Mark this Waugh

Life throws strange results at times….. kings grow humble…..millionaires become paupers…. Even the demon Bradman got a duck in his last innings….

The same can be said of Mark Edward Waugh….. After entertaing people the world over…. At the Wanderers….. M.C.G……. Sydney….Old Trafford…. And our very own Chidambaram… he finished it up in the obvlivion of Sharjah… playing at 3rd party venue.. with feeble attendance and against a feebler team…. Waugh too like Healy must be thinking he needed atleast one innings more to show that he still had runs left in him..

Well as an ardent fan I watched his last innings in tests at sharjah fully aware that I was seeing the very last of him…. Runs eluded him … but he still was Mark Waugh.. elegance being his hallmark…. The wristy flick…. How the hell??? How can he conjure up something like that?????????? What a shame it can fetch only four runs… had Keats been the scorer he wud have given him a hundred…. I can very well sense the agony the fast bowler might feel at this….. so many calories spent meeting such a spiteful end…???? Just because of a flick of wrists??? The same can be said of the cover drive….. the off drive.. the late cut…. Everything had poetry in it…. Perhaps the only batsman who could freeze time…. I have strong belief that the bowlers through sheer agony must have known this was fine art at its best….. thus giving them a strong reason to fake their agony??? Who knows they too might have enjoyed it!! Who with eisthetique wudnt??

What a pity he was always compared with Tagga…. To compare them was akin to flair vs guts… talent vs temperament… though it would be preposterous to state that.. steve after having a 50+ avg.. didn’t have talent… or Junior having got selcted 128 times didn’t have temperament… They say for junior it was always style above steel…. What rubbish??? Style wud be prevalent only for a small period of time…. But for 13yrs..style wud come definitely a distant second to steel….

To watch him was to see a Da vinci pads on….. nah I wudnt demean him.. it was mark himself… taking batsmanship to the heights of craftsmanship….
Though pseudo wise men always made attacks on him.. saying he didn’t value his wicket… but good observance shall teach ye that… at the top of the order as an opener he neednt cut and slash and slog…. He seemed unhurried … but the scorers were kept busy….
What if he never valued his wicket?? What if his avg isn’t good??? Who asked u to judge him?? Who are we to do so?? Why not take time off to watch him… just for the sheer pleasure of watching beautiful batsmanship…. A treat to senses.. can be as relaxing as a Turkish bath…..
For a person who isn’t keen on records .. he might value his 181 catches a lott… an awesome 1.5 catches per match…. And also he is supposed to have been holding the (unofficial)world record for the longest ever…. He hit Vettori out of the WACA.. onto the street….. they say the same hit at Lords would have seen the ball ascending even after clearing the media centre…

Its all over as they say…. The past is dead…. But then again.. why do they say that the ghosts of the gr8 cricketers of yore lurk in the S.C.G??? whatever it is…. One thing is assured…. Whenever , upon the beginning of the season…. The scoreboards are read at the GABBA… ull sense a hole in the middle…..

Upon loves.. crushes.. and beyond…

Incredible as it may seem or even if it may not this is definitely not the subject anyone would assoiciate me with…
I shall not dare and get into trouble by asking what love is… but on second thoughts maybe I will…..
Primarily I shall get into the intricacies of defining a crush.. why a crush, why isn’t it the same as love.. or can it be?? How come a brain (even of a kid) have an infatuation on another? Why even at a tender age…. When we aren’t actually aware of the real reasons for our existence.. maybe its quite natural .. infact as natural as any other thing…. But how is a crush different from love????
The trusth is maybe it isn’t different…. I have amused myself by getting down to a more basic analogy the theory of a biscuit and a dog.. the dog wants the bisuit…(atleast for now) itwasnts only thaaat particular biscuit…. Now presenting a whole new tray of freshly baked cookies the biscuit is forfeited for the cookies….. hence cookies representing new infatuations….
So then what is love and what is commitment??.... I have a dog over here…. That first found a biscuit interesting….. then nutricous… then attractive….. and then lucious …. And then so… on until the dog realizes that infact this biscuit gives a whole new meaning to his life…… I might dare venture out to say that the dog has mades his realizations in installments.. or maybe he hasn’t… who the hell knows what that stupid canine did…. the biscuit might be on any hill top… or at the bottom of the challenger deep….. but the dog wants it….. and he knows that there are maaaany obstacles ahead….. so many .. that he can only have a picture of the biscuit…
So why did the dog do this….. it might be an illusion to this world that the dog has after searching a long while has found a reason for his existence…. But actually if we observe carefully the dog has eventually created a meaning for his existence… yah that’s the word.. he has created.. it….
The biscuit might be anything/anyone….. if it is anything it is ok…. But if it is anyone.. then the dog is in for trouble….. assuming the biscuit has its own brain….. then the biscuit might or mightnot wanna be eaten by the dog.. or perhaps the biscuit maker doesn’t wana throw it to the dog…
So now the dog… wants to do something great that will take it into into the goodbooks of both the biscuit and the biscuit maker….. So eventually whatever he had planned for his life takes a backstage…… and what the biscuit and the baker think about the doggie positions becomes more important than what he really wanted to becum…… so what they liked???? Wazzit a sledge dog?? Was it a watch dog?? Was it a hunting dog??.. the dog was willing to do whatever it takes…..
We then have the beautiful theory of favourability which states “When u really want something.. the whole of the universe conspires to help you achieve it”…. It can be any blessed thing in this world any thing.. yah absolutely anything/anyone….. and for one to be eligible for it to apply….u just need to be true to urself ….and willing to do whatever it takes (like the cnn-ibn fellas)……. So then if the dog needs the biscuit badly enuf… the biscuit .. will atleas theoretically will change its mind…. And if the biscuit itslf wants to fall off from the table and get eaten.. can the baker really help????
But then.. if it goes otherwise…. Things are happening against the dog…. Then how does the dog eventually know when to give it all up??? And even if he does…. Is it demeaning of him?? How does he know that the biscuit is unattainable?? And if he switches to another biscuit.. realizing the present one is unattainable.. is it demeaning of him??? Wont it be a compromise?? Is it not what the most of the caninekind does??? These questions need serious attention and need to be answered by a canine psychiatrist…

We call it a marriage.. a wonderful acronym for compromise….. it wudnt be flattering if we say that 70 percent of the marriages that happen are compromises.. out of the rest 30 pc atleast 15pc are fooling themselves by thinking its not a compromise…. And hence only 15 pc actually by default lead a happy life.. with kids and all….. I don’t implicate that the the rest aren’t happy…. But they have to make a special effort to be happy.. and many do it..even if it is a make believe…. who wants to lead a miserable life?????

Love is a word that has so many forms…. So many senses… we see it daily… if a boy says “I love you to a girl” his cheeks get disfigured for a day… if a boy says same to another boy its termed a s homosexuality… why the hell??? Why is love taken always in terms of sexuality??? Why has it always got something to do with whats present between our legs… why cant we assign a broader meaning to a thing sooooo simple and so wonderful… that it has never been quantitavily measured….. no theory was ever formed… why??? U ask why??? Its becuz every one understands it so welll.. that only a jobless fella like me shall go ahead and analyse it….but I sure feel a need for it to be done…. So can love evr be generalized??? Yah itsure can.. if we make an effort…

Let us not take things for granted…. I have always had this feeling .. that wahetevr love that we have for our parents/bros/sisters/cousins/doggies anyone.. let us not think twice b4 we express it to them…. Let us not wait for tmrw. Thinking ill earn and do this and do that….and stuff.. and letus also not assume that “they anyway will know..howmuch I love them”.. what if it doesn’t happen… what if u die the next day.. u wont get to earn and show off …. Then what?? How will they ever know how much u loved them???.. have we ever thought.. how easily we react to anger?? And the awesome effort we put in to show ppl that we are angry by breaking crockery??? If we put in even half such an effort in exhibiting our love… world wud be such a beautiful place…. The word ego shall for forever become obsolete…..

Through out…. this I haven’t made a point ….. oldmen like me don’t bother making points…. However if the points decide to make themselves then I cant help it… it was a pure bleed extempore.. so forgive me if it makes somewhat less sense than what I usually make…. However ppl trying to find a motive behind this shall be doing themselves a great disservice for they shall be shot at point blank range…. Hehe.. cheerio…. Lets make life better on the third planet from the sun….

fast bowling is a feeling!!!!!

The greatestregret ive ever had in my life has been my inability to bowl fast..... curious as it may seem i had bet my whole life unto it...... If ever i had pur a quarter of an effort i put into my bowling .. in studies.... I would have excelled in academics beyond a peer (thats my belief)....
Well i started of quite a revelation... with ceratin satisfaction i may add..... Nothing in my life gave me pleasure greater pleasure than to see the rattled stumps...... It lasted like a fairy tale...... and ended like one.......Itwas on my debut match for my school agains the best in the business.... My first over got me two wickets and an applause from hundreds.....and hooror into the minds of the opponents(quite flattering ..i felt).... And at the very first ball i dislocated my shoulder.... I quite confess that i had stretched my body to the very limit..... At that moment i knew that a cricketing carrier i had waited so long ... so eagerly for.... had begun and ended on the mid summer afternoon of Friday the 14th of may 1999..... and never have i bowled since then.....
Quite a misery....But if i had my life to live all over again , i would not ask for sucess alone sweet though it is... i only wopuld ask the almighty to allow me to bowl fast once more.... Because iknow deep inside my heart ... that for those who have bowled quick ... really quick there is no comparable feeling in the world. The sudden clutch of suppressed anticipation as u mark out ur run, The hesitancy that blossoms into arrogant confidence...as from a shuffling slow start,the stride quickens....and becomes smoother...two yards from the wicket and now time to give evrything ive got. The body swiwells...left hand plucking at the clouds..right arm swinging in a deadly ever quickening arc as the batsman appears in sights over tha left shoulder..the left leg raised high..ready for the final crash...the skull shakes and the muscles of the body jar screaminglyas the fron foot thumps like a pneumatic hammer and the ball rockets its wayat the cringing batsman pursued as if by an avenging angel ...thats me.
Ah!What power there is in bowling fast!!!!! What a sensation of omnipotence......and how great is the gulf between this sublime sensation and ordinary , mundane everyday existance.....
If at all ive ever cribbed in life ..... its now.
had it not been otherwise i surely must have been the fastes vegetarian in the world!