Album 1-Srirangam and surrounding places

I would like to inaugurate the photography section of my blog with the photographs that I took during a 3-day pilgrimage/trip of Srirangam and surrounding places.

My grandmother, my mother and I had a terrific time visiting Srirangam and surrounding places and were privileged to see the sanctum sanctorum of the Ranganathaswamy temple thrice. The Trichy region is hotter than you imagine, folks. Chennai's heat is nothing compared to this heat(yes, that is true) and the care-taker of the choultry in which we stayed talks of the temperature going over 100 degrees farenheit as if it is very normal. I have eaten enough South Indian thalis over the past few days and I don't think I will like the look of rice for the next few weeks....
You can see the original size of the pictures by clicking on them.

Can't ask for a better photo to start the album with.
The south gopuram of the Srirangam Ranganathaswamy temple.

The Kaveri in such a sorry state.
Not a drop is left, mind you.

The Uttamar koil where one can see sannidhis of Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva.

                        

 

Samayapuram!

                          

A stall outside the Samayapuram Mariamman Koil.

Geetha Saram in Hotel President, Samayapuram

Gopuram of the Brahmapooreswarar Temple in Tirupattur

The remains of the outer gopuram of the Pundarikakshar temple in Tiruvellarai

The inner gopuram of the Pundarikakshar temple in Tiruvellarai

The gopuram of the Gunaseelam temple which is supposed to be a place that cures the mentally ill that visit it. My 'kula deivam' temple.

A bit of water left at Kollidam

The tributary of the Kaveri that goes to the sea

A ringside view...

Karigala Chozhan Manimandapam
A place built by the Chief Minister(Jayalalitha) in honour of this Chozhan king.

Entering....

The statue of the Chozhan king inside the Mandapam

The Appakudathan temple

A saying from the Geeta above the entrance to the sanctum sanctorum at the Appakudathan temple.

The dwadasthombam of the Appakudathan temple

A countryside in South India is incomplete without a field dotted by coconut trees.

On the way to Anbil...

A very well-designed mandapam outside the temple at Anbil.

The gopuram of the temple at Anbil

A train viewed on the way back to Srirangam..

                          

The Uchi Pilliar Koil in Trichy

The entrance to the temple at Karur

The kolam of the temple at Karur which is unfortunately dry.

The gopuram of the temple

The outskirts of Karur which is quite a big town.

Coconut trees viewed on the way to Namakkal

This photo was spoilt because it was taken in a moving car.:p

Namakkal!

The entrance of the famous Anjaneyar Koil in Namakkal

The famous statue of Anjaneyar taken from outside...

The Narasimhar Koil in Namakkal

The temple with the fort in the background

A wonderful tree in the Narasimhar Koil that I thought was very artistic. No one needs to look beyond nature for such stuff.

Granny in Namakkal :)

Leaving the temple.........

The great fort in Namakkal

The hustle and bustle of Namakkal

Another temple on a hill

The gopuram of the gate that marks Srirangam seen from outside Trichy...

The proper view of the gate

                      

Srirangam!

Supposed to be my native place...

The sights and sounds of Srirangam

Somewhere near the temple.......

The choultry where we stayed.

The symbols by which Srirangam and Lord Narayana are defined.

Another proper shot of the southern gopuram of the temple.

The gopuram of the Dasa Avatara temple in Srirangam

The well inside the temple

Another very well-designed mandapam in the premises of the Narasimhar koil in Srirangam.

The entrance of the Narasimhar koil...

A proper shot of the gopuram

People near the main gate...

The famous elephant of the Ranganathar temple.

The Veli Andal koil in Srirangam...

The wonderful entrance to the temple!

The gopuram...

Now, I am back home!

A short and informal post

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Ok, due to time constraints, this post is going to be short and snappy. It is going to be a departure from the usual.You can argue that this could have passed off as a couple of Facebook statuses, but lets not think about it.
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If any of you were expecting anything on the recent Test match at Johannesburg, sorry to disappoint you. My mandai is slightly 'cricket mazhungified'(meaning my mind has slightly lost its sharpness in cricket matters[at least according to me :p]) at the moment, as you all are already aware. Despite yours truly watching every single ball of the match in question, no emotion, I repeat, no emotion was felt that would have been felt by any cricket fan on this earth who would have watched this match. Nothing could cause a single scratch on this stone-like heart of mine. This was partly because of the wonderful Maths exam that I had to appear for on the 23rd. I just wish I did not have anything to study during this match. I would have been able to enjoy it thoroughly, then. The joke is, I could not do much justice to the studying either and might just salvage a pass mark in the exam. As Sambit Bal once said, once a student of the game, always a student of the game. 

What to do. Sigh.

Anyway, I can give you a small and cliched verdict on the result and the forthcoming match that can occur to even the most 'mandai mazhungified' person on this planet:

 It was an absolute humdinger and probably one of the most exciting draws in history. Shame that there can be only 2 Tests in this series. A festival of T20 cricket is hardly a compensation for a proper New Year's Test at Capetown. However, the Test match that is going to begin tomorrow at Kingsmead promises to be an exciting one with South Africa forced to make some changes due to the injury to Morne Morkel and the poor showing of Imran Tahir in the first test. When India last came to Durban to play Test cricket, they did very well to win a closely-contested encounter. The sight of Cheteshwar Pujara running out Lonwabo Tsotsobe to clinch the victory still remains fresh in memory.
 I was surprised that South Africa went for the draw with 16 runs to win and two overs to spare. At that stage of the match, it made sense if India were playing for the draw because they had 3 wickets to win with 2 overs to spare. On India's part, the decision to not bring Shami Ahmed on immediately after the tea break on the 5th day was questionable as he had been India's best bowler by far in South Africa's second innings. When JP Duminy got out, there was a sense that much water had flown under the bridge, though we were in for some drama later. Had Shami Ahmed been brought on earlier that session, he could have had an impact on the game earlier. 

 Anyway, it was a great match.

Merry Christmas and a happy Boxing Day Test match eve.

Like there are Boxing Day Test matches in cricket, I have a Boxing Day exam tomorrow...... 
And the worst part is, I don't even feel like studying.

Sachin through the eyes of a new follower of the game

This is it. The end of a 'great habit' as Harsha Bhogle puts it. Sachin Tendulkar has announced his decision to retire from international cricket after his 200th test. One of the greatest men to have ever stepped on a cricket field is to retire soon. 24 years of Sachin, 24 years of utmost joy. The tributes are flowing as expected, understandably leaking of nostalgia and emotion. Everyone has their own story of watching Sachin Tendulkar play. Here's  my tale.

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To me, Sachin Tendulkar has been there forever. He was there when I was born and he is still there 16 and a half years later. 

                        

I grew up abroad, in a country which had and still has no exposure for cricket. It is a nation crazy about football, but it is not a great footballing nation either. Due to this atmosphere, I had no interest in cricket or sports in general as a child, despite us being in constant touch with the Indian community there. But, I knew one name. Sachin Tendulkar. He was one of the very few cricketers whose names that I knew before beginning to watch cricket. My earliest recollection of having something to do with Sachin is me sitting in the huge kitchen that we had abroad sticking his picture in my EVS book with my mother saying "Anga ottu!(Stick it there)" in the background. That was for an activity in EVS in 1st or 2nd grade for which we had to stick the pictures of our favourite sports persons and singers in our activity books.There was no solid reason on my part to stick it, because I had not watched him play. I just knew his name; but that was not the reason why I stuck that picture. My mother told me years later that she made me stick his picture there because I knew no sports person and everybody knew his name. That picture was of him in his ODI jersey. Little did I know then that I would watch and appreciate his batting one day.

Fate brought me back to India at the age of 10, but my opinion about cricket still did not change. It was the year 2007. During the Pooja holidays that year, my mother and I along with my grandmother had gone to Narsapur, a small town in Andhra Pradesh, to visit my grand-uncle and aunt. My grand-uncle is a huge cricket fan. The day after coming back from a brief visit to Vizag during that trip, he switched on the television in the evening and began watching an ODI between India and Australia as we joined him in the hall. I could not understand anything that went on on the television, but I was just sitting there because almost everyone in the house was there. I saw flashes of Sachin, Robin Utthapa (if I am not mistaken) and Andrew Symmonds(I did not know his name at that time) on the television. The match began to get close and my grandmother went to bed thinking that India would lose. Only me, my grand-uncle and my mother were left in the hall. We eventually won the match, and Sachin must have played a match-winning innings because I saw a huge picture of him splashed across the sports page of the newspaper which my grand-uncle was reading the next day. The headline also had the word "Tendulkar" in block letters. 

In 2008, after the Mumbai attacks, I remember hearing something about Sachin hitting a century. I came to know 2 years later that that was the century that he hit during the Chennai test vs. England to win us the match. In 2010, I heard of his double century in ODI cricket. A few days later, the IPL began and as everyone was watching it in the country, I too began watching it. During the course of the tournament, I began to like cricket. As Harsha Bhogle or Sunil Gavaskar once said, "In India, everyone from the CEO of a company to a paan-wala watches cricket". That stinging atmosphere had finally caught up with me. There was a match in the IPL, I remember, which CSK had narrowly won vs. MI in Chennai. Sachin was the one who had waged a lone battle and had eventually got dehydrated. That match was the one from which I learnt the importance of a pitch in a match.

I began to get bored without cricket after the IPL, so I threw myself at international cricket. I followed the World T20, the Zimbabwe tri-series and the Asia Cup, learning a lot about the game and life along the way.  The Sri Lankan test series finally presented me with an opportunity to watch Sachin Tendulkar bat. He hit a 200 during the drab SSC test match on a pitch which was a bowler's graveyard. The last day of the third Test at the P.Sara Oval was the only day of that series which I could watch properly because it was a Saturday. I watched a wonderful innings from VVS Laxman to yet again rescue us from trouble to win us the Test match, but Tendulkar's contribution in the form of a half-century and the partnership that he had had with him could not be forgotten. 

Everyone had always said that Sachin was great. During the next Test series that India played, the Border-Gavaskar series, I understood why. It was a fantastic series with both the Tests being very interesting and Sachin had a phenomenal series, winning the man-of-the-series trophy. The double century that he scored in the second test at Bangalore will always be a cherished innings for me. I will never forget some of the shots that he played in that innings; the cover drives, the paddle sweeps and the lofted shots down the ground. I still remember the huge sixes that he hit off Nathan Hauritz. That innings is all the more special to me because the moment Sachin hit the 200th run, I understood something very important from a cricketing perspective. When he raised his bat and helmet to the sky in acknowledgement of the crowd's cheers, I understood the meaning of Test Cricket. Since that day, I have always maintained that Test Cricket is a test of character, a test of skill and a test of patience and endurance. 

Then came the all the drumming for his 50th test ton. To me, Sachin was unfazed by all that. He played really well in the 2nd and 3rd tests of the test series versus New Zealand, scoring 2 half-centuries, if I remember right. When the 50th ton did arrive, I was away in a temple outside Chennai. It was pure drama. My grandmother telephoned and asked whether we would like to come and my mother agreed. I refused. India was in a horrible position in the first test versus South Africa and hurtling towards an innings defeat, but I had a bit of hope left inside me that something would happen to avoid the innings defeat at least. My mother, after giving up on trying to convince me to come, left the house to the car that was waiting in front of the apartment complex. That moment, Suresh Raina edged a short ball to the slip cordon and I lost all hope. I hurriedly telephoned my mother and asked whether I could come and ran downstairs to the car, which had not left. I sat inside the car with a heavy heart and pondered about the Test match. At the temple, I and my grandfather discussed heatedly about the match. My grandfather was already suggesting a test debut for R. Ashwin. We discussed about the game all the way back home as well. As soon as I reached home and switched on the television, I got the news that Sachin had hit a 100. Overjoyed, I telephoned my grandfather and said, "Thatha(grandfather),Thatha,Sachin has scored a 100!Dhoni is with him now!" and my grandfather said, "Oh. Good". When I got off the phone, my mother said, "It is a special 100 as it is his 50th". I just said, "Oh...oh". In my joy that he had scored a century, I had momentarily forgotten that it was the 50th ton.

During that series, I discovered what a great professional Sachin was. I also discovered his willingness to always learn and improve despite being a great player. In a hotel room in Kumbakonam during the 2nd Test at Durban, I watched as Sachin played a wonderful drive on the off-side off Lonwabo Tsotsobe. It was during India's second innings. I remembered that he had gotten out to a similar ball in the previous innings bowled by the same bowler. It was quite evident that he had practised and I thought to myself, "This is the difference between a good player and a great one". There is a cliche in cricket which says, "The word 'legend' is often misused, but not in this case". That series witnessed some of Sachin's greatest batting as he went on to score his 51st test century in the final test in Capetown with panache. Many people said that the contest between him and Dale Steyn was one to behold. I wished that I had been there to witness it as I had been unable to watch a major part of his innings due to school. I was there for the 100th run though.  
 
I remember being excited to watch the first ODI between India and South Africa as I had never watched Sachin Tendulkar bat in an ODI before. But, his stays at the crease in both the games that he played in that series were short and he left the field due to a minor injury during SA's innings in the second game. He resurfaced during the World Cup and I got my desire of watching him in full flow in ODI cricket. In the match versus England, he scored a wonderful century. I celebrated 1 year of watching the game on March 12th 2011 by watching that fluent 100 scored by him in the match versus South Africa. Though India lost the game due to typical reasons  (the bowling[especially in the last 20 overs of the match] and the batting powerplay mess up[the not so typical reason]), it was a good match. Sachin was not at his best in the semi-final with the Pakistani fielders dropping him 4 times. When he got out in the finals, I was away from the television screen due to a bad feeling that I got after Sehwag got out. I thought to myself, "Well done, Sri Lanka, you deserve to win the World Cup". But, we were all treated to a magnificent display of batting by Gambhir, Virat Kohli and Dhoni after that which resulted in India winning the match and the World Cup to boot. Awestruck, I sat in total disbelief as the players took Sachin around the field on their shoulders for a victory lap. I remember writing a short tribute to Sachin's contribution to Indian Cricket in my summary of the World Cup and India's campaign(I am too embarrassed to even think of that summary now to give you all a link of it, but if you want to read it, you can scroll down as I have posted it on the blog. The title is 'India conquer the world'). 

"It’s too much pain and too much sorrow.Guess I’ll feel the same tomorrow." – The Last Time 
(Source: Dileep Premachandran's most recent article. )
I thank my lucky stars for arriving in time to watch Sachin's last excellent year of playing cricket. I say this because after the World Cup, things began to go downhill for him and me. In the morning after the World Cup final, I discovered that my cycle had been stolen in the night along with six others. Since then, I probably had the worst time of my life till April 2012. Though Sachin did not have a bad IPL(great century in one of the matches, full of wonderful shots), I had. My bad year was because I felt that I was not watching the game like I used to before. I felt that I was not enjoying it like I used to before. That phase began right after the World Cup. I longed to watch the game like before again. Some people said that it was because I wanted to concentrate on my studies because I was in 10th grade. But, I knew that it wasn't. Something was amiss. I did not know what it was and what was causing this feeling. I felt like I had been jolted awake from a wonderful dream that was the previous year. I was pained. Even now, it has not come back fully, but it keeps coming and going since April last year and I am pretty sure that I will make a full recovery in due course. My bad year coincided with a bad time for the Indian team and Sachin. I watched as India recorded loss after loss, highlighting the need for fresh blood in the team with every match. I watched as Sachin batted like he was burdened like never before. It was painful to watch him bat. He was not himself. All these years, whenever he went to bat, it was like the entire nation went to bat with him, but he was unfazed. Now, he was bothered by it all. All the pressure on him to get his 100th 100. His own frustration of not being able to score freely. One could tell from the way he batted. From personal experience that year, I can say that if the link between you and something close to you suddenly feels like it has diminished, it pains you and you know that that thing has left you. You feel crippled. Sachin's experience was identifiable for me at that time. Except that he had been associated with cricket for many years and I had been associated with it only for one year which felt like a lifetime.  I felt at one point that all the drumming for his 100th international 100 was getting ridiculous. "Leave him alone!", I wanted to say. I have never liked it when people call him 'God'. He is truly great, but not God. I knew that the time for his retirement was nearing.


When the 100th 100 actually arrived, I, like everyone else in the country, felt happy for him. But, my inner self told me that his time was nearing. I felt that when he goes, he must go in a dignified way. Sachin continued to struggle after that. It became all the more painful to watch him bat. I began to fear that the selectors might be forced to intervene. I, like everyone else, felt that for a great player like him, the decision to retire must be taken by him and only him. I also felt that he should exit with dignity. However, all my fears came to rest when he announced his decision to retire from ODI cricket with immediate effect. I was on another visit to Kumbakonam in December last year when I saw his name associated with the word 'oyivu' in a Tamil newspaper in the hotel lobby. I asked my mother, "Amma, 'oyivu' na enna?(What is the meaning of the word 'oyivu'?)". My mother said, "'oyivu' means retirement". For a second, I thought that he had retired from international cricket, but my eyes caught the word 'oru-naal cricket' (ODI cricket) on the second page of the newspaper. My grandfather quipped, "It is time". From that moment, I was confident that when he does retire for good, he will take the decision himself. There were rumours about the selectors having a word with him about his ODI career, but I was confident that he had taken this decision himself. As we went from place to place outside Kumbakonam that day, I think I recalled with detail some of his best ODI innings that I had seen as it happened or during some highlights programme. The most evocative line in the press release was:"Ungalodiya anbu en kanil kanir vara vaikudu". "Your love brings tears to my eyes".

Tendulkar walks in to bat in his final Test match at one of his favourite grounds, the MAC

Sachin Tendulkar walks to the crease to bat for the final time at Chepauk

 

Tendulkar plays a shot off Nathan Lyon on the final day of the Chennai Test

I remember fighting tooth and nail with my mother to take me to the India vs. Australia Test at Chepauk earlier this year. One of the main reasons for me wanting to go was Sachin Tendulkar (some other reasons mentioned in this article written by me at that time). My mother refused, but offered to take me to the Mumbai Indians IPL match held in Chennai. I said, "No. It will not be equivalent to watching him in a Test match or any match in which he is representing India". I reminded her that we could not go anyway due to security reasons as CSK vs. MI matches are always night games. That was that. I had obviously heard of his exploits in Chennai. His enduring romance with the MAC, as journalists would put it. Nine hundred and seventy runs in 10 matches. Most of his knocks here created history. Chennai is a city which values cricket. It boasts of a sporting crowd which is renowned in the world for its knowledge of the game. Here, most of the beaches and parks in the mornings and evenings have old grandfathers talking about the game. I had the pleasure of meeting Tamil Nadu first-class cricketer Malolan Rangarajan's grandfather at a beach near my house last year. Most of us have the habit of reading the SportsStar. Surely, such a crowd would have appreciated a master technician at his best over the years. It surely enjoyed his last visit as a Test batsman. After many months, Tendulkar came into his own during that match. He was batting freely like he hadn't for days. I watched many miles from Chepauk as he pulled out those cover drives fluently. The Tendulkar of old was on display. Many lined up on the third day for a Sachin special but went away with an equally good prize: a masterful batting display by Dhoni and Virat Kohli. Sachin ended his innings at Chepauk with a quick 13* on the final day to help India win the Test match. There was applause all around as he left the field with the curator and other ground staff shaking hands with him. Harsha Bhogle said on commentary, "What a wonderful story it has been".
Sachin couldn't do much after that in that series. I remember standing up as he left the field on the final day of the last game at Delhi and applauding with the Delhi crowd. "We never know. It could be the last time.", I told my mother.
      

When his decision to retire from International Cricket came to public attention the afternoon before the last, I remember feeling nothing. I had no emotion. Maybe because my mind was clogged with Integral calculus, maybe because I knew it was coming. Hearing of his decision had numbed many people in the country. "It is the right decision. Thankfully, the selectors did not push him out", I thought to myself. But, later that evening, when a news channel played out a few flashes from that Bangalore double, I felt myself go numb. As I watched those paddle sweeps and cover drives again, my heart stopped. My feelings that afternoon could also have been because I don't know the big three, Sachin, Dravid and VVS like some veterans out there do due to my time spent watching the game being short. Regarding Dravid and VVS, I have always maintained that I am not the right person to comment about them as I have not spent more than 3 and a half years watching the game. I have always felt that their contributions to the game can only be justified by the comments of people who have watched them over the years. Apart from saying that they were truly great batsmen, people and role models, I couldn't say much. I could just thank God for giving me an opportunity to watch them play cricket for India before their retirements. But, for Sachin, I have been able to write such a long article(in no way undermining the others' contributions to the game). That evening, all the news channels were eulogising him and a panelist on one of them said: "Sachin's appeal transcends generations. Everyone from a little child to an old man has something appreciative to say about him". So true.

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The picture above is definitive in many ways. Towards the end of his career, there were many accusations of Sachin playing for records. I for one, think that such accusations are churlish. This man has spent 24 years of his life serving Indian cricket. Saying such things is a poor way of repaying him for all the blood, sweat and toil for the nation's image in cricket. I feel that his decision to retire after his 200th test maybe because he wants to end it in Mumbai, where it all started for him. It is certainly not because of records. There were rumours before Thursday that the selectors spoke to him about retirement. But, I am pretty sure that the selectors did not influence his decision.

Many people say that Sachin is a hero of the middle-class society. My father- who by the virtue of being a Mumbaikar is knowledgeable in Kanga League cricket, Harris Shield cricket and all tournaments in Mumbai-once told me about Sachin telephoning his coach Ramakant Achrekar after hitting that 200 in ODI cricket to ask him whether there were any flaws in that innings. I know that many people have said this before, but I say it again: Despite his greatness, Sachin has remained grounded. His intense focus in every match enabled him to handle truck loads of pressure with ease. This quality in him has been enviable around the world. He is set to leave the game with as much distinction as he played it. He also leaves Indian Cricket in good hands. There are players like Pujara and Kohli in the team who promise much. 

The day before yesterday, when the news of his decision to retire broke out, I heard a few people talking about him completing a triple century in Test cricket before his retirement. I also heard a few people debating whether he timed his retirement right. I endorse the view that all of that is immaterial; it is better to enjoy what is left of him and think about what he has done rather than what he has not. I hope I will be there at home to enjoy the last match of his career; being a 12th grader has its privileges. If I am there(which is highly likely), I am sure that I will stand up and applaud in my living room whenever he enters the field to take guard and whenever he leaves after completing his innings.

Men may come and men may go, but there can be only one Sachin Tendulkar.

Character sketch of Gessler

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This is related to the story 'Quality' by John Galsworthy which was a part of our English syllabus in Grade 11. It was clearly the best lesson in the textbook. We were asked to write a character sketch of the main character, Mr. Gessler, the boot-maker. I generally don't post school stuff, but for some reason I never showed what I wrote to the teacher.
For the benefit of people who have not read the story, here's the link:
www.raitimsi.wordpress.com/2013/08/06/quality-by-john-galsworthy-2/  
It is recommended to first read the story and go ahead.
                   

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  Mr. Gessler was a very passionate and hard-working man. Boot-making was his passion; he ate, drank and slept it and would go to any lengths to make boots for people. He never worked for money, but for the love of making boots. He would shut himself in his shop for hours on end and would never come out; he would go on making boots for his clients. Whenever the author entered his shop, Gessler would look at his feet covered by a pair of boots made by him and his eyes would light up in remembrance of how he made that pair of boots. In his youth, when the author asked him whether he found boot-making difficult, he just answered with passion,"Id is an Ardt!". Gessler was also a perfectionist; he always made sure that he made the best boots possible for every client. We can tell this by the fact that he took very long to make the pairs of boots ordered and never allowed any leather into his shop that was not made by himself. Also, his boots were of the best quality and finish and fit everyone who wore them perfectly. One ran up bills with other stores, but never with the Gessler Brothers' store for their boots were so fine that they lasted for a long time. One could make out that these boots were clearly made by one who saw the Soul of Boot before him. When the author once told him that the pair of town boots he had made him had creaked, he asked the author to send them back with the remark, "Zome boods are bad from birdt, if I can do noding wid dem, I dake dem off your bill". Despite all these qualities, Gessler was quite stubborn and was of old-fashioned ideals. As highlighted earlier, he never allowed any leather into his shop that was not made by himself and the fact that he took so long to make the boots that were ordered lost him customers. He believed that boots had to always be hand-made and he never advertised. Once, when the author walked into his store absent-mindedly, wearing a pair of shoes bought from a firm, Gessler showed his disapproval of big firms by explaining to the author about the hardships of his trade and how big firms had no self- respect. These aspects made him lose out in the high competition amongst boot-making firms which in turn made him poor and eventually die of starvation. Despite these hardships, he strove on and would always be remembered as someone who was truly dedicated to his trade, but unfortunately, towards the end of his life, lost out in the huge world of competition.


                                
   

Peace at last...

The past 2 months were gruelling for me. Ever since I emerged from a 5 day-not entirely unprecedented-holiday 2 weeks before the Pre-Annual examinations, I did not have time to breathe. Initially, I divided my time between making up for the missed portion and studying religiously for the forthcoming and very important Pre-Annual evaluation. The amount of mental stress created by that little(?) escapade added to the existing problems. Tempers flew here and there. The Pre-Annuals came and went and the Annuals were soon to follow, so you can imagine the kind of life I led from the end of January to the middle of March. I received my results a few days ago and while I was happy that I had passed grade 11 with some good results, I was surprised by the inexplicably good Chemistry marks that I had received. I had somewhat expected them to be on the lower side. My struggles with Chemistry are not new to people who take some time off to read my blog. Well, I am happy that I did well;there is no point in breaking my head over all that now. I am now a Grade XII student, sitting right on the last step of school life. One more year and I will be in college. Hard to imagine life outside the walls of a place meant for kids/adolescents aged between 3 and 17. College life will be an entirely different cup of tea.

 

Well, I guess we are digressing from the topic, so lets come back to the point. During the past 10 days, I tasted what life really is. No studies, just fun and cleaning up the place. A lot of trash has gone out of the house and more trash will follow during the course of the next 2 days. Due to practically wading in dust, I had a mild cold for a few days. All this cleaning up was not just badly required, but also necessitated by the fact that I will be vacating my house in a few days. So, a lot of stuff is being arranged in cartons. I will be beginning Grade XII in the other house. Of all the houses we have lived in in India, this has been the best house. I began watching cricket in my previous apartment, but it was here that I developed my interest. I can't imagine watching cricket in some other house. I had come to this house as a new member of the cricketing fraternity and will leave it as someone who has completed a good three years watching the game. This house has witnessed the crests and troughs of Indian Cricket;from the highs of the World Cup victory to the lows of the whitewashes in England and Australia and again back to the high of the 4-0 whitewash of Australia, it has witnessed everything.

 The cricket also has been good. For the first time in 2 years, I watched Test Cricket in peace. Ever since studies began to dictate things in my life, I haven't been able to watch cricket in peace. The last test that I watched in peace before the recent Mohali test match was the Capetown test between India and SA. I did not do anything; I just watched cricket. I had kept myself mentally free till the 26th of March, but unfortunately, the pitch at the Feroze Shah Kotla had other plans and determined the result of the last test between India and Australia within 3 days. So, to keep myself occupied, I followed the NZ vs England test at Auckland keenly. What a test match. Prior and the lower order wrenched England from the jaws of defeat. Things had got really tense post tea on the last day. There is something about Matt Prior and England getting saved from difficult situations. Whenever England is in trouble, Matt Prior is always there to save the day. Can't forget that amazing partnership that he had with Cook in Ahmedabad not too long ago that saved England from losing by an innings.

Just heard about that shocking incident involving Jesse Ryder. He is now in a critical condition in hospital and hopefully he gets through unharmed. 

 
That effectively brings about the close of this season of International cricket.

The IPL is next. The IPL and ICC events present the perfect opportunity for the rest of the world to wake up from their slumber and join us at the cricket. Last year, I was not sure whether I was going to watch the IPL or not because I was put off by the injuries during the tour of England. In the end, I ended up watching it and had no regrets because it had many last over, if not last ball finishes. This time, I am quite sure that I will be watching it. The season hasn't even begun and it is already making headlines for the wrong reasons..

Cricket comes to town

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Sorry guys, I know I am a day late but can't help homework and heaps to study. Guess Class XII would be more hectic than this.

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The MA Chidambaram Stadium at Chepauk, Chennai

The above picture is of a place which I have never been inside of, but seen from outside. It is a place where drama has come alive. A place which still reminds regular visitors of that drama despite its renovation. A place where dreams have been both realised and shattered. The MA Chidambaram Stadium at Chepauk, Chennai is no ordinary cricket ground. Cricket fans around the globe have great memories of cricket at this place, the most recent one in Test cricket being the India vs. England match in 2008.

I am fortunate enough to have this great ground a half an hour to 45 minutes drive away from my house. Ever since I became a fan of the game,whenever I think of the Marina Beach, I think of the stadium. Whenever I think of Triplicane, I think of the MAC. I have lived here long enough to know that a few minutes after we cross the Santhome Church, we come to "that" stretch of the Marina Beach-the most wonderful stretch of the beach-with institutions on the left and the beach on the right. We go ahead, passing the Queen Mary's college, the Lady Wellington school and a few other institutions on the left. We turn at a signal which faces a monument which is rather hard to describe. As we proceed, we pass the Marina Cricket Club ground from where a headlight of the Chepauk ground can be seen. We swerve round a corner and proceed further. We then see the stadium.

Test Cricket returns here after a gap of 4 years and nearly 2 months. Everyone knows what happened the last time a Test was played here. I was not part of the cricketing fraternity at that time, but had heard something about Sachin hitting a century soon after the 26/11 attacks. I came to know all the details of what happened when I became a fan of the game. It was clearly one of the best matches in history.

Michael Clarke and MS Dhoni pose with the Border-Gavaskar Trophy on the eve of the Test

I had been wanting to attend a match for sometime now. The first test of the new installment of the prestigious Border-Gavaskar series which is being held here presented a perfect opportunity. Naturally, I wanted to attend it badly. Alas, as I feared, the circumstances did not turn out to be right (I have my annual exams beginning on Tuesday and my atrocious Chemistry marks in the pre-annual evaluation don't help the cause. Plus, there are a few personal issues as well). I knew that my mother will not take me and had to drown any hopes of attending. My mother assured me that she will take me some day, but after 1 and a half years(which is when India next host a Test series) I will be eligible to take her myself (i.e. if at all Chennai gets to host a Test). Every cricket fan, at least once during his/her childhood would have watched a match live. But, for me, everything is happening upside down.

One of the reasons behind me wanting to attend this match was my feeling that this would be Sachin Tendulkar's last appearance at one of his favourite venues. It is no secret that Sachin likes to bat at this ground. There have been many memorable innings. There is something here that makes him click. Whether he scores a century or not would be immaterial to the people of Chennai, just a glimpse of him one last time would be sufficient. The 3 fours that he hit after arriving at the crease in the afternoon today were really wonderful to watch and there would definitely be many people wishing that he'd hit his 52nd Test 100 tomorrow.

 Another attraction would definitely be Michael Clarke. The Australian captain is one of the best batsmen in World Cricket today and no one in Chennai would want to miss the opportunity of watching him bat live. His century yesterday was fantastic and his consistency is just brilliant.
Those who attended the match yesterday were privileged to watch it. There has been enough proof in the past 18 months that captaincy acts as a boost for him instead of a burden.

 I know that Harbhajan Singh did not bowl well in the first innings, but this is a landmark test for him. It is his 100th appearance in Test Cricket. Any cricketer who gets the opportunity to represent his country in 100 tests deserves applause, even if his form has been ordinary in recent times. Representing your country in 100 Tests is no ordinary feat; it means you are a truly exceptional player who has put his blood, sweat and toil in the game. Harbhajan Singh is an exceptional player who has done great things for Indian cricket. He achieves this landmark in Chennai and there surely would be many people who would want to watch him live. Harbhajan also has a good record at Chennai; anyone remember the Test between India and Australia at Chennai in 2001?

There is one thing that is priceless in the life of a cricket fan: the experience of watching a Test or any match at the stadium. Whether your team wins or loses is immaterial; if you get to watch a good match, the satisfaction is more than enough. I am sure that there would be many people like me who haven't watched a match yet at the stadium. The people who did not attend the first 2 days of the test would be thirsting for the opportunity. What disturbed me 2 days ago was the fact that people who are not genuine fans of the game -in the sense that they watch only the IPL and ICC events- and people who are just not interested in the game, get to watch matches at the stadium, but people like me who watch all formats of the game do not get to go to the stadium due to circumstances. Well, I guess that is fate. The gaining of this priceless experience was another reason why I wanted to watch the game live. 

Hopefully, I get to gain this experience soon.

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Looking ahead in the Test match:

 

  

  

 The first 2 days have produced some exciting cricket. It is 50-50 at the end of day 2. Tomorrow, India would look to build on their momentum and get a first innings lead and the Aussies would try to get early breakthroughs. Day 3 should be an interesting day.