THE MIRACLE THAT HE IS-

Beneath the helmet, under that unruly curly hair, inside the cranium, there is something we don't know, something beyond scientific measure. Something that allows him to soar, to roam a territory of sport that, forget us, even those who are gifted enough to play alongside him cannot even fathom. When he goes out to bat, people switch on their television sets and switch off their lives - BBC on Sachin Tendulkar

I'm writing this post one day after India beat New Zealand in a 2 match test series at home. I was just reading the news and I am absolutely baffled and anguished by the number of people asking this man to hang up his boots and walk off from the game he has contributed SO much to, over the last two decades. I mean seriously, are you all out of your mind? Who are we to ask him to retire or walk away? Have you played the game ever? Even if you have, have you played like him? HAve you shouldered the hopes and expectations of over a billion cricket crazy fans? Have you been as consistent and fit as he has? If you haven't, you have no right to question his ability or decision to continue playing.

Before we go any further, I want to emphasize that I don't think Sachin is GOD, I don't think he is the greatest cricketer to have ever played the game (simply because I haven't watched every generation and I can't say that unless I have seen all of them, even then I may not be knowledgable enough to make that call). Hell, he's not even my favourite-est cricketer, that would be Rahul Dravid. Then why am I so pissed about all
this news? Because you cannot, absolutely CANNOT deny his contribution to this game just like you cannot question his brilliance and amazing talent. He has been a worthy role model for many a kid. There is a Rahul Mehra, from Times Of India asking this question. "what does he get out of playing now, he has almost all the records, he won the world cup, he has scored so many centuries, what has he got left to prove"!! You NITWIT, you've touched upon the answer yourself, he has nothing left to prove, or nothing left to achieve. Yet he plays the game because he believes he can contribute further to Indian cricket. With all the legends like Dravid, Laxman retiring one after the other, have you thought of the consequences if Sachin were to retire now? This was New Zealand, who don't have extraordinary bowling or batting. Next to come will be England followed by Australia and I don't think your 'youngsters' alone are going to be able to handle that. If you give me shit like he's playing for money, one SLAP on your face is all you will get. What money does he not have that he will possibly get out of putting his body through more torture. Give him a break. The man is almost 40, and cricket requires training hard, he is not going to put himself through that kind of physical stress for nothing. So instead of yelling for him to leave, sit back and enjoy while he still plays because when he does decide to retire (which is not too far away), you are going to miss him, Indian cricket will miss him and world cricket will say goodbye to one of their most precious gems.

As Mathew Hayden put it -

His life seems to be a stillness in a frantic world... [When he goes out to bat], it is beyond chaos - it is a frantic appeal by a nation to one man.

The chaos WILL come to an end one day. It will be a sad day because you are never going to find someone to fill the void that he is going to leave. So until that dreaded day arrives, let him be. Your Sharmas, Tiwaris and Rahanes can wait. Of all the people that have been unceremoniously kicked out, at least this man deserves to go out on his own terms!

TIRED and CRABBY

Working and studying simultaneously has to be the worst thing on the planet. Bleh. Sitting through a lecture now trying very hard to keep my eyes open. CANNOT understand a word of what my professor is saying. Panic is happening. Bleh

Theory of Relativity?

How is it that weekends go by so fast even when you are not doing ANYTHING fun.. (like you know even when your absolutely bored to death)
As for the weekdays - well, every second seems like an hour.  And yet, when I have tons of work to do, time seems to be in a hurry on weekdays too. 

The 'friendly' Golden Retriever

Rewind --
 I must have been 7 or 8 years old. Cinika and I played in front of 'F' block on a lazy Sunday evening as we normally did. From far off, we could see a dog running towards where we were playing. We looked around hoping to see someone older who could rescue us if there was a need, but there was no one in sight. I was a tall kid back then too, but not big enough to handle a dog. As the wretched animal got closer, we saw it grow in size and it seemed to be coming faster encouraged by the fear on our faces. It took us two minutes, but soon we were screaming and running in opposite directions. Now obviously the dog took off too and unfortunately for me, it decided to let her go and take me on instead. I was absolutely petrified, I yelled as loudly as I could while I ran for my life.The tears began to flow. I don' remember how long this running and chasing happened. I must have been quite fast because it never caught up with me to bite. I vaguely remember getting saved by some random uncle on the road after what seemed like an eternity. He chased the dog away, made me sit down and waited for my crying to subside. When I was done, he told me never to run from a dog and that if I was too afraid of it when it came near me, all I had to do was 'shoo' it away. I went back home wiser, but more afraid.

Back in the Present --

CYNOPHOBIA??

I always feared dogs, but I realized that it was much worse than just fear yesterday. Singapore is not a country I love, but I have many nice things to say about this place, one of it being the absence of stray dogs on the road. Having been here for a year, I have gotten used to tame well behaved dogs being walked by their owners. Of course, I never dared to go closer than was necessary, but that is not the point. Last evening as I stepped out of my room to go out, I saw this big furry creature run out at me from the lobby. I panicked, my heart was beating so fast I thought it would burst open spilling blood everywhere. I tried to ignore it, after all dogs are well behaved in this country. But no, not this one. He ran straight at me, beige in color, apparently a golden retriever ( as I found out later, but I couldn't care lesser). When he was within inches from me, as I saw no responsible owner, it felt like I was 7 again, I started to run. Maybe I have gotten slow over the years,this time the stupid dog did catch up and though he did not bite, he kept running around my legs and trying to reach up to my hand ( No, I did not have any food). I wanted to scream, but it seemed like I had lost my voice. I remembered the wisdom I had acquired as a young kid, I tried to 'shoo' him away. But my feeble 'shoos' were not enough to scare the big boy. Then suddenly I found my voice and I screamed, screamed so loud, but once again there was not a soul who could do anything. I started to cry again, I could not breathe properly, it was the most awful feeling in the world. The dog had not left me yet, it was still there rubbing its stupid nose and fur on my legs unperturbed by the screaming and racket I was causing. Then a friend came to my rescue and tried to calm me as he asked some random person to lead the dog away. I sobbed for 15 minutes afterwards. Not a thing has changed in 15 years,I complained to the manager her and she told me it was a friendly dog and that it came by on Saturdays. I don't care if its friendly, I don't care who it belongs to, just don't ever bring it in front of me again.

Thee rat race that this life is- A man's thoughts

What is this life full of care, with no time to stand and stare..Such a simple line, yet so powerful in meaning. I sit down and ask myself...how long will this battle last, how long will I strive to attain what I am looking for. But then again, what is it that I am looking for? Is it money, not quite. Perhaps it is fame. Not so much. Recognition then? No.. I just want to live my life.
It is not as easy as it sounds. This life that I live, its a constant race. A race against time, a battle among peers. There is so much to see, yet I lose it all as I focus on my goal. The goal that is supposed to give me happiness.. Is it worth all this, I ask myself.
Those famous words, "Do not rest on your laurels".Ah, I diligently followed and in doing so, I forgot to savour those sweet moments of success. I may attain my unknown goal someday. But I am afraid that when the day comes, I will have forgotten how to feel happy.
The emotions lost, the soul in me dead. I realise I do not want to get anywhere. I want no goal."Just let me live my life", I want to scream! In the present, for the moment. Let me breathe and live everyday like it was my last day on this planet. Today is the day, now is the time and this is the place to relish it all

Ze T Nagar Experience

So yes, it was a hot hot Saturday like it always is in Chennai. I decided to spend the morning out on the streets of T Nagar doing some useful shopping. I boarded a bus and reached my destination at 9.30 am. The sun was just starting to get up in the sky and it was very humid. I looked around at the place in awe. I had always gone there with dad on his bike. This was my first time alone and I had to figure out the way amidst a hundred shops that looked the same to me. I walked on looking more confident than i felt. The aroma of flowers wafted in the air ( there were a lot of shops that sold garlands on my left ). I am not sure if i liked it, I was trying to focus on not losing my way. I passed GLOBUS and I felt slightly assured that I was heading in the right direction. And as expected,I reached the place I was searching for soon. I will not name the shop here, because I don't have too many nice things to say about it.

As a matter of fact, I have quite a few nasty things to say about their service! Firstly, these huge shops are supposed to have good sales people. I have only come across two kinds so far. One that constantly follow us around ( as if we were going to steal something ) and another that shouts at you for trying on too many clothes. I had a horrible experience in this shop ( probably my worst till date ). The sales women were constantly hovering around and being deliberately unhelpful. I had half a mind to yell at them, but then decided it wasn't worth the scene that it would create. For crying out loud, that is their only job. They may hate their jobs, and they may have a bad morning, but it is their job, they get paid for that. I am not saying wear a stupid smile and call everyone sir/madam. All I am asking is for them to be polite. And apparently that is asking for too much. After an hour, I gave up and walked out, wallet full and bag empty. I had not bought anything.

I was annoyed and frustrated. I needed to let that out of my system. I shifted my attention to the roadside shops. I have been encouraged to never buy anything at those places, but I was in 'what the hell' mood. I went in and to my surprise, the shopkeeper was incredibly helpful. He showed me a pile of 300 t shirts and said, 'Look through it madam, take anything that you like. It doesnt matter if its a mess when your done, take your time.' And the best part, he did not stand behind me and watch while I searched. He went about doing his work. He may have been secretly watching out of the corner of his eye, but he didn't make it obvious and hence, I was a lot more comfortable looking through the pile. After about 15 minutes, I was walking out of the shop satisfied with my buy!

You can argue with me saying that he needed to do this to get the sales up in his shop, but you know, I don't care. These big shops need to send their sales representatives to him and get them trained. They have a long way to go in terms of customer service. All said and done, my T Nagar experience wasn't nearly as disastrous as it first seemed, but I don't think I want to go back there to shop for a while. Time to explore other places....

The love-hate relationships

I have exactly 50 minutes to bathe and run off to class. So why am I sitting here and writing this. Ah, I realized that a mind so heavy is not good for my health. The last one week has been really strange. Everything that I have worked so hard to stay away from has come back to haunt me and I have the strange feeling that it's not over yet. Funny Question: Does it really matter if some girl is seeing someone but not telling her friends about it? Is it really that bad a thing as it was made to be? Of course, it is another thing that it might not be true at all. But wait, we aren't speculating about strangers here, they are supposed to be best friends. You know the type to laugh together and cry together and miss each other and all. As a silent spectator, I used to smile at all this. But now, as I stand, ready to leave this place and fly away, I wonder if the fight they are having is really worth it. I have never understood this bit of friendship. Is it all just about celebrating birthdays, sitting together and eating in the canteen? Isn't there something beyond it at all? Atleast among themselves... This might sound old, but is it so hard to say sorry to somebody who apparently means a lot to you. Watching this from the point of view of an outsider ( not like I was in the thick of things at any point of time anyway), it seems so dumb. I wonder how they even called themselves friends.Whatever maybe the reason, now is not the time to fight and ignore one another. Now is the time to sit and talk and sort out. Be honest, not just to others, but to themselves. Its not really difficult. I wish I could go and tell them, but they wouldn't listen. I hope they sort it out. The world could really do with lesser hate..