Greatest ODI Cricketer of all Time

ESPNCricinfo in its World Cup special edition of the Cricket Monthly is going to adjudge the Greatest ODI Cricketer of all times. The 50-member strong jury in charge of undertaking this colossus task includes legendary cricketers, eminent commentators, journalists and authors. There is also a poll to gauge public opinion on the subject. It won’t be surprising if the two results don’t come out to be the same. The shortlisting of 5 cricketers (Wasim Akram, MS Dhoni, Adam Gilchrist, Viv Richards and Sachin Tendulkar) to choose from in itself would have been overbearing. Many would be surprised to see names like Ricky Ponting, Brian Lara, Michael Bevan, Sanath Jayasuriya, Gordon Greenidge, etc. missing. Had the list been 10 candidates long, it definitely would have included some of those names.

Following the game closely for almost 20 years now, I have had an opportunity to watch all of the selected candidates at their peak but one – Sir Isaac Vivian Alexander Richards. The name itself is imposing. Having watched numerous footages of his batting on YouTube or on TV in programs like Cricket Classics, I feel like I have watched him play in his heyday. The story on ESPNCricinfo would tell you enough about how his strike rate and average were way ahead of his time. But Richards was beyond numbers; he was an intimidating personality, in almost every aspect of his game. From the famous stroll out into the middle to the way he hammered the best bowlers in the world all over the park, his swagger was unmatched. One of finest players of the hook shot against the mightiest fast bowlers of the era (viz. Imran, Lillee, Thomson, Botham, Hadlee, Kapil), he never wore a helmet. If anyone could be called a gladiator on a cricket field, it would be Sir Viv Richards.

The Indian ODI Captain MS Dhoni happens to be the only current player in the top five. In his rather unique but unconventional way, Dhoni has achieved as a cricketer what most can only dream about. He is arguably the best finisher the game has ever seen, rescuing his team from grave situations so very often and almost every time taking them all the way. The opposition seldom considers the game won as long as they haven’t seen the back of Dhoni. The phenomenal success of Indian cricket team since his emergence is a testimony to the impact he has had on this generation of Indian cricket, particularly in the shorter formats. Apart from his tremendous skills with the bat, Dhoni has also played a great part in the Indian success story as a street-smart wicketkeeper and inventive captain.

Another wicketkeeper in the list is Adam Gilchrist, also one of the most fearless batsmen I have witnessed. He was the lynchpin of Australian outfit during their golden run. He could easily be attributed to be one of the pioneers who showed the way to a new style of batting at the top of the order in ODIs. Statistically the most successful wicket keeper batsmen so far, Gilchrist could change the momentum in favor of Australia in a flash by his uncanny ability to hit the cricket ball at will. In my view, if you build a modern day wicketkeeper batsman from ground up, he would probably look and play like Gilchrist.

The only bowler to make the cut is none other than the Sultan of Swing, Wasim Akram. With his pace and swing, he could terrorize any batsman on the planet. One of the earliest proponents of reverse swing, Akram went on to become more lethal with experience after cutting down a few miles on the pace but exercising even greater control with swing. It won’t be a surprise if the phrase making the ball talk was coined after his bowling.

Last but certainly not the least is the epitome of modern day batting – Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar. Many call him the most complete batsman of his time or any other. Having started his career at the ripe age of 16 as a flamboyant lower middle order batsman, he went on to become the best opening batsman of all time or maybe even the best batsman to play at any position. Having borne the burden of Indian cricket for so long, he has a record number of batting records against his name. He would compete against a new generation of the very best players of the world every 5-6 years and yet Tendulkar would invariably top them all in batting.

Like mentioned earlier, it is very likely that the public opinion might differ from the opinion of the experts appointed by ESPNCricinfo to pick the best of the best. Owing to the large number of Indian fans and his God-like following, it should not be surprising if Sachin Tendulkar garners the most votes from the public. For myself, to choose one is a battle of mind and heart. While I have myself subscribed to the notion of Tendulkar as Cricketing God, no cricketer has swayed and captured my imaginations more than Vivian Richards, the King of Cricket. For once, I would let mind win over matter and choose the King over the God!

Image Source: http://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/content/story/843863.html

Is it all about Speed?

Indian cricket team and genuine fast bowler are two phrases that very rarely appear in the same sentence, if at all. With the recent emergence of a few fast bowlers who could constantly bowl in the 140s, most people started to believe this was finally going to change for good. But unfortunately that hasn’t been the case, not so far at least. That raises a very important question – what good is speed without application? Is it any good to bowl juicy half-volleys at driving length outside off stump even if you are bowling at 155 kmph.

The current fast bowling scene of Indian cricket looks bleak. It has never in the last 10 years been so toothless and ineffective. The absence of a quality spinner like Kumble or even Harbhajan makes it worse. The Indian fast bowlers off late have been wayward at best. The likes of Varun Aaron and Umesh Yadav are obsessed with speed and nothing else. You cannot entrust them with bowling all six balls of an over in one particular area and they are the only options we got in terms of bowling deliveries over 140.

The performance of these out and out quick Indian bowlers should once and for all silence the ones blaming the coaches for slowing down other Indian fast bowlers in the past (recall Munaf Patel and many others from not so long ago). The truth is if they continued bowling the speeds they did when they first broke into the national team, they would have disappeared after a series or two, not to say they lasted forever, still Munaf was a part of the World Cup winning squad in 2011.

Then there are not-so-fast but still quick enough options like Ishant Sharma and Mohammad Shami. Some commentator or author remarked that you know you don’t have a good bowling attack if Ishant Sharma is a part of it. Ironically enough he is the leading fast bowler of this Indian team. Ian Chappell while commentating on Day 4 of 2^nd India vs. Australia test said – “That’s the problem with Ishant Sharma. His best is very good, his worst is very poor. There is nothing in between and both can happen sometimes even in one over” (paraphrased, since I do not recall his exact words). Mohammad Shami looks like a good bowler once every series. Unfortunately for India, they cannot afford such once in a blue moon performances.

The only bright spot to be seen among the current crop of quick bowlers in India is the young and promising Bhuvaneshwar Kumar who many would not even consider a fast bowler because even part-timers from Australia (like Mitchell Marsh) bowl quicker than him. In his short career so far he has shown a genuine ability to swing the ball both ways on almost all kinds of pitches and tremendous control to go with that. He is an old school swing bowler who relies on application more than anything, including speed. Though the Indian Captain MS Dhoni has been hesitant to bowl him in the later overs in ODI games, he has come good a handful of times he has actually bowled in the slog overs, bowling some good yorkers and constantly targeting the block hole, in effect showing amazing control over the cricket ball.

In conclusion, it seems highly unlikely that we will see anytime soon an Indian fast bowling attack bowl the way they did in England in the summer of 2007 led by Zaheer Khan and backed so well by Anil Kumble, a bowler who wore his heart on his sleeves. On an unrelated note, Ravi Shastri and Wasim Akram on a cricket show once described Kumble as a spin bowler with the heart and mind of a fast bowler who would tear through the opposition. 

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The Legend of Fab Four

Cricket like most other sports evokes great nostalgia in its followers. While growing up, I came across all kinds of nostalgic expressions about sportsmen from the grown-ups in their thirties, forties and fifties. They would often reminisce about Gavaskar and Vishwanath’s batting, the furious fast bowlers of West Indies or the enchanting spin quartet of India from the 70s and 80s. I spent my childhood in the football crazy city of Kolkata (I still like the name Calcutta though!) and therefore the likes of Pele, Maradona, Garrincha would regularly pop up in conversations. While doing so these grown-ups would almost always inadvertently undermine the contemporary greats like Zidane, Ronaldo, Romario, etc. Any competitive equation between players would remind some of the days of their youth when the famous Borg-McEnroe rivalry would be the highlight of the big tournaments.

Similarly, years later when my peers from now would watch a contemporary superstar bat with a kind of flair not even imaginable today, they will not forget to bring up that they saw Tendulkar destroy the best bowlers of the world even on his not-so-good days and that they were fortunate enough to witness the Fab Four of Indian Cricket in their prime. Add Virender Sehwag to the mix and it becomes the Fab Five.

That group of four players intimidated the opposition bowlers like no other middle order in my memory did. Hardly any of them was close to being physically intimidating. But with over 40 thousand test runs and 100 centuries, they could be a towering presence on any rival team. Comparing the current Indian middle order with them would be a grave injustice to both. Yet, the current crop fails to give the viewer the kind of confidence they would every single time. The opposition captain would always have a thought at the back of his mind that if one of them settles down, could take the game away from them.

Ganguly who was arguably the least accomplished of the four (in Test matches) could also be a bowler’s nightmare on his day, not to forget the kind of debut series he had; that is every batsman’s dream. No one needs a reminding of what Tendulkar or Dravid could do to the opposition. Both had the power to bring the bowlers to their knees in their own unique ways. And then there was VVS Laxman! He wasn’t called Very Very Special for no reason. Sambit Bal wrote this of Laxman on his Cricinfo profile – “At his sublime best, VVS Laxman is a sight for the gods. Wristy, willowy and sinuous, he can match - sometimes even better - Tendulkar for strokeplay.” Bal wasn’t necessarily exaggerating.

They were good against almost all kinds of bowling. But it would be unfair to even debate the prowess of these players against the spinners. I have rarely seen anyone as nimble on his feet as Dravid was, though he wasn’t necessarily a smasher of the spin bowling as his contemporaries were. It would be unfair to Very few others would be able to match Laxman in hitting a spinner against the line and scoring that heavily. Even Warne, probably the greatest of them all, was made to look like a part-timer. That is one area where the current middle order looks ages behind the Fab Four; especially on the overseas tours, they have a tendency to make a hero out of an upcoming not-so-accomplished spin bowlers – the likes of Moeen Ali in England and Nathan Lyon in the ongoing Australia tour. They either go over-aggressive against them and loose wickets or go into a shell (as a consequence of losing those wickets) and become over-defensive and tend to lose their wickets in being cautious.

While Kohli certainly is the contender for the position of no. 1 batsman in world in ODIs, he still has a long way to go before even could even imagine taking a leap for that spot in the Tests. Pujara without a doubt looks the most stable and composed of them all, whereas it is still too soon to do any critique of Rohit Sharma. If he does any justice to the kind of talent he is believed to possess, he might as well go on to become the best of the lot. Ajinkya Rahane is a typical Mumbai batsman – he has got a fair amount of everything required to make a great batsman – but the flair.

The Fab Four are also important because they didn’t just play together for most part of their careers, they virtually owned their spots in the batting line up.  When Dravid was in the twilight phase of his career and there was a lookout going on for the player who might take up the no. 3 position, the primary criteria that was being sought after was a pure batsman with a classical technique and a stable head and thus Pujara was deemed best suited owing to his old school classical approach to batting, lacking the hurry of a modern-day limited over batsman. Similarly the pre-requisite to take the no. 4 position, that Tendulkar used to occupy, would be his ability to impose himself on the opposition much like the Little Master did. Virat Kohli, deemed Tendulkar’s successor, was the natural choice. Rohit Sharma would have made a strong case in that direction had he come true to his much talked about talent.

All being said, this young crop of players still have their best years ahead of them. We can only hope they will go on to chart their own legend that youngsters like me would someday swear by and will them their Big Four or Big Five or some other fancy name!

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Travel, the Ultimate Inspiration

I may not qualify as an accomplished traveler; I certainly am no hitchhiker who has quit his job and has taken to the roads backpacking from one place to another, maybe in search of something or just for the fun of it; but I do love travelling – going around different places, meeting different kinds of people, eating different types of food, learning a bit or two about the place and its history and so on; and nobody can take that away from me. Travelling has always been a conscious thought at the back of my mind. Probably for the same reason I have always tried to keep this desire alive believing I would have seen most of the places that I intend to see in my lifetime.

I have had the opportunity (or let’s just say that I have worked toward it) to go to a lot of different places in America (over 20 different states) in the last couple of years. Believe me, it has been nothing less than pure fun. The trips have been long as well as short, sometimes too hectic and sometimes just easy on me, but at the end of every single one of them, I have looked back and said – Man, did I have a good time! 

From the awe-inspiring beauty of South Dakota to the mesmerizing glitz of Las Vegas; from the urban, diverse and pulsing culture of New York City to the galleries of ancient traditional native American culture of Santa Fe; from hot and happening Miami to a relatively unheard-of small town of Fredericksburg, Texas, I have been fortunate enough to experience variety that I certainly could not have imagined when I first came to St. Louis.

My love for food found no end at most of these places; I have absolutely devoured the local cuisines and specialties. Though none of them have been food-trips, but food has been an important part almost every time I have set out for some destination. Having been a regular viewer of the Food and Travel networks on TV, it gives me great pleasure to go to a restaurant or diner where the host of a certain show like Man vs. Food or Bizarre Foods has been to and try out their signature items. I am also a big fan of Mr. Anthony Bourdain and his travel shows; so I don’t like missing out on places he has been to and recommends in a town if I happen to go there.

I have traveled to almost all major cities in this country barring only a couple of them and have seen almost all the major monuments and I can go on and on forever citing things I did at each one of those places and what sets them apart from other places for me, but that will be cliché and in effect I will be basically reiterating remarks from some popular travel website. But that is not what I originally intended to do, I wanted to express in words how much satisfaction and joy every trip brings with it. The build-up and the preparation to each one of them makes it even more exciting. If it is an upcoming road trip, the idea is to gather as much information about the route from all sources possible e.g. travel blogs, road trip forums or shoestring threads on platforms like Reddit – shoestring because you always want to stick to a budget; I believe no budget is big enough so I might as well spend carefully. But make no mistake, any money spent toward travel is money well spent. I see it as an investment – an investment toward some beautiful everlasting memories and experiences that will be with you no matter what.

There is something about Road Trips that air travel would never be able to match up. The longer the road trip the more fun it will be. The idea of the journey being as interesting, if not more, than the destination itself finds no better manifestation. After been wanting to do the Route 66 trip for over a year, I finally succeeding in going on it at the end of last year i.e. 2013 and I can say without a doubt that it will be the best trip I have ever done so far. Out on the roads for almost 2 weeks, I came across all kinds of weather conditions from cold and freezing Midwest to surprisingly pleasant Southwest and almost all kinds of landscape but for ocean. The cherry on the top or icing on the cake so to speak was getting off Route 66 and ending the trip in Las Vegas with New Year celebrations.

But nonetheless traveling (no matter what means) has been and will always be exciting; the anticipation of the destination and actually reaching there only to be embraced by different people and culture can never cease to be thrilling. Many accomplished thinkers and philosophers in past have set out on soul searching and found the ultimate truth about life and existence while traveling around the world to far off and unknown places. I read somewhere on social media that “travel is the ultimate inspiration” and when I come to think of it, it makes more sense than most other things (and that is where this piece derives its title from!). On that note, I would like to end this by quoting a famous Indian poet Rahul Sankrityayan who was famous for traveling

Sair kar duniya ki gaafil zindagani fir kahan
Zindagi gar kuchh rahi to naujawani fir kahan

Its approximate English translation (reference: the internet) would be –

Oh you ignorant and idle, go and travel all over the wide world; you are not going to have another life for this.
Even if you live longer, this youth is not going to return

Image Source: http://www.clarkhoward.com/

63 not out Forever!

While I was watching Michael Clarke’s tribute to PhilipHughes, I got choked up a few times much like Michael himself did. The Australian Captain has lost his ‘little brother’, a fellow team-mate who he had gone out and batted in the middle with so many times. But it is not just his or Hughes’ family’s loss, it is a loss to the game we all love so much.

‘Is this what we call the spirit!’ Clarke asked in his speech. He was obviously talking about the spirit of Phil Hughes, but when I first heard it I thought he was referring to the ‘spirit of cricket’ which is so often talked about and used sometimes for the good and sometimes just for the sake of convenience to support one party’s action in a controversial situation. But Michael would not have been wrong even if he were talking about the spirit of the game of cricket. This is what spirit of cricket really is – condolences and support pouring in from all corners of the cricketing world (Clarke himself mentioned a few during his speech), the entire nation of Australia mourning the sad and untimely demise of one of their sons.

Phil was an upcoming talent with moderate success so far for the Australian national side and much of his cricketing career still ahead of him. He obviously was not the next big thing or the reigning superstar of cricket like Kohli, de Villiers, Amla etc. He was probably not many followers’ favorite cricketer like a few of his contemporaries are, yet he was a cricketer and that is more important to the cricketing fraternity than anything else. This feeling was clearly reflected in the tributes offered to him by cricket lovers across the globe spread across all sections of the society.

The Australian Cricket Board (ACB) was quick to delay the upcoming Sheffield Shield matches while suspending the ongoing game and to cancel the tour game preceding the first test match versus India which also has been rescheduled. The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) provided its full cooperation and in fact offered for its players and support staff who are presently stationed in Australia to be a part of Phil’s funeral in his hometown Macksville. New Zealand and Pakistan decided not to take the field on the day following Phil’s death although it was in the middle of an ongoing test. Cricket Australia (CA) have adjusted their official scorecard to show Phil Hughes as 63 not out instead of 63 retired hurt. This shows how much the game and every single player means to the keepers and custodians of the game.

Spare a thought for the poor fellow Sean Abbott who delivered the bouncer that resulted in taking Phil Hughes’s life. Like Hughes, he is a young and promising cricketer who will now have to live with this fact for the rest of his life. He sure would need all the support he can get at this time to come out of this trauma and stand strong enough to be able to take the cherry in his hand and bowl the bouncer again to the best batsmen of the world. Never forget the omnipresent media who will always remind him of this incident even if he is spotted at a public place years later.

In the aftermath of this incident, there will be calls to ban the bouncer or short pitched deliveries which I think is like taking a key element of the game away from it. It would mean removing one of the most powerful tools from a bowler’s toolbox in today’s cricketing world which is already very unfairly balanced in favor of the batsmen (at least in the shorter formats). But at the same time the call to make helmets safer is legitimate for this beautiful game should not take lives of those who chose to live by it. Improving the quality of the helmets in today’s day and age should be very much possible given the kind of technology that exists.

The best way for Australian cricket team and every other to pay tribute to Phil Hughes would be to play the game the best they can. I would like to end this by quoting Aakash Chopra who said “Never felt so strongly about someone who I'd never met..” on his twitter account.

Picture Source: http://www.thehealthsite.com/

An innings of rare brilliance!

You might have already come across a bunch of notes and articles about Shikhar Dhawan and his debut innings in the print media and many more floating all over the internet. He was also trending on Twitter for quite some time while he was batting on Day 3 of the third Test between India and Australia. When you come to think of it, it does not really sound like exaggeration at all; such was the class of that innings which is yet to conclude. It kept me up all night (owing to the huge time difference between India and USA). So I won’t be unjustified in putting together my thoughts about it in a few lines.

Alright, it was a test hundred on debut, the fastest one at that. But what really makes it even more special is the manner in which those runs were scored. Shikhar Dhawan almost nonchalantly raced to his first test ton at more than run-a-ball (85 balls to be more accurate) and in the process, breaking the previous record of 105 balls for a debut test century. Hardly did he hit anything in the air till he was there. He did hit a couple of lofted shots once he had scored the 100, but no real signs of slogging yet. He stood unbeaten on 185 at the end of day’s play and there are already ominous signs that he might go on to make a big one.

Just before the start of Indian innings, I was speaking to a friend about the possible outcome of this match and had predicted a probable draw. I had also mentioned to him that I was very interested in watching Dhawan’s batting. Mind you, I’m not laying any claims that I had predicted him to become a revelation in the very first innings he would play. On the contrary, I had my doubts. I had told my friend that I have heard a lot about Shikhar and also seen him play many T-20 games and a couple of ODIs and that he looked good but not great. His domestic records point very much in the same direction (over 5500 runs at an average of approximately 46 in 81 first class matches). Neither am I contending that he has already achieved greatness by virtue of that innings. But that exemplary display of batting will surely go down in the annals of history as one of the best performances by any batsman on his debut.

Almost every scoring shot that came out of his blade was breathtaking, the ones played on the off-side cover boundary more so. So good did he look playing those shots that some have already crowned him the new ‘God of the off-side’. That, according to me, is going a step too far. Taking nothing away from Dhawan, it is just his first innings at this level after all – that too on a sub-continent pitch against a relatively depleted Australian attack. Remember, he is replacing a heavy-weight in Sehwag who owned that place for quite sometime and with great success. Once Dhawan comes out of that so called honeymoon period, he might have to come face-to-face with the cruel reality of fast and bouncy tracks in South Africa, England and Australia where the same Peter Siddle and Mitchell Starc would look much more venomous.

His composure and steadiness at the crease is what stood out to me as the highlight of his batting apart from the glorious drives and cuts. A lot has always been said and written about attitude and not just talent being reasons behind the success of a player. Proponents of that theory could not have found a better day to emphasize their point. He batted like he belonged there and has owned the place for years before this. The anxiety and nervousness of a debutant were far from what he showed signs of. A couple of pull shots that he played had confidence written all over them.

That innings was, in every sense, a connoisseur’s delight. With that innings, Shikhar Dhawan would have pleased viewers and critics belonging to all school of thoughts. Perfect balance, precise foot movement, exquisite timing and supreme placement were some of the key features of his innings as far as the technicalities are concerned. At the same time, it was an extraordinary display of flare as he stepped out and lofted the spinners a couple of times en route his 185. To those who believe in the modern day style of test cricket, this innings would be the one to emulate – scoring at a strike rate of over 100 without taking any apparent risk, thanks to some lovely text book cricketing shots.

To sum up, I would refrain from making any extravagant predictions about India discovering a new star and a permanent solution to the opening slot. I would just like to conclude saying that Dhawan should draw a lot of confidence out of his wonderful start and look to capitalize on it. This should give him a lot of peace and satisfaction when he would look back on this performance once the test match is over and times after that – for this is truly an innings of rare brilliance!

One night at the Police Station!

In the meantime I thought I would take a nap. I climbed up on to the upper berth in an AC 2-Tier coach, only to wake up in the Railway Police Station of Anand Vihar Terminal in New Delhi. I found myself in semi-conscious state, sitting in a wooden chair, gargling with salt-water and water containing dissolved alum in quick succession. Right in front of me was the Sub-Inspector of the station sitting on his chair. He asked me to get up from the chair and walk. Hardly had I walked a couple of paces when I almost stumbled on to the floor before being held together by a Constable. The Sub-Inspector came up to me and shook me like a rag doll in an attempt to bring me into full consciousness which of course wasn’t my state then. Reader - I would not lie to you - I had absolutely no idea what was going on!

The inspector’s attempts to bring me back to my senses had started to pay off by now. He asked me to name someone from my family who he could speak to and asked for their contact number. I blabbered my elder brother’s phone number.

Rewind 16 hours. I boarded Seemanchal Express at Mughal Sarai Junction for Anand Vihar at about 9.30 am. My fellow passenger was a lady in her mid-thirties with her son who must have been around four years old. In due course of our conversation I learned that her husband was supposed to accompany her; but due to some business commitments he could not come along with her. Therefore, there was a berth that would go vacant till Kanpur - her destination.

After having an early lunch at about 11.30 am, I got up to the overhead berth and went to sleep. I have very hazy memory of events that took place thereafter.  I vaguely remember waking up partially a couple of times. The first time, I recall seeing that lady, my co-passenger, on her berth, which makes me believe that the train had not reached Kanpur by then. The second time, as far as I can recall, there were a couple of young guys, probably in their late twenties or early thirties, sitting on the same place previously occupied by that lady and her son. And the next thing that I remember is being woken up by the Police Sub-Inspector and his assistants.

I was apparently sedated at some point of time in the train itself and the people who did that (no points for guessing who they could have been), robbed me of almost everything that was worth some money. The list of things taken away includes a laptop, an iPhone, a Kindle, two pairs of shoes, a pair of sunglasses and spectacles, a couple of wrist watches, a couple of Debit Cards and Credit Cards from Indian Banks, all the cash in three different currencies in my wallet and a lot of other things including but not limited to the toiletries. All that was left on me was a strolley bag with a couple of clothes and a flip-flop or slipper in it. Thankfully enough, they had left behind my passport and other travel and visa related documents that I was carrying.

Fast forward to a couple of hours past midnight, the inspector had already called my brother’s number.  I had spoken to him semi-consciously and assured him that I was in a position to board my flight to the United States a couple of hours later from Delhi International Airport, although the inspector insisted on not letting me go considering the state was in. Given the fact that I had already stayed back for over a month and half and had managed to get the tickets with great difficulty, my brother did not think it was a great idea for me to delay my stay any further unless that was absolutely necessary and fortunately enough I was getting better every minute. Therefore, after an honest conversation with my brother and assessing my condition again, the inspector agreed to let me go to the airport. In the meantime, my brother had asked one of his friends to arrange for a cab to take me to the airport. While on my way to the airport, my brother’s friend caught up with me at some place and paid the cab-driver his due and also informed people back home that I was out of all sorts of dangers. All that time, I was constantly speaking (or mumbling so to say) to someone or the other from my family on the cab-driver’s mobile phone. I do not remember how I managed to check-in and board the flight. All I recollect is a girl, who might have been some official at the airlines, shouting instructions at me on top of her voice to follow her and asking me to walk a little faster as I was well beyond the boarding time and the flight gates were about to be closed. Once boarded, I think I slept well for the next three to four hours before the flight landed in Qatar at the Doha International Airport where I had a layover of another three hours before boarding the next flight to Washington DC. I only have hazy memories of all the incidents that I have recounted thus far. It was precisely upon being woken up by the flight attendant at Doha when I came back into complete senses, fully aware of myself!

A couple of cups of fresh coffee and a few minutes of severe headache later, I called up my family back in India to let them know of my well-being and my current whereabouts (remember they had taken only cards from Indian banks? I still had my cards from US on me!). I got to know a lot of things when I spoke to my brother. He told me that the Railway policemen had discovered me lying in the train compartment in Anand Vihar railway yard – obviously hours after the train had arrived at the station and had gone into the yard for maintenance. The train was scheduled to arrive there roughly at 9 pm and it did so. I was sedated so heavily that I did not wake up on my own even 4 hours after that. The police had located me at around 1 am that night and it was around 2 am that they had called my brother. Everyone back home was trying to reach my phone since 7 pm in the evening; but they were unable to, since it had been stolen and switched off, and consequently were panic-stricken – quite understandably so!

My brother also asked me for information about all the Debit and Credit cards that were stolen and assured me that they would be taken care of at the earliest. By then, it was time for me to board the next flight, most of which was spent either sleeping or eating before it finally touched down at the Dulles International Airport in Washington DC at about 8 pm in the night.

After going through the immigration process, I managed to reach the gate from where I would get my connecting flight to St. Louis, I found, to my utter dismay, that the aircraft was already on its way out of Washington. The immigration apparently had taken a lot of time owing to the huge incoming traffic. I was informed by the officials that the earliest I could get the next flight was next morning. I had no choice but to wait. Since I did not have a mobile phone or any other medium of electronic communication left on me, the best I could do to find a hotel was to talk to the same officials and have them arrange something for me. They tried calling up a few hotels they had listed on their records, but with no success. So I had to spend the whole night at the airport before boarding the flight next morning. Thankfully, this time I did get the flight and arrived at Lambert International Airport in St. Louis.

I breathed a deep sigh of relief upon reaching my apartment. That journey of over 48 hours had started to feel like eternity. On checking my jeans pocket, I found a small note that had the name and number of the Police Sub-Inspector at Anand Vihar Railway Police Station. That evening (effectively the next morning in India), I called to thank him and found out that I was not the only victim that night. There was another guy, sitting on the side berth of the same coupe as me, who had gone through the same ordeal. On listening to that I could immediately recollect from whatever little memory I had of the night before, that I had seen this guy sitting next to me on another chair in the Police Station in a state similar to mine! Anyway, the Sub-Inspector informed me that this other guy had given a detailed account of whatever he recalled and the investigation was in progress. I got absolved in catching up with work after a very long break and never pursued the case further or followed up with him. Let me admit – to be honest, I was happy that they had not taken away my passport and other travel documents and I could successfully fly out of Delhi that night. Nonetheless, what a night that was!

Amidst all that high-intensity drama, the only silver lining was that I turned 25 the next day. Although not surrounded by family and friends, I felt quite good to be in the safe haven of my apartment considering the turn of events in the couple of days leading up to it. 

Tendulkar’s retirement? Okay, no uterus, no opinion!

It is gradually becoming more difficult to put up with all the talks surrounding Sachin Tendulkar’s retirement. Therefore I decided to vent out my emotions on this subject and make an honest appeal to all those running their mouths to ‘leave him alone!’ But before I begin, let me put down a couple of disclaimers. Firstly, Sachin Tendulkar is the God of Cricket to me without any second thought. Yet I would use ‘he’ instead of ‘He’ to refer to him hereafter. For I don’t want this article to be classified as a testimonial; it should be viewed from a rather neutral standpoint. Secondly, this might also draw flak from a section of people who in my view are atheists (in a world where cricket is a religion). So if you are one, this probably is the right time to stop reading this any further.

It would be a grave injustice to a cricket lover if I were not to talk about the recent conclusion of one of the brightest cricketing careers of all time – that of the former Australian captain Ricky Ponting, the most successful cricketer (three world cups and more than 100 Test victories) the world has ever witnessed. In my books, if there ever was a cricketing shot that would come second to Sachin’s backfoot punch down the ground past the bowler, that certainly would be Ponting’s crackling pull shot.

Arguably the second best Aussie batsman after the Don, Ponting for some reason could never win the hearts of majority of Indian fans. Nonetheless, deep down inside all of them knew that he was a brilliant operator. His records speak volumes about his achievements. He shall not be remembered for the last couple of years but for the decade before that, when at one time, people got the feeling that he might overtake the Master himself as far as runs and centuries were concerned. His retirement would leave behind a big void not just in Australia but cricket all over the world. What it has also done is add fuel to the time-for-Sachin-to-retire guffaw.

So without any further ado, let me move over to what I had begun with. What pains me – believe me it does – is watching the same people, who used to hail Tendulkar at other occasions, now question his place in the side. I suppose I would be within my rights to question their loyalty. It has been the most illustrious cricketing career so far and yet he does not have the liberty to have a lean patch! Is he the only one who is not living up to their standards in the team? If history is to believed, he would sooner than later orchestrate a comeback that would silence those detractors one more time.

The shame is every Tom, Dick and Harry has an opinion on this subject. People who hardly follow the game are also ready with a piece of advice to the one who has spent his life serving it. That reminds me of a scene from the popular American sitcom F-R-I-E-N-D-S. It goes something like this:

Joey (to Ross): Rachel is having Braxton Hicks Contractions

Ross: Thank God! That is no big deal; most women don’t even feel them! 

Rachel: Okay, no uterus, no opinion!

That one line sums it up all. Former Indian spinner Bishan Singh Bedi echoed similar opinion when he said “Only those who’ve played at least 150 Tests should be analyzing Sachin’s game.”

A whole generation might lose their interest in the game the day he calls it off. That day the game would become poorer than ever. Probably never to be replenished. Indian supporters would never again be able to say the famous phrase “Sachin hai na!” in almost every dire situation. This might be the twilight of his career, but this certainly is not the end for there would be one last flourish before it all comes to an end.

And lastly to all those who believe that “you either die a hero or live long enough to see yourself become a villain” – he is not living to see himself being called a villain; rather he is contemplating something of a much bigger magnitude. I refuse to call it a struggle. This might well be ‘the quiet before the storm’.

A Welcome Change for India!

The Indian team has many reasons to be proud of the victory over England in first Test at Ahmedabad. After all, this would be termed as their first legitimate victory post the consecutive 0-4 setbacks in England and Australia. This win clearly showed that the English were the second best team to India in almost every facet of the game over the last 5 five days.  Their skills and strategies to play in the sub-continent need serious re-thinking. Without over-ruling the fact that England can bounce back from this situation, they will have to look ahead in a very optimistic manner – without being over-ambitious of course.

India clearly had a hero in both batting and bowling departments – Pujara and Ojha respectively.  Ojha was clearly ahead of any other bowler in the match – yes, even better than Swann! Bowling tight lines has always been his strength. What he also did well in this match was tossing the ball up almost every time the skipper threw the ball into his hands, therefore bagging those many wickets in both innings. His successful stint with the ball also more than made up for Ashwin’s rare failure on the subcontinent pitches.

I like Pujara more after every match. His knocks in both innings were flawless – if I might say so. He gave glimpses of both Dravid and Laxman at times. His forward defence is almost as solid as The Wall. The way he comes down the track to play the wristy drives toward on-side against spinners sure reminds me of VVS. Yet, it would be quite premature to compare him with those batting stalwarts.  But keen observes would have already started looking at a future prospect in the dressing room; like they had done when two youngsters in Rahul Dravid and Saurav Ganguly made their debut at Lords more than 16 years ago. The thing about Pujara that stood out (and he admitted that himself too) was the price he put on his wicket; he seldom played a shot in the air. That reminds me of another batsman who did well in the match but got out playing a needless shot in the air - Virender Sehwag.

Sehwag’s run-a-ball century in the first innings was a trademark Sehwag knock; though he was a little slow early on. He must have breathed a sigh of relief after that. I would have loved to see him return to the dressing room un-dismissed though.  Yuvraj Singh played a wonderful innings before being dismissed cheaply off a full-toss from Samit Patel. That innings did show some resolve and was a clear indication of the man’s pedigree.

Another player that impressed was Umesh Yadav. The lad bowled his heart out on a pitch that hardly had anything in it for the seamers. He looks a promising young fast bowler (yes, you read that right – fast bowler!). He also extracts some reverse swing from the old ball that makes him a really deadly customer to deal with. Zaheer Khan, though not among a lot of wickets, looked like 100 per cent after a long time. The way he set up Nick Compton before dismissing him in the second innings speaks volumes about his ability with the ball.

MS Dhoni again failed to make any difference with the bat. It won’t be long before India would need his service in that area as well. Kohli was partly unlucky in the first innings, with the ball that got him out coming out of the rough area of pitch; but looked good in second. Sachin Tendulkar got out quickly after he looked like being in a positive frame of mind – obvious from the two convincing boundaries in that small innings.

Despite the lost affair, England still have some hope to draw from the match. Spare a thought for the captain, Cook and their most successful spinner Swann. Alistair Cook’s century would certainly be rated among the top. Swann strengthened his claim for the best off-spinner in the world at the moment. Matt Prior would have a lot of positives to take from the fact that he outshone his Indian counterpart in at least one area – that is no mean feat!

In all, India would be more than happy with their performance and would like to keep the momentum going with few improvements in a couple of areas. The English side, on the other hand, would like to learn a lot of lessons on how to play in the subcontinent from their Indian counterparts. For them there is certainly a ray of hope at the far end of the tunnel; but only the upcoming matches would decide whether that is of an incoming train or thanks to a stag with a torch in his hand! 

A new era beckons

Only a couple of days away from the beginning of the Test series between India and England, I realize that I have never before looked forward to a Test series with such desperation as this one. There is more than one reason behind the excitement. Whatever the score-line might read at the end of four test matches, one can rest assured that both teams will have some interesting challenges coming their way. Though this series has been constantly billed as the “revenge” series, I believe that would not affect the teams much, for they have far bigger issues at hand to deal with.

As far as the English line-up is concerned, the return of Kevin Pietersen will surely boost the morale of the side but they cannot afford to get carried away. Of late their middle order mainstay Jonathan Trott has not been able to keep up to the high standards he has set for himself over the last couple of years. Injuries to Stuart Broad and Steven Finn have given them more reasons to worry about. Nonetheless, flamboyant KP is always a force to reckon with. If he can successfully put his frailties against slow left arm bowling behind him, the English supporters will be in for a delight.

To add to that, they have not yet gotten to taste the kind of spin bowling they are about to face in the upcoming Test matches. I would not bother myself going into the details of the reason behind that (that sure is worth another story in itself). But that does bring me to an over-hyped issue about the fragility of English batsmen against spin bowling. This is not the first time they are touring the sub-continent. Neither is this the best spin attack that India has had in the recent times. So give them a break. They know what they are doing. In case they aren’t, they better do!

The Indian outfit, on the other hand, will take on a serious opposition without Dravid and Laxman for the first time in years (no offence meant to the Kiwis). This series shall prove to be the litmus Test for the likes of Gambhir, Sehwag and Zaheer. Gambhir will have to prove that he is not just good for small innings and that he can go on to score some big runs as well. Sehwag will have to make his followers believe that he has not lost his touch while Zaheer’s fitness will be tested once again.

Pujara and Kohli showed promise in the series against New Zealand. If they continue their form into this series, England sure would get a run for their money. Yuvraj has given the selectors reason enough to select him for the no. 6 spot. For some reason, he has not been able to do justice to his talent. By now he should have been a permanent member of the Indian test line-up. Ashwin will be the one to watch out for. He has done extremely well in home conditions. He might prove to be the eyesore to most English batsmen.

Inclusion of Harbhajan in the squad renders the equation pretty interesting and open to speculations. It would be interesting to see if Dhoni leaves out Harbhajan from the playing eleven to include Ojha. If he doesn’t, it would be a huge injustice to poor Ojha who did very well in the New Zealand series. Dhoni himself has a few questions to answer as far as his batting goes. A batsman of his mettle batting at no. 7 is always a huge advantage to any side provided he is in good touch – or at least in the kind of form he is in the limited overs cricket.

Moving on to the last and certainly the most talked about issue of late – would Sachin Tendulkar announce retirement after this series or maybe after the series against Australia? All these speculations have gained some credibility after Sachin himself hinted that he cannot keep playing forever (contrary to what I had been thinking for the last 16 years). He has always been known to hit back hard whenever he has been criticized. Now is one such time. How well does he come back will be a key factor in determining how long he keeps playing from now on. Though there is still some part of me that believes he would keep playing till eternity!

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The year gone by – an afterthought

Phew! It has been one long year. I landed on American soil for the first time in September last year in pursuit of the American Dream. There have been some upsides and some downsides between then and now. Lately, one fine day an unusual - though not bizarre - thought came to my mind – that I should look back at the past one year and translate that into words. So here we go! Before I begin, let me ask for a little excuse; I would take the liberty to be quite selective in putting forward the events that I please to.

Almost everything about this country has surprised me, pleasantly of course. There has seldom been an instance where I have found myself complaining about a thing or two. I feel sorry to disappoint the cynics who might already have read between the lines and arrived at the conclusion that I’d hail everything that I have come across in this land and deride similar occurrences eight thousand miles away. That certainly would not be the highlight of the next few paragraphs!

I have always been fond of seeing new places. Unfortunately I did not get a lot of chances to set out and go places that are home to some amazing people, amazing culture. Therefore I made it a point to visit as many famous places as I could manage to in this busy schedule of mine where even thinking of a leave, other than the ones already designated, is criminal. And I’d be the first one to admit that I have not been very successful in this pursuit. But whatever little success I have had, have left everlasting memories.

So far I have explored only a few famous places in this region. Nonetheless, I have chosen different directions to head to almost every time – places varying from Toronto in north to Florida in south; New York in east to California in west.  Every trip, however small it may have been, brought with it some amazing experiences.

Located in the mid-western vicinity of St. Louis, there are not many big tourist destinations to bank on. But that couldn't stop me. It had hardly been a month since my arrival in US, when I, along with another friend, set out for a road trip to Toronto, Canada approximately eight hundred miles away. We halted at Chicago, Illinois (for leisure) and Detroit, Michigan (for visa stamping) before eventually reaching Toronto where we were very warmly welcomed by a good old friend and a couple of his cousins. Those three days in Toronto during the Thanksgiving vacation accounted for some real fun after which we started our journey back home which was very brisk after all the exhaustion in Toronto. The journey itself can be a lot of fun - that is something I realized then. But the time in Toronto was by no means less fun-filled – a visit to the Niagara Falls and the CN Tower (owing to my huge liking for skyscrapers) bear testimony to that.

Come Christmas and we were ready with our plans. This time we were south bound to the beautiful state of Florida. We had planned to see places like Miami, the Keys and Orlando. After landing in Miami, we straight away headed further south to the Keys. The drive from Miami to the Keys on the historic Highway 1 was breathtaking. Honestly, few others would compare to that drive. The Keys is a group of islands. We chose to go to one of those islands called Key West which happens to be the southernmost part of the country. Jet skiing for a couple of hours in the Atlantic Ocean must be an experience of a lifetime; it becomes more fun when you are lost in the Ocean and can see absolutely no one but water in any direction you look. But that surely was not a problem to persist for too long. That night, after dinner and hanging out at the local Hard Rock Cafe, we wandered till late in Key West Downtown (if we got the place right) before heading back to Miami.

The next whole day was spent lazily on South Beach in Miami and the night in Miami Downtown. That to me is the perfect getaway from the rigors of work. It provided for a day where we could get ourselves some rest before leaving next morning for Orlando where two long days were awaiting us. Nonetheless, those two days in Orlando were just amazing. Disney Land is too big a place to be seen in just one day. So we pursued just one of the many theme parks; it was called the Magic Kingdom. The place was packed to capacity primarily because it was the Christmas day. The Christmas parade blew my mind away. The last day of the trip was attributed to the Universal Studios in Orlando. The big roller coaster rides have never failed to fascinate me and this place was no exception. But what stands out for me in the whole Universal Studio experience is the Harry Potter attraction. That was mesmerizing. That sure took me to another world – the world of witchcraft and wizardry where we are called the Muggles.  And that was how the trip came to an end. Next morning we took a flight back to St. Louis waiting for the next vacation to arrive.

That was the last vacation of year - surely one worthy of signing off the year gone by in grand style. The next vacation took a while to come by. I shall continue talking about that and the one after and a lot of other stuff in the upcoming posts.

Time for Retrospection

It would probably be very easy to get carried away following India’s win in the first Test match against New Zealand in Hyderabad. It sure would take a brave-heart to find shortcomings out of such an emphatic win. But let us not forget the consecutive 0-4 drubbings India has had over their previous two test outings. At the risk of being called a cynic, I would like to take this opportunity to point out a couple of areas where the Indian team still needs to pay due attention. Before that, let us have a look at the various positives that can be drawn out of this victory.

Cheteshwar Pujara justified all that was being said and written about him so far. He, no doubt, is a class act. During entire course of the test match, he never looked like an enforcer; neither did he look like a mere survivor. He completely looked like one who belongs at that level. He might not be as aesthetically pleasing as Tendulkar or Laxman; but to call him complete (at his own level) won’t be an understatement. Virat Kohli’s half century was like a breeze of fresh air. He must be very disappointed with himself at the way he threw his wicket away; for he is one player who always likes to be in the thick of things.

Pragyan Ojha bowled like he always does – right on the money. He may not have been successful every time he has been given a chance; but I, for some reason, get the feeling that he is someone who has not always got his captain’s backing. Ashwin yet again showed that he is a lethal weapon on a track that provides some assistance. Though he is just seven tests old, he has shown a lot of promise. Once again, his real challenge would come when he moves out of his comfort zone and goes to countries like South Africa, Australia or England. He did not fare very well in Australia the last time he went there; but that would have been a bit too much to expect from a spin bowler who had played just three matches before that – all in the subcontinent.

There were two aspects of Sehwag that could be seen in this match; one impressed and the other disappointed. First, his slip catching was exceptional. Let us hope that he pulls off similar catches when the pace bowlers are in action. Second was his batting which was not very impressive. Though he did hit a few of his trademark boundaries on the off side during his short stint, he did never resemble the Sehwag of past.

Moving on to the pace bowlers; though they did not get much chance to bowl or assistance from the pitch, they failed to impress in whatever opportunities they got. Their Kiwi counterparts did a much better job in comparison. Zaheer Khan, who has been India’s bowling spearhead over the last few years, went wicketless – that is certainly not a good sign. Umesh Yadav did manage a couple of scalps. But his overall bowling was by no means impressive.

Suresh Raina failed to hold on to another life given to him. He is doing his chances no good. This season may prove to be his last on the test arena if his performances continue the same way. He cannot find a place in the test side just by virtue of his good fielding skills. The overall Indian fielding was a real pleasant surprise though – maybe the injection of young and fresh legs would have done the trick.

To sum up, a pessimist might be successful in finding out weak links in however good a test side. But taking nothing away from the Indian team’s performance, I would like to conclude with this: They not only need to keep up the good work, but also need to focus on a few other key areas if they are to do well in South Africa in 2013 and win back the coveted No. 1 Test ranking.

Selection woes loom large over Indian cricket

This piece of writing (on the squad selection for the upcoming home series against New Zealand and T20 World Cup) may be a little late in its arrival, but its better late than never. A lot has already been said and written about the last assignment of the outgoing selection committee. But I believe everyone has their own way of looking at things and that is the fuel on which the entire business of sports critics runs.

Before I begin, let me pay due tribute to the career of arguably the most stylish Indian batsman of his generation, VVS Laxman. Another important pillar – that held together probably the most glorious period of Indian cricket – has finally called it a day. Speculations on his selection in the squad for the NZ series and he placing his individual aspirations before team’s interests have finally been put to rest. That he could have easily chosen to retire after playing the farewell test in his hometown Hyderabad and might have given himself a chance to reach the 9,000 runs milestone, has made him a greater person in my eyes than ever before.

It takes a man of great values to turn his back on such a tailor-made opportunity for a farewell match. VVS has always set examples for the coming generations to follow. Though numbers might not speak all about his talent and contributions, he will certainly be placed among the best to have played the game. His innings in the very famous Eden Test would always come up in discussions about the most stellar performances in the history of the game. The person replacing him in the squad would have big shoes to fill.

Coming back to the original agenda of selection of the squad for the NZ series and T20 World Cup, it disappointed more than it surprised me. Not that I was expecting radical changes in the squad; BCCI selection committees have never been known for that. But I sure was not expecting to see a couple of names that I can see and was expecting to see some that I cannot.

The biggest element of surprise was Piyush Chawla’s inclusion in both the squads. That would have been a surprise even if he would have possessed talent in the bowling department comparable to what Rohit Sharma has in batting, given his performance of late. His return to the team after such dismal shows in recent future in all forms of cricket did not go down well with anyone (I won’t trouble myself with the statistics; those could be found at various other sources). What was the basis of that move is beyond the grasp of a mere mortal.

Piyush Chawla has been included at the cost of a more promising young leg spinner Rahul Sharma. He did not get enough opportunities to prove himself before being dropped. I fail to understand the rationale behind this move. If at all Rahul Sharma paid the price for the alleged doping charges, this is truly a sorry state of affairs.

Moving on to another selection – that of Harbhajan Singh in the T20 World Cup squad. None would doubt his talent. He has good numbers against his name to back that up. But his recent performance both is domestic and county circuit won’t testify for his inclusion. Given the fact that he is in the squad, he is almost certain to make it to the playing eleven – you don’t generally leave out such experienced players to warm your bench, at least not in India. Let us hope that he comes back to his lethal self that made him claim the top spot in Indian bowling in past.

Yuvraj Singh has been reinstated to the Indian team for T20 World Cup. Before I go on and say anything about his selection, let me congratulate him; for he is a real fighter. I think the selectors have hurried on to their decision in this case. He must have played a couple of games before being selected. But this could still be passed as a calculated risk because he might play in the T20 matches against NZ and be aware of his standing. If he is fit and does play in the World Cup, that would be a big boon for India; for we all know how devastating and impactful he can be.

Another decision that surprised me was of Ishant Sharma being picked for the test series. A lot has been said about the effort that he puts in and his commitment unlike Rohit Sharma’s. But the numbers don’t reflect likewise. Besides, he has not featured in a single game after his recovery from injury. Opportunities to play in the national team cannot be handed out like this – that too coming on back of not so impressive performances.

Similarly, Suresh Raina has been rewarded for his good showing in the limited overs game by giving him a test berth. He is a class act in any limited overs game, but has failed to prove himself one in the longer format. These are certainly not good indications to the youngsters waiting on the fringe for their chances.
Gambhir’s reinstatement as the vice-captain in place of Kohli could be termed nothing but a vague decision. If Gambhir has done reasonably well in this period, what did Kohli do wrong? Though I believe this might come as a blessing in disguise to Kohli who should just be left alone with his batting given the sublime touch he is in currently.

There are a few more names that I could go on and talk about. But before that lets wait for the new selection panel to join the office and see how they fare with all the responsibilities or maybe liabilities that the outgoing committee has left for them.

P.S. I write columns on Cricket for TheCouchExpert
Follow the link to see my work.

Freedom cannot be bestowed; it must be achieved

A couple of hours away from the 65^th Independence Day (in fact it’d already be August 15^th in India), numerous thoughts cloud my mind; thoughts that could find no manifestation in words. After several unsuccessful attempts I could finally put together all the courage to give shape to those sporadic but worthwhile thoughts. Suddenly I started experiencing lack of proper media – a Facebook status update would restrict me in terms of space.

A post on Blogspot seemed to be a good idea; but then I thought – “Do I really need to post this?”
I could not figure out an answer.
So keeping all those doubts aside, I began writing; my laptop, I thought, would be the best place to keep it.

I had never before found myself so engrossed with such thoughts. There could be various reasons behind that – Maybe because I have been living abroad for some time now; or maybe I have started to grow up and think about things other than me and my immediate surroundings; or maybe I am at a vantage point from where I could easily look at what should be and should not be.

Are we really independent?
I know what a typical answer would be - “Hell yeah! Are you out of your minds?”
But spare a thought to this. Aren’t we enslaved by our own thoughts? Aren’t we engulfed by so much of self-interest that we don’t even bother to think beyond that?
A good half an hour and you might yourself start pondering over many more such questions?

I’m not here to question anyone; or to change anyone’s thoughts or opinions. I’d be much happier if that feeling comes on its own. Believe me; I’m not going to preach patriotism or nationalism over the next couple of paragraphs. All I’m trying to do is vent out my emotions – yes, emotions!

The dire situation of women in our society is what hurts me the most. I’m not trying to be a feminist. But imagine the plight of a woman. She might not feel safe the moment she steps outside the doors of her house; sometimes not even when inside them. A civilization can certainly survive with poverty, with not so prospering economy and high fuel prices, but with such disgustful attitude toward a section of the humanity that should be dealt with utmost respect is doubtful.

An extremely sarcastic person would say – “We are a democracy in the real sense! Everyone is free to do what they please to”.
He won’t be wrong in saying so. Terms like freedom and democracy have been so badly misconstrued that I doubt today are we even ready to accept the real meanings of those terms. A face-to-face with reality might scare us to hell.

Even a hardcore philanthropist would turn into an opposite upon very deep scrutiny of our newspapers daily - newspapers that are nowadays leading to nothing but cynicism. But they are not the only ones to be blamed. May be that is the ugly truth! Our TV News Channels have gone a step ahead, or should I say a whole stairwell ahead. In this case I won’t mind blaming them completely. If this continues for a long time, people of our country might lose faith in the system and might never expect good things coming their way. That would be doomsday.

The part of this whole chapter that bothers me the most is our attitude toward all that. We are either very critically vocal about them or we are just too cool to care. Some would very proudly write the whole issue off saying – “Things are beyond repair now”
But it’s never too late to mend. It is indeed not too late.
As someone rightly said – “The first step to solving any problem is recognizing that there is one”.
That certainly doesn’t mean declaring the problem as unassailable.
Only when you dream, would you achieve. Tell me one Indian that doesn’t dream of a nation where things were in the best possible shape. So we are already one step down that path. All we need to do is take further steps –just for some time keeping all our individual interests aside and looking at a rather bigger picture than just our own selves.

There certainly are many more thoughts still floating in the lake of my mind; but it seems now is not the right time to put them all together.
By now I have also figured out the answer to the question that I asked myself in the beginning. That is precisely why you are reading this.

With this, I bid all the readers a very happy Independence Day. Jai Hind!

P.S. I’ve borrowed the title of this article from the former US President Franklin D. Roosevelt

The worst experience at a restaurant ever

Things happen to you almost every day - some good, some not so good. But there are some that you can never forget, some that you think over and over about. The very mention of that brings you to laughter. A similar incident happened with me while I was on vacation in Florida last year.

No sooner did we step out of it than, I promised to my friends that I’ll take the pain to write a review of that place. The place in question is Shalimar Indian Restaurant, a self proclaimed top notch restaurant in Orlando, Florida. But later on it came to me more as an afterthought that it won’t be a justice to ordeals that we went through in those two hours if I’d just write a review. Hence the blog!

It was Christmas and we were completely drained out after a long day in the Universal Studios. So a unanimous decision was made to have some Desi food for dinner. The other day we had come across the name of Shalimar Restaurant in the guide book of the hotel we were staying in. That was reason enough to believe that it’ll be a good place to eat. Anyway, I’d not waste any time on not-so-important things and get to the point real quick.

There was something very weird about the place right from the outset. There was this guy who was sitting at the entrance as if he was there to get the guests seated; but that was not to happen. Rather we ran into a waiter who got us some place to sit. This waiter – let me call him the Arabic guy; for he was not an Indian nor a Pakistani because he did not understood a word of what we spoke to him in Hindi and he himself spoke English in Arabic accent. I asked him how big will be a plate of Biryani. To my surprise he said it will be good for three of us. One of us being a non-vegetarian asked about Nihari Curry if it was a chicken-dish. He answered in affirmative. The mention of Rumali Roti in the menu excited one of us. We were ready with our order. A minute later this Arabic guy comes up saying that the Nihari Curry contains beef, so we had to order something else.

Fifteen minutes later. He keeps a basket containing some chapattis on the table. While wondering over the fact that those chapattis by no means resembled Rumali Rotis, we started having couple bites of them. Suddenly the Arabic guy shows up again. He says, ‘Sorry!’ and without even giving us a chance to react takes the basket away. A few minutes later on, he is up with the complete order. The basket again had similar chapattis not Rumali Rotis, by the way

Before we begun, one of us counted the number of chapattis in the basket and was amused to find five of them. For the record, we had ordered for three Rumali Rotis; and five by no means fits into the scheme. They should have been either three or six for that matter. To add to that the chapattis were not even hot. We called for the Arabic guy once again and send the chapattis back with him so that he could get them corrected both in quantity and quality; though I somehow felt that the drama is not going to end so soon. He returned but with the same number of chapattis again. This infuriated us.

We asked the Arabic guy to call some supervisor. For a long time no one showed up. Out came another guy –lets call him the American guy; there is precisely no reason for this except that he spoke English in American accent ad more so because I don’t want to mix up the characters. At first it looked like he will be able to address our concerns, but unfortunately he could not do much. All he could manage was to call the head cook (as he termed it). The head cook was an elderly man who spoke to us very politely. He clarified that the chapattis that were served were all he had to offer in the name of Rumali Rotis and he would certainly get the number of chapattis amended.

In the meantime we had called for some water. A guy with a couple of glasses of water showed up. Lets call him the Indian guy – for he was the only Indian waiter in an otherwise Indian restaurant. We had earlier called for him but he did not even bother to pay us attention. One of us was prompt in asking him ‘Why did you not even bother to reply when we were calling you?’

His reply took us by a shock. He said, ‘I was busy and anyway I’m not supposed to serve you.’

That was reason enough for one of my friends to get irate. He gave him a good taste of his own medicine.

Let us return to the main track. We had received some chapattis in a basket once again. But to our extreme surprise, they were again five in number. We started laughing at this. The American guy suddenly appeared from nowhere with reply to a question we had never asked him. We somehow got rid of him. There could be seen a Chinese waiter.  I don’t think he had got anything to do over there. All he would do was walk back and forth from one corner of the restaurant to the other. When I called him he simply pointed towards the American guy and moved ahead. 

The scene was getting annoying but funny at the same time. We now decided to be a little mischievous. We called the phone number of the restaurant and asked them to send someone to our table – all this while we were sitting in the restaurant. This did not go down too well with the head cook who showed up.

His first question was, ‘Sir, what is your problem?’

I said, ‘Excuse me! Give me a break. I’m the one who should be saying that.’

At this he got hold of himself and said, ‘Alright sorry for all this. It is festival time. You are busy as well as I’m busy. Lets not make a scene.’
I replied, ‘That is what we’re trying to do since more than last one hour. And if you are so busy then why run the restaurant!’

Without taking the drama any further we decided its time we shall leave the place without eating a single more bite. We asked him to get the check. He tried to persuade us not to leave but without any success. We insisted on check without the 15% tip that they said will be added to the check directly – Though it is the practice here to give out a 15% tip but that is rarely a part of your bill. Moreover, since we were not at all pleased with the service, there was no question of tip. 

Just when we started to believe that the action was finally over, he turned up with the check. The total amount appeared to be relatively high. Upon checking I found out that we were charged for items we had never ordered. He promptly identified that it was not the correct check. The three of us burst into a huge laughter. He went inside to get the correct check. He returned with the corrected check after a while.

While the head cook was away, I took the opportunity to ask the Chinese guy about the note that was put up at the entrance saying the restaurant was rated Excellent by Zagat (Zagat is a website that rates restaurant based on reviews provided by diners). I questioned the genuineness of that claim.  He was very abject in saying that he did not have any idea about that. 

We paid the amount due and left with some bitter (or maybe sweet or maybe hilarious?) memories of the place. We could not stop laughing and talking about the place before we went into our beds. As I had rightly termed back then – That was indeed the worst experience at a restaurant ever.