The Antwerp Cut !

26th June , Antwerp

Wow- finally here in Belgium – the birthplace of Herge, the creator of Tintin. Have grown up on the adventures of Tintin and I can boast that I have all the adventures which I have been collecting from my 5th standard, securely stored in a trunk in Coimbatore.

Okay coming back to Belgium , here on work so not much time to see around , but still quite fascinated by the beauty and the sheer simplicity of Belgium compared to other European countries.

Just back from a fabulous dinner with colleagues , a Bengali and a Belgian! Quite a combo , must say ;)

Some interesting trivia which I wasn’t aware of , for one the origin of the staple French Fries . Belgians claim that the French fries is originally Belgian ! They had a custom to have small fried fish with their meals and when the lakes froze they didn’t have a choice and cut up potato into thin slices and fried it to accompany their meals. And the story goes like when British / American soldiers arrived in Belgium during World War 1 they tasted it and at that point the official language of the Belgian army was French! . So one thing led to another and thus the grand invention of the ‘French’ Fries.


Whatever the truth , Belgians are supposedly the largest per capita consumers of potato.

So now you know it .


Another thing which my wonderful colleague revealed was that there are – note this – there exists pure vegetarian restaurants in Belgium. Not only in Belgium in most of the European countries ! Although they are a rare breed but they do exist!

This was a complete news to me , and I need to really see one . would take a picture and frame it .

So now you know this also.

Fine enough for now , gotta catch up on my sleep , long day tomo .
Looking forward to the evening as I have to go to Amsterdam where I am catching up with a few of engineering college mates.

That is something which has gotten me really excited. Should be good fun.

Catch you later .

Cheers from the city which is the largest trader of diamonds in the world and guess what, the Belgian Diamond trade is controlled by Indians!

Have given some snapshots from the country of Lace, Chocolates and Beer . Hope you like it .
Gdansk and Good night.

Cricket and Commentators

Cricket and Commentators.

Just read Aamir Khans blog and was intrigued by what he had written on 3rd June in the post titled “The Great Sachin”
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The match last night was certainly exciting but what made it a unique experience for me was that I had Sachin next to me. You will find this hard to believe but Sachin was able to predict every ball before it was bowled. “He is going to bowl a bouncer next”, “This one is going to be a slower one”, “Full tilt outside the off stump”, “and Next one will be a yorker”,“ Short of length”. It was uncanny. HE GOT IT RIGHT EACH TIME!!! No wonder its so difficult to bowl to him. He has an amazing instinct. And he told me his logic for each prediction which I won’t share with you as I don’t want to reveal how his mind works. But all of us were dumbfounded with his instinct and his acumen. So at the end of it I told him next time we watch a film together I’m going to tell him what’s going to happen next!
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This was a revelation. We have grown up on Sachin and have followed his rise to the pinnacle of cricketing glory. However these are some things which is not known to the public and it can only be theorized and anticipated. We will know for sure that he would know tremendously more about the game than any of us – but the fact that he can actually get into the minds of the players and give such kool insights is very exciting.

I am just waiting for the day when he becomes a cricket analyst and commentator. Just imagine what kind of interest he can bring to the game by his analysis and insights into the happenings on the field. This surely would be a welcome break from the current commentary levels.

In India almost every guy knows the nitty gritty of the game and can very well understand the basics and the happenings on his/her TV screen . But it is a sad state of affairs that the current breed of TV commentators fail to understand this and dish out their ‘sparkles of wisdom’ again and again through their microphones and we as sorry spectators are victimized to all this.

The IPL has been a success and has brought to light some facts which were not in the open earlier.
India has tremendous talent which has not yet been tapped
Indians and Pakistanis and Australians can play together in a team etc

Apart from the above , the audience was bombarded with 40 days of incessant commentary , from the so-called cricket experts ! We might not have noticed it earlier as the games were spread over , but the IPL has clearly brought out the fact that we are lacking good commentators and lacking BIG time.

Radio commentary is probably the toughest as you have to create the aura of the game in the listeners mind. Initially the transition from Radio to TV was not smooth , the commentators felt the need to describe the happenings on TV in full detail, forgetting the fact that now the audience can SEE !
This still hasn’t been understood by them over all these years .. and now they even go a step further by actually READING out statistics written on screen .

And to add insult to injury they give out some priceless gems by the way of analysis .

I am just jotting down a few which comes to my mind and right now I am watching the India –Pak Kitply cup final and needless to say most of them are being heard right now.

Category :
‘Expert Insights’

• It isn’t over till it’s over.


• The only way to slow down the run rate is to get a couple of wickets.


• They need a 4 in every over to cover up.


• Suddenly the match seems to be evenly balanced


• Everything can change in one over.


• He needs to bowl the Yorker now .


• They need to rotate the strike


• That 4 will really pep things up.


• Odds are against India but one good over can change it .


• It is going down to the wire.


• They need to keep their wickets and score runs.


• He needs to move his feet , he needs to judge the line and length and strike the ball cleanly.


• The field is set for the off-side , he shouldn’t be bowling down the leg ! ( as if The bowler enjoys bowling like that )


• This one takes the cake – at the beginning of a run chase – the batsman need to keep calm , keep wickets , rotate strike , keep the score board ticking and not allow the required run rate to go out of hand ! And I thought that they need to do something else.
  
• He needs to take a single and retain strike.


• I get a creeping feeling that it isn’t over yet - (if it was over you wouldn’t be sitting here and giving such lousy comments right . )


• LBW not given - Maybe it was jussst outside the leg stump.


• In the airrrrr – fielder getting underneath ittttt – and he misses ! ( I am watching it on screen buddy and I need a commentator to validate what I just saw !)


• While waiting for the 3rd umpire decision on a very close call – It is given Not Out – and the commentator says “It’s a right call” what the heck while seeing the umpteem replays he didn’t commit and after the decision is flashed he actually agrees ! C mon man you are a cricketer as least take a bloody call .
  

‘Some abused phrases and terminologies’

• The ball went like a tracer bullet. Ravi Shastri’s contribution


• .The ball is appearing like a football to him.


• They have to find a few boundaries now.


• No fast bowler will like to be hit like that! (As if spinners love to be hit)


• From here India needs a miracle to win the game.


• He is not playing his natural game. I cant understand what’s happened to him today?


• Dhoni was looking for this length and he gave it a good whack for the maximum.

On Sehwag:

Innings when is going good

• He is such a wonderful player he can make room and slam any ball and if he goes on like this the match could be over very soon

When he gets out on 7

• he tried something odd by making room and it was not required.

C Mon man give him a break and his due. He has at least brought India's name along with Bradman and Lara in Tests, even if you ignore his achievements in One Days and T20

Another gem from this match:

32 runs required 12 balls 1 wicket remaining and Dhoni on strike, Ishant at the non-striker end, Afridi to bowl and L. Sivaramakrishnan says - I don’t think he will be looking for a single , he should take a few boundaries in the first 5 balls and THEN take a single . Wow – this was an awesome insight from an expert commentator which I didn’t know at all!



If you have some more classics like this then do feel free to add on to it in the comments.


I am desperately waiting for the commentators to understand that their job is not to just describe whats happening on the field , they need to give insights , anecdotes , predictions , analyze those statistics etc and not insult our intelligence by rattling off what we can see.

Need more Harsha Bhogles desperately as now we are going to have many matches and we might as well start watching the matches MUTE.

Sachin you listening .

Mumbaiii!

The Marine Drive as viewed from right opposite the 'B' Road Then and Now

Had been to Mumbai, recently - after a year ! Had a great time with friends . Shuba came to visit and that made it really awesome. Went on a nostalgic trip down memory lane alongwith her on the Marine Drive, B Road, JS Hall ! (Summer of 2001) . The time of Summer internship when the Gullu gang discovered itself . I for one had one of the best time of my life in those two months . Staying with Rocky, GM, D, PC and Goyal + Sachdev and Amogh close by The excitement never used to end as we discovered and rediscovered ourselves. Even after 7 years we share a special bond and although most of us are living miles apart a common factor which binds us even now is the Summers! Cheers to it. Hopefully one day we will try to bring all the experience of those 60days into words!

MICA 2002 -1st year Batch pic