Love the commute!

Recently I said goodbye to my brief stint as an entrepreneur, and got back into the corporate grind as an IT professional. Part of the transition to the corporate world was getting used to the long commute to my office located about 20 kilometres from home. For those who know Pune, the traffic here is very interesting to say the least. Traffic rules are non-existent, and there is virtually no traffic education or enforcement. It is easy to get into an accident, and easier still to get frustrated with the utter disregard for rules on the roads.

Two months into my new job, I must be pulling my hair out with the long commute to and from work, right? Dead wrong! I actually look forward to the commute. What the hell is going on here?

As I started going to work, I realized that I needed some entertainment during the commute. My iphone came to my rescue here. I have my favourite music loaded on my iphone, and the first thing I do when I get into the car is put on some music. The second thing I do is pick a couple of people I need to catch up with over the phone. I put on the hands free headphones on my phone, and call these people on the way.

However what has really changed the nature of the commute for me is a change in my attitude to driving. I no longer drive with a view to get to my destination as soon as possible. If someone cuts me off, I let them do it with a smile. The chaos around me is no longer a source of frustration, it is a source of amusement. A few extra minutes to get to my destination is an opportunity to listen to an additional song, or speak with a friend.

What is extremely interesting is that I have found many more people driving with the same kind of attitude during rush hour. I see many more smiles, and decent, careful drivers patiently going about their business. Either this is a new phenomenon, or I am noticing it for the first time. Either way, for the first time in my life, the commute is an opportunity, not a royal pain in the ass!

Good work Brendon!

The ICC world cup of cricket is almost here. This evening I was watching a warmup game between India and New Zealand and saw something that I had never ever seen in all these years of playing and watching cricket.

New Zealand were chasing a big Indian total. Brendon McCullum was batting really well, when all of a sudden his partner Jesse Ryder ran him out, going for a non-existent single. McCullum was disappointed, Ryder was crestfallen, and the Indians were rejoicing. As McCullum turned around and started his walk back to the pavillion, everyone fully expected him to curse, give Ryder a glare, or at the very least walk away talking to himself.

McCullum did none of these things. Instead he did what I have never seen done on a cricket field. As he walked past Ryder, he patted Ryder on the back in a very friendly manner, as if to say "Its OK mate, keep going and play well". What a guy, and what a team player!

Sachin's Milestone

I am not a big fan of records and milestones. Therefore Sachin Tendulkar getting to his 50th Test century was not that big a deal for me. Not because it is not an unbelievable feat, but precisely for the opposite reason. Would Sachin have been a lesser batsman if he had finished his career with 49 hundreds? Not for me. Sachin has nothing left to prove to anyone. He has been the best batsman of this generation, and one of the very best in the game's history, and very few would argue with that. He has also been one of the classiest gentlemen of the game during this time. I can't think of anyone else who has handled so much fame and adulation with so much dignity and humility.

In all this hoopla about Sachin's milestone, Graeme Smith stirred up some controversy by criticizing the great man for not farming the strike on the 5th morning, and letting South Africa dismiss the Indian tail enders rather easily to complete the formality of an innings victory. Was Smith wrong in his criticism? Did he have a point?

Many of Sachin's fans are angry that Smith dared to criticize Sachin in his hour of glory. A good friend of mine, who is a huge Sachin fan, wrote to me asking me about my opinion on the "incident".

Well my opinion is that Smith had a point. We need to separate Sachin the all time great from the specific comment made by Smith. Could Sachin have made an attempt to farm the strike and delay the inevitable South African win? Yes he could have. Would that have changed the result of the game? Extremely unlikely.

When Laxman and Ishant came together at Mohali against Australia earlier this year, things looked pretty bleak for India. I don't think anyone in their right minds gave India any chance of getting anywhere close to Australia's score. However the two added 80+ and India went on to win the match. Strange things happen. Not very often, but they do.

I am sure Sachin had a good reason to take the approach he did. Perhaps there was no hope, and it was best to get Sreesanth and Unadkat to toughen up by facing a little bit of the music. However Smith thought different, and many would agree with him. It is a matter of how you evaluate a situation and determine the best course of action.

Breaking down the bully

The Big Bully of world cricket is breaking down, and it is not a pretty sight.

At the end of day one of the second Ashes Test at Adelaide, Ricky Ponting had a long animated chat with Andrew Strauss, ostensibly to protest about the "sledging" carried out by the fiery English bowler James Anderson when the Aussies were batting. If that is what Ponting was really complaining about, a very loud "Yesssssss!!!" is in order. For a long time now the Aussies have been the big bullies of world cricket. Their dominance over the last 10 years was as much due to their skills and cricketing ability as due to their systematic bullying of their opponents with their on field behaviour. Who can forget Michael Slater's disgusting protest against Rahul Dravid, and the constant shenanigans of Mssrs McGrath, Hayden, and Warne. Over the years the Aussies have perfected the art of sledging to a point where it has become an accepted part of the game. Until they started getting it back with interest!

The first ones to give it back to the Aussies were the Indians on the famous "Monkey-gate" tour of Australia. As soon as Bhajji stood up to these bullies, the two big guys - Symonds and Hayden - ran straight to the authorities to complain! Then Gambhir took it a step further by sticking out his elbow at Watson during the series in India a couple of years ago. He didn't get away with it, but it sent out a strong signal to the Aussies - expect to get shit in return when you dish it out!

I am rooting for England in the Ashes series. I hope they win the cricket contest. And I also hope they win the bullying war. When the contest is over, I will happily applaud if the big bully ends up with a bloody nose!

Oh Australia!

I long for the metronomic precision of Glenn McGrath. I long for the explosive arrogance of Matt Hayden. I long for the amazing wizardry of Shane Warne. I long for the sheer steel of Steve Waugh. And I long for the brilliance of the gentleman assassin Adam Gilchrist. But most of all I long for the winning attitude of the dominant Aussie cricket team. Just like I long for the mighty Viv Richards, and Gordon Greenidge, and the ferocious West Indies fast bowlers from the seventies and eighties.

One may rejoice in the decline of the great teams and the resulting parity in world cricket, but the cricket world is much poorer without them. These once-in-a-generation teams set the standards that others hope to reach, and they bring in innovations that change how the game is played. Watching the first Ashes Test over the last 5 days, it was sad to see the Aussies struggle to win key moments in the match. Other than the Laxman-Dravid classic, I can't remember an Aussie Test match bowling attack getting systematically ground into the dust, the way Strauss, Cook, and Trott did yesterday. Certainly never in  Australian conditions.

In some ways India aspire to be the new Australia - aggressive, skilled, and a team that will fight to the finish. However they are at least two top-class wicket-taking bowlers away from being right up there.

The Ashes are underway: what's with the moustaches?

The Ashes got underway at Brisbane yesterday, and we have already seen two gripping days of Test Cricket. But what's with the moustaches? Three key guys - Kevin Pietersen, Mitchell Johnson, and Ben Hilfenhaus are all sporting new moustaches. I suppose that is part of putting the game face on for these guys.

From a spectator's point of view, Australia is one of the most exciting places to watch Test Cricket. The wickets are always sporting with something in them for everyone. There is something exciting happening in every session - be it the fall of wickets, great strokeplay, or just a spell of hostile fast bowling. There is decent pace, bounce and occasional swing for the seam bowlers, and the bounce helps quality spinners as well. With the ball coming on to the bat, good batsmen can play strokes and score at a good pace. With extremely good outfields, fielding is also a delight to watch.

The first two days have provided a glimpse of how closely fought this series is likely to be. Hopefully we will see a close series with some great performances.

The Sticky Tail

India has now been the top-ranked Test Cricket nation for almost two years. A dream batting line-up is the most obvious reason for India's ascent to the top, but there are a few less obvious reasons that I believe are equally important.

First of all, an in-your-face attitude that came with Sourav Ganguly. The Indian team is now fearless, and is perhaps the team that provides the best demonstration of controlled aggression in the cricket world. Our frontline bowlers - Zaheer, Sreesanth, and Harbhajan are not just fearless. They are capable of flustering the world's best batsmen with their stares, the occassional spoken word, and the aggressive body language. Move over Australia, Indian bowlers are setting the new standard in aggression.

Then there is the sticky tail. All great teams fight till the finish, hate to lose, and keep their opponents honest. Last time I remember India's tailenders putting up a fight was during Syed Kirmani's time. However the exploits of our 8, 9, 10, 11 over the last two years are unparalleled. Harbhajan Singh has been fabulous with the bat, Zaheer, Ishant, and Ojha have played match winning or match saving roles, and Laxman has been unbelievable in developing partnerships with these guys. Ultimately it is about the attitude to not give up, and the in-your-face approach that is the key.

I think the most frustrating thing in cricket is when ten and jack get together, smash the ball around, and put together an irritating partnership. At Hyderabad Harbhajan and Sreesanth put on 105 for the last wicket, and it could well have been a match winning effort, had our bowling unit been a little more productive.

India's sticky tail has been one of the most defining characteristics of their rise to the top.

God's soft white underbelly

This is the name of an article I read recently. The original article is at:

http://old.richarddawkins.net/articles/529232-god-s-soft-white-underbelly

I have been an atheist for most of my life, and have been a huge fan of Richard Dawkins for the last 5 years. Reading this article made me wonder (again) why people continue to believe in God. Here I refer to God as the all knowing, omnipresent, super-being, who watches our every move, dishes out goodies and punishment as he sees appropriate, and in general, is responsible for everything that goes on in the universe. Most of my life I have believed that there is no such being.

Almost everyday I read newspaper reports about bad things happening in the world. What really drives me insane are daily reports of sexual assaults on children. Can anyone in their right minds rationalize these assaults with the existence of a superbeing who has the ability to stop them? And for most of humanity to spend time praying to such a being is something that is beyond my understanding. People who believe in God need to ask some uncomfortable questions of themselves. There are thousands of things we do not understand - how the world around us works, why we exist, how did life begin, and so on. Not knowing should not push us into believing in a hyper being with absolutely no evidence. Not knowing should only make us humble and curious to try and figure things out. 

I have had arguments with believers, including my 15 year old niece. The most common response is: "Believing in God gives me peace of mind, and make me happier".

I don't believe blind faith is a good thing, even if it does not cause any visible harm in the short term.

Preventing an itunes recovery disaster

My friend Tushar gave me a pretty shocking piece of information a couple of days ago. I am an iphone user, and have loaded up the device with lots of music, golf and tennis instructional videos, and several interesting applications. The iphone is now a pretty important part of my life, and I keep it synched with itunes regularly and sleep easy with the knowledge that all is well since I have everything backed up on itunes.

Well Tushar told me that his computer hard drive crashed a few months ago, and as a result he lost the itunes library. Once he recovered his disk, he re-installed itunes, and figured that synching with the iphone would restore the itunes library. Dead wrong! This process erases the entire library from the iphone, since the synch is not a true two-way process!

It is therefore very important for an iphone/ipod user to be able to back up the itunes library and restore it if required. Fortunately there is a way this can be done. with itunes 8.0 and later. You will find it at:

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1382

I was able to back up my library to two DVD's, but have not had a chance to do the restore. Given that I am using Apple products, I believe I will be OK.

Ian Chappell - the Super Commentator

Ian Chappell was a very good international cricketer - one of the premier Australian batsmen of his era, and a very astute captain. He was also a typically brash Aussie.

Chappell's no-nonsense style and his deep understanding of the game typify his cricket commentary as well. Chappell and Barry Richards are perhaps the best cricket commentators in the world today. For some reason Richards has disappeared from the scene, but thankfully Chappell continues to do commentary. Chappell is such a great commentator because he shares insights that are not obvious to even the serious cricket fan. When Chappell is doing commentary, I am as interested in listening to his insights as watching the game. In contrast, there are many other "experts" who make me reach for the remote to hit the mute button. Ranjit Fernando is perhaps the worst of the lot, with Navjot Singh Sidhu a close runner up in that department.

Chappell has never been known to be diplomatic or to shun controversy. Thankfully he brings the same insigts and candor to his columns. He writes an opinion piece regularly on Cricinfo and it is always a great read.

Here's his latest piece: http://www.cricinfo.com/magazine/content/story/485846.html

Keep writing Ian - you are a gift for the serious cricket fan. And if you are listening, please track down Barry Richards, and get him into that commentary box with you!