Go Girl!

Neha Ghare is a fiesty little 8 year old girl who loves to play tennis. I first heard about Neha when my 9 year old daughter Sachi was playing a local tennis tournament in Pune. In the second or third round, she was drawn to play against Neha.

Neha is short for her age, a little plump, and walks with a nice, confident swagger. Off the tennis court she is a regular, sweet, 8-year old. However on the tennis court, she becomes a fist-pumping, fiesty competitor! I was not present at my daughter's match with Neha, but I got a report from my wife Suniti. Though she is a year younger than Sachi, Neha thumped Sachi with her powerful ground-strokes and fist-pumping aggression.

I had forgotten about Neha, until, many months later I met her father Ramesh Ghare at the Deccan Gymkhana Tennis Academy. I had just moved Sachi to the Deccan Academy and Neha was already playing there. Ramesh Ghare is a dark, heavy-set man, with a head full of jet black hair, and a thick moustache. He is a very pleasant, confident, and friendly person, and quickly struck up a conversation with me about our plans for our daughters' tennis. The rest of my conversation with the humble, hard-working Ramesh Ghare made my day, and gave me some hope about the future of our country.

Ramesh Ghare comes from a very humble background and is entirely a self-made man. For a living, he used to distribute newspapers door-to-door for almost 10 years. Then he started a small business to fabricate metal-grills for various residential applications. Now he has also started a small men's clothing store in his neighbourhood.

Ramesh really believes in his daughter. He has not played tennis himself, but he saw a spark in his daughter early, and has made a decision to invest in her tennis. Neha plays 6 days a week, two hours every day. She plays one hour in a group lesson, and one hour one-on-one with a coach every weekday. She also spends 45 minutes every other day on physical fitness. The results are showing. Neha has been finishing first or second in most local tournaments she participates in. She has also started making a move in the next higher age-group competition.

Although our society has made some progress in valuing the female child, it is very common for many Indian families to still hold back on encouraging the girl child the same way they encourage their boys. I am impressed with Ramesh Ghare for what he said about his commitment to Neha's tennis. He said "What I spend on Neha's tennis is an investment. Neha is my treasure, and eveything I do to help her get better is the best investment I can make.". I am following Neha's tennis quite keenly and rooting for her almost as much as I do for Sachi!

The magnificient Gundappa Viswanath

The match referee at tonight's IPL game between Deccan Chargers and King's XI Punjab was none other than Gundappa Viswanath. As I watched the toss, it was incredible how diminutive Viswanath looked standing beside Adam Gilchrist and Kumar Sangakkara! It was amazing how this little giant of Indian cricket took on the likes of Andy Roberts successfully time and again in the 70's.

I started following international cricket seriously immediately after India's landmark tours of West Indies and England in 1971. Tony Lewis's England were visiting in 1972-73 and their team included one Tony Greig, who happened to be 6'6" tall! Viswanath was barely 5'3"! The sight of Greig fielding at silly point when Viswanath was batting was positively hilarious. Vishy got into some form towards the end of the series with a hundred and a 75, but for me the innings of the series was a 97 not out by Keith Fletcher in a losing cause at Madras.

It was however in the 1975 home series against the West Indies that Vishy really came into his own. He was always known for his artistic shots, particularly the square and late cuts, and the flick through the on-side. But the remarkable thing about Vishwanath was that he was at his very best when the chips were down. Aside from the debut of Gordon Greenidge and Vivian Richards, that series came to be known as the battle between Andy Roberts and Gundappa Viswanath. After losing the first two test matches, India won the next two at Calcutta and Madras to level the series. Vishy got 52 & 139 at Calcutta and 97 not out & 46 at Madras. Vishy waged an epic battle with Roberts and Vanburn Holder, and his 97* at Madras was one of the best innings I have seen. He was at his artistic and fighting best.

Looking at Gundappa Viswanath tonight transported me back to the days of Gavaskar, Viswanath and the four great spinners. Thanks Vishy for those incredible memories!

Tendulkar, you beauty!!!

It has been 3 weeks since THE INNINGS in One Day International cricket. It was one of those events that people will remember for the rest of their lives. Almost like "I had just sat down to have my scrambled eggs and toast when the first airplane crashed into the World Trade Center's North Tower".

Well, I was at home watching the game on TV when THE INNINGS happened!

The magnitude of Tendulkar's achievement is hard to describe. Saeed Anwar's 194 in a ODI was just about as famous an achievement as Jim Laker's 19 for 90 in a Test Match. Admittedly Laker's 19 has never been threatened, although many have gotten close to Anwar's 194. However SA 194 had become almost a magical number for a ODI.

Tendulkar's conquest of the record was not the real story on February 24th. In fact records do not really excite me the way they capture public imagination. The real story for me was the ease with which he reached 200, his supreme shot making and fitness after more than 20 years of top level international cricket. The real story has been Tendulkar re-inventing himself over the last 24 months. How does this man, who has nothing to prove anymore, find the motivation and drive to play at this level, and even reinvent himself when required? Only He knows the answer. There has never been one like him, and there probably will never be one like him again.

I have been a strong proponent of top sportsment walking away when they are close to their peak and have wondered for a while if it is time for the Master Blaster to walk away. Obviously only the individual knows when the time is right based on their own assessment and aspirations. My reasoning for that will be the subject of another blog post I have been planning to write for quite some time.

Meanwhile, let us put our feet up, and enjoy watching this genius at work. I am glad to be alive during Sachin's time!

Hum Ko Man Ki Shakti Dena...

"Hum Ko Man Ki Shakti Dena" is a prayer song from the hindi film "Guddi". This morning my keyboards teacher started playing this song during my class, and my 7-year old son Siddharth walked in and promptly announced that he sings this song as the morning prayer in their school.

I usually do not pay a lot of attention to lyrics of songs, but Siddharth's announcement intrigued me. What about this song made it appropriate to be a school prayer? Thanks to youtube, I was able to listen to the full song immediately and was moved immensely by the lyrics.

This song is not the usual religious prayer. It makes no mention of God, and the only reference to anything religious is the word "Dharma". However the word is used to describe the "right path", rather than anything else. The message in the song is incredibly powerful and timeless. It talks about the importance of victory over self before any public victories, the quest for integrity, forgiveness, and staying on the right path through difficult times. The short and melodious song really packs a punch.

I intend to listen to this song at least once a week for inspiration. The youtube link is:

Lazy or Smart?

When I played my cricket as a youngster, there were some things we were taught that made perfect sense and we followed them every time we played the game.

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One of these cardinal rules was for the wicket keeper or the bowler to be behind the stumps to take a throw from the fielder for a runout. The logic for this guideline is very simple. First, being behind the stumps creates the opportunity for a direct hit, which is the best way to get a runout. Second, it is much easier to collect the ball behind the stumps, and push your hand forward to remove the bails than to collect the ball in front of the stumps and then turn around to remove the bails.

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I have watched a lot of top level cricket on TV lately, and it amazes me that this simple sensible rule is no longer followed by even the best wicketkeepers in the world, and most bowlers. Even someone like Dhoni consistently collects throws IN FRONT of the stumps and then turns around 180 degrees to remove the bails. I believe that these guys are missing a lot of runout opportunities by choosing the lazy option. Is this a result of too much cricket, and the players conserving energy? In other words are these guys choosing the lazy option? I think so, unless I am missing something...

The 33% conundrum...

The Indian parliament is busy debating a bill that will reserve 33% of the parliament seats for women. I know that we have been discriminating against women for ages now, and that our gender ratio has become lopsided over the years due to problems like female infanticide and a bias for male progeny. However I had not realized that our gender ratio is down to 67 men for 33 women!

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We are a country that loves reservations in education and employment for oppressed social groups. We started with about 27% reservations for SC/ST communities in education and public sector employment. Then we introduced additional reservations for OBC communities based on the Mandal commission recommendations. All along the quantum of reservation has been based on the overall size of the community in relation to our total population.

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That is why I am unable to understand the figure of 33%. Our lawmakers are pretty good about implementing reservations based on actual population proportions when it comes to matters that do not directly affect them. However when it comes to things like seats in the parliament, the yardstick changes all of a sudden. I don't know what the logic is for reducing the percentage from 50 (maybe 48 to be precise) to 33. However I am quite sure that the same logic can be applied to other areas of reservation as well. But who cares as long as the shoe that pinches is on the other foot?

Hockey Anyone?

For the last two weeks I have been watching the hockey world cup on Ten Sports. I just finished watching the final, which was a nail-biting contest between the two best teams in the world - Germany with an almost inpenetrable defence, and Australia with a breathtaking offense. I am a big sports fan, but hockey has never ever been on my radar before this world cup. However these two weeks of hockey have captured my imagination like never before.

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The tournament had the best teams in the world competing for the ultimate prize in world hockey. The facilities were excellent. The pre-tournament promotion for the tournament was quite impressive. The TV coverage and live commentary teams were quite magnificient. And most surprising of all, the pre and post game studio shows during the TV coverage were quite outstanding.

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The pre and post game show for every match was anchored by Mayanti Langer. Mayanti is not just a pretty face - she is articulate, and understands her role perfectly. She puts some of her cricket peers to shame! Really. Mayanti's questions and interventions are timely, and appropriate. She has a great ability to extract the best from the experts on the show. However the stars on the show were Cedric D'Souza and Jagbir Singh - former Indian international players. Cedric and Jagbir were absolutely outstanding. They provided original insights, did a lot of homework for every game, and were generally right on the money with their observations. I must say that I learnt a lot about hockey listening to these guys.

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In contrast the first two IPL cricket games had Navjyot Singh Sidhu as the studio "expert". What a bloody joke! I prefer to watch NDTV News while the IPL Studio show is on. If we can get such great, articulate experts on hockey shows, why can't we get some halfway decent guys on the cricket shows? Instead we settle for jokers like Sidhu, Srinath, and Prasad. Really beats me. Where are you Sanjay Manjarekar?