What a match!

I finally managed to achieve what I have been planning for a long time now… watch a match at Eden – the mecca of cricket! For the ongoing India – Sri Lanka one day series, Dad somehow managed to get 2 tickets…given that I had office that day, he decided to accompany my kid bro for the 1^st half, with me replacing him in the 2nd half...

The day started with my boss announcing to everyone that he was in a very bad mood. Reason – for the 1^st time, he didn’t have a ticket for the match! Oh o I thought.. wrong time to disclose that I was going to Edens. However, once he came to know I had passes, he became more excited than me and was perfectly fine with allowing me to go to watch the 1^st innings as well J this reminded me of the IPL match between KKR & Mumbai Indians where Manish allowed us to run away from office to watch the match!

Tracking the score on cricinfo, I was aghast to see Sri Lanka run away to 315. Anyways, with the incentive of being at Eden Gardens and watching Sehwag / Sachin play, I entered the stadium to watch the 2^nd innings. My brother, who had been sitting through the 1^st innings, had by then, stocked the plastic water packets (water bottles were banned inside the ground) and even managed to patao a man sitting next to us to use his binoculars!

Sehwag & Sachin entered the field to a rapturous welcome. The 1^st boundary from Sehwag’s blade had everyone up & shouting. Sitting near me were 2 gentlemen who were obviously Eden veterans. They were perfectly content to just sit and watch the proceedings. They continuously kept their commentary going, but otherwise, never did they once get up and cheer a boundary or a shot well played...they just politely clapped.. This was in sharp contrast to a group of college students sitting in front of me. Every shot and every run saw them standing up and cheering like mad. This had a Bengali gentleman sitting behind me completely agitated and a shouting match ensued between the 2 before sanity prevailed. The group’s final comment to the gentleman were ‘picture thodi na dekhne aaye hai jo seat par baith kar rahenge’ :D

Suddenly, Sehwag gave catching practice to the fielder and departed. Crowd got restive, but no worries, Sachin was still there. Horrors o horrors, soon Tendulkar also joined Sehwag in the dressing room. There is literally a pin drop silence in the stands. Out walked Kohli and the general chit chat going around me is as follows:

‘aaj to gaya India…’

‘Juvraaj hoto to jeete jetaam aaj ke’ (If Yuvraaj was there, we would have won)

‘Dhoni nei, Juvraaj o nei – kichu hobe na Indiar aajke' ( No Dhoni, No Yuvraaj...nothing will work for India today)

As Kohli’s batting statistics were being displayed on the electronic screen, somebody commented

‘arey dekh iska career best 79 hai’

to which someone replied ‘abey to aaj wapas thodi na 79 maarega!!! ’

But, Kohli did hit 79…infact, bettered it by a mile… Each run from Kohli and Gambhir was cheered and any appeal from the bowler had the crowd booing loudly. And the atmosphere when the two got their centuries – one simply had to be there to witness the madness …Just when Kohli reached his century, the Eden veteran sitting near me, suddenly stood up… Ah..finally he gets up to cheer, were my thoughts… But, he took the water packets safely stored with him, opened them a bit and threw it high in the sky in front to celebrate the centurions J

Kohli fell to a good catch on the boundary but with the target within reaching distance, the crowd welcomed Dinesh Kartik and gave a standing ovation to Kohli. Just when we were 4 runs short of victory, the veterans stood up again…this time however, everyone was ready and ‘packet rain’ followed in the chill of December night as Gambhir hit the winning runs… Slightly soaked, but super charged, we made our way out of the stadium, having witnessed history today J

Pujo time

Pujas were just around the corner – a time when Calcutta completely transforms. Each area puts up a pandal for welcoming the goddess and she is kept in all finery for 5 days. Each pandal tries to outdo the other in their budgets and creativity to get the maximum crowds and the all important awards to establish their supremacy. Every year, my family goes for pandal hopping - a recce of the Puja at different places. It’s an all nighter with junk food and the works…don’t remember how this tradition of going for pandal hopping each year started at our place, but the festive atmosphere is surreal and each of us look forward to it.

This time however, I was in a slightly different frame of mind as we approached the Pujas. Aagh…its that time of the year again I thought. Teeming crowds thronging the roads, bumper to bumper traffic. My mood was not helped by the fact that 45 mins after starting from office, I was still almost half way from my home, a distance which I generally cover in 30 mins. Add to this my anxious colleague who through the days, kept thinking & talking (very loudly) only about the preparations for the Puja at her building complex. I was royally bugged and so all in all, the only saving grace for me was the 4 day holiday for Pujas…

Given my aversion, I was determined to give the pandal hopping a complete miss this year. Holidays started from the Saptami…sheer bliss J my day was panning out just the way I had planned… sleeping, movies, crossword etc etc…I could see the coming 3 days. Then in the evening, my Dad dropped a bomb shell…this year, there would be 2 rounds of pandal hopping – one within Salt Lake (a satellite residential township) & the 2^nd outside Salt Lake! Just as I was about to launch into my well rehearsed speech of not going along with them, came the next bomb shell… my driver would not be coming and so I would be the designated driver for the Salt Lake trip…Damn…all the lines about ‘if you want God to have a good laugh, tell him about your plans’ went through my mind…

Anyways, we started at some 10 pm and 5 mins onto the road, I was badly cursing all the cars in front of me… we were crawling at a snail’s pace and there was absolutely no place to park the car. We finally managed to find a place to park the car and still cursing, I got down with others to see the pandal…the melee of crowds at 10 enthusiastically moving to see the Goddess further irritated me (a pandal is a pandal and a goddess is a goddess! What’s the need to visit so many pandals?? were my words). But, the pandal was a work of art and the Goddess was divine. We then moved to the 2^nd and then the 3^rd and so many others. The enthusiasm of the people was infectious and soon I found myself enjoying the experience. The feeling of being truly blessed when you are looking up at the Goddess is too hard to describe in words. One simply has to be there to experience it. And yes, each pandal and each murti was unique.

To cut a long story short, the night and the next 2 days turned out to be simply fantastic experience. I fell in love with the city again…hats off to the karigars at kumartulli who modeled the Goddess such that no two pandals had the same type. The police and civic volunteers worked through the night to ensure that everyone had a good time. Kudos to them for this as the arrangements this year were just amazing. And as I tucked into an aalu dum at the famous Lake Kalibaari, my thoughts were ‘aaste bochor aabar hobe’

Great jobs?

Massa suffered a massive crash at the Hungarian GP, which ruled him out for the rest of the season. Then much to the delight of all F1 fans, Ferrari announced that Schuamcher would be replacing Massa for the remaining 2009 season. However, this was not to be. An old neck injury prevented the great Schumi come back and after an inspired win at the Belgian Grand Prix, Force India’s Giancarlo Fisichella won the much coveted position of the Ferrari driver for the ongoing season.

While Fisi would be driving the car in 2009, in all probability, he would only be the reserve driver in 2010. This hasn’t deterred him from accepting the position and he is perfectly happy playing the role of reserve driver with Ferrari when he could have easily been the main driver for Force India or any other team. Such great is the prestige associated with Ferrari along with the opportunities that would be available to a player after doing a stint at Ferrari.

This incident got me thinking: which other jobs / companies command such a high respect / prestige that someone would be willing to take a small role there instead of a bigger & more important role in a smaller organization: Investment Banks of the likes of Lehman, ML, Goldman (before the recession of course!) immediately come to mind as do the consultancy firms like Bain, Mckinsey etc.

Any other?

Last Day..

So much to do and so little time left...! As they say, old habits die hard :)

Potternama

Dear Mr. David Yates,

Having watched the earlier Potter movies and my general distaste for movies based on books (Angels and Demons, Da Vinci Code – you know the type) it was with a sense of great trepidation that I entered the cinema hall to watch the Half Blood Prince. But then, when the request to see the movie comes from your 9 year old brother, you really don’t have a choice, do you?

The 1^st 10 minutes – immobile pictures in the Daily Prophet (!!), Dumbeldore arriving unannounced on the platform, Harry seeming just a wee bit reluctant to go along with Dumbeldore – reconfirmed my fears. There it goes again, I thought. Why cant the makers just stick to the book!! But, moving on, I was in for a pleasant surprise. The book has been followed more or less (elaborated below), some parts edited out do not add much to the narrative, new characters played their parts well and the movie was sufficiently dark to act as a good prelude to the grand finale. The narrative was good enough to be followed by those who haven’t read the book yet. Why, even my brother exclaimed that he finally understood Draco’s mission was to kill Dumbeldore after pestering me through out the movie to spill the big secret (and no…I didn’t give him a single clue!). So kudos for that.

Let us now come to the ‘more or less’ bit mentioned above.

1. Harry taken to Slughorn’s place to convince him to take up the teaching job at Hogwarts. Unlike the book, here, Slughorn didn’t need any convincing from Harry at all and readily agreed just as Dumbeldore started to leave. So apart from seeing Slughorn emerge out after masquerading as an arm chair, there wasn’t any thing else in that scene.

2. Molly (along with Ginny, Ron, Hermione) being completely clueless that Harry was coming over to the Burrow. Dumdeldore had gone to the Privet Drive precisely for that reason – escort Potter to the Burrow safely for his remaining holidays (of course with a detour to Slughorn’s place)!

3. Draco entering Bogin & Burkes with the trio (Harry, Ron & Hermione) following them. At one point, they climbed over a roof to see what Malfoy was up to. Climbing??? They are wizards for chrissake! And whatever happened to the Extendable Ears invented by Fred and George especially when their shop at Diagon Alley was showcased in full glory 2 scenes before!

4. Bellatrix Lestrange and Fenrir Greyback attacking the Burrow with Harry, Ginny, Lupin, Tonks and Mr. Weasley rushing outside. After that, the Burrow was set ablaze. The Burrow along with the Privet Drive was placed under the strongest possible protection by the members of the Order. So, this scene was nothing but pure fabrication. Did we really run out of scenes that you had to resort to this kind of ‘creativity’ L

5. Ginny taking Harry to the Room of Requirement (RoR) to hide the Half Blood Prince’s Potions book. The RoR was discovered by Harry and utilized time and again before this (DA classes being just one example). Pls give Ginny and Potter more credit than that! Her fiery temper, quick wit, quidditch talent have been completely discounted.

6. Towards the end, Harry waiting silently while he sees Dumdeldore being surrounded by Draco and other Death Eaters. In walks Snape, gestures Harry to be quiet, moves up and finally kills Dumbeldore. Atrocious! Harry would rather die than follow any instruction from Snape especially when Dumbeldore is sick, unarmed and surrounded. In the book, he had been immobilized by Dumbeldore by a freezing charm (a non verbal spell) and hence was unable to move – unlike what has been shown in the movie. And I am not even mentioning the complete absence of the DA members in the last fight…!

Modify these and you have an amazing movie adapted from a book…still, not discounting that this movie is a good one.

No hint of romance between Lupin & Tonks and Bill & Fleur is enough for me to pre-empt which parts are definitely going to be chopped / not shot at all in the Deathly Hallows. Nonetheless, here’s hoping for the grandest and the best of all for the finale – the Deathly Hallows..!

Regards,

A Potter Fan

Bandhs

After a long hiatus, grey shades is back to talk about bandhs..

When we were kids, bandhs meant watching TV / reading books through the day. Then depending on whether it was a 12 hr or 24 hr bandh, we used to step out in the evening for chaat or a meal. All in all, we used to think a stay well spent…! My Dad however used to get super excited on these days. He conveniently used to stick a ‘Press’ poster on his car and rush to his office in the early hours of the morning before bandh officially kick started. I remember we sisters and friends praying fervently for a divine (read Mamta more often than not) intervention before every exam.

As we grew up, we realized bandhs are quite a regular phenomenon in this wonder state called Bengal. They were called for the slightest of reasons - lawlessness in the state, highhandedness of the govt in power, some policy of the central govt., - you name it, we have had it. And, promptly on that one call (whether by the state govt or the opposition), the entire city would shut down.

To give credit to the bandh callers, the day of the bandh was chosen quite strategically – not any day of the day would do… mind you, the bandh had to be on a Monday or a Friday so that the hardworking people of Bengal could get the benefit of an extended 3 day weekend. Who says politicians don’t work for the welfare of the people…!

Slowly but surely, the sheer futility of the bandhs hit us. Crippling the entire state on the whims and fancies of the CPM or the opposition was criminal. Spare a thought for the daily wage earners who wouldn’t get anything to eat if they don’t get a full day work. But, when you are tackling larger issues like terrorism, lawlessness, Singur, the daily wage earner can take a hike. I have no clue what was achieved through the bandhs and the damage done to Bengal and its people with each bandh was evident. I remember one bandh called in the city to protest against the terrorist attacks in Zaveri Bazar, Mumbai. On this, an Industry captain had commented: ‘I find it extremely funny that Mumbai is up and running the day after the attacks, while Calcutta has chosen to shut itself down in protest of these attacks’. This bandh obviously did not deter the terrorists from bombing Ahmedabad / Delhi / Mumbai etc. J

Today another 12 hr bandh has been called in the state to protest the attacks on the Congress workers by the CPM. Anyone who thought that the MLA who ran 3 kms in the paddy fields, chappals in hand and dhoti held high, to save his life from the CPM workers running behind him, would let this incident pass by were sorely mistaken. The entire state will pay for it – already evidenced by the torching of 7 state buses yesterday. To top it all, my 9 year old brother says ‘I had an exam today…awesome now I don’t have to study’ – somethings clearly haven’t changed...

Gentleman’s game…

Passion, anger, exhilaration, dejection… few things in life invoke so many emotions at one go & cricket features very high on that list… one just has to witness the old matches between Australia-England (Bradman, Botham era), India-Pakistan and more recently the India-Australia matches to understand what I mean…

The colourful mass of the tricolour or the ‘greened’ stadium cheering Pakistan… England’s Barmy Army or Pakistan’s Jalil Chacha, Indian spectators provoking ‘Aalu’ (Inzamam-ul-Haq) or ‘Monkey’ (Symonds)… each spectator either in the stadium or watching the action live on TV becomes so personally involved in the match as if it is a life and death situation & gives cricket its  religion / cult status in the sub-continent... the colourful abuses & commentary at Eden Gardens stand testimony to this J … as does the world cup semi-final flare up at Eden & the Pakistan-India test match being played out in front of empty stadiums in Chennai… Half of the Indians haven’t met Javed Miandad, but almost all of them feel a personal enmity against Miandad for that famous six off Chetan Sharma…that’s cricket for u……

Almost every one among us has been subjected to ‘stay where u r if the team is doing good’ rule… This will be testified by none other Kris Srikkanth who was forced to remain standing outside on a cold windy day when Kapil Dev scored his brilliant 175 not out at Turnbridge Wells against Zimbabwe in the 1983 world cup…!

With this kind of public frenzy, no wonder each match against the famed opponents becomes a do-or-die situation for the players as well…tensions & tempers run high…well directed abuse, a hurried shove or just some fantastic cricket … anything to break the concentration of a well set player, or demoralize a player…this calls for a lot of exciting cricket which gives rise to some of the best cricketing moments… while I had the privilege to watch some of these, others have been compiled from our very own googleji (where else…)

1. Miandad vs Sharma: Venue: Sharjah, 1986. Australasia Cup Final. Pakistan needed 4 to win off the last ball… Indian fans were sitting happy & relaxed… the match was as good as won… in comes chetan sharma to bowl the last ball…  a full toss, bowled to Javed Miandad who swung his bat & hit a six! An almost unthinkable feat which ensured 2 things – miandad suddenly became every Indian’s enemy and Indian pace attack suddenly lost its sting … such was the loss in confidence that prior to this game, Pakistan had lost 6 of their 9 ODIs against India. After Sharjah, Pakistan won 8 of the next 9 matches against India, with 5 of them being played in India…

2. Sohail vs Prasad: Venue: Banglore, 1996 World Cup, Quarter Final. Chasing India's score of 287-8, pakistan got off to a flyer of a start, Amir Sohail and Saeed Anwar went about tearing the Indian bowling attack. Anwar fell with the score on 84 but Sohail continued to shred the opening bowlers. He brought up his fifty at more than a run a ball and celebrated with a sizzling slash off Prasad. Sohail after hitting the shot pointed his bat the area where the bowl had disappeared and then towards Prasad apparently gesturing where he will send the next one. Attempting to repeat the shot, Sohail made room, exposed his stumps and lost his wicket.  As the wicket lay uprooted, Prasad returned the favour to Sohail, pointing to the pavilion this time. The comeback was truly remarkable, almost a miracle .... Prasad has bowled thousands of deliveries and taken hundereds of wickets in his career but, it was this one granted him a place in the History of Indian Cricket .. for ever... the ghost of Miandad's last ball six was exorcised, once and for all as India went to win this epic game…

3. Waugh vs Gibbs: 1999 World Cup, Super Six League Match: Australia vs S.Africa… at 48-3, the Aussies chasing 271 were clearly in trouble…the fightback was led by Steve Waugh… luck favoured him when he was given a lifeline by Hershelle Gibbs who let the ball slip from his grasp as he prematurely celebrated Waugh’s dismissal on 56… such was his confidence that Waugh reportedly told Gibbs: ‘you just dropped the world cup mate...' he went on to score 120 & won Australia the match… Waugh’s world proved prophetic as Australia defeated S. Africa in a tie in the semi-final by virtue of this Super Six match & then went on to win the World Cup…

4. Waugh vs Ganguly: Venue: Eden Gardens, 2001: 2^nd Test Match: Day 5: Chasing 383 to win, Australia were 166-3. Just before tea, Ganguly dropped a sharp chance off Waugh at backward square leg…Waugh repeated his ‘you just dropped the Test mate..’ line to Ganguly… In Ganguly’s own words, ‘maybe if he had said nothing, the game would have drifted to a draw, the result that appeared to be its natural conclusion. But, it (Waugh’s words) had the effect of geeing up the Indians. Immediately after tea, Harbhajan got Waugh out and Dravid gave him a sendoff from slip asking who had given away the Test match now.' A sure case of over confidence……

5. Tendulkar vs Qadir: Venue: Pakistan, 1989. Sachin had recently made his debut in Pakistan…not even old enough to to get a driving licence, Tendulkar was facing the best bowlers in the business. As the Pakistani crows jeered and mocked Sachin holding out the placards saying  ‘Doodh Pita Bachcha ..ghar jaake doodh pi, Sachin sent the then young leg spinner Mustaq Ahmed hiding for cover (he had hit two sixes in one over). The frustrated mentor of Mustaq Ahmed, the legendary Abdul Qadir challenged Sachin saying ‘Bachchon ko kyon mar rahe ho? Hamein bhi maar dikhao’.. Tendulkar obliged Qadir…he hit 4 sixes in Qadir’s over, making the spinner look the kid in the contest. The over read 6, 0, 4, 6 6 6, David had felled Goliath ... and a legend was born.

6. Viv Richards vs Greg Thomas: County championship between Glamorgan & Somerset: Glamorgan quickie Greg Thomas had beaten Viv Richards' bat a couple of times and informed the legendary West Indian ace: ‘It's red, round and weighs about five ounces, in case you were wondering.’ The very next ball was given the King Viv treament and smashed out of the ground, into a river - at which point Richards piped up: ‘Greg, you know what it looks like. Now go and find it.’

7. McGrath vs Brandes: Aus vs Zimbabwe: Aussies have been known to sledge…not all cricketers take this lying down & some like Eddo Brandes gave it back fittingly… McGrath was bowling to Zimbabwe’s No. 11 batsman Brandes, who was unable to get his bat anywhere near the ball. McGrath, frustrated that Brandes was still at the crease, wandered up during one particular over and inquired: ‘Why are you so fat?’ Quick as a flash, Brandes replied: ‘Because every time I make love to your wife, she gives me a biscuit ‘

And now for the funniest of all: Incident described in "From the Pavilion End" by Harold ‘Dickie’ Bird: ‘Bomber’ Wells, a spin bowler and great character, played for Glocuestershire and Nottinghamshire. He used to bat at No.11 since one couldn't bat any lower. Of him, they used to paraphrase Compton's famous words describing an equally inept runner; ’When he shouts 'YES' for a run, it is merely the basis for further negotiations!’ Once when Wells played for Gloucs, he had an equally horrendous runner as the No.10. During a county match, horror of horrors.......both got injured. *Both* opted for runners when it was their turn to bat. Bomber played a ball on the off, called for a run, forgot he had a runner and ran himself. Ditto at the other end. In the melee, someone decided that a second run was on. Now we had *all four* running. Due to the confusion and constant shouts of "YES" "NO", eventually, *all* of them ran to the same end. Note - at this point in time, the entire ground is rolling on the floor laughing their behinds out. One of the fielders - brave lad - stops laughing for a minute, picks the ball and throws down the wicket at the other end. Umpire Alec Skelding looks very seriously at the four and calmly informs them ‘One of you buggers is out. I don't know which. *You* decide and inform the bloody scorers!’

Raju nahi raha gentleman

We couldn’t have asked for a more shocking start to the New Year… just when the economies, battered and bruised from the onslaught of sub-prime crisis, recession, bankruptcies, were limping back to normalcy, came another nail in the coffin – corporate fraud…whether this is the final nail or more such skeletons will come stumbling out of the cupboard, only time will tell…

It all starts with a small lie, minute misreporting - under or over statement, to cover the losses and present a better picture… & very soon, it balloons into a huge crisis. The incident once again proves that people just refuse to learn from history… what led to Nick Leeson & Baring Bank’s downfall, now has contributed in making Satyam a junk stock with the now ex-Chairman's damaging disclosures… Problem however is that while the ECB stepped in to safeguard the beleaguered depositors of Barings Bank, the stake holders of Satyam have just about no where to go…

Satyam thus because of its misdeeds, has catapulted into the Enron league with PwC looking to go the Arthur Andersen way… looks like the ban on PwC from auditing NBFCs and banks post Global Trust Bank fiasco, lifted in Mar-08, is now back for good...The audit club just keeps on shrinking…will it be Big 3 now?

This unfortunate incident raises a lot of uncomfortable questions which we otherwise took for granted… Who has the final say on what numbers will be put for reporting, how did the entire company including the top management remain so clueless on the actual numbers, how did the auditors allow such a gaffe, how come the umpteen analysts tracking the scrip and FIIs, MFs invested in the scrip did not smell anything cooking, how come the banks took the reported numbers as final for deciding how much to lend…the list goes on…

While one can question the growth in the numbers achieved & stated in the balance sheet, how does one question the numbers itself? Entities like banks, audit firms etc. have all been set up for different purposes with each entity having separate responsibilities and system overall having supposedly stringent checks and balances. This basic premise has now been questioned as a result of this crisis (as has been the case in all crises)…What we see here is a mass hoodwinking scheme where everyone was taken for one jolly good ride (the sadist in me gloated over the fact that my bank is not one of the 6 banks to Satyam). Ironical…given that the company stood 2nd in the Asia, Pacific and Africa Region for its Corporate Governance practice in 2008…!!

The banks which had anyways become cautious on whom to lend, now will be forced to take a hard relook at all the companies balance sheets and numbers… another round of scenario analysis (the audit oversight sensitivity or fudging sensitivity now), MIS and downgrading follows…more bad news for India and the Indian growth story…

The sad truth is however that checks & balances have failed to avoid any failure in past and there is so reason to believe that future will be any different. While one can do endless analysis on a company, there really is no replacement to gut feeling when it comes to deciding where to invest or whom to lend. Seasoned bankers and investors swear by it and there definitely seems to be a lot of merit in going by one’s own judgement instead of believing some excel workings…As my friend recently commented, this is one hell of a time to be working in financial sector… people like me & my friend above, who started working 1.5 year back, couldn’t have asked for a better exposure (pun intended)…

P.S. Apologies for the extremely corny heading…suggestions for changes will be welcome…