Sachin or Laxman?

Durban, where we were bamboozled for a paltry 66 fourteen years back was conquered yesterday. And boy, it was conquered in some style. The image of an arched Jacques Kallis, helplessly trying to avoid a Sreesanth snorter would be etched in the memories of every Indian cricket fan. Fantastic stuff boys, keep up the good work.

Happens to a South African too

While Zaheer, Bhajji and Sree were exceptional with the ball, it was that man VVS again who set up the game for them. Scoring 96 sublime runs on a pitch where every other batsman was found wanting was something quite extraordinary. Well, as they say, when the going gets tough, Laxman gets going.

It was disappointing though, to notice swords being drawn on SRT (again!!) for failing when the team needed him the most. Statistics were dug up in order to prove how Laxman is a far better batsman than Tendulkar when the chips are down. Glorifying Laxman’s performances while berating Tendulkar’s was totally uncalled for. Not everybody knows the fact that out of his 50 Test hundreds, 20 have resulted in an Indian win. Not everybody knows that out of his 46 ODI hundreds, 32 have resulted in wins. I could have jotted down thousands of statistics just to prove that he has been India’s biggest match winner ever, but refrained from doing so, as it would have provided more fodder for the so called “Tendulkar critics” to dig up some more stats and figures to downplay the man’s contribution to Indian Cricket. He failed at Durban because he is a human, just like you and me. He had an off day at the office, but made sure that his end of year reviews were totally in the top bracket. Over 1500 runs with an outstanding average of 78, not everybody delivers a performance of that stature consistently over a period of 21 years.

“Oh, he failed right? Then why call him God”? Tendulkar worshipers don’t call him God just because they expect him to win every game for India with his divine presence. Like we believe in the creator of all universes, we believe in him. As long as he is at the crease, impossible seems possible, living up to the tagline of one of the brands he endorses. In the 90's, he was the one who used to give us hope when the rub of the green seemed to be going against our way. Not every 17 year old can bat for 6 hours on a seaming Old Trafford track to save a test match for India. It’s only when he departs, the panic sets in, the nervousness starts showing in the form of chewing of nails and wrinkles on the forehead. Remember the 1996 World Cup semifinal against the Lankans? Or the nail biter at Chennai against the arch rivals? Or the most recent Hyderabad hurricane against the Aussies? Impossible was made possible on countless other occasions, only to be made impossible again by the individuals who surround him.

It’s probably only under these situations that even a half century from somebody else looks more valuable than “those” 96 international tons. We expect him to hit a ton every innings, we expect him to stay on the crease till the last run is scored and we expect him to chase down 360 to win the World Cup. Isn't that a little too much? Probably, that's the benchmark the man has set, something which even Laxman and Dravid have failed to do so.We expect him to be accountable for every time he fails to deliver the goods while we forget that it’s a team game afterall. The same Laxman failed when India were battling hard to save the Centurion test, but it went down as an another innings where a Tendulkar century had failed to save India. I am just wondering, had India lost the Durban test, who would have been crucified then? 

It’s high time we appreciate what these men of steel have done for Indian Cricket, rather than baying for their blood every time they fail. Trust me, you would never have a batting line-up as strong as the one which has mesmerized crowds the world over in a long long time. Let’s savor their heroic feats before they decide to hang their boots, because I still feel, that majority of us are incapable of achieving even half of the glory these men have achieved.

P.S. Happy New Year Guys ! :)

Night at an Airport

Disclaimer : The blog posts are meant for the sole purpose of entertainment and humor. Please do not attach personal emotions to whatever I say, and even if you do, I would not be responsible for any heart breaks or emotional break downs.

I am back, to the same place, roughly after a 10 months hiatus. And guess what, nothing has changed. Not every time you walk into an airport, expecting mind boggling changes, but Kolkata airport, for once, just once, could you surprise me a little?

I was in for a little surprise myself when I walked into the Pune Airport earlier in the day. Apparently, my flight to Kolkata via Hyderabad was cancelled due to non-availability of the aircraft. While I shivered at the idea of shelling out close to 15K bucks on a new booking, Jet Airways had a bigger surprise for me. Not only did they manage to find a seat for me on a Mumbai bound aircraft headed for Kolkata, they actually upgraded my ticket to a business class one with no additional charges whatsoever. As luck would have it, I had a sneak peek at richness.Trust me, it's beautiful.

The sad little place

Anyway,coming back to the topic. There are awards for the best airports in the world, isn't there any award to actually identify the worst airports on the planet? I believe only Chennai and probably Pune can give Kolkata a run for its money. While Mumbai, Delhi, Hyderabad and Bangalore have grown significantly over the years to provide top of the shelf facilities to the passengers, sadly Kolkata and Chennai seem no where close to the pole position.

The only difference I could notice this time around were the new billboards for Reliance and Bank of Baroda, for everything remains just the same when I first visited this place some 6 years back. The same old internet/snacks cafe which charges you 80 bucks an hour, as if the lines are drawn straight from 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway, Mountain View, California, United States (Google Headquarters, for people too lazy to Google). Trust me, I have paid nearly half of the same while I surfed Desibaba and those other crappy sites on fucked up dial-up's in the early 2000's. There are practically no places to hang out, with a lone CCD located outside the airport. Even the domestic one at Mumbai has one,close to the departure gates.

Shitty dirty toilets, constant chattering and people acting as nuts are probably the other reasons why I hate to spend a night at this place. Who the hell gets themselves clicked in front of the conveyor belt while picking up their luggage? Thanks to my stars, for making me believe that dumbfucks do exist. I had a sudden urge to go to that lady, and politely request her to sit on the moving conveyor belt while I clicked her picture out of nothing, but pure generosity. But, I am still unsure about how her husband would have reacted to my proposal.

Perhaps, the only solace this time around were the bong chicks and yes...Riya Sen. I guess she had come to Kolkata via a Kingfisher flight from Mumbai. There was no hoopla around her, no mad rush for autographs or anything. She looked a bit old compared to what I saw in that short movie opposite Ashmit Patel. Anyway, who cares. It's Christmas time, and with a lot of colleges closing down for the new year, there were quite a few "patakha's" on my flight. Sadly, as an engineering graduate, I have learnt over time and plenty of experience, that while bird watching is an art, bird hunting is a pain in the ass.

I am still optimistic that Kolkata would surprise me someday. Someday, I am hoping to see some light at the end of the tunnel. And please better be quick. 2012 is round the corner.

And yeah, by the way, Merry Christmas people ! Have fun !

This ain't sarcasm..

Don't expect me to cry.
Don't expect me to lie.
Don't expect me to die for thee.
                                              -   Nirvana (Jesus doesn’t want me for a sunbeam)

The above mentioned song is perhaps one of the best I have ever heard.  Hands down, Nirvana was or perhaps is the greatest band ever.  As if, you could feel Kurt Cobain’s helplessness in coping up with the demands of leading a life of a superstar through his songs.

Life is a crazy bitch. Bitch, because just like women, you can never figure her intentions. Someday you are the bird, shitting everywhere as if the entire world is your loo, the very next day you are statue on which life poops. Or perhaps life isn't as difficult as it seems. It is at least easier than the Mathematics Paper that was dished in front of me in Class XI. Thanks to Tendulkar's 98 against Pakistan at Centurion, 60 on 100 didn't cause much grief.

How dearly I miss those school days, when having the biggest box of crayons was equivalent to winning the Nobel Prize, when friendship meant that you would fight with people twice your size just because he passed a comment at your friend’s love, when inter class cricket matches were bigger than India-Pakistan encounters. Man, those were perhaps the best days of anybody’s life. There were no emotions involved in friendship and yet those friends are perhaps the best people ever to walk into your life.

Slowly, as the days passed by, maturity set in. The thinking became clouded, the heart started dominating the brain, and the fun life evaporated.  The word “friendship” became a lot more complex. It became literally difficult to survive with all these double faced people around. A hell lot changed, innocence got replaced by materialism. People were used, while things were loved. Strange irony, isn’t it? Convoluted relationships didn’t help the case either. It became difficult each day whether you really existed for the people you called friends or you were just someone managing their materialistic needs.

Some of my best relationships have been with people with whom I am not in touch anymore. Years passed, and I am still at sea as to who was at fault back then. Probably, let’s leave it the way it ended. Someday, I hope the innocence would return, people would actually love the one's who care for them and life would be as simple as 2x2.

P.S. : This post hasn't been written under the influence of any narcotic substance :)