Cycling on a cricket pitch.

Cycling on a cricket pitch; yes, that's what was the image on the blog of some guy. He was referring to something I do not recall much. But what struck me was the possibility that tomorrow one dude will come up with a new form of cricket, where well known cricket players will be cycling on the cricket pitch and once in a while throwing a "round object", and once in a while there will be others who will be wielding a "flat willow". And presto - one billion people will be glued and watching it.

Now I am starting to think that most people really don't know the nuances of cricket. They don't believe that cricket is a game of patience and strategy. [ I must be crazy! IPL was one of rare games where they have a "strategy" breaks!! What a joke. ] Most people just like to see people randomly hitting and riding their pure dumb luck. I am actually wondering that people don't really have any special interest for cricket. Instead all they have is a craze for something that is shown with a lot of noise, (artificial or otherwise) excitement, (artificial or otherwise) show of interest by many former greats, and possibly additional artificial show of pleasure by the cheer leaders. And to top it all, make the conditions so strict that riotious hitting will become the norm of the game. People will love the game.

How else would you explain the success of IPL, where the team of 11 has been reduced to 3-4 international cricketers, and the rest are rookies who don't know how to read spin from a club-level spinners or have more than two variations in their bowling kitty. Where most of the time the level of the game is so low (except when top international players are playing) that you would think any average Joe could replace them.

While I am not denying the exposure a game like IPL provides to the rookie Indian cricketers, I am wondering how a fairly poor-standard game show like IPL can keep so many people glued! Is it because we are inherently medicore in our minds and love to see many medicore performances? Or is it because we just like any scheme where we get sadistic pleasure easily (see how Mural torments average Joe batsman, or how Hayden clobbers happless unknown bowlers). Or is it because, there is a lot of people with vested interest who are shouting at the top of their voice, how much they are excited about such silly versions of the game. I think it is a mix of all.

In the name keeping the excitement in the game, here are some suggestions for future:

- Grounds be limited to 40m diameter
- Bowlers must bowl such that, the ball should not spin,
- The ball should not come beyond 60 KM/hr
- the bowler should pre-declare if he wants to bowl a bouncer / bowl on the off side / on side and so on.
[And trust me there will be some great souls who will support these suggestions saying that a great bowler will still be able to restrict and take wickets!! ]
- The batsment can hit the ball with the bat or even catch the ball and throw!
- Reduce the match length to 10 overs. In case of rain, minimum number of overs to be bowled is 1.4 (10 balls - the minimum number of balls required for a team to get all out). If either innings has to be stopped because of rain, and the minimum number of overs could not be completed, then they can instead play it virtually on a new "Crickit-for-all" software. All other rules remain the same.
- To further spice up the game for the people on the ground, the organizers can organize lap-dances (by professionals) for executive class, along with alcoholic beverages.
- There will be a poll on who should win. The winner of SMS poll actually wins! [ We will win the next world cup. But not next time, China will! ]

Nenu Saitham

Here is a nice song from a Telugu movie:

nEnu saitam prapanchaaniki samidhanokkaTi aahuticchaanu
nEnu saitam viSva vrushTiki aSRuvokkaTi dhaaravOsaanu
nEnu saitam bhuvana GhOshaku verri gontuka picchi mosaanuu


which roughly translates to something like this:

Me too, have added one item to the holy-fire of the world.
Me too, have added a droplet of tear to the rain fall in the world,
Me too, have added my mad voice to the roar of the world

Every time I read this poem, I keep asking myself one simple question: How much am I doing for the world? Am I doing anything that makes a difference (in a positive way) to the neighborhood?... If the neighborhood is too small/narrow, how about the city I live in? How about state / country / world... At least some living being in the whole universe. If the answer is yes, am I doing everything I can? If the answer is no... then am I doing my justice to my life? Why am I alive? Why don't I end my life, if I cannot make a difference to none?

(Not sure, if it is related: ) Sometime back I was looking at the site of an NGO (www.savepoorlives.com) and found a very nice quote: "One's feelings waste themselves in words; they ought all to be distilled into actions which bring results".

I should replace my words by actions.... ... ..

Prabhakarn is dead... So what?

This is the second news in recent years, which has evoked similar feelings in my mind/body. "LTTE chief V. Prabhakaran is dead". Did not make much of a difference to me - I read it in the morning news paper with the same level of enthusiasm as I read the rest of the news. It was just a piece of news. Nothing more. I love reading news and this just another "news item". And today during lunch we were discussing that his body is not found yet. And I come, open the news sites and see the photos of his dead face! His eyes were open, and so was his mouth partially... I immediately felt nauseated and felt like throwing up... Why? ... Do not know... I feel as if I am feeling out of breath as well... ...

The last time I felt similarly was when I saw Saddam Hussain's (sic) murder video. I had heard about his hanging the previous day. I went to youtube, casually searched if someone had recorded the murder. And they had. After I saw the body hanging from the rope... I felt as if I was out of breath... It was a terrible feeling. A feeling that I cannot even express in words... Why did I feel so?

I was never sympathizer of Saddam or his policies. Nor was I a sympathizer of Prabhakaran and his activities. And I did not feel very bad/sad on their death. But seeing their dead body / death made my stomach lurch in discomfort. Why? I have seen the photographs of so many dead people, but have never felt like this. But why do I feel such a level of discomfort in these cases? Why....