Reflection

Whats the first thing that comes to your mind, when you hear the word "Reflection" ?

A mirror right?

Would you believe if I told you many years back, if I heard the word, I would think of the Java package java.lang.reflect!

Depending on which side of the spectrum you stand, you would now think me to be a loser or a pseudo-geek! That's understandable. But , in order to explain the how and they why behind my thought process, I would have to take you back in time.

After a disappointing Class XII results, I was literally left in the lurch! Obviously I wasn't good enough for IIT. Even though, I had a decent score in TNPCEE exams, my school scores weren't good enough to get me a free seat in any of the DOTE-I colleges. With my cut-off I could still manage a payment seat in any of the DOTE-II colleges. But neither my Dad nor I were willing to go that way. We weren't really sure if that was worth it.

To make matters worse, I did not receive interview calls from any of the Arts & Science colleges I had applied for (it turned out later on that most Arts & Science in Chennai hardly received any applicants from CBSE, so they rarely sent out invites to the few who applied).With colleges like Loyola and M.C.C also rejecting my application, I was getting really desperate. I wasn't sure what I was going to do if the rest of the colleges too do not send me an invite for an interview. From being on the verge of a successful launch to greater heights, I was now falling off the proverbial cliff!

I did receive an invite letter from Guru Nanak College after a couple of weeks. But the letter also mentioned that I was wait-listed candidate (Wait List No: 17)! With confidence at nadir, I really didn't know what to make of it. During the interview I did meet a lot of my old school friends. Apparently many of them had scored about the same marks as me (80%) and they too were wait-listed, but then all of them had already plans to pursue B.E/B.Tech degree even if they were to choose a payment seat in any of the DOTE-II colleges. They were attending this interview only as stop-gap solution, I was among the minority of my friends, who would continue to study the course fully if and when selected!

I was finally offered a seat, but my confidence had taken so hard a hit, I wasn't sure of anything anymore. You don't need me to tell you what a sorry figure you would become if your self confidence takes a hit! Late 90s in India saw a boom for the services industry. With software companies mushrooming at every nook and corner. There was a craze for programming courses and anyone who completed a 2-3 years course were getting employed quickly. Common sense required me to take up a computer course to ensure I was professionally employable (or at least competitive enough) once I completed my Bachelor's degree. I got myself admitted to NIIT after clearing their Bhavishya Jyothi scholarship program. But none of this did anything helpful in me regaining my self-confidence.

Luck seemed to had completely deserted me even at NIIT. I was assigned to a batch which had the worst faculty ever! She hardly knew her stuff and to compensate for it, she was a disaster in communication as well (What would you call a person who added an extra "ed" to the words called, told etc.?).

to be continued.....

Dreamsdrop

A flash of light, so bright that he could sense it even with his eyes closed and then the accompanying loud noise woke him from his slumber.



He found himself alone in a strange but familiar room. He is confused because he cannot recollect falling asleep in it. Further, he can't find either his wife or son!!



 "What place is this? Why does the place look familiar?" He recollects that yesterday was the 28th May 2016, he had gone to bed early. But he still can't conclude how he ended up here.



As his eyes adjusted to the light, he could see that he was in a small rectangular room which had a single door, but no windows.

The door was firmly closed, but he could see a strange flickering light seeping through the edges of the door.



He could hear feeble voices from the other side of the door. He walks over to the door and tries to open it, but the door wouldn't budge. He knocks at the door, hoping that whoever is outside would hear him and maybe open it! But despite multiple knocks and kicks, nobody opens the door.



He gives up on his futile attempt and tries to listen for the voices again. He hopes from the voice he might try figuring out his whereabouts.



He could hear two distinct voices; the first of a voice of a man in his late twenties and the second was that of a boy in teens. Surprisingly both the voices sounded familiar. However, He still couldn't place the faces associated with the voices. It was also evident that the two of them had been conversing for quite a while.



Man: So what do you think about your scores?


Boy: I hated Hindi, but still feel I could have scored better. I am disappointed with my Maths and Science scores, I think I did a lot better than what I scored. I should really have scored over 90 in SST. I am surprised I scored only 88. And finally, I am most disappointed with my English score.


Man: Disappointed?? You were the school topper in English and your score was among the top 0.1% across all CBSE students who appeared for the exam? Disappointed isn't the word that I would use here!!


Boy: I actually shared the top spot with two others. But ..... that isn't the problem. I mean, yeah I liked the spotlight and everything that came with it. But the truth is.. err... I didn't deserve it!!


Man: What do you mean? The marks or the spotlight?


Boy: I mean, I did write the paper well, I answered all the questions correctly. But I am not convinced that my answers were worth the top marks I received. I mean, I know a lot more people who are a lot better than me in English but scored lesser than me. I believe the marking scheme isn't ideal to evaluate someone in English. If only I had scored as well in either Science or Maths. I would be happy!


Man: Hmm. Point taken. Maybe that is why you never mention it anywhere nowadays!


Boy: What do you mean??


Man: I will come to that. But tell me, have you decided what you plan to do now?


Boy: Yes. I will take up Science stream in the same school.


Man: Don't you want to change your school? Move to a different board maybe, like many of your classmates?


Boy: Dad says "A good student will be able to score well in any school/syllabus"! And I really agree with him. Moreover, I don't think I can stand the teachings at any State Board schools. I am not good at rote learning anyway.


Man: Well, Dad is right.! I just wanted to test how confident you are with your decision. Believe me, when you are me, many will want you to believe this was your first mistake. But don't worry. That decision was probably worth all the trouble it gave you!


Boy: Any other words of advise? Please tell me what am I going to experience??


Man: I can, but then what's the fun in that? I shall, however, give you advice, without giving you specifics. Yes, you are about to embark on the best year of school life(Probably of your entire student life). A year in which you will experience many firsts. A year where you will meet the best of your friends. This will be a year where you will fall in crazily in love with something which results in you in ignoring other things that are equally important.



Boy: I will fall in love?? With what??




Man: I think you already know the answer to that question! Anyway, as I was saying. The thing you would fall in love with it won't be permanent. You won't pursue it more than 5 years


Boy: So are you saying, all that wouldn't be worth it?


Man: No, no... I mean, You will enjoy and cherish the experience. But you wouldn't pursue it any further, Probably because you will find a greater love (if at all there is such a term) and you will never regret it!



Inside the room, it suddenly dawned on our man why the voices sounded familiar to him. He had been part of the same conversation a long time back.  This was his dream a decade ago!!



This was eerie! How can one dream the same dream twice after a span of 10 years?



Was he in a dream again?? Was he in the same dream? No, that can't be!!

In the dream, he was the Man giving advise to his 15-year-old self. But here he seems to be experiencing the conversation from a third person's perspective! How is this even possible?? Where the hell is he?? And what the hell is going on??





Whatever the shit. He knew the series of events that was going to happen outside. He feared he might again end up again giving bad advise to his 15-year-old self. He had to get the door opened somehow. This was something he was determined to change at all cost. But he still couldn't get the door to open! He was desperate now!



Boy: OK. So any other tips?


Man: Yeah one main thing. You are too quick to arrive at decisions. Although you are almost always correct in the judgment you arrive yet. I would suggest that you will need to step back and slow down. This would help you when you become me!


Suddenly the doors melted. It looked as if, the door was waiting for this exact moment in the conversation before it could disappear. He dashes into the adjoining room shouting "Wait!!! Scratch that!".



He first looks at the Man and says "I know that from your experience, you are cautioning your younger self from taking hasty decisions, but believe me when you become me, you will really regret yourself for deliberating too long on the pros/cons of a situation before of arriving at few decisions!"



He looks at the Boy "Please continue to be yourself and trust your instincts! Your decisions are almost always correct! So don't be careless and at the same time don't be too careful either!"



"And finally please pay more attention to Physics this year, that will help you in the long run".



Boy: How would that help?



Given that we are part of this conversation every decade and also with the discovery of gravitational waves, maybe we can make this meeting a lot more fruitful next time around!!

Escape from campus!

College strikes and class disruptions have become so common these days. You get to read about them in newspapers almost every day. Fortunately, they weren't that common during my stint in college. During my tenure as a student, I've experienced a strike only once. But even that was an unforgettable experience!



As a rule of law, political parties or their youth wings are prevented from getting involved in college elections. Although the rules were quite strict, people always found ways to work around these, wards of some politicians end up contesting or winning elections even in colleges (without displaying the party flag of course)! My college enforced these rules quite strictly wherever possible. The election campaign was forced to be pretty mute, college walls couldn't be used for campaign posters etc. Once a candidate was successfully elected for one year, he couldn't contest the next year. On the election day, there was generally a section 144 imposed. Students were forced to leave the college campus immediately after they've cast their ballot. Maybe the election commission can learn a trick or two from our college authorities back then.



Given how taxing these elections were for the students, staff and the management, the college authorities tried always to avoid elections(if they could). They tried negotiations with all those candidates who were willing to contest, sometimes even dragging in the parents of the candidates and discouraging their wards from contesting. The authorities wanted most student posts to get filled un-opposed in order to avoid any scuffles. They were successful most of the time.



During my final year, the college authorities tried the same trick, but apparently, things didn't work out. It so happened that, While my friends and I were attending a lecture on organic chemistry, we heard loud whistles and catcalling from outside our classroom. So loud were these noises that our professor Venkatraman sir stopped the lecture immediately and left the classroom. And then after a while, we heard our Principal's voice on the loudspeaker. Understandably, he had hit the roof and threatened to suspend all students who were causing a commotion. He thought that this would calm down the students and bring them back to the negotiating table. But he was grossly mistaken. The protesting students were further enraged and the situation turned worse.



The authorities were forced to call the police and they were stationed outside the college campus. While the protesting students had locked-in the college gates and none were allowed to go out. With classes all suspended, and canteen being closed, we were completely locked in. After over 2 hrs, we heard the news that the agitating students had stoned the Principal's office and that there could be further trouble. Rumors floated that the police would enter the campus at any moment and lathi charge all protesting students. Basically, mayhem was about to occur and in all probability, we were going to be in the middle of it. This is when my friends (Sapta, Deepak, Saravana, Kumararaja, Yogesh, Rejiesh) and I decided that we've had enough and we planned to escape.



There is only one entrance to our college campus and this is via the main gate. There is a 30 ft road, that leads from the main gate (passing adjacent to our college cricket ground) to the Principal's office and the other departments of the college campus. There is another road that passes around the cricket ground and leads back to the main gate (this passes via the college hostel and the auditorium). But this road is seldom used for two main reasons (a) its a longer route.  (b) Passes through a lot of wilderness. Our campus is situated adjacent to IIT Madras campus (which by itself is covered by a lot of trees). You could easily get lost in the campus if you didn't know where you were going.



We knew that the main gate was out of bounds and our only means of escape was through IIT campus. But for this, we had to scale a wall about 8-10 feet tall. Mind you, if we were caught doing this by any of the college authorities, we were in for trouble. They would have suspected us to be a part of the protesting students and then we would have been at the mercy of the police and in case we were caught by the fellow students, they would have branded us as traitors!



For a moment we debated scaling the wall near the labs and restrooms, but then dropped it because of the risk of being spotted by any casual observer from the labs or the restroom windows.  So our only other option was to scale the wall somewhere near the college auditorium. This area was covered with a lot of trees and wilderness and any attempts of escape will go un-noticed (if executed correctly). But all of us couldn't walk on casually towards the auditorium as we would have ended up attracting a lot of attention towards ourselves. So we planned to do it groups of three and soon found ourselves in a secluded spot behind the auditorium. Here the wall was easier to scale, but there was barbed wire above the wall and so we had to be quite careful not injuring ourselves.



Once we jumped on to the IIT campus, we couldn't walk out of the gate again as this would have been illegal as well. So we had to find another spot within IIT campus from where we could climb over the wall and get back on the main road. After a while, we finally managed to find a good spot, but we found ourselves a bit away from the main road (safe from all the attention). We were all smiles, grinning from ear to ear. Why not? We had successfully planned and executed our escape to clinical perfection. However, our escape was still not complete. We still had to take a bus and leave back home (and we had to do this without attracting any attention that we were our college students). The bus passed through our college main gate, so after we boarded the bus, we hid our id cards in our bags and pretended to be students of some other college.



When the bus arrived at our college stop, were shocked to see it very crowded. We were worried something had happened. For a second I even thought that the crowd was there to catch us as we had fled the college (refusing to participate in the protests)! But then to our astonishment, we noticed that our college gates had opened and all the students were walking out and leaving home. Apparently, while we were plotting and executing our escape, some negotiation had occurred between the college authorities and the protesting students and they had come to an agreement to re-open the college gates so that the students could go home for the day!

Visual Information Retrieval Under Siege!!

Over the past few weeks, I have taken a liking to Visual Information Retrieval and have read few papers on the concept, algorithms etc behind this. Also I've been recommended few good libraries on Python which support CBIR. Those interested can read on the same on Wikipedia. Apparently there are many proprietary algorithms used in this field, however its still not clear where and how do these patents are enforceable?

I also came across a good Java library called LIRE which is open source and provides most of the features that one would require to implement a good CBIR system. Apparently the LIRE library also provides open source implementations of SIFT and SURF algorithms, so its still not clear how a patent is enforceable when there exists an open source implementation for the same!

However this isn't a technical blog, nor does it document my experiences in using LIRE for CBIR tasks(which warrants a separate blog by itself, IF and WHEN I complete my research)! I document here, the reason behind my liking to the concept. Well, many of you might consider this blog boastful (but again in a blog titled "Memoirs", what else did you expect ;-) ??). For long, I have prided on my ability to recognize faces and other objects that I've registered in my memory. Many of my friends would agree that I have surprised them(and the person in question) quite so often by recalling a face or a location so vividly when they could hardly recollect or recognize the same(even-though all of us would have seen the same thing/person at the same time)!

Mind you, by no means to I claim to have eidetic memory!! That would be absurd, I only claim that I seem have the ability to register and recall few images better than the rest. I am not sure if this is an inherited trait or an acquired trait. However, I do know that my brother too has similar ability and he had found a better uses of this ability to memorize hard to pronounce Sanskrit slokas in Class IV (Chayagrahini Rakshasi) by just registering a mental image of the page containing the unpronounceable words :-D.

Like most human beings I have a pretty good radar(should I call it Murphy's Radar?). This radar of mine has been able to predict to an acceptable accuracy on the occurrence of an event. However off-late, my intrinsic CBIR library hasn't functioned optimally during such instances, so my strike rate of producing accurate results has gotten poor! In the computer world, if we find the performance of a particular library is not up to the threshold limit, you can always replace it with a better library, But how do we do this in the real world??

Secondly how do we identify the cause of the malfunctioning algorithm? Has age got anything to do with it? Or I need a better index? Will I be in a position to re-achieve the optimum results out of my intrinsic CBIR library that I had come to expect from it all these years? Will I manage to hold on to one of the last few things that I have prided upon for few more years?? I guess only time will tell............

A lesson in humility

“In the course of my life, I have often had to eat my words, and I must confess that I have always found it a wholesome diet.”  - Winston Churchill

Sapta and I became "chaddi-buddies" in the summer of 1996. We were acquainted with each other before, as both of us were in the same batch (Class X) in KV Minambakkam, but were from different sections. Although KV Minambakkam did have a Science stream, it wasn't really popular. The trend back then was for students to switch over to the state board after completing AISSE exams. Those who preferred to remain in CBSE chose more popular schools like P.S.B.B, Modern, St. John's, KV IIT etc. Having decided not to follow the herd, we chose (individually) to continue studying in KV Minambakkam.  Ever since we met during the admission procedure, we hit off immediately. Both of our wavelengths matched and we shared a passion for the same sports and hobbies. 

One of our passion was Quizzing. We were fortunate enough to get an opportunity to participate in numerous quizzes during that year. We managed to win quite a few of them as well. We had our own methodology while preparing for these quiz competitions. Each of us would pick an area and concentrate on it. Each of us had an area of expertise and in some areas/categories, we knew equally. Chennai was/is pretty famous for Quizzes and most inter-school quiz competitions involved a team of two or three. 

During most of these quizzes (of 3 member teams) our partner in crime was Subramaniam K, (a Class IX student then). He also happened to be my brother's classmate (chaddi-buddy??). Subbu, as we used to address him, was a brilliant student. He had won the NTSE scholarship in Class VII, he was also a Y2K scholarship awardee. Subbu had a knack of remembering a lot of assorted stuff back then. You could have called him a Wikipedia. While there were other good Quizzers in the school, the powers that would be, decided to club us together and lo by the end of that academic year, we (Sapta, Subbu and I) came to be regarded as the best quizzing team in the school.

At the beginning of the next academic year (1997-1998), I came to be chosen as the house captain of Bharathi house, Sapta was chosen as the house captain of Ashoka. While Subbu came to be sorted into Shivaji house. So now we had a situation wherein, each member of the quiz team were part of separate houses. The annual school quiz competition that was conducted as part of CCA got hyped to the hilt! Personally, I was really determined to win the CCA cup for the house. Having already faced humiliation when Bharathi house stood last on Sports day, I wasn't willing to experience that again (Ashoka won the Sports cup)! Winning the quiz competition became a matter of pride, it was my path to redemption (You may think why the heck is this guy taking games so seriously, well that's me)!

During the run-up to the quiz competition, there was a lot of friendlies banters among us friends. My brother who belonged to Shivaji house (a decent quizzer himself), kept needling me that they had a very good team, and had a pretty good chance to secure the first place.  Although I agreed with him that his team (Subbu, my brother, and two other guys) was good, he can't take Ashoka's team (Sapta, Ramprasad + 2 others) lightly. I told him that Sapta's knowledge in a lot of categories was pretty good. I did some groundwork to select the team for my house as well, and after much thought, we put up a decent team of me, Siddharth (a classmate of my Subbu and my brother) and two other guys.

In all of our discussions, it was a foregone conclusion that the first three places will go to either Ashoka, Bharathi or Shivaji. None of us (neither the participants nor the audience) were even giving a chance to the fourth house (Netaji)!  The quizmaster was Ms. AR Lakshmi, PGT (History). She had prepared a well-researched set of questions for the competition.  I must admit it was one of the best set of questions that I had seen. 

The quiz competition involved 3 rounds which would be finished with a rapid-fire round. Predictably, Shivaji was leading at the end of the first two rounds, Bharathi and Ashoka shared the 2nd place and Netaji hadn't even opened their score. At the end of the third round, Shivaji remained first Bharathi managed to come second, while Ashoka and Netaji now shared the 3rd place. There was 5 points difference between Shivaji and Bharathi, while 2 points difference between Bharathi and Ashoka/Netaji. So, when we arrived at the rapid fire round, each team had a pretty good chance of finishing in the first.

In the rapid fire round, each of the team managed to score a point during the first 4 questions, and then everything changed!! Ashoka got a question wrong and Netaji answered it correctly on a bounce and won a point. They were now on-par with Bharathi in a score. They managed to get the question correct as well and overtook Shivaji. We now had only 1 question to go and whoever answered that correctly would win the quiz. Fortune favors the brave they say, Netaji managed to win the buzzer on the last question as well and got it correct! Before even any of us could realize what happened, the quiz competition was over! Netaji stood first, Shivaji second, Bharathi third and Ashoka fourth!!

Nethaji team was lead by Sumitra Datta (a classmate of Sapta and me), she had Rakesh (a classmate of Subbu and my brother) in her team and two other guys. We hadn't even considered them as a competition, let alone give them a chance! Our mistake was that in our arrogance and pride, we hadn't considered the strengths and weaknesses of the fourth team and spent a lot of time planning our strategies on the guys whom we thought would make a difference! I learned that day, that its wrong to underestimate any opponent. There can be no more humbling experience in humility than that what I learned with that loss.

This day, those memories

Pakistan required 4 of the last ball.  The audience (both at the stands and at home) on the edge of their seats! Most Indians were confident of an Indian victory (why not? This was 25 years before Twenty-20, and to score a boundary of the last ball of a match was unheard of!).

You know what happened next! Chetan Sharma bowls a lolly full toss, which Javed Miandad tonks over mid-wicket for a six. Javed Miandad dances like a mad-man back to the pavilion. The crowds are ecstatic. Pakistan has won the Sharjah Cup again, snatching victory from the jaws of defeat!

The camera zooms to Chetan Sharma's dejected face! Almost every Indian (me included) cursed Chetan Sharma that day! How idiotic can the bowler be? I mean he could have bowled anything but full toss!! Hell, he could have even rolled the ball over!

Forward to the winter of 1997. KV Minambakkam school grounds. A cricket match between Class XII vs Class X. The seniors' batted first put on a decent score.

The juniors started their innings cautiously. Jaggi took the first wicket. Junior's main batsman Karthik was out cheaply.

The senior team captain handed over the ball to me for my spell. I took two wickets in two balls in the first over, and suddenly the task was uphill for the Juniors, but they fought on doggedly.

Sapta and Ramji rushed through few quick overs and tookfew wickets as well. It was a close contest.

12 required of the last over. I was required to bowl the last over. Manish was on strike.

He swung and missed the first two balls. 12 required of 4.

Manish flicked the next ball to mid-on and snatched a 2. 10 required of 3.

A single denied of the next ball, 10 required of 2. We were confident of victory now.

Manish edged past the third man to score a four off the penultimate ball of the match. 6 required of 1.

As I ran in to deliver the final ball of the match, I told myself, whatever I do, I won't bowl a full toss!

However the moment I release the ball, I know it was done for. The ball was full and Manish tonked it over long on for six!!!

17 years have passed since then. But to this day, whenever there is a close encounter (in a life or a game), I see the image of Manish Biswas carting my ball over long-on!!

It's after-all a game you say! Well someone please tell that to my heart!!!

Dear Chetan Sharma, 

Never did I realize, that one day, I would empathize with you. I understand that you never meant it to be a full toss. Things just happen and you don't have control over them! And it takes an eternity to make peace with such mistakes!

Could you please help me, how did you get over it (if you really did)??

Draxman Saga

13 summers ago, on this very day, My friends and I decided to bunk college and go to a movie, a decision which I have regretted till this date! Why you ask? Well, it was on that day, a partnership in cricketing parlance, known as Draxman union began. The Draxman Saga (Dravid - Laxman) is something that cricket lovers of my generation (30ish something) will recall with fond memories.

For those who came in late, back in 2001, the Indian team wasn't world beaters (Well they aren't so even now, but at least they weren't as consistent as they are now!). The Indian team had got their worst pasting in Australia back in '99, then came the match-fixing controversy. The public had lost confidence in the team. A new Captain was at the helm and the team was picking one broken stick at a time.

Meanwhile, the Australian team was on a roll. The juggernaut had won 16 tests in a row. And just a week back, they had steam-rolled India at Wankhede in under 3 days! The Aussies had already started their mental disintegration tactics. Michael Slater continued to sledge Dravid at Wankhede.

Eden Gardens wasn't a lucky ground for India as well and but surprisingly India managed to restrict Australia to under 300 for around 8 wickets on day one. But then Captain "Ice Man" managed to get Australia beyond 400 on day 2, while India was reduced to 128/8.

On day-3 India was asked to follow-on, we were able to witness the magician Laxman at work. He did score a century. But like all Indian cricket fans at that time, we thought the innings was just a flash in the pan, and the floodgates of wickets would with the fall of just one more wicket. On day 4, my friends and I wanted to save ourselves from another heartburn, hence decided to bunk college and go to a movie (For the record the movie was *Minnale*, which became a cult classic in its own right, and continues to remain even today, one of the favorites of many my generation).

While returning home from the movie, I avoided discussing the match with others. Only after I returned home was I aware of what I had missed. I regretted that decision so badly, that I decided to bunk college again the very next day in order to catch the action on day 5. Not that I was confident that India will win, I was only hoping to watch more of the Draxman partnership.

What happened on day-5 is history. You don't need me to say what happened, you can read that on Cricinfo. The Indian coach in his book "Indian Summers" calls this innings as the biggest comeback since Lazarus. Well, I don't know what he means by that, neither do I know who was Lazarus. But that one innings was the turning point in Indian cricket.

An average Indian fan was always a "die-hard". He/She would have continued to support the team, come what may. But that one inning gave the average Indian fan confidence to trust the team to bounce back even when the chips were down!

A new beginning

When the Sun rises on the first working day of the year 2014, the cycle stands adjacent Guindy railway station will be one bicycle less. The Guindy race course road which connects the railway station to KVS IIT RO will no longer endure the creaky sound of an old bicycle tire. The road which was institutionalized with these sounds for the past 20 years as regular clockwork, will first be surprised with the break in routine and then slowly will await longingly for those sounds. Why so dramatic, you ask? Well, the reason being there are very fond memories associated with that bicycle and its rider. You cannot visualize this cycle without the man, or the man without his cycle!

Why this change in routine, you ask? 31st December 2013 happened to be the last working day of Mr. Ramakrishna Babu. He retired from service from KV Sangathan after many years of dedicated service. This blog isn't about his sincerity and dedication to work, which needless to say was excellent, this is about my personal memories of my dear "Babutha".

I am the proud founder of the word "Babutha",  being first to call him by that name (Babu Chithappa == Babutha), and the name became so popular in our family that even my older cousins/relatives started to address him by the same name. Babutha was kind enough to fit a baby seat on his cycle (especially for me) and he was even thoughtful enough to fix a small baby bell in front of it, to keep me engaged! I don't know how many times have I traveled with him on that cycle of his right from my early childhood, through a kinder garden, and during my Class I in KV CLRI. Words won't be enough to describe those wonderful rides we shared on the bicycle. I've taken numerous bi-cycle rides ever since, but nothing has been as enjoyable as those.

Having moved over to Urapakkam in the early 90s, Babutha had to commute 35KMs to the office every day. He did this by cycling to UPM station and then taking the 8:05 Fast to Guindy Railway Station and then cycling again from the station to his office. He has managed to do this tirelessly for the past 22 years, even when the roads were immersed with "waist-deep" water. He could have very easily taken the easy route and moved over to somewhere closer to Office, or not visit the office on such days. But he has never taken the easier option. The distance to commute was never a reason for him to skip any functions of relatives and friends in the city and elsewhere.

Sample this, a minefield (Sabina Park 2006, India vs West Indies), with a battery of good pace bowlers, you don't know which way the ball will turn or if there will be any bounce at all, Rahul Dravid's immense concentration and struggle to play each ball safely, doing this ball after ball, day after day and never complaining one bit. Now picture Babutha going about his daily duties tirelessly for the past 20 years, never complaining even one bit. I can't find much difference between the two!! As coincidence would have it, both Rahul Dravid and Babutha will share their birthdays on Jan 11th, 2014!!

Congratulations Babutha for having a wonderful career and service, and now when you embark on a new phase of your life, I wish you all the happiness. You truly need a well-deserved rest and you can continue to gain pleasure in finer things of life!!

When wards excel

Believe me, your joy will have no bounds when you watch your ward(s)
excel in fields that you, were never good at! This is exactly what I
felt during this course of this race!

Leads from the start

Extends his lead

Finishes miles before the rest

Scaling the Wall

No, this is not a blog on "How to scale a Wall"! Scaling a wall is for that matter is a very old sport, this was one of the favorite sports of yours truly and his friends a long time ago in Bangalore! The wall, I am referring to here, is no ordinary one. I am referring of *The Wall*. No, not the Great Wall of China! I mean the Great Wall of India - Rahul Dravid!

Speculations are rife that Rahul Dravid will be announcing his retirement from test cricket tomorrow. Given that he has already retired from ODIs and T20s, this really means that we will no longer be seeing *The Wall* on National duty after tomorrow!! This blog isn't fan's paean to a celebrated hero! Better hands and pens have done that/will continue to do that in the next few days. What I cite here is my experiences of being an admirer of a very remarkable cricketer and person!

Coming back to the topic, What do I mean by scaling the wall? To scale *The Wall* in cricket? Well, that is a no-brainer! Better cricketers have tried that and failed. Failed miserably! And I am not even a professional cricketer. My only claim to fame in the world of cricket was to be the most economical bowler in a sub-regional cricket match where I represented my school team as a second change bowler (Achieving an economy rate of 4 something, when every other bowler had an economy rate above 7.0 is really an achievement!). And that performance did not really don't inspire anyone. My captain Ramprasad did not allow me to even have a bowl in the same tournament the next year(There Ram, I said it!!). I even had the notorious distinction of being the Chetan Sharma of the School Cricket team. I threw away a match against our junior team, but allowing the batsman to score a 4 in the last ball of the match (Damn you Manish Biswas!!!). So obviously, there was no chance of that!

What does one do, when one cannot beat someone, you join them! In the essence, you try to ape them! This is exactly what I did. I had always been a Sachin fan, ever since I started watching Cricket, that is until I saw Dravid! Rahul Dravid debuted for India in ODI in 1996/97 in a match against SL at Singapore. At that point of time, I hadn't even heard of him (No I did not see Dravid scoring 95 against England at Lords!). In fact, I was pretty angry with the team selection, because I was disappointed that Vikram Rathore had not been given a chance. Dravid didn't score much in that match (I think he scored 3 and was incorrectly given out when the ball had brushed his pads). The first time I *noticed* Dravid was in the Titan cup match when he and Azhar put on a decent partnership and helped in India beat Australia in the semi-finals. That inning was to become my sneak-peak to this wonderful journey of 16 years as a Rahul Dravid fan! Every street cricketer tries to ape their favorite cricketer in someway or the other. One tries to play with a very heavy bat, another tries the two-eyed stance (Many regretted that decision after the match-fixing scandal!) and there were others like me who tried aping the shots! First, it was the flick, which I had to change to the *exaggerated on-drive* of Rahul Dravid (Not that I was very successful, I ended up making a fool of myself quite often!). And as expected failed very miserably at that too! I was fortunate enough to meet him personally once! In 1998, just before the World Cup, Dravid was out of the ODI team and played a lot of club cricket in Chennai. Guru Nanak college hosted numerous club cricket games that season. In one game (Butchi Babu) tournament, we had both Dravid (for Vijay CC) and Raju (for some other team) playing at the GNC grounds. More than half of our class were at the ground bunking classes to watch him. That really was a wonderful experience, watching him bat at MY college, something that others can't witness! After the match, a lot of guys went to get his autograph. I ran too. Dravid was really polite and did not refuse anyone. He patiently signed for everyone one of them! One fellow even asked him his Chennai address, Dravid was polite and kind enough to entertain him as well. It was on that day, I saw the person behind the player! It was then that I decided that I shall at least try aping him as a person!

I won't delve into Dravid's career history, that is for everyone to see. But will highlight one strange connection that I had with him. Everytime time I was going through a very difficult stage/situation in my life, Dravid had a purple patch in his career! And every time the tide changed in my life, the form of Dravid dipped. This one time in Feb/Mar 2001, I had just cleared the SCJP with flying colors and it was probably the best phases of my life, while as expected Dravid wasn't doing well with the bat! The Australian juggernaut had steamrolled India in the first test and the Indian team had gotten themselves all-out with a very low score in Calcutta! Given that, I was going through a purple patch, I decided to stop watching the match and bunked college to go for a movie! My! How much did I regret that decision!! That was probably one of his best innings and I missed it! That was probably the only time when both Dravid and I were experiencing a purple patch at the same time! If only such situations co-existed more often! Thankfully, I was fortunate enough to watch his Headingley innings and the other gems of the 2002 tour of England and 2003 tour of Australia!

To cut a long story short, this unique relation between Dravid and me continued for long and I must admit I have failed miserably even at aping him as a person! After all even the GOD of cricket has said, *There can never be another Dravid*; Sachin meant the Dravid the player. He wouldn't be far-off had he said there will never be another Dravid (Dravid the person)! It is now that I realize that there are walls that none can scale and there are walls that none can mend! Dravid's retirement is not just a loss for Indian Cricket, it is a loss for every purist of the game! All said and done, I must say, I am privilidged to have lived in an era, where Cricketers were also role models! That is something the current generation certainly wont be able to witness!

Thank you Dravid for all those wonderful memories! You have never got the due you deserved! All those nay-sayers will understand your worth only when on a juicy pitch India lose a wicket early!!

What next for Dravid: Given the fact that he is immensely respected in England, Scotland and New zealand, don't be surprised if he ends up being a coach of the English, Scotland or New zealand!

PS: I wanted to write more, but then came across this wonderful tribute to Dravid by Sidvee. He captured everything that I wanted to say!