And that’s exactly what I am upto nowadays on the weekends. This game makes me look forward to my weekends. There is a club called RunsNwickets – which was formed by some wonderful people (KK, Anba and Guna) that I have had the fortune of coming in touch with. The unique aspect of this club is that any cricket enthusiast based out of Chennai is welcome to join in! And that’s exactly what this club is excited about – cricket enthusiasts. If you are one and are in Chennai, just walk in.

Coming down to my experience with the club so far, though short in time, has been most wonderful to say the least. Had two nets sessions and two cricket matches in the last 5 weeks (we play only on Sundays) and brought back those old school and college memories of real cricket. Played lots of tennis ball cricket in the meanwhile (since college) but nothing matches the sound that emanates from a willow that has just timed a cricket ball sweetly. The smell of the cricket kit and the pink colour of your palms is unbeatable!

Before we begin to romanticize my cricketing exploits on this blog, we must understand that I am over 100kgs heavy and over 6ft tall. And my wife says I didn’t run even when she complained of contractions. Little does she know that I was actually doing my 100m sprint! ;) In case you still didn’t get what I mean, this is what it is: If I stand straight and look down I can’t see my two feet! (I can’t get more direct than that without affecting my self esteem!!) While my ability to run between the wickets is suspect, the inability to be a good fielder is confirmed.

My record so far has been this in the two matches I have played in so far:
First match:
Fielded first. Was at third man and long off. Did not let a single ball go through me. And did not concede an extra run where there was none. No dropped catches. I got a pat from my captain and team too for my fielding esp since there were quite a few misfields and dropped catches!
When my turn came to bat, we had to make 61 runs of 30 balls. I made 8 off 8 balls which included a boundary and thought I did a good job. But my running between the wickets, I must admit was pathetic. I would run the second run as if I did not have a thigh bone. I was at the wicket for about 20 mins i.e. till the last over and if we had a coach, as we did in schooldays, he would have dropped me the very next minute!
Scorecard is here. (Yes, club cricket tournaments in Chennai have online scorecards!)

Second match:
Batted first. Was scheduled to bat at #5 or #6 like last match but our top order stuck in there brilliantly. We posted some 180+ runs for the loss of 2 wickets.
Fielding was just about okay. Same position. I intend to make that my own because it suits me and my current physical outline. Same things again: Didn’t drop a catch, didn’t concede any extra run, no misfields. But no improvement either. So no pat nothing. Need to get my act together in the next match coming up on Sunday. Pray for me! :)
Scorecard is here. PS: I didn’t take any catch. The scorer thought he had be generous and credit one to my name! ;)

A small note on tennis before I end: Just finished watching Federer’s third round match at Wimbledon 09. Smashing form he is in. Though he dropped a set I would still say it looked like he wanted to give himself some more time on the centre court! Go Federer Go!

But then I had given my word. I went there – near the gate. Stood for a second and just started with my mind kind of stunned into silence I guess. It went blank. I started lifting my hands and putting them together with a smile to welcome whoever walked into the gate. Everytime someone walked in – I would do it. It was a ritual and I did it. Some people responded. Some didn’t. Initially my namaskarams depended on the response. If they smiled back then I would hold on a little longer otherwise it would drop off.

Then something incredible happened. I decided to welcome whoever came in with the same complete (as complete as I could do) namaskaram irrespective of their response or who they were – children, adults, etc. I was trying to create a condition inside myself that ‘whatever happens to you (the visitor) inside here will be good’. As I started doing this, my hand ache, my elbow ache, the pain in my legs, everything went out of my mind. I was offering myself completely to each person who was walking in with 100% sincerity and a blessing of ‘good will happen to you here today’. The smile came on automatically, I didn’t have to put it on. It turned into one of the most enjoyable experiences. Imagine getting the opportunity to welcome 10,000 people with a blessing. Won’t you smile on your own? Oh sure, anyone will. I guarantee you.

Now comes the even better part. As this enjoyment increased, I could sense growing excitement inside me. I would start looking outside the gate waiting for people to come. As soon as I spotted a visitor, I would bow down to them. Looking at me everyone responded. Even no-response meant that it was a response because they weren’t used to a person bowing down to them. And I used to get excited seeing people entering the venue with a feeling of ‘Ok. I have come to a good place where something good will happen to me’. I began seeing at as an opportunity to break some constraint inside them, unblocking some block inside their minds to let them be free and take in whatever is being offered by Sadhguru completely.

The namaskarams just got more intense as I kept creating more intense conditions inside me. Then came the point where something inside me broke and took me to a totally different plane. I saw no difference between me and the person coming in. It was the most intense experience of my life. The namaskarams were not being done anymore, they were happening as an expression of joy. Tears started flowing out of my eyes. But I was smiling. I could see people coming in were also moved. Of course, a few of them got scared too. But this didn’t carry on for a great while. This must have happened for a few moments. And that was it. That’s when I understood that anything that we do can take us beyond our current state of experience of the body and the mind. It depends on how willing we are to break whatever we have created inside ourselves – free will, determinism, whatever – and concentrate and give ourselves totally to what we are doing.

The seamless way in which the show was organized, co-ordinated and executed was a treat to watch on the television. Danny Boyle said to the organizers on winning the Best Director’s award, “…I wanted to thank you for that and also for an extraordinary, what a beautiful show you’ve done. I don’t know what it looks like on television, everybody, but in the room, it’s bloody wonderful, really. So, well done, everyone…” It looked beautiful on television too Danny. It was just stunningly well-coordinated. The opening sequence by the charming Australian Hugh Jackman was probably one of the best live performances I have seen. I admit I haven’t seen many (live performances) but if you have seen it you will agree like the audience in the Kodak theatre did. They gave him a standing ovation. He deserved it. Among his witty ways of introducing the key people, I really liked the part about himself the best – “An Australian, who played an Australian in a movie called Australia” and the next one was about Brangelina – “I don’t have joke on them. But I am contractually obligated to take their names atleast five times on this show”.

The first category to be awarded was the “Best supporting actress” one and I was absolutely amazed by the way they announced the nominations. Oscar awards are meant to signify excellence and the nominations are supposed to be the litmus test through which you actually qualify to be the best among the best. And the entire event lent itself to excellence right from the way the stage floor was done, the display screens coming together and splitting away, the curtain made of a chain of Swarovski crystals added a touch of grandeur, the lighting heightened the excitement and I was personally floored with the sensitivity of their mic and sound systems – I could hear Anne Hathaway breathe when she performed with Jackman. Coming back to the award, it was when Penelope Cruz gave her acceptance speech is when I realized how big a deal it was to win the Oscars:

“I grew up in a place called Alcobendas, where this was not a very realistic dream. And I, always on the night of the Academy Awards, I stay up to watch the show and I always felt that this was, this ceremony was a moment of unity for the world because art, in any form, is and has been and will always be our universal language and we should do everything we can, everything we can, to protect its survival”.

I will not lie. I had tears in my eyes when she said those words. It was just so damn touching. I didn’t quite know who exactly she was till now, from now on I will ensure I watch her movies with the same intensity as she has chosen to act. She sees this stage as a moment of unity and here back home we have people saying “Oscars mean nothing”. Penelope spoke words that defied her age. She has my undivided attention henceforth!

Then came the first Indian moment. In fact when the Sound Editing award went to ‘The Dark Knight’ I thought it was only obvious that the Sound Mixing one also went the same way. But no, it was meant to be a ‘Slumdog Millionaire’ sweep which started with this. Resul Pookutty made a moving speech about how it was not just an award but history being handed over to him. So true I thought. My mind was racing ahead – I was already thinking about Rahman.

Then came many awards. Each of them making moving acceptance speeches. Everyone of the award presentations blended so beautifully with each other. I would say it was flawless. While I was sitting amazed at the way it was organized, the original score nominations were being played out. An orchestra played out the themes of each of the nominations – I could only identify ‘Latika’s theme’ from ‘Slumdog Millionaire’. Rahman was backstage because he was due to come on next for his performance for the nominations of the best song. As it was being said, “And the Oscar goes to….”, and the envelope being opened, I guess my heart rate increased to equal Rahman’s and every other true Rahman fan. Simultaneously the maid servant of my house made an entry and the presenter announced “A R Ruhhman for Slumdog Millionaire” and that was it. My maid servant must have thought that I had a heart attack or something because I shouted so loudly that it would have blown anyone away. Irrespective of me, she just walked across the TV calmly and went on with her work. Here I was almost dying of happiness and she walked as if nothing had happened. Quite ironically, Rahman also walked as if he had won just another Filmfare or some such award. It was just such a simple thing for him – it was another award. For me, his true fans, Americans and the rest of the world the Oscars are like the pinnacle of excellence and Rahman did it like he always knew how to do it. In fact that’s true – he was always at the pinnacle of excellence in every film that he gave music to. Each one is a masterpiece. I sat numb through his acceptance speech.

In fact I think I was numb through his performance also or I don’t know if I didn’t like it. That guy who came in towards the end just made the whole thing sound so out of tune. I had to see the video repeatedly to confirm my feelings. Rahman himself was a little out of tune I guess for “O… Saya…” but I don’t blame him. I wouldn’t have been able to get a sound out of my throat! And then came the “Jai Ho” award. It was written I guess. And this acceptance speech literally swept me off my feet. Wow!

I could go and get ready to get to office finally. I got a message from a colleague “Dude, don’t come to office without sweets”. So I went with the auspicious Tirupathi laddoos that my wife had got from there a few days ago. No, she didn’t go there to pray for Rahman. I am the only guy who is so much in love with this man! The world now has opened up a possibility of letting Rahman berserk on a global scale. Now more people will fall in love with him. Till now, it was just me and my Tamil friends and then it was Hindi friends and now it is going to be everyone. Just about everyone. Rahman’s world was written already; looks like the time has come now when people like me will have to let go of him so that billions of others actually have the option of making the maximum out of him. Rahman’s music is available to those who are willing.

Those were Rahman’s words on winning his second Oscar (for Best Original Song – “Jai Ho” alongwith Gulzar) of the day. This is his full acceptance speech [Link]:

I just want to thank again the whole crew of Slumdog Millionaire, especially Danny Boyle for giving such a great opportunity. And the whole, all the people from Mumbai. The essence of the film which is about optimism and the power of hope in the lives, and all my life I had a choice of hate and love. I chose love and I’m here. God bless.

When he one the first one too he was quite at ease with the whole situation. This is what he said when he won his first one [Link]:

Before coming, I was excited and terrified. The last time I felt like that was during my marriage. There’s a dialogue from a Hindi film called “Mere paas ma hai,” which means “I have nothing but I have a mother,” so mother’s here, her blessings are there with me. I am grateful for her to have come all the way. And I want to thank the Academy for being so kind, all the jury members. I want to thank Sam Schwartz, I/D PR, all the crew of Slumdog, Mr. Gulzar, Raqueeb Alam, Blaaze, my musicians in Chennai and Mumbai. And I want to tell something in Tamil, which says, which I normally say after every award which is… “God is great.” Thank you.

If you didn’t know he won two Oscars today, then you have been living on the Moon or something! What a day! Thanks to all those who passed on their congratulatory wishes on the win! Really value each and every of those calls, sms’es and mails! Thanks guys! Thanks!

PS: This is my 300th post. Somehow I waited and waited and waited till I posted this and didn’t know what I was waiting for. Now we know, right?!

Source: http://www.goldenglobes.org/nominations/index.html

And this:

It was just a matter of time. If you followed the American press you would have predicted this easily. But for me, I was still doubtful because I thought ‘Water‘ was good enough for an Oscar nomination atleast. Anyway, here we are today. While the press is glossing over the first Indian to be presenting an award at the Golden Globe awards ceremony, here we have a fellow Indian citizen winning one. You know who means business!

And I hope the comparisons of ARR with the other Indian music directors stop now atleast. I am in this mood to take these infinite potshots today! Let me let that instinct be for now…

Photo courtesy: Arijit, fellow ARR fan.

This is my moment. This is every Indian’s moment. Let’s celebrate!

Of course, Ramalinga Raju has let me down. Has let us down. But is he the lone perpetrator of this fraud of unimaginable scale? I don’t think so. There must be more people and organizations whose names will now come out in the open as investigations unfold with their results. I am just shattered at the thought of the possible names that might come under the scanner.

Imagine dragging PriceWaterhouse Coopers (PwC) to court. In India, there are atleast 100 publicly listed companies that use them as their auditor and several (possibly more than 100) other unlisted ones. I just hope they come clean through this though I have kind of assumed that they are guilty until proven otherwise. I mean you can’t be an auditor to a firm that’s been fudging numbers for seven years and yet not know what’s going on. And it was not a few bucks here and there, it was a massive Rs. 7,000 crores! I just want to study the composition of the team that was handling the Satyam account from PwC since the time they took it on. If it was the same team, then you don’t need me to tell you what was going on. If it was changing constantly, then we need to really talk to those guys who moved on to see the truth.

Then comes the board of directors. What on earth were they doing there? You had the biggest names on that board. Such a disgrace to them. I understand that they cannot get into the minute details of the financial statements, that too with Mr. Raju whose aura precedes him. I mean even if it was not for the aura, very rarely do you get into such details as you are also thinking about not irking your CEO by micro-managing or asking for too much detail or questioning his authority or any such thing. Now you add the aura of Mr. Raju and you see the position of the board. But still, I guess they have swerved away from their line of duty somewhere and they owe a moral obligation to move on from here and make way for new board members.

Come to think of it, it’s happened in the IT industry. The most watched. The most admired. Satyam had 185 of the Forbes 500 as their customers. PwC as their auditors. In hindsight, it all seems to be such a farce because the one who mattered resorted to unethical ways of managing stakeholder expectation. The good part of it is that this serves as a wake-up call to every company to get their stuff right. Also, I guess more and more companies will come clean at the earliest and revise their guidances to the market in an effort to manage stakeholder expectations better rather winding up operations or getting into such murky conditions.

Also, somewhere deep down I feel this is a representation of our Indian system. We have this fiery need to be recognized as good by the society. And this goodness is related directly to how well we manage our external image. Internally what you think or what you do be damned. But externally if you have put up your best face, then you are good. And I think this is the trap into which Mr. Raju got caught too. Just that the circle of influence of his actions was larger and it has opened our eyes to the real world.

The only thing I think I still appreciate about Mr. Raju is that he confessed to having done it all at a time when nobody actually expected it to happen. People are saying that he had no option and he was pushed into a corner and all that. Give me one instance where this has happened. He has just stood up unable to withstand his conscience and announced to the World whatever he has done. If PwC did not know, the board did not know, the finance department did not know, the shareholders did now know, the stock exchanges did not know and SEBI had no clue. Merril Lynch and Maytas were the only ones I suspect who knew. And in blowing the whistle they would have also been staring down the barrel. It was only sensible they did it this way, and even now, do we really know?

To Rahman:
On his birthday! Hoping that this is the year that people actually recognize his talent!