The last of his kind

He called a press conference on a sunny afternoon at Chinnaswamy Stadium..One hour later,he was gone.No fuss, no frenzy. In the days leading up to this public announcement, he had made it a point to reach out to everyone who made a difference in his cricketing life. Gavaskar,Tendulkar et al. Symptomatic of the grace and stature of the man.

Meet Rahul Sharad Dravid..The hero's best friend, for 16 years..Dravid was bloody good, heck he is an all time great. But he never felt the need to tell. He never gelled his hair, never acted like a casanova, never made obscene gestures after a test match hundred. Sophisticated he was, but classy.


Mothers heat and eat previous night's rice from the refrigerator. They never force others in the family to do so. Dravid was the same. He took many bullets for the team. His answer was always a YES. "I want to win the World cup, will you keep wickets?". "I want to accommodate Yuvraj at 6, will you open?". "Youngsters are not good enough at short leg, could you?" Quintessential team man. Declaring when SRT was at 194 in Multan was totally on. He reasoned that India needed wickets that night. When you practice what you preach, you are not culpable.

Dravid fought and polarized public opinion all the time, during his long career. They said he couldn't play One day cricket because he couldn't rotate strike. Dravid worked real hard on his game. 10000 ODI runs later, we know who should be smiling. He could slog for the team too. He has one of the fastest 50s in ODI's. Neat, for someone who swears by the text book.
They then said he was not a good fit for Twenty20 cricket. He batted 3 and 6 for RCB and very successfully at that. Why, one season, he was his team's best player on view. Hard work/work ethic was his forte. Often times, he was the first batsman to bat in the nets. His enthusiasm to hit balls in the nets belied belief for a man touching 40.

Dravid, on the face of it, did not have the recipe for success in a cricket mad country like India. He was no show pony, he couldn't make news by creating a drunken stupor..Superstar you needed to be to make it big and he wasn't. Importantly, even after 2 or 3 years of Dravid in the Indian team during the 90's, not many kids wanted to become a Rahul Dravid. Ganguly YES, Tendulkar YES, Dravid why? His unrelenting performances over the past 16 years have now registered. There are kids waiting to become Rahul Dravid now.

An endearing quality in Dravid was that his greatness was palpable. You knew you could become a Rahul Dravid with sheer determination, focus, intensity and a good amount of ability. Destiny's child he certainly wasn't. He was the working class hero, not a magician that answers to the initials SRT.

When Dravid made his debut, Sachin Tendulkar was a superstar already. When he leaves today in 2012, no one is flabbergasted if the word Dravid is uttered in the same sentence as Tendulkar. Some achievement, that.

Two things I wish he had done differently? One, he did not quit before England in 2011. Yes, he ended up making 3 hundreds in the UK, but it was pretty clear he was on his last legs. Mohali 2008 was a new lease of life. Expecting two re-births was one too many. That a thinking, intellectual cricketer did not figure out the right time to go left a bit of a sour taste in the mouth.
Second, he did not leave on a cricket field, in whites, there by robbing us the chance to celebrate him and maybe shed a tear. These are minor blips in a fascinating journey.

Rainy day, Indian captain loses toss and is put in to bat. India lose flashy openers and are 20/3.. Rahul Dravid was born for this situation. And he is the last of his kind.

Brett Lee summed it up when he said "If you cannot get along with Rahul Dravid, you are struggling in life"..
Thank you Rahul. Thank you for the enchanting memories. Thank you to the thorough gentleman we learned to love.

A salivating prospect

Sunday 1:30 AM..Rafa was up a break, but I couldn't keep my eyes open..In what turned out to be an inspired move,I turned the alarm clock on in pursuit of the one hour power nap. Blessing it was!
2:30 AM, Rafa had wrapped up the first set and Djoker was up a break in the second..I was feeling fresh again. Vamos, I said to myself. I had predicted a Nadal win in 4.
7:30 AM, I almost forgot I had slept just for an hour the entire night..Rafa had lost from a seemingly impregnable position, but the twists and turns in the game were enormous and I felt privileged to have watched it live. The satisfaction that I had watched sport at its best was comforting and rejuvenating. Well done Djoker. He is someone who has re-defined "peak of your powers" in modern sport.


When I reached out to buddies for reactions, many of the live-sport-must-watch-at-any-cost folks believed this was one of the best matches across sport they had seen. Have to agree, considering this was a Grand Slam Final and the stakes were real high.
What is even more exciting is that this year will potentially bring many such matches. An article on Wall Street Journal said men's tennis is probably the best sport in the world right now. Not hyperbole, certainly.

Casting my mind back to 2004-07, an era Roger Federer dominated and one that helped him stake claim toward becoming the GOAT (Greatest of all time) that he is widely considered today, was an age devoid of competition. Andy Roddick and Lleyton Hewitt were Federer's chief adversaries along with an aging Agassi and none of them hold a candle to Federer, Djokovic, Nadal or even Andy Murray for that matter.

Just when our generation was whining about lack of supreme quality post Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi at their peaks, riches were bestowed upon us. Careful introspection suggests that even today, the gap between this quartet and the rest of the field is yawning. Yes, a Del Potro shows off his blizzard forehand in New York City and a Verdasco or Tsonga roar for a day in Paris, but it is pretty amazing how the same group can make the semifinals of every Grand Slam, day in and day out. Got to give it to them. You don't choose your opponents someone famously said. True, that.

To stick my neck out and actually start calling this a great quartet, Murray has to start winning something shortly. Henman Hill has transformed into Murray Mountain at the All England Club, but the Scot doesn't still look close to winning his maiden title. He needn't look any further than his good mate Djoker for inspiration.

A comparison between the pre-December 2010 version of Novak Djokovic and the 2011 September (post US open) Novak Djokovic is glaring. Egg chamber? Serbia's Davis Cup win? Strict diet regimen? Yeah, possibly. But how can you explain the improvement between the ears? The belief that he could beat and possibly toy around with Federer and Nadal in Grand Slam finals. This was the same guy of whom Andy Roddick said "He has SARS, Anthrax, flu" , after yet another of his excuse offering losses and we found it funny at the time. Djoker was known for bailing out when under the pump. Now, none of that. The talent was always there, but the will power to succeed is finally there. What a relief for sports fans. He should be distraught if he doesn't hang up his boots as a legend of the game.

Nadal and Federer are hovering pretty close to Djokovic. Nadal more so than Federer. Roger has to keep believing he has another slam in him somewhere. The increasing consistency of Rafa and Djoker and the heavy physical demands on players today will make his life even tougher at 31. End of the year might be a good time to re-evaluate. Reaching semifinals every day is fine, but if "the GOAT" cannot conquer that last one percent, there is no point sticking around. He has raised the bar and must be measured by that yardstick and by that alone.

Nadal, strangely, will be happy with the Australian open final. As he aptly said, he took Djokovic to a place where Djoker hadn't been all of 2011. Till he actually beats the world no.1 on a surface other than clay and in a Grand Slam final, the soothsayers will not believe he has put the shenanigans to sleep. Being an ardent Rafan, have to admit he gives you everything you want in your sporting hero. Puts in 100% each time. Every time. He will acknowledge 7 losses in 7 versus Djoker in finals is not a coincidence. Djoker is slowly making a scar somewhere in his mind. Got to get him out of there and soon.

As long as this quartet keeps making the business end of Grand Slam events and the Masters series, the sport will be alive and kicking. Question is can the rest of the field wake up and make their life harder. Makes for a salivating prospect. Keep your eyes glued to the tennis in 2012!

Planning for tomorrow!

My previous post in August was just after the nightmarish English summer. As MS Dhoni put it, everything that had to go wrong, did! I genuinely believed it was a one-off and that is what it should have been, provided some remedial actions were taken.

As someone famously said "You cannot do the same thing repeatedly and expect different results". "Visionary" is a term in short supply in our great land. We have been rarely blessed with leaders that can see and live an India after 20 years. That same problem seems to plague even our cricket leaders. I would not like to talk about cricket administrators here because most of them are clowns beyond repair that deserve no print space and ink.



The lack of foresight is what hurts me most in what has been a humiliating, appalling, embarrassing three weeks for Indian cricket. All of our top players are fit, the 11 that played at Melbourne and Sydney are the best we could have put up on a cricket field. So no excuse from that perspective. Yet, how can we be mauled repeatedly? How can one explain that this team under MSD can be seemingly worse (atleast in the results column) than the pedestrian India sides Azharuddin and Tendulkar led in the 90s?

Here are some do's and don'ts for the actors that make Team India.

Virender Sehwag: That he is still a match-winner is beyond debate. Even outside the subcontinent. But his no-holds-barred license needs urgent review. It is one thing to be adventurous and explosive, but to be downright reckless when your team is lagging way behind in a test match and your middle order is struggling is a luxury India cannot afford.The 219 in a one dayer might end up doing a lot of disservice. The ego boost was really unnecessary!
Playing for your team is paramount in cricket and that sadly has been missing in his "I donno where my screw fell off" approach in the last 3 overseas tours. Kick up the backside, anyone?

Gautam Gambhir: Fighter,albeit filled with anger. Needs to know that 60s and 80s are not done for a test match opener. Gambhir is worth preserving(like Sehwag), but the message should be loud and clear. Make test match hundreds consistently, else we will not hesitate to invest in youth.

Rahul Dravid: The first of the 3 legends in the lineup. A mortal genius who should have known his limits better. Mohali 2008 was his rebirth and England 2011, his coronation. I wrote that he should have gone out on a high post England but he chose to stick on. Now, 5 bowled out of 6 and suddenly a Steve Waugh like farewell might not be in his destiny. Gut feel is, Laxman being in a weaker position will allow Dravid to drag on for a series or two more. But it shouldn't come to that.Hope he goes out on his own terms and real soon!

Sachin Tendulkar: calling for his head is sacrilegious in India. People don't want to listen to criticisms of SRT. I find that annoying. Oh yeah I love him too, but let us open our eyes for a minute. I am not suggesting the great man quit tests, no not yet. He has another year in him (the way he is batting in Australia), but for what joy is he playing One day cricket? Enjoying the game? Not a good enough answer. If SRT cannot make it to the 2015 World Cup, he doesn't deserve a place in the ODI side right now. Period.
By the way, isn't Mumbai 2011 THE finish a sportsman hopes for? What more do you want other than being paraded on your young teammates shoulders on your beloved homeground having just won a World Cup for your nation? Great people need to take bold decisions and by playing all IPL games and one day cricket, SRT has lost a little sheen in my eye and I say that with a heavy heart.

VVS Laxman: Our Houdini. A lovable human. But does that make him bullet proof? No. VVS looks the oldest of the 3 legends on a cricket field. His batting in England and Australia hasn't been convincing and he has looked a pale shadow of his halcyon days. Time to leave the room, sir. You will always be respected.

Virat Kohli: The young man has bottle. One to be persisted with. I won't be surprised if he leads India in the longest format within the next few years.

Rohit Sharma/Ajinkya Rahane-- The 2 Mumbaikars are very close to test match debuts. Rahane averages 68.18 in Ranji Trophy and that is way more than knocking on the selectors door. That is, pushing the door wide open.
Rohit Sharma is a superb talent whose temperament and shot selection are still big question marks for me. I only hope he doesn't go the Yuvraj way i.e. remain a "youngster" in test cricket all his life.

Suresh Raina: India material. If not for shot selection and repertoire, for his dedication to the India shirt. His determination will make sure he features again in Test cricket soon. Someone for the future.

Cheteshwar Pujara: Lots of talent and runs in domestic cricket to back his case. I see him as our future no.3 in test match cricket. Needs to get in at 3 the next home series and Dravid needs to bat 5. Passing the baton time.

Yuvraj Singh: Champion one day cricketer. Time for Indian selectors to slam the door on his test career. Real real hard.

Mahendra Singh Dhoni: I respect the man. A lot. One of my role models in life. Will be indebted forever for 2nd April 2011. But he has never been a world class test batsman. If we still want to live in the Mongia/More era, he is more than adequate. If we are looking for a Gilchrist, the answer is not him, not Saha/Parthiv/DK either. It has to be some young man in his teens somewhere in India. For now, TINA factor might save Mahi. His application has been a major disappointment in Australia.

Zaheer Khan: Our best bowler. Our only world class bowler. Is 33, but his body is way more delicate than that. I always fear what will happen of Indian cricket if Khan isn't fit for test cricket. Alas, I don't think that day is far away. His batting has gone to the dogs in the last 3 years (after Bangalore 2008) and over reliance on him might cost our team dear. Caution!

Ishant Sharma: The term "unlucky" has been abused of late. Ishant hasn't been unlucky, he has been plain mediocre. He doesn't have a place in colored clothes right now and might soon have to prove his worth playing for Delhi and North Zone before getting back to test cricket. IPL performances to be ignored, please. Hope he bounces back real soon.

Umesh Yadav: one of the shining lights of this sojourn Down Under. Seems to have a big heart, can rely on him to produce a back breaking spell when the opposition is 300/2 on a flat deck. You see that quality very rarely these days. Hope he keeps improving and goes strength to strength.

Ravichandran Ashwin: can bat, can turn the ball. Good cricketer is R.Ashwin. Whether he is a test class spinner or not, time will tell. But he is a team player alright. Running between the wickets needs urgent attention though.

Pragyan Ojha: Good at holding one end tight, but not a "run through the opposition" bowler yet. Needs to do that more often, else he might find someone screaming at him like VVS so famously did in Mohali.

Vinay Kumar: Venky Prasad reborn, without the effective leg cutter that is. He is from my state and have followed a lot of him in the Ranji trophy, but I don't see the killer instinct and that "world beater" attitude. I would pick Abhimanyu Mithun over him most days.

Irfan Pathan: someone worth trying out. A 3 dimensional cricketer. If the ball is swinging back into the right hander, a definite asset.

Harbhajan Singh: 400 test wickets is no joke. I just hope he has the guts for more glory and a Kumble like finish. Needs to pull up his socks.

Overall, I feel Dhoni and the senior players have set Indian cricket back by a couple of years by failing to plan the phase out process. In professional sport,most people don't get to go when they want to and how they want to. The sentiment should be avoided, for the larger cause that is Indian cricket. Laxman, Dravid and Tendulkar owe a lot to Indian cricket for the love and faith shown over the past 15-20 years. By timing their retirements well, they could have helped rebuild Indian cricket but each one seems to be sticking to his guns. "Age is only a number" is all crap. There comes a time when you have to invest in youth, while yet not making wholesale changes. That time has more than come.

I wish these legends are NOT remembered for this small indecisive phase in their careers, as opposed to their glory years when they served our country with great distinction.The very thought that they might be, is excruciatingly painful for ardent Indian cricket fans.

Hope better sense prevails in these great men we love. Atleast now!

Golden pentagon and THE genius!

"Most of today's music is tough on the ears, there are a whole range of musical instruments, that's all..Whatever happened to the real music?!" Most(All?)of us would have heard this from our parents/grandparents..These remarks seemed outrageously cocky at the outset, but in due course have sunk in, adding another chapter to the 'Elders are almost always right' book.


Having grown up in a music loving environment, where watching Saregama on Zee TV was not scorned at even if there was an exam the next morning, I slowly began to appreciate that the bar had well and truly been raised before the 90's. An almost cherubic Sonu Nigaam singing Mohd.Rafi gems with Anil Biswas, OP Nayyar and other greats as judges is a scene most music fans would recollect vividly. The right music tutelage is important for kids, for that, helps them start the journey in the right direction. Most of us were surely lucky in this regard.

In the 90's, 'old' music was always loved..The elders seemingly liked the term evergreen.I was skeptical regarding its reach into the new millennium and beyond. Today, nearly 20 years hence, I don't see an iota of difference. Those songs are still defined as 'old' and are still endearing. The heartening aspect would be if the post-Y2K generation are provided the right inputs and continue to find these 'old' songs refreshing.

The golden pentagon I refer to in this post were a product of those times. Pretty much, pre-1980. There was no track recording at the time, there were very few instruments that could turn a non-singer into a singer. Having jammed a few numbers as a hobby, I can vouch for the difficulty of one-take-recordings. They are anachronic because there is no scope for error. I somehow feel the limitations in technology also helped these famous five become the singers they eventually did. You had to be 'tayyar', do your 'riyaaz' at 6 AM, and watch that extra scoop of ice-cream. Rafisaab, Mukesh(no suffix doesn't mean no respect), Kishoreda, Lataji and Ashaji.


Rafisaab was/is/will be India's talisman male playback singer. His versatility must have been a composer's delight. You only have to listen to the subtle variations and his soothing voice to know he was gold. Rafisaab was born to sing.

They say Mukesh's voice could speak to the mountains..You could feel the soul in his voice..I remember my cyclerickshawallah Deepak, (in Belgaum) singing "Duniya banane wale kya tere mann me samayee, kahe ko duniya banayi tune" the entire way to school. This left a lasting impression on the UKG kid that was me. Mukesh had well and truly arrived!

Kishoreda..I sometimes wonder how things can be seemingly so easy for anyone. He could act(check Half Ticket or Padosan),compose, had the eternal Madhubala as wife..But the hardwork/struggle behind his success shouldn't be forgotten. Aradhana, Kaka and Panchamda made him this gigantic figure. He had the Midas touch in the 70's. His voice in the 80's felt even richer and more 'mardaana' (Listen to Agar tum na hote title track and 'Zindagi ki yahi reet hain' from Mr.India).. An absolute God given talent.

Lataji..What does one say about India's nightingale that hasn't been said before? Lataji is the definition of the term 'singer'. Everything. Perfect. Will never be anyone like her. Ever.

Ashaji. Has been my favorite always. The typical younger kid..Rebellious,dynamic, supremely talented, lovable. And a secret,I have always preferred her over Lataji..Don't know why..Maybe I love rooting for the underdog.

This golden era couldn't have been realized with just these 5 greats. Lyricists like Javedsaab, Gulzarsaab, Anand Bakshi, Majrooh Sultanpuri, Composers like Madan Mohan(a magician!) ,Shankar-Jaikishan, Kalyanji-Anandji, Ravindra Jain, SD Burman acted as the rock solid base. Not to mention other great voices like Mannadey and Mahendra Kapoor.

However, 'THE genius' I refer to was someone (atleast for me) way better than the pack. He composed stuff that most others failed to even visualize. A better composer India will never see (Rahman/SEL are real good, but RD is God!).Pancham da was a freak, creating percussion with spoon and glass (Chura liya hain tumne jo dil ko) and bringing the amazing "Monicaaa oh my darling" to life in that rough baritone..


They say "mortal does what it can,genius does what it must". Today, when I hear some horrendous remixes floating around, I smile at the fact they have recognized him at last, even while resorting to murdering his music. I still regret that Panchamda almost died in penury, but then some things are better left than analyzed.

Food for thought..Can the present generation ever match up, let alone be better, than these folks? Motivational speeches certainly think so, constantly telling you you can outdo yourself and eventually become the best. I feel that knowing what the best is, is half the battle won.

These legends were truly worthy of the honor and have left us a trail impossible to surpass and remarkably easy to admire.

This too shall pass!

Failing per se, is not bad. Failing to prepare, is. That phrase runs across my mind as I sit to analyze the misery inflicted on India in the English summer.



They say "Nihatte pe waar nahi karte" (don't attack an unarmed soul)..That is precisely how the second half of the summer panned out. A summer, which many Nostradamus' had claimed would be an Indian summer to remember. Huge claims, hollow returns..It was the heart speaking here, not the head. I for one had predicted this would be England's best chance to beat and maybe boss India. 4-0 I hadn't bargained for. 4-0 not even Andrew Strauss had bargained for. 4-0 it shouldn't have been.

April 2nd. All of us in tears of joy..The tears had barely stopped when MSD's Chennai beat Gauti's Kolkata in a close contest. An Indian generation was robbed of its chance to revel in the World Cup success. The BCCI was back to milking the cash cow that are its players. On the upside, the IPL gives mediocre players their 15 minutes of fame. Why, apparently one CSK player got his mother cured from a serious disease with an operation that cost him a fortune. But what about the Sehwags, SRTs, Laxmans and Jammies of the world. Ones with enough class to break into any Indian team at any time. And what about our Khan bhai, on whom our pulse was riding each moment of that WC campaign..If he even winced, we thought our worst fears had come true. Make no mistake, no Khan and we wouldn't have been in Mumbai on April 2nd.

The BCCI is a body which will never cleanse itself. Its coffers will never be empty, but its intentions and planning always will. That is where the players have to take up the cudgels and manage themselves. No physio knows a players niggles better than the player himself. Why does a Virender Sehwag wait till Dilli are knocked out before announcing he needs surgery on his fragile shoulder? Why does Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar (of all people) play 14 meaningless games for Mumbai? Does anyone care a sh*t if Mumbai wins or Bangalore wins? It is INDIA that matters. And Khan sahab? The man is not just our champion bowler by a street, but also our bowling captain. The bowling line up was totally rudderless without him in UK. It was almost like Ishant was yearning for the big man to put a hand on his shoulder and tell him he was doing OK. Don't the players have this responsibility towards their nation? And I am not saying this because we lost 4-0. No.

All of them played every game of the IPL and then decided to conveniently skip the ensuing ODIs and t20 in the Carribean. Yes, who can charge himself up playing infront of 50 people, 10 policemen and 2 dogs? And ooh la la there is no razzmatazz. The only carrot is wearing that India shirt, one that should be the only carrot. Nobody remembers an IPL hundred with the same fondness, as say Raina's goldust runs with the tail in THAT semifinal.

Some seniors joined for the West Indies test leg. Only Dravid, Laxman made runs. Raina made some as well. Kohli failed, which gutted me. But he should have gone to UK. Not Yuvraj Singh. Yes he was the man of the tournament in the WC, but you don't pick Vishy Anand in your team for a carrom doubles match, do you? We are a country with short public memory. Suddenly Yuvraj Singh was test material again. He hasn't been since 2003, likely he never will be. Our negative approach in the 3rd test where MSD pulled the plug with 85 to get in 15 overs was a sham. One that showed the goal was to win the series not to dominate. You don't become a champion team by settling for 1-0 series wins.

We walk into Taunton and Strauss playing for Somerset was symptomatic of the desperation England felt. They wanted to win this at all costs, kind of like India at the World Cup. So the first test was close, the second one was perennial 90's problem of not finishing the tail, the third one was annihilation and the 4th one was..I don't know what it was honestly. It was a case of a beleaguered team that had enough and were looking to take that British Airways flight out of Heathrow.

OK, we played badly. That happens. But being thoroughly outclassed in the planning department stuns me and also triggers anger. But has this team become bad all of a sudden? No. Are these the best 15 players in the country? Yes, more or less. So we have the tools to succeed, not having the tools would have been a bigger worry. This implies some bold decisions by MSD are the need of the hour.

1) Relieve the batting greats in phases as soon as possible. We love Lacchu Bhai, RD and SRT. But, I would rather lose 4-0 with Badri, Kohli and Pujara. With all due respect, I feel Dravid should be the one to put his hand up first. I want RD to go out on his own terms and on a stupendous unprecedented high. He owes us that. For 15 years of unending admiration.

2) The Australia tour starts in December. Our bowling attack Ishant, Harbhajan, Sreesanth, Praveen, Ojha, Mishra MUST play Ranji trophy cricket in November (not t20 or random bilateral ODI series at home). Take the Shatabdi, play in the undistinguished centers, learn your trade. 20 wickets in Australia won't come easy.

3) MSD to have a hard look at his own batting in whites. Again, he is by far the best fit for his role and there is no replacement. But we all strive to improve, don't we?

4) MSD to make an honest call on Harbhajan Singh. I personally would stick with him for a bit more, but its a border line call purely on form. Bhaj might have to quit the shorter formats to regain his mojo. It can start by playing Ranji Trophy for Punjab.

5) Sehwag and Khan to stop playing IPL/CLT20/Big Bash/any such. "The first time you make a mistake its an accident, the second time you make the same mistake its on purpose, and the third time you make that same mistake its no longer a mistake, its a habit." Break the habit boys, your body cannot handle the rigors of India Darshan over a month and a half. Play for India, achieving legendary status is your destiny.

It is important we fans keep faith in the team at this testing juncture. Achieving instant results is not a joke. The target should be to climb back to the top in 2 years. This was one horrendous series and India’s downhill slide predicted by the pundits is as exaggerated as their claims of us being undisputed no.1 in 2010. Truth is somewhere in between.

I am confident this series, however debilitating, was one-off. This too shall pass!

BJP's travails affecting India

At my Grandpa's (called him Ajja) home in Mangalore, following Vinod Dua/Prannoy Roy all night long on Doordarshan and deciphering trends of the 1996 elections was a new beginning.Ajja was there by my side helping me make sense of the numbers and an-almost teenager nodded. Ajja was a very RSS oriented thinker and adored/respected Vajpayee. My tryst with Indian politics started with this Vajpayee "victory".


Due to his oratory skills, I was mesmerized by Atalji at the outset. In 1998, I visited Nehru Maidan to hear him speak.The pauses were unapologetically long but the material was crystal clear. He was my Prime Minister. He was my leader for the forseeable future.The rise of the BJP from 2 seats in 1984 to a 13-day-honeymoon in 1996 was heartening. It explained the significance of our great democracy.

Cut to present day India. When I hear about bomb blasts most of these days, my heart cries. As I am sure does yours. Anger is omnipresent, but it cannot soothe the hurt. I belong to a group of people who are branded "U are an NRI, u donno the ground reality so shut up". That is a myth. It is about where your heart is eventually.

When I noticed this flood of outcry on all the social networking sites, it felt as a good beginning. Most of us have a tendency to not care a damn about any event as long as it doesn't involve us. Blasts in Zaveri Bazaar today can be a blast in your area tomorrow. Only those who lost loved ones in the 26/11 Mumbai attacks know the real hurt and pain. Ask Sandeep Unnikrishnan's father and he will have a tale to tell.

In some of my conversations with well read Indians these past weeks, we agree that in India a bomb blast can happen anytime. The almost cynical and apathetic nature of educated Indians like us is difficult to fathom at the start, but not far from ground reality. For starters, are there metal detectors in malls in Bangalore or Delhi? Still better, do they work? We all know that United States has been a model example in curbing these activities post 9/11. Agreed there are eclectic means of cornering India's borders and that the humongous populace makes things almost unmanageable, but it is better to try and fail.

In the US, security folks are highly respected. If someone frisks me at Atlanta airport, I shut my trap and let him do his job. In India, we feel that the Nepali security guard is there to warm his stool/chair and feel offended and bad mouth him when he stops our car outside a plush apartment complex.

The best solution is to first acknowledge we have a problem. What is our intelligence doing? Is that word a misnomer or what? Rahul Gandhi recently said "We have averted 99% of attacks, it is not possible to avert all". This, coming from someone who tomorrow might be my Prime Minister is worrying. (My bias against the Gandhi scion and his "great" dynasty should make you look at this with a pinch of salt!). Are you telling me 99% of the attacks are averted right now? Yeah right! To make it worse, Mumbai Police were clueless for a day or two about the suspected organization responsible for 13/7.

Importantly, connecting back to my earlier BJP talk, the lack of an effective opposition at the Center is hurting India. The BJP is a shadow of the party it was in the late 90s and has ceased to be a "watchdog" the opposition should be. Vajpayee's age/health, Mahajan's death, Swaraj's constant bickerings with Jaitley, Rajnath's presidency, Advani's Jinnahisms have hit the party below the belt and right now it seems like a knock out punch with no new leaders in the horizon and no "Prime Minister material" in sight.

I am not here to provide solutions, highlighting and reporting problems is a citizen's responsibility. Look at what Nitish Kumar has done to Bihar and Narendra Modi to Gujarat. At the end of the day, your work speaks not your mouth.
Sealing your borders, governing your country as you are supposed to and trying to get your house in order before pointing a finger at others are very achievable by India. The insider help in these attacks is what concerns me the most. Selling your motherland, even to overcome poverty, is an offence like none other. Keeping Kasab hale and healthy for the past 3 years is unpardonable. I am told he is being given a fair trial. Fair trial for what? What about the clemency petitions against Afzal Guru (him of the 2001 Parliament attacks). The Central Government just doesn't want to be the party that tightened the noose and is passing the buck to short change the public.

I just pray these attacks don't happen any longer and our system becomes more vigilant. I know it is wishful thinking, but then many prayers are. It can start by both the BJP/Congress grooming a few youth leaders and booting out scions and dynasties from our sight. It can also start by our intelligence doing some justice to that word.

The World Champion feeling!!

The concentration was just not there..Logging into Facebook was only making it worse..Each friend seemed even more nervous and expectant than the other..One of those days when you just wanted to get it done with..

I was unusually confident on the eve of the World Cup Final, almost over-confident. It felt like the night before an exam you knew you could ace..The wait for 2 am, April 2nd,couldn't have been more nerve-wracking..Around 9 pm, we decided we were going to watch THE battle at a friend's place on a big screen TV and make some noise.Garlic Veggie/Paneer Tikka Pizza before the game wasn't a bad idea, we thought.

Even for my cricket fanaticism,the involvement in this tournament was intense.A month before before Cup day in mid-January, 3 friends and I discussed very animatedly about India's squad of 15. It had to culminate in a Cup win, nothing else would have given any of us even an iota of happiness. My blog before the World Cup tried to summarize the expectations in cricket-mad India. It was with such mass frenzy that MSD's team commenced the campaign.

1:20 am on THE day,we reached our destination..As I was waiting for the toss,I began to re-live the journey.Great start vs Bangladesh,shoddy bowling and fielding vs England that eventually got us a tie, sketchy performances against the Associates,making chokers look like winners in Nagpur,unconvincing win against the West Indies, hair-raising brilliance against Aussies,continuing the World Cup hegemony against Pakistan. But the feeling that all that would be wasted if we did not arrive in Mumbai, was hollow and scary..However,watching "Invictus" a day before the final, made me clearly believe that destiny was knocking our door..Clearly, MSD was our Matt Damon and SRT was our Mandela/Freeman..
As my wandering mind came back to San Jose,I was appalled by what happened at the toss.After the usual comment about Shaz being Shaz, I thought Sanga's body language did not look right(proved wrong by ESPN's analysis later,which confirmed it was 2-0 at the toss for Sanga).Anyway, batting 2nd was not a bad option I thought, provided we did not gift them 300..The 58 metre side boundary looked enticing, one that each one in our top 7 could clear with one hand..

India's bowling started well..Khan was outstanding at the start,his mastery over his art is astounding.As Shaz says, "He knows exactly what he is doing". Sreesanth looked lost, but I remembered the Mallu tea shop catch of Misbah in Jo'burg, hoped he would bring us luck and consoled myself. Munna was,well Munna..I was disappointed with MSD's flat captaincy in the middle overs and Zak's choke at the death against Perera..At half way stage,I still thought 275 was "very gettable" at Wankhede..The opinion in our room was divided..Some felt India leaked 25 too many for a massive game such as the Cup Final.

Just a 20 minute break due to India's pathetic over-rate helped settle all jangling nerves. Before the sleep deprived eyes could yearn for liberation,the chase began.It wasn't a bright one..31-2 was the only moment when negative vibes covered me for a minute..But I told myself this India was different from the earlier India..They just don't believe in the word "Loss" and don't give up. Gambhir/Kohli showed grit in fighting the occasion more than the situation..Kohli's fall led to the arrival of Yuvraj Singh. Oh wait, it was MSD!!!I instantly reckoned it was a calculated move to split the lefties and that's what it was, not daredevilry/heroism..
Highest score of 34, but "sense of occasion" I hoped.

I observed that 2-3 folks in the room slept.I wanted to crash for a while, but I couldn't imagine missing witnessing history.Each India run was being cheered even at 7 am of a sleepless night and crazy superstitions began to creep in.People wouldn't move from seats, nature's calls were being ignored, some continued sleeping even when they weren't asleep.There was too much at stake and none of us wanted to mess up.

Since it was unchartered territory, even 30 needed off 4 overs was not a cakewalk, some believed..By then, I was already thinking about the celebrations.Cockiness? No..MSD's presence was reassuring..His body language,usually great,was even better that day..He badly wanted that Cup.We badly wanted that Cup..Want is difficult to teach.

The taming of Kulasekara eased tension in the room and everyone got ready to shout their lungs out.As MSD hit THAT 6 (with the twirl),everybody began hugging each other.I saw a couple of people in the room and a few more on TV, in tears..My eyes were a touch moist,not as much as I thought.
Watching MSD lifting the Cup,SRT being chaired around his beloved Wankhede gave me goosebumps.This was THE moment of our cricketing lives.15 years of cricketing worship and we had our Laddoo in front of us..It was precious.

After a few hours,I saw Virat Kohli's interview alone at home..His line about SRT "He has carried the burden of our country for 21 years..It is about time we carried him" was apt and appropriate..It was happy tears time,for sure.We are World Champions now and no one can take it away from us for a further 4 years..2011 will be India's year at the World Cup,forever..Unprecedented high!!

Despite all criticism from rumor mongers, Mahendra Singh Dhoni has firmly established himself in the pantheon of Indian greats. He, along with Kirsten, has changed the belief in the team..He might fail occasionally, but let us not doubt the man's intention/passion and keep faith..As someone said "There are captains everywhere, but MSD is not a captain..He is a LEADER".

And as Morgan Freeman said in Invictus, "This country is hungry for greatness"...