I had been clamouring for a break and shouting myself hoarse over this ever since I got into the big bad world of corporate slavery and bid adieu to the serene innocence of college life.Finally I had my wish granted this May  after an inauspicious and unsavoury break up of sorts from my previous employer and it was a forced break from the main stream life , something that would hurt a more normal person but for a freak of nature like me , it was a blessing in disguise . I took full advantage of this brief hiatus and took off for a sojourn of the heavenly hilly region of Kumaon. For 3 days , I experienced the bliss of heaven . From taking a breathtaking snap from the highest point ( Snow View point ) of the mountain to the ethereal beauty of the Naini lake , it was the kind of refreshing jolt that one needs in such a dire situation and trust me the period of time I spent in the company of the majestic mountain peaks covered with the most awesome breeds of herbs and trees, would stay with me for the rest of my life. I have heard people savour their most enjoyable experiences by uttering that time ceases to pass in the mountains but enjoying the timelessness firsthand was an out of world experi ence and the money spent was well worth it.

   Alas !!!! the trip had to end at some pont of time.And as soon as the joy ride ended, the joy and contentment slithered away swiftly giving way to the usual   pool of complaints and frustration with the way things exist in the modern system of society.I was back to the usual grind and grime , supposed to sweat for bread and butter arrangement. The flow of thoughts that was so sublime and smooth in the mountains,far away from the madding crowd and chaos of the Metropolitan i.e Delhi , was soon stopped dead in its tracks by the impending need of a 9-6 job and the

The spectre of  Greenish tinge on the playing strip has returned to lay India flat on its back and  how... the triple centurion of Chennai , the century maker on the Chennai  featherbed all blown away in the face of determined pace bowling. Some might say..deja-vu 2003-04, when after barely managing a draw in Chennai , the vicious Aussies , looking for a rare triumph over India in India , came rampaging and bulldozed over the hapless Indians in Nagpur after the curator ,curiously dished out a green and bouncy surface to bring devilish smiles to the faces of  Aussie quickies. It was a major surrender shellshocking millions of Indians who felt cheated by the "traitor" curator who was merely going about his business of preparing sporting pitches. Miles of newspaper were wasted at the time on how the Indian batsmen had been laid low by the unsporting and spiteful pitch when on the same pitchthe Aussies were plundering runs. It seems the more the things change the more they stay the same or get worse since nothing has been learnt or this tragedy would not have been be falling upon our innocent spectators.It is quite  appaling to think that this is the same team which had just demolished the Aussies in their own den and is vying for the number 2 spot in world test rankings.Truth be told, if you really want to call yourself the undisputed world champions , it is imperative for you to be able to pull your troops on every kind of playing surface barring the odd glitches as is the case with the mighty Australians. In case of teams like India or to a certain extent South Africa in the past, they tend to play like champions under home conditions or playing surfaces where there is not too much variation from home conditions but as soon as they confront a strange looking pitch or outfield , they tend to freeze collectively and it shows in the results. This was not a spiteful pitch by any stretch of imagination but look,what they ( Indian batsmen) got themselves into by playing rash strokes as if "devil may care " attitude is the only way to get out of a corner. More often than not, as we have seen in the past , it is the hesitation and the premonitions in the mind that have been the undoing of the Indian players when they come face to face with a fresh and a little livelier pitch which prompts them to commit harakiri . So mostly it is the Indian players getting themselves out by playing a rash or extravagant shot or not offering a shot i.e playing at the two extremes when the situation actually calls for a better lining up job to the delivery . It feels as if all their courage that they so famously mustered in Kangaroo land to round off a highly successful tour has deserted them and a rampaging quick bowler in Dale Steyn  ran through their seams. The unavailability of SRT can not be hailed as not being a major factor but still the century makers of the last game were there in the middle..weren't they ?

     What is even more baffling is the fact that when confronted with lively tracks abroad ( in recent years after 2001 ) they seem to take the bull by its horns on more occasions than one but as soon as a greenish pitch stares them in the face at home, them get performance anxious and a strange kind of nervousness then vice grips them.Nagpur in 2003-04 became famous for all the reasons since the then captain Ganguly chose to sit out of the match at the sight of a greentop ( which he had  tried vehemently to get rid of but did not succeed ) and India being bowled out for 185 and 200 . What people tend to forget when blaming the curator is that the real test in test match cricket is to survive in difficult conditions and confront really adverse turf and pitch conditions . Even though the bowling strength of that Australian outfit and to a certain extent this present  SA team is high class , it is easy to see that once you are already down in your mind ( as is often the case with Indian batsmen who invariably become laden footed when faced with a greentop ) you really don't stand a chance against top class fast bowling.

   Nevertheless, as much as the media and the public would like us to believe  that everything is wrong with the Indian team because of the IPL fever and lust for more money, I think the problem is something that has plagued Indian mindset forever and nothing has been done so far to rectify this anamoly. I don't know how much of a help, Gary Kirsten or for that matter , anyone will be , if the Indian batsmen brought up on a staple diet of benign , lifeless pitches and used to playing swashbuckling innings, one after another in India, are not given enough opportunities at the domestic level to make them better equipped mentally as wellas footwork wise to face upto these conditions at the international level.

       Insipid and soulless performances galore in the annals of Indian cricket history but   when the team lacks stomach for fight and comes up with a lacklustre performance on even benign and home like tracks abraod as was the case in Melbourne where they eventually lost by a  mammoth 337 runs, then it really hurts. Indeed the series finally lived up to the fierce hype preceding it  in Perth and then in Tri series involving Sri Lanka as well, fans can be spared for believing that the test series might as well have been pocketed if not for those chilling and chaotic last few overs of the Sydney test, which nevertheless had been bereaved of its soul by the egregious umpiring itself. Lack of practice , lack of acclimtization in cangaroo land had all been cited for the abysmal and thoroughly inept batting performance in Melbourne,  but what would you say about this Motera mauling....pray...if  not for the impending monster i.e  IPL, we would be hard pressed for reasons ( excuses ) for this insipid display of batting.Now at least we have  the cushion of saying that maybe players had lost a bit of focus amidst all the hype and noise surrounding the mega entertainment extravaganza but still , the manner in which the battlefield was surrendered in cold blood, it will take some time to heal.

  The  new age  is  upon us , in more ways than one.An age where the end justifies the means and  bad  guys finish first. They say ..literature and cinema is the mirror image of the society and times ...and if we go by that yardstick,it becomes apparent that "bad" is in  and  the  whole fabric of morality is turned upside down. Earlier, it used to  be depicted , even though only in the last few dying frames of the movie that good guys,somehow manged to escape the clutches of the villains and bad guys invariably and uncannily finishing behind the bars . But even that purfunctory stage has been jettisoned in the wake of unprecedented and hitherto unseen clamouring for glamour and instant karma,if you will. What the director fail to understand is that cinema is not just an individual and isolated ex-pression of creativity ( however hoarsely it is shouted from the roof top these days ) but it serves as a powerful medium of social messaging too.  Sometimes in the process of inundating the audience with a deluge of high risk stunts and glamourous twists in the tale,the director duo fail to take notice of the eventual message that is being trasmitted by the end -product that is the bad guys ( actually the film boasts only of bad guys and there are no good guys in the set up to speak of) end up with all the good things that matter and they don't even feel remorseful or vow to never go down that road again...which is scary to say the least. The least the director could have infused into the film is a vow from the " hero" of the movie to leave the path of convoluted living and possibly become a devotee of Gautam Buddha afterwards( Ohh!!  who am I kidding ). But in this day and age of Imran Hashmi  and TRP hungary media I guess whatever sells, goes and thumbs up to the director duo for being subservient to our fetish and serving our plates full with masala items and uncalled for twists in the tale.

   The  trend  had started long back in the 90s and it is just being milked so much nowadays that most of the movies cater to the same cliched endings and substance. Style over substance seems to be the order of the day.

Toiling day in and day out in the  claustophobic environment of the  modern office (  which ought to be an euphemism for Jail ) the basic free spirit of the human being , the natural spring in the steps and the effervescence is  squeezed out by various instruments .It is as if we are  entrapped in a desert , looking  for  water ( read survival mechanism ) everywhere and all we  end up with is  sand and dust at the end of the day because when u r ready to leave for home , you find yourself horribly empty inside and possibly your senses dumbed by the time you get to  the  home making your way through wretched traffic amidst snarling commuters. The torture cell i.e  office has a pretty  autocratic  modus  operandi  disguised under a  veil of  systematic and organized functioning . Looking out for  the  occasional back stabbing , raids ( read weekly meetings) , impending deadlines , annoying boss and even more irritating administration people is a herculean task in itself . If despite all the aforementioned evils , we continue to sing paraboles in praise of modern technology and advancements we have made as a civilized race , it really is tantamount to  a life of nothingness . The fact of the matter is no matter how much we have progressed forward and tried to reign life in , the control has been snatched away from beneath our nose and we are all the poorer for it . The material success has nauseated us so much that we have forgotten that there are only 24 hours in a day and of those 24 hours nearly 2/3rd is spent either toiling in the unforgiving confines of the "office" or snarling at the  traffic outside and arguing with the lesser mortals ( read people without a proper  office  job ) and the rest of time is unwillingly devoted to sleeping or sleepwalking into TV watching or in front of that damned PC again,well into the wee hours of night. The crux is that we are left with nothing at the end of the day but complaints and more complaints which we can not share with anyone  because everyone else is entrapped in the same mess.

Present  day  society is maligned and riddled with so many afflictions that the relatively   smaller allergies escape our attention span which in itself has been rendered pretty myopic thanks to the advent of new parameters of judging success  and  happiness.Insipid  and insecure in our individual living , we continue to be inexorably drawn towards the vicious circle of instant gratifications and seek bonafide success  granted by social confirmation.Non - confirmity to  the supposedly  "normal" benchmarks of success and happiness is no longer a manifestation of uniqueness or eccentricity but it is frowned upon in a way as a precursor to social failure and condemnation. It is  a tabboo in modern society to be a single , non drinking, non smoking and self respecting individual with a vision that encompasses  larger parts of the society rather than  sitting ensconced  in your little barricaded canvas. 

        Somehow  the clutches  of the  hedonistic and materialistic living have succeeded  in  making us indifferent  and immune to our own emotions  and  feelings   so much so that we  have lost sympathy for our own body  and soul in the process. The  burgeoning expectations from our parents, peers and    family at large  are pushing us  into a deeper and bigger  hole everyday where the gradual wearing down of  the self  takes place.The increased  competition  for almost everything has   created an environment of mistrust, bloated but fragile egos  and "win at any cost " attitude  which sadly is referred to as " Winning " mentality these days. It  goes without  saying that ,one after another, we just keep pushing  hard for the next  "achievement" and the next "milestone" which is supposed to give u the golden spoon  but  never does. So  the  search and the desperation for newer and better accomplishments keeps us on our toes and the society makes us believe that we are making progress and that it is all about survival and evolution when it is not.

    I  guess what    we  are   witnessing today  is  an explosion  of  virtual reality worlds which owes its success exclusively to   this rampant  alienation of  an individual from the   society.Since  the individual can not  get  the  stamp of approval that it seeks so vehemently and which has been deemed so indispensable for its survival , from the society , the knee-jerk reaction mechanism takes  him/her to the accomodating and all encompassing world of the virtual reality where everyone is welcome and everyone gets a sympathetic hearing. It  is  pretty akin to  the  old age system of panchayats  and  village  communities ( read " chaupal") and stuff like that. In some ways  , it feels  as   if  the  old  systems  were more than adequate when it  comes to handling people issues and  social issues as well.

      In these times of great distress and  mind numbing pressure , the ineffectiveness of systems at work to disperse off the load is not only compounding the stress but actually creating a whole new form of stress...which is to say that the stress busting systems themselves are emanating problems ( read : HR systems at workplace )

People   have  gone  into overdrive  when it comes to predicting the after effects of the IPL , the yet unborn baby conceived by BCCI. The reactions  have  been varied based on the loyalty  of the  person involved. While the Indian fellows are busy waxing eloquent about how this is going to revolutionize the lives of thousands of young aspiring cricketers in India , the foreign writers are busy trying to bring the house down even before a ball has been bowled. Some people have gone to the extent of saying that splurging such obscene amounts of money for THE ENTERTAINMENT in a country riddled with poverty and backwardness is blasphemous and sheer buffoonery .  But they are conveniently evading the fact that stares everyone in the face .The franchisees are not spluterring such exorbitant funds on the foreign stars just to make a spectacle or set an example . It is actually based on very sound economic principles. The star value that is brought to the table by stars like Andrew Symonds is just the kind of brand power that will rake in the moolah for franchise owners and the employees associated with them.The money is going to pour in from the advertisers and the sponsors and I can't help but feel that some portion of it will be ploughed back into the sytem to keep it going.

  The Indian economy is undergoing an unprecedented transformation where natural market forces are dictating terms to policy makers and authorities.The market forces are determined to create the best possible opportunities for people who are willing to take the bait and put their lives on the line to come up the ranks.It assures me no end that the sytem will explore ways to make the best possible use of the funds  poured through the IPL because with so many  different stratas of society  viz. business , cricket authority , state associations, former cricketers , marketing agencies, advertisers, media moguls etc.  involved, the hegemony of few people stands seriously threatened. I would   go  to  the  extent of saying that the advent of leagues like IPL is best  suited to  the boisterous and rippling environs of a developing economy in the sense that it will invariably and astonishingly give birth to employment options like never seen before.

   The opening up of so many revenue streams , so many business houses putting their hands up, media moguls bringing their trrops in , it all augurs well for the Indian economy and whats more, makes up for a delectable mix of marketing extravaganza  and entertainment miracle.

   The  Australian  commentators  and  ex players apparently have been coming up  with  harsh comments with regards to  the  actual    benefits  to  the  world  cricket form  the   riches  of IPL and  they want the pie  to be shared among all members equally. But  this  smacks of  parochialism and condescending behaviour of Australia and "White" countries at  large. So, as long  as England, Australia, West Indies ( which mind  you  is a sycophant of   "Whites ") were at the  helm of affairs , dictating  terms to  the Asian countries and  making them commit to all sorts  of unfair play and inconsiderate terms and conditions, it was O.K for them to  make profit....to hell  with the  "poor" countries like India  & Sri Lanka. But , as  soon  as  the Indian board, replete  with all the resources  and free of  the imperial control of so called cricket experts from the " White " & "Fair " world  comes up with such a fantastic idea to  create  platfom  for  budding youngsters ,  and  even goes to the extent of serving an ultimatum to  " White" cricketers ,  they  alll gang up in arms  and ready to tear apart the very intention behind the concept. Similar kind of things  happened in 1996  world  cup which was organized in Sub continent .

To quote  Milton from "Paradise Lost"  , " Mind is a place  of  its  own,  it  can make heaven out of hell  and  hell out of  heaven". How  true, when I juxtapose my life against this  immortal line. I mean, there are  days when I wake up   with absolutely nothing in my mind  but spite, frustration  and disgust for every living soul on this damn earth, and invariably I end up even more frustrated and desolate  by the  end of the day . Its uncanny how  the  same people can look  absolute  angels one day  and  then take  up the role of devils  on another  "bad hair" day, so to say. It intrigues me no end that  the world doesn't change around me   physically  but the biochemical reactions  taking place in my brain make sure that the intrinsic patterns of the external world manifest themselves in different manners over a week or a month. So many different emotions splurge the mind inspite of undergoing predominantly routine demonstrations day in day out.

      There are innumerable self help books out  there which cry hoarse on this very concept ,namely " Mind over Matter " , emphasizing the point that everything can change if only we have control over our thoughts. Winston Churchill , once famously said.... " the  price of true  greatness is that you need to have control over each of your thoughts.... " and how true that actually is , except for the fact that u can not fully control ur thoughts for an hour leave alone a full day , once ur  day  gets cranking .Truth be told, there are so many distractions, so many bottlenecks in our day to day work and with our growing propensity to fill our repsective lives with maximum of everything, thoughts can run amock in our minds and we are all slaves of our mind rather than  the other way around. It is a price too great to pay for , since to become great u may possibly have to renounce all the worldly desires and let go of the  materialistic success and not abide by the laws of modern society which effectively push everyone to the limit.

       It can be likened to an IVP  in the integral calculus. An IVP is a differential equation whose solution is dependent on the initial conditions ascribed to the variables of the problem. Which particular emotion dominates the brain i.e what reactions I tend to come up with during the course of the day depends on the initial condition of the "Initial Value Problem "  which in this particular case would be the feelings I want to allow in the brain at the very outset of the day. So, if I wake up with ANGER ( variable x ) = 0 and HAPPY ( variable y ) = 100 ,  the ultimate solution  i.e  my  mood during the day is likely to be inclined towards the happy  part rather than the angry part.

Boy  !!!! Did  I  just come face to face with death ?  These  and many more questions were pounding my mind just after I climbed down from the most dangerous ride in the amusement park. I was left wondering who comes up with such dangerous concepts of twirling and twisting human bodies in such contorting fashion that they feel like drowning, suffocating, being run over and decapitated at the same time. Exactly the feeling I got while I was on that death ride.When at the topmost point , it felt like I was never going to come down again and that I was already dead  and making my way towards my heavenly abode. It  was like paying someone  huge sums of money to make me undergo such extra terrestrial  experiences. 

Stop all the hue and cry about our cricket team. The hockey team has once and for all settled all the debates about Cricket Vs. Hockey. Both the sports were invented by British but at least in Cricket we can proudly lay claims to being in the Top 5 everytime, whereas in Hockey these blokes failed to even get to the Olympics......H EHEHEHEHE .....At least some sport in the country can hold the torch aloft while singing Chak De India, Chak De India....

  ..... Life  comes in such short bursts and then takes so many things away from you at the very next step.  Here we were , celebrating like there was no tomorrow  after Indian team belted the Aussies, and the next thing you know, we were handed a rude awakening by our Hockey team.    All the chants of Chak de India !!!!  have  been rendered obscene now that we are not even  among the Olympic qualifier teams. Come to think of it  ... Even Canada is in there. !!!!!  How much more it can fall from grace  !!!  God  ,     kill me   now  !!!  kill  me  now  !!!!!! 

....In life we do not necessarily go by our whims and intuitions because it is deemed to be difficult to chart your own path. Unfortunately the path that seems to be the shortest possible or the least treacherous may not turn out to be that.