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!!

Expectations from manifesto

Dear ADMK Manifesto writers,

Grapevine is abuzz with rumors that your party is planning to announce any one of the following freebies in your manifesto.
(a) LCD TV
(b) Scooty
(c) Refridgerator
(d) 200 units free power
(e) Gold for marriage from 4g to 8g

Its election time and probably the only time, you guys are willing to listen to listen to our feedback. So let me stick my neck out and put in my preference.

I am already married, I don't need the 4g to 8g gold. What can one do with Gold anyway? I would have to deposit it in bank locker(for which I have to pay an annual rent)!

I don't need a refrigerator, as my kitchen already has one and there is not enough room to have two refrigerators in one kitchen.

I don't need 200 units of free power because after the election I know that whichever party comes to power there is gonna be massive power cuts, and I anyway stand to gain more than 200 units per month.

I don't need a scooty because there is hardly any place to park the vehicle at home and also I am frightened the impact this will have on the road traffic. (Psst. I just hope Arvind Kejriwal doesn't get a wind of this, he might announce an Odd-Even plan in Chennai as well)!!

I would prefer an LCD, but please ensure that the TV is at least 40inches and is from either Samsung, LG or Sony brands. But the main thing is that I don't want an Amma Screensaver on it. You must be aware that the last time DMK provided free TV sets, the voters were so irritated seeing DMK leader's face everytime the TV was switched on that they actually voted the party out for it!!!

#kthnxbai

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!

Its not over until its over!

Not often do you learn quite a few lessons from a Cricket match! However, yesterday's match was an encyclopedia by itself. There are numerous learnings from the match that can be really helpful when applied in real life. The following were some of my learnings from yesterday's match.

• Never underestimate an opponent(Never underestimate a task): It was quite evident from pre-match press conference, few players(commentators and fans) underestimated Bangladesh as an opponent. They didn't dismiss them completely; but didn't consider them as a serious opponent. This was quite understandable, having defeated Bangladesh so comfortably in Asia cup and never having lost to them(yet) in a Twenty20 game. 

• To err is human: Jaspreet Bumrah misfielded the very first ball of the Bangladesh innings and the ball crossed the boundary. He then dropped a sitter and conceded 16 runs in his 2nd over. It's natural for anyone to err. But continuing to cry over spilled milk won't help us recover from it.

• Support groups help you in recovery from failure: Friends/Family/Team form an excellent support group and they can help you recover from any failure. The way the entire team rallied and supported Bumrah helped him recover remarkably quick and bowl those two excellent overs at the death.

• Never lose site of the target/Don't ever be complacent: Bangladesh were completely in control of the match till 19.3 overs. Two successive fours had brought them completely within reach. All they had to do was score two simple singles. But they started to celebrate prematurely after they scored the second four and thought they had already won the match.

• Don't be careless, but don't be too careful either: Dhoni's decision of bowling out his main bowlers before the 20th over was really praiseworthy! This decision could have easily gone against him and he would have been roasted over coals for that. But he stuck to his strength. He knew his strike bowlers would get him the wickets and then he can stretch the match very late.

• Never give up: It's not over until it's over. His cheeky stumping of Shabbir, his brilliant field placements, his presence of mind to remove the glove and attack the stumps after the last ball of the match are all laudable(The legend of MS Dhoni continues to grow)!!

• It's ok to let out steam every once in a while: The ever so calm Dhoni lost his cool (rightly) against a journo (NDTV?) who was asking stupid questions in the post match press conference. This clearly shows that Modi is human as well and such rare occurrences of letting out his anger can help him in the long run! 

Time heals all wounds. But not this one. Not yet.

Over the course of my career spanning 20 years, I have had to endure a number of injuries. Among these, two stand out. On 13th March 1996, I was in Class X, preparing for AISSE Social Science exam, which I had to write the next day while India was playing Sri Lanka at Eden Gardens in 1996 World Cup semi-finals. Things were going exactly as planned, our bowlers got the SL openers early and their team was restricted to a gettable total. One moment Sachin was toying around with the SL bowling and then next moment everything came crashing down!
People say that Kambli cried that night. I didn't see him do so, How could I? when I was in tears as well! Tears make you blind. I stopped studying and retired to bed early. But I couldn't sleep. The exam that I was to write the next day was seldom in my thought. My irrational mind came to a rational decision that night, "to mark out Jayasuriya as the *fall guy* for India's loss!" That was my first major injury. From that day, I hated Jayasuriya and hated the team he played for. Such ferocious was this hatred against him that I failed to appreciate/see the other good players in the SL team. Hate too makes you blind. So when my friends discussed the brilliance of Sangakkara's batting. I had nothing to offer. I would either shrug and change the subject or just nod along deaf to what was being discussed. Over time, India managed to get better of SL and was beating them more frequently, but my scar had not healed. Every time I saw Jayasuriya bat, the scar re-opened and this continued until Jayasuriya retired from International cricket!

Digital satellite television started to become popular in India in late 2006 and early 2007. I was one of the earliest adopters of this technology at home. I did this mainly because I wanted to enjoy the 2007 world cup. There were quite a few advertisements on watching 2007 WC matches ad-free and with multiple cameras on TataSky and I just couldn't resist the temptation. That brings us to the second injury. On 17th March 2007, India played Bangladesh in their first match of 2007 world cup. I wouldn't bother to recollect or narrate what happened that day. They are painful. This time though my rational mind couldn't come up with any irrational choice as the "fall guy"!
My retirement from active fandom coincided with Rahul Dravid's retirement from International Cricket. People say that taking your mind out of something will definitely help you in overcoming pain. But that really didn't work in my case. I actively followed football for some time, but this pain from the second scar showed no signs of receding.
My *second coming* to active cricket fandom happened thanks to my son. He literally forced to me follow cricket in 2015 and now during the just-concluded Asia Cup. Watching India play Bangladesh, the old scars were re-opened. Seeing Dhoni strike those massive sixes in the penultimate over and demolishing Bangladesh and winning the Asia Cup for the record 6th time, I thought I would finally see closure on the second injury. Time heals all wounds. But not this one. Not yet.......

Bye Zak - Thanks for those yorkers!!

Being an Indian cricket fan in the 90s was a really frustrating experience. There were problems aplenty

1. Sachin was our solution to all of India's batting woes (occasionally bowling as well). Dravid and Ganguly did chip in later on this front.
2. Our best spinner hardly turned the ball, while our biggest turner of the ball hardly took any wickets!
3. Azzu bhai was probably our only best ground fielder, but reflecting now I can't be sure how much of that was genuine!
4. However, the most frustrating part was that we lacked a genuine pace bowler! 

Yes, Kapil was great, but in the 90s, he was already past his prime. Srinath had to endure tremendous pressure for too long, and his strictly vegetarian diet wasn't good enough to york batsmen out! It still embarrasses me to state that we opened the bowling with Venkatesh Prasad. Yes, his slow ball was good, but when you bowl six of them in one over, batsman won't take too long handle it! Then we had bowlers like Dodda Ganesh, Debashish Mohanty, Ajit Agarkar etc. They were all erratic, more like someone attacking with a spray gun and hoping at least one hits the mark! Indian pace bowling was subject of a standing joke in cricket commentary involving Pakistani commentators. You could hear Ramiz Raja, Zaheer Abbas, Imran Khan frequently stating on live TV that Indian pace bowling unit is a joke and all I could do at these times was to hang my head in shame!

Then one rainy afternoon in October, things changed. India was playing Australia in ICC Knockout quarterfinal. Srinath was out of the tournament with an injury and India opened the bowling with a rookie left-arm pace bowler Zaheer Khan. Australia was chasing 265 and was well within reach of the target with Steve *Iceman* Waugh and Damien Martyn at the crease. Zaheer produced a brilliant yorker to dismiss Waugh! I was pleasantly surprised to see that. I can still visualize the ball. A yorker by an Indian seamer!! This was unheard of!! At first, I thought that was a fluke! And then he did it again and again in the same match (wasn't successful, but at least they were genuine yorkers). I was suddenly elated. India had finally found a bowler who could york and york at will!

Things then started to get better. *Reverse Swing* was a word that you generally associated with Pakistani bowlers, in the 2000s this word was frequently associated with Zak!! All Pakistani commentators now started to compare Zak's reverse swing with those of the Pakistani bowlers. Zak then started to develop his own bunnies!! Mind you, he had many! Haydo, Graeme Smith, Sangakarra etc. Whenever these batsmen were at the crease, India always brought in Zak and he almost always took their wicket!! I suddenly started to feel an inch taller and walked with a spring in my step!

You could now almost always state India's chances in a game, by looking at Zak's rhythm. In the final of 2003 WC, you knew from the very first Zak over, that something was wrong and India was in for a difficult time, similarly, in 2011 WC quarter-final, you knew that Zak was still in his rhythm so India was still in the game! He was probably India's best aggressive fast bowler, whose aggression matched his bowling skills and I can never forget those yorkers! All of those balls are still etched in my memory, they were all poetry in motion!

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............

Moon(shine) struck!

You may be a teetotaller "zincoshine",
But you *still* get intoxicated at the sight of moonshine!
No wonder! Any intervention by mortal or divine,
can't help you find your sunshine!!

Reason or romance

During my school run this morning, I was listening to a program on the radio. A lot of callers to the RJ were complaining on the decision of Indian Cricket Selectors to leave out Yuvraj Singh from the 15 players selected for the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 to be held in Australia - New zealand from Feb 2015. I was like, "Hey, be reasonable guys, he wasn't even in the 30 probable list. How then can he be selected in the 15?".

Now wait a minute! Reasonable? That word seems pretty rich coming from me! As you all know, I have always been (will continue to be a Dravid fan). I do acknowledge (grudgingly!) that Dravid's ODI career spanned in a parallel universe to that of his test career. But even I would have been disappointed if Dravid hadn't made the cut to a World Cup squad! But again, this blog isn't about Dravid, its about Yuvraj!

I have been following cricket seriously since early nineties and I can't remember many good left-handers to have played for India. All I can remember of Kambli was him crying during the 1996 WC semi-finals. Then came along Ganguly. He was elegance personified on the off-side. As Dravid so eloquently put it "On the offside,first we have God, and then Saurav Ganguly". If one had to complete that sentence, it would read "On the offside, first we have God and then Saurav Ganguly, while on the leg-side we have every tom, dick and harry and then we have Ganguly!!"

Mind you! Ganguly was excellent player against leg-spinners and left arm spinners. Can anyone of you forget him dancing down the track and carting Grant Flower over the roof in Sharjah. He did it quite too often that Tony Greig even called that part Sharjah's roof as Ganguly's roof!!  But power is not something that you associate with Ganguly. But his batting against pace didn't inspire confidence, that you would associate with most southpaws.

In late 2000, Ganguly captained a fresh team for ICC Knockout Trophy that was held in South Africa. The Indian team was still recovering from the abyss of the match fixing and they huffed and puffed their way into quarter-finals against Australia. It was one rainy afternoon in Chennai. I was in a cheap electronics shop at Ritchie Street, Chennai taking the help of my friends in assembling my first PC and we were also following the match in an old B&W TV present in the shop. There were many memorable moments in that match.  But the two that standout are:

• 18 year old Yuvi playing in his 2nd match of his career, facing a battery of pace bowlers showed what real power was! He was slamming McGrath, Lee and Gillespie all over the park. The raw power in his strokes was quite evident. Finally, we had a southpaw who could play pace bowling really well. 
• India also managed to find a pace bowler who could actually bowl yorkers in the death overs! Zaheer Khan's yorker to dismiss Steve Waugh was one such delivery!

And then in one summer evening at Lords. The 2002 Natwest Trophy final(The match that Ganguly taught us how to celebrate in style)! India were 150/5 chasing England's 325. All recognized batsman had failed. I can recollect vividly all those brutal shots of Yuvi and Kaif. Yuvi fell to a mis-timed pull shot in that match after ensuring India were well within the reach of the target. I still remember Harsha Bhogle saying at that time "this is the problem with fairy tale finishes....", but that innings again proved that Yuvi was a match-winner.

Forward to 2007, the World Twenty20 championship. India vs England quarter-final. The brutal onslaught unleashed by Yuvi will surely haunt Stuart Broad his entire lifetime. I am pretty sure he wakes up in cold sweat every now and then remembering that pasting!

Forward to 2011, the man was back in action. His performance especially against Australia again in the quarter-finals was brilliant. What followed was history. He was played the series of his dreams. He actually lived the dream in that series.

Lets face it, each of his fairy tale performances were school boy cricketer dreams! How many of us have wished for similar baptism by fire debut, a stellar performance when the chips were down that helps the team win the cup, the sensational innings in the shortest version of the game and finally achieving glory at World Cup. Hell, I would break two legs and a hand to live that dream!

For quite often Yuvi was the very the reason for his fans to romance, you can't fault them this once to romance without a reason! His fans must be happy that his fairy tale ended on a high. They need not be disappointed on him not making to the team this time around and take pride from the fact that fairy tale was great while it lasted.

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)??

Once bitten, twice shy

Once bitten, twice shy.
Twice bitten, must never try!
Thrice bitten, must go and die!
Still I'vent learnt, I wonder why??

Maybe its just my brain,
which has gone insane!
When I don't abstain
from taking the same old lane!

Is it hope?
or am I on dope?
to think that I can cope
this drift down the slope??

Someday I will anchor
and fight away this rancor!
Despite being infected with canker
But the thought will still hanker!!

Un-awakeable Dream

Sneaked upon me when I least expected
got smitten by the art you've now perfected!
Do you know how big a dream you've erected?
But I know I will stand dejected!!

I'm stuck in a dream from which I can't awake
But dreaming of you, makes my heart ache!
I am no John Milton or William Blake,
to use words and melt objects opaque!

To dream on is sheer madness!
But to awake would mean, drown in sadness!
You may call this attitude callous
But you haven't beholden my dream Alas!!

There are ones that some can't forget
While for others there are ones that you can't get!
The ill-fortune to experience both is mine, you bet!
Not a night passes by (or is allowed to pass by) in this sweat!!

(to be continued....)

What is Dravid like in real life?

Well read this http://www.sportskeeda.com/cricket/inspirational-story-rahul-dravid-conversing-bed-ridden-fan-skype


And a funny exchange between Saurav and Rahul in the commentary box

http://www.sportskeeda.com/cricket/rahul-dravid-sourav-ganguly-banter-commentary

Lament of a confused mind!

It was just a prose
were the words you chose!
All the water of the oceans, sprayed with a hose
Alas, the fire caused still couldn't be doused!


I ought have been stupid
to think my intentions were lucid,
Even with the help of a druid
How could I reshape a stone as if it were a fluid!!


Wonder whether all this is for fun?
or you just wanted me stunned?
There I go roaming nomadic as a hun,
believing a plausible story you've spun!


I still believe these all to be an assumption,
that I arrived at, using a flawed Holmesian deduction!
Wish I could win a temporary injunction
before there is a severe destruction!!


Amidst the trees of lament and woe,
reading the signs that advise me to let go,
Wondering if I should join the flow
or do I risk another below the belt blow??

Colors

This one time
A friend of mine,
Commented on my complexion,
After some introspection.
I decided to answer in many lines.

I've been deep in blue,
Even though many near me, had no clue,
There are times when I've been red with rage,
When others were not on the same page.
But shades have changed as wind blew.

In all these years, my body has seen,
the one shade that was missed was green.
Few friends have questioned me why,
incapable was I, of this, even when I tried?
guess then, my heart was too strong to wean.

I wish I were young and old together,
As its become tough being neither.
If I were 10 more years old,
With a heart more bold,
I could travel in all weather!

Had I been 10 years younger,
I could at least satiate my hunger.
my position wouldn't have been so futile,
I could have managed to be more utile.
and finally would have been the winning number.


(PS: An lame attempt at writing a limerick)

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 confused Ms. Ghose?

I was blocked by Sagarika Ghose on Twitter 3 years back, when I dared to (politely) ask her some scathing questions on her interpretation of a news on Modi. And ever since haven't bothered to comment on her views. Of course I have cheered every once and then, when Sudhir Kumar had cheered for #SagarikaForPM. But when I saw this I couldn't resist responding. 

Ms. Ghose also compares Narendra Modi's silence to her questions on Twitter with Arvind Kejriwal's responses to them. This link will provide you the list of questions asked to Arvind Kejriwal and the responses to them (also the response/or the lack of it from Ms. Ghose to Kejriwal's lame responses). 

I am reproducing her questions to Modi here verbatim, and will provide known views of Modi, as responses, for most of these questions. all of which are already available in public domain. All of these views of Modi are easily accessible by a simple google search, but the narcissist in Ms. Ghose wants Narendra Modi to answer her personally.

Ques 1. Modiji, what is your stand on caste quotas?

Well, if Ms. Ghose is interested she can view NaMo's views on Caste based Quotas by having a look at this video. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1bHzEez7Q0I

Further more the same video is also available in Firstpost (a group concern of IBN Network). This clearly shows that either Ms Ghose is not well informed or she is hardly willing to listen.

Ques 3: Modiji will you rollback FSB and MNREGA? If not how will u control spending?

Narendra Modi speaking on FSB http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-zIRLNci0FA

Narendra Modi writing to PM on FSB. http://www.scribd.com/doc/159867712/Narendra-Modi-s-letter-to-the-Prime-Minister

Ques 4: Modiji will you rollback retailFDI since your party opposes it?

As early as in Sept 2012, Modi had posted his view on FDI retail in his blog http://www.narendramodi.in/cm-strongly-opposes-fdi-in-retail/ . I am pretty sure Ms. Ghose wouldn't have bothered to read it, but I've provided the link anyway, so that Ms. Ghose's bhakts can view them.

Ques 5: Modiji, how will you reform the aviation sector?

Modi has always maintained that ""government has no business to do business". So there will be no question of further Govt takeovers.


Ques 7: Modiji, how will you reach out to US biz interests, given your image in US

This is a NO-BRAINER really!! Why should an elected representative of Indian Citizens reach out to US Business? He/She must be more concerned about INDIAN biz interests. Firstly the image of Modi in the US is quite good, its just a section of an influential group with the US Senate who are blocking a more favorable policy towards him. This too will change once he is elected as the PM of India. And if Vibrant Gujarat Summit is anything to go by, its quite clear that Narendra Modi will place the interest of the Country over petty politics and will always decide on whats best for India. Afterall, its "India First*!!

Ques 8:Modiji will you push nuclear power in big way,yr stand on current Nuke Liabilitylaw?

http://www.narendramodi.in/gujarat-empowers-the-power-sector/ This video on his website talks of how Gujarat reformed the power sector. Its logical to believe that he will plan to replicate the same when he becomes the PM. He is neither against/nor for a specific type of energy production. He will try to maximize production in the best ways possible. 

Ques 9:U say secularism is India First, your vision of place of minorities in a democracy?

Another NO-BRAINER!!! When Modi has explicitly said that he considers Secularism is *India First*. Why does Ms. Ghose expect him to have a minority specific policy? His policies are for the entire Nation (which includes all citizens of India)!

Ques 10:Modiji, will u raise taxes to control deficit?If so,which taxes are u planning to raise?

As early as last week, Narendra Modi gave indications that he plans to reform taxes once BJP comes to power. You can read more about this here.

<quote> "The present taxation system is a burden on common man. It leads to bureaucratic control. The need of the hour is to look into it afresh and bring reforms. Our party is already working on it....My party leaders and experts have recently met and considered the issue for over three hours. Some problems may appear in the first sight but we will have a look at it and find new solutions," </quote>

I am aware that I have left out three questions, for which I couldn't find explicit responses that can be attributed as Narendra Modi's views on the topic, but if Ms. Ghose is patient enough, she can read NaMo/BJP's views on other major issues as soon as BJP's vision document for 2014 is released.

PS: If fellow Internet Hindus find a better articulated view of Narendra Modi on the above questions, please do let me know, I will update the blog with them.

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!!