This was the day when Mumbai was subjected to the wrath of the rain-gods... 944mm of rain in just a day's time... and it was also the day when i returned to India from my PT... i marginally missed being stranded amongst the crowd who was unable to make their way home, be it by road, rail or air... today the incident has completed 1 year... but we people hardly care.. the so-called resilience of Mumbai in time of adversity is nothing but disguised indifference... but then does anyone care??
How often do things happen in our lives which are not according to what we expect them to be? and then someone consoles us by saying that "This was bound to happen. It was predestined." From my discussions on this issue with my friends, I have seen that some people are strongly opposed to the conecpt of destiny. And this is because it sort of takes away the power of choice from the person. But what I would say is that they were predestined to oppose the concept of destiny... :D
NOTE: This msg was to be completed long ago but then somehow it just was left incomplete... so now i am getting the time to complete it.. and that was because there were some wonderful remarks on my blog which have inspired me to write more.. and as the saying goes... better late than never...
It was the 20th of June.. two of my best friends were embarking on a new life... Mohit had his first day at Ugam Solutions and Shastry was all set to scale new heights with the Indian Airlines flight to Abu Dhabi... so me and mohit had planned to say farewell to Shastry at the Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport... Mohit had a long and rough journey back to iit from his office in mahalaxmi and to add to it, it was also raining that evening... so we thought that the best way to reach the airport was to take an auto... we discussed Mohit's first day at office in the auto and both of us were realizing that things are going to change pretty soon... Within a few days I was to leave for bangalore (which was about six months back, my last back up :P) and mohit was desperately in search of a place to stay near office so that he could do away with travelling daily... Anyways we hardly realized as the auto made its way through the evening traffic and we were soon at the airport waiting for Shastry to arrive...
But Shastry was caught up in the traffic and we didn't have much to do in the meantime, so our discussion took a philosophical drift (as usual) and we began to discuss the relation between choice and destiny... Regarding these discussions we have had since our second year, had we documented them, we would have had a manuscript for a bestseller ready by now... :D But the details of the discussion definitely deserve a separate article...
Finally after some running around to locate the exact terminal from where Shastry was departing we finally reached there and met his parents and some fellow friends from TeamSwades (Sachin and Akshat)... and after a few moments of waiting, we found him! There he was; our dear friend, about to take a big leap in life... such moments are the ones that stay with you for a long time... Shastry was as usual in a lot of nbd regarding how he should describe his trip, since he didn't have an employment visa... but as the moments passed by, we knew that we would not be seeing each other for atleast the next two months (hoping that he would come back for the convo)..
And then the ultimate moment arrived, when Shastry said good-bye to each one of us individually (or so we thought until that moment repeated itself all over again twice).. Knowing him for the last six years atleast, it was no surprise that Shastry's feet were rooted to the ground and he was finding it difficult to grasp the enormity of the situation, leaving his family, his friends, his country for the first time to go to a foreign land.. and though he didnt actually cry, we knew that his heart was crying at this critical juncture in his life... he was very much moved by the gift given to him by Sachin and Akshat, which carried the photo of his icon, the great MK Gandhi... and that was when Mohit remarked.. "Kaun kehta hai ladke bida nahi hote?".. and I knew that it was so very true...
Soon, Shastry looked at us one last time and was soon gone to build his career... which undoubtedly would be an illustrious one... I wish him all the very best in his career... and I am sure he would come back to India to live the dream of TeamSwades...
The last few days have been somewhat like living the older days once again.. And that has been because I have been meeting so many of my older friends. I had finally packed off from IIT and was enjoying my stay back home. And with that, I also got to be in the company of some of my best buddies from school and college.
I now feel that I am really indebted to Orkut because it finally got me back in touch with one of my best friends from school.. Aseem. I had never known his whereabouts since the past five years and was wondering how life would have turned out for him. But then a couple of weeks back, he added me on orkut and we could get to meet each other! What a great time it was... I went over to his place and we spent an evening together reliving the memories from the good old school days. The various experiences from college that we shared also brought back genuine smiles to our faces.
Then next was meeting up with my Standard X class teacher (Mrs. Nathan).. someone who had taught me since standard VIII and has played a pivotal role in shaping the way I think and feel... I was always impressed by the balance of kindness and agression in her teaching and few teachers have been able to strike that balance... She was a master when it came to teaching English Grammar... and having her as a class teacher in Std X also allowed her to leave a permanent mark on my moral values... When I and Arvind met her, she was still the same self that she was six years ago and we had a very memorable discussion on various social and moral issues...
This meeting was soon followed up by the Sathaye College Reunion... something that I was really skeptical about... since I hardly had many fond memories of Sathaye (we hardly used to attend college and most of the time during junior college was spent in coaching classes)... But Prajakta had called me up and her enthusiasm for the Reunion could not have met with a negative answer from my side.. Though she was confident that atleast 15 ppl would turn up, we finally ended up with only 9 ppl... just having a dinner at RK (Ramakrishna Restaurant, the fav hangout place for Sathaye ppl) and discussed many experiences from college... Though I was atleast saved from the embarassment of not recognizing any one, I had difficulty recalling a few names.. after all we had hardly interacted during college.... but it soon turned out to be a very good experience as we got to know each other and shared experiences from undergrad life.... We ended up by having softy at the SoftyBar (another fav place for Sathaye gang) and thanks to Arvind, we had some snaps as a memory of this most unlikely reunion for me (i was rather expecting a school reunion and not a college reunion, but the former seems uncertain as of now)...
Through all these times, I have also been enjoying the FIFA World Cup and have now have some basic literacy in football to indulge in the normal discussions among friends... also I have gained some amount of interest in F1 and am looking forward to the Canada Grand Prix... :-)
These few days spent in reliving the past have spurred up nostalgic feelings and I am now feeling more and more sad about leaving these wonderful carefree days behind and entering the new phase of life that beckons me just round the corner... the employed life!
Finally on the 10th of June 2006, I moved out from the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay... :( I had finally come to the end of the road... The wonderful four year journey, that began on the 18th of July 2002 with the insti orientation programme, is now over... with a few letters added against my name... and loads of memories to carry away with me....
At this point, thinking back about the time when I first came to IITB, I find that life didnt exactly turn out as I had thought it would... sometimes for the good, sometimes for the worse... But it has been an enriching journey indeed... I now realise that the four years of undergraduate life are the most valuable years, where u come across so many diverse acquaintances and gather so many experiences... I just can't imagine the enormity of the impact that IIT life has had on me... from the transformation into a nocturnal creature to the changed attitude towards life, it has been a total metamorphosis for me... and apart from that, I have been lucky enough to gain the company of so many friends that this has alone made my life worthwhile... We always meet new acquaintances and make new friends at every walk of life but IIT has gifted me with such gems that make me feel deeply indebted to it...
And never before has this occured to me.. I have rediscovered myself here... And it pains my heart to leave all this behind now... The time spend in the company of these friends, the pointless night-outs, the studying on the night before the exams, the arguments, the debates over various issues of life, and the dabbling with many new activities; all of these would be mere memories now...
But that is how life is... I am done here and have to move ahead... After gaining all these experiences, I look forward to making my mark in the real world... where and how life would take a turn, I cannot tell... But being at IIT has helped me develop a positive attitude towards life... and so I am optimistic about the future turn of events... Though it would surely take some time to emerge from this hangover of nostalgia... At last, it is reality... I am an alumnus of the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay!
It was the end of the second day of the first test between India and the West Indies at Antigua, the ground that had seen Lara score the highest individual score in Test cricket (400* vs England).. India was in deep trouble with a dismal first inning performance and already under a 70-odd run lead... That was the time when I made a seemingly unreasonable prediction, that India will win this test... naturally evoking a strong reaction from my pragmatic peers... Anuj had even gone to the extreme of labeling my prediction as the height of optimism... But i think optimism is taller than most ppl think... :-)
though finally it was the determination of edwards and collymore along with dave mohammed to keep the indians just an inch away from victory... i think it was a wonderful performance from India and it is this sort of games that make cricket so much interesting... no matter what happens ahead in the remaining matches, India has come back strongly after the defeat in the ODIs and i am waiting to see what happens next...
And the week ahead is a treat for all sports-loving people... the Football world Cup is kicking off... the French Open will see some great action in tennis... we have the British Grand Prix lined up... and of course, the second test between India and WI... dont think will get too much time to blog all this while... :D
Today was the dreadful devil day... when the date was going to form the devil number 666 (6 june 06)... and many bad things had been slated to happen on this day..... and it was the special time at 06:06:06 (that is six seconds after 6:06 am) when everything from year to second would read six... interesting, isn't it? well, i was awake to witness that rare occasion.. i was determined to stay up whole night for that... :D
And here is the proof, a screenshot of the local India time shown by Google, the quality of the image may not be too good... so in case u want to see a conclusive proof, u can get the large size image from me.. >:)
After enjoying the moment with pandey (the wing sbc.. lolzz), i buzzed manjan and one of the rare occasions when some one offered me to come to main gate for a cup of tea.. :D and i was more than willing to oblige... so we had an early morning bike ride and mast garam garam chai..
I finally got to sleep at 8:30am and then was up again at 10:00.. finally i met my guide and really, u cannot be luckier than me... mere guide jitna peace aadmi dekha hi nahi hai! had a very informal chat and I was back happy and waiting to pass more time... we went to upahar at Y-Point gate and then to our favorite ganesh juice centre...
The evening was quite blurred with sleep tending to overpower and then I slumped for sometime on anuj's bed (gosh! dunno exactly what bit me but I was rudely woken up by the bugs in his bed!) i still wonder how he sleeps there everyday... as he says, the bugs in his bed bite only people who should not be sleeping there.. (or maybe, they cant tolerate getting close to anuj.. lolzz) The India WI match was slated for an exciting finish and that was going to take up most of the night...
finally, the day of the devil was coming to an end with thankfully not much damage done and the world was saved from the grasp of the beast... :-)
Later we went to Siddesh's place and had some pet-puja and discussions on reservations, cricket and football.. We were basically whiling away time until our friend Mujju arrived from Mulund... Then, we planned to have a dinner at Urban Tadka but had to wait for as long as 45 min before we could gain entry.. So, we spent our time in the futile attempt to convince Arvind for a treat, which we all so much deserved.. But Arvind, as always, did not budge and we ended up having a contri treat... but that did make it any less enjoyable (except towards the end, when we had to shell out some money)..... The travel back to home in bus was the perfect end to a very memorable evening...Mutation is the process through which evolution has progressed on this planet from the single-celled organisms to the present day humankind.. It is a continuous and slow process that is always creating new species on earth... but every few thousand years, evolution takes a leap; a leap into the future...
The X Men series is another masterpiece of human imagination which brings the power of mutation into the hands of humans... as expected with some disastrous consequences...
Every mutant has different special powers which he/she is free to use in whatever way desirable.. first, wolverine (Logan) whose bones have been coated with some indestructible metal... Logan can conjure claws out of his knuckles and can heal his wounds faster than anyone else... then, there is Cyclops who can produce a high power laser from his eyes that can burn anything in its way... there is Jeanne Gray who can control gravity through her mind (oh! what a brilliant idea!)... Firearm, who can manipulate fire but unfortunately cannot create it and so has to keep a lighter with him always.. the girl (don't know her name) who can walk through walls... Mystique who can take the form of anyone and also imitate his/her voice... and finally Magneto who can control any metal object through the use of his magnetic powers...
Such works of fiction tend to impress me a lot.. I seem to spend a lot of time imagining what I could have done with these special powers... How nice it would be to have chilled beer by just dropping in a couple of ice cubes out of nothing... Or how I could sneak into the classroom through the wall so that the prof would never come to know about it... :D Or how I could summon anything sitting from one place... yeah sure, that would make me fat and lazy beyond limits.. Or turn into anyone and do whatever u desire to get done... the possibilities seem endless.... If only we could actually speed up evolution and achieve something of this sort... But yes, as spiderman had said, "With great power comes great responsibility!" So would it be with such mutant powers...
Another thing that the X Men movies touched upon was how the human society as a whole is not accepting to anything that seems to deviate from the general accepted notion of normality.. And how we all have to constantly keep changing ourselves to fit into this social system... Any abberation is dealt with severity and isolation from society... This is something which significantly contributes to breeding criminals and anti-social elements... Something that the society as a whole does little to rectify...
Anyways, I am dying to watch the third movie in the series which has released in theatres just a couple of weeks ago... Hope I get to watch it soon... :-)
Why do so many ppl in the world spend so much of their time blogging?? What is it that they seek from writing blogs?
Well, to begin with, I am totally against making any sort of generalizations and acknowledge that the motives of each person blogging may be different... and i would try not to make any inferences about the person from his/her motives... because I believe in the statement that "No person is right or wrong... just every one is different". Every person is right in his/her logic bubble... which is made up of his values and experiences...
One of the primary reasons for blogging which I can think of is to vent one's feelings... in this hectic world, there is very little time for ppl to share all their feelings with others and blogging provides a convenient way to pour them out... It helps the mind feel more relaxed...
The first type of blogs may be the broadcasting type... they could be used to reach out to more and more people across the globe.. for example, gathering popular support on a large scale... this is very much evident from the way blogs have been used in the current anti-reservation protests.
Another type could be the journalism oriented; wherein we may express views on anything from sports to movies to music and anything else... I realise that many of my own blogs fall in this category... some ppl think that these blogs are repetitve but I think that the personal experiences and opinions that they contain make them unique...
Finally, ppl may just blog about their daily lives and write in detail about how they spent their day and what experiences they had... these blogs may not address any specific issue but still have the utility that they keep friends and acquaintances updated about their lives and make a good light reading... And they can definitely end up being a lot more creative...
No matter what the reasons or the motives, blogging can be a very good experience. They give direction to the many thoughts that cross our minds daily and give shape to our opinions.
So, instead of pondering over the intellectual worth of your blogs and the utlitiy to the reader and the comments that may come ur way, keep blogging... karma karte raho; phal ki chinta mat karo... yehi geeta ka saar hai.. :-)
After a late night searching for blog names for anuj, i knew it will be difficult to keep my schedule of running every morning... there was only a bleak chance that after sleeping at 4am, i would be able to wake up at 6:30.. but i was delayed by only 45 min and there was still hope of running today... until the rain gods doused all enthusiasm.. its amazing when you are seeing the sun at one moment and then just a couple of minutes later, the skies have started pouring down... It was the perfect dampener for all enthusiasm to run...
and there i was... awake but got nothing to do... in such a scenario, what comes first to anyone's mind? The answer obviously varies from person to person... The first thing in my mind was why the hell did i sleep so late? and the answer popped out right away... its the blogger that is to blame!
so now i am, blogging my time away... the first rains have been shortlived and the sun has come out through the clouds.. so am contemplating whether there is still time to go running...
It has been a long break away from blogging... some how that intensity to blog had been lost and most of it was driven by the absence of fellow bloggers....
But now its time to rekindle that fire, to give vent to whatever comes to my mind.. and the reason behind this is my wingie (wing-mate for non-IITians) Anuj Gupta (fondly known as bhola or BMW) who has taken up to blogging and is now on of the newest members of the blogosphere.. He spent as many as two hours yesterday on my comp and that too in the night from 1:45 to 3:45 am! But it was a very interesting time when we began searching for as many oxymorons as possible just to name his new blog! Finally he settled for Lameskill as the oxymoron he was looking for.. lets see how much of this lame skill he shows in the coming days..
The match between India and England was evenly poised at the end of the fourth day.. with India batting at 18/1 and needing 313 to win, I would have said there was a fair chance to get that...
And moreover, the match being in Mumbai, it was all the more reason to feel excited!
We all saw it as the final opportunity to watch a cricket match from such close quarters with friends in the near future... so, on Tuesday night, we were all excited and ready to rock the Wankhede.. so many ppl were willing to come that we felt it would be a wonderful outing, one of those precious days that will be forever engraved in memory.. we were all imagining India pulling off a stunning victory...
It was decided to leave early in the day since we also had to buy tickets.. but not even half of the ppl who had shown the willingness to come the previous night were enthu abt giving up their sleep and coming to watch the match.. not true cricket fans i thought!
finally me, patkar and modi were the only three who were awake and wanting to go.. so we left insti at around 6:30am and made our way down south to Wankhede.. the huge queue outside the ticket counter so early in the morning for a test match on a weekday was really amazing... it is beyond doubt that cricket is the one force that pulls the vast majority of the Indian populace.
It was a long wait in the queue for us followed by growing unrest among the waiting crowd as the match drew closer and the queue was moving at snail's pace... finally there was a huge commotion and we were pushed out of the queue as the security started lathi-charge on the waiting crowd.. i was pissed off with such poor arragements and think the MCA should make sincere efforts to improve this situation because I am just wondering what the situation would be like for an ODI at Wankhede... It would make sense to bring in the e-seva system for ticket distribution, which is currently practiced in hyderabad..
Thankfully, there was a separate line for ladies at the stadium and we were able to convince a couple of girls to get us tickets but that was not before I suffered a blow from the lathi on my knee.. though it was mild, it still pained...
finally when we got the chance to get into the stadium at 11am, the score read 46/3 and the best two batsmen of the Indian team, Dravid and Sachin were out there in the middle.. inspite of the early losses, the crowd was very optimistic of the home team making a comeback.. it was my first experience to watch a cricket match in the stadium and it was fantastic.. the chorus of SAACHINN..SAACHINN.. in the crowd was simply enthralling.... some sections of the crowd were hurling abuses at the English cricketers and it should be really intimidating to the players...
the session till lunch was very entertaining and Rahul and Sachin stayed on to take India to 75/3.. the hopes of the crowd to witness an exciting finish were soaring... but post-lunch began the downslide.. rahul departed in the first over after lunch and sachin in the very next.. it was stunning.. suddenly all hopes came shattering down in a heap....
and that was not the end of the downfall.. sehwag and dhoni also had a very brief presence and the Indian team was looking down the barrel much too early than most of us had expected... soon the match was all over and India had collapsed to 100 all out and lost miserably in the very first match that I watched at the Wankhede....
it was really disappointing and frustrating since we stood in the queue longer than we were in the stadium... the crowd was calling out "Hamara paisa wapas do!" and "We want Dada!" which made me realise the volatility of the crowd sentiment in India.. but then, being among the one who had fought so hard to get that coveted place in the North Stand, I did share their feelings to some extent... one bad match and all the good work in the last few months is washed clean from memory...
after the match, i think that the Indian team needs to sit back and analyse the shortcoming and come back hard at the Englishmen in the ODIs. Although India lost the match, going to the Wankhede was not a total waste because I could see some of my favorite players from close quarters and watching the boundaries from the willows of sachin and yuvraj were some consolation for my money and time...
it had been a long time since i had blogged.. but that was because my comp was in coma.. kuch display hi nahi karta tha.. give-up maar diya tha maine.. ki yeh ab fir kuch na kar paayega life mein..
but today has been a special day.. i have been able to make my comp work once again.. it has risen from the ashes like a phoenix... and how did i go about the task? just by putting my RAM in a different socket! this goes to show that complex problems often have simple and straight-forward solutions!
i am feeling a lot more lukkha again.. after the last two weeks which were very taxing preparing for the ChEA Symposium... had a lot of expectations.. but the crowd turnout was poor..:(
it felt a little disappointing, but then who said that all efforts need be rewarded in the way u expect them to be? it had been a wonderful experience organizing the event and i have learnt loads of lessons in the process.. it was a commendable effort, considering that our team comprised only a handful of people...
now that it is all over, i am back into lukkha mode.. though i still have loads to do in my BTP, i will still find some time to spend out here....
The two day break in the midsems was very eventful for me since i spent the whole of tuesday at pune with jhatu, dosi and bajju.. and most of wednesday, i was busy sleeping and dreaming.. in the evening i came to terms with the grave situation at hand.. there were two midsems today and i had no clue of either subject..
the most instinctive reaction in such a scenario is to seek help from the best student in class... daga in this case.. so i went to him in the evening and lo.. he cleared all fundaes within an hour and a half... and i was all elated that i understand advanced process synthesis very well... i came back to hostel and spent time lukkhaing around.. i also tried my hand at problems and found them routine stuff.. but it was not to be...
and when i realised that, i was in the examination hall in the morning.. finding myself clueless on each and every question in the paper.. but then, there i was struggling to get some clue and i was unable to remember even the basic steps.. i finally ended up expecting a pure zero on hundred and was all depressed... it was one of the totally hopeless days of my life and certainly the most forgettable one.. unless there is some miracle in the remaining 10 hours..:-)
well, the bit of advice that i would like to give here is that if u take an elective out of the so-called interest, then do study it well.. else u will end up screwing it like i did today..
There is a two day break in the midsems... so what do we do? well, we packed up and left for pune!
Now what is one doing going to Pune in the midst of the midsems? even pune junta dont do that.. but then, we had a reason.. ChEA Symposium Publicity!!!
well, for those ignorant souls, we have the ChEA Symposium at IIT Bombay on 11th march 2006.. here is the link for u.. http://www.che.iitb.ac.in/chea/symposium2k6 do have a look..
it doesn't help when u discover that u are almost an hour late in getting up and mayank is standing at the door breathing fire at u... but that was how the day began...
the day was very eventful and we enjoyed ourselves thoroughly.. we could achieve almost everything we had planned to... but it was dosi and bajju who made the day for us.. without them, we could not have possibly got so much work done and enjoyed so much...
we not only went to our sponsors Praj industries but also set foot on the MIT of India! yes, the Maharashtra Institute of Technology in Pune.. its a nice place and as far as IIT standards are concerned, MIT has a much better and more diverse crowd.........
we also went to NCL.. jhalak dikhalaaaaaaaa ja, ek baar aja aja aja aja aaaaaja! (more details from dosi).
finally on the way back, on bajju's demand we got down at vashi and went to BTC (Bhagat Tara Chand) for a very filling dinner.. BTC mein dinner karne ke baad to waise hi neend aane lagti hai... but look how resilient i am! i kept sleep away for more than 4 hrs!
but now its getting too late and i am feeling damn sleepy.. so good night!
The final match at Karachi sealed the fate of the Paki team at the Hutch Cup... the Indian team has become the most ferocious chasers.. it has been proven beyond doubt that the Indian team is far far better than Pakistan...
how come this sudden change in India? is it the change in leadership or is it the coaching of Greg Chappell?? what is it that has made the single most significant difference in the Indian side today and the one about 6 months back?
The answer would be MSD! It is the MSD phenomenon that has changed the fortunes of the team.. I had always felt that Austrailia's greatest strength was Gilchrist who was much more than a wicket keeper to them.. In india, it was a traditional belief that it is not necessary for the wicket keeper to be a good batsman... but MSD has changed it all now... he is more of an asset than a liability in the batting department... the manner in which MSD bludgeoned the Pakis at Karachi was simply outstanding... it was one of the best finishes by India in all times.. now even a score of close to 300 seems reachable thanks to the power of Yuvi and MSD... and when there is Pathan in as well, it makes the side even more formidable.. never before has the Indian side looked so much promising.. never before have we chased down 280 with 3 overs to spare without Sehwag, Sachin and Saurav... never before has the Indian side done so well in batting, bowling and fielding consistently...
With the MSD power on our side, I now feel.. "Bring on the Aussies, it time to decide the new world champions!"
Nostalgia rules all around.. the last midsems of my stay at iit.. well, i have always loved the week of exams at iit.. there are many reasons for that..
1. there are no moronic classes to attend
2. there is night tea available in the mess
3. there is an air of liveliness and hours can be spent at the canteen place
4. and finally, its the only time that i am involved in acads...
today was the first paper of the lot.. stochastic processes.. a course taken out of enthu.. well thats what it was supposed to be.. fight maarke yeh course float karwaya gaya tha and so it was natural for our instructor (jhumpa adhikari) to expect some sort of enthu from the 9 ppl who took the course... but then, she was grossly disappointed. she had to see our blank faces for most of the time (the remaining time we never made it to the lecture..) she had to finally give her notes to us to prevent all the ppl from ending up with zeroes..
s0 now comes the day of the exam.. rishi and shastry in immense nbd.. and me as usual trying to chill them out... kisi tarah thoda bahut course chamka liya.. bahut hi random course tha.. apne naam pe khara utara..
but then the midsem was not that difficult, what with most of the questions being replicated from the lone assignment that we had got... aaj ehsaas hua ki do ghante midsem mein baithna kitna fight hai last sem mein.. waise hi aadhe ghante mein pakk gaya aur neend aa rahi thi.. thodi der ke liye to rest bhi kar liya, when i thought jhumpa was getting the feeling i was trying to copy from shastry...:D
so now that one midsem has gone by, there are three more to come my way.. but none for the next two days.. there seems lots of commotion outside.. time for wing cricket!
I was very disappointed after India lost the Karachi test even with Pathan taking a hat-trick in the first over of the game... suddenly the strong Indian team looked feeble.. people started calling the Indian attack toothless (when in the same test, we had Pakistan at 39/6) and declared that the Indian batsmen were strong only on paper... well, thats the way things go as far as cricket is concerned in India.. one defeat and the entire team gets criticized like hell...
But this Indian team has the mettle to bear it all and come out strong... even after losing the ODI at Peshawar, the team bounced back to win the Hutch Cup in three straight encounters at Rawalpindi, Lahore and Multan.. the Indian team has shredded its chase-fear and now has become one of the most successful chasers of recent times..
the young heroes Raina and RP Singh have performed very well and deserve a round of applause.. but the one youngster who has also given a splendid performance is Sreesanth (though he has not many wickets to show on paper, he is a wonderful talent to be nurtured)
As Dravid said after the match, India has raised its level of performance in all departments and has emerged successful through a truly team effort...
Hope India continues the good work into the final ODI at Karachi...
Its one of the most beautiful ways to start a day.. get up on a lazy sunday morning at 10:30 and put on the TV to find the score card reading pak 4/3 !! u inevitably keep rubbing ur eyes and then go to cricinfo to make sure that its true!
pathan takes a hat-trick!! awesome start to the test match! and whoever says that pathan is not bowling well these days and concentrating too much on batting, take this!
and the paki woes were not over yet.. they further slid to 39/6... the groundsmen on the other side of the border probably dont believe in making moderate pitches...:D
