Swan Song

After our triumphant entry to the cricketing fraternity in PESIT, (read post “Lords of Pesit”) we were “The team” to beat in subsequent odd semesters. Although we weren’t eliminated in the first round, it was made sure that we never reached beyond the 3^rd round, by pitting us against potential finalists! Either of us getting eliminated would pave way for the third team to win the coveted title. Although the team in the subsequent semesters (3^rd and 5^th) was stronger than its previous first semester avatar, I guess the stars also played their role in keeping us grounded. So it was up to one final show down in the 7^th Semester, where we had the last chance to prove that this E&C team didn’t win in its 1^st appearance just by chance. Indeed our team was the most experienced team in the college at that time, as would have other teams in that semester. Also, having recognized the talents and strengths of team over a period of 4 years, the 7^th semester teams were by and large pretty strong. I personally felt that the 7^th Semester computer science team was of equal match to ours, which boasted of two nippy bowlers who played for the college cricket team. Our team was no push overs either. Few cricketers who were not a part of the 1^st semester triumphs were a part of this strong 7^th Sem E&C team, and each one of them was a dynamite ready to explode. Kiran Kumar Gururaja (KKG), was my clone to the hilt. However, he was a far better pinch hitter and bowled much faster than me. Two left handers in any team, at the college level is more of a boon, because it is such a rare breed, Yeah!! Also, two left arm bowlers, one fast and the other super-fast ( No I don’t take the credit of being the fastest in PESIT, then!!) hardly gave any respite to the batsmen.  Add to that one pretty quick bowler in Sridhar Kumar, and one giant bowler in Vinay K (The Curtly Ambrose, of our team), the pace attack was very potent. 

I don’t want to sound like a champ, but I was the Jayasuriya of that team! only two differences, he bowled spin and was bald. For the kind of I care a damn kind of batting that I was gifted with, I usually used to tonk the bowling around from the outset, which would generally cause irrevocable damage to the opponents, either batting first or second. However, in the lineup consisting of see the ball hit the ball batsmen, there was one Mr Cricket who valued method batting. It was Sandeep Das, who was almost the Rahul Dravid of our team; never flashy always dependable. Barring him, I don’t recollect anyone who could play out a maiden over unflustered in a 12 over a side, match!! 

In one match in one of the previous semesters, I was not able to play a game, which gave the opportunity for my clone, KKG to open the innings!! And boy, dint he perform well!! Our team was chasing a score, and he took the opponent bowling to the cleaners and won the match for us!! So our team had discovered another batsman who was left handed, and was flamboyant!! 

Hence in the 7^th Semester, it was decided that I would bat number 4, sandwiching our Mr Dependable, between two southpaws. Positioning me at number 4 worked out perfectly, as in one of the league matches, leading to the finals, we were chasing a decently sizeable score of around 80 in a 12 over match, and our ballistic(surface-to-air) missile bomber (KKG never believed in hitting ball along the ground, it was always air bound, hence the name!!!. The only difference between his batting and mine was that I had a method to my madness, he had none!!) in the 1^st over of our innings, lost his off stump, trying to send the ball into the orbit. Enter Mr. Dependable, and the scoreboard started ticking squeamishly. Although the run rate was not that pathetic, at the competence level of college, you are never sure until you have actually won the match, and you never know, you may lose couple of wickets, and the winning team could be your opponents. One more wicket fell, and enter the Southpaw Rockstar!!! For some strange reason, barring professional cricket, as soon as a left hander comes into bat, all the right hand bowlers go round the wicket, which is exactly what I want. I could easily flick the ball to midwicket fence if it was full, or pull the ball over square leg if it’s short!! A few monster hits to the fence from my bat, and the smile started to return to the faces of my team members. Every cricket match has its share of twists and turns, and it so happened that in one twist, turn and running back for the second run, our Mr Dependable was found short of his crease and was out in the only possible manner that he could, run out!! I was the culprit on that occasion, calling him for an impossible second run! Our captain, Vinay K came and went trying to slog his way out of trouble, and our little pocket dynamite Pramod B, was connecting thin air every time he tried to smash the ball out of the ground. Time for the senior batsman, to calm his nerves, and take stock of the situation. I just ensured that he rotated the strike and allowed myself to get much strike as possible. And since, the bowlers bowled to my strengths, I was sending the ball easily to the boundary on the leg side, and with each hit their sapping spirits, refused to motivate them to bowl accurately and eventually we won that match, with more than an over to spare!!! In one match, I had changed roles from being a Jayasuriya to a Michael Bevan!! 

As destiny would have it, without much hiccups we made it to the finals!!! And our opponents, our E&C juniors from the 5^th Semester!! I was happy that the E&C clan was blessed with cricketing talent, and we could pass on the baton after that swan song match! And what a build up to that final it was!! There was a sizeable crowd that had gathered to watch the finals, and surprisingly for the first time in 4 years, the girls from our class, had come to cheer up the team!! Why did all the book worm sort of snobs turn up to witness this match? I had no idea! Was it that they loved cricket or was it that they suddenly got patriotic about their class being in the final?  Or was it that viva for the first part of the final year project had just got over, and they wanted to relax for the evening? The 5^th sem girls were in their vociferous best, and that motivated our opponents further, the front foot defense a bit more stylish, the follow through after hitting a boundary, a bit more exaggerated and the running between the wickets a bit more nimble. Seriously, girls can do so much good to cricket just by sitting and watching it!!! 

Our opponents batted first, and they did bat well. However, wickets fell regularly and the decibels in the crowd that supported the 5^th sem, began to attenuate. The kind of support that we got from the crowd, was more “English like”, which was perfectly understandable. The 5^th Sem guys were there in the finals for the first time and it was only fair that the first timers were supported to the hilt. 

So another chase of 80 odd runs in 12 overs, was on the cards, and considering the depth in our batting, we were confident that the chase would not be nerve jangling. Our bomber did start off well, and gave a decent opening stand. Once he departed, rather surprisingly, I was sent in to bat at number 3!! Our captain did not want the rhythm to break or he just wanted to take a chance, I had no clue about it. We had never changed the batting order until that time, then why change it then? I had nothing against the batting prowess of our Mr Dependable, as he was more than capable of guiding us home. If it was my day, we would be coasting home, bagging the title for the second time, and would be a befitting farewell!! Had it backfired? I don’t know what our captain’s backup plan was, and moreover at the age of 19, cricket is all played out of instinct, rather than careful planning. So amidst all the animated discussion, I took the bat and strolled to the crease. The first ball that I faced was on middle and leg, and boom!!! The ball had got the height, but not the distance, I could see the deep mid-wicket fielder lining himself up to take an improbable catch!! One huge leap by the fielder at the boundary, and the ball just eluded his outstretched hands, SIX!!! The oohs aahs from the crowd indicated that they were unhappy that I was not out!! Smiling at the partner at the non-striker end, I winked at him saying I had hit it well, fully aware that it would cross the ropes, Liar!! I could hear the captain shouting from the boundary ropes, which meant that he dint have a backup plan and wanted me to stay at the crease till the end.  From that moment on, I knew that match was ours to win, as I was hitting the ball pretty well. As the target started to appear more and more achievable, our camp started to get more and more relaxed, and the opponents started to get more and more vociferous in their appeals!

The college seniors had the final laugh and in a way showed who the BOSS was, and I did live up to the expectations of our captain, and did hit the winning run!! I punched the air, and did all the antics that professional cricketer would do! The non-striker, Santosh came and hugged me and soon the entire team was in the bear hug huddle!! Some girls in the class who never spoke to me during all the 4 years of engineering, came and congratulated me, more out of a formality, I am sure!! (not that I was craving for all the attention, but being popular at least for a day, makes you feel good about life!!)

So there it was, the “96GSEE” batch (For all the guys wondering what this cryptic number is, that was what all the 1996 E&C batch students had at the beginning of their roll number) ended their cricketing journey in PESIT with a bang proving that the first triumph was not a fluke!! The swan song was a indeed a sweet memory!!

Note : I have written so much about me and myself in this post, that it sounds too cocky. This disclaimer is worth a mention at the end at least; otherwise it would be unfair to huge cricketing talent that I played against/with throughout my 4 years in PESIT. Two of the fastest bowlers whom I faced, were not from E&C team. One was Rohith from the CS branch (you blink and you miss the ball, kind of pace) and the other one Mahesh from Mechanical branch (lightning speed left hand bowler, who could spin the ball at that pace!!). The same two were the most difficult batsmen I have bowled against. The E&C cricket team was a bunch of extremely talented cricketers and I was only lucky to have played alongside them. Since I was a left handed bat and left arm bowler, I got more opportunities to play up the order and bowl more often, both of which are extremely essential to be successful in a 12 over game.

IPL, a farce?

So the four metros entered the final league of this IPL, with KKR romping into the finals, and CSK managed to tame Mumbai Indians and reach the supposed semifinal. In the first match, main contributors with the bat were Yusuf pathan and Laxmi Ratan Shukla, who smashed Varun Aaron and company in the dying overs of the first innings.  Agreed, the 1^st choice eleven for the Delhi Daredevils was shocking, considering the slow dusty Pune pitch. But, fast bowlers bowling up to the bat, almost in the swining arc of Yusuf Pathan begged to slaughtered; deservedly so. 

Fast forward to the end overs of the Delhi innings, Venugopal Rao and Pawan Negi neither withstood the barrage of short stuff from Jacques Kallis, nor had the skill to negotiate Sunil Narine. Of course, Delhi missed a trick, in not sending Ross Taylor earlier, which was the point of debate right from the commentary box in the stadium to the local bar in Delhi. So the result was there to see; KKR will be making their maiden appearance in the final of the IPL. Despite a berth in the final at stake, did Delhi want to win this match with two local lads fighting out the might of the international cricketers?  Had they sent Ross Taylor earlier, would it have changed the fortunes? Well I am not sure about that. But I am sure of one thing; in the second qualifier, Ross Taylor would never bat at a number as low as 7.

I would salute the team management of Delhi Daredevils, if they really felt that the onus of winning in a pressure situation was squarely on Rao and Negi. They failed and failed badly, but at least that is how it is supposed to be, in the sense that substantial contributions from local lads who have never played international cricket, should architect the victories in IPL. Is it not for what IPL is supposed to be organized in the first place??

The second match between Mumbai Indians and CSK, went down as expected, and CSK managed to reach the semifinals. Had it been in the interest of “exposure” to local talent, Mumbai Indians would have dropped SRT, Harbhajan, Dwayne Smith and Malinga, and enter the eliminator match and so would CSK, dropping Dhoni, Hussey, Bravo and Albie Morkel. But now that the result of that match is known, you would also know who the architect of CSK victory was?, It is was Dhoni, Bravo and to some extent Hussey!! What would have happened if CSK had dropped at least two of them, and played probably, Yo Mahesh and Abhinav Mukund? Nobody would have even dared to propose the playing 11 without Dhoni and Bravo. Why? because winning matters the most!!, be it for your franchisee, or your local gully cricket. But wait, winning is at what cost? At the face of it BCCI claims that such tournaments help local talent learn a lot, but on the other end in most of these matches these “supposed local talent” are warming the benches, standing up only the applaud the 100+ mts sixes hit by Gayle, or running to the crease only with a lemonade not a bat in hand.

When the first edition of the IPL made its mark in 2008, it was SUPPOSED to be a local tournament, with opportunities for the local players, to get international exposure, in terms of playing against or with big names of the games, brushing shoulders with the super stars who have made their mark on the world stage. However, the intent was brushed under the carpet of glitz and glamour, the cheer leaders and the start studded teams. Although the cap for number of foreign players per team was put to 4, other important positions in each of franchisee teams were occupied by the members of the Indian ODI team!!! So the remaining slots would be keenly contested by the local lads, which would be a competition in itself. So where is the exposure for the local talent? Would you call bowling to such cricketing divas in the nets as international exposure, huh??

I can clearly remember the batting line up of Deccan Chargers team during that edition of IPL. Adam Gilchrist, VVS Laxman, Herschelle Gibbs, Andrew Simonds, Rohit Sharma, Shahid Afridi… and it would have been a miracle that someone like a Venugopal Rao, got a chance to bat within those 20 overs. It was different matter, altogether, that the miracle happened quite often, and he did get his chances albeit in the end overs. But the actual purpose of the tournament was to encourage local talent and give them international exposure. The only exposure these players got was in terms of relatively better money, and the after match “IPL Nights” parties, which they never even had a blinking idea about its glamour and girls!!

The members of the Indian cricket team should stay away from this tournament; Period. However, the kind of money that is involved in IPL especially for the players of international repute is extremely lucrative and I don’t see even a single player in the present ODI team, who has refused to play IPL, just to concentrate on International cricket? Coming to think of it, these cricketers get enough exposure in terms of playing 20-20 cricket and ODI, if at all they need any exposure it would at the test level on foreign soil, not on the featherbeds or the dust bowls here. Also, a few players who are in the swan song years of making an attempt to break into the Indian cricket team, need to be politely discouraged from participating in such tournaments.  The two that come to mind immediately are Ajit Agarkar and Lakshmi Ratan Shukla. The last I saw of Laxmi Ratan shukla from KKR, was in the Asian test championship, wherein he was a pretty nippy fast bowler, and a handy bat. This was way back in 1998-99, and I am sure even he does not fancy his chances of making a comeback to the Indian team. Well after a gap of so many years, it would not be a comeback, actually. Then why is that he is playing for KKR? Is he a future prospect for that ever elusive all-rounder that India is looking for? I don’t think so. 

IPL should not be a forum for the above type of players who have past their prime, to showcase their talent. I am not advocating that they should retire from cricket. But if it is in the vested interest of BCCI to filter out local talent from these tournaments, then adequate chances should be given to them. Rajasthan Royals showed it to the world in the first edition that with a bunch of rookies, under an able leader could deliver stellar performances, and went on to win the first edition. Ravindra Jadeja and Naman Ojha were stars in that team. Although Ravindra Jadeja has somewhat found his foot hold now, Naman Ojha has lost it I guess, amidst the stars of Delhi Daredevils!!

If International exposure is the catch phrase, the cap for the number of foreign players in each team, should be reduced to 2; one batsman and one bowler. Agreed, that this would affect the exposure quotient; but at least would ensure that the local players would get some hit in the middle. The IPL should be the litmus test for recruiting the players at least for T20 Indian team. Barring Ajinkya Rahane and probably Shikhar Dhawan, I don’t see anyone else making the cut. 

Take the case of Shadab Jakati, who has been a regular at the CSK camp, since 2008, but his name has never featured in any of the probable list of players for the Indian T20 team. If this continues, then probably the next level cricket which the Ranji players aspire to play, would be the IPL, and playing for India would be a dream buried under all the money, glitz and glamour of IPL.  I fear in future eventually, there would be a list of local players who would retire from IPL, getting the supposed international exposure in all the wrong intended sense. I see only one exception to this norm, and probably the only local supposed talent who would make it to the Indian ODI or T20 team, and bat at position 1, 2 or worst 3, would be Aniruddha Srikanth!!! 

A[V]I

At 40!!

Imagine this….A cold December night…a bunch of friends for life, sipping hot tea (or whatever drink that is perceived as “hot”, I am teetotaler and l love tea, hence that is the only hot drink that comes to my mind), sitting around a bon fire, in a desert on a sand dune, a full moon smiling in its resplendent glory, laughing their hearts out at the stupid things that they did, and generally having a great time!! Even if I just share this thought with my pals, whose acquaintance to just friends to great friends over a span of 16 years, they would instantly set the plan rolling out, and an avalanche of mails would be exchanged, before the very idea would die down because of lack of time for each one of us, office pressures, no leaves, pressing family issues, small kids, EMIs… the list goes on!! Many such ideas have surfaced, evoked much response, but have never gone beyond the discussion stage, mainly because of the petty problems mentioned before. 

Hence, I have put a target to myself, that at the age of 40 I should be sufficiently equipped with all the boxes ticked, so that I can embark of few such journeys! Why 40? I feel that’s the age when you would be sufficiently pocket heavy, not too old for a trek, would have less pressing family issues, (yes office would be an issue…but I really wish I would be able to take a sabbatical from this mundane life) etc. If we are lucky enough we may be able to do this even before, but I guess, by and large around the age of 40 this should be achievable. However, just like Tom Hanks so beautifully says in Forrest Gump, “Life is a box of chocolates, you never know what you get, when you open one!!”, who knows, all the predictions of this end of Mayan calendar signaling the end of mankind, may come true, and we may not even be present to celebrate the new year!! Barring calamities, it should be possible to achieve this on a regular basis every year starting from 40, if it’s before that age, it would be awesome, but somehow I feel 40 is the right age. 

With few pals of mine, who from being casual acquaintances have grown over to being a part of my life, who have been with me through thick and thin, would feature in most of these trips. Ideally I would like to have at least one all men trip every year (once in 6 months would be splendid, but unrealistic!!). Since the fairer genders of our respective families have grown to be quite a company together, I also expect them to feature in the couple of trips with the families as well. Ideally, the all men trip should feature one small trek, a grand dinner and at least one “sitting” session in the open, under the full moonlight. Bring in the women, and the small trek would be in a shopping mall, a “sitting” session would be, waiting in the lounge for the women while they shop endlessly, the grand dinner would be monitored for the extra servings of the paneer, or the dessert that we take (It’s all out of their love and concerns for our health, that they do this, nothing against the women in our lives!!). Hence, it is better to compartmentalize things in life, so that you are sure of what to expect and what not to expect!

I sincerely wish that I would be able to succeed in embarking this trip at least once after 40, because ZNMD!!!

A[V]I

Note : Just as I was writing this, I thought some serious application software developers could come up with a Trip Planner software, akin to MPP which is more commonly used, I would give my start and end date for the trip, my desired destinations, my budget and the software would plan out my itinerary the ideal places to visit, my accommodation. I am not an up to date software geek, hence not sure, if someone has already written such a planner. But if nobody has written it, I hope someone who gets to read this blog, strikes an idea and develops one such software, probably patent it one day!!!

My Wish Granted!!

God always has HIS ways of granting a wish, as long as the end objective is achieved, you should be happy!! I learnt this the hard way and after that incident I thought to myself, I better be careful in wording my wishes even to GOD!!! 

So it was early Feb 2005, chilly weather all round and as usual, I was in one of those slogging sessions at my work place. I was in the firmware development team, and we had to get an AIRCRAFT SIMULATOR model, up and running, in time for the AERO INDIA 2005. Some gyaan, on the AIRCRAFT SIMULATOR, for those who have little exposure to such highly sophisticated machinery. This is an exact replica of the cockpit of any fighter aircraft (ours was a replica of SuryaKiran fighter aircraft). The course of the flight as he simulates the run gets displayed on the screen right in front of him, so that he can actually feel the working on the controls at his hands. The real flight situations are simulated with all the gadgets displaying actual values on the panel in the front of the pilot. The control stick is mounted in the cockpit for the pilot so that he gets the basics of flying, right, before he tests his skills in air. This whole simulator is mounted on a motion platform, which would give the feel of the flying in the actual cockpit. Wow!! Cool!!! This was the general response that I got from everyone I spoke to, about my nature of work in those days. But believe me; the terminology “rocket science” is not used just for the heck of it. Just to make the simulator, feel like a real cockpit, all the untouched parts of my brain were rattled to find the answers during the design and development phase of the product. Think of a real fighter aircraft, where everything has to work perfectly, and every time; with pin point accuracy!! No wonder “rocket science” is the buzz word used in the software industry, when anyone speaks about the complexity of the software being developed. 

Coming back to ground, the team had been slogging it out for the past one month, and the day before we could send the SIMULATOR to the exhibition, we were once again in a night out situation!! Nothing new to me, by then I was a seasoned night out champion!! At dawn, when the simulator was ready, it was transported to the YELAHANKA AIR FORCE Base station for the Aero India 2005. Since we were a part of the exhibitors, few of my colleagues including me, had got the exhibitors pass, which meant that we could roam around any stall in the entire exhibition area, not to forget the air show display, on each of the five days, for which the event was very popular for. 

Since, we had slogged our hearts out for about a month or so, we had got a break of 5 days after the exhibition. Respite from the regular verbal bashing from the CTO for the integration issues, inconsistency issues etc. Just as the break was about to get over on a Saturday, I just wished that it would have been great if I get a chance to extend this break!! My wish was timed so perfectly that it landed perfectly in the just then cleaned ears of the GOD, who probably smiled and said, “Vatsa asthu!!!” 

As it turned out, myself and Pinky (Anup S, my engineering project mate), were going to Pradeep’s house on that Saturday evening, and just near a signal after the Vijayanagar bus stop, an auto (probably GOD SENT ;)), rammed into the bike which pinky was riding and I was sitting pillion. My left ankle got crushed between the front wheel of the auto and foot rest of his bike. Pinky had bruised arms and when I tried to get up from the fall, I realized that my left foot and my left leg were at obtuse angles to each other :)!!! I had fractured my ankle badly, and till date I can’t believe that we two actually got up and went all the way to Pradeeps house on the same bike. Pradeep who was petrified learning about the accident, insisted that we rush to an orthopedic surgeon immediately. 

“This needs to be operated immediately, your ankle is broken”, is what the doctor said. For someone who had not gone under the knife until that time, in his entire life span, it was not exactly a shocker, but definitely something which was difficult to digest. That was something I was totally unprepared for, and the first thing I asked him was to wrap me in plaster and send me home, and I would get the needful done. 

So for the first time in life, I entered my house, a big plaster from knee all the way down to my feet, holding pradeep and pinky for support on either side. A more than concerned mom and granny :), who had never in their life seen me in that state, just could not speak anything.  Words of assurance that I was ok, pacified them a bit, also the fact that before going home, I had consulted our family doctor who suggested that I meet Dr Sanjay Pai, an orthopedic surgeon of noted reputation gave them some relief. 

“Ya we will operate it, he should be able to walk in 3 days” said the surgeon!! There I was on a Sunday evening, on the operation table, under the knife for the first time in my life. The anesthetic that was given to the spine, had just begun to take effect, when I could feel the scalpel tear through my skin near the ankle.  Probably because of the effect of the local anesthesia, I started to feel sleepy, and when I woke up, the first person I saw was my mother with a concerned look on her face, just to check if I was alright :) I just smiled and said, I was fine, and din’t feel any pain whatsoever. Little did I know that once the effect of anesthesia subsides, the pain would be unbearable. 

That night I must confess, must have been the most painful night, I have ever spent in my life. I could hardly lift my left leg, and since it was tightly bandaged, the pain was indescribable. Even to turn to the side, I had to call in the nurse to lift my leg, as it felt so heavy. The pain shooting up every 5 mins, made me cry, well, almost!!!  “Mard ko dard nahi hotha”. But, the searing pain came back to haunt me time and again, every night. My daily routine was to eat breakfast, read some book, have lunch, read some book, drink tea with some biscuits, read some book and finally have dinner, then try to sleep. The initial few days were frustrating, when all that I could do apart from reading, was stare at the wall opposite to my bed and read the poster which said “Smile, things will improve!!”.  However, there was an unwelcome change on the 4^th day, when the nurse came in with a walker, smiled and said, “come we will go for a walk!!”. That sentence scared the daylights out of me, and I could not even run away from there :) Till that time, keeping the leg horizontal and moving it around on the bed itself was a herculean task. How would I put my weight on that leg and walk!!! The nurse would not relent, and believe me, when I put my leg on the ground and put my left foot forward, I screamed :) and few more steps and I could not take it anymore. I limped back single foot back to my bed.  I started lamenting that in future I would never be able to run, never be able to bowl, never be able to trek.. all the list of “nevers” came in front of my eyes, when the doctor, came in and asked, “how was your walk, my friend :)?” “Very adventurous” was my reply. Looking at my detested look, he said, “I promise you, another 2 months you will be able to run and even play football, leave alone cricket!!”

His words ringing in my ears, I spent the next one month in my home :).  I got all the princely treatment, (though I must confess, children are always princes or princesses to their mothers, whatever age they may be, the love remains the same) and in some strange way, GOD had granted my wish, the end objective was achieved!! I had asked for a break, and I had got it. Two 3 inch long screws with couple of pins to hold those two screws were embedded in my left ankle. The pain reducing with each passing day,I was able to walk with a limp after 4 weeks, and was able to walk freely thereafter.  And yes, after 3 months, I was indeed trekking in the caves of Ulavi, near Dandeli. 

Both the doctor and GOD had kept their promise!!!

A[V]I