I strongly support Saurav Ganguly.
He has to be made the captain of the Indian cricket team as soon as possible.
Rahul Dravid is a poor replacement for this post.

I understand that Rahul Dravid is immensely talented, and probably without doubt the best batsman India has as of now.
However, he is no leader of men.
What we require is aggression of the calibre that Ganguly possesses.

India has always been shy of aggression.
Anyone who is aggressive to a positive extent is immediately pulled down by the so-called peace loving Indians.
These are the same pseudo-secular Indians, whom Varsha Bhosle calls pinkos.

Coming back to cricket, although Ganguly has lost his form and touch, I still believe that he can lead this Indian team.
Leading by example need not necessarily be true.
Ganguly has it in him to get out of his men more than what they are capable of.
If one ill-mannered Aussie foul mouths him, Ganguly returns it with a bouquet of abuses.
Rahul Dravid returns it with a diplomatic statement which would be nowhere close to what the Aussie might have suggested.
Ganguly has it in him to get the team’s adrenalin pumping.
Above all this, the passion that Ganguly displays upon the fall of an opposition’s wicket beyond doubt gets the whole nation in frenzy.
Upon winning the Natwest trophy, the gesture displayed in the balcony at Lord’s was one that clearly stated that his team rocked.

On similar lines, you have George W. Bush leading the world’s superpower.
Now, Mr. Bush is no intellectual and neither does he have it in him to able to pacify every body in his cabinet.
What he does have, however, is grit and determination and aggression.
By no means do I stand for or oppose his current position.
But what I want to bring out is that a leader of a team need not always be the best-qualified person.
Rahul Dravid is by far the best-qualified cricketer in this country; probably in the world as well.
But as a leader of the Indian cricket team, I would rather vouch for the prince of Kolkata.

“On the off-side, first there is God. And then, there is Saurav Ganguly” – Rahul Dravid.

Long live the prince.

I was reading an article related to dinosaurs in the National Geographic magazine.
One question that was pointed out – Why were the dinosaurs so humongous? What made them so big?
Now that is an interesting question.
We have all watched Jurassic Park and followed it up by reading snippets about dinosaurs.
But I really doubt whether many of us wondered about this question.

The article comes up with many theories.
One was based on the good old theory that bigger is better.
(My personal bias: I detest any theory that relies on Darwinism, because, for some unexplainable reason, I am not convinced by that theory)
It stated that to escape predators, you have to be as big as possible.
So the dinosaurs evolved into huge creatures and thereby were able to thwart any fatal attempts made by their predators.

Another theory was that in reality a major percentage of the dinosaurs were small and tiny.
However, since their bones couldn’t last for long, we don’t know much about them.
The bones of the large-sized dinosaurs were able to survive the lashings of time and hence we are made to believe that most of the dinosaurs were big in size.

A third theory goes on to state that the vegetation prevalent in that era required a lot of processing in order to be fit for a living creature.
Hence the animals required huge stomachs to store this vegetation and process it before absorbing it.
Due to this, the dinosaurs grew big in size.

However, I suppose bigger is not always better.
A species of small sized dinosaurs managed to escape the extinction phase and have survived till date.
We call them birds.

Something tells me this is going to be a long post.
Something lied.

Down with a severe cold.
Took the day off.

My nose is blocked.
My tastebuds refuse to obey.

Wonderful breeze outside.

The day was in fast forward mode.

Lot of work.
Some lunch.
Lot of work again.
Drive back home
Followed by a conversation about my opinion of one of the departments of the organisation.
My sensitity came to the fore.
If I wasn’t subjected to listening to Radio City in the mornings and evenings, I think I would have been a lot more sensitive a person.
Got home, listened to some Hindi music after quite a long time.

My favourite Hindi tracks of this day:
Woh Lamhe (DJ Mix) – Zehar
Kaisi Paheli Zindgani – Parinita (This is an awesome song; carries a Jazz flavour)

My all time favourite Hindi tracks:
Tujhse Naaraz Nahi Zindagi – Masoom
Tumko Dekha to Yeh Khayal Aaya – Arth
Jaane woh Kaise Log they – Pyaasa
Seene mein Jalan – Gaman (This track, well and truly rocks; a Farooque Sheik starrer, this film was set in the Mumbai of 70s – If someone can get a hold of this VCD/DVD, do let me know please!)

The songs, unlike the day, weren’t in fast forward mode.

Currently reading: Unforgettable People – A Reader’s Digest Selection
Currently playing: What If – Coldplay
Currently breathing: Air
Currently thinking: About the next sentence to be written
Currently drinking: Water
Currently dreaming: About getting some sleep

Dreaming about getting some sleep.
Nice.

I’ve slowly started suffering from a lack of focus.
At any given point of time, there are atleast three or more things keeping my mind occupied.
Three or more unrelated things.
Due to this, I am unable to do justice to any single piece of thought.

I just find my circuits shorted most of the time.
I am either thinking about something that is of no relevance to the current work or I am trying to remember things that had to be finished.
There is a collage of events and people in my head all the time, and when I try to focus on one of the images, it disappears and gets replaced by some other image.

I need to get back to the way I was.
Soon, else I shall be down and out.

Happy Birthday to Albert Pinto.

Albert Pinto, a.k.a, er…well, can’t reveal that.

Albert Pinto walked into my school in 11th and there he was with a religious symbol on his forehead (the three white strips that Lord Siva adorns)
Then I meet him during lunch, and his choice of words during the first conversation dispel away any notions that I had about him being a religiously studious nerd.

Albert Pinto, even then, was a man of his own world.
A world where cynicism and pessimism light up the streets.
A world where any good deed is termed B.S.

What B.S is that?
Albert Pinto and Dhi Only One along with the Soldier and at times Chilli would cycle back home from school.
I also remember waiting at Pavitra on my cycle for Albert Pinto to turn up in the mornings on my way to school.

Then there were those walks in and around our area, for no specific reason whatsoever.
We didn’t really spot any good looking babes during those walks, and Albert Pinto couldn’t care a damn.
Then the furtive glances before a dash into Kentaky.
The chilli chicken over there continues to remain a weakness of Albert Pinto.

The Blackboard incident….oops, sorry.
Due to my careless mistake, Albert might now have to go underground yet again.

Currently he is in some part of South East Asia (or is he?).
Hope you have a blast there dude!!
Long live VDL, the dart board practice and the subsequent mess. Hahahaha.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

Early morning drive to office.

A drizzle.
Tiny droplets of water settled down comfortably on the windshield.
No excess water to drive them away; no strong wind to blow them away.

Water droplets on the windshield making the world look blurry.
When the world looked blurry, for an instant, just for that instant, everything seemed nice and simple.

The wiper was turned on, the droplets cleared.
The world became clearer.
The complexities became clearer.
Life was back again in the forefront.

Happy Birthday to Aunt!

I was reading an article in the paper today that said that we choose the people in our lives before we are born.
We choose all the major events of our life before we are born.

In that sense, I am really glad to have chosen aunt to be there.
Right from Fendi to this day, its been a long journey and an enriching one.
An immense source of strength for Dhi Only One.

Lots.