Life begins at…

There’s more to come…

 More responsibility,

More stress,

More concerns,

More to deliver,

More men to lead,

More to grind,

More long term, more work on strategy

More finesse required

More grey hair (& less hair),

More health concerns

More walks than runs

More sprouts, lesser potatoes

More candles to count,

More fluids, less solids

More aches, more pains

More pulls, more expectations

 
More books to read

More music, movies to enjoy

More landscape, less portrait

More to meditate,

More money to manage

More investments,

More candles to count,

More to conserve, less to spend

 

A lot more to give than to be given,

A lot more to learn,

A lot more to understand and be understood,

A whole lot more to look forward to… 

Beginning tomorrow…

Suresh Saraiya R.I.P

“Bob Willis is on top of his mark now at the far end. He’s got 3 slips, a gully, a cover, an extra cover, 6 on the off as he turns and runs in to bowl to Gavaskar, right arm with the ball, swaying back and forth, past umpire Swarup Kishen now and he bowls to Gavaskar and that one is pitched up and coming in, oh and what a lovely shot that is by Gavaskar. He leans in and drives it away elegantly between cover and extra cover, Gower and Lamb are after it, they’ve taken one, Gower gets to it first, just inside the deep cover boundary and he turns and flings it back to Bob Taylor at the top of the stumps, but not before Gavaskar and Vengsarkar, have completed two runs. There was not much power behind that stroke, just pure timing and placement. Gavaskar knew exactly where the gap, was as only he can, and he played that drive dissecting the two fielders and timed it just well enough and far enough for him to be able to come back for the second and take the strike again. And those two runs take Sunil Manohar Gavaskar onto to 30 and the score is 52 for the loss of one wicket. Baavan ek wicket ke nuksan Par.”

From a plain reading of the above, one would never be able to match the emotions that one would have felt had one heard these words from Suresh Saraiya over the radio in the early 80s. Listening to this live was as if Willis and Gavaskar were playing before our very eyes. I became a Sunil Gavaskar fan long before I saw him in action, thanks to Suresh Saraiya’s running commentary. Even if the batsman did not play a single stroke and left each ball outside the off-stump alone through to the wicket keeper for a maiden over, Suresh Saraiya had a different description of each delivery and the batsman’s technique each time. I imagined myself playing like each batsman or bowler that he had described to us over the radio. The radio would be turned on long before the match started; just to hear Suresh Saraiya seeking expert comments before the match from past players like Pataudi or Jaisimha. The disturbance in the signal would create a feeling that the spectators were making noise in the background. At home, we didn’t have a particularly good radio; that meant that one had to sit right next to the in-built amplifier with an ear strained to its cover to catch the commentary. Every now and then the radio required a little tap or a shift in position to get a clearer reception. Not only for the Test Matches, you could hear Suresh Saraiya’s commentary for all major Ranji Trophy matches and you built an opinion about a player’s technique and whether he could eventually break into the Test side. One such player was Mohinder Amarnath and when you heard Suresh Saraiya describe his batting, you could not but get angry at the selectors for leaving him out. That, Lala Amarnath, Mohinder’s father, was one of the expert commentators for radio, had nothing to do with Suresh Saraiya’s comments. Those days, it was fun taking notes and keeping the score and checking R.Mohan’s report in The Hindu the following day.

As I grew up and we made progress to television, we saw for ourselves what Suresh Saraiya was earlier describing for us. From him and Bapu Nadkarni, we progressed to Narottam Puri and Sushil Doshi and then further to the Tony Greigs and Richie Benauds and we never returned. Although Suresh Saraiya continued his ball-to-ball commentary over the radio, we could hardly ever listen to him for a full session – except when one was travelling and the transistor was the only source of catching up with the cricket.

The era of professional commentators is over what with retired cricketers progressing seamlessly into a career in the media. But Suresh Saraiya will remain etched in memory; it was he who inspired a generation of youngsters to love the sport. Mr. Saraiya, R.I.P.

Resurgent Windies

I haven’t written a post on sports for quite a while. Sports had gotten a bit boring for a while.  Although I watched IPL every night this season, the purist in me wasn’t exactly exhilarated about even last-ball finishes. Rafa won the French Open, but one can watch only so much of the baseline oriented game without getting tired. But last month, there were lots of action and plenty of excitement.  

Spain absolutely drubbed Italy into submission in the Euro Finals, Serena came back from near-retirement to win the Women’s Singles and King Fed was back to his regal best at Wimbledon. Sri Lankans proved to be a better all-round side and put it past an assembled Pakistan side. Just when we thought Lee-Hesh had finally made up, they made another public hash of their relationship. England once again proved why they are a fine professional side by beating both Windies and Aussies fairly comfortably. But then, not everything was along expected lines and therein lays the beauty of sport. 

If I was a Ladbroke regular, I’d bet on Windies to win the next World Cup. While fanatics are everywhere and many fellow countrymen will be aghast at this blasphemy, let me try to submit logic to my tall claim.  

In my recent logic notes in the Corporate World, I’ve often begun with a ‘Background’. So, here it is : Windies ruled the cricketing world for the best part of a decade and a half between the mid-70s to the late 80s. During this time, under the able leadership of Big Cat, Clive Lloyd, they had such gifted batsmen, destroyers of all kinds of bowling, and masters of all they surveyed. If the bowling side was lucky to get Greenidge or Haynes early and open up one end, they’d have to survive rampaging ‘Smoking Joe’ King Viv, graceful Larry Gomes, Lloyd himself, silky Jeff Dujon, and at different times a stubborn Kallicharan or a gutsy Gus Logie to get to the tail. Seldom did bowling sides look forward to facing them twice for fear of being humiliated. When it came to facing their bowling, Big Bird ‘Joel Garner, ‘Rolls Royce’ Mike Holding, lethal Malcolm Marshall, the fearsome Roberts, with Colin Croft or Winston Davis or Wayne Daniel for company, ensured that batsmen became truly religious.  

Since then they’d fallen apart – true there has been the occasional belligerence of a Richie Richardson or the greatest of all batsmen who never became great, Carl Hooper, or the fighting spirit of Shivnarine Chanderpaul, but calypso cricket had lost its glory. Their bowling sides had Ambrose and Walsh, and very little thereafter. What’s worse, their fielding standards fell too. Amidst all this, they had their administrators who hastened their fall from grace. 

Cut to the present. Gayle is back (and how!), and he had Simmons and Dwayne Smith for company in the top 3 in the recent one-dayers against Kiwis. Darren Bravo is truly gifted, but he couldn’t get a look-in to their one-day side. His bits-and-pieces brother Dwayne, big-hitting Pollard, the always talented now dependable Marlon Samuels and the all-rounders Russell, Sammy, Ramdin all have the ability to destroy any opposing attack (if it doesn’t swing, that is). Tino Best, Fidel Edwards, Ravi Rampaul, Andre Russell, Sammy, Sunil Narine, Samuels, Bravo and Pollard can all bowl economically and effectively.  

Caribbean cricket is a heady mix, constituting their rhythm, their beats, their music, and their unique style. Their batsmen are loved for the way they twirl their bats or chew their gum or arch their backs when they essay their shots; their bowlers for their athleticism and skill; their fielders for their swoop on the run; their crowd for their unbridled enthusiasm. When they get it right, no cricket fan can stay seated. My word! it looks like the time that they get it more often right than wrong is coming again.