SRI'S Blog

The Rotary year begins July and ends June every year, So, towards the end of June , it is the time for the Governing team to thank every Club/ President / Rotarians for all the good things that happened through the year. Everyone needs appreciation and although  Rotary is a NGO , it is not different to any other organisation  in terms of the way it is run and so there is a “Gala Awards Nite “that happens every year and everyone is excited and happy and of course there are few that are not happy as well . You cannot satisfy everyone but by and large the Rotary family enjoys this event thoroughly.  Last week end ( June 20 ) I was specifically invited to the Awards nite by one of the District official. I have never attended one so far  and so was confused by the specific invite and was not keen to go . But , landed up for the event and glad that I did .  Some statistics just to bug you as to how difficult it  is to make the awards work – 1. ...

The summer is always a tough challenge on the water resources at our flats. Every year , just to prepare for the summer , we desilt the well (we do have a well in our flat ), clean the bore and also all the incoming water pipes . And in spite of doing all this , there will be  a day when the metro water will not show up and your bore well motor packs up on  the same day-- leaving the residents with no water to use. This year , when we had the issue come up  , we got  a new guy ( highly recommended by the next door flat Secretary ). He manage to fix the  issue but it was short lived. My security guys were anyway unhappy with the new guy.They kept complaining that the water was not flowing from the bore well as before. And the said he will biding his time to claim the daily wage when he could have finished the work sooner ! So when the issue surfaced again , I called our old guy back. But he was in semi-retirement -- he said his son would handle but he wil...

My prediction in my blog of Feb 10 th in the run up to the tournament  was an Aussie – SA final with NZ being the  underdog to get to the final  . It turned out to be right. SA choked in the semis against NZ and so  it was an Aussie – NZ showdown. Aussies won the trophy in a thumping manner. The final was devoid of any  thrills , with NZ capitulating to the strong Aussie attack.If one expected a high octane final , it was not so . It was a dump squib and it gave the Aussie the chance to flex their muscles in front of their crowd. McCullum won an important toss.  But the first three balls he faced from Mitchell Starc probably dictated  the course of the match. I thought McCullum would change his approach for the final and would stay  at the crease  for a period of time before doing his regular attacking brand of shot making. . But No – The first ball he face , whizzed past him , the second one he charged down the pitch but Starc ou...

Well Well Well –  We “ gave the cup away “ and No “Mauka Mauka” from here onwards … Australia beat India hollow and square to get in to the finals .   India ended up on the losing side in spite of the Prayers , the heart of many Indians that wanted an Indian win  and the bookie predictions… How can that happen? But it did happen and the Indian juggernaut journey came to an end. In all big matches , the toss plays a important role . Clarke won the toss and had no hesitation in opting to bat. Putting runs on the board is the best thing to do . India got rid of Warner early and Finch was playing an uncharacteristic innings .. However Steve Smith continued his dominance of the Indian bowling to get to a better than run a ball century.  India got back right in to the game with some quick wickets  and there were optimism  that  India could restrict the Aussies down to 280 or so..  Ashwin bowled a superb spell in the middle to keep things tigh...

It was a nerve wracking  match and it was fight to the finish  and one of those matches that kept everyone on their toes .   For match updates ,  most of us  had no need to get to  websites to get the latest scores. Many of the WhatsApp groups had live updates going ! And each group  had their predictions and on the state of the match.  Both teams fought with great intensity and will to win but just when it mattered the most,  SA faltered  and that was in their fielding and they paid their price for it – A loss at the semifinal stage  and again a team with so much promise  faltering and not delivering to its potential I cut short my fitness routine in the morning ,  to view the match that started at 6.30 AM IST. I was keen to watch NZ either bat or bowl.. if it was batting , wanted to see the explosive McCullum and  if it was bowling , watch Boult and Southee. Boult and Southee have been in tremendous f...

The Semifinal line up is complete – It is the Proteas versus the Kiwis  and the Aussies versus the Indians—the script of the Quarter finals did not quite go as per the form book. First, Proteas won rather easily against the Lankans and then Aussies huffed and puffed to a win against a Wahab Riaz led Pak attack SA versus Srilanka This was a disappointing match . SL made a  hash of it .. Giving wickets to a part time spinner like Duminy is Crime – Added to that Imran Tahir took four wickets .. If you look at the dismissals , they were not special deliveries. Mahela pulled a rank long hop to mid-wicket fielders hands. SL looked jaded and out of sorts and Sanga defended as if he was playing a test match. Although it was a small target to chase , knowing SA’s penchant for the “ Choker tag’ , there was lot of nervousness in the SA camp . But SL did not have  a quality spinner to test them . Herath could have made a difference. SA romped home and there are claims t...

This week saw the end of the qualification matches .. While Group A  teams that qualified  got settled well ahead of the  final around of matches , Group B went till the last match and Pakistan and WI got through at  the expense of the Irish. Irish looked jaded in their matches against  India and Pak and lost out an great opportunity to get to  the Quarters.. Group  A qualifiers saw  the exit of England and that was not as per the script. Bangla  Tigers did the surprise that I was keenly waiting to happen. So the Quarter Line ups see SA play  SL ,  India Playing Bangla Tigers , Aussies Play Pakistan and NZ play  WI .. From here on it is anybody’s game .. Every team fancies their chances and  hope to get past their rivals . Bangla Versus England and NZ England needed a win to stay in the race for the qualification.  Bangla batted first and put up a par score which I thought the English would get with some...

T here were some matches where the big boys flexed their muscles and their opponents simply crumbled.. The ones where the big boys did well was – Ireland Versus South Africa , Australia versus Afghanistan  , Pakistan Versus UAE—Ireland , Afghanistan and UAE lost comfortably. Bangladesh managed to chase down a 300 + plus score against Scotland leaving the Scots with no victory so far in this World Cup.. In all these matches , the bowlers were at the mercy of the batters --- The matches that hinged interest was the India Versus West Indies ( WI ) , South Africa ( SA ) versus Pakistan and Aus. versus SL India versus WI The Indian bowlers performed again creditably. The pace and the bounce outdid the WI batsman including Gayle – Dropped catches not helping , WI were on the mat all through the innings due to splendid display of the Indian bowlers . Shami and Umesh hustled the batsman with pace and bounce while Mohit did the job of softening them up , Ashwin and Jaddu ...

N o – I am not going to write about the “ stroll in the park” that the Indian team had when they met the UAE team.. MSD and team .. it was one of those club cricket matches—Forget that you played against UAE – The week had several outstanding matches – First it had the West Indies against  Zimbabwe and Gayle the Gagnam style man came to form with some great and lusty hitting that took the  wind out of the sails of the African team. Gayle’s double century was laced with several muscular hits and Marlon Samuels joined him in having fun. West Indies  won with great comfort. The reason I talk about this match is because of the fact that West Indies and Gayle got a taste of their own medicine from South Africa and may be just one man  in their next match Afghanistan won their first World Cup match beating the Scots – A nerve biting thriller ( may not have served that kind of high quality game but never the less ) , the Afghans kept their nerve to win the mat...

The second week of the round robin had four matches that evoked my t  interest. The first one  was  Ireland blowing away the Windies ( as briefly indicated in the last blog ) – Ireland have their one or two acts for each of the World Cup and it was unfortunate for the WI as they notched up a 300 + plus score but saw it being surpassed quite easily by the Irish . The Ireland team will continue their giant killing acts and I believe this is not their final  act of this World Cup The second one between England and NZ saw some phenomenal swing bowling by Southee of NZ.. For the first four overs or so , nothing seemed wrong and the England openers Bell and Ali held firm.  One wicket – that of Bell just opended the flood gates and Southee ran through the English batting order to return with seven wickets.  England crashed to 123 all out and that was it . NZ skipper and opener Brendon Mcculum was in a hurry. A  World cup record of 50 runs in 18 ball...

The first four matches of the WC 2015 went as per the script book . The two home teams Australia and NZ took on potential predators – England and Srilanka ( SL ). Batting first both home teams put up such challenging totals that it was a mammoth task to chase. End result was both England and SL fell comfortably short. Aussies did show their fire power in both batting and bowling .. So did our dark horse NZ…. It will be a real difficult task to beat these two nations at their home soil The next match was South Africa ( SA) versus the minnows Zimbabwe – it was no cake walk for the SA team which was to overpower the minnows. The Zimbabwe team  stood tall in terms of their performance and  gave a big scare and wake up call to the South Africans. No wonder Dav Whatmore is regarded very highly as a Coach and he seems to have really worked hard with the Zimbabwe team , At certain points of the game , the worried look on the faces of the SA team bench said it all. Th...

India are the defending champions  and I strongly believe that they will not be able to defend their title.  Several reasons/ factors that make me believe that they cannot win the title back. Let us look at the reasons for the Indian team success in 2011. Some key factors that led to the win : Sachin Tendulkar – he had to retire and the whole team was unified in ensuring that he had a grand send off. What more it could be   than the World Cup   title for the farewell party. The team worked hard to pay tribute to the Little Master and they succeeded. There was a purpose to achieve Home Crowd support – There is always extra buoyancy that the home crowds can do to inspire performance. It can go the other way as well . Create pressure that may lead to downfall. But in India’s case , it just went their way The team composition itself —The batters , bowlers were at their peak of their performance. Added to that was the performance of Yuvaraj throughout the e...

One holiday company screamed out a banner that laid down 14 instances during the year 2015 , where you could use the holidays with weekends to get away and wanted you to plan in advance . Very impressive – What more can you want – You do not need to take vacations but can still do your holidays. But beware – Looking at my recent experience over the long weekends , I would not plan any holidays during the long week end opportunities. Instead , would take a holiday and go for vacations.  Here are my reasons  : Having done four  around trips using NH 45 and NH 205 during the last six weeks’ time frame , I can tell that I no longer enjoy the drive – Just one reason – traffic --  nearly bumper to bumper  and the traffic eases off only past Tindivanam or Vellore ( that is like 100 Kms away from Chennai ) – In the past these drives  were nice-- I just loved driving on the NH 45—with road getting laid till Dindigul , it was a pleasure to ride these roads....

The score line reflected the performance of the Indian team. Typically, during the past , for  a series played  away from home , it has been familiar 4-0 blanking out for the Indian team. However , this time, it looked much better although it was still a 2-0 in favour of the Aussies.  The Indian team threatened  in the first test at Adelaide , faltered at Brisbane but were at par at Melbourne and Sydney that led to the  two draws. I agree it could have gone in favour of the Aussies but India did hold on and that was a good result . Some thoughts on the series : MSDhoni : While I  continue to say that the timing of his retirement was brilliant , some figures will tell us how the man played the game and  how he viewed results from his perspective and did not chase records. He played 90 tests , scored 4876 runs and had 294 victims as a  keeper.  Now any cricketer  with this scoreline under his belt, , to me will go for Glor...

The last day of 2014 , my wife had to undergo a  procedure .. It was kind of a in and out   and the  Doctor who would do the procedure , runs a full-fledged maternity hospital.  There was some amount of prep before the procedure , so we had a room to ourselves in advance of the procedure . Nice little hospital – not swanky but neat and very efficient. The rooms were all close to each other and so  basically one will hear out anything that is discussed in the corridor unless it is done in hushed tone.   As we were in  the room allotted us , I could hear the voices in the corridor. The man was telling the Doctor that he had seen an auspicious day and the Doctor would need to  do the C Section surgery to get the baby out  only on that day and the date he choose was a week away.  The baby was ahead by  eight weeks. The Doctor explained that she respected his sentiment but firmly said that they were going to take the baby...

A Boxing Day Test match is always a big deal … So with holidays , it was the best time to just follow the test match  on Television between Australia and India just like any other Indian Cricket fan.  The match was intense and India matched the Aussies in some sessions and played poorly  in others. Overall Aussies could have pressed for a win on the final day. They did not which surprised many including me . It was not the typical” Go get them “ attitude  that you expect from the Aussies. A delayed declaration meant India could save the test.  But India is known to give twists and they did till MSD and Ashwin played out towards a draw . Aussies did an another  shocker surprise . Like a game of Chess they offered a draw with four overs to go and with every chance for them to WIN.  If one thought that this was a big discussion item, the biggest surprise was the one that came through the BCCI news . MSD was retiring from International test cricket wit...