U've got it all wrong Mr.Manjrekar

I don't understand what Sanjay Manjrekar was trying to establish through his article,"Sachin dont be afraid of failures" in the 'Times of India' today. He thinks Tendulkar is afraid of failures. To quote his first lines,"Sachin Tendulkar has played 362 ODIs n 132 tests. Its time he started thinking like a man whose played 362 ODIs n 132 tests." Surely, a man with such experience n records in international cricket neednt worry about failures! He continues to say that Tendulkar retains the same eagerness n enthusiasm to play but is still unable to accept that his body may not be as supportive. Excuse me, Mr.Manjrekar, I dont think u have done ur homework very well. Tendulkar has mentioned it dozens of times when answering the dozens of questions thrown at him about his injuries that after 16 years in international cricket, it is not as easy for the body to behave the way it did earlier in his career. He came to terms with it long before the writing of this article which may also explain the apprent change in his style of scoring runs over the last two years. Manjrekar goes on to say,"I have found his recent,long absences from the game quite strange." and then he goes on to narrate some baseless events n leaves it to the readers to draw their own conclusions. He makes it seem as though Sachin's injuries weren't real or rather made to seem more serious than they actually were! He seems to think that Tendulkar's absences from the game were planned! Im outraged that knowing Tendulkar's committment to his profession and the team,such things are being written and said about him. "The Tendulkar of today gives me an impression that his main focus is not to fail!And he wants to give himself the best shot at that by competing only when he is in his prime, physically and mentally." I dont understand what the writer is trying to say here. R u saying, Mr.Manjrekar, that Tendulkar should be competing even when he is not completely fit to play his best?? Wouldn't that be taking his place in the team for granted and putting the team at a disadvantage?? For a team to succeed consistently, every player has to contribute. Hence, isn't it natural that if he's had such serious injuries, he would want to wait until he sincerely feels 100% fit, physically and mentally before he starts palying again?? The article has been written in a very sly manner, praising the batsman and at the same time throwing doubts on his credibilty as a player and his dedication to the team. As a Sachin fan, it annoys me to read such atrocious nonsense being written about him. I have complete faith in him and I know he will make his critics eat their words through his performances and leave no room for doubt in anyone's mind about his abilities. At the end of the day, it is Tendulkar alone who understands his game best and is hence better off than seeking the advice of such people who have clearly and rather foolishly given up on him.

say YES to life!

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RISK it!

i found the poem below in a book n thot i'd share it with u: [blogspot doesnt allow stuff to be posted in poem format!..invariably, my alignment becomes competely horizontal without breaks when it finally gets published!] To laugh is to risk appearing the fool, To weep is to risk appearing sentimental, To reach out for another is to risk involvement. To expose feelings is to risk exposing your true self. To place your ideas, your dreams, before a crowd is to risk their loss. To love is to risk not being loved in return. To live is to risk dying. To hope is to risk despair. To try is to risk failure. But risks Must be taken, Because the greatest hazard in life is to risk nothing. The person who risks nothing, does nothing, has nothing and is nothing. They may avoid suffering and sorrow but they cannot learn, feel, change, grow, love or live. Chained by their attitudes, they are slaves, they have forfeited their freedom. Only a person who risks is free. I have been getting into quite a lot of trouble lately...i have surprised myself in the guts i've shown n the risks i've taken....the poem kinda made me feel good about myself u knw....like its really brave to be taking risks....n thats true, cuz u cant learn unless u dare to risk it....playing it safe doesnt help in the long run...we tend to stagnate....but one should know to differentiate between risk taking and gambling...risks r calculated n planned and gambling is like shooting in the dark...taking risks helps u gain experience and if it fails, we know what not to do the next time...healthy excercise reely!..n nice justification for my actions ; )...so if u have conviction, go ahead n risk it! Cheers

When life screws u....the damn Bitch!

Yesterday.....it seems so far away... Yesterday....it had all my joys... Yesterday....my loved ones were at my side....... ....Today....i stand alone.... Peering through cobwebs of sorrows, Searching in the horizon, For the yesterday.... My yesterday....sigh! it seems too far away! P.S.- yes, board results out...surprisingly not suicidal yet...shockingly poetic instead!...was worse than imagined...neva got so low in my life!....learnt a good lesson tho....

MYOB Please!!

Lack of sleep, constant sweating, rapid heart beat, high blood pressure, stress, anxiety and loss of appetite. No, its not hyperglycemia. Parents, if u notice any of the above symptoms in ur child, he or she is suffering from an acute case of Result phobia. That’s right fear of results, fear of underperformance and fear of not living upto a sea of expectations. Just today morning I received a call from a family friend in Mumbai. Instead of the usual (and more courteous) “How are you?”, I was greeted instead with “How were ur results? How much did u score??”. And asked with such anxiety that it would seem like a matter of life and death. Frankly, it is nearly a matter of life and death for many. But the problem is that the ‘many’ here doesn’t really refer to the students, it refers to their parents and the rest of the family who in many cases show more pronounced symptoms of result phobia than the child itself! Mrs. Raghavan, the family friend was not the only one. I happened to receive three more calls enquiring about my board results which are still a day away ( Thankfully!). With the Maharashtra board results so close, it is not a good time to be in my shoes or for that reason in the shoes of ne of the thousands of students who’ve taken the exam. It is during this time that u suddenly realize how many relatives and friends one has! Calls keep pouring in to enquire about our results. It makes me wonder why anyone beyond my family would be or should be so bothered about My result? Something tells me, its not genuine concern. Perhaps, people get some sort of sadistic pleasure out of it. In any case, it only makes me look forward to my results even less. My point is this- It is us, the students, who take the exam, who are forced into attending ever so many classes, who have to handle the stress of competition and the pressure of living upto the sky-high expectations of parents, each of whom believe their child to be a genius! We are the ones most affected by the results. It is our future at stake. It can make or break our self-confidence and indeed our careers. Parents of course are also equally affected and that is justified. The rest of course have nothing to do with it! Nothing at all! Then y must I be obliged to inform each of them of my result?! They didn’t bother to wish me Best of luck, no, but they’ll be there to offer their fake sympathies and give their clichéd advices on life and career. They don’t really care what happens to me, they just have to satisfy their curiosity n hope that I fare a bit worse than their own child so they can feel better about it. Now that is simply evil, if u ask me! I am answerable to myself and to my near family. People who sincerely care and who want the best for me. So I’ve decided I’m not going to take any calls tomorrow. Even if I get a ninety percent ill celebrate it with my near and dear ones because I know itll mean the world to them. In fact, me and my pals, we made a pact yesterday. We are NOT going to ask each other about our results. Results aren’t going to change nething for us.….cuz between us, nothing else but friendship matters; between us, we don’t need to give ne answers or explanations; between us, its just Us- us having a good time together and being there for each other as we have been so far. To our parents, if we don’t perform well, we promise we’ll put our heart and soul into whatever we do and make it up to them. And as for the rest of the world- u should jolly well learn to keep ur annoying nose out of other people’s business!

Do I Plead Guilty?

Im so upset.......in the past few months i have felt like shit, felt like a load of crap, felt useless, worthless, jobless, aimless.....but i havent felt quite as bad as i am feeling rite now....today im movng around in fear of ruining a very very dear friendship and of losing a very dear friend, one of my best friends.....all cuz of me.....or so i am to think......the worst part is im helpless...becuz nuthing i say or do now can change wot has happened....and its killing me to know dat i cant make things allright....its also killing me to find dat im still unable to blame myself for this....its not ego, its my conscience.....i dunno if my conscience is misplaced but it has supported me in my actions.................da past few days have been such a roller coaster ride...everythings been moving so fast that i havent really had time to think.....think....maybe dats smething i shd have done....no hang on.... i did think, i thought a LOT.....i guess i just wasnt thinking right....dats wen u need smeone to guide you....at the moment, i have no one to confide in....not for a while......but im so restless...had to get my frustrations out in some form..... i guess dat xplains da reason for this absurd blog....if u cared to give it a read, my apologies to u for an absolutely senseless post....for the time being, im gonna practice patience......cheers

INDIAN TEAM -BOLTI BANDH!

“Like Voldemort of the wizarding world, Ganguly is the 'He-who-must-not-be-named" of the cricketing world." What is with this new BCCI policy of ‘gagging’ our players?? Y are our players being treated like five-year-olds being asked to shut-up by their parents?? I saw the interview of Sehwag in question and found nothing wrong in what he said.Yet, da next day’s headlines ran “Sehwag warned for Sourav’s comments” akin to a pupil being warned of punishment by the principal and this pupil dutifully came out with a statement the next day saying “Sometimes, I regret saying things”. All da poor chap said was dat he missed having Ganguly in the team, a feeling I’m sure quite a few team members share. He credited Ganguly for the support he received from him and hoped he make a comeback. A genuine, sincere statement I thought. He did not voice his opinion whatsoever on Ganguly’s selection in the team or on whether he’d actually make a comeback or not. But alas! With the BCCI, wot was said didn’t matter much because the mere mention of Ganguly is enough to rake up a fresh controversy. Like Voldemort of the wizarding world, Ganguly is the “He-who-must-not-be-named” of the cricketing world! Just like wizards fear to take his name, players fear to name Ganguly lest they should receive a spanking from the board. So players, u don’t mention Mr. Sourav Ganguly, whether to criticize or to pay respect to. U just delete it from ur vocabulary n if an unfortunate acquaintance goes by the same name, well I guess u could suggest a change of name! Even on the burn-out issue, the players have been forbidden from having a say. Of course, y wud neone in their right minds ask the Players for their opinion on the issue of Player burn-out?!! Atleast dats wot Mr.Shah seems to think. Yes, happy we are indeed to see the reigns of our cricket board in the hands of such bright officials. But at the end of the day, every player wants to steer clear of controversy, even at the cost of sacrificing their constitutional right to speech. So next time they are called for an interview I guess they just pretend they have a contagious oral disease that prevents them from speaking. Im not sure if the journos wud buy it but it’ll keep the Board officials happy no doubt. In typical Shatrugan Sinha style, “Khamosh!” is the order from the principal and wot do the players have to say? “Yessir!”

Lucky to be Alive.....

Lucky to be alive.... One day you and I will reunite with this earth, Fall into the sands of time, Never to return again as you and I. One day, we'll be a handfull of ashes, A body burnt alive but a soul set alight- With the wisdom of death and the bliss of salvation; Free to float beyond the boundaries of existence, But caught once again in the immortal hands of time, Only to realize the further we drift away, The closer we reach, To the edges of creation. And even the bliss of moksha cant match the ecstacy of rebirth, And we rush to embrace it, With arms wide open, Through the sands of time and Through the earth we return, Reborn from the ashes and reignited with life.... ...Life, we cant do without,Life, we cant be without, Life, even with all its ups and downs, a treasure we cant part with.Truly, arent we lucky to be alive??

IIT JEE finally overrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!!!!!

Hey all, finally D-day arrived and passed n i m a proud survivor of the all important IIT JEE. whew! neva taken a ten hour long exam in my life before! and that too so under-prepared!!! Started off with Physics which wasnt bad.....followed by a two hour long break in which i didnt try to make ne amends by studying and rightfully so, it was followed by the worst math paper iv eva taken in my life! sucked to da core!! i was expecting a much more...well..."solvable" paper but i got the exact opposite! scraped thru da next two hrs of da break, eating lunch and trying desperately to get some chemistry into my head. it was a futile attempt in my case cuz chemistry is my LEAST favourite subject and given da kind of horrible teachers iv had teaching me da subject, i neva got around to studying it....by the end of an hr of the paper, quite a few students followed the initiative taken by one of my bold classmates and put their heads down; 30 mins later, i followed suit, giving in to the exhaustion of a looong day! suddenly, i wasnt bothered nemore, it was ova n thats all dat mattered. also, there was a throbbing ache in my head that made it quite impossible to concerate!....in then end tho, i was just glad it was over....of course, their are a string of entrance exams still to go but the mother of them all has been fought and done with! :) i was surprised to observe the large number of parents who had come for moral support of their child. they stayed thru d entire 10 hrs! while most children sat in their cars with their parents, having lunch n takin a nap, sme parents had brought along mats n had a sort of mini picnic with their kids, 'feeding' them lunch while the child brushed thru notes! whoa, smetimes i think the parents take more pressure than da child themselves. it almost felt like we were going for war or smething!....my headaches still nt gone, so m nt gonna write nemore, just needed to get this out...think i'll turn in early and after days, enjoy da liberty to wake up laaaaaaaaaate!

Sachin back :D, ESPN out :(

It was on the news today....Sachin is back in mumbai...wow! m so excited!...m a huuuuuuuuuuge fan of his!!....news is he will be ready for training within a month itself, m so happy for him...i know a lot of people are writing him off..."he's too old", "he's not the same", "he's over" and the like but i have full faith that he'll prove everyone wrong and soon enough too....i dont wanna get started on my defence of (or is it for?) Sachin cuz it will take eternity to shut me up but i just had to share my excitemnt at da news!...also in the news was that BCCI has given the overseas telecast rights for the next 25 matches to ZEE Sports!....like helloooooo, wots wrong with em?? how can money blind u like dat?? ZEE sports sux n doesnt even deserve to be compared with ESPN....man, its been so long since we've heard the ESPN commentators, a league ahead of their colleagues at DD n Sahara One who should really be sent for training under them!.....We puneites have been really unlucky...r stupid cable wallahs havent payed up or smethig n i have been deprived od ESPN-Star for nearly a year now! ...n thanx to BCCI, i'll have to put up with shitty commentry and even shittier post match discussions after every match from now on.....:(

4th ODI: Record win

Hey all, our 15th consecutive run chase and our 8th consecutive victory in ODIs, wot more can an indian fan ask for?? i recall just 3 yrs or so back, we'd turn off our television sets when Sachin and Sourav wud walk back to da pavillion. But since then, the evolution of the indian team has been humongous and now, no total seems to be enough for us. Even without the three Big S's of our batting line up- Sachin, Sourav n Sehwag- either not in the team or in form, we have managed to keep up our good run in chasing totals thanks to the services of our lower order comprising Yuvi, Dhoni, Raina who have risen to the occassion and brought us to some great victories. Today's match though wasnt a one man show. It was a collective effort by the team and everyone contributed their bit towards bringing victory. Pathan as usuall got us the early breakthrough and once again delivered with the bat proving his credibility as an all rounder, making him a real asset to the team. Sehwag, tho he didnt get a big score, atleast got two wickets to his credit. As did Yuvraj Singh whose catch to dismiss Collingwood was simply superb.Sure was worth watching the replays over and over again! And with the bat, he is a class act. Dravid as usual was well amongst runs and Dhoni and Raina made their little contributions too as also did Ramesh Powar whose been bowling well thruout da series. Kaif, once again unable to get a big score, atleast managed to get rid of the 'duck' jinx.Of course, Dravid's captaincy, especially the use of powerplays also deserves a mention. Andrew Flintoff, on the other hand will have a tough job at hand to motivate his players to give their best in the next three games and salvage some pride. Somehoe, things just havent been falling into place for them. But for Pieterson and Flintoff, their batting lacks depth and even their bowlers arent able to cause sufficient damage to a strong indian batting line up. It will be interesting to see how Chappell experiments in the next few games. Dravid, Yuvi, Pathan mite get sme rest.It will be a good opportunity for Kaif to get amongst the runs. Our vice-captain too will be luking to get cracking.Just heard that Sachin is back in Mumbai and will begin training from next month itself. Once Veeru and Sachin get going, we'll be one hulluva side! Australia watch out!

3rd ODI:Kaif, Sehwag still a problem

I’m sooooooo happy! Our third consecutive win over England…..Yuvraj’s knock was brilliant and absolutely deserved to be man of da match!……Raina didn’t disappoint either and Pathan was gr8 with da ball too….Agarkar finally managed to scalp two wickets! However, it was another disappointing day for Sehwag. Ppl all around have been suggesting dat he be dropped due to his poor run of scores. He has just not been able to provide da starts that we need, thus putting pressure on the tail. In his past 25 ODI innings he has barely scored 3 half centuries. I have to admit that although theres no questioning his talent and greatness, based purely on current form, he doesn’t deserve a place in da side. The problem is ever since Ganguly’s controversial ouster from the team, dropping a player has assumed too much importance. People seem to think that if a player like Sehwag is dropped, it will mean the end of the road for him. But it is not so! The Ganguly ouster was a separate issue in itself. In fact, when players are dropped for a match or two, it only revives their hunger to play and perform. Dropping him wouldn’t mean that the team has lost confidence in him, but only that they want the player to value his place in the team and earn it back. Players like Sehwag are exceptional and will definitely find their way back soon. However, now with even Tendulkar not playing, it is difficult to drop someone like Sehwag. Who will replace him?? Gautam Gambhir will also have reason to worry. Despite being given so many chances, he has been unable to establish himself in the team. He gets off to great starts but fails to capitalize on them. Agreed that people like Raina, Dhoni and Yuvraj have won us matches in the recent past but we need to have our top order clicking. Only then will we be a world class team. Anuther major under performer in the series has been Kaif. He hasn’t reached double figures in his last 9 innings and has scored 4 ducks in his last 5 outings. There are guys like Venugopal Rao who are waiting in the wings and they deserve a chance to exhibit their potential. A word for Rahul Dravid. Apart from being the most consistent batsmen, he has really come good as a captain. A lot of young talent is now being given chance and a never say die attitude is being seen in the team which is winning us matches even under improbable circumstances. Saw his interview on some channel the other day- just the way he carries himself and his conviction in his job is truly admirable. While I think Goa is the most amazing place, I really don’t think its quite right to be holding an ODI there in the peak of summer. Its scorching in April! Seeing the sweat dripping from Collingwood’s head like a tap really made me feel bad for the players! And the next match is gonna be held at Cochi where the heat will only be worse. Poor players! But I guess the BCCI cant do much cuz there r like so many state cricket associations that are involved when it comes to selecting venues that they don’t really have much of a choice. After every Indian win, I’m always in a great mood like I am right now. And m sure the players will party hard to celebrate in Goa. Me, I’ll just have to settle for posting this blog and praying that the winning momentum continues.