Kamz Puff

Last weekend I managed to catch up with the forgotten 'Gilly' cricket. I had been eyeing a college-goer in my apartment sneak into the near by college grounds over weekends. This time around, I stopped him and enquired. He offered me to join them.

I had a spring in my walk and raced to the ground. There was a game in progress. The college in ruins or should I say under-construction acted as the long-on stands. And I took to a shade on the supposed-to-be boundary line. There I saw this young chap 'Rahul' who must have been less than 4 feet tall but very enthusiastic in many ways.

After a confirmation that I had an invitation to play with them and counter-check with the college goer, he started a conversation with me. He asked me if I was working. He must have got cues from my greyed hair (which is spreading like a Californian forest fire) and a boring beard.

And then he asked me... 'Which industry?'. At that very minute I knew that this guy was going to pose some tough questions.

And when I replied 'Software', there came the ultimate question. 'Wipro?'. I replied that I was with Cognizant. He went on to say 'I asked you this because, I know that your industry is not doing well. I also know that Wipro is a very dangerous place to be in this downturn.'.

I was shockingly surprised. At his age, I am very sure that I would not have had such an exposure to current affairs.

But he was very polite and did not ask if my job was at stake. He was nice to me, I should say.

He was the 'joker' in the game - meaning he could take on batting representing both sides (but mostly the last man in) but must field for both the sides. But for me he was not a Joker. For his stature, he fielded really well and his batting was decent with basics in place. And beyond that he talked about other things bothering the world right now.

There is a general misconception in the Indian public that most of the millions of people in the software industry have been sacked and are left jobless. Interistingly a lot of non-software folks seem to be happy with that news. The reasons for the phenomenon of the modern day youth spending big on Clothes, Vehicles and Homes seems to have fully fallen on the highly paid folks in the software industry - from entry level programmers to CEOs.

But when this little boy asked me that question, all that I was made think about was to wonder if I would have ever had such a discussion or thinking during my cricketing days when I was at Rahul's age. No way!

2nd Test match between India and Australia in the Gavaskar-Border 2008 trophy at Sydney. Aussies register their 16th straight test win.

Yeah, it was another tail-order collapse. But not one that would make the Indian fan upset because of the performance of the Indian players. The sadness would be attributed more towards the horrendous umpiring decisions which went against the Indians. The umpiring blunder score finally stood 6 - 1 in favor of Australia at the end of the fifth day's play of the 2nd test match at Sydney. It was a pity to witness even third-umpire decisions going against Indians.

Indians played remarkably well and especially captain Kumble stood ground and set an example. The test result is an agony. The Indians did not deserve to loose this test match but for the poor decisions. Yes, accepted that the Indians should have been able to wade of the Australian challenge. They were just 7 balls away when the "golden" Clark spun the match with his 3 wickets in a span of 5 balls.

But, it's hard to digest the fact that the Australians have enjoyed this Godly treatment every now and then. It was interesting to read this snippet from today's daily "During an informal chat, some months ago, Shivnarine Chanderpaul made an interesting point: if the umpires don’t rule all the 50-50 decisions, or even some of the 40-60 ones, in Australia’s favour, most of the Test teams can beat them. He might, of course, have been exaggerating the beating part a bit. But the fact remains the current Australian lot, whether while batting or bowling, invariably seem to enjoy the benefit of doubt more. It’s like a protective cover that comes to their rescue whenever they are in trouble, or when the opposition is on top".

If they were Gentlemen, Ponting and Symonds should have walked as soon as they nicked. They stood ground. So, what brought about this change to the Gentlemen of cricket? Did they hold ground then since they were pinned to the walls? That doesn’t speak well about their genleman-nism. The so-called "Sportsmanship" has been missing very clearly from Ponting's men for quite some time now.

It was ridiculous to see the umpire go to the same guy (Ponting) to ask if Ganguly's catch was cleanly taken. What does he expect as the answer from a person who stood ground after cleanly having nicked the ball? He never even bothered to contact Bucknor or the third umpire. (Let me not talk about Bucknor and his decisions against India. That would be separate article by itself.)

I hate to see a indifferent treatment to players of different nationalities from ICC. Especially when it comes to Australians, they being pulled up for dissent or quarrel or intimidation never seems to happen. Are they gods? Or are they considered as Gentlemen and given this special allowance? Their act on the field doesn't seem to suggest so.

Cricket, Gentlemen and Australians? Nice Joke!

Days fly by and so do I. It’s been hard to catch up with friends who visit us (to greet the new born) as I am taking shifts in time slicing between the two loves of live - family and work. Yes, it is a great feeling to become dad. But when people ask me how I feel after becoming a dad, the first thing that I say to them is that I feel more responsible than ever. They say it comes with age. And it shows. I have started to have streaks of shiny white hair. LOL!

I had always wondered how hard it can be to become a dad and felt it should not be difficult. Honestly, it has not been that easy. I know it is too early to comment on it as it's not even a month since I got this promotion. But I am enjoying the moments for sure.

On one side I have to calm down my better half not to panic whenever the little one cries. "Crying is normal and is a good sign of the baby being healthy" - This is what everyone who visits us tells. But do you think it does into her ears? But now, things are settling down. A synergy has been developed and we are all able to make out what the other one is going through. The little master will take some time though to understand. He is very demanding at times.

On the other side, there are more demands to cater to at work place. Late nights continue. Though this is nothing new to me there are times when I can clearly feel that I am missing the little one. It turns out to be lucky few days when he is not asleep when I return in the late hours. It is as though he is adamantly waiting to see his dad before catching on some more sleep. At least, that is the way I see it. :)

I wish to thank all of you who have been able to visit us, wish us and bless the new one. And, thanks to all the TIL friends who clubbed events, came home and cut a "Happy Birthday Dad" cake for me last week. It was so nice of you. My mom and wife felt very happy about it. Yeah! Dad needs attention too. :)

Some of you stay far away and some of you haven't been able to make it to see the baby. I am sure your best wishes and prayers are always with us. For all of you, here is our Version 1.0 in the snap. A lot of you have been asking for his name. Forgive us. We are in the process of finalizing a name. It has been hard to get every one into a consensus. I will publish his name in this post in a short time.

Life moves on. I have shifted gears and slowed down the pace. The last project at work has been successful and more than everything satisfying. It gives an “I love my job!” feeling and makes you feel that all of the late nights were worth it. It felt even better when a recognition came in the form of an award for all the good work.

T20 world cup championship started and ended with a bang. I loved every bit of it. For a change, I was all along propagating my belief to everyone that India had a good chance in this tournament after watching the initial matches (after making it to the Super 8). I very rarely have had such a feeling in any major tournament that India participated.

In my opinion, any team could have own the T20 form of cricket world cup and India did a tremendous job to peek as Winners. I loved this form of cricket which not many (including me) believed to be a hit. This form allows us to watch a full match and test our nerves! One thing that came out of these matches was the observation that, my wife was cool and relaxed in tense moments, whereas I was going restless like a rattle snake.

The superstitious self, came out of me to torture my wife to take my silly requests like “Sit where you are, don’t move! Don’t answer the call! Don’t wash your hands, etc…” which later lead to my own self-belief. At the end, it was all for good. We Won! I shouted like hell broke loose after each of these games in spite of my non-cricket-fever which was clinging on to me for more than a week then. I am still left with a very bad throat. But the world cup came and went. A feverish end I should say.

India won the cup! And it was time for the stones, chappals and broomsticks to stay were they were. It was time for garlands to visit the players at the Mumbai airport. It was time for the supporters to show all their love. Mumbai came to a stand still. There were unexploded bombs on the pathways. There were the NCP members who took the front row leaving the players behind. There were supporters all over the park and the wicket at Wankhade. Hockey players went on hunger strike for not being recognized. It rained cats and dogs. Or rather, was it raining Flats and Cash? TV News production houses thrived in creating breaking news out of all this and raised their TRP ratings. Good for them. And there was this poor (and feverish) soul home alone looking at that all day long.

After schooling days, many of my school mates including me have been in touch via a mailing group. The group happened to be a place where people shared updates, marriage invitations, news about promotions in personal and professional life, shared lighter moments and the likes. But yesterday we received a shocker from Darshan.

We were informed about the sudden demise of one of our loving friends - Vellayappan Chidambaram. He was also knows as White Father - a literal translation of his Tamil name in English. I know him as an intelligent, ever smiling and a lovable friend. After his graduation in the US he was working with Dell at Austin.

When I read the mail at my work place, I could instantly feel my heart starting to beat with a thud. Soon, there were tears. I had to wipe it away pretty quickly and get along with the team discussion that proceeded. My mind wasn’t there though. On my way back from office, my memory took me back to all the good times that I had shared with Vellay.

It has been really tough to get over this tragic news. No body would have thought that someone could pass away while enjoying walks on water which is not very deep. Vellay, I just wish you not being there that day.

Vellay, we would definitely miss you. You would always be remembered for all the nice qualities that you had. May your soul rest in peace; may your family have all the strength and courage to overcome this trauma. Our prayers would be with you and your family.

These are the links that were passed on to us: Link 1 Link 2 Link 3