just like that

This World cup has been a big disappointment to me for two reasons

1) India didn’t make it past the first round

2) The overall mediocre cricket played (except for the top four teams, to an extent)

However, this World cup would still be remembered as the World cup of the minnows. Bangladesh truly arrived in the league of big teams. It will be interesting to see how they shape up from here. They can go on and become a major power like SriLanka did or fade out like Zimbabwe. The next five to ten years are going to be crucial in this regard. Another team that made it big in this World cup was Ireland. From being just part-time players on a holiday to the islands they have risen to the tenth position ahead of Zimbabwe and Kenya in the ICC table. Once again, the cricket administration here needs to develop a sound first class schedule and develop a pool of players. On the other hand, they could ensure that most of the players get good county experience in England. That should not be difficult after their recent performances.

Anyways, we are now at the business end of the tournament and truly the top four teams have made it here. My friend asked me to pick the winner of the World Cup just around the time the World cup was about to start. I told him that would be difficult but instead picked the four semifinalists – Australia, India, South Africa and New Zealand. Looking back now, that prediction isn’t far off :) As for picking the winner, if I were to purely go by what by the formbook says, there is only one team which is winning this World cup – Australia. Alas, this is the World cup of the minnows and my heart wants any of the other three teams to win. New Zealand, SriLanka, South Africa in that order would be my choice for the champions. However as things stand, I hope SA defeat the Aussies and NZ defeat the Lankans. And in the final, I hope Shane Bond takes the last wicket in a tense final over and wins the cup for New Zealand :) Above everything, I just want to watch three good, nail-biting matches. Please!

All the best. May the best team (apart from the Aussies) win!

Update, May 1:
Aussies won the World cup :(. At the moment, they seem unstoppable for at least another couple of years. Anyways, well played Srilanka! India needs to learn a few lessons from them.

To kick-start my re-entry to blogging, just a round-up of yesterday’s important events and my views on them:

1) The much hyped Abhi-Ash marriage took place yesterday. I was getting really sick and tired of all the useless coverage that the news channels were bringing over the last 3-4 days. If they wanted to have a private affair, let them have it. Why do these channels have to haunt their houses waiting for something/someone to show up? Anyways with that marriage, my cup of woe is full. Aishwarya was the last in the list of my favorite actresses – Revathy, Kajol and the eighth wonder. Now have to turn my attention to the promising Asin :)

2) Brian Charles Lara announced retirement from international cricket. Despite what has happened in the recent past, he will always be remembered as one among the greatest batsmen ever. When in full flow, he was such a pleasure to watch. However, just like Inzamam a few weeks earlier, it’s not always possible to get your timing right.

3) The Indian team for the Bangladesh tour was announced. The selectors were forced to do something dramatic after the WC debacle. They had to show that they were tough; that they shall put Indian cricket back on track. Unfortunately, they have only made the water muddier. A couple of silly things I could notice:

a. Dropping Virender Sehwag from the test team and selecting him for the one-day team – Absolute bullshit. With the exception of the SouthAfrica tour, Sehwag has been our leading batsman in tests last year. And he should have been dropped from the one-day team for obvious reasons.

b. Playing Piyush Chawla for the one-dayers. In today’s scenario, fielding a young leg-spinner in the one-dayers is not a good option. He will go for control of run-flow over wickets and in the process lose the edge. Should have atleast let him stay for the tests as well.

4) The Government has asked the IIMs to put on hold the admission process. If the new quotas are only incremental and are not going to affect the general category students (as promised by our HRD minister), why not go ahead with the admission process for the general category? Why cause unnecessary trouble for everyone? As far as I can see, this is once again a ploy used by the HRD minister to put the time pressure on the Court to force the verdict, probably without providing the latest census data as required by the court. At the end of the day, I just hope genuine students (whichever category they may belong to) don’t get affected in all this politics bullshit.

Chalo then, that’s it for now. Hope to get back to normal blogging for sometime before I join work.

After all the months of hype and hoopla, the cricket world cup is finally here. I have been looking forward to this for nearly a year now. Just like every other Indian fan who thinks with his heart rather than his head, Iam expecting India to win the world cup. This World cup is the first time sixteen teams will be playing. It is the first time it will be played in the West Indies and also the longest in terms of the duration of the competition. More than anything, I guess this is the most open World cup we have had in nearly a decade. The recent bad form of Australia and the good performance of other teams makes it a very interesting world cup. While the associate members are given a chance to prove themselves in the league stage, I believe the real excitement will begin in the Super eights. Not even a single game could be missed here. Atleast that’s what I thought before the World cup begun.

Noone could have predicted the way things have gone in the first week. Going by this one week alone, this World cup might well be remembered for the rise of the minnows. Ireland first tied with Zimbabwe and went on to topple Pakistan. That easily is the biggest upset of all times. The loss means that Pakistan is out of the competition. And they have angry fans waiting back home. Things with India aren’t looking exactly rosy either. The shock loss to Bangladesh might serve as a wake-up call but there is a strong possibility that we might get knocked out of the World cup even if we win the next two matches against Bermuda and Srilanka.If Srilanka manage to beat Bangladesh, the latter going into the last game against Bermuda will know exactly the margin by which it would need to win to qualify for the super-eights. The odds are indeed stacked against India at this moment. However, as a start, they can concentrate on winning against Bermuda by as big a margin as possible. Then probably they can think of the game against Lanka, try to win there and then leave everything else to the Gods.

It will be indeed sad if India does not make it to the super-eights but irrespective of that, the fans in India need a reality check. Making them heroes every time they win and pelting stones in their houses every time they lose is not going to get us anywhere. Its one thing to cheer your team for victory and entirely another to accept a loss and move on. I guess it will be difficult for an emotional fan to understand this but the sooner we all realize it’s just a sport, the better for all of us.

End note:

Even as I was writing this post, news of Bob Woolmer passing away filtered in much to the shock of many cricket fans around the world. He was arguably one of the best coaches in the world and brought in great innovations to the game. It is indeed a sad day for cricket. May his soul rest in peace.

That’s one question that’s been haunting me for quite some time now. I started this blog around about a year back. I did so because I always liked writing and six months at IIM-Indore had made me aware about blogs. So I began this blog, partly from peer pressure and partly from my own interest towards writing. Amongst my first thoughts was to build this as a social awareness blog, giving strong opinions on important social/political issues. Unfortunately, that needed a lot of background work and the lazy ass I was, I never got to that. So the next best thing was to write about something I was experiencing – my life here. Hence, this blog today stands before you as indorelife - a ‘campus’ blog. That now takes us back to our main topic – where does this blog go now?

Even while on campus, with all the free time in the world and a broadband internet connection at my disposal throughout, I have managed just 25 posts in an entire year. Of course, numbers are not everything but they do indicate my laggard nature. The point is, when Iam going to shift to a busy work environment where am I going to find time for blogging? Will I at least have access to broadband in the small town that I may be posted to? All said and done, I guess if Iam really passionate about my writing, all the excuses can be handled. And I do feel that I just might manage to continue writing. Assuming I do that, the next question is – will it be under indorelife.blogspot or will it be a new blog?

‘indorelife’ has built some brand equity for itself over the last one year. With 3116 hits as of today and readership across seven countries, it is a truly global brand :). Jokes apart, I really don’t want to throw ‘indorelife’ out of the window just because the name is no longer relevant. I request my regular readers to voice your thoughts on the same. May be you can help me reach a decision.

“All my bags are packed
I’m ready to go….

….cause I’m leaving on a jet plane
Don’t know when I’ll be back again
Oh babe, I hate to go”

I always knew this was coming – when the two years will be over and it will be time for everyone to leave. And to be very honest, the moment is a mix of happiness and sorrow. Happiness, because this place has given me a bagful of wonderful memories and friends for a lifetime. Sorrow, because the merry-go-round has suddenly come to a stop and I don’t know what to expect next.

I look back at these two years and a few things come to my mind immediately. The first month when I stood shocked, stunned and surprised looking at some of the most intelligent and hardworking people in the country. How I slowly got my bearings together. How I surely realized that I never wanted to do any Fin in my life. How I learnt to work through the night and get any assignment done. How inadequate my general knowledge was. How I learnt important lessons about working in a team and how to handle one. How my acadcom experience taught me about handling problems and people.

And now as I prepare to leave, I have begun to realize a few things that Iam going to miss. Where else can I have a party that starts at 12 in the night and go on till 6 in the morning? Where else can I have Paratha and Maggi at 4.30 in the morning? Where else can I find a subject matter expert on almost any subject you can think of? Where else can I find the greatest collection of movies and TV shows in one place? Where else can I find so many brilliant people together? Where else am I going to have those intellectually stimulating conversations on the long walk down the hill?

Fortunately, despite all the questions, there is a ray of light in front to guide me. I realize that I came here for the experience and the placements at the end. Both of them have been very satisfying to say the least. I realize just like school and engineering college, this is just another phase in life. You treasure the experiences, maintain the friendships and move on. Without getting anymore sentimental or philosophical, let me conclude this one.

Here’s wishing everyone a truly wonderful life ahead. And as for the real world, here Iam!