IPL Diaries - 1

Well, with the league already into its third week ... I am a touch late in scripting my first post about IPL [lots of things going on ... don’t get much peaceful time to jot down stuff :( ] ... but it’s never tooo late ... is it? :) After missing out on witnessing the inaugural match of my home team Mumbai Indians against the Blore RCs at the Wankhede stadium; I managed to catch the second home match against the Deccan Chargers last night at the newly built D Y Patil stadium. The MI team lost again :( that too cheaply without putting up a fight :( ... [somehow in all the matches that I have seen live in the stadium, the team I support always end up losing the match :( ... next Sunday I m planning to go the stadium & support Delhi Daredevils :) ... ].

There’s nothing notable to mention about the match, as MIs surrendered meekly to the DCs .... except that the innings played by Adam Gilchrist was simply awe-inspiring ... [me still ruing the fact that none of the sixes he hit came our way ] Most of the MI supporters got a jolt before the start of the game itself; as the captain and icon player Sachin Tendulkar wasn’t playing [still recuperating from his ‘GOD knows when it will heal’ injury ... aarrggghhhh] and the vice captain Harbhajan Singh was serving a suspension following his on field aggression getting a bit too far .... so the team mgmt decided to give Pollock the reins of the team .... who did his best to marshal the unresourceful troops .... Actually, I can go on and analyze each and every MI player ... but it will just unnecessarily make this post longer [and blasphemous and profane and uglier].

And yea, the Cheerleaders were the only entertainment source for the MI supporters :) ... they danced very well to the tunes of Hindi songs .... The DC cheergals were performing just in front of our stand. Have quite a few snaps [not only of the cheerleaders, there are quite a few of the players too :)]; but have forgotten the data transfer cable for my digicam @ home ... so will not be able to upload the snaps before weekend .... Also, the typical Mumbaiyaa music with lezims and all was too good and had all of us in the stands dancing to its tune whenever twas played ......

“Hum honge kaamyaab, hum honge kaamyaab, hum honge kaamyaan ek din !!!!” :) this was the jingle sung by our stand by the end of the match ... :) the jingle got pretty loud and was heard by the MI team players in the dug-out [we were in the pavilion stand the one that’s close to the players dug out]... from where we got a couple of irate glances and also a coupla apologizing glances :)

Now, some bytes for the new stadium that hosted its very first match of international level [figuratively]. The stadium is very well constructed and organized and moreover the pitch & the ground were looking awesome too [boundaries were a touch short though] ... Overall an excellent job done by the makers. And now that the Wankhede stadium will close down after the IPL finals, for a makeover; I am sure that the D Y Patil stadium will make up for the same. Only shortcoming is that you got to travel about an hour and a half outside the city ... and yes the usual parking crisis ensues too :)

Lastly, I am sorry for this substandard, boring, highly disconnected, news article type post ... Actually, I had quite a bit to write about viz. the build up to the match; the extreme efforts taken for getting my hands on the tickets; the eventful journey to & fro the stadium; other interesting tidbits at the stadium ... but this is all that I could come up for now ... hopefully, such dreary posts won’t become a habit.

Cheerio,
Hiren

No time for ......

aint able to get time for blogger these days :( am caught up with loads of work post my 2 week vacation :( so get absolutely no time during my (extended) office hours (am signed off on gtalk as well for most of the time :( so no stress buster at all ... ) and add to it never ending meetings :( ... late evenings are spent watching IPL matches and later some telecons ...

hope will get back to normalcy soon ...

btw here’s a good quote which i think will make most of us relate to it :)

“If it weren't for the fact that the TV set and the refrigerator are so far apart, some of us wouldn't get any exercise at all ...”
~ Joey Adams.

Take care yaaa’alll and have a splendid week ahead ...

ciao
~ hiren
(Korbo, Lodbo, Jeetbo …) :)

Back from the Expedition ...

Friends, I am back from my expedition ... but not in a state to write anything more as of now :) ... all I can say is that I have come back happy, fresh, satiated, pious, cognizant of more distant relatives/family friends, elated, erudite, blessed, energized and feeling great :)

but yeah all this at the cost of something ... the extreme (dry) heat there has been very kind and has tanned me twice as darker and also gifted me a couple of sun burns as souvenir :) ....

Lastly, I m glad that I have made it in time for the IPL matches ... it starts today :) ...

will soon catch up with all our blogs ... and also hopefully pen down the highlights of my trip ... till then take care ...

Native Expedition - prelude

After about 28 hrs from now (Sunday early morning IST to be precise); I will be leaving on a family expedition to my native; hence will be AWOL from the bloggerville for a week or so :) I am sure you all will miss me, but then don’t miss me much :-p

I have been looking forward to this trip for long .... firstly, as I needed a long and good break damn badly …. & secondly, this vacation is gonna be nice (trips to native with family always are) …. & thirdly, it has been over a coupla years since my last visit (which btw was after about 8 years since the earlier one :))

Although, its gonna be a bit tough as my native is still a characteristic village where there's no cell network, no internet access, intermittent electricity supply, water problems etc and add to that the scorching heat at this time of the year in Gujarat. But then there are many other incentives that outweigh these trivial impediments .... viz.

- the never ending planning & packing at home for the excursion (this has been going on and on @ my abode… but I was spared as I got back home just today ..... although I was shocked too to see the amount of luggage we ought to be taking with us :-));

- the pit-stops and the usual travel perquisites along with family masti;

- the picturesque vistas en route and the scenic backdrop of a hill @ my village,

- the peaceful strolls along the bank of the stream flowing by (just 400-500 meters away) our home there

- the serenity of the sedate afternoons & the silent nights ....

- the cooing of the birds

- the appetite quenching trips to the farms and eating freshly plucked fruits (corn, cucumber, guava, melons etc etc)

- the feeling of purity, un-adulteration .. all around …

- the feeling of amity by meeting various distant relatives and family-known people &

- most importantly the assurance, the contentment & the mental tranquility that will beckon on visiting our deities and other temples (seeking blessings all the while :-))

You peeps take care … and have a wonderful week ahead ... and yea if any of you want anything from Gujarat do let me know ....

ciao,

cya soon!

- hiren

Euthanasia

I came across an intriguing piece of news; which revived an anecdote during my youngistan days (cant say childhood days as it was during junior college and terming it as adolescence days gets a bit out of context :p). First, excerpts from the news article, “Germans have come up with a suicide machine which can be used for Mercy-Killing (what beats me even after weighing all the different point of view is that how can a killing be attributed as merciful?). This machine can execute people in seconds and as per the lawyers it’s not illegal as it’s the person himself who will push the button.” Some crazy researchers and their crazier inventions …

So, now getting back to the revived anecdote; during those days, courtesy one of dad's influential friends; we used to get invitation passes or privileged entry to a lot of movie/TV related things like film shooting locales, special movie screenings by producers for distributors/buyers (this one used to be the best; I had seen a few movies even 6-8 months before their official release … I remember one of such was "DIL" … while I had also seen a couple of crappy ones which aren't released even after decade now … remember one from such lot as well .. it was something like "Kaaghaz ki Naav"), television shows etc and quite other TV related stuffs … and such trips were quite exciting back in those days (arnd 10 years back). So, one such time, I got passes to participate in a talk show “Kiron Kher Today” which used to be aired on Star Plus on Saturday's prime time. Not that I had even an iota of IQ to take part in a debate of even any average topic; but who used to care then; we would be seen on TV ... on Star Plus … yeaaaa… So, me along with a couple of school friends got all dressed up in our then best pair of jeans & shirt and reached the shooting location on time.

After we reached the set, there were a few assistants explaining the topic of debate to all participating audience and a few also providing readymade questions :). We were told that the topic was “Euthansia” ... hmmm those days ... couldn't even pronounce this word properly ... forget about understanding the meaning of it. So, somehow the guys out there explained the concept of mercy-killing and told us that the debate was whether to support it or not. (btw they had to explain this to almost 90% of the participating audience :)). The experts’ panel did comprise of 4-5 proficient doctors and Mrs Kher hosted the show with aplomb. I don’t really remember the questions discussed there … and the final consensus; but I remember that I did ask 3 questions of which 2 were aired on the show and 1 got edited (btw getting edited doesn’t mean getting censored)

A few years later I did eventually begin to understand the profound implication of this term (and its different perceptions - suicide, murder, mercy-killing etc); and have been thinking over it a lot of times. Even after not taking into account the strong legal resistance and the radical moral views on this … it’s one of those topics that would always spark an endless debate … For a moment it seems logical; it’s given that the patient’s ailment is incurable … and sufferings unbearable … the eventual human fate is just around the corner … what’s the harm in relieving him of the torment … that too only with his acquiescence (this ones called voluntary euthanasia and there’s something like involuntary euthanasia too for patients who are in no state to take a decision…) But on the flip side … it seems simple considering the above facts from a third persons view … but just for a second put yourself in the victims place. An ailing person can consent anything that would end his intolerable ordeal; or even worse imagine you to be one of patient’s kin and it would hurt like nothing else when faced with such a situation (forget the decision, the mere idea of thinking on these lines will be like subjecting the kins to one of the euthanasia machines)

Its pretty tough to decide whether to support it or not … but I think I would end up on the non-supporters side… as miracles do happen … science has failed at times … whatever the medics envisage … you never know the subject might begin to lead normal life after all … (and with all the Hindi News channels nowadays showing umpteen number of unbelievable miracles … it seems that miracles are happening too many and too often these days) … no one should die before his destined death … but again what makes me so sure that euthanasia is not destined death … what makes me so sure that euthanasia is just not another way of natural death like cancer, accidents, heart attacks … well I don’t know .. maybe intuition … maybe yearning … maybe just beliefs …

That’s about it … I think I will stop this … apologize for this abrupt end … but its getting all too serious now … and someone’s said humor is my forte … so let me not venture into an unknown territory :)

Take care friends,

- hiren

P.S.: The term euthanasia comes from the Greek words "eu” and “thanatos” which combined means “well death” or "dying well".