on my life, it has taught me so many things that I cannot imagine a life without cricket.
Cricket has taught me so much in life, and at times I feel it is cricket that is responsible for who or what I am rather than my education and surroundings. I know it is hard to believe this but I have instances to prove this.
There are a lot of things that I have learnt from cricket that apply to my daily life. Simple things like, the idea to keep innovating, be it your bowling skills by coming up with variations in pace, to variations in the way you hold the ball and release it, to the way you can deliver it, to keep improvising your shots, to keep innovating and staying ahead of the game to be successful.
It was through cricket that I got to know about my leadership skills or the fact that I enjoyed responsibility, or the fact that I had the power in me to lead a pack without being the leader. I had the capability to get the best out of my team and perform at our best especially when the chips are down.
It is during matches in our complex that I along with my team members I too would get so pumped up when we had only a few runs to defend that we would go all out. It was the belief that we had that we can pull it off that made us win more often than not. It is the same thing that I believe in life, that when the chips are down is the time when you need to work the hardest and keep the belief that you will win in the end!! It is these things, these positive thoughts that have kept me in such goo stead all this while and have made me stronger and helped me come up when I was down in the dumps.
Like the time when I had quit engineering to start a new career in Media and start my journey towards a graduation degree right from scratch that I would think that it is like changing your home ground. The pitch conditions will be new, the crowds will be new, but one thing that will be old will be my spirit, will be my attitude and the strong will to perform and do well that will take me through any situation.
After every match I would come back and analyse my day’s performance and see what went wrong and where did I bowl and why was I taken to the cleaners by the batsmen. Same applied to my work, I would sit down and assess my work, how am I doing, what was my best work of the week and stuff. I was trying to keep tabs on my progress and wanted to see if I was improving and learning from my mistakes or not.
I keep thinking of how to bowl, I practice my bowling action at home all the time and have imaginary situations and then would do the bowling keeping the wall as my target. Similarly, I would do so for my work, have imaginary clients and then think of solutions for them and would come up with new ideas. That is how I would prepare for my work and try and get better at it.
Infact to think of it, my writing skills are also a big thanks to my love for cricket. It is only because of cricket that I even read. I am one of those writers who does not read much. I would read each and every article that would come in the newspaper that would even remotely talk about cricket. My vocabulary and writing skills are all thanks to those beautifully written articles by either Ayaz Menon or Sunil Gavaskar or Harsha Bhogle or Sanjay Manjrekar or one of those many writers on different cricket websites.
I even judge people on the way they play cricket and trust me it is a good scale to judge people on. Like, when we play cricket and the kind of player the other person is tells me how good is he when it comes to his work. For eg: if the person is cautious while batting and isn’t the one who takes risks or goes down the track you know what kinda person he is. Also, is that player good enough to play you or competitive enough on the field tells me how competitive or good he is off the field and more often than not, this seems to work.
It is like if the person is serious about winning he would try and fight it out and not give up easily, in cricket and similarly in a professional life he would be one who does a good job and is the kinds who actually works hard and pays attention to each and every thing and makes sure he does everything well.
The way you approach a sport tells a lot about your personality and your habits. And that is what I feel is the seamless connection between cricket and life.

Don't change!

No, I mean you can and should change your clothes daily, but what I want to say here is purely in cricketing terms.

I do not want to like people to change, be it their action, their attitude, their stance or whatever. Agreed, that if there is a fault you need to rectify it but then again don't they say play your natural game and be yourself.

I would like to argue here that when you were good enough to get chosen for the team with the action or stance or technique you had then why would you make major changes in them? I understand that you need to keep improving and iron out your faults since the opposition is always a step ahead. Then what if the change brought about by you makes you a different player altogether?

Take for instance, a Sehwag - he never made any change to his technique nor his mindset and now he is one of the most feared batsmen of the current crop. And now contrarily look at an Irfan Pathan, when he started off, he was a swing bowler with decent pace and with every outing for India his pace seemed to be increasing. There was a time when he would bowl at 140 kmph and around. And now? The case has reversed...he is out of the team, scratching his head to find form, lacks pace, lost his swing and is not even a mirror of what we knew Irfan Pathan was!!

And there are several such cases I can list out, Ishant Sharma, Ashish Nehra, Balaji, Munaf Patel, for bowlers and for batsmen - Mohammad Kaif, Hemang Badani, Dinesh Mongia, and lots more...who seemed good enough and were performing handsomely for their domestic teams but it was only after their stint with the Indian team that they somehow lost the touch and seemed out of form for months together!! and also never made it back to the Indian Team...the list is endless, these are just some of the names that come off the head.

So my simple suggestion to these guys would be to not listen to too many people and not change too many things and try and keep the basic structure same and only then will you find success.

Tendu...Ten don't!

The headline inspired from an Amul ad from the 90's is the perfect line that beautifully summarizes everyone's feelings.

It took me a while to sit and write down a post since I could not get out of the whole depression. As Yogesh pointed out in his log how I had lost my cool and was on the look out for Jadeja and would probably kill him, I think I would 've been juatified!
My only question was - how many matches will India have to lose for our youngsters to understand how to keep their nerve under pressure. And more importantly what guarantees that after playing a few such matches they will learn and not make the same mistake again. I mean didn't Jadeja commit the same mistake in the previous match? Hasn't Virat failed to grasp his chances given time and and again to him? How many times will thee tail enders need to be told and shown how to hold a bat and infact how difficult it is to just try and rotate the strike. It is more important to try, success attained or not is secondary.

I will definitely not feel as bad when a Munaf or a Nehra try to steer the ball down third man and miss it or edge it as when they try to hit the ball out of the ground when all you need is a run a ball. And as records show Nehra has played more than a 100 matches, he still did what a usual Indian tail ender would do, they want to become heroes!!!

Then again, who doesn't! But you can become a hero doing what you can do best, right? Wrong, you can become a hero trying to do what you did best in your gully and not in the international arena!

So flabbergasted was I when I saw Jadeja, Nehra and the likes play those shots that I almost abused them in front of my dad!! Then i thought of the plight of the master. Just imagine what he must be going through, we just saw the innings and were so disappointed and heart broken, what about Sachin?

Trust me, if I was Jadeja, I would not have the courage to even go back in the same bus as him nor stay in the hotel, I would rent a car and just roam around the city and see the disappointed faces to get motivation for the next match and definitely stay away from the media or Sachin. Maybe the next day go to him and actually apologize and promise a much better more defined performance. I sincerely hope Jadeja does make amends for this and all the other 9 guys go out there and win the series for his one Herculean effort of Sachin.

Forget the 20 years of cricket he has played for the country and the numerous times he has been disappointed, this one series victory will bring him some solace.

This one loss really hurt and infact made me think and wonder - what would I rather see - in the case where an Indian loss is inevitable - would I rather see a one sided match and see the Indians go down without a fight or see them come so close and see the most breathtaking innings of 2009 ( if not anything else) and the player end up on the losing side as what happened with Sachin - really there is not much choise there - but then I say - I'd rather see them lose without a fight - coz you know why - coz this hurt....very very badly and an injury such as this leaves a permanent scar, one that will not go away even after surgery...

To leave on a positive note, I would like to say that hope the Indian team does a turnaround from here on and go on to win the series, here's wishing them loads of luck and a few lines that may be Sachin could identify with -

Mujhe baarish achi lagti hai, haan mujhe baarish achi lagti hai, kyunki ek wo hi hai jo mere aansuon ko apni boondon mein chupa sakti hai!!! - Yours truly!

Nothing hurts as much today!

Saw the Aussies smash us all over the park - took it with a pinch of salt.
Saw the hitters Sehwag, Yuvi and Dhoni not fight hard - told myself don't worry.
Saw the ever so calm Gautam Gambhir lose his head - thought it happens very rarely, forget it.
Saw Sachin play one of the best innings of his life according to me and enjoyed every moment of it - infact was thinking he might make a double hundred today!
Saw Jadeja run - THEN I GOT UP AND TOLD MYSELF - WHEN WILL THESE GUYS LEARN.

The question that came to my mind wasn't oh god, why us? But rather, I ask how many games will India have to lose for youngsters to understand simple things, for them to understand how not to panic under pressure.

Jadeja did it twice in two games. Can understand he is young and new and stuff, but look at the way McKay caught the ball White threw at him and calmy whipped the bails? For your information, it was his first match!! Imagine, making your debut and bowling to 'The Guru' of cricket and almost see your team losing after scoring 350 runs and yet have all the sense in the world to know when to strike back and how to not lose hope.

What is it that hits us more - complacency? panic? not being able to hold our nerves? What is it? And why does it happen with Indians only, why didn't Hauritz not throw right at d base of the stumps, why couldn't have Manou dropped that catch, how come McKay had the courage to bowl a slower ball on the legside with his fine leg up!!!

It's all in the head. And yet somehow we keep failing, we lack the temperament.

I have played a thousand gully cricket matches, but seldom have I lost my cool to do such stupid things. I might have played bad shots, but do not end up doing such stupid and silly mistakes, especially when such a big match is at stake.

And for God's sake, really God here means - Sachin Tendulkar - for his sake, the guy just played the innings of his lifetime, win it for him!!! Stay there, be cool.

This was the first time that such a close match almost made me cry. it literally had me in tears when I saw the screen show 'Out'. The look on PK's face said it all, but I wouldn't blame him much.

For me the culprit was Jadeja, for the rest of my life I will have a grudge against him!!!!

If life had background music!

Ever thought about this? What if, whatever your mood was could be reflected in the background music? It would save so much time and we would have so many less fights. Come on, remember the last time you tried to get a little annoying with your friend and she bashed you away from her that instant? And it was only later that you found out that it was all because she was not in the best of moods!!!
In your defence, you had no clue she had a rough day and you could even argue that all you were trying to do was to cheer her up!! But don’t worry, it’s all in vain, as am sure she would have a million others who would support her on this.
So yeah, that’s why this thought. Only if there was background music in life would we be able to tell in what kind of a mood the other person is and start the conversation accordingly or behave in a certain manner.
Just imagine this, you have just given your last exam paper and are on your way home, what is the song that is playing in your head? May be the Pepsi slogan – Azaadi, dil ki, freedom to be heee..Azaadi..dil ki...or may be if you’re the old song liking soul then - panchhi banu udti firun mast gagan mein... aaj mein aazaad hun duniya ke chaman mein.

Or just imagine this, its’ one of your first days in college and you see that cute little girl around the corner and your heart goes – Pehla Nasha, Pehla Khumar, naya pyaar hai....am sure thousand and thousand of you’ll can associate with this one moment. I can bet, all o us have had this moment in our life!
The time when our crush looks at us, or the time when he/she is wearing our favourite colour and by mistake he/she happens to look in your direction and give a smile....oooohh...that’s it!! She’s made our day!

Or imagine this, you’ve just go to know that your one time love has just got someone in her life and all you want to do now is dig in deep into some real soulful songs or may be if you are one of those metal head then may be something real heavy to get rid of that argh feeling and move on.

There are many of us who like to listen to those old sad hindi film songs, or may be one of those Atif Aslam songs...personally I hate that guy and I think he’s just a desi version of Enrique Iglesias and all he does is cry and not sing...Anyway, that aside, the song we want to hear is – Tere bin kaise jeeya....and we feel much better.

That is the time when you need someone close to cry into or to talk to. But may be sometimes that person is not around or is in the middle of something and hence cannot come to you and handle tis situation with you.
That is the time when you wish these kind of tunes play in the background or may be even have the instrumental version of those songs play so that people around know the kind of mood you are in.

That is when you ask god, why doesn’t life have background music??

Champion's Leak

While my friends watched the Champions League T20 in an ordinary pub or on TV, I won a contest and found myself not only watching the action from the players’ dressing room… but also having meals with the legends themselves. Such as breakfast with Glenn McGrath and dinner with Anil Kumble. Thanks to my rahu stars and the generosity of a certain liquor baron, I was appointed ‘Chief fan’ for the Royal Challengers Bangalore.

Donning red and gold

Imagine attending team meetings, giving them high-fives after jokes or er, knowing their kamina sides – the enormity of the experience started sinking in as I checked into a room next to Gibbs and Duminy, at a Bengaluru hotel. Next morning, I had breakfast with my heroes - Kumble, Dravid, Kallis, Boucher. I was initially edgy, but it took simple moments (such as Kumble playing with his daughter or Pravin Kumar raving about chhole-khulche of Meerut) for me to be one of them - I’d already donned the red-and-gold RCB jersey.

The tourney kickstarted, and so did the time of my life. First up, it was exciting to meet the team behind the scenes. Apart from the squad, the team bus would comprise of the coach, manager, team analyst, physio, trainer, masseur and sometimes, even the COO. While the times on field were anxious, the times off it were something I’ll report to my grandchildren: Praveen Kumar suffixes every sentence with the choicest north Indian abuses; the team is shown motivational videos (which we often see on Youtube) before a game; Kumble loves chatting on his Gmail; Ross Taylor can cook parathas and that Kallis doesn’t smile even when he’s not playing… not even on his birthday.

Games people play

Intriguingly, I got to see how some sportsmen had scored offfield. While Kallis’ stunning gori wife got all the stares, a particular hunk of the team had a PYT hanging around at practice sessions, hotel room et al. Not to forget, the lesser fortunate ones tried their best to score. One, for instance was seen flirting with the hotel receptionist several times.

The young team was also high on fun, especially of the legpulling variety. I was once audience to Pravin and Virat taking a dig at the TV media: in the middle of a conversation about how good the kulfis in Kanpur are, Kohli broke into a sensational commentary, while Pravin played the interviewee, a kulfi-seller. “Dil thaam ke baithaiye, agla item aapka dil dehla dega,” Virat went, “Malai kulfi ke saath extra toppings yukt kaju kulfi aapke poore parivaar ko achambit kar degi!” All this was, by the way, in the team bus.

Dinner with Jumbo

Though my most memorable experience would have to be the dinner at Jumbo’s place. The occasion was worthy – a combined celebration of Kumble’s and Kallis’s birthdays and of course, Diwali. Having the legendary leg-spinner I have cheered and cried in joy for all these years — show you around his house was inexplicably moving. Not many know that the former skipper is a nature lover, and this was apparent from the pictures (all self-shot) which adorned his rooms. It was thrilling to visit a special room which flaunted only his trophies – Arjuna award, the ‘perfect 10’ trophy, et al. The tête-à-tête was vibrant too: I came to know that Kumble is the new vice-chief of the Karnataka Wildlife Board. (Bet you didn’t know that!) I also stole a moment to quiz him about one mystery the world has had – why on earth couldn’t he turn the ball? He couldn’t help laughing before replying, “I didn’t want to lose my line-and-length at the cost of spin.” Case rested.

RCB’s campaign ended prematurely after two defeats. Worse, news of Dravid’s ouster from Team India was a dark cloud. (Rahul himself, after long, anxious moments of tracking cricket sites on his laptop, resigned to his room on learning the news.) The 11-day-trip cost me my job (yours truly went ahead even after his leaves weren’t approved) but as they say, ‘some things in life are priceless’.

When a dream comes true!

If someone asked me to choose between playing cricket for one more time and dying or living for 20 more years with lots of money and a wonderful life sans cricket! I would choose the former.

This is what cricket means to me, and that is why when given the option of choosing between my heart and my mind I again chose the former.

Winning the Royal Challengers Fanatic Fans' Challenge was like a dream come true. To be staying with the team, traveling with them, seeing how they prepare before a big game, living with the legends of the game like Rahul Dravid and Anil Kumble is no small thing.

But, well then you always have to choose between things in life. My organization is not willing to let me go for this vacation in the making and a chance of a lifetime, but may be they do not know how big this is for me.

For someone who has always dreamed of playing once with the Indian team, always wondered as to how would life be for cricketers who are always under the scanner.

This is my big chance, this might not be the biggest platform any person can get to make his entry into the cricketing media industry but this could be a different start.

I cannot recall if someone has ever got a chance like this before to be part of a comparatively smaller team in terms of following but this is by no means a team of smaller or rather unknown cricketers!

The picture above is something that will remain etched in my heart for the rest of my life. It could be the beginning of a new life, a new start and this could be the time where I decide to go where my heart is!

The InvincibleS

This is one poster I thought of making for the challenge and put it up on the blog.

RCB - here comes Ragers Watch out!

http://www.royalchallengers.com/application/Ragers/

It's funny that I am propagating my own profile on my own blog, but yeah, that's the truth! I entered the contest hearing about it on Radio.

As soon as I heard it it was like 'Aah, that sounds like my dream' and off I went - straight to the website and started making my application. I still remember I was one of the first one to register and when I checked in after a few days there were already a few thousands who had logged on. I knew competition would be tough but I had faith in my ability.

God helped me build that faith even stronger when I found out that I was shortlisted in the top 27.

Now the race to the top will be a lot more fun, since there will be some 26 others who are as socially active and fun loving as I am.

So looking forward to it, till then, my followers and those who randomly drop on this blog, please check out my entry and vote for the best!

Good luck to all and may the best three win!

Cheers - in true Royal Challengers style!

Ragers a.k.a Raging Optimist!