the doosra - a bad decision (or two, or more)

I thought I had seen the worst umpire in the league when I played a match last season who was bent on enforcing the strict adherence to non-profanity clause from the by-laws of the league. For him, all other decisions were of secondary importance.

Then I saw another one this season. He stood, metaphorically speaking, on the murky grounds of shunning the exact responsibilities that he, as an umpire, is supposed to undertake. Merriam-Webster defines an umpire as "an official in a sport who rules on plays" and in this context I speak when I say that time and again he has transferred the onus of his job to the player and transgressed as an umpire. An error in a lbw decision or a missed short-run are completely understandable in this unpredictable game of cricket but what do you say to an umpire

who, on every ball that (doubtfully) touches the pad, transfers the stalk of decision-making on the batsman by asking him whether the ball made contact with his bat or pad;

who denies an lbw appeal because the ball came off the bat after hitting the pad first;

who employs puzzling tactics like shaking his head up and down in response to an unclear catch in the slips, so as to confuse the batsman who in turn walks thinking that he was given out by the umpire;

who, after performing the above outrageous stunt, blurts out his imbecile approach to the very player he sacrificed;

who warns the replacement keeper when he realizes that the change has occured without notifying him and announces that technically 5 runs could be awarded but I'll let you go this one time (you stupid arse, if it's a rule then you award the runs, period).

We lost the game and it wasn't because of the umpiring but I lost it because of the umpiring.
Ironically, the league requires a payment to file an official complaint. Hasn't cricket paid enough!!

identity unknown

An interesting find from the stacks of a local B&N, "Identity and Violence" by Amartya Sen, the nobel laureate, makes some arguments on the role of identity on the human behavior. Although, I haven't read the whole book, a perusal through some initial pages is enough to jot down some of my own (mis)understandings.

He defines two terms related to human indentity.
1) "Identity disregard - ignoring or neglecting altogether, the influence of any sense of identity with others, on what we value and how we behave..."
2) "Singular affiliation - takes the form of assuming that any person preeminently belongs, for all practical purposes, to one collectivity only - no more and no less."

Not surprisingly, he argues that the above two characteristics are very responsible for human behavior including today's widespread extremism. But he also counters that the choice of one particular identity (say religion) over another (say citizenship) is restricted by the demands, pressures and existing priorities.

He seems to be right since as I see in strongly traditional communities, the forced "singular affiliation" with it prevents us from affiliating strongly with any other existing identities that we have. This force is strongly manifested in form of social pressure. Evidently, it occurs to me that one particular identity that a human being is looking for is probably non-existent. And even so when one identifies herself with one particular identity, she finds herself (re)discovered. It probably is a matter of finding the one identity with the highest priority or rather finding that highest priority for a particular identity. However as we see today, it could be more than just a source of pride and probably mixed identities would serve us better than a strong orientation towards one.

Interestingly, Sen mentions a quote from E. M. Forster that says "If I had to choose between betraying my country and betraying my friend, I hope I should have the guts to betray my country". You can argue that it's probably easier to betray a friend because you don't require guts to do that. Notwithstanding the morality in question for such choices, each one of us can identify with perfidy for either.

But like Sen says "the freedom of choosing our identity in the eyes of others can sometimes be extraordinarily limited".

keeping track of ideas

So what's the best way to keep track of ideas that occur to you at random times? At times, I get all these weird stuff that I can put to blog or put to practice. But as important as they are, I can't seem to find a way to keep them in my memory. Lately, my short term memory has looked more diffusive than ever. So the only way to bottle these ideas is to note them down.

Now I've heard someone say that she always have all these papers strewn around her room with ideas because she wrote it down as they came to her. I've also seen a friend of mine writing a long list of stuff on his hand but with that there's always a problem of washing away if not rewritten on paper. And there's always the issue of having a pen handy to note them down. I've mulled to keep a small paper and pencil with me just in case but it seems too much to carry since I already have my keys, phone and wallet with me when I'm out. And when I'm in it's the sloppiness that takes over. Carrying a PDA is out of question. Just too bulky. Another option is a voice recorder but I don't want to hear myself talk.

So really is there a way to overcome this enigma? First there was touch screen and now there's gesture recognition where you don't even have to touch the screen but just point at it. May be soon, technology would come up with something which will use telepathy waves to transport thoughts through a secure channel and to your home device.

But until then I think I'll try out paper and pencil. Or not!

bowling blues

Here's what I had to ramble (I say I had to because I couldn't resist) when the issue of bowling crept up when no one bowled really well in one of the matches. Here goes (from the understandings and limited experience of an errant bowler).....

Although there are somethings we learn from experience, there are some basics that I try to follow while bowling or batting or fielding. Most of the time the bowler knows what he is capable and a good line and length is all that is really required to strangle most of the batsmen. That however, as we all know, is easier said than done.

But to me, what is most important is concentration. For every ball I bowl, I need to remind myself that I have to pitch it here or pitch it there. As easy as it may seem, it's very difficult to do that for each and every ball, at least for me. So I've kinda developed a routine to tell myself while I'm walking to the mark to start my run up that I need to bowl short/full/good length/fast/slow or whatever. And again remind myself while I'm taking the run-up just to make sure that I don't forget why I'm running. But it's important that I know what I'm trying to do here even if I don't succeed. And different bowlers bowl different balls in different ways but I try to make it a point to aim for the spot where I should be bowling.

As a batsman, I try to do the same thing, i.e. concentrate on the ball and try not to pre-meditate the shot but here I'm controlling the pace of the game. I can take my own time before facing the next ball. When I'm bowling I've to keep up with the pace of the game. I can't take a lot of time between balls. So it's a little difficult as a bowler.

Another constant reminder is not to try too hard for the pace. Extra pace can be used to beat the tail-enders but with good batsmen it can backfire (if I haven't already lost the control and bowled a wide). Every bowler has his own optimal speed. If I try to bowl faster or slower than that optimal speed, I tend to lose control. So I guess these variations need practicing in order to be successful.

But then again, every pitch is a different pitch and especially in our league it could be hard since some pitches are skewed or some run-ups have slopes but that's what we've to work with. (Actually, on these pitches, more often than not, slow bowling can work wonders). Sometimes I've to make minor adjustments like bowling from close to the stumps, or taking a longer time to jump or whatever but unless I've control of the ball, it's all useless. Everybody gets hit sometimes but it's important to not make the same mistake on the very next ball.

So basically, what I try to achieve is

a) concentration and

b) control

The rest of things like pace, variation, etc. can take a back seat initially.

nothing's really free

We have bagels at work every Friday. Since last Friday was the one before 4th of July, a lot of people were taking the day off. So they decided we'll have bagels on Thursday. Now, there's a team who had decided to go out for lunch on that Friday. Someone was celebrating something and treating the whole team.

So when they found out that we have bagels on Thursday, here's what I overheard. One of the guys said that it works well for him that the bagels are on Thursday because if they were on Friday, he'd stuff himself up and wouldn't be able to enjoy that free lunch after the free bagels. I mean COMEON!! You know what you could do? Just don't stuff yourself up with the freaking bagels just because they are free. You know what else? You don't have to eat more of the lunch, again, just because it's free. Goddamn it people!

I mean really, COMEON!!