Bouncers - Best things in Cricket

I am 25 now and ever since I can remember the time immemorial , I’ve been a Cricket nut. Batting has always been my favorite but Bowling part is not without its attractions. Especially the good old “the Bouncer”.
A bouncer is a fast ball that is aimed at batsman’s chest and above portions of the body preferably the skull.
Historically it has been the most destructive weapon of the legendary pace bowlers of the past. It was used to fearsome perfection by giants bowling machines of West Indies and other great pacemen like Lillee , Thomson, Botham etc. Batsmen had to face these bowlers with a knowledge that any mistimed shot and they may end up in a Hospital. Micheal Holding , quarter of the West Indies bowling lineup of the 80’s was known as “ whispering death” and why he shouldn’t be . Imagine a smallish round object weighing around 200gms coming at a speed of 150-160 km/hr straight at your skull (sounds more guided missile to me ). Going by my ability at batting I will end up with multiple stitches (or serious brain damage) before I am even able to lift the Bat.
Watching Batsman avoiding the bouncer is also a great sight to watch. Ducking , stretching, hopping and doing all kinds of acrobatics to avoid contact with one nasty ball. Even though, because of helmets chances of serious injury are much less now, these beauties are still used as pscylogical weapon by pacemen to intimidate opposite batsmen. And injuries still happen. In the 2005 Ashes the towering English paceman Steve Harmison started the first test with a bouncer which rattled Aussie opener Mathew Hayden’s helmet and then injured the opposite Captain Ricky Ponting by a similar delivery which resulted nasty bruise and bleeding from his face. Those two balls probably set the tone for the unforgettable 2005 Ashes series.
Closer home us, the Indians are not very adept at playing short balls, Dravid’s an exception, and hence our batsmen are peppered with chest high bouncers when on tour to countries with fast pitches. In 1994 during West Indies tour of India during one Test Ambrose and Walsh terrorized Indian batsmen with a flurry of short balls and bouncers causing injuries to several batsmen. India lost that test. I don’t remember when and where that test was staged but I do remember that I was close to tears. Speaking of other awkward incidents involving Bouncers, Sachin Tendulkar, once on Australian tour was bowled a quite short pitched delivery by Glenn McGrath and he anticipating a bouncer completely tried to duck the high rising ball. But amusingly the ball did not bounce at all and struck Tendulkar on his shoulder who was crouching in front of wicket. Upon appeal, Umpire adjuged him Out “Shoulder before wicket”.
In the recent times Bouncers have lost a bit of charm because of helmets and more importantly to the increased use of Yorker balls which are completely opposite because they target toes of the batsmen. That may be because of the fact the Yorkers are more useful in taking the wickets which has been proved by phenomenal success of the greatest proponents of the art of Yorkers – the Waquar – Akram duo of Pakistan and more recently of Dale Steyn and Umar Gul. Another fact has also not helped and that is limiting the number of bouncers to 2 per over in Tests and 1 in ODI’s and T20’s. But no one can deny that nothing can match the “Awe” factor of a perfect bouncer and I hope these deliveries keep on continuing to enthrall the Cricket fans for generations to come….

Dialling a Pizza?? Grab a Vadapav !!

For some it is a snack, for some it is a meal and for others it is another piece of junk food but vada-pav has a special place in the appetite of every Indian whether rich or poor. The humble vada pav simple, tasty/spicy and of course cheap, available at every nook and corner selling for as little as 7 bucks (at least in surat) is savior of sort when you are hungry.

When I went to hostel I was like any other guy-had to leave home made food for the torturing food of hostel and finally when the torture exceeded all imaginations he looked up to road side kiosks/small restaurants for the evening snacks because they are the only place where you don’t burn a hole in the pocket. There on the same roadside, I used to see people eating the vadapav with sausage and the chilly. Initially it looked like something you must not ingest, and savoring its tantalizing flavors requires that you wilfully abandon all basic rules of gastronomy and hygiene. It was perhaps the least likely item I wanted to taste in my life but the Indian burger got me soon and it became a daily business to have bite of it with juice or coffee.

Theambience at a vadapav laari which no restaurant can provide is that you can find people of all sorts/strata of the society ranging from students to office goers biting into the piece of vada pav with “I’m loving it” faces. Soon I too became so obsessed with the ugly looking vadapav that even after getting a job vadapav easily found a special place in my evening snacks inspite of knowing that if I tell my folks that I eat a vadapav a day they are surely gonna kick my ass (no one can be as strict as the airforce/army parents when it comes to eating habits).

Though am going to leave Surat in some days for the dahi-parathas of Delhi but the evenings spent at the tea centre and the Vadapav laari at SVNIT are unforgettable, where along with friends eating vadapav, having a coffee with cigarette and watching pretty girls was always something more than fun.

No Pun intended: Marathi's are so fond of it that this year their State Finance Minister anounced to reduce the rate of tax on vada pav sold in restaurants to 5 per cent (from 12.5 per cent)..Please help this chap..do mumbaikars really eat vadapav at restaurants..may god help those who do..;-))

The Wish Coins

India is a place full of superstitions & inspite of modernization we still stick to the age old beliefs. It’s impious when you believe in India as growth engine to the world economy at one hand and at the other find people so grossly indulged in age old practices of spending money on deity’s. When u look at the contagion with which it has affected the people of India from rich to middle class to poor u can’t help itself giving it a thought.

There could be incidents when we all must have felt something of sort what I felt when I was travelling in train …For a particular time period which is like 60 to 70 seconds I see something really strange......Its the time when the train crosses over a river …

What’s so strange in that right??!! But when you see people of all kind from rich to poor,fatso's to slimmo's,aunties & uncles throwing coins in the river it does look strange..Its like "are they nuts"!!!

Each and every class of people do that, no matter whether they are highly educated or illiterate, its kind of mission for them. The moment train approaches a bridge over river the scene in the small compartment starts looking like of a circus with everyone having hands full of coins eagerly looking out of the window with a childish excitement, some smarter lot get ready in advance with a coin in the hand and others rush to find the lowest denomination coin from their pockets or wallets. Aiming between the pillars of the bridge they throw the coin down in river and fold their hands to get the blessings to fulfill their wishes.

 Is this way to wish something??Throwing coins in the river never makes sense to me…

It’s good to worship river as a God/Goddess if you believe in it, but money can’t buy god. It’s like you are paying your parents to take care of you and if it's about culture that’s not the only way to make a wish. Just folding hands with belief in thee is more apt than throwing coins, after all a river doesn't need money as a payback to whatever good it does for mankind.

What if coins were buoyant? If it would have been so imagine all the rivers covered up with a silver coat!!! Well, it reminds me the crow and water story…the story had a good ending, but if it happens here?? the bad ending of this story is not so far...!It may be blasphemous of me for whoever believes in throwing coins but if you are such a believer and do-gooder then save the coins in your pockets for the needy beggar on the next station. It may buy him a meal and get you the most precious & honest emotion exhibited by a human-the blessings.