M S D, Respect.

Behind the three wooden sticks, there lies a cricketing laboratory, powered by a sharp brain and a pair of quick claws. Yes! I am talking about an agile wicket-keeper who also is an aggressive stroke-maker, and above all a calm leader that comes in a package called Mahendra Singh Dhoni.

Let me get nostalgic here, I was always fascinated with the story of King Midas as a child. As I grew up I can only associate the story to the modern Midas, MSD! The forerunner of the modern Indian cricket. Mind you, he doesn't have an MBA degree from the LBS or the IIMs. However, the decisions he take, that burgeon from his instincts, well supported by his enormous confidence produces great results.


Instincts
Be it handing over the last over of the maiden 20-20 world cup final to an unheard name in the form of Joginder Sharma, or be it promoting himself up the order in the finals of the 2011 cricket world cup, the success of MSD has been stupendously stupendous. I fall short of adjectives to describe more about his feats and his super human abilities! '

Sportsmanship
Who would recall the 'dumb' bell to the crease though his dismissal was legal according to the rules of cricket except a true sportsman like MSD, (there were some news that his decision was influenced by Tendulkar). Though this act of him was highly applauded by the cricketing greats it was equally censured by the rest of the cricketing fraternity. But with that decision he helped keep the cricketing ties between the two nations green!

A Leader
He is a true leader when it comes to sharing the credit to his team members, and at the end of the day he makes sure that each one of them gets their pie of honor, credit and respect. At the same time he backs his team and lead from front in the time of adversities. That is the reason he bats at six, and not to keep his averages thick!


Critics
However successful MSD is, there have been critics around the world who comment that his success is only because of sheer luck and not of any cricketing brilliance. To prove them wrong, here's what happened just a few days ago, India lost 4-0 in the away test series in England. And it only meant one thing - "EVEN MSD fails! ". A root cause analysis on the loss would help discover the answer - excess cricket means tired legs, tired body and a tired mind.

The loss clearly makes an understatement that luck has nothing do with the success he has achieved and the laurels he brought to the country. Only self-belief in your instincts, calmness and level-headedness means success for everyone!

PS - How ridiculous it is to compare the batting technique of MSD to number ten Ishant Sharma! Did you forget the days when you basked in the glory of  MSD's mighty sixes and the celebrations you did when he lifted the trophy which the whole country waited for nearly three decades! If you did forget here's that historic image!

PPS -

I remember reading a quote by Paul Strang of Zimbabwe ' What we[Zimbabwe] need is 10 Tendulkars'.

But I say what you really need is just one Dhoni!!


M S D, Respect!

It's October!!

<Connected/Disconnected Thoughts about October and My Birthday!!>

I get reminded of Dudley Dursley of Harry Potter or rather I behave the way he does when it comes to my birthday!! unlike the number of presents that he counts, I keep track of the number of people who wish me, and who make my day more special! :)

I remember dates, names and faces for a life-time. I have an elephant's memory when it is about these and hence I would never miss wishing a closed one on their birthday. If at all I do miss it for some reason I compensate it by wishing them on their half-birthdays!

Its no kidding if I say that the entire nation has celebrated my birthday this year. With the festival of lights coinciding with my birthday it did happen!! Thanks for firing those crackers! You guys really made my day!! A special note of thanks to MSD for inflicting a humiliating defeat on the English and for providing a sweet victory right before my birthday!

And yeah, I always loved the month of October, it all started in the school when I used to get a three week long holiday right after the Mid-term exams. With Dasara, Diwali and my birthday falling in the same month, it was always the month I longed for!!

With the emergence of facebook there has been a dip in the number of wishes through phone calls this year. Though the wishes are reached to me through a different medium, I somehow feel that a wish made through a phone call would produce more warmth compared to a message left on the wall. However, taking it in a different view, I am contradicting my own opinion that I have made in one of my previous posts - 'words written lasts forever'. Excuse my multitude of opinions please.

Another point about October, there's been a birthday or two of my friends or acquaintances on almost every day of this month. Can anyone tell me why is it so?? I am little baffled here :D

P.S - As most of my female friends got engaged/married this year, it has further accounted for a dip in the number of wishes this year. Anyways I still have time for vengeance, let me get hooked!!! ;)

P.P.S - I know this post seemed a touch childish, I guess it happens when it is the day of your birthday!!

120........

'Those who have come for the test, please drink more water. The more you drink, the better the result would be' shouted the receptionist.

I was sitting at the out-patient ward, waiting for my turn. The receptionist was having a look at the patients who were waiting for the ultrasound test, I was one among them, he stopped his glance at me and asked 'Sir, did  you drink water?' Making me feel a little embarrassed. I just signaled him that I already had four glasses of water with my fingers doing the talking. But in return he said loudly 'four is not enough, have two more, for a better result!' and added insult to injury.

I got up and walked to the water dispenser, had two more glasses of water and sat back watching the test match between India and England, with M.S.D in his avatar as a medium pacer and 'The Wall' taking guard behind the stumps.

Coming to this test at the hospital, the ultrasound test had to be performed only when your bla**er is full, so that the renal calculi, in general terms, the kidney stones would be easy to detect.

The six glasses of water that I consumed started gushing inside. However I had to wait till the test is done. I self-motivated telling 'Perseverance pays my boy!' When the situation was getting out of control, I walked to the receptionist with great difficulty and asked him when was my turn, he said there were four more people in the queue,and  I had to wait for some more time.

I returned to the seat and continued watching the match, M.S.D was carrying on with his spell of bowling, there came a beautiful inswinger, went past the edge of KP's bat, loud shouts from the keeper and the bowler, the finger went up, KP was not convinced, he asked for a review. The Indian team erupted in joy and everyone started congratulating M.S.D. The replays showed that there was no edge and KP survived.

However, my survival was under threat now. I was stilling holding ON it. I was actually feeling good that I was capable enough to hold ON for that long. I dint wanna give up. The receptionist looked at me and said I was next.

I quickly walked to the lab and was standing at the door, soon the in-patient walks out and I was called in. The Doctor looked amicable, the nurse too. There was a bed,with a computer monitor beside and other paraphernalia required for the test. I was asked to lie down on the bed and was asked to lower my pan*s.

The doctor came and put the image detector with a gel applied to it's head. He started moving the detector and looked at the monitor and chuckled saying 'you managed to hold on a lot Karthik!', I felt an immediate feather in the cap with that comment and I gave a little laugh.

He moved the detector all over my torso and lower the torso and found nothing and said  'No sign of stones'. He asked me to let THAT out and come back once again so that he could find something after that. I was relieved with what he said, not that there are no stones, I am talking about the latter statement. I went to the washroom and there passed my two hours of unprecedented efforts, I could proudly say, 'Mission Accomplished!', with that, that day I learnt a new meaning for the word 'Relief'.

I walked back to the lab and the doctor performed a second trial, but the result was unchanged. I took my reports, paid the bill and returned from the hospital with a definite sense of relief and a :) and for some reason or no reason these 120 minutes deserved a space on my blog!