SRI'S Blog

What a fantastic test match it was – India was the underdog , after the thrashing it got in the One day series against South Africa. While the bowlers were hit all around the park , the batsman struggled against the bounce. So one did not expect India to do well at all. So when Dhoni won the toss and decided to bat , it would have raised eyebrows. But Dhoni is Dhoni and his decision to bat was justified as the Young firebrand Kohli stroked a masterful century and with assistance from Pujara and Rahane got India to a good position end of day one. But it was familiar story on Day 2, all good work undone , India out for 280 from 255 for five. SA got off to a great start and one thought a big lead and then India down in the dumps. Not to be. With some inspired fast , swing and seam bowling , the seamers got India back in to the match. The big difference to me was Zaheer ( Zac ). It a was a great comeback by Zac. Looking trim , running in hard and hitting the deck and making the ball sw

Chepauk : I try to get in and watch when Tamilnadu plays at home in the Ranji matches. This year was no different- TN was playing Saurastra and I found the weekend a perfect time to get in and watch the match and more so watch Cheteswar Pujara bat. It is a different experience to go watch the Ranji match. Totally different compared to the IPL or the Test matches. No entry fees -No security check – – Just one stand opened up for the public. No noise – no Flags-no Giant screen – You could carry your eatables – water – camera and so on and plenty of parking. Just the opposite of what happens when an IPL match is staged. On this Saturday , there were about 50 people with some families who turned up for the Pujara treat. There was class all over this guy. Playing with a straight bat , he could play the horizontal shots as well. If he could do well in the forthcoming South African , we have the replacement for the Wall – Dravid . ( Pujara is still batting at close of play – Poor TN

I am not a great movie buff but do keep seeing movies . The last week must have been a little bit of an overdo may be. Two movies over two weekends on the big screen and two more that will released recently on the small screen. That just turned too sour to me. Here is something that is very similar to all the movies. 1. No story line 2. Similar themes – Hero loves the heroine and needs help to get to the wedding – 3. Who can give ideas and make it work in a comical way – Of course the comedian – (same comedian in three of the four movies but gave different ideas !) 4. Comedian is the hero – sometimes, the hero turns in to Comedian. 5. The movie would go nowhere if not for the comedy tracks 6. Branded as Family Romantic movies—explain that one for me ( With N number of sequences involving drinking sessions and at times the heroine sets her father with buying a drink for him – Wow ) 7. Music—One or two songs , branded as Super hits but will never last in your memory 8. Small s

I went driving to Thekkaddy on vacation last week. It was not a direct drive to Thekkady but went through Karaikudi to visit few temples , then cut across Madurai , to Theni and then to Kumily. What was interesting and amazing was how good the roads are. They are getting better all the time. Just not the highways but also the state roads that pass through small towns and villages. It was a pleasure to drive through without the normal bumps and potholes and getting frustrated having to slow down. The best part of the drive was the drive from Madurai to Theni. One cannot find a better route to enjoy nature – just greenish on either side of the road and with misty mountains guarding the fields on either side. This sector was the slowest in my drive – just enjoyed Mother Nature. Some snippets listed below from the trip that are totally unrelated but worth penning down for a read. Saradha Asharam – This lovely sprawling Campus of the ashram is situated on NH 45 close to Ullundurpet jus

This has been going on for some time . Finally got to pen this down and share. I visit temples regularly and most of them are crowded and so you get in , pray and get out without getting noticed and not chased for alms. But not the one at Madhya Kailash. I go to this temple before I get to work ( once a week ) and at the time, I get in, the temple is empty and I get in and get out easily . Things worked well for me till about six , seven months ago. As I stepped out of the temple , a man came rushing towards me and asked for alms. I gave him a 5 rupee coin. He was not happy. He said I have to give him money that would be good enough to buy him his lunch . I offered another fiver . No , he was not happy. Ten bucks could not buy him lunch. He demanded at least twenty bucks in a pleading manner ( yes , demanded in a pleading manner ). This became a habit. Every week , as my car turned in to OMR, I could see him with gleaming eyes. And nothing less than Twenty rupees will suffice him fo

I visited this Eye hospital recently for my annual eye checkup .. Nothing new . Everyone does this … I have had good experiences with this institution all along and even more this year. Just as background , I have my file with this Institution ever since 1984. My visits were intense in initial years till 1989 and then a hiatus and then regular annual checkups from 2005 . What was been impressive is the way that they had made use of technology to make the visits pleasant and also improve the way the information is stored but still keeping the good old hard copies in a file ( which was started when probably we did not have the right technology to store ). Mind you , you are visiting as a patient but the effort to make you feel good and comfortable is so evident as the years have gone by. This year , they really upped the ante. First , when I booked my appointment , I got a SMS confirmation with time of the appointment and the Doctor that I needed to see One day prior to the appointment

England retained the Ashes – thanks to the drawn third test . A draw meant Aussies cannot win the current series and the best possible result could be the series can be tied at 2-2 and in that event , the previous winner gets to take the trophy. England having won the previous series clinched the title. Aussies did far better than what they did in the first two tests. The first step was to win the toss and bat and put up a total that will create the pressure on England. Australia did just that. But England held on – thanks to a largely unlike Kevin Pietersen century that was patient and at times his normal self. Aussies bowling was much better but it is becoming clearer and clearer that they lack a” Warne “in the attack. Nathan Lyon was a big disappointment. Had he pulled his weight in , England could have been put under considerable pressure. England batted the first inning out with two fold purpose – save the follow on or reach a total that will make it difficult for Clarke to enfor

“ Let us dream BIG. We win 5- 0 , I take 50 wickets. I get knighted and five years down the lane, I become PM—This was said by Graeme Swann ,the English Off spinner before start of the Ashes test series. Looks like this is going to be true the way the Aussie’s crumbled in the second test. England did not make big runs to put pressure on the Aussies. After being reduced to 3 for 28 , England recovered through Trott, Bell and Bairstow and could have ended up scoring less than 300 but the Aussies allowed them to get to 361. The Aussie reply was disastrous. One could call it “Spineless” batting. Second day of the match England was batting again ( they were all out in the first session, Aussies got out in the next two sessions and there was time for England to bat second time the same day ) !. Aussies crumbled to 128 and England wanted to out bat the Aussies out of the test which was the right thing to do and did not enforce the follow on. England was largely helped by their rising star

An Ashes test series between traditional rivals England and Australia is always interesting . And when conditions favour the bowlers ( which happens more in the English Counties ) , watching the batsmen struggle can be great viewing pleasure. The First test between the two teams brought out all ingredients that the Test Cricket needs-Intensity of the battle , surprises , Technology controversies , skillful bowling , odd bits of extraordinary batting and every session swinging from one team gaining to other losing control. On day 1 , as I exchanged views with few people , I concluded that the match will be over in two days’ time. I made this assessment based on the playing conditions. Day 1 England had lost all their wickets and Aussies in reply lost four and by lunch time on Day 2 , the Aussies had lost five more. The bowlers had a whale of time. The ball as they say was doing the” talking”. It was swinging , seaming , moving both ways and sideways, bouncing and when the ball beat

One did not expect the Indian Cricket team to dominate as they did in the recent Champions trophy. They won all their matches including the warm up games and outclassed their opponents with ease to be crowned as the undisputed” One day Champions”. I did expect the team to do so well ,( taking their IPL forms in to the tournament) but did not expect this kind of a dominance. The team played with assurance in all areas of the game – fielding being outstanding and at times turning the game on its head in India ‘s favour ( Jaddu’s run out Petersen against South Africa is a good example ), batting ( the only team to score 300runs in one of the games ) and bowling departments. Ably led by the ever cool MSD Some good reasons as to why India did well : Major change in the composition of the team as compared to the one that won the world Cup ( No Sachin , Sehwag, Gambhir, Yuvi , Zaheer , Munaf , Harbhajan and Dhoni’s lucky mascot Sreesanth It was a young , fit Indian team – Jadeja , Ro

There is no doubt that IPL ( Indian Premier League ) is a great success. Lalit Modi’s creation was excellent money spinner so long as the sport was played as sport. As soon as other things other than the sport itself started taking centre stage , it was clear that there would be only “dirt” and nothing else to talk about. A very classic case where a great event that brought in crowds , provided a stage for young players to blossom , created avenues for various business to grow is now languishing because of the greed to make quick money in not being ethical to the sport itself. There were simmering’s from the previous editions of the IPL itself. Spot fixing is nothing new. Some low rung players involvement , they being banned , change in the chairmanship post of IPL, did nothing effectively to keep the sport being played in its best interest. It is surprising that the IPL committee had no clue of what was going on. All things that happened in the past two weeks cannot have come about

It was a surprise shock when Sir Alex called it a day after 26 years at the Club. No one was expecting him to call it quits yet. The last time, there were discussions on this topic, was when Sir Alex indicated he would like to quit when he turned 60 years and that was at the end of the 2001 -02 season. ManU was not doing well that season and Sir Alex decided to extend his contract. He just carried on from then on having decided not to quit . It has been an incredible journey of 26 years. I says this because to stay as Manager of a Football club in Europe for one season is tough, demanding and to do this year over year for the past 26 years was fantastic. Some facts on other clubs and their Managers will tell the story as to why this job is difficult.         Chelsea had close to ten managers in the last ten years         Liverpool half the number ( of Chelsea change )in the last decade         Other clubs have had more than one or two managers in the same year. There are of cours

It is about time to write about football—enough on Cricket , even though Gayle made that wonderful 175 this week ( unbelievable hitting in such a short time at the crease , poor Pune Warriors). Manchester United won the Premiership for 2012-13 with four games yet to be played ( total of 20 teams , each playing one another twice , so 38 matches through the season ).For Sir Alex the manager at the helm from 1986 , it was his thirteenth title with the club. It was not that easy as it looks at the end—title with four matches yet to be played. Last year ManU was leading the table at the same stage but somehow slipped in the last five matches and Manchester City caught up with them on points and won the title on Goal Difference. But this year thanks to inconsistent display by ManC , and them losing the last match meant the title would slip away from them and numerically they cannot catch up ManU on points. Key to success this year , I thought were the following 1. Buying of Robin Van P

This remake movie from the Malayalam movie “Traffic” was neat. I liked the movie for many things . 1. Short and Sweet – The movie is only for two hours and that is a big plus. To me that is the apt time for any movie – Else it plays on to your patience—so many movies have a song sequence when you think the movie  is going to end  and then followed by a final climax fight ! 2. Just one song on the movie – 3. No fight sequence- what a relief –My body was in shape at the end of the movie so was the ear drum 4. Direct narration 5. Neatness of each role – Prakash Raj as the Super Actor not knowing things happening at home , Cheran ( Did he not look like one of those Traffic Cops ? ) , Sarath Kumar ( you cannot get a fitter Commissioner of Police )… Surya doing a small cameo .. everyone did their part.. I liked the Hero the most ( no prizes for guessing why and the hero itself ) 6. The Social cause and the big message that the movie sends across… Although a remake , the scri

This was most unexpected. After the whitewash in Australia and England and followed by a home series loss to England , India was not expected to Romp home to 4 -0 nil verdict. While there are several things that the Indian team did very well – Spinning combination most effective , new batsmen clicking and scoring runs , spinning tracks working in the home team’s favour , dropping senior players and managing to win without them . All credit to the Indian team. As I said in an earlier blog, it was Dhoni who turned the series around with that knock in Chennai. What was not expected was the meek surrender by the Aussies. 1. The margin of loss – innings defeat at Hyderabad , Mohali match producing a result in spite of one day play being washed out and the final test in three days 2. Aussies seem to have lost their fighting instinct 3. Middle order looks so weak – retirement of Mr Cricket Hussey clearly showing the brittleness 4. Inability to handle spinners 5. Lack of quality in

March 10th Sunday was not one of those typical Sundays that one would spend –getting up late and having a light day . 36 Southerners ( Rotarians , Ann’s and and Annette ) were at the parking lot outside the High Court precincts at 6 AM . With them was Rotarian and Historian V. Sriram all set to give them a guided tour of the Georgetown area for a good 150 minutes . I was very glad to join in although it was a Sunday and starting point was the High Court premises at 6AM. I have been amazed at the way the Old Town is constructed and functions. Narrow lanes , narrower gullies, plenty of shops , plenty of people.Traffic can be most horrifying but people and vehicles always find a way to get past each other amidst swearing of who came in the wrong way or not( to me every one is wrong but there are local rules ). I enjoy the walk through these narrow lanes ( not on an rainy day though ) . Little upset that the old vegetable market was moved off from this area to the Koyambedu market. I ha

Attack is the best form of defence Fortune favours the brave I was reminded of the above sayings when I watched Dhoni at Chennai on the 3rd day of the first test between India and Australia. India had found itself in a spot of bother when Tendulkar was dismissed . The Chennai crowd was expecting the Master to get to a Century but their expectations were cut short . Yours truly was one of those disappointed  fans as well , being at Chepauk stadium to see if one more record will be created by the Little Master. Tendulkar had played with lot of ease and stride on Day 2 to take the battle to the third day and so the crowds swelled to the stadium in hope. However on day three, it had been a painful first hour batting session which saw Tendulkar and Kohli prod around to score 23 runs in one hour. Out strode Dhoni at the fall of Tendulakar’s wicket. His body language was P ositive. I related it back to the World Cup final in 2011 where he came in ahead of the inform Yuvaraj and non cha

Over the last weekend , I was trying to book airline tickets over the net using a well-known internet travel site that I had been using for the last four years or more. After several deliberations , I was ready to complete the booking. I finished the details of the travelling passengers,  punched in my credit card details and was ready to press the button to" Pay” when my mobile rang. The voice on the line told me to hold the booking and not complete the transaction. He gave all details of my booking and the passengers as well.  I was stunned . !! The caller knew exactly on which screen I was on . The caller continued and said he was from the same company that I was trying to book the ticket and said if I booked over the phone , it was cheaper. I was surprised that I was being monitored and was also suspicious of the caller and his credentials . The caller did give his particulars and offered that I can call the Company and check out his particulars and that he would call aga

I attended a very pleasant inauguration of the” Community Learning Center” at a place called Kattur near Thiruporur on the OMR very close to Mahabalipuram ( on 10th Feb 2013 ) arranged by the Rotary Club of Madras South ( the club that I am very proud to be a member of ). Sunday morning inauguration? That requires lot of energy to make this distance but Rotarians are Rotarians. There was fantastic attendance from the club side ( Close to 30 from the club ) and with the entire village turning up , it was a grand gala affair. The buiding that houses the  Centre was built in a record time of three months starting with the foundation stone being laid in September and the construction progressing despite natural interferences during the monsoons. While there is nothing new in these sort of things getting built up in rural communities for their benefit, it is the long term sustainability that we are all worried about. In this case , there was a clear plan to sustain in the long term. Let

I had been missing the club meetings for the past three months or so. It so happened that I was not in town on the second Sunday ( which is the schedule day for each month of the Humour Club ) or something else came up.  The normal agenda for the meeting is an” Open Joke Session” which allows members / nonmembers to walk up on stage and crack jokes ( within the defined code of conduct ) for the first one hour and the second half slot of 90 minutes is normally given to an outside speaker ( read humorist ). The first meeting of January 2013 was very interesting  and a great way to begin the year.This month, the agenda had the open session but the second agenda was slotted for a 90 minute drama by Kathadi Ramamoorthy and troupe. I was stunned!. There are good reasons for me being stunned. Over three months ago, in one of the regular meetings , on stage there was a causal question to this Humorist/ Dramatist as to whether he will do a drama for the Humour Club and he said “yes” provid

The yearend annual vacation to Rajasthan was a good one . December was the best time to visit this state for the weather is cool and nice. The recommended season to visit is Nov – Feb. but Dec was probably the best time to visit. Planning for this trip began some five months in advance. In fact, we wanted to do this trip in Dec 2011 , but we realized if we did not plan in advance , it would be difficult to make it work. ( getting in , availability of transport, Hotels at the right price  was a challenge) So , planning  for this year's started in July of this year. We must have met at least three times ( two hour sessions ) to do the planning . ( Originally it was to be three families to go on this trip , but it ended up with two families). Several discussions went on : Where to enter and where to exit ( out of the Rajasthan state ) Cities to visit , cities to dropout , hotels to be consider , travel options between cities etc. As a team , we came up with many options. As the

Over the last weekend , I visited Trichy to go to few temples. I drove in from Chennai starting Mid-day and after a comfortable drive reached Trichy in time to go to the Lovely Srirangam temple. Having driven from Chennai , I did not want to drive from the Central Bus Stand where we were staying to Srirangam which is a 10 Km drive and it would have to be through the narrow roads and some traffic. My wife and I stepped out looking for a three wheeler but there was a private bus ready to go to Srirangam. We hopped in . The bus was not crowded but we could not find seats to sit. We were told it will be a 25 minute journey. There was no time pressure and so it was fine. I noticed that the private bus has two conductors—one to issue tickets in the front aisle and the other at the back. I also noticed that people did not step up to buy the tickets. ( I did step and buy )The conductors has to ask each of the seated passengers to buy the ticket. One person asked for a “Three rupee ticket”. He