Flowing like a river...

I've read that good pieces to read flow like rivers, smooth at most places, gushing at a few bends and finally, effortless in its flow into the ocean. Good books and good pieces also are similar - you seldom realise where and when you started and before you know, the piece is already over and you are left craving for more. Lucky that I could lay my hands on a few of them this week.

Landmark is offering attractive discounts on books (and a lot more) this month. I got quite a bargain and picked up 8 books this sunday. First up to read, I picked up Grandmother's tale by RK Narayan. I started only at 9 pm sunday night and in about 3 hours' read before I went to office the next morning, I'd read through the book. Simple story, wonderfully told, stories you can relate to... RK Narayan's legacy will continue to delight readers for decades to come.

Then, I picked up Ruskin Bond's Omnibus edition on Crime and Suspense stories. Half way through a working week, over half of the book has already been read - I've been looking forward to non-working hours to catch up with the book, morning and evening, - quite an unputdownable volume.

Talking about 'unputdownables', landed at the land of the Telegraph last night, for years my daily newspaper. The daily from Kolkata vascillates between sensationalism and class to reach the masses and stay ahead of competition. I read a piece on Bengalis touring America called 'Chalo America' which was a great destresser first thing this morning. Short satirical piece, but crisply written and one that every Bengali and every Indian who knows Bengalis would have identified with. Kudos to the author, Mir.

There is a common thread in all this - if you think simple subjects and focus on communication in unpretentious english, you can write delightful pieces. Unfortunately, living simply and thinking simply is a complicated business for most - it's the age of complications !

Kal ki Oar..

Every now and then, we all need a little boost. A pat, a word-of-praise, a rare word of appreciation can spur us onto better performance. These days a quick kick-up-the-backside achieves the same purpose, but doesn't do a whole lot of good to self-esteem.

When we prepared for our team performance on ITC's Claim2Fame show, we had honest expectations of doing well; even if we didn't we were prepared to simply enjoy ourselves. It wasn't a very hotly contested event. Even so, the show had a couple of celebrity judges in Her Mellifluous Sudha Raghunathan and Danseuse Srekala Bharath. Our team comprising of Amit, Aman, Gaurav, Rajan, Probal and self put up a sterling flawless performance, even better than our rehearsals and in doing so thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. Sure enough, we got a pass to the next round. The theme had something to do with the Company looking to the future with drive and passion. We'd all gone through a tough week, living through unnecessary pressure. The show certainly did that for us - spur us on 'Kal Ki Oar'.

Spot fixing : Who fixed what ?

It's exactly a week since recorded images of Mohammed Amir's and Asif's noballs started getting beamed on our TVs. They still do. They must be the most replayed shots in cricket and that must be a new world record.

Are there actually so many people willing to bet on what is likely to happen on a particularly delivery in cricket? Seems really stupid to me... I mean, are there predictions for leg byes, straight drives, changes in field placings, offering no stroke etc.?

Be that as it may, it seems that Pak players simply have no unity amongst themselves. As soon as those 3 got questioned, everyone else distanced themselves from the controversy. Smart move - but what about dressing room bonhomie while on tour?

And whenever cricket betting comes under the scanner, one finds Indian bookies involved somewhere. There's immense scepticism all round - for cricket addicts like me, I only wish we are not left pondering about which delivery may have been fixed by whom for what...