He let me down

Harbhajan has let me down. I am embarassed that I sided and supported him in the controversy in Australia.
He has been banned for a number of matches and stripped off his huge renumeration for IPL. That is how it should have been.

I am sure that these are the feelings of all Indian fans and so no one is supporting him today. Sresanth seems to have learned his lesson and has sobered down.

Ricky Ponting goes and does what his soul makes him do.... talk crap about Indian players, even though he is playing a series against the West Indies.

The Indian board has done its job. Now what the ICC or CA do to make sure that the Aussies get punished for their boorish behavior remains to be seen.

Truth and open media

This is a kind of a response to my friend's post here about the many faces of truth which got me thinking about my views.
The media has only recently begun to be so active and open and reaching to masses at such a large scale after the advent of so many private news channels. In places like China, Myanmar etc this is still not true.
Old habits die hard and so the powers that be are still not adjusted to the fact that today in more open society it would be tougher for them to get away with improper comments unlike previously when it was possible to fool the masses by making pronouncements which masses had no means to verify.
Today in India, a Mayawati says that Rahul Gandhi washes himself with a special soap after visiting dalit homes because she still does not understand the free and open media.
China says that Tibetan Youth congress is associated with Taliban and expects the world to believe it again based on its own country's restricted media.
Myanmar generals mark international humanitarian aid with their names before sending it out.
Arjun Singh chairs a meeting to celebrate 150 year anniversary of 1857 war of India's independence not expecting anyone to realise that his previous generations had supported the British and so he had no moral right to chair such a function.

Its a different matter altogether that our media is covered mostly either with IPL or Khali nowadays and seems to have nothing much else to report currently.

Name - Humans and a penchant to organise

What is the first thing we encounter after we are born which symbolises the inate human desire to organise and simplify things? It is the name given to us. The name which differentiates us from the rest. The name by which in a crowd we can make out that we are being called and others make out that they are not being called. The name by which the lineage, caste, creed, religion, nationality is reflected. Yes, thats right.
To quote a cliche ... Shakespeare said 'whats in a name... blah... blah... blah'. Well it turns out that there is actually quite a lot in a name. Had it not been so, why would that have been the first and foremost thing to do upon a new one's arrival. Why would a number of people want their suggested name to be accepted and feel elated or disheartened when their suggestion is accepted or rejected ... in that order. Because a name signifies our unique identity... our very own individuality. A name also helps make remembering and refering to each one of us a lot easier than if we did not have a name. It helps the whole world to make sense of or organise the huge population on the planet and make it easier to refer to each one of us uniquely.

The Day - 2nd March. Aadyaa's arrival.

The day started with wifey reporting that her water has broken. The baby seems to be on the way... two weeks earlier than predicted by the gynecologist. The gynae confirmed it after inspection and wifey was admitted to the hospital. So from the initial plan of leisurely spending the Sunday watching the first of the India - Australia cricket finals, the scenario changed to hectic activity in the hospital and nervousness. Now when I think of it, the match that day provided moments of relief from the pressure to me and the others who were present.

There was a scene right out of "Nine Months" movie when in one of the moments when I tried to comfort wifey during a painful contraction in the evening, she shooed me away saying 'हट जाओ । भाग जाओ ।' :-) lol

Finally the call came from the gynae to take wifey to labor room at around 9.15 pm.

Once wifey was in the labor room, did I realise I was hungry ... and tired. I went to the hospital room, switched on the TV and tried to eat some dinner... The TV was full of news of the cricket victory over Aussies in the first final. An hour passed. I remembered the gynae telling us that it could take an hour or more. The 38 week wait is going to get over anytime. came back to wait outside the labor room. Prachi and my mothers and one of her brothers were present. The rest of the family had been sent home.

More than an hour passed. Apart from the tension of waiting and hoping for everything to be fine, I was in another fix... what to name the kid. Girl's name was decided 3 months back. And the name was so liked by wifey and me that we just did not think about a name in the eventuality of the baby being a boy.

Finally someone emerged from the labor room and asked for cloth to wrap the baby in as the baby had arrived. Our barrage of questions were not answered by him and he disappeared after getting the cloth and a shawl from my mother. I was congratulated and hugged by wifeys brother and all four of us went into a huddle. After another agonising 15 minutes or so, the baby emerged, wrapped in the shawl and we were informed that its a girl. Oh Man !!! Finally I get to see my offspring.

My Offspring!

She was taken up to the hospital room and wifey's brother and I returned to wait for and receive wifey. All this in the middle of frantic texting and making and receiving phone calls. Wifey came out and in discomfort, but was looking ok overall.

It actually began to sink in from the next morning that we had hoped for a girl and got her. God had been kind. So we found the name which the two of us had decided for her to be extremely appropriate - Aadyaa, after Goddess Durga.

Three months earlier I had decided in my mind the text message which I was going to send to the rest of the world when she arrives. Yes. The exact words were in my mind months before. So I was well prepared when the moment came :-)

Since then it has been a roller coaster so far for me, feeling peaceful and happy when she is quiet, seems comforted in my arms and goes to sleep at my shoulder... and feeling extremely disturbed when she is crying out loud.

This is not as perfect a description as I would have liked to put out, but that is because of the time which has passed. And in the ensuing time, I have preferred to be with Aadyaa rather than spend the time putting out this post. I will possibly edit it in the course of the next few days and add more details as I remember them.

Hilarious... Bhajji vs Symonds... teri maa ki

Here is the transcript of what the stump mike caught:
http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/story/0,23739,23131303-5003413,00.html

And here is the hilarious part... quotes from the firang judge who sat over the proceedings...
http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/story/0,23739,23134165-5003413,00.html
I never thought 'teri maaki' would be so hilarious... I have used it in a very hilarious manner a lot of times but nothing really beats this court room proceeding. I would love to get a tape of how the firang judge said it. What a treat it would be. :-)

I do hope that the aussies are given more of teri maaki in the ensuing matches ... there be so much fun in watching cricket then, even if India was losing. LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLLLLLL

Solution for controversial decisions

I have a solution framework for catches becoming more open and fair.
If a catch is taken in the deep the batsman walks and does not wait for the umpire's decision. Why cant the same principal be applied. One or two wrong decisions divided equally between both teams can be attributed to human errors but in a game where as many as 6 wrong decisions were given by the umpires against a single team who get affected enough to loose the match from a winning position then there is a BIG NEED for a change deep down.

Make it imperative that the batsmen HAVE to walk when they are out be catching in any manner, whether in the deep or behind the stumps. If they dont walk, then BAN them for next 5 Tests and 5 One-Days apart from deducting their full fee for the current series.
In other words, get the on-field umpires totally out of deciding on caught behind and edges. If a batsman does not walk then the fielding team appeals to third umpire who adjudicates and based on the result of TV replays the above is enforced.
So in the 2nd Test the crook Ponting and the monkey Symonds did not walk in the first inning and Hussey in the second and Dravid and Ganguly were wrongly given out. Put that into perspective here. TV replays clearly showed the Aussie cheaters out and hence they would have been forced to leave and Saurav and Dravid would have stayed put. Because the penalty for not walking is so high, each and every cricketer would HAVE to respect it and those who are not out will have no fear and can stay put without fear. The human error element in umpiring also gets totally removed. There may be genuine doubts in parties' mind and there too they can tell the on-field umpires that they are not sure and can ask for replays.
Similarly, apply the same punishment and penalty if a fielder grounds a catch but still claims it by appealing for it. This will again stop crooks like Ponting and Clark from claiming catches when they are grounded and then losing their cool against the media. http://www.rediff.com/cricket/2008/jan/06rick.htm

Now someone needs to take this idea out and put it in front ICC for review. Send in your comments folks and refer it around to others as well if it seems good.

Symonds Monkey, Ponting Crook

I have been away for a long time and have been forced today to return because of the gross behavior with the country's representatives in Aussie land.
A lot has been said and written since the first day of the match and I am not going to add a lot to it. Though I am going to put my thoughts a little differently.
We all know that Ponting is a crook and I am sure each and every umpire around the world knows the nature of all the players in the international arena. We all also know that Andrew Symonds is a typical ill-mannered गाँव वाला who has no morals, mannerisms and even a decent upbringing. His behavior seems as if he has been pulled in from the jungle into civilization. There was a shot during the match when Sachin hit a century and only Gilchrist and Clarke were the ones who gave the semblance of applauding the feat... the rest of the Aussie team were not interested in it and Symonds behaved as if he doesn't know what has happened. Hence HE deserves to be called a MONKEY... just because his mannerisms make it seem that he has just been brought down from the trees in the jungle.
Ricky Ponting is a BIG CROOK... its not the first time that he has cheated... he even lashed out at the reporters when he was probed. http://www.rediff.com/cricket/2008/jan/06rick.htm
when the whole Aussie media gets hostile to any visiting team.
Latest is that Mr Speed, head of ICC is defending the umpires http://www.rediff.com/cricket/2008/jan/06speed.htm
I don't feel that there is going to be any retribution for the way Indian interest was quashed in Sydney because the BCCI and its head being spineless and gutless.