A Bunch of Jokers & Sinking Indian Cricket !!!

It was sometime back one of the wise cricketing mind in the country has stated 'cricket selectors as a Bunch of Jokers'..Hats off to him!!

Becoz time and again its been proved that they are the ones to have that name stamped..And with the inclusion of Legendary old Aussie and Wall of Indian Cricket, it is more clear..

Being a cricket watch dog for 10-15 years now, its really being shame as still I am...Indian Cricket is sinking , sinking and sinking.. If this is what you are calling as Future, Calibre, Youth, Process and last but not least Vision 2007!!, I really am a layman when you are talking cricket..

Dear Greg, When you are reading that book eagerly to finish the chapter, just look around the world for sometime..

Brain Charles Lara, the shameless person due to captaining the team which forgot to win is, winning matches for his team by putting great great battting display..
Drug attacked Pakistan, with out even having their front line bowlers, are getting matches home..
Injury hit England fighing out their way back to the mighty aussies..

And here in this part of the world, we are still processing cricket as finding out some old lost papers in an Indian govt.office.. Its shame on you dear Five star Coach!!

Why to shame on a person who is afterall a foriegner?? We were always been very good hosts as our culture is concerned..So talk about Indians now..

Rahul Dravid, the captain completly forgot that he was once called as Wall and was only the reliable , consistant and most respected batsman in the world.. Now " Things can only get better!! We will have to find solutions out"!! For the last 1.5 years you and your Guru-Greg is experimenting , processing and doing what not to find out solutions.. And now still when the World Cup, the so hyped Vision was on door steps, still you are finding out solutions.. Dear Indian Captain, Its not a Hide & Seek game , its that you are playing with the emotions of million Indian People who has given everything to the 11-Fools Game!!

I think Mr. Dileep Vengsarkar is one way right on his view as the talent is not coming out from Indian youth.. I am worried , is this going to be the end for Indian criket!! Dear Cheif Seletor, its time that, you take control from the mighty aussies culture, and think as an Indian!!

Do what ever actions you can take for the teams good and not for Individual Jadas and egos!!
If you wanna call back some old forgotten heros for the same, never think more, or if you wanna find out some new talent, like say, Shahbaz Tumbi and B. Manoj Kumar , never think more!! Its time to act..Act faster... Otherwise, its better to wind up the show and shut down the BCCI..

Atleast time of Indian crowd and feelings are not hurted..

Cheers,
Gokul

"The West Indies have forgotten to win"

"The West Indies have forgotten to win"; Crazy thoughts.. Do you remember these words? Almost all the Indian Criket lovers might have forgotten the same.. But Never Lara and his low class team..

These are from our Five star Guru Greg's crazy thoughts when he went to West Indies some tome back.. And he started eating his own words now.. Lara and his team has emerged as a team and started feeling like a definite bet for the upcoming Vision 2007..

Dear Greg, are you listening?? You are playing around with the feelings of Million Indian cricket lovers..Its high time.. Its really high time to stop these so called experiments and start thinking like an Indian Coach.. Othewise ....................

Dravid must be wondering, what next?? Definitly he is in darkness..In 1.5 years time, our star opener Veredar Sewhag has not scored a 3 digit score.. He has 7 hundreds in 150+ matches as an opener..Shame!!! Why he is still in the team?

Suresh Raina, the young Brigade is not scored a double digit for the last 17 innings he played.. Why is he still around?

Mahendra Singh Dhoni, after his brilliant 183*, he became so silent and a star only in advertisements..

Irfan Pathan, the so called All- Rounder that India was seraching for after Indian Legend Kapil Dev, failed miserably in both batting and bowling.. Why is he still batting at no-3??

Unable to chase a score of 125 runs successfully, and won somehow by the loss of 7 wickets?? Pathetic Cricket is around us..

I have told you, the previous blog might have been my last one for Sourav Ganguly.. But time demanded it.. and I am again here...

Definitly Sourav is far far better than Current bunch of Indian Cricket team.. The shabby performance is the answer for that.. Its high time to bring back Sourav, Laxman, Kumble and Zaheer Khan..

Dear Vengsarkar, Are you listening?? Atleast you must understand the feelings of the Indian Cricket lovers.. Its a plead...

After-Thought: Tomorow is the crucial tie for India as well as Australia, both should win to be in contention for Champoions trophy.. Do anybody feel or dream of a Miracle?? Hope for the best to come out.. Becoz, still I Luv Indian Cricket a bit...

This may be the last one for Sourav...

Unlike any other domestic tournament, this year challenger series was attracted by lots more people, only becoz of one man, Sourav Ganguly..



Its all over now.. The hard core fans of sourav Ganguly might be feeling very sad, like me. But we are no one to change the destiny.. Its going to happen as written and planned..

So where does he go from here? He will be a better person to answer.. He may say he will go and play Irani trophy or Duleep Trophy in the next couple of days..But again thats going to create a big hipe in the media and the minds of his fans..Nothing else..

I really feel or worry , Sourav Ganguly is almost a closed chapter..But while writing this statement also, I know or the people who knows me well will be knowing that My mind is against this statement... But truth always bitters..

When you read the following articles, in leading websites, you yourself feel the heat and the sentiments in the heart of thousands of people in Inida..Its better you read this instead of my stuppid feelings..

Ganguly sinking as chances run out--Cricinfo.com
When Life hung loose for 44 minutes--CricketNext.com

Nothing more to say tonight, as I am short of words.. But I feel writing lots and lots.. But better to stop here.. This may be the last and final comment from me about my Sourav.. Dear Dada, Its India.. And Indians are like this.. But still we remember you as one of the greatest cricketers and leader that India ever produced...

Cheers,
Gokul ( Luving DADA than Myself )

More-Show Over!! Its time for Challenger.. A Challenge...

Finished the show.. Packing the bags.. And waving his hands..The controversial career as a Cheif Selector of World's Most richest cricketing body has come to an end for India's one time great wicket keeper Kiran More...

As we see his career as a Selector, it was full of blunders and gossips..He had shown us the way how to select a team for President of BCCI and his sub ordinates.. He has shown us how to select a team for the Future and not the past,,

He had shown us the way how to eat his own words in less than 5 minutes time..( The letters here is removed) ................What to say about him.. Nothing.....

Dileep Vengsarkar, one of the Indian Cricket legends.. Now on a new dress as a chief selector. Hopefully, we can expect a new generation of selecting scenarios under his regime..

India lost again and were out of the recently concluded tri nation DLF cup before final.. And slipped into 5th place in ICC ranking..As all of us know, the results was purely the outcome of more experimentation and the insecurity fed into the cricket rs..

Now, upcoming Champions trophy, If India need to get back the respect what they had sometime ago, Dravid has to think positively and should follow his own mind.. And he should call the shots instead of Legend Aussie..

Before that, we all can closely watch one more tournament, which is Challenger trophy in Chennai during first week of October..

It is a rare coincidence, that India's most successful skipper, the stylish left hander Sourav Ganguly was out of the team after the challenger series last year. After that he didn't wear Blue.. Now its again a challenger and he is playing for his career.. Unlike last time, here he will be playing his mind with the prayers of thousands..

He will come good and hopefully, in a blue dress when India goes to South Africa and later to West Indies..

He deserves a place in the Indian team when Dravid lifts the trophy, (if at all) and reaches to the so called Vision 2007. Because, he was here for 11 years playing for India with 10K ODI runs and 22 centuries. Over and above that he is the person who is very much behine the concept called Men in Blue..

Just wait and see for a week time.. He will come good and is Good for Indian Cricket, None others...

Onam a Memory of Passion!

Onam, The festival of Malayalam.. While staying far far away from God's own country, What you call as Nostalgia is coming in slowly.. but surely as a form of Onam...

Now a days, I dont see much of celeberation during Onam and Vishu etc, in Keralam.. But still to feel the passion and Love towards such things, you have to stay away from your dear and near ones..

I do feel that I am missing somthing here.. If you ask me what is that, I may not be able to answer.. But still, I feel that.. I am missing somthing.. A lot....

I wish you all a Happy Onam!

Shalini's mask was my first love. I will always love her

A story which you feel or see infront of your mind when reading.. Thought of sharing it with you...

The journey of a lifetime
By Ramsubramaniam Suraj

She was the most beautiful woman I had ever seen. I cannot describe her beauty in the limited time I have here. I was 23 and fresh out of college, when I saw her. I don't know if it was the hormones but I loved her at first sight. She was the girl of my dreams.

It is said that matches our made in heaven. It was sheer destiny that we were traveling to Chennai on the same train, The Niligiri Express. We were in the same compartment, S1 and were seated next to each other, 25 and 26. It was an amazing coincidence as my ticket had been confirmed only at the last minute.

"Hi, my name is Shalini," she introduced herself with a beaming smile. She stretched out her right hand. I was shivering when I shook it.

"I am Arjun," I said and added, "Pleased to meet you."

She had a serene, innocent face; the face of the kind of person who gets bullied in school. The image of a woman who couldn't hurt a fly if she wanted to.

"How old are you?" I blurted out. It was the worst question to ask a woman but I was a nervous wreck and I wanted to talk to this woman.

She smiled at me and said, "Never ask a man his salary and a woman her age."

"I'm so sorry. I don't..." My tongue adamantly stuck to the roof of my mouth

"No, it is okay. Let us say, I will be sixty seven in 2050."

I worked out the math. She was twenty two. I was twenty three. It was perfect! A match made in heaven.

"Do you have a crush on me?" she asked.

"What? How could you ask...?"

"Do you have a crush on me or not?" she asked emphasizing on 'crush'.

"To tell you the truth, yes," I said meekly.

"It's okay. You can be bold about it. I'll tell you a little secret."

She pulled my ear next to her mouth and whispered, "I think you are attractive. I might even love you"

I turned pink the next moment.

"Hey you believed me, didn't you? April fool, go to school. Tell your teacher, you are a fool," she shouted. She laughed at the top of her voice.

I checked my watch. It was April 1st, 2005 and I had been made a jackass. I didn't want to look at the woman's face again. I loved her but I hated her for what she had done. I turned to the opposite side and stared out of the window.

She noticed my sulking face.

"Hey, don't get mad at me. It was a joke. That's all. I'm sorry," she said.

I didn't look at her and didn't reply.

"Okay. What can I do to compensate?"

"You could sing a song for me," I said softly. I wanted to know how well my girl could sing.

"Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you." She stood up and went to the centre of the compartment.

"Friends, we have a birthday boy in our midst. I want all of you to wish him happy birthday."

The entire compartment including the TTE (Train Ticket Examiner) was singing "Happy birthday to Arjun."

She took out a vegetable sandwich from her bag. She said that it was a substitute for a cake. I cut the sandwich and gave her the first piece. She removed the tomato and cucumber from the sandwich. She pasted the cucumber and tomato all over my face. I distributed the remaining bits of the sandwich to everyone in the compartment. It was the best birthday I had ever had.

When all the euphoria died I asked her, "How did you know that it was my birthday?"

She pointed to the card on top of my bag.

"Will you make a birthday resolution for me?" she asked.

"Sure. Tell me."

"Promise to always smile because life presents too many opportunities to cry. And you look ugly when you are sad."

"It is a promise." I rested my palm on top of hers.

The perfectly romantic scene was disturbed by a child's cry coming from the adjoining apartment. She took her hand off mine. I thought, "Damn, tough luck."

She went to the next compartment to see what the problem was. The boy was two years old and his mother was not to be found. Nobody seemed to care about the boy.

She carried the boy in her arms and brought him to our compartment. She cajoled the boy by singing a lullaby for him. She had a sweet voice; the voice of a nightingale.

"I love kids," she said.

"I love kids, too," I replied, eager to show we had similar tastes.

The boy did not stop crying. He appeared to be terrified of us. His mother was nowhere to be seen.

"You don't like songs. Okay, I will tell you a story. Once upon a time, in a faraway land, there lived a king."

The boy listened intently for a second but started crying as soon as she paused.

"Hey, relax. Give me time to think of a story. You are an impatient baby. In this land..."

"I will look for the boy's mother," I said. She nodded her head.

I found the boy's mother, two compartments away. She had gone there to meet a friend. She had forgotten about her kid.

When we came back to S1, we found the boy sound asleep in Shalini's lap. She had used all her powers of persuasion to make him feel secure in her lap.

"I want to thank..."

"Shh...Your son is sleeping. Don't disturb him," she whispered to the boy's mother and gave the boy to her.

"Do you want the Nobel peace prize?" I asked her cynically.

"I love people. When I am around, the people around me should be happy. That is my philosophy in life," she said, sincerely.

It made me feel small and stupid in front of her. I began to rethink about my mission in life. Should I be a priest? No, can't marry her. Social worker, peace activist...maybe.

We heard a voice in the distance shouting "Is there a doctor on this train?"

"Dr. Shalini, here. How can I help you?" she shouted back.

We waited to see the face of the voice we had heard. It was a co-passenger, a bearded man who seemed anxious.

"Doctor, my father is serious. Please do something."

"Come with me. You could be of help," she told me. She caught hold of my arm and guided me along the compartment. I had absolutely no say in the matter. Oh! The power of women!

The old man was in a grave condition. His breathing was heavy and he was coughing profusely. He seemed ready to make peace with god. "Open the windows," she told me. I opened all the windows to allow fresh air to come in.

"Hold him up for me," she instructed.

I made the old man sit up. She took out her stethoscope and checked his heartbeat. She checked his pulse for variations.

I watched her lovingly as she worked her magic on the old man. She was so soft and tender with people. Whether it was a little boy or an old man, she had so much affection for them. Unbelievably, the old man was normal within half an hour. His son didn't have enough words to thank Shalini.

"He is okay now. Don't disturb him. Let him sleep well," she instructed him.

"I never expected you to be a doctor," I said.

"Men always think that beautiful women don't have brains."

I didn't know how to reply to that remark. Did she mean that she was beautiful, or brainy or both. One can never understand a woman's mind. So, I diverted the conversation.

"What made you become a doctor?" I asked.

"A lot of things. It was my father's dream. Above all else, it gives me the power to make people smile; the power to save lives."

"Will you marry me?" I asked, spontaneously. I had never been more sure of myself.

"Is this April fool?"

"No. I am serious. See, I know that I am unemployed. I am not even as educated as you. I don't even look good. I have no caliber. But I love you. Will you marry me?"

"You know nothing about me. I don't like commitments. I live every day like it is my last."

"If you marry me, I will live everyday like it is my first."

She closed her beautiful eyes. She took a deep breath and thought for a moment. The suspense was killing.

"God, why didn't I meet you earlier," she said.

I had no time to reply. The doors to my mouth were sealed by her lips. I thought that my head was immersed in the clouds. The people in my compartment pretended to close their eyes. But I could see the men looking at me with envy through the corner of their eyes. It was the most beautiful moment of my life. It still is the most beautiful.

The train came to a screeching halt. We had reached Tirupur station. It was hard to believe that so much had happened in two hours.

There are some moments in life which you can remember even in your sleep. For me, it was what happened at Tirupur railway station. It redefined my life forever.

"I am hungry. Get me something to eat," said Shalini. She dug into her leather handbag and brought out twenty rupees.

"It's okay. I have money. What do you want?"

"Get me Strawberry milk to drink. And honey, I love you," she said, earnestly.

We hugged again. For the last time.

The milk booth was about hundred feet from S1. It gave me time to think about the sudden changes in my life. My parents were conservative people. I had to convince them about Shalini. If they agreed, good. If not, who cares? I loved Shalini more than my parents.

My thoughts were disrupted by the sound of an explosion. It sounded like the aggregation of a thousand thunders. The impact of the explosion threw me off my feet. I turned to look at the train. S1, S2 and S3 had been reduced to pieces, like waste in a manufacturing process.

My only thought was about Shalini. I ran towards where S1 had previously been. I searched for her amidst the corpses. All I could find were severed hands, burnt flesh and a fresh stream of blood. Not a single body was identifiable in the three compartments.

Who on earth could do such a cruel thing, I wondered. I swore that I would get even with the people who had taken my beloved Shalini's life. I wept like a little boy who had lost his favorite toy. Amidst the tears, I thought about the two hours I had spent with Shalini. Something she had said had struck me as strange.

"You know nothing about me. I live everyday like it is my last. God, I wish I had met you earlier." "Could it be Shalini," I wondered. "No, not Shalini. She had too innocent a face to do such a dastardly act. Besides, she was a doctor. And they know the value of a human life," I reasoned to myself.

The next morning, my worst fears were confirmed. A newspaper report said, "A twenty two year old doctor named Shalini had committed suicide on the Niligiri express. She had taken the lives of hundred people with her. The reasons for the attack are unknown."

I never understood the reasons for the attack. It could have been personal or ideological. All I can still remember is her face, how innocent it looked. How she made everyone around her happy. How she showed love and care to kids and old men alike.

That face was a mask. Beneath the benevolent mask, was the true Shalini. A hard-nosed, sadistic, terrorist capable of sacrificing human life to satisfy her selfish needs.

She truly changed my life. From then on, I realized that every human wears a mask which he develops over a period of time. It is the mask which is exposed to the world. Beneath that mask, after layers of deceit there lies the true nature of each individual. This real person in each one of us is intricately more fascinating than any figment of wild imagination.

Shalini's mask was my first love. I will always love her.

Look Back! Past was Perfect.. Future too..

I may not be efficient enough to write an article as others write.. But still I do... Becoz the time demanding it.... Great victories over the past 10 months against big guns of World Cricket like Srilanka Pakistan and South Africa ( Forget about played in sub-continent)..New talent, New people and new energy.. Youngesters were on the highs with the good old Aussie and a never talking Captain....

We all were very happy to see the the so called Young Guns, Getting the matches home with out any problems... People started forgetting about somebody who were very much behind the concept called Men-in Blue...

Even Though the test appearance was not so appealing, still chappel-Dravid-More trio stand out with more talks as Vision 2007...I wonder or worry, at this point of time , What is the vision called 2007 world Cup?India lost 4 consecutive ODI matches in a pathetic way against a team which is only considered as better than Zimbaway and Bangladesh...
That too after 17+ continuous chasing victories.... Where are we heading to? Where are we reached?

I used to tell, The Time will tell the Best and Rest...Suddenly everything got changed.. The best started coming out slowly but surely...I don't want to reinstate anybody for my sake.. But the day which the good old Past and Experience going to be valid .. is not so far...

It will take much time to rebuild a team, which it was 1 year ago.. Its never easy...Beware!
" We may have fallen so far down this hole already that it won't be easy to reverse the "process". The Indian team has undergone such a permanent change that it could take years to rebuild, to get things back to where they were. Maybe there's still time, but someone will have to act now. It'll be sad if we lose everything just because of some sophistry and a myopic vision..." ( Thanks to some newspaper)

Now after such a pathetic story, Indian team some how escaped in test series.. God's Grace..Went to Srilanka..Played only 22 balls and are back with nothing.. Thanks to Rain Gods.. Indian escaped from a humiliating show by the inform Srilankans...

Form is temporary.. But Talent and experience is Permanent... Take a moment to look back Past was perfect and future too...... The days going to come are mine.. None others...