Blogathon post 10: The written word

While cleaning the cup-board in the morning, I found this: a letter that I had written to A in 2008.

After spending few joyous minutes wondering about the contents, my favorite pen (Waterman!) and the mood while writing the letter, it was a bittersweet realisation that the letter writing habits have diminished over time. Scrap the fancy word, they are practically non-existent now. 

Whose letters have made your memory? Mine have been made by Suba, my BFF who meticulously wrote letters detailing out most of the school incidents and Aarthi, who would end all of hers with cartoons and jokes.

Good 'ol times!!

How do you describe fun?

He never drank  or ate meat or smoked (or had fun, by extension)

This is one of the lines in Chetan Bhagat’s book Two States. I don’t think he meant it as an anti-South Indian sentiment, but as a general observation – if you are vegetarian, a non-smoker and a teetotaler, then you don’t have fun.

That made me wonder – when did I have maximum fun? As usual, I have a list:

• 1.  Snorkeling with dad: Apart from realising that my serious dad could be cool, the parallel underwater universe was breathtaking to behold.
• 2.   Standing under a waterfall: I don’t know if it can cure insanity, but standing under a waterfall should be a to-do in everyone’s list.
• 3.   Treks: Not all of the treks have been fun, but two have been unforgettable. I can still vividly recall climbing hills in torrential rains, running from the leeches, watching the fireflies light up a tree and the welcome bonfire in the night.
• 4.   The Terrace get-togethers and cousin outings: Who cares about the drink and food when the company is awesome?
• 5.   Goa: We didn't drink in Goa (must be one of the very few couples to do so) – we went to farms, saw waterfalls, para-glided and walked along the beaches.
• 6.   Watching a play, dance drama or a music concert: Watching a story unfold right in front of your eyes is difficult to describe and heavenly to experience.
• 7.   Travelling in Mumbai Trains and Chennai buses: I am a sucker for public transport, and can't explain why I enjoy it so much more than autos and taxis.
• 8.   Reading a book with Cup Noodles: That is my personal piece of heaven on earth.
• 9.  Playing Catch with Ashwin: All couples have their own stupid games. :D
• 10.Singing Nursery rhymes: I am not sure if the boy enjoys it, but I sure do – especially if they are the ones with action, like “Wheels on the bus” or “If you happy and you know it”.

None of the ten required drinking, smoking or eating non-vegetarian food. It is this thinking that gets all teenagers muddled up – smoking is cool or drinking is necessary. Not really. While I don’t condone any of the three habits (to each his own and all that jazz), please don’t make it sound like a prerequisite to have fun. In the same book Bhagat mentions the reason for the protagonist to become a writer:

Someone who tells stories that are fun but bring about change too.

In the quest for a larger change (promoting inter-state and inter-caste marriages), he seems to have let all the smaller things go. 

Sodhapals.

The Husband and I finally caught up with the hit tamil movie of 2012, Kadalil Sodhapuvadhu Eppadi? (How to mess up your love life?) yesterday night. (Mini Review: Predominantly a funny film, there are a few "aww" scenes, and all couples, married or otherwise, can identify themselves in it.) I think it was intentional, but I could neither understand nor see myself in the female lead. She was incomprehensible, cries at the drop of a hat, demanding, short-tempered (OK, that I can identify with) et al. 


So, after the movie got over, I snuggled up to The Husband, and tried asking in the sweetest voice: "I am not that annoying, am I?"
He: "Umm, Hmm."
Me: " I don't cry much, do I?"
He: (Smiling) No.
Me: (Getting assertive) You are very lucky to have me you know. That's how most girls are. I don't whin......
I would have gone on a rant/self-praise drive, but stopped, for he had grown wide-eyed and was looking at me with wonder. Three years of marriage, and he could still give me THAT look. I smiled blissfully, and was trying to think of a nice mushy line...
When he shouted: GOT IT! AVM!!
Me: Huh?
He: The side-kick. He was my junior in AVM. 


Needless to say, the rest of the night passed in silence.

Dhoni is lucky.

Bullshit.

Like every other Indian cricket watcher, I am way more passionate about cricket than is healthy. But I am glad I haven’t, in a fit of passion, written stupid articles like Biswajit Jha

Until now that is.

I am a Dhoni fan. Make that a proud Dhoni fan. Before that, I was a Ganguly fan, and before that, Mohammad Azzharuddin’s. Now, I am ok with the Dhoni bashing – as long as it is just a whine and meant to be a release of all the bottled-up frustrations. We lose a match and we have to blame someone – who other than the one who has the unenviable task of speaking/defending/answering at the presentation ceremony?

But, based on a couple of series, we end up calling him selfish, biased and short-sighted. On the other hand, all the team’s victories are because of his “luck”. We worry about India’s performance overseas and start doubting whether we deserved the world cup.

Invariably, anti-Dhonis are also pro-Ganguly. Now that IPL is coming, and Dhoni (and his team) will, without doubt, perform well, all this frothing will only increase. That’ll make me see red, so I want to put my views out there.

Let us first compare Saurav and Dhoni’s records:

I see what the hue and cry is about – it is the 26% winning chances Dhoni has when playing a test match outside India, as compared to the 39% guaranteed when captained by Ganguly. We are looking at three years (2009-2012) of Dhoni’s captaincy versus five years of Ganguly’s (2000-2005). Fair comparison? I think not, especially looking at the rest of the data – even if if we let Dhoni go easily on his “luck” on the home ground (66.67% versus Ganguly’s 47.6% in tests, and 65% versus Ganguly’s 50% in One-day Internationals), Dhoni still has won more International One-day matches outside India, as compared to Ganguly.

Just because he had a poor run in overseas tests, we cannot call him “just lucky” or a bad captain. That is terribly short-sighted.

Let us look at the averages:

 

So, if all the blaming is going on about Dhoni’s average of 37.32 versus Ganguly’s 42.17, I hope it is offset by Dhoni’s one-day averages (with a more prominent difference).

Finally, if Ganguly was indeed a better captain, Kolkatta Knight Riders would have won the IPL. If you just retorted that the team or the coach are to blame for a team’s loss, I rest my case.

As for Dhoni’s bias (in choosing Ashwin and Raina over Pathan and Tiwary) for CSk team members, please. In the match against Pakistan couple of days back, Ashwin managed 1/56, while Pathan managed a 1/69. Shall we write that off as “Ashwin got lucky?” The new guy, Dinda, managed a 2 for 47 – wonder who put him there, considering he is not in CSK. Ganguly?

Ashwin has a bowling average of 28.16 and a batting average of 19.6, while Pathan has that of 29.90 and 22.8 respectively. If we are talking about terming Pathan as an “all-rounder”, we can give that prestigious title to Ashwin as well.

Raina, the one who seems to be getting a lot of flak lately, has a batting average of 35.21, and Manoj Tiwary, who is seriously contested as Raina’s replacement, had an average of 33.0. Does making a “Maiden century” make Tiwary an obvious replacement?


Finally, the writer says that the Sehwag and Gambhir are out of the team (or not made captains) because they “spoke against” Dhoni. That one statement managed to insult Kohli’s outstanding performances and ignored Sehwag’s really long out-of-form stretch in one go.


Frankly, at the end of the day, as a country, we have no hope. We managed to term Sachin Tendulkar, one of our most accomplished and unselfish players, as selfish and slow. We demanded his resignation, terming it as a dignified thing to do. We blamed him for our loss against Bangladesh. So, Dhoni shouldn’t worry about us – If we can talk against Tendulkar, we, with the goldfish memory, the hypocritical and the sorry bunch of cricket watchers can do anything.