Pirate of the Caribbean

I will miss everything - the big back lift,the crouched knee, the guillotine blade of the bat coming down on the ball ,the brilliant follow through and the ball whizzing away to the boundary. World cricket and I for sure will miss the genius that was Brian Lara. He was every bit the real 'Pirate of the Caribbean', he stole runs,records and people's love and affection. The game will be poorer having lost two of its most charismatic players in Brian Lara and Shane warne within the span of three months.

My abiding memory of Lara would be the 153 he hit at Barbados during the 98-99 series with Australia, probably the greatest chasing innings ever. West indies didn't have any business sharing the series 2-2 but Lara made it happen single-handedly. I vividly remember him having an argument with McGrath after the latter felled him with a vicious bouncer and immediately retorting with a rasping pull shot the very next ball. And i cant forget the winning boundary - a thundering cover-drive off Gillespie, and the subsequent emotional Lara celebration. That was truly test cricket at its supreme best.

Lara played every concievable type of innings, Epic record breaking innings , match-winning fourth innings thrillers,last man blazing streaks and match-saving ones. He was like the actor who can play comedy, tragedy and drama and pull- off each one with consummate ease. Batting became an art form when he was at the crease using the bat like a paint brush. He indeed embodied the gay abandon spirit of West indian batting. He was so much similar to the two other west indian batting greats - George Headley and Gary Sobers - similar in style to sobers and in accomplishments to Headley. If headley was nicknamed 'Atlas' for bearing the weight of the West indian batting on his shoulders probably Lara deserved a similar title.

Whatever be the criticisms regarding his leadership skills he will go down in history as one of the true all-time greats to have graced the game. The breathtaking records set by him will take some beating and he will forever be remembered as the mortal who flirted with immortality.

Road to Perdition?

If you were an avid Indian cricket fan, the happenings of the last fortnight or so at the 'Carnival of cricket' would have made you really depressed. The worst part was the fall out that resulted in the aftermath of the debacle and believe me we haven't heard the last of this fallout. The fallout has made one point clear - Let alone winning as a team we cant even lose as a team. The mud-slinging has well and truly begun and it will continue until India wins against some other team (even a win over Canada will do) and every thing will become hunky-dory again and we will again get behind our 'stars' for the 2011 world cup and the cycle will repeat.

So where is Indian cricket heading? If Indian cricket does not wake up from its slumber we might well be on the road to perdition and might well be doomed in the future. These are some of the steps that should be taken to prevent this 'apocalypso':

1. Improve domestic cricket and more importantly improve the selection process so that talent does not miss out.

2. Rid Indian cricket of the politicians and 'honorary' officials and get in more professionals and run it like a private limited company.

3. Stop focusing on the star system and make an attempt to gel as a team, this applies as much to the players as to the general public.

Until the above steps are executed with sincerity Indian cricket will surely be on the road to perdition with no way back, just have a glance at hokey for a chilling reminder of this.

Einstein and Humility

This is one of the anecdotes that i came across when i was surfing. It is regarding the great man Einstein. I thought it was really good, So thought of putting it on the blog, so here goes.

Once Einstein who is now a very old man is sitting on a park bench in his native Princeton. Suddenly a young man appears on the scene and soon him and Einstein hit-off with a conversation and eventually they arrive at their respective introductions. The young man takes the lead and introduces himself as a Professor of physics in blah blah university and is doing a research in blah blah area of physics and so goes on and on for 5-10 minutes. When Einstein's turn to introduce himself arrives he utters the following words - "Hi i am Albert Einstein and I'm a student of physics".

A truly astonishing reply full of humility isn't it.Thus are the ways of great men i guess for humility to them is not a virtue but a way of life.This kind of humility is quite rare around us nowadays as each person it seems is going out of his way to impress himself upon others just like the young man. This anecdote teaches us an important lesson that you can never become too big to stay humble. Enough of preaching for today, untill next time Caio :)

The dragon Awakens

Last week the whole of the china and its diaspora celebrated the coming of the 'Year of the Pig' and this event got a great deal of coverage from the world media which used to shy away from third world countries like China and India and treat them like second class nations. So what has changed between now and then? This event is a case in point of the coming of age of modern china, indeed its the 'awakening of the dragon'.

If one has a glance at the histories of India and China they almost run parallel.They remain two of the oldest and continuously flourishing civilizations of the world that have contributed a great deal to world culture. Both had their glory days and fell on hard times in later days with India being ruled by the British and China suffering a 'Century of humiliations' at the hands of the western powers during the 19th century. And both are experiencing an economic and social resurgence during the 21st century.

Lets have a closer look at China. The Chinese up until the 18th century most often than not had a pretty prosperous time with several royal dynasties. A great change had taken place during the 18th century during which Europe had the industrial revolution and was strutting around the world greedily eyeing colonies. India fell easily with no strong central governing authority but china did not fall as a colony as it had some semblance of a central authority but got divided among the great powers into 'spheres-of-influence' which is a byword for exploitation. Thus began the 'Century of humiliations' right through the 19th century where china was humiliated to give up territory and pride.

The communist revolution though improved the situation it did little to bring relief to the masses but something really interesting happened in 1980 where for first time a communist country opened itself for foreign capital thereby throwing open china which brought and is bringing prosperity to the masses. India followed the path a decade later and still has to do a lot of catch-up.

What china has succeeded in doing is change the rules of the game viz. manufacturing which had traditionally been a 'Better-quality-more-expensive' business into a 'Better-quality-for-same-price' business which gives it an undoubtable edge over its competitors. This is similar to what India has done to services , hence no wonder the two countries are the fastest growing economies of the world. If this trend continues the future of the world might well be written in India and China and the dragon will keep raising its head.

Water Woes...

Its a shame that a country that aspires to be the next super power still has a tough time in providing water to its citizens. Indeed its a sad commentary on the state of civic amenities in the country. Any nation that wants to be among the elite nations has to put good civic amenities in place because for a lay man what matters more is getting his share of drinking water more than a double digit growth rate of the economy.

The recent cauvery verdict sparked of incessant mud-slinging from both sides of the river but such reactions are like 'missing the tree for the woods'. We have missed the whole point in doing this,which is that we are still in the middle-ages viz. our water facilities and need to jump into the 21st century. Ok we have a billion people whose thirst has to be quenched and its a mammoth task but the same constraint apply to China as well and she is coping up well with the problem so there is no reason why we shouldn't.

It really confounds me how the rivers of north and east India keep flooding year after year and at the same time we in the south struggle for every drop of water. A practical solution would be to link these rivers thereby solving two problems with a single solution. But as always the political will is lacking and this sane idea has got lost in the rhetoric of RealPolitik.

As all aspects in India even this problem has got politicized and conveniently hijacked by the powers-that-be. What we need at the moment is a comprehensive water policy which lays stress on inter-river linkages,rain water harvesting and other such progressive methods of eradicating an age-old problem. In the absence of such a policy we are going to have to put up with inter-state river disputes for years to come.

Team of the Century

In my idle time off-late I have been musing over a queer point - what would be an all time cricketers XI. Actually this thought has been there ever since the turn of the century when every sport was nominating its greatest-Pele for football,Laver for tennis etc.. So i thought it would be great if I can pick such a 'dream team'. Here goes my selection...

1. Sir Jack Hobbs

You just cant argue with a player who has 60000 first class runs and 197 centuries, this in spite of missing out on his golden years due to World war I. In fact there was a saying that the greatest player before Hobbes was Hobbes himself before the war.

2. Sunil Gavaskar

He could pile up runs like pages in a thick book on his day. 10000 test runs and 34 centuries -13 of them against the great west Indian attack - is enough to put the little master in the team. But what these statistics don't reveal is the grit and determination of the man.

3. Sir Don Bradman

The greatest batsman of all time, the great man comes in at one down. Need I add more?! A career average of 99.94 should suffice.

4. Sir Viv Richards

The man who had the 'Me-and-my-chewing gum-against-the-world' attitude comes in after the don. Quite simply the most destructive of batsman who played in the most destructive of sides.

5.Brian Lara

He is one of my favorites. There was competition for this spot what with the likes of - the three Ws,george headley,tendulkar etc. - but i'll go with lara for he's a real math winner and with scores like - 375,501,400 - he has to get in.

6. Sir Gary Sobers

The best cricketer to have graced the field, ever. The no. 6 slot is for an allrounder and so the greatest of allrounders comes in here. He could do everything for you - bat and score hundreds,bowl chinaman, bowl left arm swing,field superbly anywhere.

7. Adam Gilchrist

The greatest no 7 of all-time comes in at 5 down. He has revolutionized wicket-keeping for ever. No more is the keeper a clinical man behind the stumps and keeps the tail enders company in front of it. Now he is the key man in the side and on the same plane as batsmen and the credit for this transformation goes to this man.

8. Shane Warne

Down to the bowlers now and the greatest of them all leads the pack. Another of my favorites. A true genius with the ball in his hands he's the quintessential match winner who can turn the match with his ball as well as his attitude.

9.Wasim Akram

The greatest left-armer of all time comes in as first change. Like warne he's a true blue match winner with close to a thousand international wickets and four hatricks and innumerable super spells.

10. Malcolm Marshall

The new ball will be taken by the best of the west indian fast men. A genuine fast bowler who can bowl close to 100mph at both Perth as well as Peshawar, a truly rare breed of bowler.

11. Dennis Lillie

Sharing the new ball will be 'Dennis the menace'. The great Australian had a big mouth and a bigger heart and raw pace to boot.

Well, I'm done with it and looks like inadvertently I have picked a team which has players belonging to most of the major test playing countries. So there it is the team of the century...Cant see anyone waiting to line-up against them :)

L'amour de jeux

"L'amour de jeux" this was the slogan of the Paris Olympic comitee for the 2012 olympic bid. The bid failed but the slogan stuck in my mind with me being an avid sports lover. It roughly translates to english as 'Love of the games'. It embodies the french spirit of sports and is pretty apt considering the french connection with sports viz. the resurrection of the olympic games, the genesis of the football world cup both of which had frenchmen Pierre de coubertin and Jules rimet respectively behind them.

Sports i feel is a microcosm of life itself as it has all the emotions that life has to offer. Be it Joy,sorrow,heart break,nostalgia you name it and sport has got it all. A sportsman will experience all the myriad emotions in a span of 10-15 years that a normal person expiriences in his entire lifetime.

This explains why sports persons generally have a longer,fitter and wholesome life. Extending this logic from the individual to societies and countries we find that countries that have a sports culture like australia and Italy are more happier ,prosperous and holistic than the others.So the writings on the wall,if you want to be a holistic and healthy society invest in and encourage sports.

The Spell...

For the past couple of months I've been under a spell - not that of some oriental magic - but that of a spell-binding book. This book or rather a Tome goes by the name of 'Glimpses of World History' written by our very own Jawaharlal Nehru. Never have I been so smitten by a book as by this one. I had always preferred Fiction over Non-fiction but of late I've come to believe that fact can be as compellingly interesting as any fiction.

This book is a must read for all the history buffs out there as Nehru remarkably covers the rise and fall of empires and civilizations,discusses great men who made a difference to the world we live in. I was awe-struck by the breadth of Nehru's knowledge and his understanding of history's lessons. And to think of the fact that this book came out as a series of letters from a dingy old Indian prison where Nehru did not have any recourse to reference material you are filled with admiration for the man.

As things stand I'm still mid way through this book and I think I will be as spell-bound by the second half as I was by the first one. Ciao.

One year of professional life!!!

August 2 2004,A day i will never forget,it was my first day of employment , a day when i was introduced to the world of professionals.

As i was on my way to the office on that day i was mulling over the sudden and pleasant turn around of events that had happened over the previous week.I had got a job in Syntel,Pune and the posting would have been in Mumbai...not a comforting thought for a guy like me who had spent all his life in bangalore.I was eagerly looking for a job in bangalore,my friend sourabh had got into Perot Systems,Bangalore and he had informed me about a recruitment going on over there..and I attended the interview the next day and i got through...I had to report to duty on 2nd August.I was thrilled to bits and was releived more than happy.

A gamut of emotions were running through my mind on that first day...What kind of people am i going to meet?what will the place be like?similar to the emotions i faced when i joined college... As it turned out i spent the most amazing one year of my life there and still continue to do so.I met some of the most amazing friends there.We had so much fun at our training,it was a virtual 9th semester of college.The bets,the lunch time chats,the tea time fun,the thrill of the first salary ,the strange trainer at roshni,the .NET certification preperations,going to a cricket match with all the friends,the funny skits,the team building retreat at silver oak,those birthday treats..sure is a long list of happy moments.

Ironically,I had more fun in office than in my college.We had and still have a strong rapport not withstanding the fact that a few of them have moved on to other companies.

Time really flies,one year has gone by me and as i look back at a bygone,blissful year i feel so happy that i was at the right place at the right time.I will have many more years of professional life but the first one will always be the sweetest ,so will be the first company I worked for,the first salary I earned and the first colleagues I had.Ciao.

Akio Morita : The Face of Post-war Japan

Akio Morita,few of you would recognize this name but I bet many of you will recognize this name for sure "SONY".Ahhh...now you recognize that don't you.Well it is one of the biggest brands in the global market and a world leader in Electronics.It is one of the many brands that japan has given to the world and indeed it was the first brand to emerge out of post-war japan.Akio Morita was the Founder of this Global brand.

I think for any budding Entrepreneur there can be no better role model than Akio Morita.At a time when japan was producing cheap knock-offs of items developed in the West he built a corporation whose bedrock was Innovation and creation of new technology trends.

Post-war japan was not the ideal place for a budding entrepreneur,but he converted this millstone into a milestone.He was one of the first Entrepreneurs in the world who sought to blur the boundaries of their bussiness and move into a global market.He pioneered such innovations as the first radio produced using a transistor,walkman,the first color home videotape recorder,the first 3.5-inch floppy disk.He also entered completely different domains to form Sony Music and Sony Pictures.

The path of innovation that he set at Sony continues to be tread to this day ,even after his death.

I've allways thought that India has a lot more to learn from Japan than from the US ,for the simple reason that India and Japan are more similar as both are ancient,orthodox and intellectual societies.Well I just hope that one of us from India will emulate a person like Akio Morita and turn India into a global power to be reckoned with.

William Shakespeare : A man for the ages

There are but a very few people who continue to live in the public's memory well after their times,such people do not belong to a generation or an era but they belong to the ages.Shakespeare is one such remarkable human being.

His works are being read,discussed and enacted even to this day and it is amazing that they are as relevent today as they were 400 years ago.The range of human emotions that Shakespeare is able to potray in his plays is simply too vast to comprehend.

Shakespeare arrived at a time when English was looked down upon by even the Englishmen as it was seen as a language of the peasents and the middle-class people.The upperclass Englishmen preferred to patronize the more 'refined' French.Shakespeare changed all that and was primarily responsible for the rise of English as the lingua franca or "The Language of the World".

Shakespeare is also credited to have invented a deluge of English words and phrases.He not only invented words he gave existing words new meanings.In all of his work – the plays, the sonnets and the narrative poems – Shakespeare used more than 18,000 words. Of these about 2000 were invented by Shakespeare himself.Which means he invented 1 out of every 10 words he used or in other words he invented a word of his own in every two lines he wrote!!!

Words like - assassination , accused, champion, critic, foibles, frugle ,gossip, hint, jaded, ode, monumental , summit, unreal, zany - have become commonplace today. It is just amazing , well even 'amazing' is a word invented by shakespeare.

He created some of the greatest fictional characters in history - from the Romantic Romeo to the Tragic Hamlet to the Melancholic Macbeth to the Pity arouing King Lear.He also brought back to life great historical characters like Ceasar,Antony,Cleopatra,Coriolanus.He gave them all some of the most memorable lines to speak.His characters are the ones every actor worth his salt aspires to potray even to this day.My favourite though is Hamlet.Hamlet's characteristics are those of a quintessential youth - Naive,angry,vengeful,frail - and then again everybody loves a tragic hero.

It is almost insulting to confine people like Shakespeare,Gandhi,Newton,Einstein as citizens of a particular country....they are in fact Citizens of the World.

Testing 1..2..3

Hi Everybody.I welcome you all to my blog.I started this Blog in march of this year but was a bit busy to put anything on it.As i am free now a days I've decided to kickstart it.

The whole purpose of having a blog is to give an expression to your thoughts and ofcourse have a tiny address of your own in the vast expanses of the Internet.Ideally you would like to have a website of your own...If you are not that lucky then a Blog is the Next-best-thing you can own.Whereas a blog lacks the personal touch of a website it comes with the advantage of being easy to possess and maintain.

Let me give a brief Intro of myself.My name is Prem,I am working as a Software Engineer in Perot Systems,Bangalore.I did my schooling in Baldwin's High School and my PUC in St.Joseph's College.I passed out of M S Ramaiah College with a BE degree in Computer Science.

Well that's it from me for the moment...Hope u all enjoy visiting my blog as much as I do hosting you all...Bye for now.

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