Bhajji - you obnoxious weed!

This latest act just proves that National Pride definitely as big it's hyped up to be for sportsmen. Not all of them, anyway. These 'idols' are just teenagers who get cranky when they lose. I'm sure Harbhajan would have just as easily slapped / abused someone else if he were playing for India. And all this camel crap of them being 'brothers', and sorting it out within the family! I think Harbhajan's mother should do all the interviews she can before her son gets the life ban, this shit's been flying too long, it's hit the fan now.

Coming back to the point though, the whole episode, however, is enormously depressing for all those who thought 'national pride' was egging these guys on towards aggression for India. I'm glad the IPL has raked this up, otherwise we would have had to keep hearing stories of how cricketers with millions of dollars in the bank 'sacrifice so much for their country'.

Obnoxious little weed indeed, how the Aussies must be laughing at us now!

The real Jaypant

You thought Jaypant was fictional? No, he crawls the web, sending emails to innocent damsels like my wife under creative aliases like 'shubham friendship'. Here's one she received today.

From: shubham friendship <shubham.friendship@gmail.com>
Date: 2008/4/26
Subject: Shubham here , Sorry to disturb u.
To: shubham.friendship@gmail.com

Hi,

Sorry to bother u this way. (No kidding!)

This is not to trouble u but to ask u for friendship. (How are the two different, exactly?) If u reply, i'll take it that u wish to know me as friend n then we exchange mails.

Actually i had an Orkut account. But Orkut was too much weird. People posting any scraps. So i noted ur id from it and then closed it. and now i ve dared to mail u. (Wow, a new business model, Goodbye social networking!)

About me , i'm Shubham. 30 years n i'm mechanical engineer n now well settled in Mumbai. I m married for 4 short years n got a beautiful daughter on 1 yr. My family s most in priority for me. (I can see that.) My parents are in Kolkata n all my family members are proud of me. (No shit, wait till they read this.) But i'm no sant-mahatma. (You don't say!) I take life as it comes n enjoy it to fullest. I ve my share of things which i keep it to myself. But to tell u humbly, i'm not a bad man. (Ladies and gentlemen, the epitome of humility!)

But like all people in this world i also have dreams n ambitions. So i go for it ..

What i'm looking forward in this friendship is :

1. Mailing n may be chatting on gmail, if u r comfortable.

2. No exchange of phone numbers or addresses.

3. Just frank n true discussions on life , friendship n our dreams.
(The three bullet points of a highly effective Jaypant.)

So do i take it that we can be net-friends?

Really n eagerly waiting for ur answer.

Take care n good luck for ur family n life.

(Now you know, that his Orkut search include married women.)

Shubham (a.k.a. Jaypant)

IPL - A smooth take-off

I had my doubts about the IPL living up to the hype. The audience, I thought, would be confused about whom to root for. However, one share-auto ride from my office to home and I am convinced that its beginnings, at least, are glorious. I saw agape as hordes of men crooned to get a glimpse of restaurant TVs broadcasting the Chennai Super Kings play, a scene I hitherto only associated with World Cups or the finals of a series and the like.

Having said that, I don't agree with Amit Varma's opinion that this is an 'intensification' of the game. True, most sports are shorter, but those who appreciate Test cricket, appreciate it for the beauty of the frontfoot defensive shot and the patience that a batsman exhibits to save a Test, apart from the perfectly executed aggressive shots. T20 intensifies a lot of things, but definitely not the sport as a whole with its aesthetic aspects. Like with all new things, we tend to gravitate to one extreme opinion or the other. Looks like Amit has been guilty of the same. Personally, I think Amit sides with anything that is a commercial success, but heck that's just me!

On the other hand, I echo Wasim Akram's views who says the one-day game is under serious threat. The really scary thing here is that I've never heard anyone say, "The one-day game needs to be saved." So far it was Test cricket that had its share of champions who wanted to keep it safe from the one-day format. We know that purists love the Test format for different reasons and youngsters like the slam-bang stuff that T20 provides. So where is the room for one-dayers? What is the positioning, the unique differentiator that sustains this form? You need to spend the whole day, and endure that painful part between the 25th and 35th over - twice! After the 20-20 World Cup, one felt that one was watching the future of cricket unfold. Too many people considered Test Cricket to be under threat, but Wasim Akram might be closer to the truth with his latest statement.

So congratulations are in order for Mr Modi (possibly a little too premature). He's created quite a commercial monster, and I dare say, I might well tell my kids and grandchildren one day, "I watched the first ever IPL with these very eyes."

Akshay Kumar gets Cozier!

Well, I'm watching this match between the Delhi Daredevils and Rajasthan Royals, and the last two overs have been embarassingly entertaining because Tony Cozier has Akshay Kumar with him in the commentary box. The latter's inability to make decent conversation in English is better than the desperate slapstick that some of his recent movies dish out in the name of humor. I just wish there was some Hindi commentator helping Akshay out, it's so painful for both of them, it's not funny.

Meanwhile, other thoughts on the IPL - just too many Royal / Kingly people out there. Rajasthan Royals, Chennai Super Kings, Kings XI Punjab and even Kolkata Knight Riders (All the king's men).

Another gem from AK as I type this, "Well they are very much in control, they have good control." (Silence - prolonged and uncomfortable). Well, at least something is more entertaining than the match. What to do, just too addicted to cricket to stop watching.

IPL website!

Well, if performances in the IPL are anything like the performance of the IPL website, we're in for one rain-hit series! Check out Amit Varma's post on the same. When I last visited it, this was what was shown.
So much for a well-marketed series! Rah, rah Lalit Modi, indeed! I seriously hope I won't be watching paanchvi paas on the night of 25th April!

IPL vs international cricket

From cricketviewer.com

The ICC board said the agreement was made to ensure the concept of ‘nation-versus-nation cricket’ was given the highest priority.

Well, I won't say it's not possible that nation-versus-nation cricket cannot die / lose steam, considering the kind of following that football clubs in Europe have. But I really have my doubts. As an avid cricket fan, I'm sure I'd rather cheer for India rather than Chennai / Mumbai / whatever. But then that's just me. Any comments? IPL or International Cricket?

Back!

Here I am a few fatkas later, back to blogging. It's been a while, so I apologise to my readers (all 2 of them) and hope they log on more frequently now, because stuff's gonna be posted like there's no tomorrow!

Chris Gayle's got a sense of humor!

From DNA:

"It's not something we can control, but it's definitely something that the hierarchy needs to fix into our fixtures," said Pietersen, who has complained that West Indies captain Chris Gayles has been taunting him with text messages with the $$$ (dollar) sign all over it.

I can just imagine Kevin Pietersen's face when he saw Chris Gayle's "$$$" message staring back at him!

Fatka

Fatka (n): Setback, an unfortunate happening that hinders or impedes; something that is thwarting or frustrating
Examples:
1. My office blocks blogger now, yaar. What a fatka.
2. My laptop is down and they say they will charge 14k to fix it, fatke pe fatka man.