A Chat With My Inner Brats!

Hey Baby DS’s,

I was browsing through an old dusty album when the snaps in it made me reminisce about our old childhood days. That’s when I though of writing a letter to all of you.

Baby DS 1 - Do you remember that snap of your first stage performance? Where you were dressed as a cute little girl? I think you were in the 1st standard. Mom and all the teachers had worked so hard on your look and helped you with everything that could make you feel comfortable. Everyone was excited to see you go live, to see your bundle of energy except you... Still, you chose to remain stiff, refusing to give up your fears and nervousness. Thinking over it, I personally feel that you had no reason to be afraid. Rome was not built in a day, after all ...and your hard work was all that mattered. I remember mom telling you, Do your best beta, have faith in whatever you do and you will always be a winner. So the best way is to just go on stage and give your best shot. Act as naturally as you can... what others think of you is none of your business.

Baby DS 2 - You love playing cricket, right? Let me tell you something. You love writing as well! Get that journal out and start documenting your match reviews and previews right away, you are going to be a blogger someday! You have no idea how much you will need blogging to heal yourself, to relax... to be happy!

Baby DS 3 - What are you afraid of? Meeting people? Each time you are invited to a function of any kind, you get those panic attacks and feign sickness or cry and lock yourself up inside your room. Is it that you think that you are a nerd and that people don’t like you? Is it that you feel that you will make a fool of yourself when you try talking with others? Listen: Don’t let fears rule you. Yes, you are a nerd but there are people who still like you. You need to learn to respect and love yourself for who you are and ignore those people who pull you down. You deserve all the love and respect, but it has to start with you. Love yourself first and start the change of positivity. Make loving yourself your number one priority right now.

Baby DS 4 - I heard you cried when you missed the top spot in the quiz competition for which you had worked so hard? But don’t worry and don’t feel dejected, you need to realize that the other guy was simply better. And you need to be happy for his success as much as you need to assure yourself that this is not the end. Keep dreaming and keep trying, you will have your moments of success and triumphs. Be positive, be strong. You are meant to be a bright young lad one day!

Baby DS 5 - Have I ever told you that your smile is the most innocent one I have ever seen? I love the way your face lights up with a beam that seems to stem straight out of your heart without any fallacies, so to say – pure and complete. You will be surprised to know that I have today lost the smile that I once had. I am ashamed that I have allowed certain things to take the joy out of my life today. Smile, childlike and naïve, this... I need to learn from you :)

There is so much more I need to say to all of you. I wish we all could meet up some day. But time wouldn't allow us to. However, I am very happy to inform you that there is a community called IndiBlogger which is giving an opportunity to allow any 5 people or more to connect and chat using an application named WeChat.

I look forward to making use of it and discussing all that I have written above and much more with all of you. In the process, I hope to learn a few things about my own self, why I reacted in situations in a way that were... not right, how I could have done the same things in a better way and more importantly, to learn from everything and try and be a better person tomorrow.

Looking forward to chatting up soon,

Love you all,

Yours,

Senior DS :)

PS: If you loved reading this entry, please vote for it here - http://www.indiblogger.in/indipost.php?post=246201. Thank you.

Links to my other two WeChat contest posts:

Hello Happiness

WeChat -- Connecting friends

Hello Happiness!

Everyday for me is a routine. A mundane one at that: Getting up at 5, having my breakfast and leaving for work by 9. The next 9 hrs pass by sitting in front of my desktop making reports and overseeing logistical work. Strike 6 and it’s time to get back home again, have dinner and go off to sleep. Only to get up at 5 again the next morning and repeat the same sequence again.

The other day, as I was combing my hair (here’s another one of those mundane activities!) while standing in front of the mirror, my gaze suddenly fixed itself towards my lips. I inched closer, now eyeing them a bit more intently and stretching them out a bit. The realization was compelling! 

When was the last time I had smiled?

Where was my smile?

The now forcefully smiling lips seemed to be asking all sorts of questions to me. I wanted to swab them all away with a wipe of my hand but the thoughts stuck, refusing to go away: all through the entire day.

In the daily humdrum of life, had I forgotten to smile? Why?

In the midst of this dilemma, my attention suddenly turned towards my mom who was busy washing clothes in the bathroom. Unmindful of the intense heat of the season, she laundered the clothes with truckloads of sweat rolling down her forehead. Yet, she projected an epitome of calm and peace. Despite the strenuous activity she was doing, I could clearly see bliss writ large on her face.

Bhaiyya, paper le lijiye! (Here is your newspaper, friend!) The call of the newspaper delivery boy broke my gaze. With ear phones tucked in his ears, he was smiling for some odd reason. Inquisitively, I asked him: Aap kaafi khush lag rahe hain? (You are looking very happy?) Snapping an ear plug out of his left ear, he smiled wider this time and said, Wo gaane ki wajah se. Music sunna acha lagta hai. (It’s because of the music, I love listening to music). Saying this, he plugged the ear phone back and went about delivering the other newspapers in the locality.

As soon as he left, I heard Manan, the 12 year old lad next door shout out a ‘Hi, Bhaiyya’ to me. Even from a distance, I could very well gather the toothy smile he flashed as he ran towards me. With a heavy bag flung on his shoulders, he was on his way to school. Bhaiyya, today is our English exam, wish me luck na! He said this in a tone so cheerful; I doubted if he actually had an exam and if he had one he must definitely know the questions beforehand! 

Ah, yes. All the best!

I saw him climb his school bus and wave goodbye with a smile that had now got even bigger and brighter. All the best effect, perhaps. I wondered.

As the bus pulled out, Leelaben – the rag picker of our society came into my view. She was dedicatedly collecting and assorting all the trash that had been thrown out by the members of the society. Her job was laborious and one that was filled with filth and even frowned upon, yet there was a sense of freshness on her face. No wonder, our building

was one of the cleanest in the entire area.

What was her motivation?

From where did she derive the inspiration for such dedication?

Did she like her profession?  I wondered.

For a moment, I felt ashamed to sit in an air-conditioned cabin the whole day and still come home frustrated, cribbing about my job.

Soon enough, my pick up cabbie was at the door, Rikshaw puller Rambhai. Bhaiyya, aaj office nahin jaana kya? (Don’t you have office today?) And even before I could frame any reply, what I noticed was the smile clearly etched on the face of this cheery 30-something-recently-married guy. I was amazed. Why? What was the reason that was making him so happy? After all, he was just going about doing his job: To pick me up and drop me at my office. Was he happy for no reason?

All these questions and all my experiences since morning were now making my head spin. But I knew what had to be done.

I did not go to office that day. I had a far more important job to do. I had to find my missing smile back. And I knew the people who could help me get it back to me. Now all that was remaining was to connect with them and to find value in those connections, to surround myself with the loving and cheerful people I see every day but never care to talk... It was time now to get together... to WeChat, ask them the secret for their happiness and get inspired in return.

The next day, I left for office dot at 9 as usual with my office bag but most importantly, with a smile on my face and a sparkle in my eyes.

This entry is a contest participation in the topic WeChatNow with IndiBlogger. To vote for this entry, please click here.

Links to my other two WeChat contest posts:

WeChat -- Connecting friends
A Chat with my inner brats

WeChat -- Connecting friends!

Recently a close friend of mine got married. We were roommates for 4 years while we were doing our engineering and were staying in a hostel. I and Jiten (another roommate) travelled almost 500 kilometers, taking a whole week off from work, to attend his wedding. Three other friends could not make it as they were not in the country.

As our train pulled out from Mumbai station towards the wedding destination, it set in motion a series of thoughts about true friendship, OUR friendship ... somewhere, in a compartment of my mind. Life is filled with so many people we meet and greet each and every day. Some of these go on to become our friends... hi-hello friends, casual friends, fair weather friends and so on and so forth. But only a few graduate to a higher level... whom we can call our true friends. Those with whom you can share any of your feelings and can never have enough of their company. Staring out of the window, I thought everyone has them. Just like me.

We were six of us, Room-mates during our engineering days. How and when we became friends... we never realized. I still remember those days when we would kill time chatting even during exam days or how we would play cards all night when the next day we would be having our vivas, how we once spent a whole night in a forest to prepare for an exam scheduled for the next day, how we would stay awake in the name of exam just to eat hot Vada Pav at midnight in canteen or the fun we used to have in our regular jungle excursions!

Perhaps these things brought us closer. We were in the company of each other all the time. Our day started with each other and ended with each other, no one could pretend to be someone that they were not. We observed how each other dealt in various situations, under different circumstances and this in turn helped us understand each other better. Perhaps, this is how it was always destined to be. Whatever the reason, we all had that spark that helped us glue. And thus, a strong friendship was forged while staying with each other in the hostel.

Exams went by, months turned into years and we had to finally part ways. As luck would have it, much to our disappointment, we landed in six different cities, spread across 4 different countries. In the beginning, we spoke frequently but even that, gradually reduced to a trickle with the passage of time. E-mails became rare and phone calls were almost redundant. The fact that none of us were too active on facebook (well three of us still do not have accounts) did not help matters either.

Occasionally, we would plan weeks in advance to have a conference call at times suitable to everyone! I remember how excited we would be when at last, all the six of us succeeded in joining in, in the conversation! It felt like we were all in college again. Time would come to a stand-still that day. The old lingo permeated into our world so very easily. We would talk for almost an hour, sometimes listening carefully to a single friend about his experiences, sometimes all six of us chattering away to get the upper hand, sometimes pulling someone’s leg reminding him about some incident at college, sometimes having multiple talks within a phone call (six talking at a single time but having two on two talks! Sounds confusing, I know but we did that too), sometimes everyone went silent for a couple of seconds though just quietly reminiscing the old days!!! We finally, one by one, bid good bye and the moment I disconnected, I could feel a vacuum in my life.

But scheduling the conference call was hectic and we were all too lazy to try skype. It was fun to attend the wedding and to have a mini re-union. The moment I met my old pals, we started chatting from the point where we had left in college even though all of us today were so many years older, both in age and in experience. But at heart, we were still the same.

That’s where WeChat got me excited once again. Separation was inevitable but this time, I had done my homework. So when I suggested WeChat to all my friends, a new mobile communication tool which supports sending voice, video, photo and text messages and is absolutely free to download and easy to install; they all had reason to get excited as well! It lets us chat in a group and help us share photos within our group!

When IndiBlogger came up with the same question - If there were 5 people or more who you could connect with in WeChat and why, I knew my answer. I would love to connect with five of my closest friends scattered all around the globe via WeChat so that we could relive our college days again!!

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To know more about this contest click here – We Chat with Anyone, Anywhere!

To vote for my entry on Indivine, please click here - http://www.indiblogger.in/indipost.php?post=246048

Links to my other two WeChat contest posts:

Hello Happiness
A Chat with my inner brats

My Favorite Players - Stephen Fleming

Stephen Fleming - New Zealand

Stephen Fleming became the captain of New Zealand at a tender age of around 23 years. From the beginning it became clear to everyone who saw him that he was a born leader. New Zealand prospered under his astute captaincy. He was aggressive and was a brilliant tactician. A shrewd mind, he made optimum use of the resources available to him. He led the Kiwi team for a record number of times and is their most successful captain of all time.

His batting though, always left a lot to be desired and he never achieved what he could have with his abundant talent. Perhaps it was the added burden of captaining an ordinary team, we will never know. He was particularly strong off his pads but I mostly remember the shots he played straight down the ground with great joy. He played the ball so straight that when he played the shot I would get the feeling that it would crash into the stumps at the bowlers end but the ball would, almost miraculously, miss them and then bisect the mid-on/mid-off fielders and race away to the boundary. He was also a fabulous timer of the cricket ball, on most occasions he would just time the ball never trying to hit it hard.

My favorite Stephen Fleming moment came on the occasion of my 18th birthday when he scored a sublime 134* to down a rampaging South African side in the 2003 World Cup which was being played in South Africa. Chasing a revised target of 229 to win in 39 overs the Black caps won comfortably by 9 wickets!! I remember watching the full game even though my 12th standard board exams were going on at that time!

Stephen Fleming on the right after the memorable captains

 innings which defeated South Africa

He played 111 tests and scored over 7000 runs at an average of just over 40. He scored just 9 centuries even though he passed 50 55 number of times!! In ODI cricket he scored over 8000 runs in 280 matches. He made 8 tons but passed 50 57 number of times. Thus he passed 50 112 times (Test Matches and ODI's combined) but could only convert 17 of them into a 100 plus innings. That has to be the worst conversion rate for someone who played over a 100 tests and who opened the batting for his team for most of his career.

A captain is a man who can get the best out of each and every team-mate, who not only has the respect of his own team mates but also the adulation of opponents, who cops the flak when the team loses but lets the team bask in glory when it wins and stays humble, someone who is happy even in a loss knowing that his team gave all they had in the tank, someone who has a charismatic personality, one who is media friendly... Stephen Fleming was one such captain who had all these qualities in abundance.

PS - To Read Other Posts From The Segment 'My Favorite Players', Click On The Following Link - My Favorite Players

My Incredible Cricket Story

The Following guest post is by Ratika Chauhan who is a Doctor by profession, a Writer by passion and a Cricket Lover by obsession! You can read more of her beautiful writings at her blog - Asteria's Canvass

Read the following account of her coming face to face with an external examiner during her Medical Vivas who was, like her, a die hard cricket fan too!!

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Most of you would be wondering, "What the hell is a girl doing on a cricket dominated blog?" Well let me clear the air and burst the mythical bubble that cricket is for guys, girls (and I have seen many) equally crazy after this so called gentleman's game. To be honest I think majority of them are just crazy after cricketers which makes them sit patiently to watch them unleash the primal fury, even if its hitting the ball.

Well my love for cricket originates from World Cup 1996 (I know my timing to fall in love with the game was just impeccable.) when my Mom finally relented and got  a cable connection. I have been a fan since then, I howl, I whistle, I abuse, I cry and like every other Indian forget my woes during those 50 overs (20 now a days) and live the game. There have been many instances when my love for cricket landed me in hot soup (hooting and whistling for my batch's team in ragging time and getting thoroughly ragged , organizing an unauthorized rain dance party in hostel after India won first ever T-20 World Cup and other 1000 such instances.) but those stories are for some other day. As I always say truth is stranger than fiction similarly cricket saved me in my final year viva. Yes you heard me right cricket, the game responsible for many students failing actually saved me in my viva.

But first let me burst another golden bubble that medical vivas are exciting and adrenaline based, they are so not, they are as scary and as mundane as any other field. Our final year exam was no different than yours, after a grueling session of theory exams we were ready to be thrown in the lions' cage (errr, I hope none of my professors is reading!!) We were royally exhausted, thoroughly starved and disgustingly scared just short of crapping our pants. My A batch or the sub-batch was the first to face our medicine practical, and adding to the already scary scenario was the fact that our external examiner was known as "The Terminator" owing to his previous record of deliberately failing 49 out of 100 students.. well the shit had already hit the fan and we were just waiting for the poop to fall.

Did I mention that in my whole freaking batch I was supposed to be the first girl to face the terminator??? Well the wait finally ended and I saw the terminator, he was a 6 feet tall turban clad Sikh, with a heavy moustache and an equally heavy built..."God save me" was my first prayer as I entered the room.

The cases or the patients were decided by a chit system and there was one case we all were praying not to get, it was the mother of all neurology cases we had ever seen, with the most unusual complications. But as God was busy somewhere else, I was the inglorious student who landed that case. That was the moment I apologized mentally to my Mom and Dad for failing in advance.

I know that all my batch-mates were praying for me rather than their ownself as they knew I had the monster of all cases. When my turn for bed side viva (the viva is taken in the ward itself in front of everyone ) both the professors , my internal HOD and the terminator sat in front of me and stood behind them all my senior interns ready to prompt me the answer if I faltered. God bless the seniors.

As my viva was proceeding smoothly, I realized they haven't left any possible question on the case, but I guess the support of my seniors, my HOD's faith and my batch-mates prayers all joined together and I was able to flow through the viva without drowning. The moment my professor Dr.Gopal Shreshtha got up with a smile on his face I knew I will not flunk at least but my momentary joy was about to crash and burn because we were still to face the terminator alone for short cases.

I don't need to describe the scenario for short viva, the hallway is strewn with nervous students, the person ahead of us becomes a God as he tells us what was asked to him, our brain attains some super power and we remember every word we lay our eyes on in those few minutes, we become extra polite to the guard sitting outside for he is the one who rings that dreadful bell...

As I went inside the cabin, I suddenly developed never-existing claustrophobia as the walls seemed to close in on me.

"Yes Dr. Ratika, how are we doing today?" boomed his gruff voice. I wanted to say you might be enjoying the torture but I am about to faint with fear.

"Sir, I am doing well, thanks for asking." I managed to croak.

"Well, what was your long case, Dr. Ratika.?"

"Sir, the neurology one with aphasia."

"Of course, of course how could I forget?? Even I have not seen such a twisted case"

And that moment my empty stomach decided to play games with my already ill-fated viva, and it rumbled, not those inaudible light ones, but a deep one loud enough to reach the terminators razor sharp ears.

"Have you not had your breakfast?"

" No sir, I did not have the time to go to the canteen."

"Never mind, here share my biscuits, they are hide and seek, the best biscuits, your college did not want to upset me in any way." and he laughed heartily.

If there ever was a moment of disbelief it was that moment where that hulk of a professor, having a reputation of terminator was offering me biscuits...his own biscuits. I definitely had tears. That defining moment allayed my fears just a touch and I felt a bit more comfortable about the whole situation.

But little did I know I was about to tumble in that pretentious whirlpool.

"So Dr. Ratika , since you have already given your long viva very well, I will not ask more questions. So tell me what is your favorite sport??"

"Cricket." I chirped, without even thinking about the scary consequences of such a question, the slight eyebrow raise indicating I have hit the proverbial axe.

"Its my favorite too...well along with most of fellow Indians. And who is your favorite cricketer?"

Now my glucose deprived brain decides to play smart-aleck and I start over thinking, why was he asking me this? Whats his agenda? Will he fail me if I say Yuvraj Singh because he is good looking.

"Sachin Tendulkar." I finally replied

"Playing safe? Are we? Ok I'll give you a gamble, if you can tell me 7 different ways how a batsman can get himself out I'll give you the highest marks in practical, If you don't ...well we will come to that later."

I did not like the sound of 'well we will come to that later' and as such Dr. Bedi was making no sense whatsoever, I mean I was there for a medicine viva and not a cricket viva.

But I had already put my big foot in my mouth so I started straining my mind.

"Caught, Leg before wicket, run out, hit wicket, stumped, bowled...."

"Yes, you are doing well just 2 more..."

I had mentally cursed him in every possible language, despite him sharing his hide and seek biscuits with me. I was scanning every nook and corner of my brain for those last 2 ways.

Suddenly out of nowhere, God himself made a grand entry in my on-the-verge-of-getting-a-stroke brain and I remembered a newspaper headline "Michael Vaughan - controversial dismissal."

"Sir, handling the ball.....and time out."

"Well done Dr. Ratika, you have gained those marks and you will see I will abide by my promise."

I was half expecting one of my batch-mate to wake me up from the dream and shove me in the viva room, but all I saw was Dr. Bedi smiling ear to ear and making some joke about himself, I was either too dazed to be happy or shocked as my mugging up those mnemonics just went to a waste. But somehow I mumbled a tiny "Thank you." and came out, as expected the other students who still had to face the terminator jumped on me like a pack of hyenas, but I knew they would not believe that I was not asked any study based questions, so I cooked up some tough random questions. Later after our results were announced, when I told them the incident, still they did not and said my extra creative brain is imagining things. What can I say truth is stranger than fiction.

That is the story when cricket gained me marks and that is the story from where I started believing in miracles!!

My Favorite Players - Michael Slater

Michael Slater - Australia

Michael Slater is often remembered for his heated confrontation that he had with Rahul Dravid and Srinivas Venkatraghavan, after a catch he claimed was disallowed. Finger wagging, angry gesticulations and foul language followed and cricket fans all around the world watched in awe at the raging bull that was Michael Slater. The venue was Mumbai, the year 2001. The incident, sadly, marked the start of the fall of one of the most exciting opening batsman world cricket had seen and who is one of my All Time Favorite Players.

Michael Slater in a heated argument with Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid

image courtesy espncricinfo

For me though, Slater meant pure fun and watching him bat was extremely exciting but highly nerve wrecking at the same time. I remember those Ashes series in Australia when I would wake up at 4.30 am and watch him pummel the hapless Pommies. Flashy cover drives, crisp front foot pull shots and crackling square cuts defined him. He would just go after the bowling from ball one without any fear whatsoever. He would take the shine off the new ball not by leaving balls outside the off stump safely to the keeper but by bashing it as hard as he could!!

Michael Slater started his test career in 1993 and played until 2001 wherein he represented Australia in 74 test matches and made over 5000 runs at an average of shade under 43. Everyone who saw him play test match cricket would often comment 'Slater is born to play ODI cricket', but for some strange reason he never excelled in the shorter format of the game. He only played 42 ODI's in which he could not even notch up a 1000 runs. His average was a lowly 24 while he could not chalk up a single ton in limited overs cricket. Speaking of tons, Slater was a bundle of nervous energy in the nervous 90's. He would became fidgety and was out 9 times in the 90's in his short career. He made 14 tons in test cricket.

Today Michael is a successful commentator at Channel Nine.

Michael Slater re-defined the way that openers were supposed to play Test Match Cricket. His swashbuckling style made him vulnerable to failures but he would, more often then not, set Australia racing off to a big score and immediately put the opposition on the back foot.

I loved him for his fearless shot making, for his never-say-die attitude and for the swagger with which he would walk out to open the innings.

PS - To Read Other Posts From The Segment My Favorite Players, Click On The Following Link - My Favorite Players

My Favorite Players - Carl Hooper

Starting with this post I am going to write about my All Time Favorite Cricket Players. Players whom I loved watching and miss them today and often wish they were still playing. I could pay millions to watch them on the field today (if only I had those millions!).

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Carl Hooper - West Indies

I think I first saw Carl Hooper in action when West Indies were touring India in 1994 though I am not so sure about that and it could have well been 1997 that I am talking about. I remember Hooper striding out with the white floppy hat sitting comfortably on his head. He would immediately get into the groove with languid drives. Though he did not get high scores consistently but Hooper had caught my eye. I remember how he would jump out to the spinners and loft them over the infield easily (it was very rare to loft the ball in those days) and was always eager to use his feet against them.

Carl Hooper Flicks the Ball off his Toes
Image courtesy cricinfo

Hooper was a highly attacking batsman with the typical Carribean flair but he was also easy on the eyes. He played shots with such fluidity that he would seem to just caress the ball and the ball would go scurrying towards the boundary. He was also a terrific slip fielder and often held screamers off Curtly Ambrose, Courtney Walsh and Mervyn Dillon!!

Carl Hooper was the first cricketer to score 5000 runs, take 100 wickets, hold 100 catches and receive 100 caps in both ODI and Test Match Cricket a feat matched only by Jacques Kallis since then. He played 102 tests for the West Indies and scored 5762 runs at an average of almost 37. He hit 13 tons and 27 fifties during his test career. He also claimed 114 wickets with his part time off breaks. His highest score of 233 is etched in my mind vividly as he tore into the Indian bowlers in 2001. He played 227 ODI's in which he scored 5761 runs at 35.34 hitting 7 hundreds. He took 193 wickets in the shorter format of the game.

Those are impressive stats but he was also very inconsistent and would give his wicket away needlessly when set by playing a rash stroke. I always thought that he could achieve so much more with the kind of talent that he possessed. I would feel so frustrated when he would throw his wicket away at times when he had the bowlers to his mercy.

Shane Warne once wrote that he was unable to find any palpable weakness in Hoopers game.

I loved Carl Hooper because he had so much time to play his strokes - a quality and sign of a great batsman, he was a genuine wicket taker, a safe catcher and was such a likable person in general.

What are your memories of Carl Hooper? Have you seen him him in action live?