ICL and Indian cricket

I hope you guys read my blog about the status of Indian cricket and how it is mismanaged. I was hoping for BCCI to take up initiative action and do something for Indian cricket. Now, with the threat from ICL, that hope can soon become a reality. BCCI has increased the salary of players in the Ranji trophy matches and it has pledged the not so important states that more priority will be given to them in the near future and they have even promised lump sum of money for improving the infrastructure as a whole. Definitely it is a good thing for cricket and the shareholders of the game.

BCCI instead of blaming ICL for being in cricket domain for money, they should first see what they are doing in their own. Sharad Pawar, a pure politician is the head of BCCI. BCCI has spent almost all the money which they have got in the last year. Till now, no importance has been given to Ranji matches and it is an open secret that the team selection is heavily biased and filled with politics. They were not even able to make a correct decision in the selection of coach.

By the way the players in cricket are professionals. They are being paid to play. BCCI has time and again proclaimed that they are a private enterprise and the politicians can not interfere in its duties. They have confirmed their stand that the team from BCCI is representing India and that the Indian cricket team is not infact a government enterprise. Provided with all these cases, when the cricketers are given a better opportunity and when they are given a better pay package, why should they stick on to an age old tradition where they don’t have any hope of coming up? And practically why should they stick on to a place where they don’t have any future?

ICL will be definitely well managed than BCCI as it is being undertaken by a business man who is sure of what he is doing. ICL is getting support from West Bengal and Bihar. Soon ICL will get support from the major players of Indian cricket. Even our honorable railway minister Laloo Prasad has given his support for ICL and has said that the team from ICL and BCCI should compete against each other and the best cricketer should represent the country.

Even boxing has rival leagues like WBA, WBC, IBF and WBO. Chess had two rival organizations FIDE and CWC and currently it is unified. So having two rival organizations will be definitely for the betterment of cricket in India as a whole. Now it is up to the ICC to recognize ICL and make it as a prominent player in the subcontinent. Definitely ICL will bring up more talent and improve the quality of Indian cricket than what BCCI has managed to do till now.

Who am I?

I was standing in the seashore with waves caressing my feet at regular intervals. The sun is hot and the beach was comparatively deserted other than for those few love birds.

I don’t know why I am standing there or how long I am standing there.

The harder I thought to remember who I am, the harder it became for me to remember who I am.

I check for my wallet. Other than few hundred rupees, there is nothing in there. Not even a visiting card or even a driving license.

No driving license?? This is a wonderful start. So I don’t know to drive.

So?

I don’t know to drive. Big deal. But who am I?

Hey there is a brief case in my right hand.

Definitely it should show me so directions to find who I am.

But it is locked. I must be having the key some where.

I have checked all the pockets but still I haven’t found any key.

While searching for the key, I found that I am wearing a coat.

I am wearing a coat and I have brief case in my hand. So definitely I must be an important person.

I can ask the wastrel who is walking before me to know who I am. But if I am that much famous or important, definitely he would have at least looked at me. But he is walking as if I don’t exist.

Now do I exist or am I dead?

It’s scary to think about death. I don’t want to die.

I don’t want to die?

What if I am already dead? Then I don’t have to worry about death any more.

But I don’t want to be dead.

Yeah this is the correct statement. I don’t want to be dead.

But how to check whether I am dead or not?

Let’s hit that guy who is coming towards me.

Definitely if I am dead, I wouldn’t be able to hit him.

But what if he is also dead and what if I see only dead people?

But I had some money in my wallet.

Do dead people require money?

May be I am not dead after all.

What ever lets collide with that guy. I did and he yelled some bad word at me.

So definitely I am not dead. Even if I am dead, it doesn’t matter much.

But still I am in the square one.

Who am I?

Waiting here doesn’t help me much. Let’s start walking

I can walk and I have a good shoe. Definitely I must be living in a comfortable life.

Do I have a cell phone? Yes I have one.

But the battery must be down and it is not getting switched on.

Well instead of walking, what about running?

Even before I tell myself to start running, I have started to run.

I must really look like a moron, running with a coat and a briefcase in hand and that too in hot sun.

Well do I have a girl friend? If I have one and if I am able to find her, definitely she can tell me who I am.

So can my mom, my dad, my sis or my bro or my wife or my neighbor or my friend or my school mate or any one whom I have met so far in this world.

Has world become that big? I have run for the past 10 minutes and I haven’t seen any one who seems to know me.

Yeah sure every one is starring at me. Finally running seems to be a good idea. Some one will definitely notice me and if they know me, they will come and ask why I am doing like this.

Now I understand why some Romeos do some stupid things. It is not a bad idea after all. You get noticed in the end.

THUD

What is this? Bolt from the blue?

THUD again

“Wake up Paul”

“What?”

“Come on its getting late”

“huh!!!”

“Wake up sleepy head remember you promised me to take me out today”

“……………”

“I will come back with a tea”

So I am Paul and I have a girl friend or wife and I have not gone to sea shore today and the sun is still not that hot and I am not wearing a coat.

I even remembered what I am doing for my living and where I did my schooling.

But do these things make any difference?

Who am I?

I am just another face in the crowd.

34 not 32 Final part

“Paul…  Paul have you gone to sleep? Which pant do you like? Select one soon. We don’t have the whole day for you” hollered my dad.

“Nothing dad. It’s just that I was thinking something” I tried to answer something to him.

“We can see that. You haven’t selected the pant yet”

“That brown one will be fine”

So finally that shopping got completed and we returned home. Through out the journey, I was thinking about how to counteract those guys in my college.

What ever I do, definitely I shouldn’t get my inspiration from any stupid movie. It has already cost me a lot.

I, not being an original thinker, definitely tackling this problem is a big deal for me.

I can ask the help of Guru. But he is the root cause of all my problems.

Common man you can definitely come up with something good.

Wait a minute. What about stories. Definitely one of the stories will be similar to mine. Hey how about that lion and buffalo story. If you can’t tackle them all, then tackle them one by one. Gotcha. “Tackle them one by one.” Now come on you dirty ^%*&#@#$^ I will see you all you *&&^#(*.

 

Next day: The big day for me. Today is the first day I am trying to implement my so called brilliant tactics. And as usual here comes the group.

“Hey fatso” 1^st guy said

“Any proposals today?” another one

“Guys don’t tease him today he has seen the mirror before coming to col. He won’t do that again” 1^st guy again

“Common guys you have to support pig heads too. After all they are also humans like us”

After this, the guys never had any time to hold on to their breaths as they were laughing their lungs out.

“At least I am not a chicken like you guys. I had the guts to say what I felt. And I am really bored about your silly jokes. Try finding some thing new and come and tease me. I really don’t know whether you are lunatics or the most humorous guys in the world laughing about the same joke every day for the past 2 months.”

What has happened to me? What happened to my plan of tackling them one by one? As usual, I have screwed it up big time. Damn… again….

But may be I gave the reply at the time they were least expecting or may be what I said was true or may be some magic happened. The guys were really dumb founded.

There was an abnormal silence over that place as no one was speaking anything.

And out of nowhere, some staff came and the classed started.

Interval came and went but no one came and teased me.

The college ended that day and even during the lunch, no one teased me.

“Paul” While I was walking towards the exit gate, some one called me.

“We are going to play cricket. Do you mind joining us?” asked the same guy who has teased me the most.

I starred at him in disbelief, dumbfounded, amazed, mystified and perplexed at the things which are happening before my eyes.

After about 30 seconds of doing nothing, I finally managed to reply

“Sure dude”

After that, the life was fun for me. I regularly started playing with my class mates. Fortunately as my bowling is OK and as the guys want some one to keep on bowling to them, I was almost always welcome when they play cricket. Life started to be fun again. No one teased me about my expedition with love proposals.

With Renita, it was a different thing. I tried to escape from her line of sight and fortunately as she too was trying to do the same, it was not a big problem for me.

Life started to go as smoothly as ever and this is exactly the life which I hoped for. And seriously I was not able to remember how the rest of my first year went by.

First day, next year, I went to the same shop to buy me new clothes only to meet the same sales man who measured my waist and told that it is 32 not 34!!.

34 not 32 part III

“Look at our new Romeo” gleamed some guy whose name I was not able to recall at that time.

“Hey pudgy you have got a heart of a lion and the shape of a pig” said another guy followed by a stream of laughter.

I became a punch bag for that group for the next half an hour or so. They never even gave time for me to make a single reply. Even if they have, I wouldn’t have made one.

Fortunately the staff for the next class came inside and the guys around me dispersed. I was feeling the historical low of my life.

This was not the end of the story. I became punch bag for each and every one. “God what this life has become!!!!”. Guru Moorthy tried to help me out. Indeed he is a good friend. He never teased me of my adventure and even defended my action once before all the other guys. But time went on slowly and I was hoping for the day the college ends and for the day I can go away from all these guys and meet new people.

I tried to avoid Renita at all cost. She too was not that much inclined to speak with me or come in the same direction in which I came. Fortunately as our names are properly separated by the English alphabet, the probability of we being together in the lab was also properly crushed.

I never had any friends and I totally became a reserved person. Inactivity was eating upon me and I found my solace in food and my body weight started shooting up as it has done through out my life. I was becoming softer both outside and inside my body. I hated each and every new day and I hated the life. I wanted to change what is happening to me. I want to revert back the proposal which has ruined my life and I wanted myself to convert into a person who is the center of attraction and is likable by all.

Christmas was fast approaching and my parents took me to the shop to buy us clothes. I have never cared about my clothes. I just picked what comes to the front of me just like that. Some how I felt shopping too boring.

This time, when I went there, everything changed all of the sudden. I picked some shirt as usual and when the time came for picking the pants,

“Show me the pants in size 32” I said

“32 mmm.. let me check” said the salesman

But instead of coming with a pile of pants, he came with a measuring tape and started measuring the size of my waist.

What the heck was my first thought? Why doesn’t he just do what he is told to do instead of irritating customers like me?

“Your size has increased a bit sir. 34 will be perfect for you” said that guy.

34? So really I have become a fatso. My god now it is official. I am a fatso. But wait a minute I have changed. I wanted things to change and definitely it has changed. Man I have changed. My size is 34 not 32.

34 not 32-Part II

I have just proposed to a girl. I have just PROPOSED TO A GIRL!!! What have I done? Am I in my proper senses? What happened to me? How did I do that? I am just two months into the college. I have not even talked with any girl in my college yet. But the first word which I have spoken to any girl in my college is I LOVE YOU!!!

            Some how I thought the worst is over. I felt for a girl and I have told that girl what I felt about her. What is wrong in that? But what is going on? Why is she crying? In the movies, when the hero proposes to a girl, normally the girl will be happy and both of them will go to a tourist spot in a fancy dress and they will start dancing to a duet. In none of the movie, I have seen the girl crying for the hero proposing to her. Yes in few of the movies, if the girl is very rich, she will slap the hero and a few scenes later, she will come to know that the hero is indeed a very nice fellow and will fall for her. But Renita doesn’t look like a rich girl. I mean you can say whether a person is rich or not just by looking at them rite. Even though if she is rich, she should have slapped me and she should not have started crying.

            The world was going into turmoil around me. I forgot the fact that I had a love letter and a rose in my hand. And I didn’t even noticed them slipping out of my hand. I forgot to notice the girls who are standing next to Renita looking at me as if I am some kind of alien. I felt as if I am going to faint. Not risking taking any more chances, I started to run. Away from Renita, away from my love letter and away from those girls who are starring at me.

            Next day I went to the college, I was feeling as if the whole world was starring at me. Adding to the fatigue due to the loss of sleep the previous night, I was totally wearied off. I just went to my usual last but one bench and sat there. As usual, every one were merrily chatting with each other, but I some how felt as if they are talking about me.

Guru Moorthy sheepishly came near me and asked “how are you?”

“Why are you asking me that question?” I said with some irritation.

“Well you look a bit tired. Didn’t you sleep properly yesterday?”

I was a bit relieved by his talk. Not by his concern, but by thinking that no one has known about my heroic proposal the previous day.

After not getting the answer for few minutes, he shook my shoulder and asked

“Are you all right?”

“Kinda” I said trying to force a grin.

“Well I heard what happened yesterday. I never thought that you will directly go to her and propose. You should have tried to become her friend first and after that you should have tried to elevate that position to that of a lover”

I felt as if the whole world is falling around me. He heard. So every one knows? I still have got almost 3 and half years of my life in this college. But I wanted to pass out of the college, leave every one behind and never see them ever again. Not even one of them.

More over he is the one who gave me all the tips. Now he is talking altogether in a different tone. So he is clean and I am the culprit. God what am I going to do.

Guru Moorthy tried to cheer me up.

“Its OK pal. We can sort things out”

Well it’s OK for him, but not for me. I am the person who is in soup not him. Well I realized that I am fretting a lot but I was not able to help it.

Just then, the staff arrived and the classes started. I don’t have to tell that I paid no attention to it. Two periods went on as if a leave has flown through the car window when you are going in break neck speed.

I didn’t even realize that the staff has left the class and they have given the regular interval break. I was surrounded by around 6-8 guys each with a smirk in their face.