The TimePass of India

I have seen Vinod Kambli cry. Not like grown men cry when they lose someone important in their life, but like children do, when they feel helpless and confused and frustrated...

More than 15 years have passed since that Semi-final in Eden Gardens in World Cup 1996. But those images refuse to leave me. The image of Kambli crying. The image of the stands at Eden Garden burning. The image of glass bottles littered on the ground. The image of the Ranatunga leading his men off the ground.

As kids, I remember, the only sport we followed was cricket. Kids those days didnt follow football or F1. Most of us didnt even know what FIFA stood for. For us, there was only one sport that mattered - Cricket.

I was 11 when 1996 World Cup was played in India, Sri Lanka and Pakistan. You didnt learn the significance of this event till you saw men standing outside Electronics stores, standing on their toes to get one glimpse of the batsman. You didnt realise the importance of the World Cup till you heard your male friends talk about the last match, very much like their fathers did with their friends, singing praises of the players if India won and completely degrading them if India lost!

I remember asking my father if India had ever won the World Cup. I dont know if you remember, but for some reason, we had very little faith in our players back then.It was that era when Indians didnt deem India good enough to win any major sporting competition. I was pleasantly surprised when I learnt that we had..Kapil Dev's men had.. So did that mean we could do it again? Of course we could! And we were playing at home!

Then came the quarter finals of India vs. Pakistan. You thought Wednesday's game was awesome? Wait till I tell you this -

Have you, in all the matches you have watched, seen an umpire ask a batsman to ask the crowd in the stands to keep noise levels down coz he cant hear the stump mic? Well, I have. The batsman was Ajay Jadeja! He went hitting the Paki bowlers out of the park and the crowd went crazy, so much so, the noise levels didnt allow the umpire to hear the stump mic! Jadeja had to walk up to the stands and request them to shut the hell up! How cool, just how cool, is that!!!

We went into the semi-finals hoping to thrash Sri-Lanka out of the tournament. We believed we could do it. It had been 2 World Cups since we last won. We thought we could win. Only, we didnt win....

I have such a clear memory of that match in Eden Gardens... The one we lost to Sri Lanka.

I dont know why I remember it so clearly. Maybe it is because it was my first heart-break. Maybe it was because I had learnt that cricket players, the ones whom we saw hit humongous sixers out of grounds the size of our school campus, while we at age 11 couldnt even connect bat to ball properly, were after all human. They felt hurt and helpless just like we did when we got a poor score in Math.

I have such a clear memory of that fateful match...I even remember the commentary. I remember Srinath got Jayasurya and Kaluwitharna out cheaply. I remember the hindi commentator exclaiming "Aaj toh Javagal srinath ball nahi, aag ke gole barsa rahe hain!" At home we rejoiced. The two danger men were out cheaply. Only to be undone by a strong partnership between Arvind D'Silva and Ranatunga.

But we still thought we could win that match. After all, we had Sachin in the team. And then I remember during the 24th over when wickets were falling all around him the commentator said - "He's trying, he's trying hard.. But this is a big ground and he is a small man..." The fact that small man has now close to 100 centuries in One dayers is another story.

I remember how the Indian supporters turned against Indian team all in a matter of hours. A section of Eden Gardens started throwing glass bottles on the ground & burning down the wooden seats. I have seen Vinod Kambli cry...

I have nothing to write.
Have no inspiration lately.

I open blogger wanting to write something and end up staring at the blank screen for hours like a loser...


Loser se yaad aaya, what has gotten into Kolkatta Knight Riders? Suddenly, I have new found respect for Ricky Ponting. How did he manage to win all those matches with an ass for a coach(John Buchanan).


Ass se yaad aaya, what is wrong with Imran Hashmi.. aaj-kal koi movie nahi aa rahi bande ki.. He has done more movies in the last 5 years than what Aamir Khan has done in his two decade old career.

Note that, it was Aamir Khan who held the record for maximum kisses (on screen of course) and he was conviniently replaced by Imran in his debut year.


Debut se yaad aaya, Varun Gandhi made quite a debut in Politics in and as "Pilibhit ka goonda". He went overboard with his anctics, gave communal speeches which made LK Advani and Narendra Modi sound secular. Its almost certain that Pilibhit is voting for Varun this Loksabha elections. Next LS elections we can wait for his next movie - "The return of the goonda".


Goonda se yaad aaya, did you guys know Gulshan grover is the brand ambassador for the apparels chain - "The loot".

I mean, what were the Marketing guys thinking? How could you have someone whos every third line is - "Baaaad maaan" as your brand ambassador. Wouldnt it make more sense to have someone like Ranbir Kapoor or Imran Khan as your brand ambassador if you are selling clothes? The truth is, Gulshan Grover himself doesnt like clothes much, if he did, he wouldnt rip them off the heroine in evey fifth movie. Gulshan Grover selling clothes is like Rishi Kapoor selling annual memberships for Talwalkars gym.


Gym se yaad aaya, dont you think Mayawati should join a gym. Shes getting real big and disfigured, not to mean that she was as figure-y as Madhuri Dixit when she was young, but she really needs a workout. If she reads this blog(which in all probability she does considering my popularity) she is bound to say



"Abbe budbak, main UP ki CM hoon.. Koi nahi aayega mere aur mere khaane ke beach."
"Beach? But ma'am as far as I know there is no sea or beach in UP!"
"Abbe gadhe, there is a beach.. Playground ke beachon beach."

Hehehe... er.. sorry you had to hear a joke that bad. I am a little low on intelligence(I meant today, usually I am okay). But seriously, she needs to workout. Shes turning into the symbol of her party. Arre the symbol of her party is Elephant. Itna bhi nahi jaante (Kya jhakaas knowledge hai na mera Mayawati ke baare mein!).


Elephant se yaad aya, Ramesh Powar just gained a few more pounds. Had I been the owner of Kolkatta Knight Riders, I would buy Powar for 8 crore rupees. I think hes by far the best player in IPL right now. He can single handedly win matches. How? Here goes my strategy. But this strategy works only when KKR bat first.-

Send Powar to open. That McCulluam is an idoit. Gayle-Powar should open. Make Powar run on the pitch. The pitch will crumble under his weight. When we come to bowl we have a minefield of a pitch. Make Powar open the bowling too. On a cracked pitch even Murli Karthik can be fatal, toh Powar ki toh baat hi alag hai. Powar will end up picking up 10 wickets in 4 overs.


Powar se yaad aaya, do you guys remember which bat Sachin Tendulkar used before he started using MRF ka balla? Yes guessed it right! Power!

Sachin used to feature in print ads of Power, he also used to feature in that Action shoes wala comercial - "Joota hai ya light.. joote main hai light!" Do you know who was the girl in that commercial? Socho socho.. shenaz!! Yeah, that Ishq Vishq wali girl.. She played Shahid Kapoor's girlfriend, second girlfriend actually.. The first one was that Parkinsson disease wali girl, whats her name, yeah, Amrita Rao, she shakes her head a lot when she delivers her dialogues, next time, kindly note.


Note se yaad aaya, MBA education is very costly yaar.. Majak-majak mein bahut kharcha hone wala hai. And because of this recession I am not even sure if I will be able to recover the money that I have put in. The condition is bad for guys like me who have all their earnings in white. Now only if I had done some ghootala or something, I would have a lot of black money to splurge...


Black se yaad aaya, Obama (I am so racist ) should come up with something to resurrect this recession thingy. He should take our PM's help if necessary, afterall Manmohan singh is by far the best Finance minister we had.

If Obama can have a cup of tea with him, they will definitely come up with some solution. All we need is some Tea, marie biscuits and some baat-cheet...


Baat se yaad aaya, I have to take a bath.. Bahut din ho gaye..


Warnings:
1.Reading this post can cause temporary neuron damage. What? You already read it and are cursing your friend who recommended you this blog? Please dont, your friend's intentions were good, mine werent!
2.This blog takes no responsibility for the low marks scored by Delhi students(rest of India is done with exams) due to the brain damage caused by this post. Title se yaad aaya...

This is a pretty long post.. Such a day comes in a players life only once, and I think he deserves the perfect farewell for all that he has done for the game. This is more than a farewell though.. This is about what Dada means to this blogger.




On the off side, first there is God then there is Ganguly!
- Rahul Dravid



There comes a time in everyones life when they want someone who could make everything right.. We look in different directions to find that one hero who makes us believe in ourselves.. some find the hero in their best friend, some in their teachers, some in themselves, I found him in Sourav Chandidas Ganguly..

I was 12 when he first hit that maiden century at Lords.. I don't think at that point I saw him as a hero.. He was just another bespectacled kid who had a moustache which looked like it had been pasted on.. Well, he was 23 back then, not so much a kid, but that age is adolescence in a cricketers life..


The reason why I feel so close to Dada is coz I have grown up with him.. Ofcourse there is a 12 year difference between our ages, but I have grown up seeing him evolve as a player and then as a Leader..

Dada became my hero when he became the captain of the Indian side. He changed the face of Indian cricket.. No, Sachin Tendulkar didn't change the face of Indian Cricket, with due respect to the batting maestro, piling up 15k runs doesn't amount to changing the face of Indian cricket.. If you saw India meekly surrender matches in the 1990s and then fight till the last ball in the 2000s, you will understand what a force Dada has been in this team and how he has changed the way we look at Indian cricket..


When you are a teenager theres nothing more important than proving that your hero kicks every other hero's ass... Mumbai is predominantly anti-dada. I remember spending hours arguing with my friends and family proving Dada's contribution to the game is unparalleled.. Now he might not be as good as batsman as Tendulkar, Dravid or Laxman. But his batting coupled with his captaincy, makes him as tall as the aforementioned.. perhaps taller..


Dada's arrogance is legendary but so is his trust in his players. His coming late for the toss, keeping Steve Waugh waiting showed that we were ready to give it back to them.. every glare was returned...every question answered..F words flying everywhere.. every player backed -from Yuvraj to Harbhajan.. barechested bonhomie on the Lords balcony as the English watched bewildered... thats passion..

If I am not wrong, in the last 10 years, no Indian cricketer has lost more percentage of his match fee to disciplinary action than Sourav... Every third match he lost 20 to 50% of his match fee! That brashness however brought something intangible to the team.. Something that was very untypical to Indians.. The freedom to do what they wanted to, if they felt it was right..

Sourav is a dreamer... a believer.. an administrator.. a motivator.. the perfect friend.. the honest foe.. He taught us to believe in ourselves, back the people we love, give it back to the men who bully you, kick butt, and above all do what you think is right..

Do what you think is right! This has been his philosophy all along, hasn't it? He married Dona (who for me is still among the most desirable women in the country) against his family's wishes.. Backed Bhajji when he wasn't among the wickets, backed Yuvraj when he wasn't a 6x6 force..


Then one day, admists allegations of sourav faking injuries, he was unceremoniously dropped..
Remember how a certain selector had declared that Ganguly wont get selected till hes in the selection committee..?

Dada was pushed into oblivion. The media spent precious air time to justify the move.. Everyone said Dadas time was up.. Dadas detractors were having the last laugh.. Back in college , I gave up on discussions with my friends.. There was nothing left to say... I was tired, of all the injustice being dealt to the man who had made the Indian team what it is today.. Harbhajan Singh and Yuvraj Singh did stand up for Dada, imagine such a thing happening in the politically driven BCCI.. They were very young back then, had the entire career ahead of them, still they stood up for their captain... that gesture summed up the importance of dada in the team.. it was his team..

Slowly everybody accepted the fact that Dada's chapter was over.. Even sourav's family members thought so...

Here is what Sourav's father had to say - "I thought my son had gone mad. He would bat in the living room at 12 in the night. He would make the servant bowl. I wanted his mother to tell him that it cant be done... that he cant make it to the Indian team..."

I remember telling my dad(whos not much of a dada fan) that he ll make it... it will take him 1 yr..2 yrs.. 5 yrs.. but he will comeback..

He had to comeback.. for his fans.. for everyone who idolised him... It hurts when you realise the one you idolise are as human as you are.. Failure is as much a part of their lives as it is yours.. But still you want your hero to dust it off and give it a last try..

The selection committee changed.. Sourav returned.. and how!



I feel he still has a couple of years of cricket left in him.. But this statement from him says it all..
"I was tired of being humiliated again and again. I don't want to play cricket at the mercy of others," Sourav Ganguly said in an interview..
India's most successful captain ever! And this is how bitter he has gotten..! I have always felt India lacks good leaders and now I know why.. Coz anyone who tries to make a difference, work against the system is pushed and poked, screwed and humiliated..till he gives up..



Now that he is retiring from the game, I am reminded of this story..
Samrat Ashok travels through his empire dressed as a commoner when a monk asks him who he was..
Ashok: Me? - A traveller..
Monk: Your presence says you are not that ordinary..
Ashok: What does it say? -(smiling) That I am a prince?
Monk: Even Princes are ordinary.. You seem to be greater than them..
Ashok: (quizzically)Who's greater than a Prince?
Monk: A traveller- when he meets his destination..


This Thursday when he wears the Indian whites for the last time, I hope he meets his destination..

Dada, you have made us proud...

Goodbye dear friend.. It wont be the same without you....

Thank you for the memories.... Goodbye Sourav : meet your destination..