Boredom

Many a times I have revisited the vignettes of Barry Richards and Graeme Pollock from pre-apartheid period of SA Cricket (on YouTube and ESPN) smashing their way to announcing their presence in World Cricket. I just wonder how much we lost on the extravagant talent and extraordinary gift of these once in a lifetime players such as Barry Richards, Graeme and Peter Pollock, Eddie Barlow, Denis Lindsay, Ali Bacher, Mike Proctor and co. A historical injustice in the form of apartheid just cost us these prodigious talents. The 1969-70 series between South Africa and Bill Lawry's Australia was termed the 'World Championship of Cricket' and proved to be a high water mark in history of SA Cricket before the pall of apartheid gloom enveloped it. Australia lost 4-0 that series....they had never been humiliated in such a manner before...even the Douglas Jardine wasn't able to score this feat in the much maligned and infamous, Bodyline series of 1932-33. What an era, what dominance...

My sister cannot be called a movie connoisseur by any means. However, two days ago, she turned into one. The reason being Anupam Kher's screen debut 'Saraansh' and very truly, the reason being for whatever Anupam Kher is today in Bollywood. To be very honest, I had it in my hard disk for 6 months. I didn't watch it but in between the time elapsed, did suggest it to countless people. So she begged me to watch it. I have never been a big fan of art-house or 'mid-of-the-road' (content+commercialism) cinema plus among all the art-house greats of 70s and 80s, Anupam Kher was my least favorite (Pankaj Kapoor being the most). Very frankly, Mr. Kher never reached the high of 'Saaransh' again in his career which was later fraught by so many lopsided choices that I almost dislike him now. I obviously gave in to my sister's choice and didn't regret it for this movie is an exceptional amalgamation of hard-truth and headstrong emotions. Immortal performance...

Sir Vivian Richards, when approaching the end of his storied carrier, was asked by a report of how he would like to be remembered once he hangs out his boots. He said, 'with a bat, I was a soldier'. And he indeed was. Not a soldier bit a gladiator. Jonathan Trott announced his retirement from International Cricket couple of days ago. A natural stroke-player, he was pure elegance at the crease with beaming assurance. The Oval, 2009, Second Innings, he hit the century on his debut in ASHES. Brisbane, 2013, First Innings, Mitchell Johnson exploited his weakness against short-pitch bowling brutally and ravaged both his mind and body cruelly. His confidence plunged to an all time low. His batting technique, meticulously honed at Warwickshire for more than a decade and bringing him plenty of runs, was facing serious questions now. Batting averages of more than 50 in both forms of Cricket was a glowing spectacle of his career till then but failure in recently concluded WI series, 2012...

'Gunahon ka devta' was one book that I wanted to have my hands upon for eternity. I finally managed to find it in Delhi Book Fair- 2014. This celebrated work of Dr. Dharmaveer Bharti has gained a 'cult' following over the years with young, Hindi readers. You can find its synopsis on Google, so I won't go into the plot details but I have observed some novelties in it. Here they are: A) This is the only book that can help you draw a fine line in 'spiritual love' and 'physical love'. Although the spiritual aspect has been celebrated more, but it certainly doesn't degrade the 'physical' aspect either. Superlative effort by Dr. Bharti. B) The book discusses a family established in Allahabad in pre-independence era. Dr. Bharti has written extensively about 'sex' in the book and explicitely (and quite liberally) mentioned the word numerous times in it. The characters very openly talks about giving the readers the fair idea that SEX h...

This appreciation post is dedicated to all the actors-cum-directors of Hollywood and in particular, shall single out Warren Beatty's REDS for being its catalyst. Warren Beatty, Woodie Allen, Clint Eastwood, Kevin Costner, Sean Penn, Robert Redford and Tim Robbins are very renowned and established directors in Hollywood though we recognize them as actors more. Warren Beatty has always been a maverick and very outlandish in both his acting and directing, Kevin very sedate, Clint like 'ain't no sunshine kid when you are at the wrong side of a loaded barrel', Tim and Robert very conventional, Woody, very unconventional and moody and Sean, mysterious and dark. They are prolific as both actors and directors......Clint is now aged 80+ and still making Oscar-worthy cinema, watch this year's The American Sniper for reference. This post is a tribute to their craft and undeniable passion and zest for quality cinema. Now returning to the enigmatic Warren Beatty, one of the fa...

The very first time I held a sight of great cricket statistics, sometimes back in year 1999, I was swelled with pride. Both the all time records for highest run scoring and wicket taking belonged to us Indians......the ever-so-slugger of International cricket. Sunny Gavaskar holds a distinctive place in my cricket books for he was a genius, the ultimate copy-book cricketer from yesteryear and certainly the hardest to dislodge for opposition bowlers be it Lillee, Wes Hall, Andy Roberts, Holding, Wasim Akram or Marshall. Kapil Dev's record though meant more to me for he was a medium pace bowler in INDIA (see the caps lock for extra emphasis) whose tireless, backbreaking work put him to the summit of International cricket. Couple of years later though, I took upon myself to analyse the statistics of no. 2 and 3 in Kapil's distinguished list. Sir Richard Hadlee was no. 2 in the list while Sir Botham at no. 4. Both were accorded the knighthoods by Queen of England for a reason. They...

Continuing with the second part of story about 'The Killing Fields', Dr. Haing S. Ngor who essayed the role of The New York Times Photojournalist Dith Pran was a renowned gynaecologist in Cambodia. Khmer Rouge, in the wake of Vietnam War, initiated an opertaion called 'Year Zero' that targeted the intellectual banishment and slavery in Democratic Kampuchea. Dr. Ngor had to hid his identity as a Doctor and instead act as an uneducated taxi driver in order to save his own as well as his wife's life. Her wife died because of pregnancy related complications in one of the labor camps. She needed a ceasarian operation for giving birth to their first child but Dr. Ngor could not give up his real identity in order to achieve the parenthood. He feared the death of all three if Khmer Rouge found about his actual identity. Little did he know that consequences to follow will lead to an inevitable death to his wife anyway. He decided at that very moment that he had to continue l...

Every now and then, there comes a film destined to be talked about for ages. Roland Joffe's 'The Killing Fields' was released in 1984 and it is set on the backdrop of much maligned and infamous Vietnam War. The film however is not set in Vietnam itself, it is set in Democratic Kampuchea instead, now known to us as Cambodia. Wars don't know boundaries and it certainly breached the Vietnamese boundaries to enter Cambodia in early 80s. Democratic Kampuchea was then under the miserable dictatorship regime of Pol Pot. Pol Pot was a communist sympathizer and Khmer Rouge, an indigenous terror group like the LTTE and ULFA, was his brainchild. The movie tells the story of two THE NEW YORK TIMES reporters, Sydney Shanbarg and Dith Pran who were covering the intrusion of Vietnam War in Cambodia in 1980. When the situation deteriorated and it became quite clear that Khmer Rouge is going to take charge of the entire country, Americans and all the European journalists were immedia...

Milòs Forman, along with Roman Polanski, is one of the two most respected 'European' film directors of Hollywood. Roman, a Polish, directed the epic 'Chinatown' and 'The Pianist' in 2006.....two hugely successful movies and eventual Oscars Winners. Milòs left his country of birth, Czeckoslovakia in 70s after feeling ostracized in an unfavoring movie fraternity and moved to Hollywood. His first project was 'One Flew Over the Cookoo's Nest' starring the ever-phenomenal Jack Nicholson (He headlined Polanski's Chinatown too) proved a tremendous success with audiences and critics alike and eventually swept the Oscars in 1976. His Second Project, 'Amadeus' came out in 1984, depicting the much rumored but heavily fictionalized rivalry between Antonio Salieri and Wolfgang 'Amadeus' Mozart. Like its predecessor, it scored aplenty with Audiences and Critics and dominated Oscars in 1985, meanwhile launching the careers of F. Murray Abraham a...

A few moments ago before logging into my FB account, I had decided to put forth a post celebrating Younis Khan's 100th Test Match. But after logging in, the first news I encountered was of Sangakkara's retirement. So before proceeding with Younis' story, I offer the first of my three fingers' royal salute to the Great Lankan. Your services shall be sorely missed ‪#‎Sanga‬ throughout our cricketosphere. Now coming back to Younis' story, it's been a fascinating one thanks in no small part to the culture, history and histrionics of his country of birth. But as he grew into his role as a senior statesmen in the Pakistani team and subsequently a captain, he contradicted the very perception of Pakistani Cricket, i.e. flamboyant brilliance mixed with head-scratching ridiculousness, at moments more often than any stastician might care. The very fact that he made his debut way back in 2000 and players such as Cook, Bell, Sangakkara and Michael Clark have already outnu...

During my MBA years, the one topic in absolute rage was Sub-prime loan crisis of USA that triggered the global recession in year 2008. Heck, it was even more popular than the girls in class thanks in no small parts to some wannabe intellectuals. Helplessly, I was too among the brigade of these unfortunate creatures who had to go to the ordeal of daily devouring the gory details of stock market crises of USA and EUROZONE. I later on submitted a thesis on debt crisis of PIIGS countries for accruing my ill-fated PGDM degree. For those who didn't deal with this calamity in their academic years, I wanna tell them that PIIGS stood for PORTUGAL, Ireland, Italy, Greece and Spain. Now fast forward the proceedings to 30th June, 2015 and situation is still grim for at least Greece, Italy and Spain. Italy and Spain cumulatively contribute to 28% of Eurozone GDP. Greece has declined the debtors' proposal for repayment of loans over the binding caluses of such agreement. They might have t...

Cricket's development from its very inception, i.e., year 1877 can be mapped into four distinctive eras owing to the leading contributer of those periods. Dr. W.G. Grace was the first Cricketing Hero and Giant of the game and he ruled the roast till 1894. Golden Period of Cricket followed next, circa 1894-1914 and Victor Trumper was the helm at this time around. During the world wars and immediate period after that, Sir Don Bradman enthralled the audiences and stamped his authority everywhere. Sir Gary Sobers took the baton of Cricketing excellence from Don and sparked the world with his precocious talent during 1950s and 60s. Then came the most technologically accomplished player ever to grace the 22 yards and he was an Indian named Sunny Gavaskar. Sachin Tendulkar was next and we have almost lived the entire history of the great game of Cricket. This post shall indulge itself in the discovery of that long lost magician of Golden Era of Cricket and I was always fascinated by his ...

India finished fourth in Fintro World Hockey Semifinals League today after going 5-1 down to Great Britain today. Two days ago, they dispalyed good game plan but lost 4-0 to Belgium. A neutral observer could perceive a fourth place finish as a good one, particular for a young developing team but I for one cannot concur with the same. European Hockey is gold-standard and the way teams such as Great Britain, Poland, Ireland and Belgium played in this present tournament is an eye-opener. These teams as compared to India and Pakistan have improved by leaps and bounds and these two Asian Giants are still contained with semifinal, fifth place or a even a decent finish against a good European side. And I haven't even started with Australia, Netherlands and Germany....they are out of reach of at least Indian Team. Indian Men's Team IS NOT going to beat these sides, leave alone winning any Olympics or World event in next 10-15 years. The best they could come up with is a test series win...