Every breath you take, every move you make..

I just picked a thought (actually, it's a fact), which sounds rather gloomy: With every passing second, we are inching closer to our fated demise - the end of our life.

Well, it sure is a fact, but one need not feel too maudlin about it.
After all, we have only so much time on this planet (in this life), and what is important, instead of feeling what all you might miss out on and what all you might not be able to see/do/get, we'd surely be much better off focusing on what all we can do, what all we can set right, what all we can accomplish - with the time that we do have at our disposal.. ..with every passing moment.. ..with every breath we take.

This blog is no Face The Truth/Sach Ka Saamna platform, but I can admit that there have been so many times, when I might have hurt someone, when I could have done something better than I actually did, when I could have mended some fences, done something to make someone happy selflessly, et cetera, et cetera.

I just hope all of us get the good sense and more than just the intent, the ability and courage to execute our intent of setting things right, putting a smile on faces of everyone we meet especially our loved ones, sharing the joys and sorrows of our families together, making our lives more meaningful, more complete, and more "contentable" (just coined the word) - meaning, by the time we take our last breath, we are content, have no regrets, no I-wish-I-could've-done-that, no I-wish-I-hadn't-done-that.

I really hope I don't just write all this on this space and forget about it. I mean, it's always easier to say/preach/wish for something than to actually execute that wish/intention. But I just wanna make sure that if not all, at least most of the moments I have with me, are spent constructively, usefully, and in doing things that bring people together and make everyone's times together even more fun and cherishable.

Let's atleast honestly and sincerely try to make our lives contentable, likeable and loveable - not from others' point of view or to show anything to others, but just to feel better about things we did when we lived, and to feel good enough on having undone the mistakes of the past, of having had the courage to set things in order, of having mended relations, of having brought smiles on the faces which we always want to see smiling, of having seen to it that when no one sees us, we can see ourselves with our head held high and with our heart at peace.

Ab bahut ho gaya na?! :-)
I know, I think so too - till next time then!

It's ok, na?

One of my friends, Isha, keeps lamenting that my posts are mostly cricket and not much else. Ab kya karein bhai, actually this is bound to happen, coz I'm someone who straightaway lunges for the sports page in a newspaper, even if the paper is of the likes of The Economic Times.

On a serious note, actually I just go with the flow - if there's nothing appealing to me, I don't write(!), and if there's something I feel like writing about, I do - don't care much even if it consistently belongs to any specific domain or 'label'. Anyway, hope Isha and her ilk would welcome this non-cricket post, for a change!

Just finished with "The Alchemist" - I know it's a bestseller but with due respects to all its fans and ofcourse the very respectable Mr. Paulo Coelho, I did not find it as impressive as I was expecting it to be.
 

Perhaps it's a case of excessive expectations, or I might have missed appreciating something even when it might've been there, coz the bestseller that it has been, there must be something seriously great about it that I have failed to notice.

Anyway, that's my loss. But thinking of why you like any book, here are my reasons for doing so:

1. The message

2. The way that message is conveyed - with the plot, the lines, the humor (if required) and the narrative (if required)

And then follow the other qualities that these two elements ought to create in any good read:

1. Gripping - once you start the book, you need to stop reading it only if Aishwarya Rai has come running all the way just to sit with you, or..if you have actually finished reading it!

2. Readability - A good book can make you feel like reading it is more like talking to a known, pally friend - just a conversation - no need to bother about anything, just go with the flow, and enjoy without thinking too much, unless it's a Poirot/Holmes kinda suspense-thriller!

3. Enjoyment - This one's the clincher - you should just love reading the book and enjoy the time spent reading it - probably the toughest to make a reader do. Actually, if you can do this part, chances are you have done all others too. In other words, ensuring reader enjoyment makes up for all the Do's and Don'ts.

Basically, the message I got was about following your heart and sticking to your goals, being unwavering in following your destination, enjoying the journey to your destination, learning from anyone and everyone, what else? - but none of this was really new (and it doesn't matter even if it wasn't. Every new book does not mean every new line of thinking) but I somehow didn't find it gripping enough.

The plot seemed to drag/stretch as long as the Egyptian deserts mentioned therein and I knew it was not doing it for me when I was laboriously looking for each page to end, with a keen, continuous and tired eye on how many more still to go, before I reach the last page.

It was like watching a Sreesanth or the entire Australian team play match after match not only without quality, but also without sledging their opponents - could well be historical, but seems boring. (oops, there we go with the cricket again!)

Somehow, I just did not feel captivated enough through the book. Guess it's no sacrilege, just a matter of choice.
It's ok, na?!

Virender Sehwag's best six till date

This post is more about the virtue than the vice.
It's more about the positive aspect of Virender Sehwag's DDCA-expose than lamenting about the quagmire of politics, nepotism, corruption and a generally brazen disregard for professionalism, that the DDCA is neck-deep into.

There might be dozens of other such associations/sports bodies/clubs/people (not just in cricket or any other sport, but also in life) that may be just as corrupt and botched up, but the point is, how many people have the courage to stand up for something they believe in?

The thing to appreciate, respect and emulate, is to take it on, to take the bull by the horns, at least by the time we have attained some position from where our voice will not get choked in the chaotic ruckus of the very system we are taking on.

Why not have the courage of conviction to stand up for something we know is right and to protest against anything that we know is wrong, unfair, and unethical?

There's a wonderful saying - "If you cannot stand up for something (you believe in), you can fall for anything."

Some of us might be wondering why Sehwag would have wanted to challenge the administrators when his own place in the sun was assured, and when his own interest was being well-served.

And how could he be so sure that corruption in DDCA was indeed as rampant and as likely as SRK's presence in a Farah Khan/Karan Johar flick?

Well, I just read an article from the much-respected cricket journo Pradeep Magazine. The following extract from that article brings to light the reason why Sehwag, safely ensconced as an iconic player in the Delhi establishment, would want to make DDCA face the music:

"Those who are wondering why Virender Sehwag, safe in his fame, riches and iconic status, all of a sudden raised his voice and created a chaos in this 'ordered' world, perhaps don't know this story:
For two consecutive years, a young lad from the suburbs of Delhi would go to the selection trials of Delhi cricket, only to be shooed away after facing only half a dozen balls in the nets.
The crestfallen youngster found a godfather in Satish "Neelu" Sharma, who recognised his potential and pitted him against the full might of a DDCA team.
The boy smashed half a dozen sixes in his rampaging hundred, something that has become a signature of almost every Sehwag innings when he plays for India today."

C'mon, get me the popcorn, yaar - this is so very much like a truly, filmy-ly happy ending, with the hero bashing up the baddie in the end! Sweet redemption, Viru!

Aplenty are such scenarios in everyone's life where we just silently witness, and therefore knowingly or unknowingly connive with the trespassers of morality, ethics, and transparency, through our passive stance and tacit approval.

I just hope we all get to learn from Viru, and exhibit similar courage whenever we have our owns trysts with such scenarios. Power to you, Virender Dude Sehwag - this one's been the best six you've hit in your career, sending the ball of corrupt babudom at the cost of sheer talent, well outta the park!

Here's to more such Sehwags - may the club keep growing!

Jo WADA kiya, wo nibhana padega..

जी हाँ, पेश है एक और बार - BCCI की चमकार!
इसके जितना कमा नहीं पाती कई countries की सरकार!!
दादागिरी करने का मिला एक और हथियार!
करे अपने cricketers पर privacy-protection की बौछार!
BCCI की चमकार!

आया नया अँधेरा!!
(BCCI Says: "WADA का..)
..हर Clause मेरा"!

Enough, BCCI and Indian cricketers - much as we love our cricket, along with the joy you provide us with your talent, we are not taking this.

I mean, I simply don't get it, guys. Our cricketers are already exalted to demi-god status, we don't grudge them that. (It's another matter though, that all others who get recognition for the country should also come atleast close to the celeb status, wealth and sheer clout that the cricketers command after donning national colors).
But howsoever famous you may be, you cannot not adhere to already stated, and universally-accepted rules and guidelines.

We have the best of the best conforming to the clauses of the WADA - be it with the ATP (Tennis) or FIFA (Soccer) or all the sportspersons who participate in sports affiliated to the IOA (International Olympic Association). And didn't BCCI know what it was getting into, when it signed the agreement with WADA?

The cricketers are, reportedly, unhappy with the WADA clause that requires them to furnish information about where they would be, on the grounds that it infringes on their privacy. Sure, but isn't it a small price to pay for, if you understand the intent behind the policy and also note that all others agree to it as well?
Is others' privacy or information less sensitive or less important than our demi-gods'?

And instead of reining in the delinquents, why has the BCCI chosen to side with the cricketers, even taking on the Government, and bullying the ICC into creating a separate, autonomous testing system for cricketers?
Isn't that unfair use of monopoly?

One needs to be fair to all, and if security and privacy are the reasons, ask a Roger Federer if he is not entitled to privacy or the Pakistani and Sri Lankan teams if they are not concerned about security.
WADA is a universally-recognised body, which would only help each sport to get rid of the menace of doping.

And then, we whine about the lack of standards and cricket not being included in the Olympics.

If you shirk from performing when the stage is yours, you cannot cry over talent not being recognized.

Dear Bapu..

Dear Bapu,

I have always revered you for not only showing a new way of life but also practising everything that you preached.
It is no wonder, therefore, that most of your teachings are the foundation stones on which our constitutional practices and principles have been built.

However, sometimes I wonder, what your approach would have been if you were to have lived in the present era, of relentless and repentless terror, corruption and judicial torpidity.

Bapu, one of your most famous quotes has long been the cornerstone of our policy and law-making practices. It goes something like this: "Even if a hundred criminals go scot free, it's still preferable to even one innocent being unfairly prosecuted".

Please do not misinterpret my difference of opinion as disagreement with (much less, criticism of) your line of thought. I am anyway too inconsequential and your thoughts were and will always remain too good to be criticised. I am just wondering whether, having seen the light of the day in today's times, you would have wanted to continue your policy of tolerance and benefit of doubt to even the most evident of crimes and criminals - only for the sake of a policy.

I believe the assumption, typically sensitive and caring of you, was relevant for precisely the times you lived in. Back then, I cannot recall incidents when ingenious minds used their creativity negatively to make up lame excuses in favor of criminals.

Correct me if I am wrong, but today, things have come to such a pass due to the archaic give-benefit-of-doubt unless proven guilty (completely), that it has allowed our justice deliverance mechanism to go into unexplainable and unreasonable stupor, faster and longer than a Kumbhakarna.

I wonder how you'd react if you were to witness the gross abuse of the judicial process and policies in order to make open-and-shut cases (of inhuman, barbaric and most unequivocally condemnable acts) favorable for the accused party, all in the name of benefit of doubt, lack of evidence, delay in judgements' deliverance, etc. for years and years together.

The latest development is another case in point, where a decisive verdict would not only deliver justice but also provide a fitting message to the perpetrators of such crimes, about the consequences that they should be prepared for, if they dare to even think of committing any such heinous acts.

Why do we not deliver justice promptly in open and shut cases?
What do we get by waiting everytime for n number of evidences against an accused, who has all the time in the world to fabricate the case, threaten witnesses, pay up equally debased lawyers to abuse any caveat or loose ends in the law to his advantage, and delay the trial or even be released 'honorably'?

And again, I am not advocating that we do not behave in a statesman-like manner. I also know that there are diplomatic, political and symbolic reasons that also delay a verdict. But to see this happening in every case only gives the impression that the state itself is weak, paralysed and too indecisive to even deliver a just verdict promptly.

Well, forget promptness, most often, we are left high and dry hoping for atleast a verdict - Afzal Guru is still accused in the Parliament attack case of 2002. The Kataras, the Sabharwals, the Jessica Lalls, the Pandher-Koli victims, all have a story to tell - only to keep awaiting justice and expect their next generation to carry on the battle, hoping against hope.

Bapu, if you were around and you saw such blatant violation of civic and fundamental rights, and denial of justice to even the victims of open-and-shut cases, what would you have done?

Would you not agree it is high time we took the bull by its horns and ensure we DELIVER JUSTICE TO THE DESERVING AND THE HAPLESS VICTIMS, RIGHT AWAY?

Bapu, I guess you would have had to seriously reconsider the policy of trusting even a known criminal to be innocent if you could see the impunity with which criminals go scot-free, just for want of enough evidence (how much and when is it ever enough for them, anyway?!), and time-warped deficiencies in our laws and archaic policies.

Love you Bapu, but I believe the Mahatma that you always were, your soul too might really feel at peace only when we all shrug off this inertia of being indolent to arm-twisting by known criminals and offenders, and insolent to the frustrated, helpless victims.

One might somehow still be able to bear the victimisation inflicted by a criminal. But it is infinitely and exponentially more unbearable, unreasonable and unfair on those victims to see the criminal being exempted from punitive action simply for want of archaic laws and loose processes. And it is we, who are responsible for doing so.

Just as important as delivering justice to victims of known offenders (yet to be proven guilty only in the the soap opera of a trial in the courtrooms) is how soon justice gets delivered.

Justice delayed is justice denied, as well as faith dented - not just of the victims, but also of all those people who helplessly and frustratingly witness, read, observe and follow such developments.

Why be a weak state, taking years together to deliver long-due justice, which should take a month's time at best?

Bapu, did you ever want that people arm-twist the principles you laid out for our governance, in this way to suit themselves unfairly, and at the cost of the people who have already suffered enough?

Haven't we been witnessing that today, by taking advantage of the benefit-of-doubt and innocent-till-proven-guilty policy along with the inordinately long delays in judgements, known criminals and offenders merrily while away their time, while the victims and bravehearts who pursue the case seeking justice, are the ones actually suffering?

So eventually, instead of ensuring that even one innocent does not suffer, we have ended up making only the innocent victims suffer - not only once when they themselves bore the brunt of the inflicted crime, but many times over when they kept coming to the courts in the hope of justice and with the will to see the culprits being brought to book. Alas, only in vain.

So haven't all of us - since all of us are components of our corrupt, debased, and completely negligent system, the why-bother-if-it-doesn't-affect-me or why-take-on-the-system junta - actively or passively, only helped the criminals go off the hook, and made justice just a mirage for the victims?

Would you have wanted this to happen, Bapu?
I wish you could react to how things are today..
I wish you could show us the right way forward..