The End - II

It’s Tendulkar all the way

Dumbfontain, 21, 2028: When the giant indoor arena’s top closed with a little less than a 100 million people – or should I say creatures – a lot of cloud loomed over the Earth’s future in the first edition of this Intergalactic Cricket Cup. Having played the game for nearly 150 years now it would be nothing short of a shame to be kicked out of the tournament in the very first round.

The team needed someone to rise and produce a performance exhibiting the heritage of the cricket in earth. And who else can do this better than our very own Sachin Romesh Tendulkar, the senior most statesman of the game.

The toss was won by the earth and they let the opposition - Octopert bat first. Considering the bowling and fielding strength of the Octopertians, the earth’s decision was a rather defensive move. The eight legged, ten foot creatures have proved to be extremely agile in the field and lightning quick with the ball. The team might have decided to take the upper hand in the game by bowling well.

The team worked to its plans. The initial spell of Arjun Tendulkar proved vital. His initial couple of bursts forced the Octopertians to the backfoot. He was provided adequate support by William Pollock, who bowls at an extraordinary pace for someone from the earth.

The Octopertians managed to recover in the middle overs with some clean hitting by {5F012453-B612-4d6e-A3A9-3036A453A8E1}. The partnership between him and {F1093674-5D42-4f52-8A2B-98E8B9B65C27} was turning out to be lethal. It required the man with the golden hands – Sachin to break this partnership. His reputation of breaking the partnerships remains intact. His slow leg-spinners proved effective. He tightened the screws with another couple of wickets in the death overs and returned with the figures of 3/10, his best in this format of the game. The Octopertians managed a descent if not formidable score of 112/6 from 19.4 overs before they were all out.

The earth’s innings started with {2FA45310-D45A-4b0e-9008-F092071F853A} picking up the important wicket of Stephen Marsh. Marsh was dealt with an ultra fast yorker, for which he had no answer. He was soon followed by Kataragedera(Yes, with Srilankan’s you just have to roll your lips and make a noise to get a name) and _____ (Cant think of a name yaar.. :( ). Just when it looked like Octopertians were taking the game away from the earth, Arjun Tendulkar came in and provided the much needed support for his father. Together they put on a 64 run partnership in which Arjun displayed a lot of grit and character. A little lapse in concentration saw him give him an easy catch to the fielder at the covers.

From then on it was master blaster who ruled the game. He pelted the bowling all over the park with an array of shots. His flick on the back foot off {2FA45310-D45A-4b0e-9008-F092071F853A} stood out of all and a six down the track off {XFA17U80-Q4YA-4b0e-UYS8-F09O1ER473D} reminded one of his knock at Sharjah in 1996 against Shane Warne, where even the sand storms had to make way for Sachin to resume the innings.

He made it a no contest and earth romped home with 6 wickets to spare in 15.2 overs with Sachin scoring an unbeaten 83.

In the post match conference, Octopertian’s captain {F1093674-5D42-4f52-8A2B-98E8B9B65C27} said that he had just witnessed the best knock of his lifetime, or even the entire Universe’ lifetime. He had words of praise for the young talents of the earth.

Sachin said there was no pressure at any point of the game and he always thought if there was one good partnership, earth could romp home easily. He said he preferred the longer version of the game (20 overs) and has no intentions of being part of the limited overs team (5 overs). When asked about his fitness, he accepted that tennis elbow has been niggling him for a while and he would undergo another surgery after the tournament.

For a question on his retirement he said he will think about it when he fails to deliver what he is capable of. If God were here this day, he would have been proud of what the master blaster had produced. No wonder, the entire world went celebrating this much needed victory.

Edit: Prompted by a dumb reporter's stupid to question to Sachin on when he is going to retire. x(

Time Machine

I turned on the machine and I was sucked in. It made me a spectator of my own life, I could see myself crying, dancing and playing cricket and doing many many more things.

Few scenes from what i was taken through -

[Scene1 : Your oldest memory]

[Location: Kasturibai Street, Udumalpet (Forgot door no.)]

[Day: 1988 or so! (I am getting older everyday :( )]

Vivek must be younger than 3 years. He wakes up slowly and calls “Amma”. No response. He raises his head and finds no one in the room. No voices, no noise of the cooker or the rolling vessels in the house. He starts running and checks every single room in house. No one is there. He comes out. Pakkathathu maami notices him and says “Amma anna, akkava kondu vida poirukka da, vandhuduva. Nammathla irukkiya?”

“Maatttenn”.. He goes wild, runs and escapes from the trying maami’s and her husband’s grips and runs all the way to the road end where the school bus comes and hugs his startled mom!

(Maami still remembers this incident and goes nostalgic about it even today when we meet)

[Scene 2 : What were you doing 10 years ago?]

[Location: Suburban, Ramnagar, Coimbatore]

[Day : August 29, 1998]

It could be either of the two:

The game had just started, Vivek opened the innings. It was a Green house vs Yellow house match. Green house had won the toss and elected to bat. Vivek, bats and bats and bats, before he finally runs himself out. He scores 26 runs (yep, many were from edges) and earns himself a place in the school team :)

He was sitting in the last bench and made sure he is well hidden from the “miss” (he wouldn’t have cared about what she was teaching).

Picks the page number from his friend and starts dozing with book kept opened.

[Scene3 : Your first thought today morning]

[Location: 404, Silpa Emerald, Kondapur, Hyderabad]

[Day: August 29, 2008]

It was 7.30 when I pushed myself up in extreme slow motion from the cozy bed of mine. When I opened my eyes and started slowly settling into the real world, ….

Gawd.. What should I tell them tomo when they ask my decision?

I haven’t completed that work yet. Have to complete atleast today.

It’s high time I speak about it to ____. I feel like a loser now!

Ah.. Should I eat the same sick food today too..?

Damn.. I have to wait for another two months for Diwali..

Oh no.. I have to catch the shuttle in 30 mins :(

(It has to be one of these thoughts, but I don't remember which one exactly)

Out of practice, I desperately try to swipe the non-existent card and get out of the room and now starts

“Duniya ka naara jame raho” (Taare Zameen Par)

[Scene 4 : If you built a time capsule today what would it contain?]

[Day: August 29, 2008]

[Sub-scene 4.1]

[Location: I leave it to you to decide]

I pick up my mobile, my id card (I believe, my company will be there forever ;) ) and loads of food!

[Sub-scene 4.2]

[Day: August 29, 2408]

X: Wow! Look at this, a Nokia - 6600. How did you get this man?

Y: Hey, what is that?

X: That was a device used by the computer age man. He used to talk with that.

Y: Talk with that??? Ha ha ha.. That looks bigger than our transport device!!

X: Vivek, tell me who you are?

Vivek: I wonder if I could ask you a silly question. Will you believe that a man from the computer age, made a time travel to end up here some 200 years ago and, never grew up after that?

(For those who couldn’t get the context of the dialog please watch The Man From Earth ;) )

[This year : Well, Scene 4 and my previous blog should answer this :) ]

[Scene5 : What do you see yourself doing 14 years from now?]

[Location: The camera focuses on the moon, a graphical satellite, shifts now to earth and starts zooming in. Zooms on till it reaches somewhere near arctic (no more glaciers, its water water everywhere) and settles on the private yacht named ____ ]

[Day: August 29, 2018]

Vivek, holds his hat from the breeze and picks up the purple colored drink and sinks in his thoughts. “Dad what are you thinking?”, his kids in the pool, wake him up with their curiosity.

He smiles, and says “Nothing”.

“Nothing??”. Voice is morphing now!!

“Yes, Nothing”

“Vivek… vivek!!”

The voice has changed completely!!

Vivek wakes up to see his manager right there in front of him..

“Hey hi.. When did you come?” , Vivek tries to recover

“When you were thinking about nothing”

“Ha ha ha” (asadu vazhiyaran.. ;) )

“So what do you think we are good to go beta next month”

“Yes sure. We are just perfect”

“That’s great Vivek.”

Vivek turns around to his, slowly comes to his senses and starts mumbling now,

“Hey but … hmm.. May be.. I think I need one more day.. to see the cost of fixing the bugs assigned to me……… eh... Is that fine?”

A weekend in Hyderabad!

Before I start a disclaimer - this blogpost is to address the ones who have this custom of asking me on the mondays, tuesdays and wednesdays about what I did over the weekend and on thursday and friday what I will be doing in the weekend that follows. But this middle class guy neither has a girl friend, nor does he booze or party. So this may not have anything spicy! ;) This would just serve as a template that will let you know precisely what I will be doing at any instant of during the weekends. And to remind myself of this weekend since I had more than one happenings that I would like to remember longer. (But no confessions here ! This will serve as a simple reference for myself to remember them)

Day1:
I was in the office when the weekend started. At 12, I had just started running to catch my cab. After coming home picked up the "Five Point Someone" that I had bought from the next desk at office. And read till 2 PM and slept with the lights on. Woke up at 4 to switch it off! And there started the journey to the lands of the dreams that went on and on and .... on till 12 next day! :) I had already got a message and a missed call then from home!

Ok.. So thats the start of the weekend! The day had started, weather was perfect to continue my session, but the hungry stomach had to be answered. Ate as much as I can, infact a little more than what I can and continued the book from where I left. The plan was to start to office at around 4. But I managed to complete it at 5:30 and was in no mood to go then. Ahh.. :( Bad (Ratings for the book: 2 + half since it kept me bounded to complete. But I think "Above Average" was better!) Just then I remembered the day's quota of water hasn't rinsed me yet. And after a fine hot bath, was hungry again. Made an invite for a pani puri visit. With pani puris no matter how much I eat I always feel I have eated a couple lesser than what I should have. Came back, whiled around surfing net and did dosa for myself (this is worth a big post!) and decided that I should get ready for Dark Knight. Watched the "Batman Begins" ;) Man.. it was too good and fit enough to be at IMDB 100. Slept at 2. Well I think this should have been part of day 2 but lets have it here for completeness :)

Day 2 :
I never believed I could wake up so early on a sunday! 7.45 and I was off the bed. Noticed that power had went off. Yeah, I belong to the breed that cant sleep without fan even for a single minute! No matter how cold it is I want the fan to be swinging at its full speed :) So there we are off to the 10.30's show at 9.30! (Between this I slept again till 8.30 after the power came again. :) )
The weather was pleasant and we were there in time for the show!
At the end of the 2 and half hours we were awestruck. It was worth the bucks spent! Came home and compensated for the lost hours with a siesta that lasted for more than 4 hours!

Went out as soon as I woke up to eat. You must taste those sambar idlies of Ruchira! Hmmmm .... I love them. That's prolly the only place in this entire city where I find myself eating some good food. Was caught in rain on the way! I must tell you about the auto trips here! They carry minimum 5 and a max of even 7! Ugh.. But that continues to be my transport mode now :)
Came home watched Kungfu panda(again) for the Po toy had tempted me a lot and slept at around 1 !


[I have delayed this by a week, the lazy bum is now finding it hard to write blogs! I have a month old draft still incomplete :( ]

Mocking bird

I wanted to revive my blog for quite sometime now. And today I did a lot of blog-hopping and was wondering if I would ever start writing again.
And then I picked this tag from my favorite prater for it was interesting, and I don't have to think much to write this.
Things I did before starting this blog:
Downloaded most of my favorite songs that I am listening online these days hoping they would somehow suit as a good answer for some of those questions.
I have no winamp, and the new windows media player is not playing most of my mp3 songs (but that shouldn't be a problem with the media player i guess ;)). Had to settle with real player
Also was telling to myself I should reshuffle if the song doesn’t suit the question or overly suits it ;) Will keep track of the reshuffle count as well :)

So bang er.. click. Let the player play…

If someone says “is this okay?” You say?
Bingo.. Didn’t expect this.. !
“In the end… it doesn’t even matter” - LP
OK, I accept this was the first song and I decided not to move to the next one since this prolly is a perfect answer :)This question reminds me of the “Unnale Unnale advice”

What would best describe your personality?
“Endrendrum punnagai …” – Alaipayuthey!
He he he!! No comments :)

What do you like in a guy/girl?
“Newyork nagaram urangum neram …” – Jillunu Oru Kaadhal
Wow! That’s my caller tune. Was real player trying to tell that someone who would make me feel like Surya is the one I would like!

How do you feel today?
Bailamos… Enrique
Not really! Today i was sleepless but for other reasons! No parties :(

What is your life’s purpose?
Do you know.. ? Do you know? … Enrique

I don’t’ know! :)

What is your motto?
Ondra Renda Aasaigal .. ellam sollave oru naal podhuma .. Kakka Kakka

That was very apt! :)

What do your friends think of you?
En anbe .. en anbe… - Mounam Pesiyadhe

Agh.. Really??

What do you think of your parents?
Whatever you do I’ll do it tooShow me everything and tell me howIt all means something and yet nothing to me
- Strangers Like Me - Phil Collins

Wow! I have just become Tarzan :)

What do you think about very often?
Uyirin Uyirae - Kakka Kakka

Hmmm .. Something fishy here. I thought no one can read my mind ;)

What is 2+2?
Eguri kuthithen … Vaanam idithathu..

Maths lam varathuppa ! ;)

What do you think of your best friend?
Uyirilae enathu uyirilae.. Vettayadu Vilayadu

I like this song a lot. The initial sounds are so good that I used to hear them again and again

What do you think of the person you like?
Santhosha kanneere.. Uyire

Wow!! How true? :)

What is your life story?
Tired of being sorry.. - Enrique

Hmmm.. Interesting! I think i should take a relook at life story

What do you want to be when you grow up?
Jana gana mana.. Ayutha ezhuthu
[Returned from dinner and started it fresh. :) So took the liberty of having my first song !! :D]

What do you think when you see the person you like?
Adiye kolluthe… Varanam Ayiram

Wow! Wow!!

What do your parents think of you?
Paartha mudhal naale… Vettayadu Vilayadu\

I pity them, they wouldn’t have believed then that this little kid will trouble them like hell! :)

What will you dance to at your wedding?
Lajjavathiye..

Hey… ! I would love to dance for that! :)

What will they play at your funeral?
Show me the meaning of being lonely… Backstreet boys

He he he!! I am wondering what the reaction will be if I wake up and say, “No, who said you are lonely”

What is your hobby/interest?
Vellai pookkal ulagam engum malarattum – Kannathil Muthamittal

No.. Am not interested in gardening! ;)

What is your biggest secret?
Suttum vizhi chudare - Gajini

There are bigger secrets than this ;)

What do you think of your friends
Valiye Valiye en uyir valiye.. Dham Dhoom

Clarification – Valiye here stands for air, Uyir valiye – Oxygen

What should you post this as?
Mocking bird – Eminem
I am sure no one is going to understand anything from this title.

Hmmm.. Nice exercise ;)

7even

Long back the austere mind was tagged
So long that no one remembered
Not even the one who had left it here
Until this day - when the austere mind finally decided
That now is the time to list why it is indeed weird!

1. A cricket maniac:
Ever since I knew who I am, I have been watching and playing cricket. Not many of my age would have started then. I have been following cricket for the past 16 years or so. There was not one moment when I lost interest in cricket. My love for cricket has matured. I watch matches irrespective of India wins or lose. I am prepared to take India’s losses the way I handled my failures in exams. But I do support India till the last ball. But if the opponent is an Australia or Pakistan, well I will go uncontrolled ;) A maniac indeed!

2. I believe in enjoying this very moment. Be it getting drenched in rain, playing cricket for hours together (ofcourse I need my share of bowling and batting ;) ), enjoying the cool breeze on a drive, chatting non-sense for hours together, … I don’t want to miss any of those

3. I give a lot of importance to individuality – a lot.

4. I won’t tell people to do things that I don’t do. And I abhor people who ask me to follow things that they don’t do.

5. I don’t build walls around myself but I would love others to respect my privacy as much as I do theirs. I stand by point 4 here. ;)

6. When I sleep, it’s pretty hard to wake me up. I don’t have the habit of scowling at phone calls that I get when I am asleep. I go to a state where I don’t even realize the phone ringing. I consider this as a blessing – not many are blessed with peaceful sleeps you see ;)

7. I make sure I don’t reveal much about me to everyone ;) Not everyone gets to know about this austere mind!

So there ends the list…

I hope I have served the purpose of this tag!

I wonder if I could tag another seven! But if you are interested in telling the world about yourself – why not tag yourself ;)

I shall try anyway :)