THANKS FOR EVERYTHING, GREG

Mr. Gregory Stephen Chappell, I wish to thank you for trying your best to screw up the Indian Cricket team and my special kudos for being successful to a great extent. M/s. Sunny Gavaskar, Venkatraghavan and Ravi Shastri thought that they were interviewing you for the post of commentator but then selected you as the Coach in May 2005 purely based on your presentation skills and not on coaching skills. Though Tom Moody lost out in the race, he was successful in taking Srilanka through to the Super Eights and as I feel now, even to the semi-finals. Jimmy Amarnath, the man, millions of Indians consider as their hero of 1983 when Kapil Devils were crowned World champions may have lost to you on the English / Presentation skills, but our "desi" coach could have made a big difference.. Daisy Haynes knew the ground realities in Windies and could have been better than you atleast for the World Cup ! You have pocketed millions of dollars, but the hard fact is that India was knocked out of first round by Bangladesh ! (Thankfully, they won against Bermuda)

Greg, you did not only ensure that India lost in the first round of World Cup, but also screwed up the team spirit ! Kapil Devils won just because they were a "team"... Compare the batting line up of the Indian team of '83 with the team that lost in the first round in '07.. Openers Kris Srikkanth and Sunny Gavaskar were two different players - one going for the kill from ball one and the other steadying the innings on the other end. You too had similar, with Robin Uthappa and Sourav Ganguly. The middle order of '83 was packed with ever dependable Jimmy Amarnath, explosive Sandeep Patil, Yashpal Sharma and Kirti Azad. You too had "Jammy" Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar and Virendar Sehwag. Dhoni replaces Kirmani.. '83 had Sandhu, Madan Lal and Binny to take care of so-called medium pace and you had Zaheer Khan, Ajit Agarkar and Munaf Patel to do the job... Haryana hurricane and captain Kapil and Harbhajan Singh from neighbouring Punjab is the one and only difference.. So, what made your guys slump against Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.. I still can't understand the logic of having Bhajji against Sri Lanka in place of "Jumbo" Kumble who tormented the Bermudians in the only match he played. Bhajji was out of sorts in the match against Bangladesh also...

Fine Greg, let me put this World Cup out from my memory for a while.. I wanted to write a open letter to you on other aspects during your horrible two year stint with the Indian Team. You threw out Sourav Ganguly from the team - the reasons though have come in bits and pieces, nobody knew the true story.. But, whatever it was Dada proved you wrong when he came back strongly with many half centuries.. I don't fault him for one bad game against Sri Lanka, but his comeback is the best. I also felt that he should have had a break - but that was too long than expected. Why Sehwag did not get the same treatment ? What was the treatment you met out to the young Irfan Pathan - he was kept guessing till the eleventh hour whether he would catch the flight to Windies and finally he had only to carry the drinks bottle throughout the World Cup. Ajit Agarkar could not even get a wicket with the new ball even against Bermuda and the team managment retain him for the match against Sri Lanka.

Last not but the least, Greg.. You spoke more than what you achieved. I agree that your speaking and presentation skills got you the job, but, what did you do to the team - the spirit was off. You tried to play spoilsport between Laxman and Dada and finally you say that you were fearing for your life. You Aussies fear for everything. After spending almost two years in India, do you still have such fear ? We give vent to our feelings and emotions but not go to the extreme. If we were like what you had thought, then your middle finger would have been amputated long back when you showed it to our fans in Kolkata ! Never do such things to Asians - we are sentimental !!

All the best for your future - please for heaven's sake do not take up any other assignment with BCCI and keep some distance from Indian cricket so that you can have a healthy life. Hope BCCI will leave the interest in a "foreigner" and start thinking that Indians are best in all fields.. Though I started this blog on 24th March after India lost to Srilanka, due to time constraints completing only now !

COMMUNICATION TODAY

I'm just wondering how the telecom companies make money after SKYPE or Google Talk or even Yahoo / MSN Messenger have taken the communication system.. Cant imagine that i'm sitting in Romania almost 4000 miles away from my home.. But, never we miss talking to each other.. More than an hour a day we (not me, but Indu and Pranav) keep talking to them - with webcam around, they keep seeing the mischief done by Pranav.. He has completed 7 months now, but I dont think my father has missed any of his movements. If there is no webcam, there is YOUTUBE - videos of his new movements are uploaded and viewed ! How the communication has improved. I remember, not long back, just 8 years ago, standing in front of a STD Booth in Mettur and that too in queue to call my parents, who, at that time did not have a telephone at residence and had to wait in our neighbour's house. Today, either you are in a shopping mall or a toilet, you can be reached by mobile. My mother had to go all alone from Romania to India (Bucharest to India) by transitting via Frankfurt - a mobile with her with a balance of $15 in it was all she carried. She landed safe in Frankfurt and informed us - no problem whatsoever, she found the gate and reached Chennai without any fuss. Had it not been for this mobile, I would have gone to drop her atleast in Frankfurt spending atleast 30 times more !! Let us see how communications develop further !!!

EVERY GREAT SPORTSMAN HAS A FALL !

The topic may look wierd, and being written on the 1001st day of Roger Federer's No. 1 rankings in men's tennis is not to discourage Fedex, but to bring the reality.. Wish that he continues for another 2000 days like this... Also the blog is not on tennis, but on road races... Guessed it right, on the Grand Prixs and Rallies.. How many of us would have expected Valentino Rossi to miss the bus the day Fedex completed 1000 days as No. 1. For those like me who saw the race live on television, the message is loud and clear - every great sportsman has a fall - yeah, the fall meant Rossi finishing "unlucky" at 13 and ultimately missing the crown he held for 5 years. Did the followers of Moto GP thought that Valentino would allow Toni Elias to overtake him in the final straight at Portugal to take the top honours - he lost valuable 5 points there - else he would have atleast tied up with Nicky Hayden ! Should I call all these things as bad luck or the end of the road for the champion !

Lets move out from Moto GP to Moto Racing, the formula 1. The king of F1 has surrendered his throne. Schumi, a seven time champion has lost for the second consecutive time to Fernando Alonso. Though his manufacturers did not support him in the first half of the year, he came back strongly and gave stiff competition to Nando !! But, an engine failure (the last being in 2001) in Japan denied him a crown and forced him to go to Brazil with a hope that his competitor's engine also fails !! But, his bad luck continued - a fuel leak during qualifying ensured that he starts from P10 on the grid - hold on, his bad luck did not leave him there - when he moved from P10 to P5, a puncture on the rear tyre ensured he is done - finally finishing a brave 4th.. But, it would have done a world of good had he made his exit from F1 by winning in Brazil.

Why should I leave the other road racer who is on his high - yeah, he is on course (sorry, already assured) for his third consecutive crown.. Kudos for getting it right - Sebastian Loeb will the WRC champion of 2006, having held it in 2004 and 2005 as well... Hope the day of his fall comes much later, atleast after he also completes 5 consecutive crowns like Rossi and Schumi and lets pray Fedex continues his best form for years !!

Micheal Schumacher is a great racer ! Oh sorry.. Who am I to write like that.. Winning 8 races in a span of 16 years is unimaginable.. I'm writing this blog when he is on par with Alonso in points for the 2006 championship, but I believe he would rise again in Suzuka and Brazil to win the championship in style..

Schumi's winning started off in 1994 when he was driving for Benetton.. I did not watch him during those days, but started concentrating from 2000 or 2001. He really impressed me at the first instance, may be, because it was during his peak period.. Though lot is said about his sportsmanship etc., he held forte for 5 years in succession till 2004. Now that he wants to sign off in style, when he is at his peak which I too agree. Some greats like Lance Armstrong, Andre Agassi or even Zinedane Zidane (albeit his head butting incident with Materazzi) have retired in style very recently, the retirement of Schumi will be talked for years..

Ferrari & Scuderia have become famous because of this "Demi God". Will there be a replacement for him or will there be competition in the future. It is a million dollar question which cannot be answered by anyone. Though Schumi has done a lot, his Rally counterpart, Sebastian Loeb's achievements have not gone unnoticed. Though it is not a spectator sport, Loeb was ruling WRC when Schumi ruled F1. Formula 1 attracts millions of fans worldwide and the popularity of the sport in fareast speaks of itself.

You may retire today, but, Schumi your achievements will last much longer ! May God Bless you !!

26th June 2006

I was in the corridor of Krishna Hospital.. Indu was taken to the labour ward at around 7 in the morning. I did not have the courage to go and see her suffering the pain. Holding my breath, I went once, but came back in 5 minutes. Doctor informed around 4 p.m. IST that we can wait for another half an hour else need to operate.. Around 4.30, she was taken to the operation theatre.. I was standing outside the operation theatre like a mad man not knowing what to do... After about 10 minutes, heard the sound of a child.. My joy knew no bounds.. Was very happy and could not remember any other day in my life when i was so happy - not even the day me and Indu decided to get married.. Yeah.. 4.40 p.m. (IST) on 26th June 2006, Pranav was born.. The day and moments which will be in front of my eyes throughout my life.. My friends who are running around with young kids tell me, lets wait and see how Pranav makes you run around..