A lyrical Masterpiece - Saagavaram

I have been resisting the temptation to post about the greatness of  Uthama Villian Songs particularly after several people accused me of being biased. However, I have ceased controlling the temptation simply because of  'Saagavaram' song. I am not sure whether any of you had the chance to listen to it. After listening (several times) to the song 'Saagavaram', something struck me and I found out today that this song is a masterpiece. I am not talking the music ( I know very little about music) , but the lyrics...  

To just give everybody a background, this song (i think) is being rendered by a theatre artist (who unfortunately has avoided death 5 times) to his king (who is adamant on being immortal) about life, death, rebirth and why immortality is a much worser situation than death. The lyrics are deep.. Very deep..I have tried to translate/give my views whereever possible. 

Saagaavaram pol sogam undo Kelai manna (kelai manna)...

Theeraa kadhaiyai ketpaar un do Kelai manna (kelai manna)....

[Is there a bigger sadness than having a boon to not be able to die ?

 Is there anyone who wishes to listen to an everlasting story ?]

Kaniyar kanitha kanakku padi naam kaanam ulagidhu vatta pandham (Oooo..)vatta pandham(Oooo..)

vatta pandhai vattamadikkum mattra pandhum pogum maande...

[ As per mathematicians's and scientist's , this earth is a round ball.. 

  The round balls (read other planets/satelites) that rotate this ball(earth) will perish one day]

Maala oliyaam nyayirum kooda matror yugathil pogum karindhe

Karindhe erindhum veditha pinnum udikkum kulambil uyirgal mulaikkum

[Even the Sun (which is thought to have constant source of light} will perish one day in a different yuga..

 However, life will emerge out of the debris of the burnt and destroyed sun (a la Big Bang theory)]

Mulaithu murikum thulirkum vaazhai thaan maranathuku ulle vetihadhu vidhayai 

[Even the plaintain plant provides for a seed of life when it dies]

Vidhaithidum unnai pol oru uyirai uyirthu vilangum en kavidhai vilangum kavidhai vilangum(Oooo..)

Vilangi pulangidum vamsam vaazha vaazhum naalil kadamai seiyya

seiyul pol oru kaadhal vendum Kaadhal vendum (seiyul pol oru )Kaadhal vendum (seiyul pol oru )

Vendiyathellam vaitha oruvan..saavayum vendi setha kadhaigal aayiram undu

[Self explanatory]

Its not over yet.. To give meaning and context to the song, even the lyrics are written in such a manner that the last word of the every sentence is the first word of the next sentence (i have highlighted by making the relevant words in 'bold') thus possibly bringing the meaning that every 'end'(death) has a 'beginning'(birth).. and every beginning has an end.. 

What lyrics !!! - 

SALUTE

P.S. - I am no Tamil Scholar..  I am just a fan of pure awesomeness. 

An ode to the greatest draw and to the romance of test cricket

Dedicated to : 

The lovers of Test Cricket.

Preface: 

This is 'heavily inspired' by several poems written earlier on cricket. (and by 'heavily inspired' - You should have got the message.. :P ). Also, Kindly apologize me for my basic English errors and also for putting something as an ode without using rhyming words.(Frankly, I did not get many).

An ode to the greatest draw and to the romance of test cricket  

  

There was a breathless hush in the Close tonight –

Sixteen to make and the match to win –

A bumping pitch and a blinding light,

3 overs to play and the bowlers in.

The wild bowler thought he must bowl short,

The batsman thought he must not be bowled,

They knew that, if they both fail,

Their team shall perish unconsoled.

They all would have  mourned if the game had a different result,

The batsman and the bat, the bowler and the ball, the umpire, the pavilion clock, 

The roller, pitch, and stumps, and all.

And hence the result in the end was fair.. But before that we did see..

The joy that reigned in the Pavilion,

And gladness amongst their clan

While thousands breathed good wishes round the bull ring;

Admirers dubbed the youngsters

As respective go to men;

In ABD's, Pujara's and Kohli's play they saw the genuine ring.

It was well worth spending time to see

Illustrious Zak's smile,

Also when Ishant, Shami and Vernon

zipped the ball with style .

Block, block, block

At the foot of thy wicket, O Faf Du!

And I would not let my tongue utter the word

boredom. You were in the Zone!

Greatest Draw ??

So hopeless the bowlers became, my boy,

With each ball the way you play!

Oh, nice for yourself, I suppose,

That you stick at the wicket all day!

And the clock's slow hands go on,

And you still keep up ye sticks;

Block, block, block,

At the foot of thy wicket, Of Faf Du!

Just 10 more minutes in the middle of Bull Ring! 

You would have been a bigger Superstar!

               

 Not surprising that one of ye coaching staff is a master in getting run-out!

 They still taunt him at the bar, They still shout.. " Run Allan Run", 

 Was tempted did I like others today to call out.. " Run Vernon Run". 

Sadly, the decision had already been made :( 

                         

 But oh! did we see a lift of a smiting hand ?  And the sound of a swipe for six ?

 The answer is we did from Dale,

 But as Jackman put it.. they were timid during the end,

 It was a far too late and it ended up as a drawn tale !!!

 What a match.. We must celebrate this great game..

 and Play up ! play up ! and play the game !

P.S. - In my humble opinion, this SA vs India test match at the bull ring was one of the best test matches I have ever seen and without doubt the best drawn game I have seen. It was not great just because it ended up being very close contest but because of many other reasons including the fact this match was played with very good spirit (unlike a series that's been happening down under) but fiercely competitive. I think that the cricket that we saw was of the highest quality and both teams raised their level and tried out-thinking the other team every over, every ball. This will go down in history as one of the greatest games ever played. A great advertisement for the game. The real game. Love you Test Cricket. 

Turn to Chapter 1 , Page 4 , Para 3...

I am made to seriously lament my lack of decent articulation skills for two consecutive posts now. This is because when I want to write about The Rahul Dravid , my vocabulary seems to be very limited and I have a fear that I may end up not expressing who HE was and what HE truly epitomizes. More so because , every time during this past month when I sit down to write about him , I would stumble upon truck load of 'tributes' written by journalists , commentators , fellow players etc.(I read all of them and I found Rohit Brijnath's and Vijetha's tribute to be the best).

I can probably understand why there was/is an overdose of Dravid during the past month.I think, when Dravid's retirement came, people suddenly felt guilty that somewhere down the line they have failed to recognize his contribution.In a way, people redeemed their guiltiness by being part of Dravid's farewell through media/FB/twitter.(This yours truly post is also an attempt to wipe off some guiltiness).But hey.. quite frankly , the man deserves this overdose and I certainly dont mind it.

That trademark forward defense that is etched in the minds of cricket lovers.... 

There were two ominous signs in 2011 before the Australian Tour that said to a lot of us that Dravid's end is nearer.One,he was dropping a lot more than he held.(As Vijetha pointed out,he himself hated it). Dravid takes his catching seriously and has set high standards.The reflex you associate with him began to fade.(As a kid , I used to imitate his famous reflex swivel at silly point to avoid a cut shot being hit at him.)

Second is that he began to show something that we would not normally associate with him.For the first time we could see Dravid's ego coming to the forefront. It happened right throughout the press conferences at England when he scored those centuries. There was a certain high headedness and a tone of arrogance and anger (which I admit is totally normal and understandable but could have been avoided). Sadly that continued in his Bradman oration too. Quotes like "He (BRADMAN)was, primarily, like me, a No.3 batsman. It is a tough, tough job. We're the ones who make life easier for the kings (Read SACHIN) of batting, the middle order that follows us.".Very true but this also could have been avoided. However that should not take away the quality of that speech. The way he subtly took a dig at all the critics of BCCI and IPL should be appreciated... Many felt until that Bradman oration, his bat did the talking...

The most painful sight in cricket is to watch a legend struggle. He was the best 'leaver' of the ball I know. He was always sure of his off stump...He could always read the swing on the ball.. But.. everything just vanished from him one australian summer morning.. And then the inevitable came.. his decision to retire and many of us felt that the timing of that to be perfect. The Australian tour has been inexplicable for many reasons and Dravid and Laxman’s failure is surely surprising.

Frankly many of us (I certainly) hated him simply because he was text book. He was conventional. One look at Rahul Dravid , and you know whatever field he entered, he would have been amongst the best.. If he had been into medicine , he would have been among the best doctors in this country.. If he had been into other sports , he would have equally achieved greatness. If you had asked him to do CA, he would have cleared it with a Rank. And that's precisely why we hate him. He was the 'samathu payan' we all don’t want to be.(And I am particularly very averse to samathu payans). We cannot imagine him being a sport. He would not have played pranks on anyone in his early days. Yes... And At school, He would have been his teacher's favorite student..(In my opinion, to be a teacher's favorite student is the worst attribute one can have). And to add to all that , this guy was the smartest around.(Certain kind of jealousy creeps in). If only he was a bit of the explosive type he would have upstaged Sachin Tendulkar as the poster boy of Indian Cricket overnight.I remember me and my friends discussing the James Anderson Vs Rahul Dravid spells on FB.(Personally I felt their duel last summer was the best test cricket I had seen for a long time. Both were playing chess against each other.) That was when a non male member of the human species entered the discussion and the topic eventually digressed to their looks.I admit both Dravid and Anderson give doubts to even men on their straightness but what is important is we must all ensure that they both are remembered only for cricketing reasons.

I explained why I hated him. Let me tell you why I loved him.He was one cricketer who maximized his skills to the most.As Laloo Prasad Yadav once put it , he did not milk the cow but cowed the milk.He was completely aware of his strengths. His patience was his strength. He could wait for an hour for that one loose ball to be put away.I remember an ODI against Kenya during 1997 when he struggled to get off.All his shots found the fielders. He just could not accelerate nor could he get out... And after that match he was dropped from the ODI team. He went back to chinnaswamy... He worked on his placement.. He worked on his strike rate..He put in the effort.. He worked for hours...He came back to the ODI side.. He played the 1999 World Cup.. He just did not play.. He was the highest run getter in 1999 World Cup. That says about the man..This friends,is purely the triumph of human will power.

He has played some fantastic ODI innings.One of my favorite amongst those was the innings he played at Bristol in 2007 Vs England. The track was a belter. Sachin scored 99 and had left. Dravid was there with Dhoni for the last 10 overs. A player of the classical mode and as someone who was accused of wasting balls in his early days, he proved all critics wrong as he kept square driving the bowlers(particularly Broad) through point and one particular square drive(of anderson)actually went for a six over point. That was the first and last time I saw someone scoring a six with a square drive!.During the press conference, he humbly said 'it was one of those days'. He still holds the record(along with Agarkar)for the fastest fifty by an Indian(21 balls).We could clearly see the effort he had put in.

So.. what was Dravid's greatest test innings ?

I would certainly rate his 3 centuries now at England among the best I have seen. His 180 with Laxman changed Indian Cricket forever.His innings at leeds in 2002 along with Sanjay Bangar is one of the best test match batting partnerships I have seen.(That without doubt would certainly be Sanjay Bangar's best).His double century at pakistan in 2004 has special historical significance.His 2 fifty's at Jamaica are rated amongst the best innings that were not converted into centuries.I was too young to remember his first century at SA.People rate it high.(Infact I dont remember that innings).His exploits at adelaide in early 2003 is test batting at its best. It was near miracle innings. My favorite would be that.

The problem with Rahul Dravid's innings is that the highlights package wont show you his class. That is because watching Sachin attack gives us Joy.., Watching Laxman's wrists gives us Goosebumps.., Watching Dravid leave the ball gave us assurance , Watching him defend , gave us reassurance... Sadly his 'defence' and 'leaves' will not be part of any highlights package. As Anil Kumble put it , he gave such an assurance that the batsman at the other end would take that extra risk.Since Dravid was at the other end, a Tendulkar or Ganguly would play/ are allowed to play that one indiscrete shot (and this would be part of the highlights package).That for me is working as a team.. For him the team came to the forefront.He declared when Sachin was on 194..(That is also probably the only controversy in his entire career.). He kept and opened even though he did not like it.

We will miss you champ.. We have all been watching and enjoying the way you check your shoulder...Your stance.. Your sweat…Your straight elbow..The way you would hunch on your front foot and then the how your body would bounce as if it had hit a trampoline and the way you would quickly balance of your back foot which would make way for your bat to create an arc for that beautiful square cut of yours...

It is important that India stops searching for next Rahul Dravid.That would be very unfair on the person who is going to occupy no.3. For Dravid will be the greatest No.3 in my books. Next person will simply be the next person.It is important for the Kohli's and Rahane's to understand that they cannot and should not replicate Dravid's style. They have to be themselves...

It wouldn't be a surprise if Dravid releases an autobiography. Can't be sure whether it would be sans controversy, but I am sure among other things it will have its share of good humour. From his columns and prepared speeches , we now know Dravid is a good writer.Probably good is an understatement...

I will be there on April 21 at MAC just for you... Here's hoping that part of your swansong lasts a little longer that evening...

Paaji and Life Lessons..

Even though this post is about Sachin Tendulkar , it is substantially in its entirety not about cricket!.This post will take a good 15 minutes of your time.Its because I am going to take you to the other side of this great man. The Reason why Sachin became Paaji/GOD.(Well Paaji is his nickname..Yuvraj supposedly calls him Grandpaji. The real fact is Sachin is more fit than Yuvraj at the moment!)I am going to be helped by Harsha Bhogle through one of his unofficial video.

So lets begin..

This a video of Harsha Bhogle (An IIM Alumnus himself) addressing a group of IIM students.The date of this video is some time in 2007 , when an article in some crap newspaper (an equivalent of Headlines Today in print media) had the title "Sachin 'END'ULKAR ".They had said it was the end. The light had faded.Even the greatest of greatest fans of Sachin had let him down during those 12 months . That was a period where he did not perform like Sachin everyone knew. He had been 'booed' at Wankhede ! His home ground. And Harsha Spoke ... ( At the end of it , I am sure ,you would have a lump in your throat.)




Inga enna solluthu... Sachin Sachin Sollutha ...??

Some noteworthy points.

* Sachin was and is extremely confident.He had never had doubt in his abilities.If you are confident, half the battle is already won.A life lesson indeed.

* Sachin loves cricket.That means he loves his profession.Hence he gives his best.Love your profession or choose the profession you love.Easier said than done.

*One of the biggest truths. Sachin is talented all right. But he is not extremely talented like Yuvraj or for that matter his friend Vinod Kambli.Sachin stands apart because Sachin possesses the temperament unlike the other two. Talent and Temperament always do not go with each other. But when they do... It creates magic.

*Sachin knows his limitations and about others too. He does. He did not have runner during the world cup.! Even though the answer he gave may convince some , The real answer actually is "The runner would not know how I have hit the ball , and since it was Sourav Ganguly who had come on to the field as runner, the probability of him knowing is very very less.. and hence I did not have a runner.".. Sachin does not talk about the inabilities of his team mates and hence he omitted the Ganguly part and referred Michael Schumacher instead... Hahaha.. Wonder why Harsha and Ravi could not understand.

*The thing about Ravi Shastri.Maximize what GOD gave you. You may not be extremely brilliant and talented , but maximize whatever you have. Sachin has.Ravi has. If only some one like Yuvraj realises this.Its not always about ability. Its about doing justice to it.

*'Allow yourself to think that you can do it. You might actually do it.'To make Sanjay Manjerakar realise something is a task.Sanjay Manjerakar in my opinion should not have played for India at all. He was pathetic.( similar to his commentary).He and Ramiz Raja make a good nonsensical pair on television.Even Doordarshan's hindi documentary..oops..commentary is better.

*Sometimes..even after giving everything,even after planning extremely well, things might not go your way. Who better than Sachin to be an example for this. The failures (even though he is blamed) is not his fault at all. The reason why Sachin hit the second boundary of Glenn Mcgrath.!We know now , what Sachin spoke during the team meeting in the break.We do not know what Mcgrath had planned. However there was a high probability of Mcgrath being unsettled. That has happened before. It did not happen that day.On March the 1st 2003 , he had unsettled Wasim Akram , Shoaib Akhtar and Waqar Younis. Mcgrath could have been unsettled. No one else really believed that one could actually chase except Sachin.

"In every organisation , there are officially designated leaders and people who by their actions makes others to look upto them as leaders". How true!. (Even though he is very mean to Sourav Ganguly , that day Virender Sehwag or Ganguly could have taken the responsibility to knock Mcgrath. They did not.We Lost)

*'Sachin averaged 91.5 last year.. Instead of saying Wow , we are saying he has not reached double figures in eight out of 15 innings.His mean is still high.Unfortunately his Standard Deviation is also high.'(Ha.. Standard Deviation is a Measure of Risk..! Yes.. Risk of Sachin Tendulkar being referred as Sachin 'End'ulkar.)

HE Bounced Back.. After that lull phase , he hit purple patch and we know how.

Sachin will fall from his stratospheric heights once again. He will still be good.Please dont say its his end when that happens.This person is extremely committed.(It really hurts when someone questions the commitment factor. It really does.) A person such as Sachin must have a world cup medal with him. Give him the greatest gift he yearns for. A World Cup Victory. The team must realise this. Win it for him. Win it for the greatest match winner.

As Harsha Says.. Give Geniuses their due.. They understand their game better than others. Dont ask him to retire..

There is none who is eligible to receive the baton from him yet...!

P.S.
This is my 99th post in this blog.Its been nearly 5 years.The number 99 is very relevant to Sachin.Knowing him , Even though he has most centuries , he would give all his centuries in exchange for a World Cup Medal. This 99 is to highlight he is not after centuries. Nor am I .

The Rajini Fan in me...

Being an ardent Kamal Devotee..(I have replaced the word 'Fan' with the word 'devotee' long back).. everyone expects me to be a Rajini hater. Well not surprisingly..I hate Rajini Movies.. However.. There are some movies/scenes in which I have completely adored the actor Rajini. Please watch this scene from the movie Johnny.WOW...!!! (In my opinion one of the best scenes in Indian Cinema).



Are you SpellBound..?? Well you must.. Everytime I watch this scene , I get goosebumps.There is magic in this scene.There's a distance between the couples but there exists a 'chemistry' too.( Well for all those dance shows..Pl watch.. This is chemistry..)..

Many things contribute to the Magic in this scene..

a) Music by Illayaraja.
b) Performance of Sridevi.(especially.. when she says.."naan appadithan pesuven").
c) Mahendran's Direction.
d) Dialogues.
e) They lead pair do not touch each other..

For me the highlight about this scene is the acting of Rajini. (The expression of 'not being comfortable' and the way he brings out the uneasiness with Sridevi besides him is simply Top class..!)

Rajini .. Take a bow..!!

Well Rajini's acting ability can never be doubted.However we all know what choice he made later in his career.

Myself = LHS , Maths = RHS .. LHS ≠ RHS .. QED

My relationship with mathematics can be compared to a broken relationship between two lovers of whom one was genuine.

In my case , I must admit that I have not been genuine. However like most Human Beings I will shift the blame to the other person.I will re draft the above sentence.

I was not genuine with Maths because Maths was not genuine with me. (As simple as it is!)

I was good at maths once upon a time.. I was seriously good during my primary. Do not laugh. I consider primary mathematics much more logical and tougher than the bull shit they teach as maths at the secondary and senior secondary level.

I'll Explain.

I had and still have problems with only four topics in mathematics.( Tat too only at senior secondary level).

1. Algebra.
2. Trigonometry.
3. Differential Calculus.
4. Integral Calculus.

(Though some may say that the entire maths syllabus is the above four topics ).

Lets first take Algebra for example.

No Book , No Teacher during my school days said to me that Algebra is actually simple geometry!!!. It took 3 years after schooling to actually understand (though accidentally ! ) that algebra was in fact an extension of basic geometry.

How many of you know that Algebra is actually a branch of mathematics concerning the study of structure, relation, and quantity.(Structure , Relation and Quantity is basically part of Geometry).

Did anyone explain to me
a) What is Structure ?
b) What is Relation ?
c) What is quantity ?

All that they wanted me to know was (a+b)^2= a^2 +b^2 + 2ab

I Knew it . But Did I Learn it ?.NO.


Next is Trigonometry.


Trigonometry is supposed to be the simplest of all subjects.
My friend said to me (after the exam, when everything was over) that Trigonometry deals only with Triangles , nothing else and it is in fact easy.

The less said about the way I was taught trigonometry , the better.

My Physics teacher during class 9 , Mrs Tanuja Krishnan wanted her students to wish her every day not by saying Good Morning but by saying .

0 1 0 1/2 root3/2 1/root3 1/root2 1/root2 1 root3/2 1/2 root3 1 0 infinity.

The above are the SIN , COS , TAN Values of 0 , 30 , 45 , 60 and 90 degrees.

I Knew it . I Still Remember it . But Did I Learn it? NO.


Next is Differential Calculus.

I wont blame the way it was taught to me. However I still find it illogical.

According to Wikipedia , Differential calculus, a field in mathematics, is the study of how functions change when their inputs change. The primary object of study in differential calculus is the derivative. A closely related notion is the differential. The derivative of a function at a chosen input value describes the behavior of the function near that input value.The process of finding a derivative is called differentiation.

The Best and favorite part of differential calculus is The First Principles. It tells us how a element gets its differential value. But it is hardly dealt with in class.How to approach a solution was only taught and that too using some weird assumptions. The moment assumptions come , the subject loses its charm . I lost it completely.

Sin X becomes Cos X. But Cos X becomes -SinX. Its weird. I was too lazy to find out why.

The similar thing happened with Integral calculus. I Never understood it because , I never understood what Differentiation was. I never understood differentiation because , I never understood what limits and continuity were. I never understood limits and continuity because I never understood what a function was.The list goes on and on..

So as far as Calculus goes ..

I Never Knew it . I Never Learnt it. I Will Never learn it.

Some of the other things that drew me away from maths are the following.

--> People have tried teaching me maths. No one succeeded.
--> Its not a self study subject too. Oru dashum puriyaadu.
--> One topic can knock you down. Like Complex Numbers in Class XI.
--> You easily forget.
--> It requires brains .. sorry .. I have got none..
--> It requires Patience.. Never have I had it.
--> I went to tuition classes.( It was like Operation Successful , Patient Died )
I understood but I was stripped of my confidence.

I only scored 59 out of 100 in my Class XII Maths Paper. I am Proud of it. I only know the kind of effort gone into getting that mark.

Somebody asked me during my school days as to why I had developed some kind of 'Love-Hate' Relationship with Mathematics. I was quick to correct him .
Between Maths and Myself its always only 'Hate' relationship. And...

It will remain to be so.