Century of What ????

This year ICC is celebrating its birth centenary(1909-2009). 100 years ago, it was formed as Imperial Cricket Conference and then only commonwealth countries were allowed. The first 3 members were England, Australia and South Africa. Now, the most interesting or say disturbing part is when you see their logo in TV, the tagline written is "Century of Cricket". How can they write this ???? If cricket is just 100 years old, which game WG Grace played or which sport side Joe Darling lead.
Cricket is(was) a game played in summer in northern parts of Europe, and was famous in England. Its history is too old and vast but it gained popularity in mid 18th century when a club named "Hambledon Cricket Club" came into existence and soon became popular in Britain. The exact date of foundation is not certain. It was the club which standardized the size of bat and various other rules which are considered as basics in cricket today. The year of 1787 was a fortunate one in cricket, "Marylebone Cricket Club" famously known as MCC was formed this year. No vocabulary is capable enough to describe the importance of MCC and its effect on Cricket. If someone could ever claim cricket to be his, it had to be MCC. Still today MCC is the body which had copyright of every rule in world cricket. Till 1997, official name of England Cricket team was, yes you guessed right, Marylebone Cricket Club.
The turning point in cricket history or say in history of any "team sport" was Introduction of Railways in 1830s. Previously the game was played between local teams comprising of players lived in small area of around 50 miles but Railways brought them closer and teams can tour easily. This developed the county cricket or say 1st class cricket.
In year 1864 arrived the most famous book of cricket published as "The Cricketer's Almanack" lated known as "The Wisden", its widely considered as The Bible of Cricket. When Ian Chappell signed for Kerry Packers World Series he said " I thought why to make such runs which Wisden is never going to count, anyhow i made those runs for money".
In 1877 we can consider official start of International cricket in its purest form "The Test". These were international matches just as 1st class and played for 5 days. First Test match was played between Australia and MCC(England). Australia won by 45 runs(centenary test in year 1977 played just after 100 years of 1st test produced same result, Australia won by 45 runs !!!!).
ICC formed in 1909, 122 years after MCC and 32 years after Test cricket itself. Now how could they claim to Cricket. In these 100 years one wonder what ICC did for development of Cricket. In whole world now there are 10 test nations comparing 3 in 1909. The only achievement ICC could claim is "World Cup' in ODIs that too when other sport like football successfully conducted more than a dozen. In test matches still there is no such format which could attract anyone else than a hardcore cricket lover. Instead of anything ICC should first control its most notorious member BCCI and should do something serious about game. Cricket dont have a proper ball for coloured matches and its ICC's duty to fund its research, which they never did. No one on the Earth could understand Duckworth-Lewis equation and its practicality and still they cant come up with some thing more legitimate.
This old man would be certainly laughing that how could ICC claim its birthday to be birthday of Cricket. Can anyone please explain this ????

MY COLLEGE,SASTRA ---3

This post is strictly for my seniors who passed out and hope they miss the college.
Before start, about this photo, i liked it a lot and i guess this pic is taken from "asha complex",also i want to know the name of the person who took it and i think he is some junior(and not some pass out)

Anyways,The new session started and we all would have surprised if college wont give any.
First of all, The hottest news around is.... The horrifying 3 days are now matter of past and now mid-sems will be conducted on every saturday(2 exams each saturday) which means instead of 3 days it will take 3 weeks to cope with one midsem exam. The wave of reactions are flowing all around and as usual almost all of them are in coarse language and bitter tone. But what i feel personally its boon for below average students like me because now we can concentrate well on an individual exam and instead of sleeping whole saturday we can atleast give them a better go. Also we can easily compensate our no-study in regular time with a bit in exam time and which will be fruitful. No doubt, 6 exams in 3 days plunge our efficiency drastically and its always better to have exams one by one with some cricket in between..

The second thing is, i cant say for better or not, the "good 'ol" man, who before even giving a look asks your CG and who have answer for all the question and thats "NO", left the college.
Yes he is none other than Registrar, and some new one came.
I didnt saw the new one and hope not to see him. He as i heard was dean of biotech and now Registrar but no doubt more strict and troublemaker...

3 in 1 of new hostel will soon be changing in to 2 in 1 again in october and 18 month curse of this hostel will get over sooner, as one boy from each room will be transferred to a even newer hostel, in front of RLV which is under construction.

Just Cricket....

Few things i have to say about Cricket which are on my mind for quiet some time...

Robin Uthappa- He is India's most underrated batsman. I dont have any such affection for him but his batting keeps amazing me whenever i see and can not believe how the hell can such a gifted player can not do justise with himself for such a long time. The way he just walk down the pitch and smashes a 90 mile delivery out of the ground is really very few can do. The way he almost perfectly hit that scoop shot in tense situation proves how endued he is. His selection of shots are awesome and many times strange but the overall execution of these shots are treat to watch. There are no doubt many youngester batsmen on Indian cricket horizon but no one is as gifted as uthappa.. Rohit Sharma although takes very less time to settle but he always had to wait for loose balls and can never hit the balls on his own wish.. Yusuf Pathan picks the balls early but he usually finds himself unable to keep doing that over a long period of time which is ok in T20 but could hamper his success in longer formats, also he rely upon few shots which he no doubt executes in brutal manner but could feel uneasy against top class attack. Names like Virat Kohli have to go miles even to become prospects of Indian T20 team let alone one day and Test would be out of even his wish list as for now. Its not to prove uthappa as better batsman than others, but i have not seen a better waste of talent for quiet a long time. He posses a rich armoury but dont know why he finds himself unable to turn his potential into performance.And as competition in India for a batsman is too draconian, he will find it really difficult to keep his head out of the rising water..

Australia- My favourite team, but it seems this time ACB is not at all intended to defend The Ashes as they kept their most reliable and potent Horse out of the damn Race. How the hell on the Earth a team can let a player like Andrew Symonds go when he is fit. One player can create a big difference and i think i need not to give examples of that. Its just like leaving your parachute just before diving but it seems they have bigger issues than Ashes itself.. Lets pray the boys under Baggy Green would be able to repeat or to even come closer to the performance shown by a team comprised of one of the best players of all times in 2007 Ashes..




World T20- Its going to start next week and i m hoping to see four teams in quarterfinals are.. India for sure, South Africa as they are very stable this time, Australia as you can never rule them out and they have all the resources to bite you everytime you took your eyes off and at last Sri Lanka as all other teams do not have enough content, but as they say, Cricket is a game of uncertainities and mind you its 20-20 affair.. Anything is possible and i mean it literally..



IPL- Its over and proves India is on its way of becoming a developed nation and can easily sustain a league bigger than this so wait for two more teams in 2011. Its the shortest league played anywhere in the world and only a month long, its better to call it tournament instead of league, i will rather suggest to let it run for whole 6-8 months with atleast 16 teams palying a 2 leg system with no final or semis at all,instead winner should bedecided on the basis of points, which is a bit difficult to imagine as one will think it will lack the spice but i m sure that will be original league and all the matches will be played with equal importance and matches should be on weekends without affecting Test Matches calender. In jet age, clubs can always manage their players from any part of the world if both wish and even if not then also we will have many players available for the league.. Other countries should also copy the format to develop their domestic systems and can help the sport to be truely Global

We all are in prostitution....

Who are we...
There are many definitions and one could be like this...
As its vulgar and coarse so please forgive...
We are just like "prostitutes"... As a prostitute can not choose her client in the very manner we can never choose which circumstance will F***k us...
Yes, the most we can ever do is to choose a place where we will get screwed just as we in college chose this place but what we can not do is to choose our customer...
Our well wishers(specially our parents) are like Brokers(dalal) who can help us to pick the best possible or say a decent client which should manhandle us gently but as one can not leave her profession so we can not help us from circumstances... They(brokers) can not insulate us from us to get f****ed up by our costumers....
Just as we all can see after +2 in India specially in middle class , a boy is f***ed so hard but his parents cannot help him rather knowing the fact that their child is in dilemma and anguish of Once in a life time but they cannot help it and the irony is many times their hopes are biggest factor of the agony...
Its just the game of prostitute and her costumer, And i bet costumer really enjoy the time.... Ask yourself!!!!

Its Not Just Cultural Difference...

I was busy in CE exam, the examination paper was so long that after exam i went to a nearby shop for binding of answer sheets, single thread can not hold so many sheets...
Also i was busy in defending my Test XI which i posted in last blog...

In process, Yesterday i went to Thanjavur(city nearest to my college) for Train reservation..
I found my self in the midst of a weird and irritating situation, which although was not first time but i cannot get that out of my mind everytime i undergo...
We were sitting on the right side(row behind driver) at last 2 seats of a city bus and the bus was relatively empty, after two stops a man and woman(both in mid 30s) came with their 4 year daughter, and sat just on the seats ahead of us... in 10 minutes man started showing he is not happy in we sitting behind his beloved wife(i m not as smart to make him feel insecure).. I swear we were just sitting and talking about our exams that how we will prepare this next time writing as arrear...
After few assholic concerns of the man and before the scene could get worse or public we decided to sit on the leftmost backseats...
The person who never encountered this will certainly say i havent reproduced the same situation and we must be doing some thing but remember its Thanjavur.. Its everyday matter that we only on the basis of our language are considered as hasslers..
What if we laugh or joke regularly.. If this creates disturbance what the hell that low quality speakers in the bus do ???
I once sat beside a lady of nearly 80 years, exactly around the age of my grandmother, the lady pushed me and asked me to get up and in no time bus conductor started "ille pille....", As sitting beside a woman is threat to our damn virginity..
And this happened every now and then...
Now, why does this happen, I really respect natives of this part of country but i dont know why they get annoyed very easily on us(North Indians), It could be for anything.. They feel as if they never got their due share in politics or economy or history or whatever, i dont know, but neither me nor my friends were part of the conspiracy of passed era...

I m sure if you even been to this place you would have certainly encountered all this...
I m wondering in spite of the fact that we never did any rubbish activity such treatment is given to us...
Some day if some of my friend will really be guilty of any such offense... What will happen to him ????

GREATEST TEST TEAM (1877-2009)

I, after numerous arguments with my foolish and idiot friends(Sandeep Ganesan on top of that list), now decided to duck the questions like, How dare I think this and that to be The Greatest player or better than their choices...
I many times answered but every time the argument got so intense that I just escaped to be part of countless wrestling matches...

So now I decided to put The Greatest XI on this blog to end the direct arguments for once and for all because here it can never get physical....

On a serious note, undoubtedly these are The Greatest Cricket Players of All time..
There are many others but, as Sports is a draconian path where one always had to leave way for the other, only 11 spots are available.....

As this team consists of players from 1877 to 2009 so please give me liberty to choose them from all across the history....


OPENERS....

JACK HOBBS---- The Best Opener Ever... Along with "Herbert Suttcliffe" he dominated the World Cricket for 2 decades(1910s and 1920s).. Still holds the World record of 197 first class centuries, he made 62000 runs in process...

VICTOR TRUMPER----The Grandest of All..He is considered as one of the two finest batsmen ever who walked on a cricket pitch(Bradman the other).. He as said was the batsman who can score even if the pitch is made on a swamp.. He was whole and soul of Australian batting for first 15 years of 20th century and died at age of 37..

3. DONALD BRADMAN----Only 1 sentence for him..... Cricket is a game of uncertainties, unless you have a Bradman...

4. W G GRACE---- Father of Cricket, Captain of England, Captain of MCC, Captain of Gentlemen(Cricket Club)...Played from 1865 to 1913, He 29 times made 1000 runs in the month of May. Greatest Athlete who played first class cricket till the age of 65 (debut at 17).. In a survey, 110 years ago, he was second most recognised face in Great Britain in whole 19 century(Prime Minister Gladstone being the first)..
Doctor by profession, he never gave up his tag of amatuer and never became a professional, but his salary could be imagined by this, in his times "Everton" was the biggest football club and salary of top 12 players of Everton was equal what his club used to pay WG !!!!
In 1880s his annual income through Cricket was 30,000 pounds. Stadium signboards those days usually displays, 6 pence if WG will play and 3 if he wont !!!!

5.GARFIELD SOBERS---- A man who can perform any(any means any) job on a cricket field.. He can bowl at 80 miles per hour with new ball, can bowl spin, can bat at any order and whatever else you cannot even imagine.. Look at an example of his greatness.. When he retired from Test cricket he held 3 main records(of course many others too).. Maximum runs,Maximum wickets and Maximum catches in Test cricket....

6.STEVE WAUGH (CAPTAIN)---- Hard,Uncompromising, Rare and Eternal like Diamond... He transformed a group of boys into the most lethal and Horrendous Team in the history.. Broke the 80 year standing record of Warwarik Armstrong and above all in the process, became a player with uncomparable will-power and infinte surrender potential... In modern cricket He The Man among Boys....

7.ADAM GILCHRIST(WK)---- Undoubtedly he is most fierce hitter of cricket ball who also took the gloves behind the wicket.. I would have loved to choose Viv Richards but he can not keep wickets or Allan Knott who do not have such dominant batting skills... Also I need a Hitter as keeper because such a batting line up needs a quick run getter so that captain can declare the innings early and no keeper can deliver this better than Adam Gilchrist....

8.SHANE WARNE---- Magician !!!! The Best Spinner in 130 years of Test Cricket.. His number of preys cannot (although they are 708) match his skills and perfection.. The bowler who if takes 3 wickets in an innings, Those 3 will obviously be top batsmen of the side..
A man who revolutionized the whole scene of the cricket in early 90s with his magic deliveries, even when he will be 70, can get a place in any test team..
If you think he is the lone spinner without partner so there is always Sir Gary Sobers to share the old ball with him...

9.HAROLD LARWOOD---- The Fastesssst... A man who in a single series created a impact on the World Cricket which could never be paralleled.. Larwood was the original and peerless executioner of unfamed "BODYLINE"... Douglas Jardine once said, You keep a coin on pitch and this man can pith the ball over that coins 6 times in an over... Unfortunate for us, speed measuring machines were not at his times but nearly all claims he was a lot faster than many 100 miles bowlers along with his pin point accuracy... Many times in english cricket, First Class County sides refused to play against Larwood on grassy tracks...
He holds the record of highest score by a nightwatchman(98 runs) for nearly 7 decades which Alex Tudor breaks in 1999 against New Zeland....
His career was short as he never got oppurtunity to play after bodyline series of 1932-33 but he truly deserved what he never got...

10.FREDRICK SPOFORTH---- Nickname as "The Demon".. He is the man responsible for what we today know as "The Ashes".. In 1882 he devastated England where he took first hat-trick of test cricket.. He did not let them make 10 runs with 7 wickets left which is considered as most lethal spell of all times... That Oval Test later laid foundation for Ashes...
He was the bowler who many times was, by english batsmen(including WG), given money for not to tour Britain so they dont have to face the troubles of his ferocious pace..
The first bowling superstar, The Demon, is really will be a fitting opening bowler for such a team...

11.SYDNEY BARNES---- Most Successfull bowler ever... Considered as "Bradman of Bowling".. He took 189 wickets in 22 matches with unbelievable average of 16 which is still a record(My all time favourite Mcgrath is second with 22)... His duel with Victor trumper was one of the finest duels in sporting history... He is believed to be The Finest bowler by all who saw him or played with or against him...

12th Man.. FRED TRUEMAN---- LEGEND!!!! He ruled the world cricket for 15 years, in exactly mid of 20th century, Fred Trueman was a true Fast Bowler in all respect.. The first bowler to take 300 wickets, he worked whole his childhood in mines and as said his game always showed how one can fight a new battle each day...

MY COLLEGE,SASTRA ---2

After 12 hours I have my end semester exam and believe me if luck favours i can pass that..
Now this post have nothing to do with my exams but my college.. We are studying in a decent one but there is a problem with faculty.. I am not at all saying that we dont have a good one but it could be better..
To understand it first look at geographical condition of this college..
Its on a highway connecting Trichy and Thanjavur(Two cities of Tamil Nadu)..
This college is 40 km east of Trichy and 15 km west of Thanjavur..
And the connectivity of this college from Thanjavur is so poor making us studying on an island..
A regular(???) bus takes us to NBS(New Bus Stand) which the outer most part of Thanjavur making it a hectic job for us to go there for our general works like reservation and mobile repair and all..
Now what all this had to do with Teachers and faculty ???
Answer is everything...
There are 10 hostels for students in this college but for faculty members... none(can say HIG,but i dont know who else than upadhyay sir lives there)..
So why a teacher who is ambitious or good enough and can manage himself the same remuneration in some city like Banglore or Chennai will take pain of coming here and daily take bus or his private vehicle(on a 2 lane highway), in short under such daunting conditions of travelling..
There are no doubt excellent teachers here but they might be working for love of this college but a new one will certainly give preference to some area which gives him/her better living or say travelling conditions...
In this time when colleges are as competitive as any MNCs we(college), must have hostels or say staff quarters for teachers to obtain or sustain good teachers..

Commercialization.. Thats What we Choose...

Today i was talking with my friends over super commercialization in indian film industry or say Bollywood..
First of all its very right to say it Bollywood as all the major and even minor movies are very shameless copies of its trans Atlantic cousin better known as Hollywood... When you copied their stories, concept, music so why feeling shame in copying just name, as uncle Shakespeare said "whats there in name"... even our iconic legends copied the ditto looks and getup of Hollywood actors.. Its not for nothing that Raj Kapoor moved like "The greatest of All" Charlie Chaplin, and its not just coincedence that Shammi Kapoor looked and acted like Elvis Presley... And its not just one movie but they did that all along their career..
Ramesh Sippy once said he was not sure "Sholey" will make it because it was totally a Hollywood concept..
Big houses like Yash Raj often copy and shamelessly claims the story as theirs...
Watch "Mohabbatein" and "Dead Poets Society" and play "find out 10 differences"...
Mowadays we all can see Imraan hashmi nearly every time imitating Brad Pitt...

This post is not for comparison between Bollywood and Hollywood but Hindi Films and Bollywood...
Post Raj Kapoor there was always a cinema parallel to Bollywood knows as HIFI(Hindi Films.. HIFI is an alternate term i read in magazine "Stardust")..
Previousely this Hifi was very small in terms of budget and it basically concerned with unigenre which was comedy... Actors like Faarukh Shekh got success(whatsoever) in this Hifi.. sometimes big names like "Dadamuni" also acted but thats just for a change in their acting dusk..
Today this Hifi is bigger and after Rakesh Roshan's "Kaho Na Pyar Hai", which breaks the myth that star is everything, a whole new section emerged which gave us excellent and beautiful movies like "1971" and "Hazaron Kwahishen Aisi"...
Now what i want to say is still now, why when it comes to business, representatives of bollywood like "Singh is King" and "bachna e Haseeno" every time scores over their poor counterparts of Hifi..
The reason is told to me once by my friend "Akash Awasthi".. Long back in his home he was watching interview of Mahesh Bhatt where one lady asked, why you make movies like "Murder" and he replied when i made a movie based on my own story "Zakhm" no one watched out but everyone saw "Murder" so please give me a reason not to reapeat "Murder" again...
I m sure many of us watched "Zakhm" but in a pirated cd in our home or in tv...
Now, whenever we go to some multiplex with our family or friends and given an option we always opt for a movie starring "Shahrukh Khan" or "Katrina Kaif" and we will come home and will download or will take a pirated cd and will appreciate some movie like "Gulaal" and will say "Why the hell they do not make such stuff regularly..
Its the reason of rapid growth in number of multi-starrer movies because they know public have more to do with stars than to other things especially when thay have to pay a good some of money with their family or girlfriend/boyfriend in particular....
No one would have went in theatres to see Black if we take Amitabh Bachchan and Rani Mukherjee out of the movie instead everyone would have preffered it in home...
Now will you attempt a question of 10 marks or some without any...
Here is the answer... its we who appreciate Hifi but support Bollywood...
Next time whenever you go some multiplex or try to opt for "Seher" over "Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna" or please appreciate another "Chandni Chowk to China" with full hearts.....