the cricket song

C.R.I.CK.ET.
C.R.I.CK.ET.
C.R.I.CK.ET.

I cannot get this out of my head! Not sure what I am talking about? Watch this video.

Here is one more hilarious one from the same guy -

Why, Karthik?

As a Tendulkar fan I can’t help but ask, did you have to hit that six, Karthik?!

Thirumalai Nayakar Mahal

On my recent trip back home, I visited the Thirumalai Nayakar Mahal, a national monument in Madurai which was built as a grand palace complex in 1636 AD by the then ruler of the Madurai region, Thirumalai Nayakar.

One of the best known landmarks in Madurai, its huge pillars have been captured on film by many a Kollywood directors. The song Kannalanae in Mani Ratnam’s Bombay was beautifully shot here.

Thanks to some recent restoration/renovation work, the place has gotten a face lift. I have mixed feelings about the paint job on the stucco work though. It looks too clean and colorful. I would have preferred a somewhat antique finish befitting the age of the building.

Baffling batting order

As I write this at the half way mark of the ODI between India and Sri Lanka at Rajkot, India have posted their highest score in one day cricket – 414/7, giving themselves more than an excellent chance to go up 1-0 in the series.

The batting display was superlative. Sehwag continued his excellent form and smashed 146 off 102 balls, aided brilliantly by Tendulkar (69 off 63) and Dhoni (72 off 53). With 43 hits to the fence and 12 over it, there were plenty of excellent strokes. Being a Tendulkar fan, I immensely enjoyed the two upper cuts he played in 15th over against Fernando’s bouncers – first, initially ducking, before deciding at the last moment to cut to third man and the next, even better, swaying slightly and delicately cutting it fine, just wide of the keeper.

Despite the batting heroics, I found Dhoni’s shuffling of the batting order, baffling. Instead of using his experience to shore up the inexperienced lower middle order (especially, with Yuvraj out to injury), from his usual position at five, I couldn’t understand why he had to promote himself to three. This is even more baffling considering that he came up at the expense of Gambhir, who arguably is the best top order batsman currently in the team. Gambhir, pushed down to five,  looked totally out of sorts in the lower order.

Next, Harbhajan was promoted ahead of Kohli and Jadeja. If the Dhoni – Gambhir swap was baffling, this was outright illogical! I mean, with more than 300 on the board and more than 10 overs still left to be bowled, what was the need to send a bowler to throw his bat around, ahead of a specialist batsman and a batting all-rounder? And what kind of message does that send to the youngsters – that their captain thinks a bowler with no batting technique, can bat better than them on one of the flattest of the batting pitches you would ever see? In the end, after Harbhajan’s ugly swipes failed, both Kohli (27 off 19) and Jadeja (30 off 17) played smart cameos proving Harbhajan’s promotion wrong.

Bowlers lose it for India

Despite the absence of Sehwag and Yuvraj, everyone knows that India’s bowling is their weakest link, especially considering that the loss of Sehwag and Yuvraj has considerably weakened their part-time bowling options. So, shouldn’t they have bolstered their weak bowling attack with another specialist bowler?

Classic Shaving

Over the years, I have tried everything from the disposable plastic razors to  the Gillette Mach3s to a variety of fancy electric razors in search of a comfortable shave.

A couple of years ago, I chanced upon an article in the internet and discovered the lost art of ‘classic shaving’ - lathering up using shaving cream & a decent natural bristled shaving brush, and shaving using an old fashioned safety razor with a single double-edged steel blade. After years of razor burn and irritation, I have been enjoying close, comfortable shaves ever since.

While the initial cost of getting a classic shaving kit might seem expensive, comparing the cost of the currently popular Gillette Fusion cartridges (a few dollars) to the double-edged blades (a few cents), it’s easy to see the cost savings in the long run. Also, the steel single blades are probably more environment friendly than the plastic cartridges.

To every man looking for a comfortable shave, I say, ‘ditch the plastic five (or is it six) blade razor and switch to the single blade safety razor’.

Karma or Coincidence?

I am a Hindu. But, I don’t believe in a personal God, prayer or rituals. So, on our monthly trips to the Hindu Temple in Livermore, I spend my time napping in the car waiting for my wife and daughter to return back with some prasadam.

Last month, as we were getting ready for the trip, I threw on a t-shirt that had some funny quote involving beer. Answering my wife’s disapproving ‘Are you wearing that?’ with a curt ‘Yes’, I made the 45 minute trip from our home to Livermore.

Usually, I park the car in the shade, roll down the windows, push back the seat and settle down for a quick nap. But, this time, the weather was hot and parking was hard to find. So, I ended up parking in the sun, switching on the A/C, turning on some music and watching some guy treating his new Toyota Camry  to a car puja.

When my wife returned back, I mockingly pointed the car puja guy to her, who was now walking around his car with bowed head and folded hands following the priest’s orders. As he concluded the puja driving his car over four lemons placed under each of his car’s tires, I remarked how the lemons would have been better served as lemonade for the hot weather and how the moron and his car ritual has provided some humorous material for my next blog post!

We settled down in our seats and got ready to leave, only to realize that the battery having powered my A/C and radio for 30 minutes didn’t have enough juice left to turn our engine on! After calling AAA, who said they would be there in 30 minutes, only to call back 45 minutes later to convey that they won’t be there for another hour, searching for and finding a jump-start kit at the temple’s office, fumbling with the kit and managing to start the engine, we were finally on our way back home after a 90 minute delay.

As my laughing wife whispered ‘karma’, ‘No, this is not God’s vengeance for my blasphemous behavior’, I said, realizing that I have gotten myself into a no win situation, ‘This is just….me being stupid’.

Dravid is back. But, why?

Dravid is back in the India ODI squad replacing the injured Sehwag for the tri-series in Sri Lanka and the Champions Trophy to be played in September. But, why?

When Dravid was dropped from the ODI squad two years ago, it wasn’t just because of his poor form. It was also because, then at 34, he (along with Ganguly) was considered a misfit in the youthful team - with an emphasis on fielding and running between the wickets - for the future that the captain and selectors envisioned. Now, two years later I can’t see how he could have turned younger, unless the captain/selectors have doubts about their youth policy.

The Indian batting in the last couple of years has had the right balance of youth (Raina, Rohit, Gambhir) and experience (Sachin, Sehwag, Yuvraj) and has had some remarkable success. Despite the recent loss at the T20 World Cup and Rohit’s poor performance, I don’t see any reason to panic and abandon the youth policy and fallback on experience. Sehwag’s injury should have provided an opening to another aspiring youngster waiting for his turn (Badrinath/Vijay/Kohli/Pujara?) and not Dravid. In the short term, Dravid’s selection has added some balance to the team, but it certainly doesn’t bode well for the future. I mean, when Sehwag is fit and available, who would he replace?

Or, maybe this selection of Dravid in the team is just a one off replacement for Sehwag, providing him the opportunity to sign off from ODIs on his own terms? I certainly don’t have any problems with that.

Pets are welcome but your kids are not!

You know how you hear about these old women living alone with no kids but lots of cats, ‘cat ladies’ as they are called? Apparently, some of them are hoteliers.

Looking for accommodations in Carmel, CA, I found this -

If you have trouble reading the image, this is what it says -

Children: Quiet, well behaved children over the age of 5 are allowed in designated rooms only. We strongly discourage children under the age of 6 years old. Please let us know if you plan to bring a child

Pets: Pets are now welcome in all guest rooms. We charge a $20.00 per pet, per day fee. Please refer to our Pets page for details of bringing your pet and let us know if you plan to bring a pet.

Huh?

A relative visiting from India talking to my wife at a party in an admonishing tone – ‘Enna, appadiyae olliyavae irrukae, sappadavae maata polla…’ (You are thin as usual. Don’t you eat well?). The same relative talking about her daughter-in-law with pride to someone else at the same party – ‘Ava nalla weight korachita. Kalyana time eppadi irundhalo athaey mathiri nalla olliya irrukka…’ (She has lost a lot of weight. She is nice and thin just like she was on the day of her wedding).

India XI against W.Indies

As a weakened India without Sachin, Sehwag, Zaheer and Raina takes on West Indies in a four ODI series starting tomorrow, Dhoni has a variety of options to choose his playing XI.

Middle Order: With all the usual batsmen available in the team, the middle order is pretty much fixed with Yuvraj, Dhoni and Yusuf at 4, 5 and 6 respectively.

Openers: Gambhir can be partnered to open with either the regular, but inexperienced opener Vijay or one of the other middle order bats who have some experience at the top – Rohit or Kartik. Even though Rohit had mixed results as an opener in the Twenty20 World Cup, I am inclined to take one more chance with him.

No.3: Three batsmen compete for this spot – Rohit, Kartik and Badrinath. Badri probably deserved this chance a year or two ago, but, I am not very sure if the same can be said now. With Rohit being my choice for opener, I prefer to slot Kartik here. Another option might be for Dhoni to come in at three and move Kartik down to five.

No.7: Normally, I would prefer a specialist bowler here instead of a all-rounder. But, considering the weakness in the top order, two all-rounders compete for this spot – Jadeja and Nayar. My preference is for the spinner Jadeja.

Bowlers Harbhajan picks himself. Ojha loses out to the all-rounder at 7. As for the medium/fast bowlers, my first picks, at least for the first couple of games are Ishant, RP Singh and Nehra.

With that, my playing XI for tomorrow’s game is -

1. Gautam Gambhir
2. Rohit Sharma
3. Dinesh Kartik
4. Yuvraj Singh
5. MS Dhoni
6. Yusuf Pathan
7. R Jadeja
8. Harbhajan Singh
9. Ishant Sharma
10. RP Singh
11. Ashish Nehra

India out of T20 World Cup

The West Indians had exposed the Indian top order’s technical inability to cope with fast, accurate short-pitched bowling the other day and the Englishmen exploited it to perfection today bouncing India out of the Twenty20 World Cup.

England came in with the obvious strategy to bounce the Indians and Dhoni’s own response was to promote Jadeja playing his first match of the tournament ahead of the in-form Yuvraj as a pinch-hitter – apparently to ease the pressure off the other star batsmen (Yuvraj, Dhoni and Yusuf). If that was the intention, he should have at least been sent at three ahead of Raina, who was absolutely at sea facing bouncers in the previous match. In the end the pinch-hitter could neither hit out nor get out! When he did eventually get out after scoring 25 off 35 balls in the 14th over, leaving 67 runs to be scored off the last six overs, it was a little too much even for the icy cool Pathan (33 off 17 balls).

Earlier in the day Harbhajan and Jadeja did well to restrict England to 153, particularly after Pietersen (46 off 27 balls) was threatening to lead them to an above par score. But, the Indians conceded too many extras and weren’t sharp in the field. Also, it was baffling to see RP Singh who was most economical bowler on either side not finish his full quota of overs.

Well, this is a reminder that you still need to master the basic cricketing skills to be a successful T20 player. Rohit and Raina – both exceptional talents – need to work out their technical flaws if they are hoping to make it to the next generation Test team. Dhoni, probably needed this break. He has a very talented team at his disposal, he just needs to keep things simple. Hopefully, he will come back - along with some clarity in thinking – rejuvenated.

Dhoni’s batting

Dhoni’s batting on Friday against West Indies has drawn a lot of criticism. Minimizing risk doesn’t mean you shouldn’t rotate strike! Watching him struggling to get singles was tough.

He seems to be struggling to find the right batting position for himself. He seems to be randomly coming in at either 3 or 5. As I said earlier, instead of a fixed position, his batting strategy along with Gambhir should be to take less risk than the others, holding one end up at least until the 15th over allowing the other batsmen to be aggressive at the other end. This means, Dhoni’s batting position is not fixed. He walks in when Gambhir gets out. If Gambhir bats through an innings he doesn’t get to bat (unless the other specialist batsmen are all back in the hut).

Strategically, yesterday’s batting order was perfect (Dhoni came in at the fall of Gambhir’s wicket), but the execution wasn’t.

India’s Batting order

Yuvraj’s late blitz yesterday helped India reach an above par score of 180. But, that didn’t seem possible when both Dhoni and Gambhir were struggling to force the pace in the middle overs.

Dhoni thinks of his role as providing a solid anchor (cut out risky shots, keep the strike rotating, run hard, play safe without getting bogged down, put the bad balls away) at one end, allowing the other stroke players to be naturally aggressive at the other end. I completely agree with this strategy and his role. I also think Gambhir could, should and often does perform a similar role at the top of the order. So, instead of slotting himself at the fixed position three, Dhoni should slot himself as replacing Gambhir.

In fact, instead of a fixed batting order, each batsmen’s position should depend on the wicket to fall. My batting order would begin with Gambhir and Sehwag as openers. Dhoni will be slotted to follow Gambhir. Raina would follow Sehwag (or Dhoni if both Gambhir and Dhoni fall before Sehwag). Yuvraj would follow Raina (or Dhoni if Sehwag, Gambhir and Dhoni are all back in the dugout). Yusuf follows Yuvraj/Raina/Dhoni with Irfan and the tail following Yusuf.

The idea is for Gambhir/Dhoni to hold one end up with the other stroke makers taking up the risk of scoring aggressively at the other end. This means, if Gambhir bats through the innings, Dhoni will not get to bat (unless all the other batsmen – Sehwag, Raina, Yuvraj and Yusuf are all back in the dugout). Based on current team composition and form, I think this is a good batting strategy.

Team India at the T20 World Cup

Four specialist batsmen (Gambhir, Sehwag, Raina, Yuvraj), three of whom are part-time bowlers; two specialist pace bowlers (Zaheer, Ishant); two specialist spinners (Harbhajan, Ojha); one all-rounder who bowls spin (Yusuf); one all-rounder who bowls medium-pace (Ifran); one wicket-keeper batsman (Dhoni), who is the captain. I love India’s team composition for this world cup!

Twenty20 vs. Test Cricket

Chris Gayle’s comments regarding Test cricket has re-ignited the discussion regarding Twenty20 vs. Test cricket.

I like to compare them to the other form of entertainment that I enjoy – movies. While Test cricket can be compared to Drama Films (plot-driven, engaging story lines, well-developed characters), T20 is more like a Summer Blockbuster (big budget, special effects, outrageous action). While the genre of movies one likes is a matter of personal choice, the genre itself doesn’t guarantee entertainment. There are as many boring dramas as brilliant blockbusters. So, while I personally prefer an interesting drama, I am not necessarily against blockbusters. I absolutely love the choice offered by the variety of genres.

Similarly, I love Test cricket. To me, an intense over of Dravid’s defense against Warne’s guile on a fourth day pitch has  more drama than Pathan’s heaves for sixes DLF maximums. Then again, my initial apprehensions about T20 are slowly withering away. It does seem to be as much about skill as (though maybe not necessarily traditional cricketing skills) luck. Otherwise, how do you explain the consistent success of some quality Test players in T20? Now, after a couple of seasons of IPL, I do enjoy the twists, thrills and exciting finishes (however artificial they might be) of an occasional T20 game. I am thrilled by the choice of another genre in cricket.

As with movies, there will be passionate debates over which genre is better and which is not. And, while the debate rages on, the genres would still co-exist – similar to Hollywood dramas holding their own against flashy blockbusters.

Or, at least that’s what I hope for.

Non-Vegetarian Feast

After reading this blog entry – Worshipping Ghatothgaja – I got nostalgic about wedding feasts and hence this post.

While vegetarians drool about kalyana sappadu (wedding meal) as the ultimate feast, where i come from (a village near Madurai in South Tamil Nadu, India), it is the kari sappadu (meat meal) that is the king of feasts.

For the uninitiated, inspired by the 'self respect movement' of Periyar, the community leaders of our village at that time (yes, we had forward thinking leaders and no, we didn’t have bare-chested nattamais who start every sentence they speak with a screaming ‘aieee’) advocated ‘self-respect weddings’ wherein the wedding ceremony is not officiated by a Brahmin priest and no conventional Hindu rituals are performed. Somehow the leaders missed to spell out that we can do away with the Brahmin meal as well. They were probably busy plotting other social reforms. So, we still serve vegetarian food on the day of the wedding. But, a full fledged non-vegetarian feast aka kari sappadu is served for guests the following day. While we invite everyone in the village and every Pandian (Tom, Dick and Harry) that we have ever encountered in life to the wedding, the guest list for the kari sappadu is limited to just friends/family that we actually care about. And, friends/family who we don't care about, but who we have to invite because they had previously invited us for a kari sappadu in their family.

The morning of the feast starts off with a light breakfast of pooris with minced goat meat curry and idlis with ezhumbu sambhar (sambhar made with lentils and pieces of goat bones). My favorite is the marrow inside the bones in the sambhar. Now, there are a couple of different ways to get the marrow out. Irrespective of technique, the first step is to suck all the sambhar off the bone. This is to make sure that the bone is dry and cannot slip out of the hand during the marrow extraction process. Next, you hold the bone and flick your wrist with just the right force to get the marrow out – too light a flick, the marrow stays inside the bone; too strong a flick, the marrow might fly out and land on someone else’s plate! Or, if you have exceptionally strong teeth, you can chew through the bone and get to the marrow. Growing up, I usually outsourced the extraction work to grandma or dad.

For lunch, the feast is served on a banana leaf starting with the kola urundai (kola ball). Now, I don't know the origin or meaning of the 'kola' but this is essentially a spicy fried meatball made with finely minced goat meat. Crisp on the outside and soft on the inside, this is usually gulped down before the next item can even be served. Next comes the boiled egg. The other side dishes include chicken 65, chicken curry and goat fry. The main course includes chicken and/or mutton biryani (not the dry version made with long grain rice elsewhere in India, but the the soft cooked Madurai version made with the short grain jeeraga samba rice), followed by white rice with rasam and curd. For dessert, the traditional payasam is served. The chief guest (the groom) and a selected few would get the special dishes – goat liver fry, thala curry (curried goat head) and moola curry (curried goat brain). The special items are served to a few only because the goat has a small brain (obviously).

No, I did not forget to mention the vegetarian dishes. Kari sappadu is all about 100% pure non-vegetarian food. Sometimes a small batch of potato or cauliflower curry is made and set aside for any unexpected vegetarian guests. This is served to a guest only after he/she convinces the host that he/she absolutely cannot have meat due to health reasons.

The number of items in the menu may be small, but believe me you will be overwhelmed by the hospitality of the hosts who would make sure that you have eaten enough for a week. As soon as you down a kola urundai, another two would magically appear on your leaf. When you are half way working on the biryani another serving would be heaped on. Your cries of 'Please no, I have had enough' would be heard but interpreted as 'Oh yes, please serve me some more'! Finally, after you have convinced the host that you are done for sure, you would be served a malai vazhaipalam (bananas grown in the nearby hills. These are puny in size compared to the regular bananas but are much more tastier). The meal is ended by gulping down a glass of ice cold sweet lime nannari sherbet (sweetened lime juice with flavoring made from the nannari plant) followed by a loud belch.

After the feast, everyone relaxes on spread out jamukaalams (hand woven bright colored carpets) by chewing betel leaves & nuts and playing rummy (the card game) all through the afternoon.

Kari sappadu day officially ends with a simple dinner of veechu parota (thin parota)/virudhunagar paroto (layered, fried parota)/kothu parota (minced parota with eggs) with chicken chalna (gravy).

Democracy

Have you ever wondered about the true value of your vote in a democracy? Apparently it is Rs.500 according to the politicos of DMK in Madurai, Tamil Nadu.

Shame on you, Shane

It’s been a couple of days since Shane Warne was caught sipping beer during Rajasthan’s match against Bangalore and still no action has been taken by the IPL. Shame on Shane and shame on the officials for not castigating him.

Mother’s Day

To all moms out there – especially my own and my daughter’s – Happy Mother’s Day!

Déjà vu – again!

Sachin and captaincy doesn’t seem to go together, does it? It didn’t work in the 90s and it isn’t working now.  The move to drop himself to number four to prop up the middle order and the move to send the in-form Duminy to open the innings both failed. He correctly identified the problem – openers were not providing consistent starts and that in turn was putting pressure on the young middle order who haven’t been able to cope. I am not willing to believe that he made the decision to ring in the changes to the batting order to solve the problem, especially after I read this. As the Mumbai Indians are getting ready to face off Bangalore in a must win match for the franchise, the problems with batting still exist and the right way to solve it is for Sachin to do what he does best – score  runs, lots of them, at the top of the order.

Déjà vu

The Mumbai Indians in IPL2 remind me of the BCCI Indians of the 90s when the rise and fall of the team depended on the performance of one man – Sachin Tendulkar! Hope the team picks itself up, as the only thing I am following with interest in this edition of the IPL is Tendulkar’s batting.

Tendulkar turns 36

Sachin Tendulkar turned 36 on Friday and this past year has presented us with some awesome memories. His hundreds – 109 against Australia, 160 against New Zealand and that record-breaking 103* against England in Tests and the superb 163* against New Zealand in ODIs – were all for a winning cause. Except for the mediocre tour of Sri Lanka, he has been in amazing touch throughout the year including becoming the highest run-getter in Test cricket.

The remarkable feature of his batting this year has the been his controlled, risk-free approach. After Sehwag’s extraordinary innings set up the record chase, Tendulkar’s batting was so calm and serene that despite the long odds, it seemed like a win was inevitable! Even his 163* against New Zealand though enormous in magnitude was not a violent, bludgeoning innings. It was an assured, flawless, innovative, perfectly paced masterpiece.

Thanks for the wonderful memories, Sachin. Here’s to another great year - Cheers!

Anaconda

Watched this 1997 B-grade action-thriller(!?) about a monster snake the other night. The silliness and predictability of the plot combined with the fake-looking computer generated snake executing some atrociously funny stunts made the movie a good late-night time pass. It would have been more fun had the snake died choking on J Lo’s butt while trying to gobble her up, instead of being blown-up and hacked to death!!