Yuvraj's World Cup...

There is a reason why it was called the Botham's Ashes. 399 runs, 34 wickets. Sir Ian Botham was captaining an English side that was woefully low on morale. To make matters worse, this wasnt they best English side you would have seen either. To single handedly pick up a wreckless bunch of players and take them to Ashes Glory takes a lot out of you.

You could see similar signs at Motera, Ahmedabad. Yuvraj Singh was not playing the dashing southpaw we loved a couple of years back. Instead we saw a focussed lad who was fighting it out against the fiercest pace battery in the world. Its been so throughout this world cup.


Having said that, lets cut to a year back. Yuvi was the toast of the Indian team after his exploits in the 2007 World T20 in South Africa. He had bludgeoned England at home with his 138*. Australia were taking a hiding. So were Srilanka and New Zealand. He was living a dream. But fate has this cruel knack of turning the lights off just when you see the door to immortality.
Yuvraj's form dipped alarmingly. It was as if all his talent was sucked out. The neat drives looked like lazy jabs. The pulls were merely a way of fending off the ball. His fitness gave way to a pot-belly. He was not the same young kid who slurped on kangaroo kurry in Nairobi. He was now a lost child wandering away in the wilderness looking for something.

He never seemed to know what he was looking for. He would appear confused at press meets. Look dazed at the same parties where girls would flock towards him in his good days. At the same time Suresh Raina and Virat Kohli were making in-roads into the National team.
He tried, he swished, he slogged....too late. Dropped from the test side. Fate sealed after Raina hit a century on debut.

All this while Dhoni and Kirsten put their money on Yuvi to fire again. They would call Yuvraj to their room and play the 19th over of the India Vs England T20 match at the 2007 world cup. If that dint work, the Semi-Final match between India and Australia would be played.

The whole country prayed for their most flamboyant batsman to get back to his old self. Though he did eventually start scoring the 40's and the odd 50's, there was no conviction in any of them. He was losing his own self-belief.

The road to the world cup was bumpy for the Indian Team. They had lost an intense ODI series in South Africa after hammering New Zealand at home. None of these matches had Yuvraj playing a significant role. His bowling was looking steady though.

Yuvraj managed to get one little finger over the line when the 15 man squad for the world cup was announced. He made sure he got his whole hand in and HOW!!

Yuvraj has been his sensational best in this world cup. Hes taken his "finisher" tag back. He "chucked" his loopy "pies" (read : Kevin Pieterson). Threw himself around the field. Helped himself to 4 man-of-match awards in the process.
All due respect to Sachin Tendulkar and Zaheer Khan, but its been Yuvraj who has been giving this bunch of 20 nothings the belief to do it for India this time.


So Much so that hes actually covered a few GAPING holes in the performances that the team has put up till now. If India needs to win the world cup, they need to rally around this man and ake sure hes all charged up. If India does win it, Yuvraj would have smashed open the door i was talking about earlier. WElcome back Yuvi...we missed you...Its nice to have u back ol' Prince!!

And THATS why it pays to be in the captain's good books. Appam...are you listening?

See the signs?

i write this at a time when the Japs are still trying to come to terms with what has transpired over the past 1 week. After being washed away, they stand on a precipice with their backs turned to a tsunami and the heads facing a nuclear meltdown. I write this while they beg for answers as to what they did wrong since America bombed the daylights out of them.

Just when their kids were begining to have a normal and radiation free birth, they are now face with what could be the final blow to their chance to have clean air to breathe for epochs to come.

There might be a big debate with reference to a superior super-natural power responsible for issues ranging from the creation of mankind....to its ultimate destruction. If there really is a "power" somewhere out there, is it giving us signs of what is in store for us? And are we paying any kind of heed to those signs? Was Japan just a trailer of a catastrophic event that could end the human race forever and possibly take genesis back to scratch?

As i said, its a debate, full of beliefs and illusions.
The Mayans gave us a date. 2012. And with all due respect am not referring to that wreck of a movie. Again, debatable. Maybe the Mayans got bored of making calendars and stopped at 2012. Maybe a group of teenage Mayans got together and decided to play a sick practical joke on their predecessors by giving them an end date and scaring the shit out of them. Or maybe its just plain true.
Whats upsetting is, we give in heart and souls to cover our stock market risks and care two tongs to the end of the world.
I personally do not fear 2012 just because some dumb leaf/feather/whatever wearing Mayan predicted it. Im fearing 2012 because of the events leading up to it.

Ill be selfish now. Im bothered about India preparing itself for an Extinction Level Event. The question is.... have we even begun preparing?
Manholes are still open, plastic bags continue to clog our drains, marshes continue to be the perfect building sites and the ever-growing population isnt helping either.
No one knows whats in store for us even if 2012 does happen. The worst part is, we dont know whats in store even if it doesnt happen. Can we afford to be complacent about these calamities?
Yellowstone National Park is due to erupt anytime soon. In the event of that happening, the northern hemisphere will be blown to smithereens and the southern hemisphere will be engulfed in an ice age. Don't even get me started as to what will happen to all the tiny islands scattered around the globe. God Bless them. People in Mumbai, Chennai and Calcutta better get ready to have their Vada-pavs, Dosas and Rasagullas with the fishes.

I wont talk about what we need to do to prepare ourselves. Coz we already know what to do. All i will say is....start preparing. Save the Earth. Shes fed you, protected you, given you warmth for all these years. Its time to repay her.
"nasrun minal lahi wah fatahun kareeb"

- Raaghav Ram

Tendulkar - Excellence Redefined!!

12th September, Bengaluru - They say that jealousy and anger are the purest forms of emotion. Well they both took a back seat, here at the Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru. Sachin Tendulkar had scored his 6th Double Century.

If there is one person who can manage to unite India, even at the time of it's worse crisis (read : President's rule in Karnataka, CWG - Joke, terrorism threats along with your morning cuppa etc.), then it has to be the Little Master. I was there in the stands shouting and howling everytime Sachin took guard.

I went there to see 4 things. A Sachin Double Century, A Trademark Sachin Cover-drive, A Sachin Straight Drive and a Ponting Pull. Within half an hour of the first session, the first 3 were granted almost magically. That is 250 bucks well spent!

We as Indians are probably used to Sachin scoring centuries, but the happiness felt when he gets to each and everyone of them is probably much more genuine and greater than the happiness he himself derives out of it. Indians, surely, are not happy when someone else achieves something in life. Sachin makes sure they make an exception in his case.

There are a couple of Sachin moments which are etched in my memory.

1) Challenger Series for the NKP Salve Trophy.India Blues bat first against India Reds . Sachin is just making his return to cricket after his tennis elbow injury. Takes Guard. A young seamer, brimming with exuberance and aggression gets his big chance to bowl to the great one. He runs in hard, digs the ball in short and it whizzes past Sachin with lightning fast speed. The seamer impressed with his own delivery decides to act a bit cheeky and continues with his follow through till about an arm's distance from Tendulkar and gives him a stare-down. Sachin stays silent. The next delivery, again dug in short, but Sachin has made amends. He rushes down the track, makes room and clobbers the rising delivery straight down the ground, almost like a Tennis Forehand shot. He stays silent, but the bat says, Never ever come THAT close to my master again. The young Seamer in question over here is Shantakumaran Sreesanth.

2) Couple of years back at the Wankhede Stadium. India playing England. Sachin going through his worst patch as far as batting is concerned. He is booed off the field by his own people after being given out. Probably the begining of another era of pure greatness.

3)Dont quite remember which match this was, neither the team or date. Sachin playing his first test after Mr. Ramesh Tendulkar expired. Scores a century, looks to the heavens and says. "This is for you Baba". That is where the sobre "raising up the hands" celebration originated.

There are very few people on earth who dont respect Sachin Tendulkar. They are the ones who have never heard of him. For, even the ones who loathe him have utmost respect for him as a human being. He is by far the most thorough gentleman Cricket as seen.

I had the honor of witnessing him, weave his magic yet again from fairly close quarters. The enigma around him is pure magic. India began defending its slender lead after lunch. It was almost poetic cruelty, since sachin had to come out to field almost 15 minutes after he was castled off a bottom edge by yet another debutant by the name Peter George. When he took the field, it was madness. Vuvuzelas, trumpets and other wind instruments went off wild!!
Our man positioned himself near the Fine Leg boundry when Katich was on strike and would move on to the Sweeper positioned whenever Watson came on strike. People in the respective stands would rush down their seats just to bow down to him.

Sachin would just give a sheepish smile and acknowledge the love with a wave of his right hand.

To...Change....

September 19th, 2009. That was my last post on Credo. Thats a hell lot of time.
A year has passed and i consider myself lucky to still remember the password and login id!!

So howz everyone? Doin' good?

Really wanted to get back to some writing! Good news for Baroda Gang!! Woohooo!!

Was in TCS a year back. Things have changed since then. Major Goof-ups. Minor Goof-ups. Big Letdowns. Bigger Letdowns. Unemployment. Joblessness. Fear of being a nobody. Joining a Call Center out of sheer desperation.Then that Sickening feeling. Working with some of the wierdest people of this face of the Earth. Family issues. Frustration. Venting it out on near and dear ones. Dad askin me to take a break. Goa with friends. Tattoos. New Religion, New Gods. Along with the existing ones. Finding myself again. Becoming human again. Self Confidence. Quitting the Call Center out of sheer disgust. Know what i want from life. Pursuit. Clutching it in my hands and not letting it slip like before. Bangalore. Manipal University : MBA - M&E Division BABY!!!

Hell YEAH!!!

Never....and i say NEVER....have i felt so light and good!! I can FLY for the love of god!!

To early to say if i have met good people. But i sure have met people i want to be with. People i want to work with. People who share my wave-length. There are crazy ones....there are the nosie ones...there are the sweet and cuddly ones....there are the flirts....there are the people whom you just wanna squish!

Iv got a class full of humans and not extra-terrestrials!! And i like this Change.
Freedom is something i have craved for. And i promise to my parents, that i will not let you down.
All i wanted was a chance to live my life my way. Just wanted to try and know how it feels. So far so good maa.

The day still haunts me. My dreams crashing down on me. "Nasrun Minal Lahi..Wah Fatahun Kareeb" is what I kept murmuring time and again like a retard. "God Give me the strength to Endure" is what it means. And By GOD it worked wonders!!

What I learned over the past one year is something that has burried itself in my spine. Other people had problems too. Bigger ones. I learned to look at them with respect and sympathy. Life gives me a reality check every time i scoff at someone's misery.

I got the change i so badly needed in my life. A detour was on the cards. Bangalore happened. Iv got 2 years to undo all those goof-ups. Aint so hard either. I know i will. And yeah.....im human too! Im allowed to make mistakes!! God told me so!!


To...Change.....


- Raaghav Ramachandran

Credo

Lets start with the blog title. Credo is latin for "creed". Thank you Wiki. So...yes! This is my big return to the world of blogging. New Blog. 2 reasons. 1st - New life.
2nd - I dont remember the address of the previous one.

A lot of insane people have been asking me as to why have i stopped typing. Insane people would include a few friends of mine and my dear mom. Insane because it is totally beyond me as to how can someone actually wait for me to write, when a certain DAN BROWN sold a million copies in a single day!! (P.S. Iv got the ebook...who wants a copy?)

Let me be frank with you. I too was juggling with the thought of writing again till about a couple of minutes back...or rather... A Couple Of Two Minutes (as Mr.Wasim Akram would put it.) I spent a major chunk of my time trying to come up with a good title for the blog and finally came up with Credo. Now i cannot assure you if all my posts are going to be even remotely related to the title. I am very predictably unpredictable.

What has name got to do with the writing anyway. Look at J.K.Rowling.
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's stone. What philosopher? and what did the stone do?? nothing!
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets - What did the chamber do?
Harry Potter and the Goblet of fire - Ill come to this later.

Now the titles had nothing to do! What if it had been Harry Potter and the Phattu prof with a face at the back of his head! or Harry Potter's first day at school.
or Harry Potter and the secret room in the Girls toilet or Harry Potter and the big bad snake.
Harry Potter and Who put my name in the pot? or Harry Potter v/s Baldy Voldy : Round 1!

Titles are just to make your book sound snazzy. I wanted a snazzy name. Hence, Credo.

Things have been looking up for me since graduation. A good Job with a reasonable pay package. It may not be a very high amount but still good enough for a headstart. And still better than the job I dint get. Darn you WNS creep.

Now I go to sleep. Will return to this place incase i remember the address. Or else meet you in some other blog. Ciao!