Interviewed Subroto Bagchi in Room #223 , Hotel Leela ,Mumbai
My first big interview , caught on camera.
Lasted 10 minutes.
The kick of having done it still lingers. :))
Sunday, September 25, 2005
Thursday, September 22, 2005
Gosh ! The World!
The world.. the world ...Ever thought about it?
It's so truly Goddamn funny!
Things that start and stop on their own, things you cant help and things you cant decide...
Funny, plain funny!
It's so truly Goddamn funny!
Things that start and stop on their own, things you cant help and things you cant decide...
Funny, plain funny!
Wednesday, September 14, 2005
On Cricket- I
Starting with this post, a new series of my views on the game of cricket, on some players, on some of the issues the game's facing and the never ending controversies. This is something I used to regularly do in college but got cut off for a while . Back on air now. : )
On Gilchrist:
Gilly has a style of his own. He would'nt kill you but just hit you.And for some of us that's a pleasure. Cuts,sweeps,pulls,straight drives and more cuts,sweeps,pulls and straight drives. Before you would even acknowledge his presence on crease, he would be on 20 odd and by the time you have a plan he's crossed 50. And by the time you figure the plan's not working he's making the common man on the ground outside the stadium find the red cherry he's just dispatched over square leg. A tremendous asset to any side with a lightning batspeed and an even faster walk to the crease and back when it comes to that.
He is acknowledged as one of the top batsmen today but contrary to what some seem to believe I dont subscribe to the view that he's the best around. Contemporary cricket does have atleast 4 batsmen who would rank ahead of Gilly in my book. I am a huge fan of his batting style but not his batting. For he can still be more menacing than he currently is.
He is mercilessly destructive for a bowler's morale and I said it elsewhere that where Gilly fails to make it to the top league in my book is because the bowler is always in with a chance with him unlike a Lara or a Sachin or a Dravid or Vaughan who once in for some time would make you toil for their wicket.
The recent Ashes Series was the first one where he failed throughout. And this was a quality attack he was up against. It would be interesting to see how Gilchrist deals with this failure at an age when many others think about quitting the game. Importantly , it would be interesting to know how the Aussie Selectors intend to deal with him, with Brad Haddin waiting to take off should the flight of Gilly be cut short by the selectors. This is pretty much a deja vu for me for not so long back I prayed that Healy make runs so that Gilly would'nt come and take his place. I dont think it is that stage yet when anyone needs to pray for Gilly but yes for the first time in his career Gilly will have to give 'hitting the ball' a thought , something he is not used to and something he should'nt do.
Gilly's batting has been, for the millions of his viewers, all about unadulterated joy, uncomplicated hitting and uncensored flamboyance. And I hope I dont have to start offering my prayers for him anytime soon. Over the years he has cracked some stunning centuries and here's my pick of the lot:
The one in Mumbai ,against India in the 2003 season shud stand out cos of the sheer devilry of heaving Bhajji over and over again against the spin on a dusty track.
The one in Hobart, against Pakistan because it came against a top class attack and because he was batting in the fourth innings and contributed to one of the highestrun chases in history
The one in Durban ,against SA for effortlessness.(fastest double in tests). I remembering him heaving one off Boje over midwicket, a wild sweep and then he stood up to push the ball suggestively in the air so that it could hit one of the billboards that could have earned him some rands.
Easily the most destructive in World Cricket, destructive to a bowler's pride, to a team's morale and injurious to the very health of a bowling team supporter
On Gilchrist:
Gilly has a style of his own. He would'nt kill you but just hit you.And for some of us that's a pleasure. Cuts,sweeps,pulls,straight drives and more cuts,sweeps,pulls and straight drives. Before you would even acknowledge his presence on crease, he would be on 20 odd and by the time you have a plan he's crossed 50. And by the time you figure the plan's not working he's making the common man on the ground outside the stadium find the red cherry he's just dispatched over square leg. A tremendous asset to any side with a lightning batspeed and an even faster walk to the crease and back when it comes to that.
He is acknowledged as one of the top batsmen today but contrary to what some seem to believe I dont subscribe to the view that he's the best around. Contemporary cricket does have atleast 4 batsmen who would rank ahead of Gilly in my book. I am a huge fan of his batting style but not his batting. For he can still be more menacing than he currently is.
He is mercilessly destructive for a bowler's morale and I said it elsewhere that where Gilly fails to make it to the top league in my book is because the bowler is always in with a chance with him unlike a Lara or a Sachin or a Dravid or Vaughan who once in for some time would make you toil for their wicket.
The recent Ashes Series was the first one where he failed throughout. And this was a quality attack he was up against. It would be interesting to see how Gilchrist deals with this failure at an age when many others think about quitting the game. Importantly , it would be interesting to know how the Aussie Selectors intend to deal with him, with Brad Haddin waiting to take off should the flight of Gilly be cut short by the selectors. This is pretty much a deja vu for me for not so long back I prayed that Healy make runs so that Gilly would'nt come and take his place. I dont think it is that stage yet when anyone needs to pray for Gilly but yes for the first time in his career Gilly will have to give 'hitting the ball' a thought , something he is not used to and something he should'nt do.
Gilly's batting has been, for the millions of his viewers, all about unadulterated joy, uncomplicated hitting and uncensored flamboyance. And I hope I dont have to start offering my prayers for him anytime soon. Over the years he has cracked some stunning centuries and here's my pick of the lot:
The one in Mumbai ,against India in the 2003 season shud stand out cos of the sheer devilry of heaving Bhajji over and over again against the spin on a dusty track.
The one in Hobart, against Pakistan because it came against a top class attack and because he was batting in the fourth innings and contributed to one of the highestrun chases in history
The one in Durban ,against SA for effortlessness.(fastest double in tests). I remembering him heaving one off Boje over midwicket, a wild sweep and then he stood up to push the ball suggestively in the air so that it could hit one of the billboards that could have earned him some rands.
Easily the most destructive in World Cricket, destructive to a bowler's pride, to a team's morale and injurious to the very health of a bowling team supporter
Friday, September 09, 2005
The Comeback of the First Ones
Everything in SP is coming right back at me.
It started off with AKB, then Freshers, then Teacher's Day celebs, then the Football Match, GASP and everything else. This isnt much of an exception, it is a way of the world.
In Evam's Indrajit, the recurring theme is that of how the world goes round and round and round and how people fit in patterns in their lives and go on to live happy with it. Some of them want to jump out of the pattern and form a pattern on their own but often it never works out. One tries jumping out of the pattern but its far too encompassing and comforting. Its tempting to stay in the pattern and dangerous to move out.And so life moves on , round and round and round
When you draw a circle there is a starting point and it meets that very point to complete it.Thereafter if you try using the compass to go all over it again ,it is'nt half as interesting as it was to draw and go through all the points the first time. For there's something about the first time...
The first rain of a season, the first century, the first kiss... everything about the first time is well... special! So when it comes all over again does it feel as special?
Probably yes is one view.
After all how can you explain people like me who still love it when it rains in Mumbai irrespective of the many first times, how can you explain Sachin (not until recently) still being as pumped whenever he scored a century and how can you explain Emraan Hashmi's kissing spree (pun intended) ?
Nope, the first time is the best one and diminishing utility thereafter is another view. How else can you expain breakups in marriages, how can you explain people sending their parents to an old-age home after a certain point of time and how can you explain Paes and Bhupathi parting ways after having won 4 grand slams. If for them, the subsequent ones would have been as special as their first one, they should'nt have split.
So which side am I on? Actually both of 'em...
The smell of my first salary's crackling notes that emerged out of the ATM when I put that rectangular card in the machine for the first time was unbeatable.No other subsequent withdrawal had that jazz to it.
The first four that I hit in every innings of mine on the ground in whatever level of cricket I play gives me that punch that the subsequent ones can probably match but not surpass.
The first pair of branded shoes I bought are still kept at home, they dont qualify by definition to be called a "a pair of shoes" yet they always stay near my bunch of CD's and Books.
If now I am asked what is that one thing that I would do over and over again and yet get the same spark, I dont have an answer. Infact I would'nt know until I go over it again and again.
But I assume there are some people with whom I can spend a lifetime and want to spend another,
I assume talking about cricket would be another vocation that I would want to be in over and over again.
Hence should'nt the ultimate purpose of our existence be to direct all our energies towards these assumptions that each of us has? If we are'nt, its probably because the pattern is indeed far too encompassing and comforting. Its tempting to stay in the pattern and dangerous to move out.And so life moves on , round and round and round.
It started off with AKB, then Freshers, then Teacher's Day celebs, then the Football Match, GASP and everything else. This isnt much of an exception, it is a way of the world.
In Evam's Indrajit, the recurring theme is that of how the world goes round and round and round and how people fit in patterns in their lives and go on to live happy with it. Some of them want to jump out of the pattern and form a pattern on their own but often it never works out. One tries jumping out of the pattern but its far too encompassing and comforting. Its tempting to stay in the pattern and dangerous to move out.And so life moves on , round and round and round
When you draw a circle there is a starting point and it meets that very point to complete it.Thereafter if you try using the compass to go all over it again ,it is'nt half as interesting as it was to draw and go through all the points the first time. For there's something about the first time...
The first rain of a season, the first century, the first kiss... everything about the first time is well... special! So when it comes all over again does it feel as special?
Probably yes is one view.
After all how can you explain people like me who still love it when it rains in Mumbai irrespective of the many first times, how can you explain Sachin (not until recently) still being as pumped whenever he scored a century and how can you explain Emraan Hashmi's kissing spree (pun intended) ?
Nope, the first time is the best one and diminishing utility thereafter is another view. How else can you expain breakups in marriages, how can you explain people sending their parents to an old-age home after a certain point of time and how can you explain Paes and Bhupathi parting ways after having won 4 grand slams. If for them, the subsequent ones would have been as special as their first one, they should'nt have split.
So which side am I on? Actually both of 'em...
The smell of my first salary's crackling notes that emerged out of the ATM when I put that rectangular card in the machine for the first time was unbeatable.No other subsequent withdrawal had that jazz to it.
The first four that I hit in every innings of mine on the ground in whatever level of cricket I play gives me that punch that the subsequent ones can probably match but not surpass.
The first pair of branded shoes I bought are still kept at home, they dont qualify by definition to be called a "a pair of shoes" yet they always stay near my bunch of CD's and Books.
If now I am asked what is that one thing that I would do over and over again and yet get the same spark, I dont have an answer. Infact I would'nt know until I go over it again and again.
But I assume there are some people with whom I can spend a lifetime and want to spend another,
I assume talking about cricket would be another vocation that I would want to be in over and over again.
Hence should'nt the ultimate purpose of our existence be to direct all our energies towards these assumptions that each of us has? If we are'nt, its probably because the pattern is indeed far too encompassing and comforting. Its tempting to stay in the pattern and dangerous to move out.And so life moves on , round and round and round.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
