SRI'S Blog

  The Covid Pandemic was just  too cruel to the families of the people who passed away , just like that . They just disappeared .It just took them away in a  a short span of time and in a flash. Most families were left  not  only to grieve the loss of the family member but to deal with  many situations  that they would have never imagined that they would be dealing with.  Yes , accidents do happen and there are fatalities   but the pandemic was brutal in taking away  many lives. And just as many lost their close friends , near and dear ones , I lost some friends.  I could not digest the fact that they were no more. But the families of these friends who were colleagues or ex colleagues suffered the most—   Here is why it was so painful to the families ---  a list of  things that we can easily fix . No one wants to die but it is inevitable and what needs to be done is some amount of sharing with the family so ...

  CSK won the IPL title for 2021 , I would say with ease .. But winning with ease was not mostly expected based on what happened during the previous season. The Dad s army had not qualified for the Knock outs , the team looked out of sorts and the team was just not competitive.. And one knows in sport , once you are knocked off the pedestal , how difficult it is to climb back to glory. It takes enormous effort to rebuild –It was an amazing turnaround – Did they change too many things … No not really. They just stuck to the same team ( mostly ) , relied on experience , did not do too much data analysis , built relationships , gave freedom to the players and allowed them to deliver building enormous trust and credibility and making the team so bonded and fierce.   Did they make big changes to the team ?   They let go of few players ( Vijay / Watson and that man Kedar Jadav and Bhajji as well ) – Traded in and brought in Robin Utthappa – Splurged 9.25 INR on K Gowtham and ...

  This group of young volunteers based out of North Chennai – to be precise Vysarpadi were an unknown till the Covid Wave 2 showed its fury.   This  team of young graduates have been running a Night school for  around 160 children in Vysarpadi for close to ten years or so . They have a piece of land nestled amongst the densely populated houses and huts and Housing Board Flats --on which a shed type arrangement ( Look like a Container  ) has been made (neat and clean and well maintained ) and children of various ages come in during the evening hours and are taught various subjects. The Night school is run by these fiercely determines group of graduates who want to change the perception/ the tag that North Chennai is known for and believe that this change can happen only through Education and Education.   Well what made them well known during the second wave ?  Noticing that there was shortage of beds and more in particular Oxygen availability, t...

  I am not sure what the expectations were when Federer played in the 2021 edition of the Wimbledon ?   Many think that he holds a magic racquet that he swings at will and wins championship. Not really .. He does create his own magic when playing on the court and is of     course     a treat to watch but he is a human being after all. For me , I had very little expectations from the Champion .He had resumed the Grand slam pursuit at the Clay courts of Roland Garros and then after winning three rounds , quit the tournament to prepare for the grass courts of Wimbledon.   and   to preserve his knee as the Clay courts are very demanding the knee. As a pre cursor to the   preparation for Wimbledon , Federer does play the Halle open every year   and has won it several times. Not this time , he was ousted by Young Canadian , Felix Aliassime and that probable suggested the form and what to expect from him   at Wimbledon.   Federer ...

  Last Sunday ( Feb 28 ) was a super charged up afternoon/ evening .  The reason was simple . Plan was to go to  the school where I did my Higher secondary schooling and the visit was after 38 years !.   Every year , some of us who are part of the school class WhatsApp group contribute a tidy sum to the school . The school is an aided school and so help is always welcome . For the past years , we have been just transferring the sum to the Coordinator ( this guy not only keeps us going but also finds classmates and adds them to the group ) who would then go to the school and handover . But this time , someone proposed that we get to the school and handover .  Some were skeptical because of the pandemic but finally nine of us said we will make it. And all of us will follow safety protocols .The coordinator said we could be in at around 3:30 Pm and he will ensure that the current Headmaster and our Accounting teacher would be there.   When I went , I...

    The Australia – India Cricket Test   series played in the summer in Australia was a fascinating duel in the purest form of this game for the Border – Gavaskar trophy   –   The trophy is named after two legends of each country , Allan Border of Australia and Sunil Gavaskar for India.   With the T20 gaining popularity , at times even the One day matches seemed to be a bore. And there were enough voices that said – Test Cricket is done and dusted , give it a decent funeral . But this series just turned Test cricket in to one of the most intense battles over the five days and with the   competitiveness over which they were played , it brought back   the thrill of the game over the longer version.   The first test was a sort of a disaster for the Indian team if one would   describe it . Having taken a first inning lead , one would have expected the team to set a target for the second inning for the Aussies and defend it . Bit a ...