The Road Ahead...

It does not take a genius to say what India should do to improve its performance on the field...It requires a genius to implement the same :-) Genius ,I say not for ideas,tactics etc etc.,one who executes the same....In any sport around the world coaches demand the respect of the team..With so much information freely available ,the result of a contest in any sport at the top level is more often than not determined by who holds his nerve...This is something which can be instilled by people through fear in a positive way...Most people would agree with me ,when I say that some amount of pressure keeps one on his/her toes & makes them more focussed...A coach plays an important role in the same...Even today if you take Manchester United for example ,its success is attributed to the mental toughness & tenacity of their coach Alex Ferguson...One may say you cant draw parallels among sports or across them but the fact remains that for a successful team like Australia too,Geoff Marsh,John Buchannan & bob Simpson would be remembered equally as Mark Taylor,Steve Waugh & Ricky Ponting....One off victories like Pakistan in World Cup 1992 by Imran Khans inspiration cant be construed as enough as if remember correctly Pakistan lost the next 3 series on the trot...Even Dav Whatmore is given enough credit for Sri Lanka's win in 1996.....The combination works...All these coaches somehow draw respect from players...This is absolutely crucial for team's sucess....

Indian Coaches for our team would be a great idea only if the player commands enough respect from the members of the team...This combination of fear/respect is what will drive the team to success....Even John Wright would agree with me that his combination with Ganguly is what pushed/led the team to their good run ...The fear the people had towards Ganguly who was a father figure to many of those todays "superstars" is what motivated them to give their best...Now the team has got nothing to lose....Its perhaps the lowest they can go.... The need for actually rethinking the whole process by drawing a comparison with hockey along with of course ideas(which as I said anyone can give :-)) is illustrated well in this story | digg story

Orkut is being shut down ! ARE U KIDDING ME...STOP THIS HOAX

Hey it is Andy the director of Bebo ( www.bebo.com) Tim Buiski, sorry for the interruption but Bebo is closing the system down because too many inconsiderate people are taking up all the names, we only have 578 names left, if you would like to close your account, then do not send this message out, if you would like to keep your account, then send this message to everyone on your contact list. This is no joke, we are really shutting down the servers. Send it, thanks, Tim Buiski

WHO EVER DOES NOT SEND THIS MESSAGE, YOUR ACCOUNT WILL BE CLOSED AND WILL COST $10.00 A MONTH TO USE, SEND THIS TO EVERYONE ON YOUR LIST.
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Doesnt the Above Sound similar to the current one which is doing the rounds with bebo being replaced by ORKUT

PLEASE PEOPLE FORWARD JOKES,VERY VERY BAD ONES WILL ALSO DO.. ONES LIKE "WHICH IS THE LONGEST ROPE IN THE WORLD"...EUROPE ....SUCH JOKES WILL ALSO DO.

BUT PLEASE PLEASE DONT FALL PREY TO SUCH STUPID & UTTERLY RIDICULOUS HOAXES....

P.S ::iF YOU DON'T BELIEVE ME PLEASE CHECK OUT THE "NEWS" ON THE TOP SECTION OF YOUR ORKUT PAGE

THIS TO ENSURE THAT SUCH STUPIDITY DOESN'T HAPPEN OFTEN...BETTER TO HAVE THIS FORWARDED ONCE THAN TO GET ANOTHER OF SUCH MESSAGES ISN'T IT ??? COZ IF PEOPLE ARE INTELLIGENT ENOUGH TO USE ORKUT,THEY WOULD BE INTELLIGENT ENOUGH TO UNDERSTAND THIS ALSO.....

Also please check these two blogs which also mention this here & here

Ubuntu - Command Not Found

You have just tried to open some program note installed in your machine, amazingly, the machine answers you with a simple command line on how to install it. Dream? Or just open-source evolving? Its actually the geeks making the road for mere mortals to switch from bullock carts(read Windows) to space shuttles.... :)



read more | digg story

Cricket : Religion

Saturday was a red letter day in sporting history for Bangladesh: The manner of their emphatic victory made if you insist ,India's Tigers (According to the atrocious Pepsi Ad) look like ordinary animals .I wont even classify them as a " Cat" because if you have been around them try looking @ them in the eye...They at least stare back without blinking even once.That I feel is unnerving.Sadly our team failed to even depict the same.

What was more ridiculous is the expected media bashing of the cricketers.Grudgingly I am forced to agree with Mr.Sharad Pawar that the media "sensationalised " & "over reported" the whole issue thereby giving clueless & mindless people to vent their frustration & disappointment on a gloomy Sunday morning.In any case the people who were on the streets am sure had nothing better to do because a real small town person who is struggling to make his ends meet wouldn't waste his /her time burning effigies over such defeats as they would be facing much more hardships. The sheer lack of any intelligent reporting also added fuel to the fire of the people who have no problem in raising slogans against a particular person on any given day.These are the same people who would probably go in front of Shahrukh Khans home & shout slogans as he made fun of Amar Singh in an awards function recently.Imagine people having no work to do than to shout for Amar Singh over such a trivial issue .

The favourite argument for everyone is that cricket is a religion in our country.The fact that it is a religion becomes apparent as that it is the only team sport where teams from the sub continent at least compete on equal footing with the rest of the world.Even in Field Hockey Pakistan is not the same force as it was post Sohail Abbas's retirement .And as for Indian Hockey , well its better if less is spoken/written as criticism for the pathetic state it is in.It is thus but natural for the fans to expect their team to do well in cricket

Cricket is a religion : This explains why news channels love to get the views of 8 year old kids who scream after the Bangladesh debacle that "Sehwag & Dhoni must be dropped" .Post the comment the anchor states emphatically as to "How The Fans are upset & have lost confidence in the players".Sehwag I can understand has been given a long rope.but come on people Dhoni ????The guy,as any cricket purist would agree, had failed only in that match or else his performances both behid the stumps as well as before it has been quite satisfactory.Agreed he fell for a blob & triggered that mini collapse which made an impact on the final score.But isn't it common sense that the fault should be born by all members as any true lover of the sport would agree.Also do those players who prefer to make hay when the sun shines( eat.sleep.drink:endorsements) be given this much importance.By ransacking their homes or shouting slogans & burning effigies one is making them more important than what they actually deserve.

The media somehow wants to portray only the voice of the cricket fan who watches it purely for the entertainment aspect.The fan who feels its a great way to unwind himself.The fan who wants India to win as it would bring a smile on his face.This fan would never stand with the team in the true sense if they are down in the dumps.He is not a person who would still support the team if the same is relegated to the second tier.He is not the person who would support the team if they lose consistently for 15 years.Cricket after all has become a religion only recently if I may add only post 1983 & the hysteria surrounding the 1987 world cup(Thank You Dhirubhai !!).The bonds are still fragile for the average person with the game. The ex-cricketers put on the panel also say things in a very lopsided way talking about team India & lack of passion etc etc.Nobody knows whether they share their views or they speak what the channel wants them to.In either cases its high time we stop taking the results of the matches too seriously & if the media just had a one off coverage of the whole match then really it wouldn't matter much trust me.Public memory is short.Why has the same media not approached people in scores after the Bermuda game.Because if they did then everyone would have spoken good ( barring a few who still would have issues with Sehwag :-)) I think the best thing to do is don't give the team importance.Let us see the players demand importance by playing brilliantly.Don't make them " gods " because they are in the team.Let them earn it.

P.S I also want to know how many people were on the streets when we lost in the world cup.I meant when our team finished among the last in the field hockey world cup.Don't those boys perform well in order to be noticed(Remember their victory over Pakistan 2 years ago,We won 5-3 if i remember correctly) .Let our cricket boys also do the same.

Australia : Gentlemen Champs???

Following their expected emphatic victory ,Australia should do well against South Africa I guess simply because their batting should come good over South Africa's batting .Even in the recent series against India,if one notices it was more of the failure of Indian batting which led to their downfall rather than superior South African batting. about the depth of Australian batting,I think they should win comfortably against South Africa.

The war of words between our Sunil Gavaskar & Ricky Ponting has been one of the most interesting "Other News" around the world Cup for the purists (Otherwise the amount of skin Mandira shows or how is the other Sunil (read Shetty) watching the world cup continue to make headlines for some people :) )

Coming back to the ongoing tirade between Sunil Gavaskar & the Australians ,the only thing which i comprehend from the whole thing is the Australians must be really very very good in sledging.It is well reported in media about how the Aussies used to torment Chris Cairns by whistling & reminding him of his sister who met with a fatal rail accident.Remember how much Glenn McGrath would have sledged for Sarwan to even comment back about his wife's illness.Gavaskar himself has come out & said about the abuses he received during the "walk out" incident.

Don't get me wrong.Gavaskar had no business discussing David Hookes ( RIP) even as an anecdote to illustrate his point. However the important thing to understand is the level of abuse a person is subjected to.Cricket is played over 6 hours on the field with every player being on the field for a minimum of 3-3.5 hours.Unlike a football match where players face each other with intensity for a maximum of 2.15 hrs (including penalties & extra time) ,the level of concentration & intensity required in cricket is higher.Thus for releasing the built up energy in a"constructive" way,it is usually "channelised" to the opponents in the manner of "sledging" .the effects may vary from opponent to opponent.However a barrage is likely to evoke extreme reactions once a while & that's the case now.

Ricky Ponting had no business to comment about how Gavaskar played or how Indians play.Any top team/player in the world is subject to scrutiny with everyone having an opinion about them.Teams/Players who have been winners for longer periods of time have risen above these comments/observations & thus have retained their positions as "numero uno". The ideal response that Ponting could have given is to have shrugged his shoulders & said that "we are working on it" as he has said earlier.Now he has made an issue of nothing.Consider that even if the Aussies go to the extreme,ask any cricketer of their opponents who has a complaint about them that it affects his performance.I remember Sachin in 2000 doing the talk with both bat & the mouth.Nor is Lara ever intimidated or for that matter even Ganguly. I still remember Ganguly at forward short leg sledging out Warne ion the final over of the day & causing him to lose his wicket during that epic series in 2001.So great players/tams know to give it back in the right ways whenever required.

In terms of scrutiny Ponting has been a dominant player for only about last 5-6 years but still has courted numerous controversies. With regards to successful people who were numero unos in their own right but were that because they rose over criticism were Paolo Maldini,Roy Keane( who had his own share for being honest ) & grudgingly I must add even current teams like Chelsea come through criticism & still win coz they are not subject to that & they focus on playing their game only not responding to some third party commenting on their game.

So Ricky ,Can you please focus on that !! :)

Comebacks...Greatness

Sourav Ganguly & David Beckham what do the have in common? No its not that both of them are called "prince" by their fans.Nor it is that both of them have been invited for the Liz-Arun wedding ( I doubt whether Sourav & Dona are invited) nor it is that they have actually come close to cheating with their wives (Remember the Sourav-Nagma connection & the Beckham-Rebecca Loos saga) .Well lets get real. The similarity is more to do with their sporting comebacks which has bought them on the verge of "greatness".

Lets begin with Sourav.The press gave him a very bad time over his slump in form post world Cup 2003.Once dropped,he was dismissed by ex cricketers,media & fans as a person who couldn't get back into the team & that his days of playing for India is over."Finished" screamed a headline above an article about him.But the Prince of Kolkatta had the last laugh .His comeback into the team through performances in domestic cricket accompanied with gutsy innings post his comeback & wholla ! we have a new cricketer !.A cynic could well say that given the bad run & form of other Indian players,Sourav's above average performance made him stand out which cannot be construed as improvement in his game from when he was dropped.But the fact remains that he did come out & prove himself when he had to.

When a commoner is called to speak about football,he/she are most likely to name David Beckham.In fact if you prod more & ask him/her about " great" footballers do they know ,chances are that his name be taken in the same breath as Pele & Maradona.Over the past season His performances on the field after being dropped from his club starting eleven have been limited.To make matters worse after his lucrative deal in the States ,his coach openly stated that he no longer would be an automatic choice to play in the team & would have to be content in training with the reserves.Post the despair of the world cup,his demotion from the national squad & being dropped from his club side , it seemed all doors were shut for him to envisage a comeback into the national side.

However with again his teammates showing uncharacteristic slackness in their game & the absence of any more "galactico" other than him in the center of the the field resulted in the performances on the pitch.When Capello was forced to play Beckham,he was forced to play him again because simply Beckham performed better than his teammates.He got an ovation from Madrid supporters despite the fact that he was going to leave them & the club president publicly stating that Beckham didn't show any intent of continuing there.Today the same people who were asking for his head have started backing him to get into the England Team !

So have we found a link between them both ? You may say that both are prime examples of great warriors who never give up .They may be called the epitome to the fact that "form is temporary but class is permanent".The unarguable fact remains is that your performance/actions are always judged on the basis of what your peers do at the same time.Historical Statistics do not have any significance in sports other than they are targets to aim for.They don't help in improving your game nor have any impact on your performance.They are just targets you aim to break.

Which brings me to wonder are the above two gentlemen on the verge of "greatness".Are they both players with "class" on the field?

My belief is from the fact that in case of Sourav ,if the Indian team lifts the world cup...then undoubtedly he would be felicitated as one of India's greatest cricketers .So what if he still has a weakness against the short ball.So what if he has started moving towards the off stump so much in his stance that his leg stump stands exposed( Quick Bowlers would have noted the same I think :) ) ,but the fact remains he will be called as " one of India's greatest batsman of all time" putting him along with the most technically supreme or wristy wizards like Gavaskar,Vishwanath & Azharuddin & of course Tendulkar.

In case of Beckham well he has already played football in two of the best clubs in the world,A comeback to the national team along with a victory in Euro 2008 would be enough for the media to place him along with Sir Bobby Charlton, Geoff Hurst etc.So what his game is still one dimensional.His pace is now even slower than what it was earlier & he cant do anything with his left foot :)

Both the above players have a single standout quality which makes them "special" .Sourav for his"offside" play & of course the dead ball & crossing expertise of David Beckham. These qualities any sport aficionado would say are just one of the qualities which a purist may look at calling a player as "great".But imagine the scenario where sourave having got the oppurtunity plays a role(he has to in some ways) in Indias World cup victory at West Indies 2007. Once Beckham gets his chance (which looks sooner than later) ,If England win Euro 2008 then is he one of the "greatest" footballers.

Wonder what Sir Garfield Sobers,Clive Lloyd,George Best & Pele have to say about this.

Perfection: is it possible?

My first meeting in my new firm..And my supreme confidence was shattered when I reached the venue late by 20 minutes.By that time the other company's representatives had come & left.I mumbled something abt 'trains being late" to my client..."Trains being late"...huh...what rubbish...what an excuse you would say..peple might even think "man, couldn't he come up with something better" Well as a Mumbaikar you know that if you have to rech a venue on time,you have to leave accordingly.Our trains although may not(probably never will) be on time alwayz but you gotto take into account the same if you leaving to reach a place on a particular time...

Anywayz the fact remains I reached the venue late...not a bright way to start a new career,first meeting...My genuine reason for the same was trains being later than normal..But I dont know how much it would go down someone's throat.The problem is people take for granted many things in life nowadays where honesty is not even understood forget even being respected/appreciated.People assume the other person to be dishonest in one way or another.Nobody is pure evil you may say hence you have laws which even allow a murderer to justify his actions & maybe pardon him also after he serves a minimum tenure in prison.The same logic is applied on the other side as well,where people are assumed to have some flaw in their character.
Filmmakers who depict all their characters having some flaws are said to make "realistic" cinema...Well If that is realistic cinema are u saying that no one is perfect then why should anyone aim being flawless..Why is it valued.The fundamental principle behind the thought is that u set a goal to perfection so that u achieve something close to that.But then what abt people who are already perfect.If Howard Roark was a symbol of perfection in some ways according to Rand who believed such people existed,are there no Howard Roarks any more???