December 31, 2013

King Kallis

To me, Kallis is the greatest cricketer that I have seen playing the game. Yes, greater than SRT or Lara. Sad I cannot see more of him on the field.

A lovely article on various facets of his personality.

November 18, 2013

The other side of a SRT-like success..

At one time, he was admired by Sachin Tendulkar himself. Now he is struggling to fight alcoholism! The emphasis that Sachin placed on a strong family system in his farewell speech is evident here.

Here is the story.

Accolades to the reporter Bharat Sundaresan for digging out this story. 

November 17, 2013

Boo Hoooooo

I so want to blog again :(

March 20, 2013

Memories of Sehwag

http://www.espncricinfo.com/magazine/content/story/625814.html

March 3, 2013

If...

If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise:
If you can dream - and not make dreams your master;
If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with worn-out tools:

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breathe a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: 'Hold on!'

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
' Or walk with Kings - nor lose the common touch,
if neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And - which is more - you'll be a Man, my son!

- Rudyard Kipling

January 26, 2013

Blind Faith!

A little girl was watching her mother prepare a fish for dinner. Her mother cut the head and tail off the fish and then placed it into a baking pan. The little girl asked her mother why she cut the head and tail off the fish. Her mother thought for a while and then said, "I've always done it that way - that's how babicka (Czech for grandma) did it."

Not satisfied with the answer, the little girl went to visit her grandma to find out why she cut the head and tail off the fish before baking it.

Grandma thought for a while and replied, "I don't know. My mother always did it that way."

So the little girl and the grandma went to visit great grandma to find ask if she knew the answer.

Great grandma thought for a while and said, “Because my baking pan was too small to fit in the whole fish”

January 17, 2013

Realistic?

This story is frequently told to be true. Whether true or not, it is certainly powerful.

A man and a young teenage boy checked in to a hotel and were shown to their room. The two receptionists noted the quiet manner of the guests, and the pale appearance of the boy. Later the man and boy ate dinner in the hotel restaurant. The staff again noticed that the two guests were very quiet, and that the boy seemed disinterested in his food. After eating, the boy went to his room and the man went to reception and asked to see the manager. The receptionist initially asked if there was a problem with the service or the room, and offered to fix things, but the man said that there was no problem of that sort, and repeated his request. The manager was called and duly appeared. The man asked to speak privately and was taken into the manager's office.

The man explained that he was spending the night in the hotel with his fourteen-year-old son, who was seriously ill, probably terminally so. The boy was very soon to undergo therapy, which would cause him to lose his hair. They had come to the hotel to have a break together, and also because the boy planned to shave his head, that night, rather than feel that the illness was beating him. The father said that he would be shaving his own head too, in support of his son. He asked that staff be respectful when the two of them came to breakfast with their shaved heads. The manager assured the father that he would inform all staff and that they would behave appropriately.

The following morning the father and son entered the restaurant for breakfast.

There they saw the four male restaurant staff attending to their duties, perfectly normally, all with shaved heads.

January 15, 2013

The Tendulkar habit

Harsha Bhogle on Tendulkar after the latter's announcement to retire from ODI cricket.

http://www.espncricinfo.com/magazine/content/story/598770.html

The mantra that wasn't

A great emperor asked his wise men to give him a mantra that could be used in any dangerous, fatal situation.

Clueless, eventually they went to a Sufi mystic who gave them a piece of paper and said, “This should not be opened unless there really is danger and there is no more hope!”

The king put the piece of paper under the diamond of his ring.

There were many moments when danger approached, but the Sufi had emphatically said, “Unless you feel this is really the last hope – that nothing can be more dangerous – do not open it!” Many dangers came and went, but the king always felt that he could face it, and that he was not yet at the end of his tether.

Finally, death approached, and the king had still had not opened the piece of paper. His wise men pleaded, “Please open it. We want to see what is there.” But the king said, “It is now irrelevant what is there; the mantra has worked upon me. Ever since I received this mantra, I have not felt any danger at all. Whatsoever the danger was, I have felt still more was possible, and I have remained unperturbed.” The king continued, “That Sufi is a wise man. I am not concerned about what he has written.”

After the king died, his wise men hastened to open the ring and pull out the paper. There was nothing written on it; it was a blank piece of paper. But the advice worked; the mantra worked.

P.S.: May be this is why many people, including "educated" ones follow the "advice" of any religious guru or prophet for success and well-being.