(In this column of I shall put forward thoughts that course through my mind - too small to be separate blog posts but too long to be mere passing fancies).
1) MS Dhoni is one of the most successful captains in modern day cricket (and is fast moving up the ranks of the all-timers). I have read as many articles about him as I can in an effort to figure out what he thinks. Lately, he has openly admitted that he does not attend the bowler's meeting prior to a match as he does not want to go in with a pre-conceived strategy. This is admirable, because it clearly shows that he is willing (and able) to think on his feet during the game.
Around the world supporters of the Indian team made all kinds of sacrifices and promises to ensure that the obstacles to a cricket World Cup win would be as minimal as possible. The sacrifices came in various shapes and sizes and ranged from the small to the big, from not changing one's seat during the Final to offering to give up chocolates for a whole year.
However, as far back as last July, the World Cup win had already been sealed as far as JJ and I were concerned. Our cricket ground, Freedom Park, is located less than 50 yards from the Missouri River. Last summer the river flooded extensively and left behind big pools of water on the field. We were to play a game on Sunday and wanted to organize it no matter what. So, one Friday evening in early July, JJ and I toiled for a long time, clearing all the pools of water by hand, filling up a couple of big buckets, and then emptying them beyond the field - repeating the process umpteen times. We motivated ourselves with the thought that if we were successful in organizing a game on Sunday, India would win the World Cup.
We did have a game that Sunday and India did win the World Cup. Unrelated events? I think not! Listen carefully to the video and note that the path to an Indian win is littered by sacrifices like ours.
This was filmed between 4th and 11th April 2011. I had the pleasure of visiting El Teide.
Spain´s highest mountain @(3715m) is one of the best places in the world to photograph the stars and is also the location of Teide Observatories, considered to be one of the world´s best observatories.
The goal was to capture the beautiful Milky Way galaxy along with one of the most amazing mountains I know El Teide. I have to say this was one of the most exhausting trips I have done. There was a lot of hiking at high altitudes and probably less than 10 hours of sleep in total for the whole week. Having been here 10-11 times before I had a long list of must-see locations I wanted to capture for this movie, but I am still not 100% used to carrying around so much gear required for time-lapse movies.
A large sandstorm hit the Sahara Desert on the 9th April (http://bit.ly/g3tsDW) and at approx 3am in the night the sandstorm hit me, making it nearly impossible to see the sky with my own eyes.
Interestingly enough my camera was set for a 5 hour sequence of the milky way during this time and I was sure my whole scene was ruined. To my surprise, my camera had managed to capture the sandstorm which was backlit by Grand Canary Island making it look like golden clouds. The Milky Way was shining through the clouds, making the stars sparkle in an interesting way. So if you ever wondered how the Milky Way would look through a Sahara sandstorm, look at 00:32.
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(This is a very long post. Disjointed and unorganized. It is a post 28 years in the making but I did not realize it till I sat down to actually write it. I can remember every little detail about the 2nd of April, 2011 like it was (day before) yesterday but just not in sequence! My reminisces about the day are also like that. I nearly deleted this post because of its rambling nature until I was convinced that I should publish it nevertheless because there are people who want to read what I write!)
...Oh My God! I think I may have just cost India the World Cup. How could I be so stupid?! It is 3:10am and I am driving east on Maple Street approaching the 204th street intersection. The light is red and I tell myself, if it stays red India loses, if it turns green India wins. It turns green! Phew! But not satisfied with dodging that bullet, I decide that if the light stays green until it is no longer visible in my rearview mirror then victory is assured. Oh no...oh no...oh no... Phew! I can no longer see it but then I reach 168th street and turn left. Oh dear, I can see the traffic light to the left in the distance, still green but how long can it hold on? Idiot!! How could I be so stupid?!!
Miracle of miracles, it stays green the whole time! India is going to win! After that - Never. A. Doubt. Honestly, God promise.
Coming up, very soon, a post on what I did on the 2nd day of April in the year 2011. Apart from the usual nonsense - get up, take a shower, drive around for a few minutes, etc., - I did catch a cricket match. I have been writing and writing and am still not done but I know my loyal followers (all 4 of them, I think) are waiting eagerly (one hopes)!
This post is just to say, "Have patience, my friend. A post is on its way." In it I shall reference, among other things, Rabindranath Tagore, OBO ("What's that?," you say? You'll just have to wait), Clint Eastwood, Keyser Söze, Saturn (the planet not the car), Lord of the Rings, Teddy (not Roosevelt but my dog), Doordarshan Samachar, 28 runs in 104 80 balls, Helen of Troy, and VVS Laxman (but, of course).
Until then, feast on this iconic image of the shot heard around the world:
I have been trolling the web for the past few days looking for articles about the Final that rise beyond the common and seek a balance between hype and conjecture.
Call it a search for a frame of reference for the occasion, if you will.
With reference to the strategy for tomorrow's game, a small nugget comforted me and told me that the Indian team is in good hands. I trust MS Dhoni implicitly. Win or lose, I am happy he is our captain.
Like he (Dhoni) has always done, he will stay away from the bowlers meeting on Friday night, saying it helps him formulate his own alternative plans, if the bowling begins to fray on the field the next day.
Having beaten West Indies, Australia, and Pakistan (in that order, too), India has one other World Cup-winning team left in its sights - Sri Lanka. It is too wonderful a co-incidence to not be part of some mage-super-dooper plan. Or so I believe.
A date with Destiny awaits and I will leave you with these words by Rudyard Kipling (from If):
If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
(...)
If you can dream - and not make dreams your master;
If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with triumph and disaster
And treat those two imposters just the same;
(...)
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on";
(...)
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you;
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run -
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And - which is more - you'll be a Man my son!
It is finally upon us - a cricket final in Mumbai, featuring an Indian team.
Here are some last-minute thoughts on the off-chance that an Indian player reads it and passes along the message to MS Dhoni.
a) Virender Sehwag promised to bat 50 overs. Now would be a good time for him to remember the promise. If he bats 50 overs, the game is almost certainly out of Sri Lanka's reach.
b) Sachin Tendulkar is going to score his 100th international century in the Final. Not for nothing has he accumulated no less than 26 international scores in the 90's. A few years ago in Cuttack, Dinesh Karthik went ballistic with SRT eying a century, stranding him on 96 not out against the Sri Lankans. Now I know for sure that Dinesh did not strand the Master, it was part of a Grand Plan.
While on that, can we stop calling SRT a "Little" Master? He has gone beyond the Little stage by now, I would like to think.
c) In Masada, I trust. I had a dream vision that Masada and SRT were at the crease as the winning runs were scored. That means...
d) Masada needs to lose the toss. I have more faith in the batting chasing down a total than the bowling defending a total. Invariably, because of the great start that Sehwag provides the commentators place a curse on the Indian team by talking about projected scores in excess of 350, only to have the natural course of events bring it down to the 260-280 range which feels like a letdown when, in fact, it should feel like a great total.
e) Ravi Shastri: I know it is the final of a World Cup. You need not scream yourself hoarse reminding us of it. We know that you will be feeling the following things:
It does not get any bigger than this.
It's anybody's game.
The atmosphere is electric.
What the batting team needs is a good partnership.
What the bowling team needs is a couple of quick wickets
(or, if it is late in the inning) a couple of good overs.
f) While their careers have overlapped for almost 19 years, I was shocked to read that SRT has faced only 91 balls in ODIs and 366 balls in Tests from Muttiah Muralitharan. What?!! here's hoping for 59 more (and someone else's wicket off the 60th one for Murali).
There are many more thoughts but considering how incoherent the previous ones have been, I should just shut up and write only after my nerves have settled.
The cricket World Cup's schedule was ostensibly set up to ensure that, at the very least, India made it to the knockout stage. In reality, it was set up to ensure that all the teams that made it to the knock-out stage did so because of a proper body of work and not because of one or two fortuitous days of play (as was the case with Kenya in 2003). In the end it worked out well. Say what you will about England's tortured path to the quarter-finals, they had a chance to atone for losing to Ireland and Bangladesh. Similarly, Bangladesh needed a sustained performance and not just one good day (beating England, for example) to get it to move forward.
Also, the schedule was spaced out such that no team complained about not having enough time between matches, ensuring that all 8 teams came into the QF's with plenty of rest as well as match practice.
With that in mind, here are some thoughts about the quarter-final matches that have been played so far.
One of the advantages of teaching at a small liberal arts institution is the freedom to design and offer courses that are close to your heart. In January 2011, I was fortunate enough to lead a group of 6 students through the world of Tropical Ecology. Apart from not being in the right ecosystem, Nebraska in the winter is definitely not the place to have field trips about Tropical Ecology. Consequently, one portion of the course involved a 10-day trip to Puerto Rico where we got to see for ourselves all the things we talked about in the classroom.
This is a travelogue of our adventures together, the sights we saw, the things we did, and the lessons we learned.
Day 4 and Day 5 marked the birthdays of two of the members of the group. What are the odds that in a 10-day trip taken by 7 folks, two of them would celebrate a birthday in that period? After the obligatory midnight birthday ritual, we went to sleep knowing that Day 4 would be one filled with with a lot of walking and talking, sometimes both together. AJ finally had company under the stars, with MB joining him after the midnight party.
One of the advantages of teaching at a small liberal arts institution is the freedom to design and offer courses that are close to your heart. In January 2011, I was fortunate enough to lead a group of 6 students through the world of Tropical Ecology. Apart from not being in the right ecosystem, Nebraska in the winter is definitely not the place to have field trips about Tropical Ecology. Consequently, one portion of the course involved a 10-day trip to Puerto Rico where we got to see for ourselves all the things we talked about in the classroom.
This is a travelogue of our adventures together, the sights we saw, the things we did, and the lessons we learned.
Day 3 dawned bright and early for AJ who took advantage of the warm weather and brilliant skies to sleep under the stars. He did wake up at the break of dawn to capture some silent sights from Percy's Perch.
One of the advantages of teaching at a small liberal arts institution is the freedom to design and offer courses that are close to your heart. In January 2011, I was fortunate enough to lead a group of 6 students through the world of Tropical Ecology. Apart from not being in the right ecosystem, Nebraska in the winter is definitely not the place to have field trips about Tropical Ecology. Consequently, one portion of the course involved a 10-day trip to Puerto Rico where we got to see for ourselves all the things we talked about in the classroom.
This is a travelogue of our adventures together, the sights we saw, the things we did, and the lessons we learned.
These are not the first words you want to hear when you walk into a car rental company's office, expecting to pick up a 15-seater van. I may not be many things, but one thing I definitely am is thorough. No sooner had the lady said that, I pulled out three different pieces of paper that showed that I was supposed to be at her office at 8am (which I was, on the dot!). A few minutes of frantic phone calling ensued before the lady tried to cajole me into settling for two minivans (no way!). A few more frantic phone calls later, a very sour-faced lady handed me the keys to a 15-seater van - the courtesy van that received folks at the airport and brought them to the rental agency in San Juan! So, for the next 10 days, I wandered around the island advertising the rental company while also being mistaken on multiple occasions for the ferry to the airport.
What if you did not have the ability to choose your own path in life? What if it was already pre-ordained? How would you live the rest of your life? What could you do in the (supposed) absence of Free Will? The Adjustment Bureau asks those questions about Free Will and Choice and more.
I went in expecting a sci-fi movie with thrills and spills and chases. I came away with the distinct impression that I saw a very well made love story. Yes, there are thrills and spills and chases, but they are moments of kinetic force that simply let you appreciate the tenderness with which the love story develops. Matt Damon and Emily Blunt were meant to be together! Or were they? Sometimes, it is not clear if even The Adjustment Bureau knows. And that is where the movie rises above the level of a typical one.
Matt Damon and Ben Affleck came into the industry together, but have forged two vastly different careers. Matt is able to juxtapose his Bourne Identity action hero image with intelligent choices in what we would call hatke movies. This movie is another feather in his cap.
As you watch the movie, you find yourself asking questions about what you would do if you found out your life was already pre-ordained to a certain degree. Would you try to break the shackles or would you set forth to get some control over your choices? The answers are not always that simple and the questions are not always that complicated.
A pivotal scheduled clash between two of the strongest teams in the World Cup is at hand. Rather than do a running diary after every over, I shall write frequently, as and when thoughts come to mind during the telecast. Pardon the typos. After all, even the best of batsmen edge the ball during the best of innings.
2:55am: Further signs that the world in indeed going to end in 2012 - India goes into a cricket match at home with fewer specialist spinners than South Africa. India adopts the horses for courses strategy and takes just Harbhajan (Economy) Singh into the game. Of course, the course we are preparing for is a South African one. I hope Yuvraj Singh takes a few wickets. After all, Economy has been told by his captain to not worry about wickets as long as he contains the scoring.
By the way, just as it is not uncommon for my students to develop those 24-hour flus on the day of an exam, now that South Africa have made the quarter-final, leg-spinner Imran Tahir has a fractured thumb on his non-bowling hand that will take 10 days to heal. Just enough time to miss out on the rest of the league games but not too long that he will miss any of the knock-out games. Along the way, it surprised no one (and I predicted this would happen before the World Cup in an email to a friend) Tahir picks up the injury on the eve of the match against India.
Thanks to the replay feature of WillowTV I witnessed one of the most nerveless inning I have ever seen during a run chase. Other batsmen took the glory but watching Mahmudullah calmly farm the strike and play out the good deliveries, showing no sign of panic in spite of Bangladesh's precarious position, was a sight for sore eyes. There is always room for a calm head in a tense chase. Cricket may increasingly advertise its slam-bang nature, but the wins are set up by the pillars, not the wall hangings.
I have followed Mahmudullah quite closely since his Test debut a couple of years ago. (Yes, I do watch all kinds of Test cricket - including Bangladesh!) I wasn't surprised when he scored a century under pressure in New Zealand last year and it is not surprising that his 21 in 42 balls with the team 8 wickets down proved to be the fulcrum that Shafiul Islam used to pry open a win from a tenacious English team.
Unfortunately, in a few days, folks will have moved on. Someone looking at the scorecard in a few years will simply focus on the contribution of Iqbal and Kayes and Islam. Everyone else will forget his contribution, but I shall always cherish this inning from Mahmudullah. Long may he serve the game of cricket.
2010 was an odd year for me. I saw very few movies, so much so, that during the recent Oscar telecast, the only nominated movies I had seen were Inception, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - part I and *ahem* Tangled.
So when I present to you the best movie of 2010, I do so from my limited viewing list. I thought about making it Inception but I decided against it. Much as I was impressed by the movie and all the conversations it has generated in its aftermath, the movie that moved me the most was:
I had originally intended to give the India-Ireland match a miss until I was asked to take a peek at Kevin O'Brien. (More specifically, his heroics against England a few days ago). I am glad I stayed up all night and watched cricket, including the England-South Africa game (until I switched over to the India game with Amla and de Villiers cruising towards a regulation win).
“We lay aside letters never to read them again, and at last we destroy them out of discretion, and so disappears the most beautiful, the most immediate breath of life, irrecoverable for ourselves and for others.”
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
The cricket World Cup has started and folks who know nothing about the sport ask me how it is going. The reality is that so far I have watched only one full inning - India's inning against England.
I have just not been able to get my head wrapped around a schedule that features games for teams once every 5-7 days. CricInfo has been doing a good job of giving me the news without the need to see replays or highlights on WillowTV.
Can I force myself to stay up and watch the Indian team play this weekend (I had to look it up to even know whom they played)? I'm not really sure.
One of the advantages of teaching at a small liberal arts institution is the freedom to design and offer courses that are close to your heart. In January 2011, I was fortunate enough to lead a group of 6 students through the world of Tropical Ecology. Apart from not being in the right ecosystem, Nebraska in the winter is definitely not the place to have field trips about Tropical Ecology. Consequently, one portion of the course involved a 10-day trip to Puerto Rico where we got to see for ourselves all the things we talked about in the classroom.
This is a travelogue of our adventures together, the sights we saw, the things we did, and the lessons we learned.
At 2 in the morning I received a text from Andrew J, wondering whether the snowstorm that was hitting the Midwest would let us even leave Omaha. I looked out the window and saw nothing but whiteness. Our original plan was to leave for the airport at 7:30am. I quickly factored in the weather and told everyone to assemble by 6:15am instead. By 5:30am I was at the University's motor pool trying to jump-start the van that would take us to the airport. (Naturally it picked that day to die). Luckily, the head of Maintenance also believes in an early start and, a hasty truck ride later, we were able to requisition another van for the trip.
The ride from the University to the airport is normally a 45 minute one. That day it took us an hour and a half. We slip-slided our way, more than drove, to the airport. Finally, we reached the airport in time to leisurely stroll to the check-in counter, pick up our boarding passes and stop for the obligatory before-the-trip group photo.
One of the advantages of teaching at a small liberal arts institution is the freedom to design and offer courses that are close to your heart. In January 2011, I was fortunate enough to lead a group of 6 students through the world of Tropical Ecology. Apart from not being in a tropical ecosystem, Nebraska in the winter is definitely not the place to have field trips about Tropical Ecology. Consequently, one portion of the course involved a 10-day trip to Puerto Rico where we got to see for ourselves all the things we talked about in the classroom.
Over the next few days, I shall provide a travelogue of our adventures together, describe the sights we saw, the things we did, and the lessons we learned.
(C.S. Manish 2010)
Standing: (from l to r) Miranda B, Sami W, Andrew J.
Sitting: (from l to r) Lorissa P, Sarah J, Katie M.
My 10 day travel extravaganza is over and I am back, savoring (not) the below-freezing temperatures and snowstorms of Nebraska. In the coming days I shall be describing my adventures. Until then, I shall leave you with a tantalizing view of what I saw on a daily basis:
For the second time in 6 weeks I shall be leaving on an extended trip. I bet you did not even realize I was gone for two weeks in November but this time I'm making sure you know! The Test series between India and South Africa ended just in time.
During my previous trip I took a few interesting snaps. I've been meaning to share them with you, but will have to leave you with just a sample.
The next two were taken at the new airport in Hyderabad. I was quite impressed by it (except for the airport tax that they levy after you have entered the airport).
(C.S. Manish 2010)
(C.S. Manish 2010)
The last photo was taken in a bookstore and I present it to you, without too much elaboration. Note the choice of books and the category that it is displayed under. I wonder what the former Governor would think if she found out.
(Note: Every so often I shall have a pop quiz on my blog with questions about people, places, things, events, and any other thing that comes to mind. Please take the quiz without peeking at the answers, which will be included at the end, and let me know how you did.)
Today's quiz is about cricketers.
a) My first four wickets in Test cricket were of Matthew Hayden, Steve Waugh, Adam Gilchrist, and Ricky Ponting. I was the Man of the Match when my team defeated Australia for the first time at Perth. I was also the Man of the Match when we won a World Cup. I have scored over a 1000 runs and taken at least 100 wickets in both ODIs and Tests. I have scored a Test century and once took a hat-trick in the first over of a Test match. Even though I am only 26, its been almost two years since I played for my country in any form of the game.
Just 60 minutes into the 5th day, the Indian mindset was clear to see - bat out 90 overs for a draw. Their whole "strategy" was based on seeing whether Virender Sehwag could whittle away at the deficit all by himself. Once he got out, the batsmen gave up the ghost.
Well, congratulations India, you have gone and done the one thing I thought was not possible, make Sehwag play like any other batsman and take away his biggest asset - the ability to be the only batsman in world cricket to actually play each ball in isolation of match condition and on its merit. Eventually the pressure of being the lone gunman will affect anyone and it caused Viru to get out today. All inning he was fidgety and looking primarily to defend. This meant the bowlers could bowl to their plans with great glee with no fear of repercussions. And they did just that.
MS Dhoni, I have a question for you and your rascals. I know you have the bat, Do YOU also have the balls?
South Africa has set you 340 runs to win a Test match in 90 overs. Conventional wisdom (and over 100 years of Test cricket) dictates that it cannot be done in one day, and that too on the 5th day of the Test match. But must we really wallow in the past if we want to proclaim that we represent a New India? Youngistan anyone?
How often will you get a chance to hunt down Sough Africa in South Africa? You have one good day left to do so. Carpe diem!
I like MS Dhoni. I really do. But, of late, his captaincy is making me mad. I always held the belief that the man was an aggressive captain, whose defensive ploys (think 9-1 fields) were aggressive in their intent. After watching him set defensive fields at the first sign of trouble, I am extremely dissatisfied and saddened by the change in him. But he is not the only captain in world cricket to behave that badly. It is an epidemic and they have all caught it.
I do not know who the first captain was who spread the field for one batsman in an attempt to get him off-strike so he could target the new batsman but that fellow should have been taken outside and repeatedly flogged till every vestige of that thought was eliminated from his brain. In just the previous Test match, Masada had been at the receiving end of a similar strategy adopted by Graeme Smith. I had even blogged after that, thanking Smith for showing Masada what NOT to do. But rather than learn from that, Masada decided to simply continue with the tactic.
P.S. Ishant Sharma, can you move your bowling mark back by about 6 inches such that your front foot lands inside the crease and not on it? I swear that if you get another batsman out off a no-ball, I will catch the next flight to South Africa, shave half the hair off your head, and catch the next flight back. Runs are precious, Laxman fought and fought to get you most of those, don't go and gift the SAffers some free ones with your irresponsible no-balls.
Well, wouldn't you know it? Ishant Sharma went and did just that when he got Morne Morkel caught at gully off a no-ball. Virender Sehwag's reaction - flinging the ball on the ground, said it all for me. (Since apparently no one reads my blog closely enough to call me on it, I have decided to ignore my threat and will not travel to South Africa to meet Ishant Sharma).
Anyone who's read this blog knows that I am an unabashed admirer of VVS Laxman. So, it always gives me great pleasure when he displays his fire-fighting skills under pressure.
Over the past few years VVS has built up the type of fighting reputation that even the most ardent of Sachin Tendulkar fans will wish their hero had accumulated. Time after time, with the team in strife, the genial Hyderabadi with the steely resolve of a gunslinger has bailed the Indian team out. Like any other mortal, he has had his share of failures, but more often than not when the chips are down the reassuring sight of Laxman signalling the end of another over with his curious habit of repeatedly tapping his bat inside the crease is a welcome one.
The second Test between South Africa and India is very evenly poised at the end of the 3rd day's play. One man has made the difference. On a pitch where 33 batsmen have gotten out so far, only one man has made more than 37 runs in an inning. The incredible thing is that VVS Laxman has done it twice, top-scoring for the Indians in both innings.
When he came to bat Kepler Wessels noted on-air that Laxman has too many 50's in comparison to 100's (48 to just 16) and wondered why it was so. Many times over the course of the next day he had a chance to figure it out but he never did so. This inning was a classic demonstration of why. Batting at #5 or #6 for most of his career, Laxman has not had the luxury of having partners stick with him too many times. Far too often, he has had to play with the tail and forced to watch as the wickets fell and that stat-padding 100 was too far away to reach. Today, when the 5th wicket (Cheteshwar Pujara) fell, Laxman was batting on 23, the team score was 93 (effectively 167 for 5).
At the end of a manic second day of the second India-South Africa Test match, a result is definitely on. Who will win is still in the balance.
The food in the pavilion must be really good or the wicket must stink a great deal. How else does one explain the haste with which batsman after batsman has left the crease? 18 wickets fell in the day and, in reality, the number should have been much less. In the first inning, India's last four wickets fell in no time at all. And South Africa scarcely batted long enough to register in the scorebooks.
On a day when 16 wickets fell on two different continents, one thing became apparent. There isn't a single batting line-up these days that can score runs when the ball is swinging and moving around. A few days ago, England suffered when Mitchell Johnson broke the habit of a lifetime to find swing in Perth. The vaunted™ Indian batting line-up has now collapsed twice in two Test matches. I haven't seen the South Africans bat in such testing conditions yet, but I don't really see why they should be any different. If India's luck holds out, we may find out later on the second day of the second Test match in Durban.
A combination of NASA-generated high resolution camera work and back-of-the-envelope calculations by Dr. Nalini Nadkarni (Evergreen State College) yields the figure that, on the Earth, trees out number humans (61 trees for every human, to be exact).
She asks a very pertinent question: how many trees have you used up in your lifetime? Have you not met, met, or exceeded your share?
How Many Trees Per Person?
It's a cool question, and easy to calculate. Nadkarni looked up the world's human population as of Dec. 31 and found that on that day, we numbered 6,456,789,877 (again, very more or less). Punching the figures into her calculator, she figured that the world supports 61 trees per person. When we talked — and you can hear our conversation in our "Morning Edition" story — she was thrilled. "Hooray!" she said, "I get more than one tree!"
(...)
This got Nadkarni wondering: How much of our 61-tree allotment does an American use in a lifetime? All of it? Some of it? More than 61? She didn't know. So she asked her graduate students to make a list of tree-based products — and they came up with a list so long, it almost never stops.
Here's some of what they found: baseball bats, barrels, books, blocks, benches, crutches, coffee filters, guitars, grocery bags, pencils, pine oil, beds, billboards, buttons, candy wrappers, buttons, chewing gum, cork, crayons, egg cartons, fruit pie filling, kites, linoleum, luggage, paper, pingpong balls, chopsticks (especially the disposable kind), rubber, tambourines, telephone books, tires, toilet paper, turpentine, xylophones and yo-yos (the wooden kind).
You don't always need Santa Claus to come bearing Christmas gifts, and you don't always need to turn to fiction to read a heart-warmingly happy story that will bring tears to your eyes.
Would this story have been possible if the Internet had not been invented and Roger Ebert not battled cancer successfully?
Merry Christmas to all, and to all a Happy New Year!
Oh, what a feeling
When we're dancing on the ceiling
- Lionel Ritchie
When I was watching Inception I was reminded of Fred Astaire. To took me a long time to think of the connection. I assumed it had to do with the nature of the movie but I couldn't quite pin it down. Until it hit me yesterday!
The scene from Inception that got me thinking of Astaire was the one with the rotating hallway where the protagonists fight on the wall and the ceiling. But I got caught up in the movie and forgot about Astaire.
So, without belaboring the point any further, here's the Fred Astaire's masterpiece. The choreography for this sequence is spell-binding, especially since the whole scene, once it starts is filmed in one shot.
And here is how it was done. I can't imagine how difficult it must have been for Astaire to remember which way the room was going to rotate next and keep dancing.
1) If I had an iPhone, I'd definitely get this app. Especially since I am traveling to a predominantly Spanish-speaking country in the very, very near future.
2) Check out this slideshow (be sure to click through the 13 slides). Snowflakes as you have never seen them before. No wonder the saying that no two snowflakes are identical is probably true. Also, these are some of the most beautiful things I have ever seen. No wonder when I grow old, I shall retire to a pace surrounded by snow-capped mountains.
Here's a sample of one of the photos...
These snowflake photos were taken by Kenneth Libbrecht of CalTech, using a specially-designed snowflake photomicroscope. They show real snow crystals that fell to earth in northern Ontario, Alaska, Vermont, the Michigan Upper Peninsula, and the Sierra Nevada mountains of California.
(http://www.newscientist.com/gallery/dn16170-snowflakes/10)
d) I know, I know. I am putting something sports-related but it is very interesting in its own way. Here's the background. Earlier this year LeBron James announced that he was going to leave Cleveland and play for the Miami Heat during a live televised event that was even called The Decision by ESPN.
"...I am taking my talents to South Beach..", he said without a trace of bashfulness. He was widely criticized for it. Where he goes to play is entirely his business and what we think of it should not be talked about, but doing it in such a crass way is what I had an issue with.
Anyway, Nike tried to rehabilitate his image with this ad:
Numerous responses were offered to that ad, but the one that takes the cake is this one:
Finally, to put an end to this business comes an ad purportedly offering Michael Jordan's point of view of the whole issue. End of discussion.
Thank god for small mercies (and the lower case g is intentional).
When the #1 team in the world loses by an inning scant minutes into the fifth day of a Test match where most of the first day was lost to rain, the headlines should be about that fact. Instead, thanks to the emphasis the media places on personal milestones (and we are complicit in this, too, as you will see below), Sachin Tendulkar saved the Indian Test team's bacon to a great extent.
SRT crossed Brian Lara's aggregate tally of 11,953 runs in October 2008. Since then the fellow has added a scarcely believable 2560 runs with 11 centuries and 8 fifties to his tally. Phew! And the talk back then was when, and not if, Ricky Ponting would overtake the fellow.
I am probably tempting Fate by bringing this up, but I shall say it nevertheless. Kallis has scored 38 centuries in Tests, yet his highest score is just 189. (His highest first-class score is just 200). Scoring large centuries is just not his style. So, historical data suggests that Kallis is not the one who will be leading the charge on the 3rd day. Lying in wait is Abraham Benjamin de Villiers.
The Indians are in for a leather hunt and statisticians worldwide are going to be reaching for the record books.
To paraphrase Eminem: So, won't the real Slim Sehwag please stand up,
please stand up, please stand up?
There was a time, Viru, when a score of 50 was just the appetizer. You had mountainloads of patience and were content to motor along playing the ball on its merit and chugging along beyond 150, 200, 250, and even 300. These days that Sehwag has morphed into Seh-whack. Once you reach 50 and the field spreads you do the impossible - you make deep midwicket a catching position and long-on and long-off practically close-in catchers. Especially when a spinner, who you wouldn't give the time of the day, is bowling to you.
Jacques Kallis usually scores at about 45 runs per 100 balls. A big chunk of the criticism directed towards Kallis, and a huge reason why he is not revered as much as his mind-boggling stats indicate that he should be, is that he tends to hold one end up and bats in a frustratingly sedate, single-minded, plodding manner irrespective of the match situation.
Imagine my surprise when I saw the very same Kallis blasting his way to a 130 ball century. One of the hopes I held out for the 2nd day was that the South Africans would bat slowly, scoring only about 270-300 in the day's play. Instead they motored along at more than 4 runs per over and are extremely close to batting India completely out of it.
It will not take long for the knives to sharpen and for India's "lack of preparation" to be bandied about as the reason for the spectacular opening day collapse against South Africa at Centurion.
Pshaw! The reality is that the bowling by the two pacemen was so sustained and brilliant that India would have collapsed no matter which match of the series they were playing. Heck, ANY batting line-up (including the SAffer line-up of this very Test) in the world would have collapsed. Dale Steyn is the deadliest wicket-taker in the history of the game (if you keep a cut-off of at least 113 wickets). He takes a wicket once every 40 balls. In this inning, so far, he is striking at twice that rate (once every 20 balls). Steyn is a rare gem - a super-fast bowler who relies on swing and accuracy, rather than bounce or fear to get people out. The last bowler who I can recall having a similar effect on me was a similarly small-statured Malcolm Marshall (whose strike rate was 46.7 balls per wicket).
Some random observations that flit through my head when I think about these Test series:
West Indies - Sri Lanka
Oh, how the mighty have fallen. The once mighty West Indies Test team is now relegated to celebrating drawn Test series, even calling it a "massive achievement". Even worse, the series was drawn because rain interrupted normal proceedings on an almost daily basis. Sri Lankan cricket is not helping itself by producing pitches where batsmen make merry and the bowlers suffer. Sri Lanka has the most varied bowling attack of all Test teams today (including Pakistan) but the team does not get to showcase that strength of theirs. Which is very sad. Test cricket should not be a batathon. Gah!
For those of you wondering why I have been off the grid for the past few weeks, it is because I was traveling and taking care of some other matters.
Now I am back in the US of A and will be blogging again starting this weekend. Some things to look forward to (assuming there are folks who look forward to reading my blog):
You know I like you and have been a huge fan of your captaincy and am thoroughly impressed with your leadership skills and handling of personnel. But that does not mean that I am not perplexed by some of the things that have lately been creeping into your leadership style.
Here's a recent Roger Federer interview. This was conducted after the first round of the If Stockholm Open. (Yes, that is the name - the If Stockholm Open). In an age where athletes are monotonous and speak only in politically correct and generic, repetitive tones (yes, MS Dhoni, I am talking to your recent avataar), Roger is a breath of fresh air and all things good.
See the interview for yourself. The dude is genuinely interested in what the interviewer has to say, is elaborate with his responses, makes fun of himself, and is in no rush to finish the interview. What a man!
I have long marveled at Ian Chappell's forthrightness and eye for talent. Naturally I am biased toward him because of his affection for VVS Laxman.
However, a few years ago he made a suggestion that (in hindsight) was so horribly wrong it is worth repeating here. On March 30, 2007, he wrote:
In the fallout from India's early demise at the (2007) World Cup one of the major decisions will concern the future of Sachin Tendulkar.
Before anybody else makes a decision on what will happen to Tendulkar the player himself has to have a good long look into the mirror and decide what he's trying to achieve in the game. At the moment he looks like a player trying to eke out a career; build on a glittering array of statistics. If he really is playing for that reason and not to help win as many matches as he can for India then he is wasting his time and should retire immediately.
Many years ago, Ambati Thirupathi Rayudu was hailed as the Next Big Thing after a splendid time in England on an Under-19 tour. He even captained the Indian Under-19 team for a while when the world seemed to be opening up for him.
(Farjana K. Godhuly/AFP/Getty Images; via Rediff.com 2003)
Along the way, however, life intervened and after serving a (still rankling) "suspension" for playing in the ICL, Rayudu came back to prominence playing for the Mumbai Indians in the recent edition of the IPL.
In the years before the ICL, he had significant problems with the Hyderabad Cricket Association, particularly with the nepotism of Shivlal Yadav, who favored his son Arjun Yadav over others. It is a measure of the (mis)management of Shivlal that his son even managed to play a game for India in England while AT Rayudu never even came close to sniffing a spot in the Indian team. Three years ago I was so angry about this state of affairs, I wrote about it on my blog. Not surprisingly, since everyone in the BCCI selectorial committee and their mothers read my blog, Arjun Yadav has not shown his face near an Indian dressing room again.
Anyway, I digress. The reason I am raking up the past is that AT Rayudu is going to play for Baroda this upcoming Ranji season (by the way, I thought it was Vadodara...what happened to that?) and the Hyderabad coach, Venkatapathy Raju is spitting all over playing the "how dare he back-stab us?" card.
"It was done in bad taste," Raju told PTI. "As a senior member of the team, he should have taken the responsibility to guide Hyderabad this season. He should have been loyal to Hyderabad. This move reflects his commitment to the Hyderabad team."
Please, Raju. You ill-treat a fellow for years, treat him like a pariah, and then expect him to stick with you now. Heck, the Deccan Chargers did not get him into their team when the ICL-related suspension was revoked. Where was the loyalty you speak of then?
Here's a prediction for you, Raju. As long as the Yadavs are in charge of Hyderabad cricket I don't see Rayudu playing for us.
(Full disclosure: Many, many years ago, during my schooldays, I batted against Raju in an inter-house cricket match. I was bowled first ball by him. It was on that day that I realized that a slow left-arm spinner was not really that slow, after all!).
Living in the Midwest US means that the weather is not just a topic of conversation but is also the source of considerable excitement. I, personally, love storms so I revel in watching the sky boil over. The flat terrain lets me see for miles and watching a storm front approach is quite the spectacle.
Recently, a good friend captured what is not an uncommon cloud formation when these storms approach. The photo was taken at about 5pm, and came with a lot of lightning and heavy winds but no rain or tornadoes. At least not that day. In about an hour or so, the sky was clear and the sun was out again.
Of all the folks who have written about VVS Laxman's heroics in light of the Mohali Test, the best one of all comes, much to my surprise, from an ex-cricketer who puts more accomplished writers in the shade. Step forward, Ian Chappell. You indeed did save the best for last.
It's incredible to think that in his early days this remarkable strokeplayer would often ask, "Have you seen anything wrong with my batting?"
There was no lack of confidence through the whole ordeal in Mohali. Laxman was unflappable until victory beckoned. Then even he became animated and remonstrated with his partners for not completing a crucial run as the deficit dwindled to single figures. This rare display of passion served to reveal the depth of his intense competitive drive.
Laxman's contribution to India's breathtaking victory went way beyond the runs he scored. His decision early on to put his faith in Ishant Sharma's batting ability played a big part in the gangling quickie's vital role in their match-winning partnership. Laxman has always been tactically aware; he would have been India's best choice as captain following Sourav Ganguly's successful reign. He will never captain the team but he'll forever be remembered as India's most prolific match-winning batsman.
Here's your Kick Your Feet Up And Relax video of the day:
This is the opening sequence of "The Fall" by Tarsem, one of the most visually stunning movie I have ever seen. (Click here to see all the different posts I have written about this movie).
The musical piece accompanying the scene is one of my all-time favorites, too - Beethoven's 7th symphony, 2nd movement. I play it at least once a week at work when I need some music to calm me down.
Okay, I swear I am done with articles about VVS Laxman and just in time, too, as the next Test is starting in about 24 hours. (See the Last Update below for the latest update).
Last Update: Finally, Harsha Bhogle weighs in on a fellow Hyderabadi. Many years ago, Harsha wrote the only authorized biography of Mohammad Azharuddin. Maybe someday soon he will write one about VVS Laxman. Until then, we'll have to catch snippets of Harsha's views on Laxman through his articles on CricInfo. Here's his latest offering.
For a major part of his career he has batted at No. 6. It means the tail is a stone's throw away. It means the boundary riders are out for him, offering him the single to attack the rest. It means he stays not-out more often; once every sixth innings almost, compared to about one in 10 for Tendulkar and one in nine for Dravid. You might argue it boosts his average but the innings rarely go as far as they might have gone. Hence, only 16 centuries. Hence, too, the change in batting style; from a free-stroking player to someone who must guard his wicket and prolong the innings. Number six is a difficult position to bat in if you are a batsman who doesn't bowl because your numbers rarely look as good as those of the men who precede you.
Down in Australia, they think we are daft but we have never bestowed on him the stature we have with Tendulkar, Dravid, Ganguly, and more lately with Sehwag.
That is why he has had to walk the selection tightrope far too often for a player of his ability. That is why many believe he has been underrated. Down in Australia they think we are daft, but we have never bestowed on him the stature we have on Tendulkar, Dravid, Ganguly, and more lately Sehwag. And so, every time there was a new kid on the block, the attention shifted towards Laxman. And yet in the last two years (from January 1, 2009, to be precise), he has scored a century every four Tests and averages 80.
Update: Two more articles on Laxman's role in the Mohali Test have come up that need mentioning. (There will be one last update tomorrow when Harsha Bhogle's column on CricInfo comes up, too).
The true measure of a person's character and aptitude is when they are under duress. Earlier today, the Indian cricket team's chances of winning the first Test against Australia was slim and edging towards none. Eight wickets had gone down, 92 runs in the arrears and at the crease were VVS Laxman, playing with a dodgy back and Ishant Sharma, on an injured knee that would cause him to miss the next Test match. One man was left in the pavilion, Pragyan Ojha.
What followed was gripping theater of the kind that only Test cricket, with the abundance of time at hand, can provide. Rather than give you a blow-by-blow account of what happened, I'll put down the various thoughts that spring to mind after this epic.
This is the funniest and most entertaining video I have seen in a long time. The expressions (or lack thereof) on the faces of the duo are priceless and add to the fun element. Amazing.
The song is very catchy, too. I wonder how long it will take for it to become a Salman Khan song.
Update: Performed and choreographed by Suzanne Cleary & Peter Harding
Film by Jonny Reed
Music: Yolanda Be Cool & D Cup featuring Cleary & Harding
I am sure minds better than I can find flaws and glitches with the idea, but the thought that we can have more efficient roadways that help reduce the dependence upon some of Nature's limited resources is intriguing. The cost-factor is one that is not discussed in the video so who knows where this idea will eventually go.
Props to Megha for directing me to this absolutely wonderful video. If this does not tell you how special a time it is tight now to be a tennis fan, then I don't know what will. The two players at the top of the game challenge each other's destiny and fight for every inch on the court while off the court they are so comfortable being friends with each other.
And while I was trolling for some more videos, I found this one - Rafael Nadal, 12 years old and already displaying some of that exception court awareness of his.
And lest you think I am getting converted to the Nadal camp, I still feel this fellow is the GOAT. No doubt whatsoever.
Tennis is fortunate to have two wonderful human beings at the top.
Rafael Nadal continued his (seemingly) inexorable glide towards tennis destiny by taking the US Open crown yesterday evening. For a fellow who was initially considered to be a one-trick (read: clay) pony, he has transformed into the most formidable tennis player in the world today. Pound for pound, no one scares their opponent more than Rafael does.
My impression of Roger Federer as the Greatest of All-Time has not changed one bit (and I am not interested in a protracted discussion of the merits of Nadal or the demerits of Federer, either) but it is hard to see how Roger can beat Rafael, especially on clay, unless Federer (shock! horror!) improves his game.
Roger has 6 Wimbledon titles but, today, Nadal is the better volleyer and a much better constructor of points. Very rarely do you see Nadal charge the net when it is not a good idea. Federer apologists will say that Nadal gets illegally coached by his uncle. To hell with that! You can coach a fellow all you want but he still has to perform on the court. Nadal is outstanding in that department.
His post-match comments at the prize distribution ceremony were worthy of a champion. His English is improving, his command of the game has reached new levels, but his comportment as a person has not changed one bit. He is every bit as endearing, charming, and polite today as he was when he won his first French Open title.
Mr. Nadal, I will still root against you everytime you reach a Grand Slam final (and especially against Federer) but it will not stop me for giving you a standing ovation when you do win the tournament. You are a credit to the game of tennis. Long may you continue to play and be successful.
P.S. By the way, the next time you meet Dick Enberg, can you tell him that your name is not pronounced Ra-FEE-al Na-DOLL?
I'm breaking the habit of a lifetime (of blogging) and presenting something that connects very personally to me on my blog. The way I see it, the more the word gets around the better it will be for me in some small way in the future. I think.
And continued after the jump are a couple of screenshots that will be of interest to some of you.
With all the lousy stuff swirling around in the world of Test cricket, it is wonderful to have the Rajah show me why I love watching sports.
Here's reason number 7,235,897 that Roger Federer is the greatest player in the history of tennis (in my opinion and that of a few others, of course, so if you disagree that's okay).
I watched this as it happened and a full day later, I still cannot get enough of it.
I do not know a lot of things about cricket. I am sure Test cricketers have forgotten more stuff about cricket than I will ever learn in my lifetime.
But I do know one thing: if I am fielding at short mid-off and a fast bowler is bowling, at the point of delivery I will be watching the batsman and NOT the bowling crease.
Dear Salman Butt,
I was hoping against hope that the bookie was making stuff up and that maybe, just maybe, there was some semblance of respect left in the actions he claimed were fixed. After seeing photo reproduced below, I have given up on that hope.
(Sky News 2010)
You have a lot of explaining to do, Mr. Butt. I just hope the Anti-Corruption Unit of the ICC has the guts (and the brains) to ask the right questions.
(Strangely though, for a body designed for the express purposes of weeding out just this type of riff-raff, they are a lot like the cops in the movies, showing up after all the damage has been done.)
Mohammad Aamer may have over-stepped (pun intended) the boundary that separates the could-have-beens from the never-weres. (If true) Why, oh why, did he have to do it? A sensational spell of fast bowling that I felt privileged enough to watch has been tainted forever.
While I have been missing from this blog, a lot has happened and at the same time nothing much has happened:
The Indian ODI cricket team is coasting along while 4 of the players who will walk in blindfolded into the team - SRT, GG, Plaha, and ZAK - are nursing their wounds or, in the case of the Golden One - enjoying a vacation with his family. So, with only 7/11ths of the team in play (and even among the 7 folks like Yuvraj are living off of potential than performance), the Indian team is displaying the schizophrenic nature that is typical of teams that are about average, which is what the ODI team is.
By the way, losing just before the World Cup is good for the Indian team. Trust me. If you don't, think 2003.
Roger Federer comes into the Fall of 2010 in an eerily similar state to where he was in 2008 - Rafael Nadal had just completed the summer double - he had been losing to everyone and their grandmother and his tennis obituary was printed and posted. In 2008, he mowed down Andy Murray to win the title. Will 2010 be a similar story? If it happens, what will people remember of 2010 - that Federer lost his stranglehold on Wimbledon and appeared mortal or that he won as many Grand Slams in this year as Nadal did?
A new batch of students have come to my College and the excitement on campus is one that I have not felt in a few years. There's a buzz in the air and classes have been a lot of fun so far, even when on the first day the computer refused to cooperate and I resorted to the old-fashioned style of lecturing.
After an inauspicious start to the cricket season (our team was bundled out for 83 in the first match), we have now won 6 of the last 8 games and are beginning to resemble the juggernaut that we were expected to be based on our dominance of the past two years. Strangely, though, it has coincided with a series of single-digit scores by me even as my wicket-keeping has improved by leaps and bounds, especially down the leg-side. As long as we win, I can deal with that, I think.
After weeks of resembling a tropical island, it has finally stopped thunderstorming and raining in Nebraska. However, the temperature has also started dropping to more manageable proportions. Maybe there's a connection between the two. Who knows which butterflies are not flapping their wings in Nicaragua to cause this to happen?!
Will we ever go back to such innocent times again, where two characters could cavort this way and no one raised eyebrows, least of all their girlfriends?
Exactly one year ago today, Tiger Woods did something he had never done before - lose a Grand Slam tournament after taking a lead into the final round. That too to an unknown player named YE Yang. On that day, right after he lost, if you had told someone that losing to Yang would probably be the high point of Tiger's life in the next 365 days they would have laughed at you. But incredibly, that's what happened. Whodathunkit?!
One month ago, if you had told someone that the #1 ranked Test team in the world would be bowled out for 88 in an ODI and that the #1 ranked ODI team would be bowled out for 88 in a Test match, they would have laughed at you. But incredibly, that's what happened. Whodathunkit?
If two weeks ago, you would have told someone that Virender Sehwag would be batting on 99 and facing an off-spinner (not named Murali) in his rookie year on two separate occasions and would fail to get 100 both times, they would have laughed at you. But incredibly, that's what happened. Whodathunkit?
The first time I watched VVS Laxman bat was in 2001. I had followed his career as closely as one could in the pre-CricInfo days from across the Atlantic. After the Indian team changed the course of world cricket at Kolkata in 2001, expatriates in the US were treated to the first web stream of a cricket match on the last day of the Chennai Test as India were in the midst of pulling off the heist of the century. While the audio was uninterrupted, the video was a series of images 3 seconds apart. Such was the excitement at the computer lab (that us Indian graduate students had taken over) that we did not care that we were watching a game in 3 second intervals.
