Question Everything

Question everything

We are taught to question everything before believing in them. No matter how incontrovertible the statement might be, we are told to question it till our inner-self is completely satisfied.
Then why aren't we allowed to question religion?

A 10 year old boy oblivious from the various traditions and beliefs that pervade in the society is perplexed by the atrocities he witnessed around him, questions his Father.

SON: Why do you want me to go there? The snake around the neck of that blue man terrifies me. We have to go there barefoot and the floor is hot, it hurts me.

FATHER: You barely know how to talk and you are disrespecting your own God?

SON: My God? No one gave me a chance to choose my God, I don't like the God you take me to. I like the one with an elephant head and even that lady sitting on a lion. I like lions daddy.

FATHER: You are a Hindu, all these Gods are same, If you want we can go to the temple you like.

SON: So we can go to that place where people wear small caps on their heads? I always wanted to meet the person who wakes me up every morning with his singing. I will tell him to lower his volume, I want to sleep more till my vacations end.

FATHER: Please God forgive this child. You don't they are muslims. They are not our people, their God is different.

SON: But daddy you just said that all these Gods are same.

FATHER (completely vexed): Leave it, go get ready we are going to the Temple we went yesterday.

SON: I do not want to go there, I hate that place. They do not let didi and mumma enter and they scold me for eating from my left hand. I won't go there. What is wrong with both of them that they do not let them in and I can't eat from my right, how is it my fault?

FATHER (slaps him): You adamant child, you want to change how this world has been functioning till now? Go to your room.

SON (crying): But I don't like the way it works.

I have a lot to say after this but I want to leave all of you with this little conversation and I want you to think, we are not producing factory made goods where one factory produces only one type of a product. Don't be a factory product, be an invention. Question everything...
THINK!!!

Happy Birthday Mumma !!!

Happy Birthday Mumma!!!:):):)
Here is something I wrote in my 'Diary of the Dead' which is perfect to describe you in our lives. Yes, we know you are our knight and will always be (in a disguise).

"She would scan every corner of the house, on her knees sometimes and then there was her broom. I always perceived the broom as her sword. The moment she had the broom in her hand an image of her sitting on a well bred horse wearing shining armour while raising her sword crossed my head. The moment she struck her broom to the floor I could hear the metal clinging another metal just like in a war. And I wanted to call her Ser instead of Maa. From the battle fields of dirt, she moved into the kitchen. There she revealed another power she had with her, the power to control fire. A semi-circled mount of bricks lay in the middle of our kitchen, covered in wood ash, those bricks had completely lost the red colour they initially possessed, just like the rugged hands of my mother. They must have been soft before but all these years of working has made them hard and rough, I remember Bhaisaab once mentioning about the soft touch of Maa’s hands on his cheeks when he was young. Being the 5th born eluded me from experiencing that but those rough touches for me were softer than a peacock's feather caressing my cheek. There between that semi-circled mount she would light the tiny twigs on fire and then control the fire with a small steel pipe. She would blow into the fire through that pipe and just like that the fire was at her helm. It was so easy for her. So every morning I would see her putting her powers on display for me, she would have the ability to control water, earth and fire. It was something which even the best of super heroes won’t have. She still remains the only super hero in my life and like any other superhero she would quietly use her powers, save the city and no one ever gets to know who the real face behind this masked hero. Those little things which she did guided our lives so much that the day I left her to go and live in the city I felt a paralysis attack running through my nerves when all those chores were encumbered on my back. Most of us don’t even realise that there is a superhero present in our lives disguised as our mother. I saw my mother everyday and wondered what was her salary for putting up with all this everyday and not even getting recognised for it? Later I realised that when your son presents you with a knighthood and he thinks of you as a superhero, you are earning more than any other person on this planet."

Diary Of The Dead (A tribute to his mother)

She would scan every corner of the house, on her knees sometimes and then there was her broom. I always perceived the broom as her sword. The moment she had the broom in her hand an image of her sitting on a well bred horse wearing shining armour while raising her sword crossed my head. The moment she struck her broom to the floor I could hear the metal clinging another metal just like in a war. And I wanted to call her Ser instead of Maa. From the battle fields of dirt, she moved into the kitchen. There she revealed another power she had with her, the power to control fire. A semi-circled mount of bricks lay in the middle of our kitchen, covered in wood ash, those bricks had completely lost the red colour they initially possessed, just like the rugged hands of my mother. They must have been soft before but all these years of working has made them hard and rough, I remember Bhaisaab once mentioning about the soft touch of Maa’s hands on his cheeks when he was young. Being the 5th born eluded me from experiencing that but those rough touches for me were softer than a peacock's feather caressing my cheek. There between that semi-circled mount she would light the tiny twigs on fire and then control the fire with a small steel pipe. She would blow into the fire through that pipe and just like that the fire was at her helm. It was so easy for her. So every morning I would see her putting her powers on display for me, she would have the ability to control water, earth and fire. It was something which even the best of super heroes won’t have. She still remains the only super hero in my life and like any other superhero she would quietly use her powers, save the city and no one ever gets to know who the real face behind this masked hero. Those little things which she did guided our lives so much that the day I left her to go and live in the city I felt a paralysis attack running through my nerves when all those chores were encumbered on my back. Most of us don’t even realise that there is a superhero present in our lives disguised as our mother. I saw my mother everyday and wondered what was her salary for putting up with all this everyday and not even getting recognised for it? Later I realised that when your son presents you with a knighthood and he thinks of you as a superhero, you are earning more than any other person on this planet.

Diary of the Dead

Now that I am dead, Where was I? The intoxicating effect of freedom hit me so hard that I forgot where I was. That was the moment when I looked around myself and saw something I always wanted to see. I was standing at a door with a nameplate titled Raymond. Wondering if this was my Raymond, I knocked on the door. The nameplate with Raymond on it generated a feeling in me that was the same as the feeling a boy gets when he sees his father in a carnival after being lost for a while. He forgets what is happening around him, the vendor shouting the discounted price of his favourite ice-cream is noise to him, the other kids enjoying a game of hula hoops are just obstacles to his path towards his father, he probably wants to grab that hoop and throw it at the person he loves the most and stomp his complete authority on him and he does just that. He just rushes towards his father and wants to take home his prize as soon as possible. He has won this battle. Raymond had that effect on me. I always used to ask Raymond to tell about the place he used to live. He would point towards the yellow coloured ball in the sky and said that is where he lived. As a person still in his single digit years, I would laugh and mock him for this, it was hard for me to believe that anyone can live inside the sun, it wasn’t easy living on this planet when the sun shone right above in the sky, some ’n’ thousand light years away from us, how can my friend live there, survive and come visit me everyday without a single miss. As I grew older, I got acquainted with a bully named science, who ragged me to the point where I realised that my best friend was nothing but the rays of the sun. Though even after being bullied it did not affect our friendship at all, the only disappointment I had to face was that now I knew that I can never visit Raymond’s place. Everyday Raymond left, I doubted my credentials as a friend. There was this friend of mine who travelled through the space everyday just to come and meet me while on the other hand I, who loathed the presence of that friend when it was the peak summer season, forget visiting my friends place. On one side there was this friend who went with me to every trip that I went to in my life, saved me from cold every time and on the other there was a selfish person who just would look for a shade in summers to try and protect himself from Raymond. Was I a good friend? Why is it that my love for Raymond was seasonal? I always asked myself these questions. How can I repay my friend Raymond? I always wondered. That name plate was the answer to all my questions that I ever asked about being a good friend. How can I do something for Raymond and be there for him like he has been there for me? The answer was right there, by being dead.

The Marathon Runner

They call me by the names they have for me, I like to call myself ‘The Marathon Runner’.
There is a derelict house on my left, I regret the times I ignored the bliss this place exuded. I see people deserting similar houses and tears stream down my face, I’ve lost this forever, it cannot be replaced. Is there a possibility that this house can be restructured the way it was before?
If there is then I am ready to pay any cost for it, but the truth would never let me prevail.
As I am running, I come across a well decorated manhole. It was unmanned when I last visited. They say you are a fool if you err more than 2 times. I have fell inside this hole many times, definitely more than twice, should I call myself a fool?
I always liked falling into this unmanned manhole, not only did it provide me with unplanned rest from this never ending marathon but also took me into a world where there were no rules. Watching the manhole covered and decorated, I am actually disappointed, but anyhow I have to move ahead so as to complete this Marathon I started.
Every person who runs a marathon needs a break in between to replenish himself. My marathon is on a path that is a peculiar circle, I move ahead and discover new roads but also come back to the things that define my past. My rehydrating spot has always been this. Two trees, standing firm as two stalwarts but that is not how they provided me sanctuary. Their branches met as they spread and they collectively provided me a shade where I can live peacefully forever. This marathon made me leave their shade quite often to explore the roads ahead and in this process as I come back after some time, I see that the branches of these trees have been cut. There is no place to rest, there is no place where I can live if I want to quit this marathon, so I keep moving ahead without my usual break, with hopes in my eyes that the next time I visit here there will be bloom.
At last I come across a path that is still under construction. I have to pass through this in order to continue. What I see is that the more I move ahead, the more this path is developing. Am I capable of creating such magic?
There is no magic, with each step I am making this unfamiliar road my friend and only a fool sees his friends as underdeveloped roads.
I run all the time and what explanation do I have for this?
Well, everyone’s life is a long marathon, I have just made a marathon my life. I guess this is my way of rubbing it on life’s face or ‘running’ it on its face. As I run I come across my past, I accept it. I am in  my present, I live it. I can see my future, I believe in it.

They call me a ‘HUMAN BRAIN’ but I like to call myself ‘The Marathon Runner’.

A date with the stars...

Standing on this deserted road, I was alone. My head turned left and I saw a large pond, big enough to swallow me down. I peeked on the right and I saw a large field, which was conquering everything that came on its way as it met the sky, may be I was next. Ahead was the bifurcated path on which I was reluctant to enter and then who cares about the past, so I never looked back. Sudden tremors ran through my body, is this what my life has become? Refusing to face the demons of the present and scared to step into the uncertain future? Or am I scared of the demons and refusing to step into uncertainty?

Then I concluded that it doesn't matter, either way, I am standing alone, and have no one to guide me from there. 

In despair I look down for a solution but that just reminds me of the time I've hung my head in similar direction, should I be ashamed of being where I am? 

It is then that I chose to lift my head and set my eyes on the sky. The hundreds of stars that filled the sky seemed familiar, though I might be greeting them for the first time. In an instance I had given up despondency and my thoughts took homage in those stars. 

Start drawing a line from the third star on your left and stretch the line towards the fourth in the centre while taking in the second on the right, what do you see? 

I see hope.

A hope that made me realize that life is something which is as easy as forming ones own constellation among the stars, we just have to join the dots we want to. Those dots might not be the correct ones but they lead us to another one and we might not end up with the figure we wanted to make but in the end we complete the process. Your life is like that imaginary image that is formed by these dots. We have to leave one dot in order to move ahead but our life ceases to have a meaning if any of the dot gets lost. 

As I tried making an image, I felt as if I am standing on the edge of the earth, big enough to touch those stars. I felt as if I belong with them and one leap would take me into their world. The demons and the uncertainty seemed two minuscule objects that I would crush with my feet.

I lunged to enter this magical world when suddenly I heard a voice from behind, calling my name. I turned around and saw something that belonged to my species coming my way, in the next moment I had a myriad of them around me. They were all familiar, they were all the ones I love. May be I had taken that leap and entered the world of stars. In this moment of joy I look around and see me standing on the same road, same place, gazing at the stars in the night. 

God is one - An excerpt from my book

God is One

We are brought up believing that God is omnipotent and omnipresent. Then why do they want us to worship him only in a few forms and at a few particular places??
If he is the almighty then why would he take up a form that resembles only a minuscule of what he has created i.e the human form..?
What makes us believe that he has a nose, two eyes, two ears etc.
Is this because our imagination is limited or we humans think of ourselves at par with God.
If he is ubiquitous then why do we claim to find him at some places depending on the religion he belongs to?
God is the same it is the religion that has divided him and us.

Here is an excerpt from my book 'The Second Life' that is an elaborated version of the above text.

”God is one, God is everywhere, you see that beggar lying on the street, God is inside him. You see that woman selling flowers there; God is inside her, God is inside those flowers. The only place where God is not present are the places where we assume he is, inside the idols” Said an old fakeer sitting outside a dargah to an 8 year old girl who used to come there every day. The old fakeer was embraced by a long kurta that seemed like it has never seen the world of cleanliness. His long grey beard was acting as a store room for food particles, one can easy figure out what his food menu was in the recent past. With ruffled hair and big eyebrows, his eyes remained the only thing that were visible and for the little girl nothing else but the vibe and the aura in those eyes mattered.

“He sees no divide, He sees no colour, He sees no religion, and He sees no caste. For him we all are the same and He never loves any one person more than any other” he adds

“But I have seen many forms of God and all those are very different from each other. One carries a bow with him while the other one looks like a monkey, there’s one with a snake wrapped around his neck and another one with an elephant face. Then I have seen one hanging on a cross and one with huge white beard. They are all different from each other, How can you say that they are all one?” the little girl countered innocently.

“They are all different illusions of him created by us to create a vision of the thing we believe in so much. But in reality no one has seen him in person, like this Char Minar was built by some human’s imagination, these idols of God have been created out of human imagination and this age old vision seen by some person are now encumbered upon you children to believe”

He continues, “God does not want you to imagine him as others did, he wants you to be creative, he wants you to have faith in him and see him in any way you want him to be”

“Hmmm, I am trying to understand what you are saying but Sunanda Tai told me to stay away from muslims as they are cruel people and she beats me every day because I come here to the dargah. The muslim god must be bad that is why Tai said they are cruel?”

“Can you look at the face of a person and tell me that he is a muslim or a hindu? You cannot and likewise there is bad in every religion, not all Hindus are good and not all muslims are bad. I believe in no religion, Religion always creates a divide and makes it easier for us to imagine someone we have faith upon, but that is not what God wants us to do. He did not make any Hindu or Muslim, It is us and that tells us about how great God is irrespective of him being a Hindu or a Muslim”

Answer to the ancestral conundrum

Walking on the narrow lanes of Haridwar, on the banks of the River Ganga, the various ‘kothis' which provide sanctuary to many ‘pundits’ are also the store house of valuable information that cannot be found anywhere else in the world. The ‘family tree registers’ which are in the possession of these ‘pundits’ have the information about the ancestors of almost every community and every caste that fall under those communities. Strictly adhering to the Hindu religion, the most fascinating aspect of these registers is that they are completely hand-written and are massive in their size. Unlike the normal registers, these are thick with a long vertical side and a short horizontal one. There is also one reason that make these registers appalling and that is, any new entry into the register is done only when a family brings the remains of another recently deceased family member. 

“We have records of almost every caste in your community, you just tell us your caste and we shall find you the names and the address of your ancestors” said Harish Sharma, an apprentice of a known pundit there. When asked about the year from which they have the record, he said that even he was not sure about it. But when I tracked the names of my own ancestors, he had only checked less than one-fourth of the register and had already made me note the names of my ancestors whose remains were brought there in the 1930s. Due to a paucity of time, he asked me to wait for another day to further track the roots my family down. 

In the current era of computers it won’t be a big deal to form a database of such registers and allow the public access to them online but that would take the essence out of this practice which has been going on for ages now and should not go obsolete for a long time from now. For the people falling under this religion, this archaic system can find the answers to their ancestral conundrums.

The other side of 'Death'

There is one thing that instills fear into most of the people, DEATH. Death not necessarily one's own but also of the people that we love. What is Death?

To me it is a point at which a soul merely changes its address from a person's body to somewhere else, someplace better. After a death, people cry because they realise the fact that they will not meet their loved one again, they cry because they are bereft of that last chance to talk to the person now lying on the pyre, they cry because they understand that they will never again feel the warmth of that person's hug, they cry because the world without the presence of that person will never be the same again. That makes crying a somewhat selfish process after a death, try thinking about it from the perspective of the man who passed away, he would never be able to talk to all the people crying beside his body, he would miss the warmth of the 1000 hugs that are unanimously weeping for his one hug, he is now in a place where he won’t even know how to survive. Isn't that a grief that supersedes the sorrow of each one of us? 

This might offend many people but the truth is that the only thing that flashes across the mind after seeing a loved one dead is the idea of leading one's own life without the support that was just snatched away.

When I talk about a soul leaving the possession of a body to search for another place to live, I would not term this as death, death is the end of something. Leaving a body is not the end, it is actually the beginning of something new. For a soul which can explore the universe without any fetters, the body is a tether which keeps it grounded. We think that a dead body is tantamount to the person’s extinction on the Earth but that is where we go wrong. Look at the leaves of a tree from a distance, they would appear stationary to us, we only feel their existence when the wind blows and those leaves make a pleasant sound but never do we say that those leaves are dead. The same is the case with a person’s soul, leaving a body makes us believe that the end has come but that is just the stationary leaf stage for a human being, reminiscing their time with us is the wind that blows and that corroborates that the person is still very much present around us. Then why do we call a person dead when it is merely his body that stops functioning?

The negative connotation that is attached to the word ‘death’ is what troubles me. When we believe that there is a God present around us even after we have not seen him ever, how can we say that a person does not exist just because we cannot see him physically around us? 

What if there is a proper functioning world for the souls that part ways from their bodies and the process of birth there takes place when the person leaves this Earth. That way the death of a person on this planet is actually the day he is born somewhere else. The pain of seeing the body of a loved one lying in front of you is excruciating in the literal sense but then the realisation that their soul is off to a place, where the existence is not limited to two legs, two hands, one head and one heart, makes you believe that they are now free from this prison called a body present in the jurisdiction of this World. 

'Waiting for the perfect shade of blue' - Unmukt Chand

An Interview by Utsav Chaudhary and Arjun Chauhan

He rose to fame when he successfully led the Under-19 Indian side to the 2012 World Cup title in Australia. Since then,Unmukt Chand has captained India A, wrote a book and earned a valuable IPL contract with the Rajasthan Royals. We, Arjun Chauhan and I, get into a candid conversation with him about the things that matter the most in his life.

Utsav: We have seen your journey as a player, from the bottom to where you are now, the change is commendable.

Arjun: But as a person there is no change that is visible to us, walk us through that?

Unmukt: (chuckles) That depends on what you think of me as a person, throw some light on that first?

Utsav: Hard-working, humble, helpful and a bit hysterical. So the 4 Hs.

Unmukt: I would disagree with hysterical but other than that you both know how my chacha and my parents are with me. They never let the success get to my head especially mummy, and I actually owe everything to them for applying the carrot and stick method on me which made me work hard. These 3 people have sacrificed their lives to make me a cricketer and the least I can do for them is by being a good one.

Utsav: Define happiness.

Unmukt: Achieving short term goals on time is happiness. It is also the time I get to spend with my family and you guys. ‘Excelsior’ is my motto in life and it has always been that, (laughs) ‘Silver Linings Playbook’ just gave me a proper term for it.

Arjun: What are your goals for the future?

Utsav: And the short term and long term goals which you just mentioned.

Unmukt: Reading a few chapters of a book daily, following my training schedule are some of the short term goals which change daily. One long term goal was to write a book and I am happy that I achieved that, obviously the biggest goal is to play for India, so I am working hard for it and waiting for the perfect shade of blue to come my way.

Utsav: What do you mean by the ‘perfect shade of blue’?

Unmukt: I have represented my nation as an Under 19 player, an U-23 player and in the ‘A’ tours. But what I wore then were the lighter shades of blue, even wearing the dark blue of Delhi Daredevils and was a lighter shade for me. The blue Indian jersey is the perfect shade of blue to me and the dream is to wear it as soon as possible and then continue to embrace it.

Utsav: Rahul Dravid is one of the great cricketers ever, what do you see in store for yourself when you play under his mentorship in Rajasthan Royals?

Unmukt: I am very excited to be a part of the double RRs this season and especially playing under the guidance of Rahul Dravid. Having a mentor like him by my side would help me improve my game a lot as I still have to walk a lot to achieve the image of a cricketer that I have in my mind for myself and Rahul Dravid is the right path towards it.

Arjun: We will face a problem of space when we’ll write this, so talk about your book and conclude by talking about us.

Unmukt: ‘The Sky is the Limit’ is about my journey to the Under-19 world cup where I have penned down the things that go inside the mind of a teenage cricketer playing for the country at the international level, it has excerpts from my personal diary as well and about you two, Utsav goes ‘moo’, Arjun goes ‘quack’ but what does Unmukt think about his best friends, no one gets to know.

Time to Hang His boots: Graeme Smith

When I say the name Graeme Smith, the image of an elegant left handed South African opener would be formed in your mind. A few days ago he retired from international cricket but only after serving his country and the game of cricket for 12 long years.

Now that he has retired, he would spend his nights reminiscing his glorious career and not strategize for the next match. Let’s take a hypothetical situation where he sits down in his study room after retirement and writes, in his journal, an account of the journey he has had as a cricketer and as a successful captain, in fact the most successful captain.

Some day. Some month. Some year after March 2014 (doesn’t matter now)

As I begin to register a monumental day of my life here, the only thing that flashes in my mind is the time, 12 years ago; when as a youngster I was given an opportunity to represent my nation at the highest level. Yes, the thing that should trouble me at the moment is the fact that brings me vis-a-vis to reality, I am a former cricketer now, I will no longer be able to don my favorite color, green. But it does not, I look back at the time when I was a left-handed South African opener with a dream to play for his country and I never would try to forget that. I have come miles ahead from where I was back then, 12 years is a long journey. People will always show you what you have missed upon; I would rather look at what I have achieved.

When I was given an opportunity to captain my national squad, it was a big responsibility for me. Usually a 22-year old player in a strong team fights for a place in the 11 while I was lucky enough to not only be the top 11 but also lead the other 10. Being the youngest captain ever for your nation, I had my critics back then and why wouldn’t they criticize this decision? If South Africa happens to assign the job to another youngster despite having senior players in the team, even I might get skeptical. Moving on, I never anticipated that I would go on to be the captain for a whopping one hundred and nine matches, which is a world record I have heard and also my team winning 52 matches under my leadership is another one. Wow! Way to go Graeme, so you do have stories to tell your grandchildren about.

It was yesterday only when I took out one of the old journals from the mid-2000s and read it, it turns out I was confident about me achieving success in my work. I have always enjoyed my cricket; facing the new ball against the most lethal bowlers in the world is not easy but I always liked that challenge. Why would they call a person a cricketer if he is not up for new battles in the field of cricket? Well, I have remained a humble cricketer throughout my life but it is time to actually celebrate all the things that I have achieved in the past 12 years. A steady average of almost 49 for 117 Tests is not an easy task if you couple it with the 109 Tests that I have captained along. The pressure that is there gets you on many occasions but as I mentioned above, challenge.

After I announced my retirement I got many calls from people talking about me talking this decision in haste. Well, I am only 33 years old now and just as they were skeptical about me being handed over the captaincy at a very young age, they are criticizing my decision to retire at a young age again. So am I the youngest captain to retire for this country? Hahaha!!! but on a serious note I can never repay what cricket has given me and I thought that I had now taken enough from this game and carrying on any further would only increase the baggage of favors on me that would make it even more difficult for me to pay back.

As I write this with a heavy heart, I am the happiest person in the world. Confusing? I believe that every person in this world is here for a purpose and I am happy that I have attained my purpose of setting up an example in front of people about how to lead. That statement did sound a bit haughty but it wasn’t, it came straight from the heart with all the benign intentions. As I conclude this part of my time capsule as I call it, I would like to say this to the future me who would read this without teeth and proper eye sight that no matter how much debilitated you are at your old age, at the age of 33 you were termed as the best captain to lead South Africa and had world records in this field which might still be standing tall then. Captaining South Africa was the best thing that could have happened to you and smile because this is one thing for which your future generations will be proud of you.

Graeme Craig Smith

Captain Emeritus, Republic of South Africa

No Results Found: The Absence of a Quality Spinner in South Africa

The wounds inflicted upon the best Test team in the world are fresh, South Africa have lost the recently concluded Test series against Australia, at home 2-1. Their fast bowling department failed to contain the Australian batsmen and their own batting just couldn’t stand long enough in front of the Aussie pacemen. But there was this one department about which no one actually cared for, the spin bowling department. In fact whenever there is a series in South Africa, the role of a spinner is never really talked about. What is it that makes the rainbow nation colorless for spinners; foreign spinners have still tasted a little success but what about the spinners from this country?

Where are they?

A rescue team was sent to South Africa to find good quality spin bowlers that had been missing from the team since very long. They searched everywhere, through the forests of the past, through the metropolitans of the present and in the end came up with the following report.

“After wandering through the woods in the past, our team was unable to find any spin bowler that could be called world class. While searching we did find a few people who stomped their claims but their specifications did not meet with the ones we were looking for. Pat Symcox, Nicky Boje, Paul Harris were some of the names that came up but all three of them were average spinners, had they not been that they would not have gone into oblivion into the woods. One person who was different from all the rest was Paul Adams. His unorthodox action and style to bowl was noticeable to the world but then again the nation doesn’t really breed spinners here and he also drifted away from the main stream slowly.

When nothing was to be found in the forest, we thought of continuing our search towards the big cities of the present. We were expecting a lot from this place and we even got some clues that led us to Johan Botha first but as it turns out he is no where seen on the international front. For a brief amount of time when he was named the captain of the T20 squad, everyone thought that he was here to stay. Now the responsibility of this department is with the leg spinner Imran Tahir and the left arm orthodox Robin Peterson, who again are not the ones that can be called world class.

Since the team started to play again after the apartheid, South Africa have always been amongst the best sides in the world. By producing world class fast bowlers and batsmen, wicket-keepers and fielders, they have contributed heavily to the world of cricket but as per the search none of this contribution has been in the department of spin. When we analyzed the pitches that are available here are fast and bouncy but are not the ones that cannot harbor a world class spinner. Countries like England and Australia who have similar pitches have seen some great spinners but not South Africa. The current bowlers are highly criticized by the experts; Sunil Gavaskar for instance berated the Indian Team for getting out on a bowler like Peterson.

During the final stages of our search, we found Aaron Phangiso, a left arm spinner who showed some promise during the Champions League 2 years ago but since then he has been out of the picture. Playing for Highveld Lions Phangiso showed some real promise but adhering to the South African pattern in spin bowling, he also disappeared when we rooted him to be world class.

The team has always relied on the fast bowlers to do the job and this is one of the reasons why they haven’t yet produced a top level spinner. And for a nation obsessed with other disciplines, this one certainly takes a back seat.

So at the concluding part of this report our team can say that after an extensive search for a slow bowler in South Africa, we returned empty handed which has happened to the rescue team for the first time as opposed to the search missions in other countries but unfortunately we have to end the report with the bitter truth that in South Africa for a quality spin bowler there was ‘no result found.’ ”

On the highway again: The resurrection of the Aussies

There was a time when the Australians were considered invincible and the whole cricketing world was in awe of them. This started during the late 90s and during this phase, they went on to win 3 consecutive World Cups (1999, 2003, 2007) while also dominating the Test domain for a major part of it. Players like, Ricky Ponting, Steve Waugh, Glenn McGrath, Shane Warne, Adam Gilchrist, Matthew Hayden and many more played as a team and became the catalysts to success.

Following the retirement of these players, the Australian domination was coming to an end. From recruiting new players to roping in new support staff, the team was given a complete makeover and just like any person who has just learnt how to drive, this team was also afraid of joining the busy road at a busy hour. They preferred driving in their own neighborhood with guidance. As a result, teams like India, England and South Africa were touted as the new rulers of this kingdom. When these amateur drivers joined the busy roads in India and England in 2013, they were flummoxed totally and the result was their abysmal 2013 season outside home.

But only recently in the Ashes series followed by the One-day series against England and now in the Test series against South Africa, the Australian team has shown signs of massive improvement, enough to call it a resurrection of this team. The openers, Chris Rogers and David Warner have been the names behind the success in the batting department and a solid opening pair sets up a good base for the rest of the team, Warner corroborated his reputation as a premier batsman now with consecutive hundreds in the third Test against South Africa. They are followed by Alex Doolan, who is new but has shown great potential in the domestic circuit before joining the team. The middle order is stabilized by their skipper Michael Clarke, who needs no further statements to justify his importance in this team. Shane Watson, Steve Smith and Brad Haddin are the players on whom this team relies comfortably in case the top order fails and they have delivered that for the team in the past.

The major transformation in this team has been the fast bowling department, where Mitchell Johnson has emerged as one of the most lethal bowlers and his consistency over the recent series has been commendable. Ryan Harris, Peter Siddle and Nathan Lyon also contribute heavily towards the team’s success. Their support staff, including the coach Darren Lehmann and bowling coach Craig McDermott has been working on forming the perfect combination for the team and we can say that they have finally hit the jackpot. Inclusion of Shane Warne in the team as a spin bowling consultant can be really helpful for the team as the World T20 is just around the corner in Bangladesh where spin comes in handy.

A team’s quality is judged by its ability to win overseas. India and England who were dominating the cricket world recently failed to deliver the same performance, as they did at home, overseas. South Africa, the current No.1 Test squad has been the only team that conquered the nations overseas. The Australian side which sat on the throne for many years was known to win the matches outside home and that was the reason for the domination that they unleashed on the world.

Before the beginning of the Ashes series in Australia, the experts and the media brushed aside the chances of this Australian side to even give a tough fight to the English team, these hitherto unknown heroes proved everyone otherwise by inflicting a white-wash on the visitors. Even the chances of them winning in South Africa against a world class side were next to nothing according to many people but by giving a very hard time to the home team this Australian side has announced themselves on the world front again.

For they have learnt how to drive, practiced a lot in the neighborhood and are now fit to join the traffic, they have chosen to be on the highway leading to a kingdom that was once theirs.

Content with vicarious success: The support staff

If we go back in time, when India won the 1983 World cup in England, it was a huge moment in the world of cricket. Now if I ask you to recall the names of the players involved in this feat, it would be done within a minute but most of us would fail to recollect the names of people who were indirectly responsible for the victory, the support staff. Someone who saw this momentous achievement live might cudgel their brains and put forth a name but for us (born after 1983) it is almost impossible to think without the internet.

When I talk about the support staff, I include everyone from the Team’s coach to their performance analyst. The physiotherapist, the bowling/batting/fielding coach, the team manager, the mental conditioning coach and the fitness trainer all form a support staff these days. It is the effort of the players coupled with the arduous efforts of these people that put a team on the victorious path. While the credit of a positive performance is rightly given to the team members, the support staff on the other hand is content with the vicarious success that they get.

Till last year the Australian team was down and out, they were losing almost every match they played outside their home turf and those defeats were a testament to the mismatch in forming combinations in the new squad that was just exposed to the ruthless cricketing world. The appointment of Darren Lehmann as their coach after sacking Micky Arthur before the Ashes series in England turned out to be a blessing in disguise for the Kangaroos.

Though they lost the Ashes in England, their performance in India during the One Day series was commendable. Lehmann along with the bowling coach, Craig McDermott has transformed the Australian side. For once when the experts around the world started saying that the downfall of Australia has started, they bounced back and are now the No.1 team in ODIs and for a team that was termed as underdogs, they are giving a very hard time to the No.1 Test side, South Africa.

The resurgence of Mitchell Johnson as a consistent lethal wicket taking fast bowler over the past few months should be credited to Craig McDermott and his strategy to use the bowlers in a more result oriented way where Ryan Harris and Peter Siddle create pressure for the opposition by putting a leash on the flow of runs and Johnson on the other end intimidates the batsman and gets rewarded with the wickets.  The emergence of Chris Rogers at the top order and Steven Smith in the middle order adds stability to the team and bringing out the best from players that have only started at the Test level should be applauded and credited to the captain, coach and the support staff.

Sachin Tendulkar, during his emotional retirement speech in Mumbai dedicated a large chunk of it to the support staff that worked with him over the years. He thanked all the analysts, trainers, physiotherapists and doctors, accepting that without the efforts of these people he would not have carried on for the 24 years that he did.

The people who contribute towards the development of a player start the process from the very beginning for fitness and rectifying technical errors and play a major role in a cricketer’s life. India’s U19 World cup captain, Unmukt Chand, in his book ‘The sky is the limit-My journey towards the World Cup’ credited his team’s achievement to the efforts put in by the coach, Bharat Arun and his support staff who made the team go through rigorous training to form a cohesive unit.

The appreciation that should be given to the coaches and the support staff is not yet delivered to them in Cricket, as when a team is on a winning streak the major part of the credit is taken by the players but during a team’s abysmal phase the first thing that is done by the board is sacking the coach. In football, the credit of a team’s win is shared equally by the team players and the manager for the think-tank behind a team is mostly the manager and the coach. The time when a manager shifts from one-club to another is given a much better media space than when a coach is changed in a team in cricket.

The job of a manager in football or a support staff in cricket is an onerous one. A player, when on the field has to think and perform only one role that is assigned to him but these people sitting outside have to devise a role for all the players and make sure that they implement the same on the field. Try playing a football game in the Manager mode on your play station and you would know.

The reward for the support staff of any team in cricket is long overdue but these people do not actually strive for media attention, they are content with the vicarious pleasure they derive when their team wins. Shan Warne, as he joins Australia as a spin bowling consultant is in the media for long but has anyone talked about the efforts of McDermott and Lehmann?

THINK!!!!!!

The Uncouth Gentlemen

Cricket is a sport which is very religiously followed in India. Though on the world level, the sport is not that popular and is played by a very few countries yet the competitive spirit that is involved in the game is intense. Earlier, cricket was a rich man’s game and only the gentlemen who could afford the sport would indulge in playing it. The realms of this monotony were broken overtime as the players from the other strata of the society gradually took cricket beyond the epithet of ‘A gentleman’s game’.

The recent incidents that have surfaced show a very different side of the cricketers which is not something we are unfamiliar with, but as many as three incidents on the world stage in less than a week’s time is alarming but there is always a much bigger story behind cricketers resorting to such measures which goes unnoticed.

The first incident involved the Indian fast bowler Ishant Sharma, who was caught mouthing tirades on the stump microphone. The recipient of those gruesome abuses from Ishant is a mystery where a part of the media claimed it was Zaheer Khan who was cursed while the other part claimed it was Brendon McCullum.

It was during the 2nd Test match between India and New Zealand – When Ishant bowled a delivery towards the leg stump, McCullum flicked the ball and took 2 runs, it was Zaheer Khan who very lazily got to the ball on the field. Ishant was caught using abusive language on the microphone while going back to his run-up. It is a possibility that he cursed Zaheer, who was slow to get to the ball and it is a possibility that he abused McCullum who was earlier dropped by him of his own bowling.

There is also a third side to it as well which no one mentioned, whenever we are frustrated by ourselves we tend to have an intra-personal talk. Ishant was wicket-less in the 2nd innings after taking 6 in the 1st, he himself was the reason behind McCullum being at the crease for so long and while pressing hard to take wickets he bowled a loose delivery on the pads which gave away easy runs. We cannot rule out the possibility that he was using those expletive words for himself to indict his poor delivery.

The second incident involved the Bangladeshi all-rounder Shakib-al-Hasan who was banned for 3 matches for using objectionable gestures on camera. The commentators during the recent Bangladesh-Sri Lanka ODI, were discussing Shakib’s bad form and the screen at the stadium showed Shakib getting out in the recent matches, the cameraman then pointed the camera towards the Bangladeshi dressing room and Shakib responded by holding his crotch. Again this is something which is unacceptable but Shakib has been out of form for a long time and scrutinizing someone’s bad form on big screens in front of his home crowd and then pointing the camera towards him would only infuriate the player.

The third incident involved the U19 Indian skipper Vijay Zol who was suspended for one match due to him being aggressive and using offensive language to an English player during the quarter-final match at the U-19 World Cup in the UAE. India was on the back foot and there is a possibility that the Indian skipper was provoked by the English batsman earlier but the ICC code of conduct takes into account only hardcore evidences.

There is a decorum that is to be maintained once a player enters the field and the level of competition involved in sports around the world invite aggression from them. All the sports around the globe have seen rivalries and the result of those rivalries have been this uncouth behavior on the field.

The difference is in dealing with the offences. Where games like Football and Hockey are usually lenient on small verbal fights that originate out of aggression, cricket is stricter on that front yet all of these sports take in notice only one side of the story.

One example is the famous incident involving Zidane and Materazzi during the FIFA world cup final of 2006, where Zidane’s head butt was reprimanded by showing him a red card while Materazzi’s instigation to Zidane’s actions were only scrutinized in the media and not officially. This is one of the loop-hole with the laws that these sports have regarding such incidents.

The archaic laws that only indicts a person caught by the camera is farcical, there is a much bigger picture that is off it. Take the Monkeygate incident between Harbhajan Singh and Andrew Symonds in 2008 where the provocation to Harbhajan Singh was pumped by Symonds into using the racial statement (If he used any) and only Singh was penalized for the offence.

Surely these incidents are unacceptable and the person indulging in such behavior should be punished but the problem is in the way sports authorities deal with these incidents. As there are two sides of a coin, there is always another side to the story and before taking harsh decisions on these uncouth gentlemen these authorities should take in notice that other side.

The quintessential wingmen

Australia, after facing heart-breaking defeats in India and England last year, bounced back like a warrior and re-gained their most coveted trophy in test cricket, The Ashes. They carried on their good form and defeated the Numero-Uno Test side South Africa in their own backyard and took a 1-0 lead in the 3 Test series. Statistically, Mitchell Johnson was the one player who contributed heavily in Australia’s triumph with 37 wickets in 5 tests during The Ashes and 12 wickets in the first test against South Africa but the credit for these wins cannot be given to this fast bowler alone.

He was aided by the two equally skilled bowlers at the other end who laid the foundation for Johnson to so comprehensively exploit the opposition. Peter Siddle and Ryan Harris in this scenario were the quintessential wingmen to Mitchell Johnson, helping him get those 49 wickets with ease.

What is a wingman?

He is a pilot whose aircraft is positioned behind and outside the leading aircraft in a formation. In colloquial terms a wingman is a person who helps his friend usually from the outside to successfully perform a task. The term was made more famous by the popular sit-com ‘How I met your mother’, where the protagonist’s friends become the wingmen to help him get his way with girls at a bar. Coming back to the argument, if we abide to the definition of a wingman and apply it to the recent matches where Johnson has destroyed the opponents, we will find Siddle and Harris playing the role of a wingman.

Bowling at an average speed of above 140, Mitchell Johnson is known to intimidate the batsman and recently he has been converting those intimidating deliveries into wicket taking ones as well. But he has been in the team for a very long time and was known to be inconsistent and the one who would squander runs but get a few wickets to neutralize that. What is the difference in style of a bowler that would turn his fortunes completely so soon?

Apparently none, Mitchell Johnson is still bowling with the same action, a bit unorthodox and round arm which technically makes it difficult for a bowler to stick to one line throughout his spell, which he still doesn’t. The difference has been the assistance he is getting from the other end. Peter Siddle is one of finest bowlers today; he has the ability to swing the ball while his USP is his consistency to bowl at one spot.

His recent statistics would cast doubt in the minds of the follower for a moment but then again a wingman does what he does not to get credit for it. He along with Ryan Harris put pressure on the batsman by bowling at one spot and restraint the runs. One occasional delivery would be short while most of them would be at good length. When Johnson comes to bowl from the other end, hetricks the batsman with his pitched up deliveries and the tethered batsman sees an opportunity to score runs. The result of which is what we call the 49 wickets in 6 test matches.

This tactic of curbing runs from one end and attacking from the other is not new to cricket, it is something that has been tried and tested and has won many games for teams. This became the difference between South Africa and Australia in the 1st Test where Australia had two bowlers playing a role of a wingman and one going all out to annihilate, South Africa’s bowlers had other tactics. Dale Steyn and MorneMorkel being the senior players have a role in the team to pick up wickets but the role of a wingman is not assigned to anybody.

Even Vernon Philander and Ryan McLaren try to go for the kill while bowling. When going for the kill the one thing which they miss out is that they don’t want to stick to one spot and stop the flow of runs. They try and experiment to find the weak spot of the batsman and get him out, which is a tactic that would work wonders against a team like India who faces troubles playing fast bowling on pitches outside the sub-continent but with teams like Australia who are playing on conditions akin to home, the tactic has to change and someone has to take up the role of a wingman and work covertly towards the success.

There is no doubt about the ability of Mitchell Johnson, but the reason why he was inconsistent earlier was because he was expected to play the role of a wingman in a team where Brett Lee was the protagonist and Johnson’s style of bowling is just not suited for that job. Now that he has found the perfect opportunity to openly bowl with his unconventional slingshot action, his success should not be credited to him alone, the people who demand no reward for playing a role that goes unnoticed by the naked eye should also be applauded. After-all even if the bowler gets a lot of wickets from one end it is also because of the pressure put by the wingman at the other end and without hesitation I would call these wingman the undercover agent of the cricket world, who render their services without accreditation.

Reaping what has been sowed: Mentoring the future

At the initial stages of the career of any professional in any field, guidance becomes a necessity. The need for a person that would walk them through the tough stages of their career, show them the illuminated path and then vicariously enjoy the success of that person. We call this person a mentor. Accept it or not but a mentor plays an important part in shaping an individual’s life and an even more vital part when the person is down and out and Cricket is no different from any other profession that exists on this planet.

There is a saying in the world of cricket, ‘You can take the cricketer out of cricket but not the cricket out of the cricketer’. As confusing as that may sound, the plausibility of this statement is being proved by legends of Indian cricket, Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, VVS Laxman and Sourav Ganguly. These 4 stalwarts of Indian cricket have played a major part of their spectacular careers together and took Indian cricket to new heights while they were serving the nation. Now that they have retired, the cricketer inside them has turned into a mentor and the purpose of them remains the same only the mode of it has changed.

In the case of Sourav Ganguly, it can be said that he was a mentor from the time he took over the captaincy of the Indian side. In my list, this places him a touch above the others because of him playing three roles at one time, a player, a captain and a mentor. Ace cricketers like Harbhajan Singh, Virender Sehwag, Yuvraj Singh and Zaheer Khan are known to the world of cricket because of the faith imparted on them by Ganguly. During his reign, Ganguly relied on youngsters and the team did achieve a lot of success then. Some cricketers like, Mohd. Kaif missed the bus to fame but Ganguly left no stone unturned to make it easier for Kaif.

Recently, Sachin Tendulkar decided to mentor 11 cricketers but that sounded more like a promotional activity by Adidas where he was to mentor young cricketers signed by sports apparel giant, which had names such as Parvez Rasool, Unmukt Chand, Manan Vohra, Vijay Zol and many more. Imagine the jubilance on these youngsters if Sachin mentors them to show them the way in their careers.

Rahul Dravid has been known to nurture many young talents since the time he had rested his sword from the international level. Players like Ajinkya Rahane, Sanju Samson, and Stuart Binny all have been a part of the Rajasthan Royals and blossomed under the guidance of Rahul Dravid. By retaining these 3 during this year’s IPL, Dravid has shown that he will continue to bestow faith upon them. The pattern with which Rajasthan Royals bought players during the IPL also showed that they want to give exposure to many young cricketers at the top-most level. Buying Unmukt Chand, Ankush Bains, Deepak Hooda, Rahul Tewatia, Ankit Sharma and others proved their intent.

VVS Laxman, though has not come out openly with regard to mentoring any player, but the players after which he went during the IPL auction was a testament to his intentions about contributing towards Indian cricket covertly. KL Rahul, Karan Sharma, Manpreet Juneja, Ricky Bhui and Chama Milind are some of the young cricketers bought by SunRisers who can be the stars of the future.

Adhering to the statement above, these cricketers can never be taken out of the game; they will find a way to mentor these cricketers. When we talk about Yuvraj or Harbhajan or any cricketer mentored by Ganguly, we remember the time when he promoted these cricketers to get them to a stage where they are now. Rahane recently dedicated his maiden test century to Rahul Dravid for he said that without him it would have been difficult scoring runs.

When the going gets tough, the tough gets going but to pick up that tough person from the dust when the tough going nails him down, a person whom we call a mentor steps up and lends a shoulder to help the tough to get going.

Question everything

We are taught to question everything before believing in them. No matter how incontrovertible the statement might be, we are told to question it till our inner-self is completely satisfied.

Then why aren't we allowed to question religion? 

A 10 year old boy oblivious from the various traditions and beliefs that pervade in the society is perplexed by the atrocities he witnessed around him, questions his Father.

SON: Why do you want me to go there? The snake around the neck of that blue man terrifies me. We have to go there barefoot and the floor is hot, it hurts me.

FATHER: You barely know how to talk and you are disrespecting your own God? 

SON: My God? No one gave me a chance to choose my God, I don't like the God you take me to. I like the one with an elephant head and even that lady sitting on a lion. I like lions daddy.

FATHER: You are a Hindu, all these Gods are same, If you want we can go to the temple you like.

SON: So we can go to that place where people wear small caps on their heads? I always wanted to meet the person who wakes me up every morning with his singing. I will tell him to lower his volume, I want to sleep more till my vacations end.

FATHER: Please God forgive this child. They are muslims. They are not our people, their God is different.

SON: But daddy you just said that all these Gods are same.

FATHER (completely vexed): Leave it, go get ready we are going to the Temple we went yesterday.

SON: I do not want to go there, I hate that place. They do not let didi and mumma enter and they berate me for eating from my left hand. I won't go there. What is wrong with both of them that they do not let them in and I can't eat from my right, how is it my fault? 

FATHER (slaps him): You adamant child, you want to change how this world has been functioning till now? Go to your room.

 

SON (crying): But I don't like the way it works.

This is the harsh reality of our society. We are not given an option to choose our God, our God is the one our Family has been following since inception. Religions create divides as well, be it inter-religion or intra-religion, divides do exist. 

Religion divides a human into Hindu, Muslim, Sikh, Christian, Jew etc. while the divisions that are intra-religion are more farcical. A division between a right handed person and a left handed person where the left handed person is a sinister. A division between menstruating females and non-menstruating male where menstruating females are considered dirty. How is it a person's fault when she eats from her left or she menstruates? 

We are also told that God has created everything that is there in the world. Then if that is true then the left handers, menstruating females, low caste people all are created by him. If people consider these factions as outcasts of the society then it is proven that God is not the almighty, he has made copious amount of mistakes.

These atrocities I witness around me makes me more sure that in order to find God the only place I do not have to look for are these religions. People refuse to question anything dubious in their own religion. Why? When we clearly can find loopholes in them why is it difficult for them to question that. May be that would tarnish the pristine reputation of their religion but if there are loopholes how can it be pristine?

Next time, question everything that you are told to do moreover question yourself when you discriminate because of a caste because everyone is created by God ergo we all belong to that one caste.

THINK!!!!!!