Immortal Triumph - I

Its been close to six years since this event took place in my life but it still rings fresh in my mind whenever I slack back on my chair and dig memories of some glorious moments where winning wasn't easy and where it took more than a struggle to overcome obstacles which were perceived impossible, to emerge victorious.

This story begins right from early 2001 where we had a first shot to a city wide Cricket tournament called the J. K. Samyukhta Rolling Trophy organized by the Rotaract Club of District 3230, under whom we were one of the clubs. We were a part of an institute called Apex that supported the education of Madras University Correspondence students. To be honest, we weren't a very prominent cadre or a desired bunch in the vicinity but it was promising when we became a part of the Rotaract Club District 3230. The word Correspondence and our entity as Correspondence Students was always at a derogatory disposal. We surely werent the smartest or politically savvy of all the clubs, but were surely the most hard working and sincere bunch of guys one would have come across...such was our background going into our first tournament...

I was doing my first year in B.Com and I was a part of the squad with my seniors that went for the tournament with 2 teams - A and B. Well, we did not get off to a good start and that meant we depended on each other team to lose to make way for us which I practically felt was a very desperate wishful thinking we were heading towards. We werent focusing and delivering as planned. We were sighting the girls as we saw our teams go down in defeat. As expected, predicted and planned...we were knocked out of the tournament in 2001...thanks to some one-sided umpiring and ruthless behaviour in a gentleman's game...I personally went back with a bitter taste and promised...no, swore to come back some day soon...with vengeance...

A year passed by and the memory of the ugly past had been buried under my willingness to look ahead and indeed...time was the best healer...no one else dared to talk to me about it. In late 2002 and we had been invited to participate in the tournament again. Memories began to unravel skeletons from the cupboard and we decided to exorcise our demons the only way we knew - by winning. We somehow knew this was our final time for redemption - this was it...this was our last chance. This time we had decided to go in with only one team and that in itself was a bold move where with more teams comes the probability to stay alive in the knockout rounds in the tournament. We practiced like our lives depended on it, we played practice matches under the scorching sun and in the soaring Chennai heat and pouring rains to get ourselves to stop complaining about the weather. In the battlefield, whether it is hot or cold, the enemy will strike at you in any moment with full force...we were readying our minds to see those mind battles through. On the lighter side of all of this, we gathered every penny we had to register for the tournament ourselves in the last minute and made it to the tournament paper as Team Apex.

After all the paper work was done, it was time for some action...but before I get to the action, here is a snapshot of my team that made history:

• Murali, the wily and quick chap with a sharp eyesight and a sense of humour - Opening batsman and a lightning quick fielder...tried his hand at bowling a few off-spinners...got an ugly treatment by an unassuming batsman once upon a time.
• Jayadev, the aggressive, passionate, brutal muscleman in our team...fastest bowler and the most unpredictable batsman. His only drawback was his emotions...taunt him and you could get him out...tough controlling him when the chips are down but pleasure to unleash to the opposition when we have to get things up and rolling.
• Dhilip, the ice cool customer with an ISO smile and one who can speak calmly even in the face of a disaster. Well...getting him serious for a big match was the only challenge but nevertheless, he was an amazingly committed fielder whom you couldnt judge by his physique...could pull a stunner any given moment.
• Vatsa, the pan and tobaccco chewing, cigeratte smokin, abusive throwin, lock, stock and barrell dude with a don type outlook. A giant by no means and the strategist of the team. The issue with him was that the moment you piss him off, the first word he utters will end up in a literal riot that would bring mayhem...he nevertheless was the hero on any given sunday...and it was a sunday when it all happenned.
• Amrith, a beer drinking, chain smoker with dont-give-a-damn attitude who had the looks of a model and was indeed a distraction for opponents...he wouldnt run as the amount of smoking nearly cut out his stamina...the only role we could give and the best he was at - wicket keeping. The most underestimated player who gave his blood and sweat for the team and went the last mile.
• Subbu, our club president and the negotiator for the team in any given crisis. Probably the only guy who gave the umpires the run for their money as he had a constant eye on their decisions and comments. He is like the Hulk...extreme anger and rage can improve his performance on the field...probably what got him in the team!
• Ranga, the religious and the tallest in the gang...the smartest medium pace bowler who added a little thinking into his repetoire. His breakthroughs in the toughest moments was what helped see the light of day in the darkest moments. Nervous chap who can talk fast and still produce some stunning wickets! His spiritual aura truly was reflected in the finals where he got us to hope and pray.
• Aravind, the all rounder who could bowl fast and produce a peach of an innings when needed most. The only player who had played in the District Level tournaments and had a lot of experience in tapping our potential and abilities on the field. He was our captain and had a big role to play in all we scripted in this real life fairy tale...
• and then Me...I was an opening batsman and a medium pace bowler...I was basically the demolition guy with the sole purpose of anihilating the opening attack of the opponents and set us a good rate to set a good score. I could bowl a good pace and chipped in with a few wickets here and there...

My only belief and goal was to win...and this is what I told others too...Lets Win! (...to be concluded)

Random Questions II

• Will our country ever rid of itself the disease of terror?
• Will politics ever be a matter of nation or personal vested interests?
• Will Black ever turn to White?
• Will floods that go to the sea return sometime later?
• Does one have the right to anothers life?
• Does it take more than skill to prove a better team?
• Are marriages made in heaven or in websites?
• Are sanskrit priests and pundits paid better than programmers?
• Will the inflation lead to deflation ore reflation?
• Why do we gather so much when we are going to return empty handed?
• Does anger help prove ones point?
• Why is money immortal when paper is mortal?
• Why doesnt time wait for anyone?
• Why do the worthy good die young and the unworthy evil last forever?
• How much wood has been used to publish books in this century alone?
• Do we know the amount of electronic waste we will have in another 10 years?
• Are movie villain motives for real?
• Why do we cry after a good laugh and laugh after a bad cry?
• Will poverty ever be put on hold?
• Will old age homes see more enrolments?
• Will we have kids of our own (the tough way) or with donor sperms (the easy way)?
• Why is love a mortal feeling with immortal stories?
• How many gods and religions do we have?
• How old is this universe?
• Will we ever see aliens on this planet?
• How many more songs can we compose?
• What if life went backwards?
• What if we communicated in numbers than language?
• Will there be another Led Zeppelin or Black Sabbath record in the near future?
• Has metal ever pierced the human spirit in trying times?

Enough of chaos and back to sanity...more randomness to come soon...

Mind Your Math

The one prolonged fear we have experienced from the cradle to the grave and the only thing that keeps us alive and well...the subject of much debate to the essence of innovation...this has been in our blood and in the air we breathe...in our pockets and the world around...yes I am talking about...Mathematics!!!


To me personally, this has come across as a boon and a bane....nothing less, nothing more. According to me, what is taught in school is the most scariest because of the positioning of the subject and the importance of marks and scoring a centum in your finals. But in reality this subject has something that seems like it was in me all the time. Everything in Maths is basically got to do with logic, formulae and theorems and a set of equations. Where did all of this evolve from? Man did not discover Math from thin air...he invented it right from the days of evolution. Debatable quote but worth the argument...in fact it might work both ways...let me not be controversial - man discovered math...did not invent it. I will leave it to the readers to poll around this and bang their heads to come to a conclusion.


The objective of my article is to explore maths without material. Lot of us fear numbers and literally go to the doctors to scan this unique fear which we overcome every moment in life. According to me, all the formulae, theorems and equations have been ingrained somewhere in our minds and hearts. We just put them to use when it matters the most without the knowledge of its existence or its purpose. It has been with us all these years and will be till our last breath, helping us to survive what we call 'life'. Here is my take on this...what we call Logic is actually Maths...not on all counts...but on some which I will try to explain as I go on.

Right from the days of learning the nuances of language, to our first steps and recognizing people to our sense of direction and reactions to actions, we have been doing our maths at every step of life. We knew the faster we crawled the happier others would be to give what we wanted. We knew the effort for each crawl and the effort to each first step we took in our first walk. Our parents would count the 10 steps to walk and we grew up taking those 10 steps at a time...there you go...our first number. In school, it then came to the games where it was all about the numbers (including the trump cards or the game of Uno). We grew up counting our wins with numbers, yet we feared what was on paper than what was on our mind!

Moving on, to a scene where we would know how the clock would show where we would then calculate mentally however soon or late we left, the time we would approximately reach...thereby change our calculations based on the mode of transport and the pace of the traffic. To those who thought they were weak in numbers, if you can seriously find your way to ur destination by approximity of time and derivative calculation based on the situation...I think we have achieved more than what we had imagined in school or in college. Pacing our ways while driving or crossing on dangerous roads and judging the speed by sheer agility and reflex requires (according to me) sheer mathematical brilliance. Here is my take - those who end up in minor or major accidents on roads might have been those who had been great in their papers but unable to cope up with the numbers pressure on the actual scene. I am not here to defame or deface mathematical geniuses (in their own right) on this but think about this...people who end up calculating on paper acutally lose time acting on the scene. To me, those who survive the mathematical madness of the roads are the rightful masters of mind maths - no paper, no pen.

Music is another field that has captivated my mind - the sheer rhythmic and tonal brilliance captured by artists on and off stage. What does it take to keep the music we play sane? What does it take to move our adrenalin while listenin to music? Its all about the beats and what we call - Thaalam or Taal. These are counts or taps to keep the momentum and the counts so that the music is precision oriented and not lost in the chaos of unorganized notes. Our mind has been listenin to so many beats and tunes based on mathematical calculations - ones that did not require calculations or formulaes but just the knowledge of the tempo counts. Most musicians are school or college drop outs...wondering where did all those calculations come from? Paper and pen somebody...no! Its all in the mind. Look around and you will find musical brilliance walking this planet without having achieved much in school.

Sometimes, I wonder...it is also in Love where we calculate our moves to woo the person we like in many ways possible. There have been times where there have been bad calculations and some of us have terribly gone wrong and have misfired and also got badly hit. Proposals gone wrong with replies at the rate of knots and some replies at the rate of miles per hour smashing our cheekbones with unexpected mental and physical trauma. Ah! Love...to those who get the calculations right...its smooth sailing but need to keep validating their equations. Those are people who know the X in algebra which others fail to fathom and discover. There you go...cupids indeed a professor. I am yet to solve my equation.

There are many fields that we can analyse in detail and I will leave that space to the researchers. I am here just to stimulate and provoke a thought in those minds that have denied the existence of maths (including me). I have been grown up with an utmost hate and had maximum agony with Maths and when it struck me in life later....I told myself...I have been doing it all along and I was pretty good at it! I think that is a kind of mantra that I penned for myself and which I have been following (calculating I'd say) every moment i have seen the possibility of numbers around me - at home, at work, on the roads, while walking, while talking, while listening, while thinking, while playing, while in silence.

We were been born with it, lived with it and have feared it, not realizing that it was the only saviour that brought us till today and will take us to where we want to go. This has been hiding or sleeping in us and has been pulled out at the right time to save our skins and our souls. Think about all the moments that you have been through and you will realize that 'Ifs and the buts' would have been sorted out if it were a matter of right estimations and corrective actions. Well, you might be wondering how...its actually very simple. Its got nothing to do with pen or paper or with theory or with books its just got to do with the mind...its invisible but tangible!

Saturday In Sanity

Just back after watching an amazing movie called Body of Lies...shot completely in the Middle East on the theme of terrorism and the CIA et all...and when I walk out of the Sathyam Theatre...it pours like a flapping drape of water... from a thriller of a movie where the desert was a common sight, to see Chennai draped in this heveanly pearls was quite a sight...better was the ride back home. It was the caressing rain which softened the mood on a monsterous and manic traffic busted road...not the one that drives you mad and cuts like a knife. I must say...the battery must have gone bonkers with the rate at which I honked my way back home. People have just stopped responding or reacting!!! Ignorance in this case was bliss to them...

Back home for a hot cup of tea and a bowl of mixture and savourites amidst the growing rains and I set a playlist to get in the best of mood and it goes on till a long lost song starts to play... November Rain by Guns n Roses...and here was the best part (without sounding cliched or corny), the curtain of rain dropped down to a thunderous applause as if it was opening the stage to a symphonic and epic conerto of the elements...the intensified dramatics showered and the power packed performance was a sight to see...and it was indeed November...what a moment! The song brings back a lot of memories and a feeling of peace and comfort and its lead solo was doubtlessly lifting and pacifying after a stormy interlude.

What followed this magical moment was a nostalgic journey to the past when an old friend replied to an old mail...perfect! Lot of promise and a lot of memories...best days...doesn't take long to sink in the glory of ones past and into the promises of the future...with great weather comes great friends and brings back a lot memories...and then the door bell to break the bubble...back to reality.

Grandmaaaaa or paatii in Tamil...her turn to visit home made the day even better. As she slowly paces her way to our hall, her smile lights up the gloomy weather and brings back the light which the skies had conquered a while back, which cannot be invaded at home...happiness and smiles all the way. What an entry...which no movie can capture.

With the perfect playlist and a perfect day...I lay to rest after the light of day to the black of the night. It takes a minute to rewind and look back and realize that if this happenned everyday...it would be just too boring...no wonder such good days come after a spell of bad or moderate days. No wonder this came after a week of tough work and a well valued and well timed weekend off to experience this momentary happiness. Imagine such good days happenning at work! Might be a matter of time...lets take it as it comes for a start. As I lay on my bed...Guns n Roses sing their version of Bob Dylan's song away...Knockin on Heaven's Doors. Time to sleep and time to dream!

Chennai Law Fiasco

The day - Wednesday, 12th November, 2008...the place - Dr. Ambedkar Law College, Chennai...the people - the law makers and the law keepers...

It was a shameful event (I hate to use the word event) that the people of Chennai witnessed in the evening news on TV (some saw it live too). Two parties who are connected to the law and order system of the city, brought themselves to rock bottom in the eyes of those who looked upon the law for protection.

I am not here to discuss the roots of the event, though I know it was a community based clash which was reported in the newspaper. But I am here to question and trigger a thought in people as to how on earth can we feel secure on the streets of the city when the makers and the keepers are at such a disgusting point of ignorance? In the name of humanity, what in hell's name were the police doing? Watching a uncensored action flick or fearing for their life if they got caught in the eye of the storm?

All hell broke loose and all the policemen did was witness the brutality shown by the angered youth who went berserk when they saw a scapegoat to display their violent intent. Rampant they were and merciless on that youth who was slaughtered in front of the policemen. Imagine the mother's plea and the father's anguish...the agony they must have been through...their son might have taken the wrong step but would have a couple of blows sufficed...couldn’t the policemen stop the angry mob...were they told to stay put...were they scared...did they take orders from someone else...

I am angered by the fact that why was no action taken…who stopped the policemen from taking strict measures...a delayed and reactive approach of just arresting when all the damage has been done! The logic may remain that the youth who got hit might have said something or done something which might have irked and hurt the opposition, but couldn’t this have been settled by a quick action...why the mob, why the riots? What were the college officials doing ...sleeping on their easy chairs I guess...like what they do in the courts...the lessons they teach to those who pass out to maintain law and order...

I have a mixed feeling to all of this. Sometimes I feel the guy deserved it because no one reacts so violently if there isn’t a valid reason or being provoked...but on the other hand, i feel this wasn’t the only way to solve it...and it could have been amicably settled and needless to take up arms and beat the living daylights out of that guy who might have needlessly got himself into trouble...

But one question remains unanswered...where are we today? Rapes, Murders, Kidnaps, Riots and Mobs are all running wild...and the policemen are the puppets in the hands of a master and do as they are told to do...this is the state of the current government is...this is how they get things done and this is how they operate with power. Does anyone around listen to their conscience and act accordingly...does this city need a fictional based Dark Knight to get rid of the evil around...will this city remain as contaminated and unsafe to live in? This now becomes a good plot for DC Comics…guess justice is served only in fiction and not in reality.

Now I have many questions unanswered and I can go on and on and on and this will surely take more than a lifetime to see the light of day. It is far better to be by ourselves and stay as far away from this rusted and rotten system. Love your close ones and be good to each other and stay out of trouble. If we do so...peace is in our hands...the moment we are deep in the system, peace becomes another man's property...