Tryst with KPL

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This post has been long overdue. So, let me begin with the lesser of the two boring experiences.

Just a couple of posts ago (that sounded pretty weird!) I had said how I had become so indifferent to the game called cricket. But, as it has always been, I find it hard to stick to my so called ideas. The party pooper this time – The KPL. Uncanny as you may feel, I pretty much liked it. The mainstay, something happening good for our very own people. Who would have heard of players like Mithun Beerala, Gaurav Dhiman and David Johnson prior to this? It was indeed a great platform for the local lads to polish their skills. And what better practice session could players like B. Akhil and Vinay Kumar, the regulars in The Bangalore Royal Challengers could have asked for.

Being a big cricketing fan, never having seen a match in a stadium before, was something I didn’t want to speak of. So when a friend of mine offered passes for the finals, I jumped on the idea. Earlier, there was a negative publicity about the total turnout for the matches. On the day of the finals, things were not as they would have wanted. Close to around 25000 people had gathered in the stadium.

Entering the stadium – it was a great sight to behold. The whole of the stadium was being lit up by four giant flood lights. The crowd was electric. The drummers, the cheer band and the audience – everyone were zealous. But things slowly began to fade – the batting was way below what all had expected. We had hopes for a McCullum innings from the first IPL. But it turned out to be a very plain 20 over game. We were so much distracted that we hardly watched the game. All we looked out for was fun and we had to find it somewhere else. There was this drummer, who would start to bang for each and every run. He’d be busy chatting with someone, yet, his sticks would be on the drum set. As the game got slower and slower, the more and more relaxed was he. Out of nowhere, he’d get his sticks and would again start pounding the drum. There was another peculiar guy – an old man. I guess he had a BP of about 250. Anyone who’d cross him was sure to get cursed. Such was his temper and if he had his ways, he would have kicked out a couple of players itself as we were seated near the long on and the fielder was blocking his line of sight! And not to mention about the innumerable number of good looking girls that passed us.

Be it cricket or not, we enjoyed to the brim. Well, that’s what a game like cricket does. Once there are people all around, the more the fun. Looking forward to see some matches again. And, I would like to thank for those willing to hand me free passes!

A trip that (almost) went awry...

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You remember reading so many of my posts related to trips or picnics. All of them till now had been like fairy tales – never any glitches, everything planned and executed to perfection. But that’s not how things remain always, right? So, here is the recent trip – which almost got out of hand to being a dud, but ultimately – “a happily ever after’’ ending.

The location this time was BR Hills. The crew – relatives from my father’s side. With some differences of opinion right from the word go, I had refrained myself from most of the decision making team. So, the plan was something like this: BR Hills, Dodda Sampige Mara, K Gudi Safari, Gopala Swamy Betta and then back to B’lore.

Being the first 2 day trip for my dad’s side relatives, there was no co-ordination. A trip, to be a success, has to be a well co-ordinated affair. The temple, at BR hills – we had to visit it three times. No one had prior knowledge on what to see and what to skip. Yet, no one cared to ask. We ended up missing Dodda Sampige Mara, which is said to be more than a thousand years old. To make things worse, when all were told to leave for safari by 7, by the time we came to K Gudi, it was 9.30 and the safari would be a futile attempt to view any wild animals. So, instead, we decided to go on a safari in Bandipur. But, with the luck we were running into, all we could see were a few bisons, deers and peacocks.

But, all was not wrong. The climate held back perfectly. Amidst all the rain pouring the previous days, it just stopped for these two days. Gopala Swamy Betta was good too. The driver (who surprisingly was the same one who had come with us for the Malnad Trip (Mega Trip 2)) suggested us to go to Nanjangud. Nanjundeshwara is our “mane devaru”. The irony is, the driver, who was a Christian, had to suggest us to go visit the temple! On the way back, we even crossed the Mysore Palace. And believe me when I say, there is no place more majestic than Mysore during Dasara. Just a round in the city lifted the spirits of every member in the bus. It was an exhilarating experience. So, be it a successful trip or a mixed bag like this, one thing is for certain – fun. That’s one thing that trip brings loads of.

Watch this space for the next trip – Badami, Aihole, Pattadakal……

Crybabies of Tennis

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First of all, congratulations to both Kim Clijsters and del Potro. These were the most unlikely ones to win this year’s US Open. This is the one tournament that I could never get to watch. With Nadal struggling to pull up his socks in being fit, I was sure that this would be Federer’s 6th straight win. Anybody who could have challenged Roger was Nadal. But with his injury taking a toll on him, he was very unlikely to live up to my expectations. Women’s section of this game is even more complex. It’s like the Williams sisters against everyone. So, I was pretty happy that I could miss this tournament.

But alas, the one tourney I miss in the year was riddled with controversies. The “foot-fault” dispute topped the list. Oh boy, you should have seen Serena (in case if you haven’t, that is). She was almost going to trample the line umpire. Poor umpire, got up and ran towards the chair umpire for cover, when Serena started to shout at her again. This was the first time that I ever saw someone being penalized for misconduct. With 23 grand slam titles and being the 2nd seeded player, she ought to have behaved in a more civilized way. It was a horrendous was to end an otherwise great match. I felt bad for Clijsters to win the match in such an awful way. The other shocking incident – the men’s final. Who’d have assumed Juan Martin del Porto to evict Federer from claiming his US open title? But the match was – once again, top notch. A five setter again. What surprised me this time was Federer losing his cool. Both the players fought with the chair umpire over a point.

But let me come to my point of writing this post. At the Wimbledon open, a year ago, Federer was betrayed with the 5th straight title. He cried! That was the day since I started to hate him. Okay, I agree, it was a hard pill to swallow. But, yet again, this year, when he won, he cried. I hated him more. It’s like, he wins or loses, he cries. This time around, Potro, after nailing Federer, rolled to the ground and cried. Kim Clijsters, after pounding a slow return from Wozniacki, falls to the ground. Her daughter, shouts from the audience. Guess what, she starts to cry! Common, what’s happening? I have never seen any sport, in which, anyone who wins starts to cry. After watching someone playing and fighting hard to win, I can’t see them cry, as if they didn’t expect to win at all. Grow up – that’s all I can say.

Cricket - The game that once was

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Remember the good old days, when watching cricket was as if a festival celebrated? At least, that was how I used to watch it. Thanks to cricket, the 1999 world cup was when our house got the “cable” connection for the first time. And by that time, I was Dravid’s one of the biggest fans (don’t think physically when I say ‘big’. I was slim and trim then). There was one particular ad that used to be aired back then. Dravid was shown practicing batting with the ball hanging from the roof. If that was how he practiced, I did the same. I even batted in the same fashion when I used to play with friends. In bowling – Srinath. The action, same as his. That was how cricketers had an effect on me.

Once in Navodaya, although playing cricket was restricted only to Sundays, we rejoiced them. Watching the game was even more fabulous. With the whole school, in front of a 21” TV, with the grainy picture quality, the pushing and pulling to be in the front row added to the excitement. The radio that I had smuggled in, helped me to keep abreast of all the scores in the 2003 world cup. Sport meant only cricket those days. We played every game alright, but it was cricket that topped our list of priorities in games.

Even today, cricket is the reigning sport which would make me watch. Cricket has remained my favourite game and Dravid still my favourite. But it is cricket with all the zeal being eaten up. T20 sure has reinvented the game, but the excitement is what is missing. Today, as I juggled my TV channels, there were two matches – T20 between Sri Lanka and New Zealand and the other being a 50 over game of Australia v/s England. Both of them failed to ignite any sparks of interest. When I eventually watched it to avoid the grueling torture of the prime time soap operas, I had to struggle. Hope Dravid’s return to the 50 over matches would instill some fervor in me and make me watch again – and perhaps, you read again!

Review? I guess so

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It had to be a particularly bad day. The events ranged from getting up late and disrupting all my prior plans, a tussle with an autorikshaw driver, petrol drying out with the nearest bunk nowhere visible and an update failure on my computer which consequently, made me lose a couple of files that I needed badly. All in all, it was an awfully bad day. Putting to rest the tough luck, I decided to cool off for the rest of the day – watched TV.

What’s so special you ask? Well, the movie that aired specially for me – or so I felt. It was called “Freedom Writers” – had never heard. Hillary Swank and Patrick Dempsey were the only ones that I recognized. The movie was about a school in California which is integrated – that is, all the races of people ranging from Asians, Latinos, Blacks and many more who lived by the streets amidst all the gang violence, to study in the same school. The newly appointed teacher to those guys is Ms. Erin Gruwell, played by Hillary Swank. The story focuses on how the races fight between themselves for what they think would “free” them. Erin tries hard to unite the class with her off the beaten path methods. What adds to the value of the movie is that the movie is based on a book by an author by the same name as the lead, Erin Gruwell. The movie also features a few holocaust victims who appear at a very apt spot. The movie, although revolves around the theme of racism – which I hate, didn’t annoy me. Surprisingly, it rather kept me glued. There’s nothing dramatic happening in the whole of the movie. But, the flow is never tardy.

What appealed to me the most was how the movie refreshed my mood. With all the silly disasters that I was made to deal with, suddenly vanished from my thoughts. I guess, it would have been an ordinary movie had it not been this day. If I were to recommend this to anyone, I would like to say – watch it when you have a bad day and are feeling like you are going through a lot and want a break.