Guts and Glory

2009-01-08T06:24:00.000-08:00

The last few bilateral series have been a big shot in the arm for the future of Test Cricket. While people embraced the 'new kid on the block' (namely T20), there were widespread apprehensions on the future of 'real' cricket - the 5 day Test match. I am sure the series between India-Australia and then South Africa - Australia would have settled the debate at least for some time to come. In fact, even the India - England series was no way a dull one though the credit for that should go to England. They put a vastly improved show after their mauling at hands of an Indian First Class team without any international player in their lineup.

I am a diehard supporter of Indian cricket team, specially its current avatar which I believe could very well be the best Indian lineup since Kapil's devils. But here I would like to talk more about the South Africa - Australia 3 test matches series. There are two key things that I would like to highlight from the series which I believe are a long wanted watershed for International cricket.

First and foremost, the SA-Aus & the Ind-Aus series represent the emergence of a new world order in Cricket. Like a true democracy is incomplete without a competent opposition, a Sport needs worthy competitors on the field for the game to be effective and entertaining. Call it the atomic clock precision & efficiency of the Aussie cricket setup or the despicable decline of the game worldwide, on-field cricket had become a dictatorship of the Aussies. At last, going by the last two series that the Aussies have played, and lost, one can "hope" for a cricket order where the top 3 teams are equally matched and beat each other with more regularity. I say "hope" because I believe we need more evidence to believe that India & SA can give the same fight to Australia on a consistent basis. Quite fittingly, the Aussies won the last match of the series which though inconsequential to the series result, kept them on top as the No. 1 Test team in ICC rankings. What the Australian team has achieved in the last decade is truly remarkable, and even a diehard Indian fan like me would admit that the Indians still have a way to go to match the Aussies in all departments of the game, and match them consistently. Doing well in the upcoming New Zealand tour would be a good step forward... amen!

Secondly, the Aus-SA series brought to fore more than a few instances of amazing individual brilliance. In cricket, for that matter any team sport, more often than not the complete team has to work as a unit to be successful. Individual brilliance may get you a good result here and there but not on a consistent basis. The Fab 5 (Sachin, Rahul, Sourav, VVS & Anil) in the Indian cricket team are a prime example of this; how else can one explain that a team with such talent has been a proverbial underachiever in the last two decades (Though there have been signs of change lately... ahaan the Obama effect maybe :) ). Coming back to the Aus-SA series, the series would be remembered for how single-individuals stretched to the limit in the collective-team pursuit of success and glory. No offense to Aussies, but I am tempted to say that there were more of such individuals in the SA camp, and hence the result. The SA captain stands out even among those brilliant individuals for his daring-aspirations, unfazed-determination, sheer-courage and awe-inspiring-inspiration. I would say he single handedly plucked the 'chokers' tag from the back of SA team and threw it down under.

I welcome the winds of change and fervently pray for Dhoni and the boys to take more than a leaf from the South African's book and conquer the final frontier in NZ. By no measure it is going to be easy - it will be cold, hostile and nerve wrecking; but that might just be the right tonic for the Boys in Blue, and we might just have the honor of seeing another set of jaw dropping individual brilliances. The stage is set - pain heals, chicks dig scars, GLORY lasts forever!!

Are we zombies?

2008-11-27T18:50:00.000-08:00

Given the sports (esp. cricket) aficionado I am, it would have been unimaginable to make my blogging debut with a post that does not talk about sports or cricket. However, it was not meant to be. There has been another terrorist strike in India, more specifically Mumbai. I have been tuned in to live Internet broadcast of an Indian news channel since the last 60 hours, also pouring over any news that I can get over news websites. Now I don't live in India at the moment and don't even have an acquaintance being involved in the crisis. But I am anguished, I am tired, I am embarrassed and I am outraged.

Following is a list of major terrorist activities starting from the infamous Mumbai blasts in 1993 which resulted in widespread communal tension & led to riots across the country (Source: wikipedia):

Date	Place	Loss of life
Mar 1993	Mumbai	257
Feb 1998	Coimbatore	46
Oct 2001	J&K Assembly	35
Dec 2001	New Delhi Parliament	7
Sep 2002	Akshardham, Gujarat	31
Mar 2003	Mumbai train blasts	11
May 2003	J&K Army camp	30
Aug 2003	Mumbai car blasts	52
Aug 2004	Assam	16
Oct 2005	New Delhi - diwali	70
Mar 2006	Varanasi	21
Jul 2006	Mumbai train bombings	209
Sep 2006	Malegaon, Maharashtra	37
May 2007	Hyderabad	13
Aug 2007	Hyderabad	42
May 2008	Jaipur serial blasts	63
July 2008	Bangalore	2
Sep 2008	Delhi	21
Oct 2008	Agartala	4
Oct 2008	Imphal	17
Oct 2008	Assam	77
Nov 2008	Mumbai	185

Besides the fact that the list is shockingly long, I am flabbergasted to see Mumbai facing some of the worst strikes - repeatedly. Mumbai is the financial nerve centre of the country besides being a true reflection of the new & emerging India. Without diminishing the seriousness of any other place being affected by such a demeaning incident, how can we allow a place of such critical importance to the country being exposed to such despicable acts - time and again. What irritates me the most is the proclaimed notion of the 'spirit of Mumbai'. Apparently the city goes back to normalcy after such incidents, and it is elaborately saluted and hailed across the country. Does this really sound worthy of acclaim? C'mon people, the city is not inhabited by zombies who don't feel a thing and keep moving on. I wonder if people are really courageously moving on - I am afraid that they have given up. I wonder if the faces that don't show fear are showing resilience - I am afraid that they have simply turned cold.

Now I am not questioning the enormity of the task and I understand that it may be impossible to 'decimate' extremists harboured by hostile neighbours. But guys - what's new about this - we have known this for donkey years now. If our neighbours are not able to keep their stinking garbage from overflowing and entering our household, we can't keep on cribbing about it and let our house stink. We shut the doors and windows, we get an air freshener, or something else, but we do something about it. Similarly in this case, how much more time do we need to realize that we need to have a more robust security framework in place to ensure:

1) Our borders are not porous to such elements to move in & out of India at pleasure

2) Our intelligence forces are enabled to nip in the bud any such prospective acts

3) Our forces are prepared - in terms of man & material to handle any eventualities

4) Our citizens & more important - our media knows what to do in case of such violence

5) Our emergency services are equipped - medical, fire fighters, traffic, state police to handle such acts

6) We have dedicated teams in at least major cities who are staffed - equipped - trained - and regularly primed with drills, etc. so that they can drastically shorten the time which we take to react and address such eventualities.

Sadly I see no improvement in any of the above every time such an unfortunate incident happens. I always see:

1) Civilians on the spot lifting victims with their limbs - not sure if that makes their injury worse

2) Ambulances/Fire fighters reaching the spot late because of traffic/late communication, etc

3) Policemen on the spot with 303 rifles & no bullet proof vests while miscreants have the most advanced armoury

4) A crowd of people around the site - it not only hampers movement of forces & emergency services but is also a potential hazard

5) Media dramatizing the incidents for TRPs - not only it sounds ridiculous, I suspect it might even provide assistance to the terrorists in terms of security force's movements, position, strength, etc. when they are holed up in hostage situations. Ofcourse the media will say that on such occasions the power, cable, etc. to the hideout are cut, but my dear friends if they can have satellite phones can they not have portable satellite TVs running on batteries. Now I may be wrong but why should we take this chance, expose our forces and inadvertently make a spectacle out of an unfortunate situation.

Humans are supposed to be the most intelligent species on the planet, and the most important sign of intelligence is one's ability to learn from past mistakes and not repeat them. Hence the phrase "once bitten twice shy". The Mumbai city has had more than its share of suffering in the past few years in form of bombings, riots, floods, and last but not the least the sensex meltdown. It is time that the 'powers to be' understood that even the resilient Mumbaikars have had enough. Looking back at the tumultuous past it has to be said that it is within our means and capabilities to prevent such dastardly incidents from happening again. As India envisages to be a world power, aiming as high as putting an Indian on moon, it only needs a political will to guarantee the most basic of the human rights, the "Right to life".

Cricket & More

Guts and Glory

Are we zombies?