Hi there,
I read with some amusement this morning about Ashley Giles being appointed the spin coach for England. Spin coach? The next thing you'll hear about is a coach for middle-order batsmen and a coach for how-to-field at deep square leg. Are professional cricketers representing International countries being coached on basics or these coaches are supposed to guide them at their game and correct flaws as and when they appear?
New Zealand and Sri Lanka have both got thorough thrashings at the hands of their hosts. It's a phenomenon extremely difficult to explain. Both Sri Lanka and the Kiwiz have decent bowling sides and atleast a resistant batting line up. It's the resolve to dig deep when faced with rampaging attacks that has been lacking with the visitors. Hopefully Anil's Indians will given the Aussies a better fight - that's all that one can hope for since Aussies at home seem to be notching up 500+ scores in less than 8 hours on a regular basis these days.
I hear that the subject of an Indian coach has again cropped up. Venkatesh Prasad and Robin Singh have been playing decent supplementary roles on the sidelines and Rajput has pedigree enough to choose his words carefully at media briefings. The choice is between celebrity coaches (who feel compelled to upstage other celebrities within the team) and a set of blokes who have played the game at the apex level but are not trying to theorize too much when it comes to supporting the performance of the current team.
Sunday, November 18, 2007
Tuesday, November 13, 2007
Nehru, contemporary
Hi there,
I traversed a few more pages on the biography on Nehru by Frank Moraes.
It's almost like I know the story fully and hence don't want to rush the reading. Each chapter is worth slowly savouring and contemplating Nehru's vision as it panned out.
I read some recent criticism of Nehru - that it was his penchant for large industries, socialist mindset, and belief in bureaucracy that slowed India's growth in the formative years. It also plunged India into crisis in subsequent years when it was led up the garden path into a debt trap. It is also alleged in some quarters that Nehru's soft handling of Kashmir issue led to an undercurrent of resentment which boiled over years later and the rest has been a slur on history.
It's easy to retrospect and pass judgment on what-might-have-been. However, when one reads the book, one gets an insight into how these thoughts might have formed and indeed they were right in the context in which India was at that time. Non-cooperation and swadeshi movements which were the platforms of reviving the freedom movement in India led to an awakening of the rural masses. Nehru's immediate goals post independence was to provide a platform for these rural masses to feel at par with the urban classes and therein were sown the seeds of a socialist outlook. He also felt immensely at home amongst the rural society, something that one can attribute to only a handful of the current lot of politicians. Kashmir then was not a militant issue which he needed to quell... there was no reason at that time to devote time and resources to address the issue then. Whatever it was, Nehru was too pre-occupied until 1962 to focus on Kashmir in a meaningful way.
I thought I must pay some tribute to Chacha Nehru on his 118th birthday. More after I've been through the full book.. Ciao.
I traversed a few more pages on the biography on Nehru by Frank Moraes.
It's almost like I know the story fully and hence don't want to rush the reading. Each chapter is worth slowly savouring and contemplating Nehru's vision as it panned out.
I read some recent criticism of Nehru - that it was his penchant for large industries, socialist mindset, and belief in bureaucracy that slowed India's growth in the formative years. It also plunged India into crisis in subsequent years when it was led up the garden path into a debt trap. It is also alleged in some quarters that Nehru's soft handling of Kashmir issue led to an undercurrent of resentment which boiled over years later and the rest has been a slur on history.
It's easy to retrospect and pass judgment on what-might-have-been. However, when one reads the book, one gets an insight into how these thoughts might have formed and indeed they were right in the context in which India was at that time. Non-cooperation and swadeshi movements which were the platforms of reviving the freedom movement in India led to an awakening of the rural masses. Nehru's immediate goals post independence was to provide a platform for these rural masses to feel at par with the urban classes and therein were sown the seeds of a socialist outlook. He also felt immensely at home amongst the rural society, something that one can attribute to only a handful of the current lot of politicians. Kashmir then was not a militant issue which he needed to quell... there was no reason at that time to devote time and resources to address the issue then. Whatever it was, Nehru was too pre-occupied until 1962 to focus on Kashmir in a meaningful way.
I thought I must pay some tribute to Chacha Nehru on his 118th birthday. More after I've been through the full book.. Ciao.
Monday, November 12, 2007
A Thousand Splendid Suns (?)
After the Kite Runner, this book by Khaled Hosseini was a bit of a disappointment for me. The author, an original afghan, may be right in portraying life as it well may be in Afghanistan, but it paints such a depressing state of affairs in that land that far from getting international attention to it, it may actually sway people into condemning it even more.
There was nothing sunny about it, seemed a huge oxymoron to call it "Thousand Splendid Suns".
Since the book is still likely to be read by many, let me touch upon only the outline here. It must be said that Khaled does write beautifully and keeps the reader's interest alive right through. A unfortunate little girl, fatherless even though she has a father, let's call her M, gets married off to R, a brutal 50 plus much married gentleman-by-a-far-cry. Fails to conceive and becomes the doormat and the broomstick of the household. While she gets older, a little girl, let's call her L meets with other unfortunate circumstances and gets into the same household as R's yet-another-wife. More brutal attacks later, the two women get closer, plan failed escapes and eventually rescue themselves from R. Even thereafter it's not a lived-happily-everafter story.
So much for a Diwali weekend reading. As soon as I put down this book, I had to pick up something light to compensate. I could only find a biography of Jawaharlal Nehru by Frank Moraes, but that's for another occasion.
Something that Khaled's book didn't do for me... Cheerio!
There was nothing sunny about it, seemed a huge oxymoron to call it "Thousand Splendid Suns".
Since the book is still likely to be read by many, let me touch upon only the outline here. It must be said that Khaled does write beautifully and keeps the reader's interest alive right through. A unfortunate little girl, fatherless even though she has a father, let's call her M, gets married off to R, a brutal 50 plus much married gentleman-by-a-far-cry. Fails to conceive and becomes the doormat and the broomstick of the household. While she gets older, a little girl, let's call her L meets with other unfortunate circumstances and gets into the same household as R's yet-another-wife. More brutal attacks later, the two women get closer, plan failed escapes and eventually rescue themselves from R. Even thereafter it's not a lived-happily-everafter story.
So much for a Diwali weekend reading. As soon as I put down this book, I had to pick up something light to compensate. I could only find a biography of Jawaharlal Nehru by Frank Moraes, but that's for another occasion.
Something that Khaled's book didn't do for me... Cheerio!
Sunday, November 11, 2007
Misnomers at Green Park
Hi there,
India went 2-1 up against Pakistan yesterday at Green Park, Kanpur. The outfield may have been green not withstanding the pollution in Kanpur, but the pitch was anything but that. The likes of Shoaib Akhtar, Umar Gul and Sohail Tanvir had their task cut out trying to get the ball to bounce from that pitch. When they bounced it really short, it sat up at a nice length just above the waist level and asked to be hit. I think the innings that made the difference was Dhoni's. The impetus he provided eventually took India to 295; otherwise for sometime it seemed as though India might get to about 250-260.
It's difficult to criticise a winning effort but on this pitch I thought the Indian spinners were below par. On a wicket which was slow, low and offering plenty of turn, it was always going to be difficult for the visitors to get to 295, but it was very creditable to get to 249. Had one other batsman apart from Salman Butt put his hand up, there might have been an even closer contest.
For a one-dayer, this pitch was a disappointment. Had India played in the second half, they might well have met with the same fate.
Right Ho then...
India went 2-1 up against Pakistan yesterday at Green Park, Kanpur. The outfield may have been green not withstanding the pollution in Kanpur, but the pitch was anything but that. The likes of Shoaib Akhtar, Umar Gul and Sohail Tanvir had their task cut out trying to get the ball to bounce from that pitch. When they bounced it really short, it sat up at a nice length just above the waist level and asked to be hit. I think the innings that made the difference was Dhoni's. The impetus he provided eventually took India to 295; otherwise for sometime it seemed as though India might get to about 250-260.
It's difficult to criticise a winning effort but on this pitch I thought the Indian spinners were below par. On a wicket which was slow, low and offering plenty of turn, it was always going to be difficult for the visitors to get to 295, but it was very creditable to get to 249. Had one other batsman apart from Salman Butt put his hand up, there might have been an even closer contest.
For a one-dayer, this pitch was a disappointment. Had India played in the second half, they might well have met with the same fate.
Right Ho then...
Who would care about my tastes?
I decided a short while ago that I need a blogspot too. Why? Well, everyone, their uncles, aunts and their dogs seem to have blogs these days. Who knows, some day this blog could become popular too.
I toyed hard with the title for this blog. I've been feverish about cricket since I was about 3 years old. 30 odd years later, it still consumes most of my pre-and-post work time (sometimes the 'during' also). Over the last 15 years though, English (especially the written form) seems to be competing very hard to nudge the former out in my tastes-stakes. I even thought of calling this blog "English, cricket and other tastes". But then I didn't want the fans of English cricket looking for yet another update of the Fletcher V Freddie saga to meander into my blog and leave disappointed.
What are these other tastes? I've never been of a foodie and the doc's recent allegations on my cholesterol levels have put paid to any fresh thoughts along those lines. Fun time with family and friends will certainly be on these pages. Kaapi (south Indian coffee!), assorted subjects in finance, music and miscellaneous misadventures with puzzles, quizzes, humour and the like are likely to feature in this blog sooner or later. My appreciation of all things bright and beautiful and for the good Lord who made them all, are other things I wish to talk about.
Right Ho as Bertram would have said. Onward march!
I toyed hard with the title for this blog. I've been feverish about cricket since I was about 3 years old. 30 odd years later, it still consumes most of my pre-and-post work time (sometimes the 'during' also). Over the last 15 years though, English (especially the written form) seems to be competing very hard to nudge the former out in my tastes-stakes. I even thought of calling this blog "English, cricket and other tastes". But then I didn't want the fans of English cricket looking for yet another update of the Fletcher V Freddie saga to meander into my blog and leave disappointed.
What are these other tastes? I've never been of a foodie and the doc's recent allegations on my cholesterol levels have put paid to any fresh thoughts along those lines. Fun time with family and friends will certainly be on these pages. Kaapi (south Indian coffee!), assorted subjects in finance, music and miscellaneous misadventures with puzzles, quizzes, humour and the like are likely to feature in this blog sooner or later. My appreciation of all things bright and beautiful and for the good Lord who made them all, are other things I wish to talk about.
Right Ho as Bertram would have said. Onward march!
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