Caribbean joy..

In most sports and perhaps more so in cricket, rarely does one encounter a statement regarding which there is consensus among a vast majority. Few people, if any, will object to me stating that the cricketers from the West Indies have been the greatest entertainers and that without them, the game would have been far poorer. Perhaps only Brazilian football with its glittering array of gifted players including Garrincha, the incomparable Pele, Zico and the phenomenal Ronaldo can aspire to try and compare with the extraordinary sequence of naturally gifted Caribbean entertainers.

As was the case in most colonized countries, the British introduced cricket to the Caribbean. The miserable treatment and racist discrimination prevalent then though was a major obstacle in overall development of the islands. The inhabitants of the West Indies struggled for decades and fought slavery, oppression and inhuman torture before being able to establish a unique identity of their own especially on the cricket front. The West Indies played their first test in 1928 and two exceptional players who were a cut above the rest were George Headley and Learie Constantine. While Constantine was a top class all rounder, Headley was a scintillating batsman, who not without reason, was nicknamed the 'Black Bradman'. His test average of 60.83 puts him third in the all time list behind Don Bradman and Graeme Pollock. It was still unfortunate that in those days, the locals were not allowed to lead a team.

The period after the Second World War brought to the forefront three legendary players in Frank Worrell, Everton Weekes and Clyde Walcott. They were nicknamed the 'Three W's'. While Walcott was a tremendously powerful opening batsman, Weekes was a classical strokemaker. Worell went on to become the country's first black captain and led them with distinction throughout. Weekes scored five centuries in a row and nearly added a sixth on the tour of India in 1948. Walcott's best series was the otherwise disastrous home series in 1955 against Australia when he made over 800 runs with five centuries. Worrell led an exceptionally talented side which included the once in a lifetime all-rounder Garfield Sobers to Australia in 1960-61. This was a watershed moment in the history of West Indian cricket. Under Worrell, who encouraged them to always play attacking but fair cricket, the team performed brilliantly and the result was a classic and extremely close series which Australia won 2-1. This series also included the legendary tied test in Brisbane and has gone down in folklore as the greatest series ever.

Sobers took over the captaincy in the 1960's and despite the team's average performances, his brilliance left spectators gasping. He was and will always be the most naturally talented cricketer ever. He could excel in virtually every aspect of the game without ever seeming to strive too hard. Rohan Kanhai, the glorious Guyanese batsman capable of producing some audacious strokeplay was also part of the team during these years.

In the 1970's and 1980's Clive Lloyd and Vivian Richards led the team to the top of world cricket. A virtual assembly line of fast bowlers, undoubtedly inspired by the heroics of Wesley Hall and Charlie Griffith in the sixties, was at the heart of the Caribbean success over the two decades. Picture those years and the images of Andy Roberts, the athletic Michael Holding, Joel Garner and perhaps the best of all M Malcolm Marshall flash before the eyes..Viv Richards' swagger and destruction of the best bowling attacks is vivid in memory..In the 1990's, fast bowlers Curtly Ambrose and Courtney Walsh along with the batting genius Brian Lara tried to restore the sagging fortunes of the West Indies..Brian Lara was without doubt, the single biggest reason for me to love the game and still is. In the times when West Indian cricket is in the doldrums and cricket itself in a phase of radical transformation with all the money coming in, it is rather pleasing to look back at those videos and read up about the amazing sequence of great entertainers from the Caribbean..Not a single player nor cricket lover can ever claim that he has not loved and relished Calypso moments..

Roll back the clock..

Abraham Lincoln's famous words "To test a man's character give him power" seem to make all the more sense today. Money has always been synonymous with power and the lure of excessive money has almost always meant abuse of power..The entire IPL financial fraud controversy is a classic case in point..Cricket in its infancy and early years in India was a passion straight from the heart and loved by one and all. The last two decades have seen such a spurt in investments in the game and reduced the actual focus on the nuances of the game itself. Nearly every aspect of the game has been commercialised and the money in the game is way beyond anyone's comprehension..The fraud and financial allegations often are only the beginning of the story. Much more emerges slowly and all this does is taint the already adulterated game..

The IPL, as an idea, was fantastic. The T-20 format was lucrative, attractive and promised to increase viewership all round. India was the best market simply because of the burgeoning market for cricket and the marriage of this idea with Bollywood and other entertainment meant that the end product would be an instant success..The auctions involving top players looked ugly at times, but once the cricket started, the world was hooked onto it..For the best part of three seasons, everything seemed perfect. All this suddenly looked different the moment two new franchises were formed. This in itself was not the problem. The humongous budget which ran into more than a thousand crores left even the cash rich cricket fraternity gasping. Soon, eyebrows were raised, names were brought up and things got downright dirty. Politicians, IPL heads, franchise owners were all entangled in the mother of all scams. Much as I hope cricket comes out of all this clean which it probably will considering the love the people have for the game which far surpasses the interest in commercialisation and the urge to rake in the moolah, I can't help but look back at those days when the sport was all about appreciating its finer aspects and money had not raised its ugly head..

All it takes to understand how and why cricket runs in our blood is to have a conversation with someone who watched the game through the 1950's through the 1980's. I have had the good fortune of being able to do so and also the interest to try and have these chats when I get the chance. The joy is evident in the eyes when these 'uncles' talk about watching Vinoo Mankad and Pankaj Roy. Ladies loved the charming Pataudi and handsome Durrani. The stylish Viswanath defying the pace of Andy Roberts draws the biggest cheers. Appreciation is rife for the solid batting of Gavaskar and the phenomenal Kapil Dev's exploits. This period was characterized by abounding love for the game and very little regard for the money that came with it. Talk about Chepauk 1974 and you can see the gleam. The mention of the 1983 World Cup and 1985 world championship wins which incidentally was the first tournament to be aired on television in India is enough to get them to talk incessantly..Cricket in India changed post the 1983 World Cup triumph..TV coverage began in full flow and children in every street were playing cricket wherever they could...Enter the era of Tendulkar, Kumble, Dravid and ganguly and the game was bigger than ever..The World cup in 1996 changed the entire idea of cricket..Advertisements galore came in, sponsorships increased exponentially and soon the game was hardly distinguishable from entertainment..This was especially true in case of ODI cricket and even more so in Twenty20..India's win in the T-20 World Cup 2007 resulted in cricket embarking on an era in which I have found very little to appreciate..Everywhere one looks around, money seems to have enveloped the game. The great game with all its fantastic features, the statistics, the extraordinarily diverse players, the one on one contests and most of all the inherent charm seems to be sucked out as the game is abbreviated..

Cricket has been exceptionally flexible allowing for experimentation with the format and rules, yet this has been the biggest flaw as well as it has brought many evils, the biggest being the gargantuan flow of cash..I hope this lovely game is cleaned soon and am sure the best way forward is to roll the clock back...

Ode to Madras..

I know its now Chennai but have somehow always loved Madras and names linked to it..IIT Madras, Madras Medical College, Univ of Madras, Madras Cricket Club and so on. A typical Bangalorean usually protests at the very thought of having to spend a few days let alone a year plus in Madras..He finds it very orthodox, too very old fashioned and not to his taste..The people's attitude is not the nicest and having to learn Tamil to survive..these are among the top (BUT RATHER ILLOGICAL)complaints made by not just Bangaloreans but every other guy in India ..I must admit Madras was not my favourite city for years, but that was purely because the weather was too hot and as school going kids we often chose summer vacations to get to the city to meet relatives and blazing summers weren't exactly going to make someone feel great about the city..

I always have and will love so many aspects of this beautiful city..The hotbed of Carnatic music and Bharatanatyam - music academy, kalakshetra and what not..one of the very few cities that is striving to preserve Indian culture and tradition while pretty much most other parts of the country are rapidly getting westernized in thought and process..The crowd in general is very intelligent- top acads, excellent schools and colleges and even the sports lover is so very well informed..

I was worried though that I had to work in Madras for at least a year..Without pals it wasn't quite going to be easy I felt..But what a time I had over the last year..My room in Anna Nagar (a lovely area i must say) became a virtual hangout spot for all pals..party after party followed and the biggest of all was the amazing new years one which still makes me wonder how I wasn't thrown out on the streets the next day by the landlord..!

Getting to the superb British Council and picking up a few nice books, sipping away on some coffee at Amethyst while poring through the books..cuzn's visit from Singapore..drives to Besant nagar beach, Karthik's fantastic bachelors party just before his wedding in Triplicane when I visited the quite splendid Parthasarathy temple..walking in the Mylapore area by RK Mutt road and the Kapaleeswarar temple- where good old Madras come alive..

Tennis in Nungambakkam whenever possible, those crammed journeys in the share autos, haggling away with auto drivers, suburban train for a year..Now I wonder how I went through all this..I did at points feel life is crazy..but somehow the city did charm me..Deepak's visit was the icing on the cake..I toured Madras in those 20-30 days and also made 2-3 road trips to Bangalore..We didn't spare a single cafe, resto-bar and most certainly we didn't spare my house!..pretty much camped at his house and had some super food..

Despite all my complaints at various points about work and workplace, the lovely gesture shown in the end by everybody there makes me realize that there is more to life than judging people by what they know and don't know..it is vital to appreciate how people treat you..

Madras despite its sick and hot weather which floored Dean Jones and even Tendulkar recently has been a lovely city..I have adored the milling crowds at T nagar, Mylapore's buzz, the beautiful drive down theosophical society road, superb temples, the great culture, the lovely helpful people and so on...

I am back to Bangalore-my city, have loved every bit of it and its great to be back with family..but I do leave with a tinge of sadness that I wasn't quite able to do justice to all the great city of Madras offers..

Reality check..

ANACHRONISM- refers to a chronological misplacement of a person or events/customs. I have at many times felt that I am one. Last Saturday in Bangalore confirmed it for sure. My interest and love for all that is old and nice about the city, Indian culture and customs, music etc definitely got a rude jerk when I came face to face with the 'new and hip' Bangalore crowd. The city has been known as the pub capital and parties galore take place. Yet, somehow I feel blessed that I lived a lovely and simple life in the good old,uncorrupted and dare I say pristine garden city. The actions and events that brought joy those days were very simple. High school and early college days were still very simple. All that mattered was a movie on weekends with friends and the cricket/football. The very idea of pubs, bars and clubs was absent. Frankly I should say there were hardly any around then. Then came the IT boom which signified Bangalore's growth and tremendous prosperity. Lucrative jobs were in and real estate was burgeoning. But on the flip side, this also heralded the beginning of the end of the simplicity associated with the lovely city. Trees made way for high rises and apartments aplenty. The IT industry came to town and brought with it innumerable pubs and clubs which seemed to be the new idea of relaxation. I was at the heart of all this too through my engineering years. But I never once developed an affinity for all this.

I went to the US and got back after three years. The Bangalore I faced left me pretty shocked. Let alone the modernization which took out all the charm (read METRO and MG ROAD)..The pub culture and party scene just didn't seem to appeal to me..maybe I was just too stuck up, unwilling to budge, rather unable to adapt..The kids these days spoke stuff that we guys in college dreaded to..house parties were in vogue among school and college going guys and girls..Definitions of morality, ethics were modified and in general tradition and culture had taken a whole new paradigm shift..Finally all this made perfect sense last week..The party not just proved how inept I was at dancing, but clearly showed I didn't belong there..The in-your-face brash talk and approach left me astounded..I was witnessing episodes and people I hardly ever thought existed in Bangalore..People around me had changed and managed to adapt and even like this life..It is hard to battle change around you..but it does feel good now that I managed to live a life so uncomplicated yet thoroughly enjoyable in the lovely city of Bangalore. Those were surely the years when we had the space, simpler ways and biggest of all- the luxury of time to spend with dear ones..

Dream come true....

Following the heart is quintessential to realize ones ultimate dream..I just realized that. I have until recently been yet another of those nerdy guys walking the path already beaten to death..All through school, college and grad school, I did stuff and studied courses that were going to fetch me a lucrative and 'good' job..For a long time I didn't realize it wouldn't truly guarantee satisfaction and the lovely feeling of doing what I liked the most..It was not that I didn't know what I loved as is the case with many people. It was just that I was so caught up in the approach to the career path that is so heavily influenced and pressurized by society..

My two biggest passions have been cricket and numbers..marry them and a cricket stats freak is the result..I had always wanted to be doing this right from those high school years..I just didn't know how and when to take the plunge..There had to be some justice done after all to all those crazy cricket talks, stats discussions, poster quizzes and weird room decorations..CRICINFO, in due course, was a major hit among all cricket lovers and its huge repository of stats coupled with fascinating cricket articles and coverage made it the perfect place that I would want to work in..But yet again, it just didn't seem feasible as I was going through the motions at Engineering college and as I thought later, the journey abroad for grad studies would surely have put paid to my hopes of getting into my dream company...

The days flew by..job hunt and the other aspects of life in the US kept me away from the thoughts of the job at CRICINFO..I still didn't know how I could get in and what role I might fit in..The heart just knew and told me at various points that I had to try..As fate would have it, I got back to India and started working here..Few would think of it as a positive development in life..Nor did I initially. But soon, I realized that the loneliness gave me a lot of time to start working with cricket writing..A blog highly dominated by sports content especially cricket was started up and I religiously sat and wrote article after article..sent those across, followed up, discussed with the people who mattered. Time passed by and just when it seemed like there wasn't going to be anyway for things to work out, I got an email and a call to confirm that I had the chance to work with CRICINFO.. It definitely was a dream come true and I couldn't have been more glad..

The difficult part came now..Brain said - dude..go for the lucrative jobs man..You have a Masters degree..why you wasting it?..the heart as it had always done pointed only one way- towards the CRICKET..People were divided in their assessment..Ultimately I had to make the call..Financial considerations etc would definitely take a backseat at this moment..I had gotten a chance of a lifetime to work in the field and company I always wanted to be in and not many people get a chance to do what they really love in life..There was no way I was going to let go of such an opportunity..Thanks to all my pals and family who did provide much needed encouragement and offered the most useful advice at this critical juncture to enable me to follow my dream!..