Sunday, May 30, 2010

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 .

Friday, November 13, 2009

Ananya Swaminathan from Mylapore...huh? ..

Its time for Chetan Bhagat fans to cheer. Chetan Bhagat is back to his 'Five Point Someone' Form. I did not like his 'Three Mistakes of My Life.'(I personally thought writing that book was the 'Fourth' Mistake of His Life). Now... Chetan Bhagat offers an happy ending 'Ek Duje Ke Liye'.(and no..this one is not his 'FIFTH' Mistake.)

The Story(There is little story and lots of exaggeration)of Miss Ananya Swaminathan becoming Mrs.Krish Malhotra.

The Girl is pretty and is a Tamil Brahmin from Mylapore. (This was my first motivation to read this book.Somehow 'Prettygirl Mylapore' sounds to me like an oxymoron.).She is Intelligent(Intelligent girl a?.. that too from Mylapore..a!!?.Believe me.. I have stayed in Mylapore for nearly 2 decades ... It happens only in fiction...) and she is in IIM A. The boy is from Punjab and he also gets stuck up in IIM A.

What to expect next...?

They Love.They Make Love.They want to marry.They want their parents to accept & they do not.He opts for a job in Chennai to woo her parents.He takes tuitons for his brother,arranges for a music concert for her mother and prepares power point presentations for her father.

& They Agree...

Now the couple come to Punjab to woo 'His' parents.She solves a marriage crisis in his family in a smart way and wins over HIS relatives.

& His mother Agrees..

Both parents do not like each other due to cultural differences.She feels His mother insulted her parents.She parts ways with him.(How easy..??).

& He gets mentally disturbed.

As expected his Father makes a twist in the end ,& they end up marrying(In Tamil Brahmin Style)

& She Deliver's TWINS two years hence...
...

Nothing new story wise.(We have seen this in all our movies).BTW who wants story in a Chetan Bhagat Book.?

Here is an Indian Novel writer who does not have a 'Story', who is not 'literary' in the real sense of the word.However..HE does have his 'First Person' Narrative ,the
'One Liners' and a huge dose of Raw "'AAAAAAAAdult'erated" humour content to win over the readers.

We were all waiting for the 'One Liners' that he gave us in 'Five Point Someone'.
He does not disappoint this time. In fact some of them are Terrific !.Wow.. Here are some excerpts !

--> "Why wud any guy want to be friends with a girl? It's like agreeing to be near a Chocolate cake & never eat it. It's like sitting in a racing car but not driving it. Only wimps do that."

-->'Baby, I'm sleepy', she said, trying to pull me back into bed.
'My landlord is here', I said. She didn't respond even though i shook her maniacally.
'Your appa is outside', I said.
She sprang up on the bed. 'What?'

--> This is the Introduction of Ananya.

'I stole a sideways glance -- definitely above average. Actually, well above average. In fact, outlier by IIM-A standards. '
'Ananya Swaminathan -- best girl in the fresher batch,' seniors had already anointed her on the dorm board. We had only twenty girls in a batch of two hundred. Good-looking ones were rare; girls don't get selected to IIM for their looks. They get in because they can solve mathematical problems faster than 99.9 percent of India's population and crack the CAT. Girls like Ananya, if and when they arrive by freak chance, become instant pin-ups in our testosterone-charged, estrogen-starved campus.)

-->Krish:My father never smiled through his wedding.
Ananya:How could he?.He was marrying your mother.

--> Conversation between Manju & Krish. (Manju is Ananya's younger brother for whom Krish takes tuitions).

Manju: "Krish Bhai.. Can something bad happen if you watch blue films?'
Krish: 'If you just watch them?'
Manju: 'Just watching....and' hesitantly,'and if you do something else afterwards.'.
Krish: 'Why dont you ask your Appa?'
Manju: 'Aiyo, what are you saying?".
Krish: 'You could become blind'-with a serious face.
Manju: 'Really'?

-->"Its amazing how in love the vulnerability initially lies with the boys and it gets transformed immediately to girls after the moment they had sex".

-->When Ananya says Krish of how she got she rid of Harish(Her to be Fiancee)

Ananya:He hinted at my virginity...
krish: Wat did u say?
Ananya: if there was an entrance for virginity test, u can be sure I would never top it!!

-->
'You are from two different states, right? so, what will be their state?" the nurse said and chuckled."." They'll be from a state called India, " I said.

-->
Krish:'If all young people marry outside their community,it is good for the country.That is the great purpose'.
Ananya: "oh,so the reason you sleep with me is for the sake of your country?"

-->" It is fascinating to see a sardar-ji speak in Tamil.LIKE SUN TV'S MERGER WITH ALPHA TV"

--> After the Scene at Rathna Stores T Nagar.
Krish:'You shoudn't have kissed me there.why did u do it??
Ananya: Because I couldn't help it,you are irresistible sometimes'.
Alright Mrs swaminathan if your daughter can't resist me,there is no way you can either.

-->Pretty Girls behave best when you ignore them (Of course, they have to know you are ignoring them, for otherwise,they may not even know you exist).

-->She looked at me. "Can you eat this?" she wanted to know. "Try it." I took a spoonful of sambhar. Warm and salty, not gourmet stuff, but edible in a no-choice kind of way. I could eat it for lunch; I had stayed in a hostel for four years.
However, I saw her face, now prettier with a hint of pink. I compared her to the fifty-year-old mess worker. He wore a lungi and had visible grey hair on his chest.
"It's disgusting," I said. When in doubt, the pretty girl is always right.

.....
Chetan Bhagat probably will never win a 'Booker' Prize. However he is making people who do not read novels read them and thats an achievement.

You'll surely enjoy this book if :
-->You are from Chennai (though you have to digest some racist attacks)
&
Even more if :
-->You are from Mylapore.
&
Much more if:
-->You are a Brahmin.

&

I am all Three.

Sunday, October 25, 2009

Awesome Threesome..

"Hey.. adhu engalluku reserved"..

Kumar was referring to himself ,Vinod & Vignesh. They were the last benchers in my class( Plus one & Plus two). They simply would not let anyone else occupy those positions.The 'havoc' they created during school days were truly amazing.

Vinod was the shortest among the three. His favorite teacher was MKG (physics) though he had never attended her class. The fights between MKG & Vinod rite in the middle of the corridor would evoke instant laughter.Like this one..
MKG:- Why are you in colour dress?
Vinod:- What bothers u ?
MKG :- Ippadi pesina , Seeviduven..
Vinod:- Naan kuda thaan seeviduven... He took out a small comb from his pocket and started combing his hair... (You must have seen MKG's Face..)

I still remember his birthday during class XII.Kumar , Myself and Vinod were late to school. The prayer had already began.After the prayer , the PT master Mr JD(His name is Ramdoss.. we changed it as Jollu Das.. & hence JD) was noting down the names of the late comers. As usual I was not wearing my shoes.He saw it and asked me to go home. It was then Vinod took out his packet of chocolates and showed it to him. Sir ... "Ungalluku chocolate vaanga poi thaan sir late ayiduchu..Inthanga sir.. Eduthukonaga sir...".. JD took two... "Sir.. naalu anchy edunga sir... ".. He took out the chocolates and said.."Inimella late a varaadinga da.. Ponga.."
Sir shoes... ?? -- 'parava illa da.. Nalaiku pottutu va.."... We were allowed inside..(We learnt the art of bribing way back)...

Kumar was probably the best movie critic around that time for me personally and for our class as a whole. One had to just ask an opinion about the latest release.. If he says ..Trash it.. We would .. If he says Watch it .. We would... Probably Kumar was even more known for his snide comments.It comes with such terrific timing that would even invoke instant laughter to the person being attacked.When the entire class got promoted to class XII. He gave us a treat... The reason he told was "Enga kudumbathiliye naan daan tha romba padichiruken.."..Now he is doing MBA.

He is also known for the 'bulbs' he receives .Vikram's Saamy had released and Trisha was a sensation. We were discussing about her and someone said she studied at 'Ethiraj' College. Kumar(With Sheer Ignorace)said..."naan kuda antha college thaan padikallamnu irukken".. You can imagine what happened next..

He once explained the meaning of DIMS kattai..(after that Jothika song became famous).. Though I dont remember the exact words he used.. The examples he showed still remains fresh. He would take us to every class in school and show a girl who looked like DIMS kattai..He would put marks to girls and even the school's best could not cross 5 on 10. When quizzed.. He would say.. "The quality is reducing day by day.."

R Vignesh(R) stayed along with his aunt who was also a teacher at our school. He was the most silent among the three or deemed to be so.Vignesh did not opt for maths and took tamil instead. Kumar left maths in middle of class XI (after a chapter called complex numbers) and took Tamil.So he accompanied 'R' to the tamil class.

The tamil class had about 10 students consisting of 3 girls from biology group. The three girls were Aruna,Aparna and Nithya.. Aruna and Aparna were identical twins.One cannot differentiate between them.Probably the most terrific achievement of 'Kumar' in tamil class was finding out who was 'Aparna' and who was 'Aruna'. The pervert in him had noticed some physical 'attributes' of them for easy identification.Many boys who had crushes on those two girls came to Kumar for help for identifying who's who?. He however did not share the secret with all.

'R' however was not bothered about the twins. His focus remained with the person who always accompanied the twins.Yes.... He had a serious crush on Nithya..He would write poems (which were unbearable)all day in his notebook. He would follow her incognito to all the places she went.One and a half years he had remained silent and he proposed to her sometime during the middle of class XII. She said some bad words to him and rejected him outright.He was dejected. We all went to his home to 'console' him.

After consoling him for nearly two hours, he became sort of OK..He switched on the Radio...The song playing was.. "Pani vizhum malar vanam... Un paarvai oru varam..... ... Inivarum munivarum.. thadumaraarum thanimaram...ey ey..inivarum munivarum... thadumaarum.. ".... We were all listening to it. The song finished.
The Radio Jockey then spoke... " Ippodu neenga ketta paadal idaipetra thiraipadam 'Ninaivellam Nithya'..."..
All of us except 'R' burst out laughing... He broke the Radio..

"Machan.. English teacher engala paarthu edho kettai vaarthaila thitraanga da.. Onnume Puriyala... " - Kumar and Vinod were explaining to me.
"What did she say??" - I asked.
"Edho sonnanga da.. Mustardna kadugu thane.??. Engala Mustardnu sonnanga da.."

I was wondering why would one call them as 'Mustard'.I approached our English teacher and asked her what she had commented on them.She said since they three were roaming together always , she had commented'Three Musketeers'.

That in a way sums up Kumar , Vinod and R.. The Awesome threesome...!!!