October 17, 2008

Indian Sport's S-achi(n)lles Heel

October 17, 2008 Posted by Vijay 2 comments
Now that Sachin has crawled over Lara's world record, India celebrates another individual achievement.A player, who I would have loved to love, but absolutely hate when on the field for his penchant for records, and his struggle to even achieve them, beginning with the world record number of centuries (his 35th way back in 2005).Unlike the most simple batsman the world has seen in Virender Sehwag, who believes a ball has to be hit, even if the batsman is on 199 or 299, Sachin always watched and crawled his way to his milestones.

Just look at his record in the past 3 years :

Since and including his record breaking matches (record no. of centuries, and record runs)

Matches : 28*
Innings : 49
Runs* : 1850
Average in this period : 41.11

Without including his record breaking matches (record no. of centuries, and record runs)

Matches : 26
Innings : 46
Runs* : 1637
Average in this period : 38.96

Sachin's average during this period has fallen from 57.06 to 54.02. Clearly, an average of around 40, with 5 centuries in 3 years does put him in the company of fab four and not the elite list of a Ponting or Lara. No wonder, questions over his retirements have been coming from all corners and will continue to do so until he hangs up his boots.

October 15, 2008

Jet,Left,Goo ...

October 15, 2008 Posted by Vijay , 3 comments
Raj .. kkkkkkkya ho raha hai ? Raj is what Shah Rukh Khan has been named in many of his movies, and Raj is who I have a question for. This being the real life Thackeray version though. Our real life Raj has found a new political agenda of fighting for the rights of the 1900 workers of Jet who were laid off all of a sudden, post an alliance between Jet and Kingfisher a day back. Now what could have triggered Raj to vehemently oppose this move by Jet Airways ?

Thinking about Raj Thackeray, reminds one of the man who stands for the right of every Marathi who has been (apparently) deprived of his/her rights in their own land. Considering this political agenda of Raj's, I am wondering what could have been his motive in standing for the demands of Jet employees ? Hmm .. looks like Raj has indeed gone through the profiles of each of the Jet employees who have been laid off, and actually cleared them all as Marathis ! That should indeed be the reason, eh Raj ? As to whether each of them speaks Marathi or not, has certainly been confirmed after Raj personally interviewed and spoke with all the 1900 Jet employees (in Marathi mind you !). Though, one must not ignore the tears of the pretty air hostesses which were of course rolling down their cheeks in Marathi ! Right Raj ?

Let's look at a different take on this issue. So, will Raj be at loggerheads with the Left parties ? With a truthful confession that I am still new to political games, will Left support this move by Jet of laying off employees ? Can corollaries exist in Politics ? For example, since Left parties fight for the rights of Government organizations and business units, shouldn't the corollary mean that any move which lays off employees by a private firm be lauded and encouraged by the Left ? That being the case, Left would be in support of people getting laid off from private organizations. So maybe, this equation can be concluded as a fight between Left and Raj.

October 13, 2008

My High Deed Card - An Obituary

October 13, 2008 Posted by Vijay , 1 comment
Well, the past 2 weeks have been difficult .. my ID card refusing to swipe on the access doors in my company. Scary thoughts of that pink slip on it's way to my desk sooner than later gathered storm, despite the fact that my antique 5.5 year old ID card has stood the test of time.

And what a time it has been through. Refusing to crack under constant swiping, which has been the only proof of my hard work (I earnestly request my supposedly sincere readers to NOT cough in jest), it has seen the evolution of my company, and the cracks on the old ID card are a testament to the rigours of working in the IT industry.

Dialogues apart, the scare of the pinkslip, gave way to the realistic thought of that emotional moment, which I always dreaded. Parting with my ID card, to make way for a new one, hopefully ushering in a new lease of life into an oasis-bereft desert I have been traversing (heavy stuff, huh ! Honestly, this was indeed meant to be a useless piece of art attempted at, though very earnestly !). My card bid good bye to me, with the last rites being performed at the security desk, where the guard was kind enough to hand me a replacement for it.

October 11, 2008

All for HITS !

October 11, 2008 Posted by Vijay , No comments

World Crawling Record !

October 11, 2008 Posted by Vijay 2 comments
So, what is this fascination with Sachin and world records ? Sachin has been inching closer to the world record number of runs in Test Cricket, which is currently held by Brian Lara (11953). Well, this inching has been going on, and has metamorphosed into crawling, in the past 6 innings. When the undergoing Australia-India Test series began in Bangalore, he was even closer, 77 runs behind (11877 runs before Australia series) the world record.

So, how close is really close ? 64 runs ? Sachin has crawled closer, by getting dismissed for 13 "valuable" runs, on the 3rd day of the Test Match today. Media hype will never come to an end, and Indian media has always been one for individualistic achievements. So what if India lose the series against Australia. Sachin overhauled the world record during the series. That will be the highlight. How does it matter, if Sachin took 8 innings to crawl his way to the World Record.