I can hit a SIX at Chinnaswamy as well !!!!!!

I was 6 yrs old then, way back in 1987. This is when I watched a cricket match for the first time on television. It was a huge black n white set at my grand parents’ home. Well, don't get fooled, this has got nothing to do with my indelible photographic memory. I remember just two facts abt that fateful match, it was a one day match and Sunil Gavaskar had scored a century. Well, with this info it isn't tough to figure out the precise date. If u think that this info is scanty, then ur knowledge on cricket is not as good as mine ;-).

Well, ever since I was a kid I have been living cricket almost every day. This was the first sport that I learned but definitely not my favourite. I was pretty bad at it. I never let the grip of the bat when I got out. I was called "HUMBUCK RAJA" (realised that it is humbug at a much later point) by my cousins n other relatives. I only liked batting and was no where in the vicinity when it was my turn to field. I can't help reminiscing of the umpteen grounds that I have played at like the Garadi Maidan, Pulikeri Shaale, Central Plaza, Betkeri, St.Johns......and the list could easily deluge the relevant part of this blog. Most of my summer vacations as a kid were spent playing this game. Well, but then the mother of all battles was fought at my grandparents home, PP vs NN. (Pappu-me, Praveen vs Naveen, Nitin). Well, with the worst player on Praveen's side the outcome was never a surprise :-))

In India, cricketers have always been treated as GODs, "demi god" is a misnomer. It has been a religion and if this were to b officially recognized, would easily b the most followed religion here in India. I have digressed enough from, what the title of this blog suggests. After, having watched n played this game all my life it had kind of bcum a cliché. Well, watching cricket was no more fun. An insipid fifty over game was such a waste of time. Test cricket till date has been beyond my comprehension (5 days - u could win a real battle in 5 days and here u have teams that end the match in stale mate). But, then as Darwin's theory suggests, every thing in this world evolves, so did cricket. The shorter version was cut short, and v had a new form of cricket....the TTTTT20!!! With the advent of this new form, the game beckoned its patrons back on to the stands. The television viewers were again glued on to their sets, n so was I. The exciting times were back, n in the midst of all this one Mr. Lalit Modi came up with a brilliant idea, he set up a cricket league that aped the EPL(or other leagues across the world). The rest is history as v all know.I

have been contemplating on watching a game at Chinnaswamy ever since I have been in B'lore. My first brush past this name was when I was in my 10th grade, 1996. How can ne one forget the quarter final match between India n Pak at this statdium. This match was played just ahead of my Maths exam. Nostalgia!!!!! Well, after a lot of deliberation over the years, me n my frnz set out to watch the IPL match held last Saturday at CSS. My favourite team was playing the team that I loathed the most, what else could I ask for? I bought a new RCB T-sirt and got our faces painted with the RCB logo. The most ardent RCB fans were on their way!!!! Well, getting the tickets for this match was an ordeal, which deserves a blog by itself. As v were walking towards the stadium, v saw the KKR team bus pass by. I got a glimpse of my bro's hero Wasim Akram. V went berserk, like a bunch of kids having seen Spiderman, v started frantically waving and cheering the GODS.

After a lot of hue n cry(collecting ticktes, Q...) v entered our stands. This was a magical moment, it was nothing like I had envisioned. The whole place was like a kaleidoscope, bright n colourful. It was like I was in an other world. I saw the GODS performing their mundane tasks at the nets. I got a glimpse of my heroes too. But to my amazement, the ground was alot smaller than I thought it would b. I was hoping that I would get to sit at a vantage point very close to the cheer girlz. But as expected the area was completely filled, I cannot help but smile at my similar kind. But to my relief I got to sit amidst 3 little angels (tiny tots barely 5-6 yrs old). Tristan, a firangi kid who sat bside me turned out to b a huge RCB fan. V had a ROCKING time with him. (http://picasaweb.google.com/mmkjain/IPL# )

The stadium was full of RCB supporters and the crowd was vociferous. V were all rock solid behind our home team. It looked as if the whole stadium was painted RED, with a few tiny specs in BLUE. I am sure the guys who had put on Blue, wished they had pulled off their shirts n taken a neutral stance. There were a lot of them with weird hairdos and hoardings, hoping to c themselves on the television. I was close to a bit overtly clad :-(( KKR cheer girls n to my own annoyance I was rejoicing, every time the KKR guys hit a four or six. Well, here is sumthing that goes against the old adage that says " Look at a half empty glass, as half full". Here I was doing quite the opposite :-)...K...b4 the pervert in me takes over let me cum back. Watching Steyn gun down was a feast, his runup was like that of a race horse. The pace of T20 is so fast that v easily missed a lot of moments. V were cheering just coz the people bside us were cheering. The whole stadium was a riot of RED flags. Also, watching the people perform the Mexican wave was amazing!!!! Also, my heroes Kallis, RD n Kumble had done well. Towards the end Robin joined the party (Ravi Shastry’s patented words, had to pay him a huge royalty for this usage) n helped the KKR guys conserve sum energy 4 their next match. He ensured that they did not have to budge much by taking the aerial route. V won the match with 3 overs to spare. What else could I ask for!!!!!!!!!! Well, this is what an ardent fan can do ;-). . The only thing that I rue about is not carrying the camera.

But, believe me guys ne avid follower of this game would hate to watch a match in the stadium. U could easily miss a lot of magical moments. V don't realise it when v watch it at home. But, this is definitely an experience that should not b missed under the pretext of missing these moments. Also, thanks to the cameramen who make it look, as if a six was hit miles away. I was happy to c that the boundary was pretty close, the off side boundary at the Betekeri ground(my home town) is definitely longer than the one a chinnaswamy. I have hit sixers at Betekeri, so….if I can hit a SIX at Betekeri,(u already know it) ……………;-)

Life is a drama

After a grueling week, having fought bugs 24/7 I was longing for a break. All week I had to kill S/W bugs in the office and to add to the woes, back home I had sleepless nights, courtesy - bed bug infested mattress. It was a tiresome week and I was hoping to lay down the whole week end. All of a sudden I realised that we(me n my roomies) had asked the guy from pest control to cum over to our place. He was at our door right on time. After inspecting our home closely, he stirred sum chemicals together and promised us that the magic potion would rid our home of the bed bugs. Little did v realise that our house would b a mess, ( its been a week since this happened and v still haven't been able 2 set it right). The smell of the potion that was being sprayed was pungent(n potent too) enough to scare a skunk away, forget us!! After all this, I realised that there was no way that I could relax over the week end. So, now was the time to cum up with sum ingenious idea to while away my time.

I had compiled a huge list of places to visit n things to do @ B’lore sum time ago, like visiting the museum, planetorium, WonderLa...... Believe me, the list is pretty comprehensive. It should take me no lesser than a couple of years 2 to strike down all of them. But the one thing that caught my attention that particular day was ‘RangaShankara’. As this place was just a few yards away from my place, the thought of watching a play here needed no deliberation from an eternal indolent like me. I was not sure abt the kind of plays that r performed here. I had never watched a play. I was a bit reluctant, as I had a rather insipid palate towards fine arts. My closest shot at acting was when I played in a drama “Elves n the Shoemaker” in my primary. No prizes for guessing what my role was. Thanks to my height, I was an elf ;-)

Well, that morning me n N. Man (roomie) went to RangaShankara. The board at the foyer said that “ Bhikre Bimb” a play written by Girish Karnad was being played. Now this almost scared me, I wasn’t sure if I could handle a play written by a Jnanapith awardee. As I was trying 2 figure out the meaning of the word “Bimb”, I saw Girish Karnad cum down the stairs. Well, he was clad in an attire that I had envisioned every theater artist or an author in. He was in the stereotypical Kurtha pyjama. I wanted to get a snap of mine with him, but to my dismay I was in my shorts n Tee’s n wasn’t sure if I should approach a man of his stature so scantily clad :-). V looked into the details of the play, n to make things worse, Arundati Nag was playing the role of the protagonist. Now I was sure that this was not 4 lesser mortals like me. But the one thing that caught my attention was the duration of the play. It said 70 minutes. I have watched innumerable stupid movies that lasted more than 3 hrs in the theaters, the most recent one being Avatar( no apologies to all the James Cameroon fans out there). This was one chance that I could afford to take. It was midday and the show was to start at 7:30 PM.

V were at the theatre at 7:15. The crowd was pretty descent. I actually did not expect a crowd that big. It was a pretty descent mix of youth n the aged. I started feeling a bit comfortable. I had a quick bite at the café in there(an exorbitantly priced Vada Paav). There was a bell 5 mins prior 2 the start of the play n v were kind of ‘summoned’ into the theatre. V sat in the last row, guess sum things just don’t change!!:-)). At 7:30 sharp, A.Nag walks on the stage and started speaking. I was a bit confused. I wasn’t sure if she was addressing the crowd or playing her role. It took me a couple of minutes to realise that the play had begun. I was watching one of the finest theatre artist perform. She was the protagonist(Manjula Nayak). Manjula Nayak is an author, who had just cum back to India after winning the Booker prize. I thought that there would b atleast a few more people donning other roles, but soon realised that A.Nag was the only one to walk the stage.

This play was all about emotions, precision n passion. The play was all about M.Nayak’s conversation with her conscience. This is how the set looked like. There were a few LCD screens, a table n a chair on the stage. In one of the screens u see an other M.Nayak(the conscience) speaking to the real M.Nayak who is seated on the chair. It was a conversation that takes off pretty amicably. Well, I said that this play was all about precision bcoz, the part played by M.Nayak who was speaking on the screen was pre recorded. So, had A.Nag been even slower by a second, they would have been out of sync. But I soon realised that she could not afford to b even a second faster!!! . There was scene where, A.Nag on the screen and the A.Nag on the stage give each other a Hi 5. The timing had to b so precise, n I could not help but wonder at the amount of practice that must have gone in, to maintain this pin point accuracy. Also, doing this without retakes unlike our heroes on the screen is an amazing task. sI know all this is confusing, A Nag on the screen n A.Nag on the stage!!!. I have already gone bonkers trying to put it in words.(am sure ur plight is worser!!!)

As the conversation is all about M.Nayak’s relationship with her Husband Mr. Murthy n her younger sister Malini Nayak (who is immobile below her waist). Initially, it looks like everything btn M.Nayak n the other 2 characters r fine, except 4 a few hiccups here n there. But as the conversation muvs ahead, v realise that the things were a lot more graver. The conversation also unveils the multitude of facades that M.Nayak had donned over the years. The initial part of the conversation was laced with sum subtle humour, but as the conversation moved on it grew graver. Towards the end as M.Nayak is stripped of her façade it was a riot of emotions...treachery, jealousy, seething anger, back stabbing, confusion, repentance, agony......It was a play that forced me to do sum bit of soul searching....I realised that v all muv with facades like the one M.Nayak had donned....well, this was an enriching play.

I deliberately haven’t delved much into the story line of the play, coz it is beyond my ability to do so. It needs the artistry of a person like Girish Karnad. Well, now I realise the the mettle n caliber of a Jnanapith winner. The acoustics in the theater was awesome. The audience were spell bound n were seated rapt in attention through out the play. Towards the end of the play A.Nag was greeted with standing ovation. She performed like a ROCKSTAR. Just cannot fathom sum one speaking(n acting) at length for 70 minutes. At the foyer of the building there is a huge poster with different emoticons(cartoons) that portray different expressions like fear, jealousy, anger, laughter etc. This play was wrought with all of these. All I can say is that this one is a must watch play. I have now promised my self to watch atleast one play every month. But, then I have never kept promises :-). To top it all, I have a new Hindi word in my vocabulary, the word “Bimb”. If u guys want to know what it means, u got 2 watch this play!!!

Siddartha vs julian Mantle

Ever since I have been at my current organisation, one thing that I have had in abundance is loads n loads of free time. To make things worser, I have to stay back 4 a stipulated number of hours. Well, this ensures that I cannot go home n indulge in my favourite activity i.e. SLEEP. I could do the same out here, as there is one huge air conditioned dorm, but 2 my dismay I always find it filled. There is nothing much I can do out here, coz unlike my previous orgs I donnot have a gang 2 hang out with :-((( n to make things graver I just have limited access 2 the net. The only sweetener is that v have a huge library, but sans the genre of books that I generally read.

I generally take an year or so to complete a book n I read atleast 4-5 books in tandem. So, I am sure u can understand the kind of confusion I am in when I open a book. Sometimes I end up reading a few pages(coz I always run out of my book marks ;-)) all over again n have this stupid sense of dejavu, as if I had read the book in my dreamz. I attributed all this to the lack ot time, coz my fav indulgence eats away a lot of my spare time. But now the situation is very different, I have a lot of spare time n nor can I indulge in my fav activity. So, I listed down a few books that I always wanted to read. Well, believe me guys I completed a book that I started reading 14 yrs ago!!! But then this blog is not abt that book.

I also listed out a couple of books, just bcoz they were best sellers. One of the authors also had won a Nobel in Literature. So u know that I had listed a couple of real serious books. I was not sure if these could b assimilated by a sumone with my kind of taste. A rather interesting fact about these books is that both served the same purpose, but with a very very different approach. These were written about a century apart. One of the books "Siddartha" was writen in the early 1900's. The other book is abt a Monk who sold his Ferrari. The first picture that I had as soon as I read the name of this book was of, Dalai Lama getting into a blazing RED Ferrari, n flooring down the gas pedal n taking off with plumes of fume gushing off the exhaust. Well, I cannot curse my imagination 4 this. They say that the gray cells that r responsible for artistic imagination reside in the right half of the brain, n in my case there is nothing RIGHT about this half(yeah, the same old stupid joke n only Suchin can manage to LOL at this!!!). My friend on reading the title was concerned abt the price at which the monk sold his Ferrari.

"Siddartha", in contrast to what the name suggests, has nothing to do with "Gautam Buddha" the founder of Buddhism. It is a story of a young Brahmin boy's travails in search for the all elusive eternal truth. This book is allegorical by nature. In complete contrast to my belief b4 I started reading this book, I could easily relate myself to Siddartha in many ways n I am sure that there is a bit of Siddartha in every one of us. It is also a bit lyrical in nature. It deals with the stark realities that v as humans face at different stages of our lives. The book has been aptly divided into different chapters, each chapter corresponds 2 a particular stage of in our lives. All I understand after having read this book is that hell, heaven, Nirvana.....r all just a state of mind(Jai ho Mithun Baba!!!). The book is philosophical n has no religious overtures in ne way. The tale although philosophical is so gripping that u walk along side Siddartha throughout the book. The whole story was set in medieval India, n to c a German explain the customs n traditions so well is amazing. Well, the last chapter was amazing n I was awe struck with way the stark realities r unravelled. Yet there were a few things that were incomprehensible, looks like I lack the gray cells fit enough to decipher the code. They say that a few books r to b read, n a few 2 b studied. But this is a kind of book that has 2 be thoroughly assimilated n imbibed. I loved it to the core. This book was originally written in German, so u could get a lot of translated versions by different publishers. I suggest u 2 go for the "Bantom Books" publication ( yeah, I am endorsing their books n I get paid) coz the tone of this book is really soothing.

Well, abt a century later Robin Sharma, cums up with his master piece " The Monk who sold his Ferrari". The protagonist in this book, Julian Mantle happens 2 b a master litigator who leads a fast paced chaotic life. The story is set in the bustling city of NewYork. Julian Mantle is a hugely successful lawyer, who owns all the material comforts that ne one could dream of...n that includes a blazing red Ferrari. So u now know the rationale behind the title of this book. One fateful day, JM has a huge heart attack owing to his chaotic life. JM realises that this is a harbinger for worser things to follow. He relinquishes all his materialistic comforts n sets out on a soul searching journey. His journey takes him to the mystical ranges of Himalayas, where he cums in contact with a cult called " Sages of Sivana". Here JM learns the secrets to an eternally joyful life. He realises his past follies, n JM returns back 2 New York with a new previously unforeseen vigour n purpose. Now, this purpose( i.e. to share the mystic knowledge that he imbibed from the sages ) oiled the wheel of his life. He first meets his co-worker n his best Buddy John. Here on, it is a conversation between John n JM. Embedded in this conversation is the gyaan that JM promises to help us transcend to the next level. The book is definitely not as gripping as "Siddartha". There were umpteen moments where all the gyann sounded a bit reiterative. This was not the first time I was listening to all that. An year ago I had taken up a course that helped me kick my smoking habit(give me a call to know more...I get paid for this too ;-)), n I could easily draw parallels between the two. Yet, I liked the book for purpose it served n simplicity.

V all lead a fast paced life, n loosing touch with our own self is easy. Robin Sharma's book is an antidote 4 all of us who r in search of our former selves. This book is a lot practical in its approach. In complete contrast, "Siddartha" is contemplative by nature. U could get stuck at an excerpt for hrs, trying to figure out the right meaning. "Siddartha", is a lot more rhetoric as compared to "The monk who sold his Ferrari". I also could c a couple of contradictory opinions in what the 2 books preach(or say). U can pick the one that suits u. Herman Hesse's narration was par excellence. U don't get a Nobel just like that!! Robin Sharma, on the contrary will probably never win a Nobel for his books, but then his book could help churn a few Nobel laureates amongst his readers. If u were to ask ur self "Who r u" n r groping 4 an answer( I know that it is too much 2 hear from sumone like me)...these r the books to read. How I wish I had read "Siddartha", on a rainy day sitting at my home by the window, sipping a hot cup of tea n munching my mom's Jackfruit happala.....hmmmm.....Yummy!!!!