Friday, March 14, 2008

Team Work Naah! its not for us.

As every body knows cricket is unofficial passion of india. It was my passion too till a year ago. I have played cricket through all the three years of my college and can understand the true team work of the Blue Team. While every true cricket fan in india is busy with analysis of why the blue team is not performing, i came up with my own. I am confident of my observations and have practically gone through them. First and foremost. Blue Team is actually performing to its strengths contrary to other peoples beliefs. Surprised. The answer lies in the foundation and tradition of Indian cricket. All the Indian players are true sons of the soil and they uphold the galli cricket values even under the pressure of international matches.
Have you ever seen a player obeying or following captain’s instructions in galli cricket? Most probably not. For that matter all 11 players are their own captains. Who says India is not equal opportunity provider. Again the bowlers at galli cricket are the arrogant lot. They are not worried about weather their team is chasing or defending, all that goes in their mind is they are there to bowl what ever they like and its the duty of fielders to restrict the runs. They even abuse the boundary line fielder for not stopping that six by putting extra effort and converting it into a catch. Fielders are more powerful than captains or bowlers. If fielder doesn’t like a position you can’t make him field there. Looking it from efficient utilization and motivation point of view nothing wrong. The problem arises when all the players want to be incover position are inside the circle. Who will guard the boundary line?
"Ask your bowler to keep strict line and length" Comes quick answer from the all knowing fielder. You don’t even have the rights to reprimand him for a misfield at aboundary. "Modulu aa ragya sulemagne ball sariagi ogi annu.. batsman nayige hoddanga hodilikathana... nanmege yake odaradthi..." Another all knowing fielder at work.Fielders also tend to change their position with out informing the bowler or the captain. "Ninge yava huch sulemaga helida le eekade baa antha..." frustrated bowler
"Nangen goth le.. Isthot thanka alle ninthidde..avnavvna..ball nan kade bande illa.. adakka eekade bande..." All knowing fielder again. Never every try talking to a fielder who has just missed a catch. In most of the cases he will blame it on either sun or say he was lost is concentration due to disturbance. Ofcourse it very though to concentrate on the ball when the bowler is threatening you to cut into pieces if you missed it, the other fielders giving you runtime ( yes imean it. ) guidance on how to catch it and where actually the ball is landing. Wicket keeper just does that. Keeping wickets. He only replants the stumps or collects the ball at the end of the over. Anything more than that is dishonor to the esteemed position he holds. You cant blame him for missed run outs. Reason?
Fielder did not throw ball into his hands to effect a run out. And it doesn’t help that fielders use all their lagori skills to hit the batsmen not the stumps. Added to this the occasional rift between the two teams over the total score. A scorer is assigned from the each team and they keep track of the score. Any differences are sorted out in the ground itself. The more you can yell and threaten to more your scorer is efficient and correct. In a 16 over match the scores are compared at least50 times. Umpires are both from the batting side. Only criteria that can make you umpire is your ability to intimidate the bowling team. You should have the strength (physical as well as vocal) to stand by your decision. Leg umpire is usually a dummy player whose sole purpose is to maintain and supply the important energy supplements to batsmen and fielders in between the overs. These usually consist of cigaretts, gutkhas. No team has fixed batting line up. It all depends on the mutual understanding between the batsmen in the team. And on rare occasions if a bowler had not received enough overs to bowl he can expect his batting position to jump high. Anybody still confused why pathan is at third slot? Normally the opening pair are fixed. They are the best batsmen the team has got. And when batting they are the boss. You cant argue with them for slow run rate or missed chances of easy balls. All they come up with is they are making foundation for a kill. Unfortunately thisfoundation laying exercise is carried on till penultimate ball of the innings if both the openers stay at the wicket.
Once the wicket falls, even before the frustrated batsman is back after his arguments with the umpire, you can see the players in the all natural open air dressing room ( under a tree) fighting over the bat. The next batsman is usually the one who snatches the bat first. Every team boasts of dravids, sachins and dhonis. But ineffect most of them are zaheers. Out in the pitch, each batsman wants to face as many balls as he can. You hardly see them go for two runs. Usually run outs happens under three circumstances:
1. Last ball of the over. Non striking batsman wants to face the ball next over. Heruns for two. But the striking batsman is happy with one.2. First ball of the over. Striker wants two. non striker is happy with one.3. One of the player is getting more runs than the other.
At the end of the match you win or lose. No i don’t mean the victory or loss of the team. Its of individual. That is what matters. Forget the team and team work. We are super performers and we can win matches single handedly and mind you very consistently. Once you understand the galli cricket and how its played at the root level, you wont blame the Blue Team. You will find answers for all the so called evils in Blue Team. Forget Team Work. Its some abusive word taken from western cultures. Ours is the land of super human super natural heroes. This stuff about team work and mutual trust, coordination is for inefficient people. A society that thrives on individual success is doomed to failure. It needs 100 individual performers to succeed but just one failed individual to rot.



Note: This was written at a time when Men in Blue were underperforming.

A Girl I dont know about...

I was staring at my computer screen, thinking about a javascript function. My mind was as flat as the screen i was staring at. I have never understood the reason behind having languages case sensitive. May be as i am from vb background and hardcore vb fan at heart i would never understand. My staring ended with the message beep sound of the cell. i looked at my cell placed on the desk. For a while i didn't check the message. I told you my mind was blank. Later it occured me that i have open the message to read it, instead of waiting for it to open up itself. I checked the message. "I am on my way to brigade. Message me when you are done with your work." That was from chotu. I looked at my watch and it was 8.15 PM. It was friday, weekend as the ITians know it. Instead of replying i went back to my thinking process ( usually it involves just staring at the screen). I then changed few lines of code and the page started working fine. Immediately i called chotu.
"Kahan ho tum."
"Teek hai. Mein 15-20 minute mein pahunch jaunga. Bas thode mail bhejne hain." "Chalo fir. bye"
I sent few mails upating team members of the changes and updations in the functionality, logged out and hurried towards Brigade road. I parked my bike on residency road, near Down Town Pub and hurriedly walked towards brigade road. Just in front of Planet M was chotu waiting for me.
"Aap bahut late hain. Main yahan kab se khadi hun."
"Khadi kyon ho. Bait jathi."
"Bhaiyaaa.." She stared at me. It was obvious she did not like my little joke.
"K. sorry. chalo. muje aaj jaldi jana hai"
"jaldi matlab?"
"Dus baje."
"But its already 9 now."
I did not speak. We crossed cauvery emporium and entered Styx. I always make it sure she dosent stay back late in the evenings. Not atleast when i am around. As we stepped in, i knew i had entered a world which i usually avoid. Styx is known to play some really great rock music, chotu informed me.Rock,country, jazz, hip-hop are totally out of my dictionary. I have never understood the difference. For that matter i find hard to follow their lyrics. Pubs are strange places i feel. You see people shaking their heads as if thunder has just struck them. Theres no differene between them and people dancing with neem leaves and lemon garlands in some village jathre ( fair ). And then there are others who try to talk privately and whisper among each other in such loud music. Whats the point. "Should we really come to pubs? you know i hate such crowds" I questioned chotu. "Bhaiya. Mere exams ho gaye hain. Aur mein bahut dino ke baad aapke saath ayi hun. Please mere liye. U know i like music." Well she likes what i hate. Not music. The crowd. But then i had promised her i would take her to pub if she did her exams well and she had. We sat at a corner and ordered two pegs of Peter Scotch and Chicken Tikka. We tried talking for a while but as i said its very difficult to, in such loud music. I gave up. I was too tired to shout and thats what you have to do if you want to talk in pubs. Meanwhile my glass arrived. I was busy with my drink and watching TV where Rock Albums were being played. Infact i was trying to figure out the lyrics and i admit i failed miserably.

"Dont try that. Not many succeed."
Chotu always seems to know whats going on in my mind. Chicken Tikka hadnt arrived yet. I turned around to call for a waiter when i noticed a girl sitting quitly among three guys. She was about 4.9 ft to 4.11ft. Slim and open hair. I dont dare say drop dead looks but still beautiful enough to get attention of guys like me. Something about her made me feel she wasnt enjoying the environment either. I was happy to have found a like minded person. She was sitting silently staring at something. The three guys were totally under the influence of shake-your-heads-till-you-get-bald syndrome. She was helpless. I really felt she was uncomfortable. She was there physically but her mind and thoughts were wondering elsewhere.

"Why do always stare? Stop that" Chotu shouted.
"I have a subject for my next musings and i realy feel bad for that girl" I replied. Chotu has not read any of my musings but she is "confident that i write well". Over a period of next one hour i checked on that girl often. And everytime my pity for her increased. I started thinking what made her come there, sit silently if she wasnt realy enjoying. What was going on in her mind? Did she have a bad day? Was she upset about anything? I had not seen any of guys consoling her. So no question of she being upset. If so the guys wouldnt have ignored her. Yes. She was totally ignored. But one thing about her, i was sure of. She was consious of my glances. All that was important for me during that period was to know what was going in her mind.
Though i was conversing with chotu, i was very much thinking about that girl. We finished our drinks and it was time to leave. I asked for the bill, gave my purse to chotu to pay it and went to restroom. While returning back i noticed that even those guys were preparing to leave. "Chalen chotu." "K. ye lo apka purse" Even though i was out of styx, that girls image was still on my mind. "Bhaiya.. Bastard " I was shocked. "What?" "Nahi he is such a bastard .. he has take 50bucks more.. how can he do that.. " "Its ok chotu.. forget it.." "Nahi.. chalo vapas leke aate hain" and she turned around. I caught hold of her arm and stopped her. "Its ok. No use of going back. Next time we will be careful" "But.. he.."
"Shut up. I said its ok and its just ok.Come lets go" While i was busy convincing chotu i saw that girl and 3 guys walk past us. I glanced at her. We exchanged looks. For the first time i knew she understood what i was thinking about. I saw them cross cauvery emporium, cross brigade road and walk towards anil kumble circle. I turned around and chotu was not to be seen. She was nearing Styx. I ran, caught hold of her and literally had to drag her. Its not that she felt 50rs was too much. She very well knows money is last priority with me. Its just that she felt cheated and she cant stand that. If the same guy had asked for 100 as tips she would have given 200. Thats her. Verymuch like her genrous handsome intelligent and mature brother (If you are wondering who it is, FYKI - its me). I still carry that girls image in my mind. If and only If i had a chance to talk with her.

But life is not a fairytale. Humans are so foolish. They hardly know themselves well and they try to judge others and their thoughts. Hypocrisy at its best. I must say.