strings
Ears syncing with each repercussion. The pounding harmonious with the bass. The melody improvisational and the fusion afresh. The audience choir-ish.
Ears syncing with each repercussion. The pounding harmonious with the bass. The melody improvisational and the fusion afresh. The audience choir-ish.
With his friend and his feet,
Then you stare in to the blank,
In the darkness, an unmistakable silhouette,
The weather was an ambush, the chill unusual;
Some 100 years in the future, although all the gods were thankful for conjuring up hell, it was now becoming increasingly difficult to manage the steady stream of people making the transition. Little did the new comers know that heaven and hell were all relative concepts and there were no third-degree torture chambers and oil cauldrons in hell or virgins waiting in the heaven.
"Am I in the right lane?"
So Inzamam gets away with a 4 one-day ban, the minimum, as expected. And as expected, Hair wouldn't umpire the Champions trophy. And as expected, ICC comes down with another decision under pressure from the Asian countries.
So I again succumbed to buying another series of series - the tri-series plus the ICC Champions trophy package. And the beginning was solid - both for me and Sachin - as I enjoyed the return of the 'ye olde' Tendulkar. Shaky at first, lucky at 5, well-paced in the middle and brilliant at the end was how I'd describe his return to cricket and form. Unfortunately, Kuala Lumpur-ian pouring and some rules by two chaps called Duckworth and Lewis made sure that India didn't win.
Somebody once asked me if I believed that everything happens for a reason. I said I don't know. But there's definitely a reason behind what ICC has to say, hide or reveal. And time and again, in face of controversy the governing body of cricket has found itself - hmmm... how do I put it delicately- useless. It's similar to UN in the sense that it seems to have power but neither has any sort of control. At least, UN can send some peace troops to the troubled region.
He paced up and about and ran helter-skelter
Now and then, when I'm listening to the radio in my car, I hear this 'not-a-sermon' thing which has a crux of something like this---- that when you see things going out of control all around the world, you can take solace in the fact that all those and all the other events are governed by a single force blah blah ...
It's the age of analysis. Over-analyzing and dissecting has become a norm, be it sports, politics or Paris Hilton. You see people like Bill O'Riley, Lou Dobbs, Wolfblitzer etc. pounding on the same topic every freaking day. Some people are on air for so long every day that 75% of what they say is filler stuff. This is best described in everyday clippings that the Daily Show with Jon Stewart assembles which displays a repitition of statements by different news networks which are nothing but sheer BS.
Let's see what I can number-crunch about independent India (not necessarily in order) from the top of my head.
The words rhyme. Well, rhyming words end in the same phonetic sound. So these can be called anti-rhyming words. (Or would that be the words that don't rhyme??) Or this could be probably viewed as some kind of progression or series of words. What the hell! Let's slog about it..
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.
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.
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.
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).....
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.
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.
Into the torn chair, I pretend to relax
So you think you are stressed? Someone sent me these images to check out if you're stressed. Just stare at an image and if you see the it slowly circling/revolving/moving, you're not stressed after all. But if it appears still then may be you are. Hey, no guarantees of how true it is but sometimes it's fun watching the images move (when actually they don't).
I don't remember having to mentally fight with myself to get out of bed when I was a kid and I had to wake up everyday at 7 in the morning to go to school. Now it's a war. It takes half hour to tell myself that waking up at 9 AM is my destiny.
So I joined this new company. Well, technically it's the same company I've been working for the last year but as a contractor. But anyways, pre-offer requirement is a drug test, which, I believe, a lot of American companies are doing now a days.
"Frisches Rahmkohlrabigemüse mit gebackenen Champignons dazu Salzkartofelln"
A wander in to the skyless woods
An interesting article on The Simpsons' philosophy. And mind you, it's not only 'The Simpsons' where philosophy is present. It's just hard to see it when it's in front of you, like many other things. It's easy to clear your eyes and miss and even easier to cloud your mind and see, but it's only what you want to see.
As I boarded the plane back to the U.S., "Schlaleluja!!", read one of the German tabloids on the finals win of FC Bayern Munchen, the football club of the city where I spent my first and the last day of this very short Eurotrip.
So it's back. Indian politicians are back with the age old agenda. Quota system. A system which adds marks to your educational merit because you belong to a certain class which is broadly defined as "backward" or "scheduled". A system which reserves places and posts for you because you're born in a family with a certain last name. A system which was probably introduced with good faith (but myopic sight) at the time when India became newly independent but now which only serves as vote banks for politicians who cajole the vast majority of rural population through such shenanigans.
A lot of people don't believe in 3-dollar coffees. Neither do I. But that has not stopped me from throwing money on countless mochas at the neighborhood Starbucks. I mean after all it is called "Starbucks". Should have seen it coming. (But that's another topic altogether.) Unlike some, I do not share the fascination with coffee. Nor am I taken by the really disconnected and mostly shoddy music that plays at high pitches than required at those joints. I guess I can blame the capitalism that has sucked me into their mochas (or was it the other way round).
So a few weeks ago I accidentally bumped into a place with live rap. I must say I enjoyed it thoroughly and it inspired me to pen my own rap lyrics. So here it goes...