Barbeque Nation

If you are the sort who likes the concept of a live grill, then Barbeque Nation is the place. On each table, there is an embedded personal grill, where you could make your own grilled starters. These starters are not just restricted to Indian taste, but also from Mediterranean, American, Oriental, and other Asian cuisine. These can be enjoyed in unlimited helpings and they are generally combined with a lavish buffet. The experience is quite surreal and the food is gorgeous. Because of the sheer variety available on the table, you are not disadvantaged. You get to eat what you like, that's the key! All this comes at a flat rate of Rs.400/- per head. I have been to the restaurant couple of times in the last six months (Barbeque Nation opened in Thane last year) and have enjoyed every moment.
If you wish to enjoy a similar experience, you are just a call away. They have two branches, one each at Khar and Thane.

Ground floor, Om Palace,
403, Dr. Ambedkar Road Junction, Pali Hill,
Khar (West), Mumbai-400052.
Phone: 9323905592 / 022-65934343

Sun Magnetica, Service Road,
Eastern Express Highway,
Thane-400601
Phone: 932110114 / 022-32162444

www.barbeque-nation.com

RAM’s Recco: If you want to spend a weekend afternoon meeting up with someone and have loads of time to spare, hitch a ride to Barbeque Nation. It’s worth every paisa! By the way, reserve a table to avoid disappointment. AND, vegetarians will enjoy the experience as much as “the meat eaters”!

Oscar Oscar Bas-kar!!

So Slumdog......... won 8 Oscars, and the electronic media led the chorus to highlight the resurgent India theme. Last year, it was Dhoni's men and Abhinav Bindra, who were symbols of a resurgent India. This year, it is the Danny Boyle magic! I don't know what the term 'resurgent' means.

Somebody suggested that Rahman is the greatest ever composer in this country, now that he has won an Oscar. That to suggest that he has now achieved greatness after receiving the Oscar, is unfair on the maestro and his music. Rahman is a great composer, whose work in a certain international film has been appreciated and rewarded. Rahman winning an Oscar is not similar to Federer winning the French to be the GOAT (Greatest of all time).The maestro has enough in his body of work over the last 16 years to claim his rightful place in the sun. Who can forget his scores in Roja, Thiruda Thiruda, Gentleman, Indian, Jeans, Iruvar, Rangeela, Dil Se, Bombay, Duet, Taal, Rang De Basanti, Lagaan, Jaan Tu Ya Jaane Na, Minsara Kanavu, Kandukondein Kandukondein, Yuva, and so on. I am sure I have missed some. That's the point.

In the euphoria, we have forgotten the achievements of Shekhar Kapoor at the big stage. In 1999, his movie Elizabeth was the main contender at the awards with 8 nominations. That was incredible, because for a mainstream Hindi commercial movie maker to go and direct a Hollywood epic was incredible. Does that make Shekhar Kapoor, the greatest movie maker from our country. I am not sure. The greatest of them, Ray never got the recognition; he deserved and only got a Lifetime Achievement award.

On a different note, I thought Mani Ratnam's Nayakan has been the greatest film made out of India in the last 25 years. It is comparable with the best churned out by Hollywood. But those were different times and the movie was not marketed well.

Coming back to Slumdog....., the success (and my heartfelt congratulations) has nothing to do with 'resurgent India.' It is an underdog movie, which was released during the Holiday season. Normally, underdog movies work well during the Holiday season. I am reminded of the movie I saw recently, Luck By Chance. It's all about being at the right place at the right time!

I am tempted to say, Oscar, Oscar, Bas-kar!!

Fed-Rafa match and all that..........

After battling for four and half hours on the Rod Laver Arena, Federer hit a forehand long and Rafa sink into the ground in glee. He knew instantly he had achieved something special and few minutes later on the stage, Federer wept inconsolably. He obviously knew he had lost something—a golden chance to touch Sampras' record of 14 Grand Slam titles and receive his Cup from his childhood hero, the great Laver!

The end was anti-climactic after four sets of breathtaking tennis, where the two champions refused to give the other any leeway to break free. That's what challenges can do to human beings. Both of them raised their game to the next level and it was difficult to pick a winner till the last 20 minutes when the usually-phlegmatic Federer lost his nerve and handed over the match to the always-at-you Rafa.

If I had not seen the match, I would have looked at the statistics and said that Federer lost the match because of very low first serve percentage and high percentage of unforced errors. Where do you serve to a player who has a brilliant forehand and backhand? When you play someone like Nadal, as Verdasco discovered, you have to hit three winners instead of one winner to win a point! No wonder, even someone with pin-point accuracy as Federer is forced to go for broke and try and place the ball beyond Rafa's reach!

Is it the end of Federer? Is Sampras' record of 14 Grand Slam titles safe? Will Rafa ever get to Sampras? Interesting questions, these!

Firstly, there is nothing to suggest that Federer has won his last Grand Slam title. This talk has been going on ever since he lost to Djokovic in staright sets at Melbourne, a year back and then five months later to Rafa at Paris, winning just 4 games. Then the loss to Rafa again at Wimbledon heightened speculation about his possible decline. He still rounded off his year by winning at New York. His record at the Grand Slam events last year—losing semi-finalist at Melbourne, losing finalist at Paris and Wimbledon and winner at New York! How can this be a decline? Maybe from his superhuman feats!

Secondly, to answer the other questions, we must look at what is in store in the coming year. Other than the two, there is Andy Murray who is almost ready to launch himself at the Majors, despite his record so far. He has the game to trouble the best, which he showed last year. And the talented Novak Djokovic, who has the all-court game to add to his sole Melbourne title. Outside the four, you have two talented youngsters, Tsonga and Verdasco. Many people who saw Verdasco the other day in the epic five-setter felt that he is a better player than Nadal and that he lost that evening because of inexperience at the big stage. He is likely to trouble Nadal on clay. Tsonga played only six months last year and the way he pummeled Nadal in the Australian Open last year showed his obvious class. He can only get better. 

Finally, coming back to Nadal and how far will he go! The answer to that lies in his knees. They have taken a pounding over the last 12 months and there is no let-up in the next six months! There is a buzz around in the tennis world that he is only delaying going under the knife! If and when that happens, it will be sad as the fans wouldn't want to be shortchanged. And the scheduling is so tight that there is no let-up, no time for recuperation. But if he is fit, he will take a crack first at the Career Grand Slam and then the magic #14.

Will Federer get to #14? The answer to that lies in the way he broke down after the match yesterday. It hurt him immensely. That means the hunger is still there!

We are like this only.........

I was going through the South Zone team for the Duleep trophy. I saw the name of Arjun Yadav. The name sounds illustrious and the lineage regal! Only the second great to don the name after the mythical Pandu's brave son! Coming back to 2009 and the Yadavpautra, I looked at his feats in domestic cricket. In his first-class career, he has scored 3146 runs in 66 matches at a grand average of 29.12. Obviously, his dad, the greatest offie after Prasanna, will testify that he is a much better batsman than his fiugres tell. I dug deep like a leggie trying to prise out a batsman on a flat track. His scores in the Ranji Super League were 9, 41, 9, 54*, 18, 118*, 6, 29, 22, 0, and 0. This stupendous performance was better than Ravi Teja (456 runs) and T S Suman (426 runs), S A Quadri (387 runs), who failed to make it to the South Zone team. They say, statistics is an ass, and the Pandu of Hyderabad cricket will tell you how his son's 118 n.o. was probably the best he'd seen after Tendulkar's knock at WACA in 1991-92! But like my grandpa used to say, "If your dad can't do this for you, will an outsider do it for you?"

Let's Make an Example............

I don't know economics, and neither do I understand politics. Probably, some bit of commonsense and morality, I can understand with my limited intellect.

I was watching with amazement, the news of the Satyam imbroglio and its aftermath. I am sure Raju will probably go to jail. But my prescription is that the entire board, the PwC local brass, the SEBI Chief, and probably the BSE Chief should also go to jail. One may argue that some of the above may have nothing to do. Possibly, yes, but I have an argument. Raju is a businessman, and his primary job is to make money—he will go at any length to maximize his returns. That's where the regulators come in and they didn't do their job. They must pay for this. So must the board members. The biggest crime in this land is negligence and oversight. This is not to absolve Raju of the crime. He has cheated his stakeholders—he must be punished. What will probably come out is people at responsible positions will act out of fear of ending up in jails for gross negligence.

This is not the first time. After the terror strikes happened, there was a clamor for the CM's exit. "RR Patil must go." "Down with politicians." There were morchas, candlelight marches, Facebook groups, all saying the same thing—"The CM/ Dy CM must go." They went. Then what? Has the threat gone away to Latur and Sangli? No. I went about looking for people who are responsible for Mumbai's security—the Navy, the Coast Guard, and the Police. Why didn't anybody ask for the head of the Naval Chief? The Coast Guard Chief? The Police Chief? My logic is simple—had these guys done their job of protecting the city, those 10 idiots wouldn't have held the city to ransom and killed 200 innocents! Even today, these 'Chiefs' are pretty secure in their seats! When I suggested this to someone, he said, "Why are you holding the chiefs responsible? They don't have enough weaponry and manpower, besides a host of other problems?" My point—Only when heads roll, will the new incumbents take up issues of inadequate staffing, archaic training, and rampant politicization. Maybe then, will we as citizens feel more secure!

Moot point—People at responsible positions must pay for their acts of negligence! They are as responsible for the crimes as much as the perpetrators! Raju, Deshmukh, and Patil must be punished, but they aren’t the only guys, if you want to stem the rot! They are soft targets, there are others in the system who need a kick on their softside!

Oye Lucky.......

I watched Oye Lucky......3 days after the terror strikes. In fact I wanted to get away from the horrific images—I wanted to laugh, probably a release!
The theatre had around 50-60 viewers, not more.

Oye Lucky...... worked for me on two fronts.

Because of Abhay Deol. Abhay Deol is a terrific actor in the making. He and Irfan Khan will most probably anchor the middle-of-the-road Hindi cinema for the next few years. Why middle-of-the-road? Because Yash Raj and Karan Johar will never need him and he is too good to be ignored! I heard of Abhay Deol when Socha Na Tha was released. My wife had seen the movie and she kept raving about this guy. I must admit that when I watched the movie, I liked what I saw. Coming to this movie, Abhay Deol plays Lucky, a boy from a lower-middle-class Delhi Sikh family, who joins the world of petty crime to essentially keep up with the Joneses! It is almost like Leo DiCaprio in the Spielberg caper, Catch Me If You Can but Deol allows no comparison because of a splendid performance. My pick is the scene where Deol is cornered and he has to surrender finally—the emotions he displays is outstanding.

Because of Dibakar Banerjee. Dibakar Banerjee is a young film director, who I thought made a brilliant first film, Khosla Ka Ghosla. To follow up with an equally well-made second film, Oye Lucky............must be a commendable effort. There are moments in the film that belong to Dibakar. Especially, the scene when young Lucky (played brilliantly) takes his girlfriend to a restaurant and how the waiter quickly seizes up the situation that the kid has no money and cracks jokes at the kid's expense. Or the whole scene when Lucky executes a heist at the house of the TV anchor, who ironically has made a name for covering such crimes on the television! Even the attention to detail is spot on-a look at Lucky's house is a case in point. My pick is the superb casting of Paresh Rawal, who plays the roles of three father figures at different phases of Lucky's life and who end up hoodwinking him. Like Imtiaz Ali (of Socha Na Tha and Jab We Met), Dibakar captures the Delhi of the lower-middle class very well.

I saw the movie three weeks back. I still have a smile. I am pretty convinced that the hall was empty that evening not because of the film, but people were too scared to step out of their homes!

Well batted, Sir!

I am writing this post on a day when Saurav Ganguly completed a wonderful knock in his farewell Test. Ever since he announced his retirement a fortnight ago, cricket writers and many others have been making a beeline on what he has achieved in his 12 years of international cricket. Let me also join the Bongwagon!

How would I want to remember Dada? It is not the shirt waving incident at Lords. I think he deserves credit for more substantial contributions he made to Indian cricket.

He went to Australia in 1991-92 and went straight into wilderness after the tour. He resurfaced in 1996 as a 23-year-old with a super century at Lords and followed it up with another one in the next one at Trent Bridge. Very few players would have survived a debacle like the one he experienced in 1991-92. That he came back in 1996 and hit a century on debut showed his self-belief.

The Port of Spain test in 2002 was in my view a watershed in Indian cricket. For the first time, a fast bowling trio, Srinath, Nehra, and Zaheer bowled India to a win over West Indies. Huge credit must be due to Saurav because he believed that we could win overseas only if we had three (not two) quick bowlers. With this formula in place and into action, we began to win overseas Test matches pretty regularly. Case in point would be our victories at Port of Spain and Headingly in 2002, Adelaide, Multan, and Rawalpindi in 2004, Johannesburg in 2006, Trent Bridge in 2007, and Perth in 2008.

Few months later, India was playing a Test match at Headingly. Saurav was aware of the halo surrounding the ground - England's own ground where their record was awesome and visitors often struggled to come to terms with the swing and seam conditions that were on offer on this ground. Dravid and Bangar had provided a platform for the Tendulkars and Gangulys to take over. On the second evening, Ganguly was in his eighties and in fading light, the wily English captain, Nasser Hussein took the new ball anticipating that the Indian batsman would appeal for bad light and his new ball bowlers would be fresh the next morning. Instead, Ganguly and Tendulkar went berserk and added some 60-odd runs in no time. I cannot think of any Indian batsman who would have risked a century, particularly at Headingly. The next morning the declaration happened and two days later, India won by an innings.


In the off-season of 2003-04, he made a quiet trip to Australia and spent few days with the Australian legend, Greg Chappell. He was tired of the constant criticism of his inability to play quick bowling and that he wanted to correct this 'feeling.' India was to tour Down Under and this was an ideal opportunity to silence those doubters. The Brisbane Test happened, and Saurav in true dramatic fashion scored a magnificent 144. What a knock!

For the first time, there was a captain who believed in Team India. This could be because he came from a weak zone. I am not insinuating but people in stronger zones have a larger pool of players to look at and therefore develop a myopic vision!

The empty cupboard

Over the last few days, I read articles by two outstanding cricket writers in the land, Mukul Kesavan and Sambit Bal. Though each one had an interesting take on what will happen after the Fab Four's exit, they concurred that the road ahead is tricky, if not painful for the Test team.

My memories go back to the Indian tour of Pakistan in 1989, when a young boy, barely 16, was selected to tour with the Indian team on the back of record-making feats in the Irani Cup, Duleep Trophy, and Ranji Trophy. I remember following the boy's debut on radio. Nineteen years on, the boy has now become a legend and is on the verge of retirement.

Another vivid memory is that of Lord's 1996, when two 23-year-olds launched their international careers in such a stupendous fashion that their feats on that Lord's day is talked as benchmarks for Test debutants. I remember looking at Saurav Ganguly and Rahul and telling myself that these guys look international class - no nervousness, no tension, just pure solidity. Both had come through the ranks, albeit differently. Saurav had gone to Australia as a 19-year-old and left out in the wilderness after just a solitary one-dayer. To come back home and score tons of runs in the domestic cricket and then make a transition into the internal scene is a rare Indian feat. Rahul, on the other hand, had done well at all levels and the Test cap was just another 'hat.' It was only logical that he did well at the internation level.

When India was touring Australia in 1999-2000, VVS Laxman was recalled to the side after a string of tall scores in the domestic season. I remember the first tour match at Gabba when he hit a wonderful hundred. A month later, the cricketing world was talking about his marvellous hundred at the SCG.


That brings to the point, everyone is talking about! Who will replace them? Are they worthy replacements? Let's examine the pretenders!

Rohit Sharma - Everybody talks about his talent. He scores those good-looking thirties in the shorter format. I have yet to hear about a big knock in the longer version. He needs a good season with some big scores if he can be a serious contender.

Yuvraj Singh - Everybody talks about his obvious talent, but look at what he achieved in Australia. I think the selectors are not done with him - they still want to try him out in the longer version. Obviously, the five wise men hope and pray that he occupies one slot.

Suresh Raina - Same as Rohit Sharma

Manoj Tiwari - He showed his inadequacy against genuine pace at the Gabba. He needs to work at his game and score runs in buckets in domestic cricket. Not surprising, that he is off the radar!

Mohd Kaif - I don't know why his name keeps cropping up like his peer Yuvraj, even though he is a very limited player. Like Yuvraj, the wise men hope that he occupies another slot.

S Badrinath - He has the runs in the domestic scene, but fails in crunch matches. Case in point was the recent Irani Cup. It was a God-sent opurtunity to come good. He failed in both the innings. He should consider himself lucky to be part of the Test squad.

The list ends! None of the above are good enough! That's a worry! The cupboard is barren! The bench strength is not as good as our administrators would like us to believe! If the above replacements were good enough, they would have had performances to force their way into the side. That they are unable to do so reveals their obvious class and that's a shame!

Live Scores

Big Loss

Recently I bought few DVDs for my brother who is based in UK. One of them was the irreplaceable Yeh Jo Hai Zindagi. I came home and was watching some worthless junkies slugging it out in a house, each trying to out-manoeuvre the other. Worse, I switched to a news channel where I saw a news item where some participants were indulging in fist cuffs.
Somebody told me, this is reality television! I asked someone, is this some WWF? I found out that the participants were part of a Ticket to Bollywood show! Wow, what a come down! No wonder, TV is an idiot box - for idiots, or idiots, and by idiots!

I have a problem with reality television, not just one, but many!

That most of these shows have out-of-work performers who want to revive their flagging careers. Look at Bog Boss2 - a discredited son of a late politician, a discredited moll, an item girl, a politician who wants to revive his career, and few motley models made the starting line-up. And what they do in the house - scheme, scheme, and scheme! Come on, give me a break!

That there is a myth that floats around that these shows unearth new talent. Rubbish, the two real singing talents that have come up in the last decade have been Sunidhi Chauhan and Shreya Ghoshal. But they won during the golden days of Saregamapa, which was then hosted by Sonu Nigam and the participants were judged by the likes of Ustad Amjad Ali Khan and the late Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan. Now you have Himesh Reshamiya, whose knowledge about music is as much as Charles Darwin's knowledge about evolution! But still people watch!

That these shows are democratic in nature! That's the problem! You have participants pleading in their native language for votes. Sometime back, Shweta Kawatra and Manav Gohil bought SIM cards to send responses. You have the actors in that show getting in to a brawl to prove their strength! And you know what democracy throws up - ineptitude! Meritocracy and democracy cannot function in India - at least they have not done so!

That the I&B ministry must act as the Big Brother, and come up with some regulations on what the channels must show. Maybe, everybody will fret and fume at the Big Brother's long hands. But the TV channels only promise self-regulation, and do little!

That it's been a while that I have seen quality sitcoms on television. I remember the days of Yeh Jo Hai Zindagi, Nukkad, Tamas, and even Discovery of India! I was told that there was a committee at the Mandi House which approved these serials. Maybe bureaucratic in nature, at least the viewers watched some class. Even in the nineties, Neena Gupta and Ravi Rai made some nice shows, like Saans and Sailaab. And these were on primetime!

That I read a piece, where Pritish Nandy wrote about how clever cinema produces clever audiences. He is dead right!

The Cook

I watched Bawarchi last night. I have watched it many a times in the past. I watched with amazement how Kaka Rajesh Khanna put up a flawless performance. For the uninitiated, it is a tale of a middle-class joint family, ridden with conflicts and daily struggles, and how a cook played by Khanna brings back the joy into the household. Khanna with his effervescence brings back the old-forgotten family values into the house. It is great stuff to watch Khanna as he resolves each conflict in the household. The line,"Apna kaam toh sabhi kar lete hain, par doosre ke kaam kane se jo anand milta hai, woh toh kuch aur hi hai," remains the signature piece of the movie. Khanna with his ta-ta-daan style is the show stealer!
Kaka was and will always be Indian cinema's only phenomenon. Superstars may come and go. But what Kaka achieved during his glory days during the years 1969-73 will be unparalleled. Today's generation would have seen some potrayals of the once-superstar! Because what you get to see is a sorry sight of a former superstar trying to resort to his gimmicks, not appealing to the newer audience. And that's the problem, and that is the enigma called Rajesh Khanna. That's another post!

Ashok Mankad, RIP

Last fortnight saw the passing away of Ashok Mankad. To understand the relevance of Kaka Mankad is to understand what it meant to be a cricket fan in the eighties.

For the cricket-loving Mumbaikars, growing up in the city in the eighties was something to be experienced. Mumbai dominated the sport, and the passion could be seen in every cricket fan. Every match, a Mumbai cricketer was involved, was followed with such gusto. We not only followed the Ranji Trophy and the Duleep Trophy, but also the scores in the Times Shield, Police Shield, and the Moin-ud-dawla Cup. The batting lineups were ready in every building compound, even before the Mumbai selectors met up to finalize the squads for the next match. It didn't matter whether a Ghulam Parkar was good enough to play for the country or his keeper brother Zulfikar Parkar would ever replace the great Kirmani. What every Mumbai cricket fan felt that the Mumbai team was good enough to play as an India X1. I remember an Irani Cup match in the eighties where Mumbai played Rest of India. The Mumbai eleven had Gavaskar, Ghulam Parkar, Vengsarkar, the two Mankads—Ashok and Rahul, Sandeep Patil, Shastri, Zulfikar Parkar, Sandhu & Ghavri. The Rest of India was a virtual Indian XI led by Vishy and had Chauhan, Surinder Amarnath, Ashok Malhotra, Kapil, Madan, Kirmani, Doshi, and Yadav. Mumbai won that match.

Another event one looked forward to was the Times Shield and the four biggies—Nirlon, Mafatlal, SBI, and Tatas. Nirlon was led by Gavaskar, Mafatlal by Mankad, SBI by Vishy, and Tatas by Vengsarkar. Some of the brightest cricketers of the land played in this extremely keen competition. The contests were so keen that a century in this A league or a five-for was considered good enough!

It is with this background, we will come back to Kaka. Kaka and Vasu Paranjape may mean nothing to people outside Mumbai but to an average cricket fan growing up in the eighties, these names meant a lot. Kaka those days held two records—the maximum runs and the number of centuries. More than that, it was the never-say-die spirit that he embodied. Mumbai 66/5 A.V.Mankad 5 n.o. This would unsettle any batting team but not as long as the natural predecessor to Steve Waugh was still batting. You could bet that this man would steer the team to safety. I remember a season when he guided the fortunes of the Mumbai team with the help of rookies like Pandit, Raju Kulkarni, Hattangadi, and Lalchand Rajput. Besides the on-field accomplishments, his views were most-sought after. In fact I remember few years later, I was listening to commentary on AIR, which had both Mankad and Paranjape in the panel. They would have embarrassed disasters like Arun Lal and Siva with their crisp analysis!

Alas, those days are gone! Kaka is no more! Paranjape is hardly heard! Mumbai cricketers no longer capture the public imagination! The Mumbai cricket following is on the wane! And these look irreversible!

Kaka—my memories of you will be that of the running catch you took at the Oval that famous summer to dismiss Underwood!

P.S. I have deliberately tried to exclude Vinoo Mankad from the post—Vinoo Mankad was Indian cricket's first superstar and deserves another post. This is for his son whom he would have been proud of and waiting to receive him at the doorsteps of Heaven, almost like the Captain acknowledging a batsman who has comeback to the pavilion after a fine innings!

Fab Four & the Captain (Part 1)

Another series loss, on a day an Indian made us proud of his exploits at Beijing, and the arch villains!

Dravid must go! Ganguly must go! Fab Four must go! There are war cries already which will soon reach defeaning cries! Wiser counsels, enough of them say, these guys have been such great servants of Indian cricket. Their career needs atleast a decent burial. Besides, Indian cricket will suffer!

My memories went back to 1978-79. I was a tot! Rememeber the Friendship series against Pakistan, when Zaheer Abbas hit the quartet out of the Indian team. It was unthinkable - Indian cricket without the quartet. But Sunil Gavaskar rebuilt the bowling attack within 6-8 months and the void left by these great bowlers were alleviated to some extent!

Remember 1982-83. Vishwanath, the greatest batsman of the times had come back from Pakistan after a rare disastrous tour. He was dropped from a side which was to embark on the toughest tour of those times, the West Indies. To go to the West Indies, without Vishwanath was as unthinkable those days as going to Australia without VVS Laxman these days! But still the decision was taken inspite of Vishy's show in the previous tour to England where he had four fifties in five innings! What probably sealed the decision for the selectors was the one sight of Vishy being hopelessly bowled by an Imran indipper at Karachi!

Few months later, when the West Indies were here for the grudge tour, Mohinder Amarnath was dropped after just a solitary run from six innings. This was the same Amarnath who had a great 12 months preceding this series. Remember that he scored more than 500 runs in each of the twin series in Pakistan and West Indies - the toughest assignments those days. His knocks in Pakistan and Barbados are stuff that legends are made of. Remember his match-winning roles in the triumphant World Cup campaign. But when the West Indies came here, he struggled to come to terms with the short-rising deliveries aimed at his body and he failed miserably. Still the bunch of jokers made the decision. Jimmy, as was his wont, fought his way back to the Indian team and was incidentally the top-scorer against David Gower's English team.

The point is that there have been enough instances in the past when the selectors had to bite the bullet and they have chosen to do so. It's their time of reckoning!

Look at the records of the Fab Four and the Captain!

Let's start with Sachin Tendulkar! Now, I just have to utter Sach, and I know there are people who will remind me of his twin hundreds in Australia. I have some damming statistics - eight innings after that Adelaide knock, he has scored 108 runs at an average of 13.5. What is even more telling is that the manner in which he padded upto Mendis and was adjudged leg before. The whole world picked it! How could he not? Is it not a sure sign that his game is not there? A drive on the rise may gladden few hearts but not good enough to make a serious contribution.


Anybody who has had a serious decline over the last 12 months, it is Dravid. What a fall from those glory days. A year back, he was India's best one-day batsman and prior to that the torch bearer of Indian batting for five years. Victories at Adelaide, Kingston, Rawalpindi, and Headingly were built around his batting. Now you look at him and you shudder where his next run is going to come from. He looks like the Dravid who went to Australia in 99-00, pretending as the best batsman after Tendulkar and scratched around for runs. I recently read a piece from Roy Dias, which opened my eyes. According to Dias, if a cricketer begins to struggle with his fielding and catching, it's a sign that your game is not there. You can scratch around for a hundred but your (lack of) athleticism will show up. In Dravid's case, some of the catches he has dropped can only be an indicator about his lack of fitness, if not form. Since the match-winning knocks at Kingston two years back, he has scored 1197 runs in 40 innings at an average of 33.25 (almost down 23 from his career average of around 56) and a strike rate of 27 during the same period against a career strike rate of 41. What it tells you is that Dravid doesn't know where his next run is coming from.

When I saw Laxman walk to the crease, I was astounded by what
I saw. A seemingly-portly figure walked into bat. Guys, we are in modern sport! A player's body language sends signals to the opposition - either positive or negative. Laxman's body language clearly suggests that he is a bunny! The flicks to midwickets, and the off-drives are all there but what is not there is athleticism. He was never athletic, but with advancing (sounds old, yes old) age, this looks HUGE! Thank you, sir for all the entertainment. It's time to move on!

The last two actors in the drama shall be dealt with in the next post!

Bowlers are not complaining...........

Yesterday, something unusual happened. I am not referring to an Indian loss - there is nothing unusual about it! Virendra Sehwag padded up to an innocuous delivery from Murali. Mahela Jayawardene asked for a referral and third umpire gave him out. No on-field umpire could have given him out - to a naked eye, the ball was missing leg stump. But the replays showed otherwise! Wow, I like it.

Because the referrals will bring spin bowling back to the fore. Marginal decisions, such as bat-pad decisions, and leg-befores could be increasingly decided by referrals. Referrals will more often than not mean wickets.

Because thanks to the referrals, no batsman will thrust his pad to block innocuous deliveries. Far too long, batsmen have got away. Now, they will only be forced to play with their bats instead of their pads.

Because batsmen will need to have good footwork to play spinners. This will make spinners think of ways to prise out batsmen with flight and pace variations. It will be a good contest.

Because pacers will also come to the party and be aided with close (otherwise drifting-down-the-leg side or touch too high) decisions.

Because batsmen will need all of technique, application, and luck (40-40-20) to survive, it will good to watch. Far too long, batsmen have used heavy bats to make the game lopsided. You needed some balance to spice up the game. Gosh, you may end with very few draws!

Because Test cricket needs that little bit to stay in limelight in these T20 times! Referrals could just one of the tonic. There are some obvious ones, some other time!

I know the batsmen are complaining. Bowlers are not.......that's refreshing!

Mumbai, Mum-bye!!

This is not on cricket or Hindi movies – far more fundamental!

As usual, the other day, I was getting back home after a busy day. The office bus leaves the premises at 6.45 p.m. and usually I reach home by 8.15. (It is actually a 45 minute ride!) That day, I reached home at 10.15 p.m. – a good four hours. The reason for the delay – the entire 3 km stretch of the Jogeshwari link road, facing the Powai lake was blocked and we took 2 hours to cross that stretch! The story didn’t end there – the next day too we reached home past 10 p.m. I was sharing this with a US-based friend. He said, “You’re not serious. It’s Mumbai and not a Jhumritalaiya!” I shrugged helplessly – it didn’t matter as he couldn’t see me.

I came back home and decided, “Mumbai was dying and that was irreversible.”

Why did I feel so strongly?

Because Mumbai has become a filthy city. I dare you to walk 100 meters at a stretch and not find a garbage dump and an open gutter. That this city has millions of them unattended to is a matter of great concern. Outside my office, after a wet day, I saw the workers going into the gutter and removed a big pile of garbage, which had evidently choked the gutter. To this day, the removed garbage still lies unattended to. That the city’s streets were swept thirty years back is an old grandmother’s tale.

Because Mumbai has become a squatter’s city. I dare you walk 50 meters at a stretch and not find a squatter. That 50% percent of the city lie in slums bewilders me! How could things come to a pass? First the immigrants from Bangladesh, and then from the North began to squat on any available land with the help of thekedaars who promised them and got them ration cards in exchange of their support during elections. Somebody told me, “The Government is obliged to provide them housing.” “Yes, but not at any cost.” A look at these areas will tell you how the backwardness of the North Indian states, coupled with lawlessness is rampant in most of these slum colonies. The city fathers and members of the civil society must come together and put 1985 as a cut-off date and free the land from the slum dwellers. I know there will be a clamour to show humanitarian concern. My point is that when I go to another land in search of job, do I squat? Don’t I follow the law of the land? Why are these people lionised? Government, don’t stop anybody from coming here. Whoever comes here must follow the law of the land.

Because the city is overburdened and waiting to explode, on the brink. You ask anybody who has seen it in the last 25 years or so (that includes me), they will tell you that the city can only manage 1985-level population. Perhaps Mumbai of 1985 with infrastructure of 2008 is the fix. What do you to the five-six million who have come since then? Allow them a breather to regularize and then...... Somebody told me that the city will miss its vegetable vendors, auto rickshaws, milk vendors, and presswalas. I say that that is the best thing that can happen to the city. 1 BEST bus can hold as many people as 40 rickshaws – this means fewer vehicles on the road! As such, BEST buses run on CNG – less polluting! Anyways, out-of-work rickshawwallas can be absorbed by BEST, if they fit the bill! The milk and vegetable trade can only get better organized. By the way, the attack on slums is not an attack on any community. That it turns out to be one is thanks to our rabble-rousing politicians.

Because there is no ownership in the city. Look at the state of the roads, you will see why. Roads are a mirror to an administration. I travel everyday from Thane to Andheri, travelling through Jogeshwari Link Road, Saki Vihar Road, and then finally Andheri-Kurla Road. The Powai stretch from IIT to L&T is probably the worst stretch in the world, save the Baramulla road in J&K (that’s to do with nature, stupid) – here it is pure inaction and bad project management. It should have taken 18 months to build the stretch – I saw the first pillar being erected in 2000 and eight years on we are still a year away from completion). It’s a shame that Mumbai deserves such apathy! Go further ahead and enter the Saki Vihar Road – it’s a nice stretch with footpaths. What you see is that vegetable vendors and other squatters have taken over the footpaths and people are walking on the roads. It’s not the only road in the city in such a state. Here governance is the issue.

Because Andheri-Kurla Road offers a unique insight on how the city is run. The road was widened two years back – it should have solved the traffic chaos. What you will see on the nicely constructed footpath are wires and cables of different agencies. I fear what if there is a short circuit somewhere. Stop dreaming, where’s your spirit of Mumbai?

Because the rains on July 26, 2005 and also the train blasts on July 11, 2006 offered a wonderful opportunity for the city guardians to look at the problems and take radical steps. That barring the token step of Mithi river project, there is little action. The talk of Mumbai to Shanghai is plain “empty talk and no action.” A metro here and a link road is just more antibiotic treatment! The citizens need a better quality of life. Otherwise there is going to be a migration of sorts – the educated middle class leaving the city. As such, Mumbai missed the IT boom – a real shame and more such misses are likely to happen. Increasingly, there is a chorus that in a few years time, there will be nothing more to Mumbai other than the film industry and the stock exchange. There is no new industrial activity happening, much like the other great decaying city, Kolkata. In fact, Mumbai today reminds me of the Kolkata of the seventies! Is it coincidence that Kolkata of the seventies faced power cuts and that Mumbai is beginning to experience that!

Because I am reminded of a scene from the Amitabh classic, Deewar. Amitabh’s girlfriend offers condolences on hearing about his father’s death. He says,”Mera baap toh bees saal pehle mar gaya. Aaj toh sirf use chitah di gayee.”

Abbas can direct saala!!

I watched Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na last evening. And it was a nice experience because I had a smile on my face throughout the evening.

Few stray thoughts (in Busybee style)!

- That Imran and Genelia are here to stay. Watching them is like watching a young Aamir and Juhi twenty years back. Probably they will mistakes on the way, but boy, right now let's take a bow at their performances! To me it's Genelia, who despite her accent, lights up the screen with her subtle emotions. I hope she doesn't lose her way like Amrita Rao and Ayesha Takia (both talented actresses)! Look at her in the scene when she drops Imran and his girl friend. When Imran offers to drop his girl friend, she says,"Kitna drop karega? " Jealousy written all over the face, but still the lines are understated!

- That I was wondering where the hell was Abbas Tyrewala all these days. Few years back, when I saw Munnabhai MBBS, Maqbool, and Main Hoon Na, I felt like many others that he was a serious talent in the otherwise neglected field of screenwriting. And that he along with Jaideep Sahni, Prasun Joshi, and Anurag Kashyap, could be trusted with bringing back content to the Hindi movies. Phew! He is back with his writing (I am not discussing his direction!). Some of the scenes are so well written that you feel like getting up from your seat and applauding. Like the whole characterization of Meghna, Imran's girlfriend—boy, what details! Like the caricaturizing of the Rajput culture—the writing is so clever that it doesn't cross over to being a point of ridicule—it could have been so easily that! It's the writing that lifts the otherwise plain vanilla-style story to greater heights!

- That the movie made relive my college days. I could have easily come back saying that I don't relate to Jai and Aditi. But thanks to Abbas' vision, I didn't feel so. It tells you that a story realistically told will always touch a chord somewhere in the audience.

- That Abbas must never give up writing in his drive to make films because Hindi movies needs the writer in him!

This Day, That Year

Year: 1983 Location: India

Jeetendra and Sreedevi launch a franchise model of song-and-dance dramas where men are always in white menswear, and women in Apsara-like costumes. Remember Thathiyya thathiyya O O! Gundallu….Gundallu

Fire rages in the states of Assam and Punjab in proportions never seen and heard before.

Phoolan Devi, the famed (?) dacoit surrenders enroute a life of dignity (remember she became an MP)!

Amidst all this, the Prudential Cup and the triumph happened! What happened that day?

On that day (June 25), the national cricket team lifted the highest prize in the sport, the World Cup—we are celebrating what is arguably the greatest sporting triumph of the nation in 2008.

Date: June 25, 1983 Venue: Lord’s

Pre-tournament no-hopers, India were playing two-time champions West Indies for the greatest prize, the Prudential World Cup. It was the final and the whole nation was watching with excitement. I remember in school, we were even asked to watch the match and come prepared on Monday morning for an essay.

The match began at 1045 London time (1515 IST) with earnest when the Indian openers, Gavaskar and Srikanth walked into the middle to face the fearsome battery of fast bowlers, Roberts, Garner, Holding, and Marshall. In the fifth over, tragedy strikes when Gavaskar edges Roberts to Dujon. The repair job was undertaken by an unlikely duo, the Mad Max clone Srikanth and the then best player of fast bowling, Amarnath. Couple of shots from Srikanth’s blade stands out in memory even today – the square drive on bent knees off Roberts and a pull shot again off Roberts for a huge six. Normal service for West Indies was restored when Holding sent Amarnath’s stumps flying and Marshall trapped Srikanth in front of the stumps for a well-played 38—incidentally the highest score of the match. Yashpal Sharma, the hero of the semi-finals followed them to the pavilion soon after and when lunch was taken at 1300 London time (1730 IST), India was 99/4. When play resumed 40 minutes later, lusty hitting from Sandeep Patil and some lower-order resistance pushed the score to 183 all out.

India 183 all out and West Indies 184/1 (36 overs) – This was a prediction during the innings break. Most of us felt that even though we had come this far, it would only fair that a team of real class such as West Indies won the World Cup. Those were the times, we had won precious little- coming to a final was considered a great achievement!

When the West Indians began their chase, nobody could imagine things that unfolded over the next four hours. Like in the Indian innings, tragedy struck when Greenidge shouldered arms to a seemingly-innocuous in swinger from Balwinder Sandhu. In walked Viv Richards and the situation was tailor-made for a destructive player like him. He began attacking the bowlers and all of us felt that the match would be over in 30 overs. He was in such a dominant form. But probably he played a shot too many. He pulled one off Madan Lal and ended up top-edging it. What happened was probably the defining moment of Indian cricket. The top-edge was sailing harmlessly when the Indian captain ran 25 yards backwards to take the catch. The great man was gone. Soon Lloyd was gone too. I still remember the words of Richie Benaud from the commentary box. “West Indies 66/5 and in complete disarray.” So it was. When tea was taken at 1715 London time (2145 IST), West Indies were 76/5 and a mountain to climb!

When play resumed 15 minutes later, 76/5 became 76/6 when Kirmani picked up a brilliant catch to send back Bacchus. They often say that no match is won till the last ball is bowled and last wicket is taken. Jeff Dujon and Malcolm Marshall began a repair job and each time they scored a run, the heart beats of the Indian players rose and the hopes of the fans receded. Then a miracle happened. Mohinder Amarnath dismissed a well-set Dujon and soon they were all out for 140.

It was midnight in India when the last wicket fell and it was Diwali Redux. Never before have celebrations been as wild and frenzied as that night. A new religion—cricket was born that night. It’s been 25 years since that momentous day and my heart swells with pride when I watch the clippings. There may be other victories in cricket, and probably other sports. But I dare say that this is the greatest sporting victory yet!

Match Scorecard

India v West Indies @ Lord's, London
25 June 1983

Toss: West Indies (field)
Umpires: HD Bird, BJ Meyer
Match Result: India won by 43 runs

India

Sunil Gavaskar c Jeff Dujon b Andy Roberts 2

Kris Srikkanth lbw b Malcolm Marshall 38

Mohinder Amarnath b Michael Holding 26

Yashpal Sharma c sub b Larry Gomes 11

Sandeep Patil c Larry Gomes b Joel Garner 27

Kapil Dev c Michael Holding b Larry Gomes 15

Kirti Azad c Joel Garner b Andy Roberts 0

Roger Binny c Joel Garner b Andy Roberts 2

Madan Lal b Malcolm Marshall 17

Syed Kirmani b Michael Holding 14

Balwinder Sandhu not out 11

FOW 1-2 (Sunny Gavaskar), 2-59 (Kris Srikkanth), 3-90 (Mohinder Amarnath), 4-92 (Yashpal Sharma), 5-110 (Kapil Dev), 6-111 (Kirti Azad), 7-130 (Roger Binny), 8-153 (Sandeep Patil), 9-161 (Madan Lal), 183 (Syed Kirmani).

Extras 5b, 5lb, 9w, 1nb, 0pen) 20

Total (54.4 ovs) 183 all out

Bowling

Andy Roberts 10 3 32 3

Joel Garner 12 4 24 1

Malcolm Marshall 11 1 24 2

Michael Holding 9.4 2 26 2

Larry Gomes 11 1 49 2

Sir Viv Richards 1 0 8 0

West Indies

Gordon Greenidge b Balwinder Sandhu 1

Desmond Haynes c Roger Binny b Madan Lal 13

Sir Viv Richards c Kapil Dev b Madan Lal 33

Clive Lloyd c Kapil Dev b Roger Binny 8

Larry Gomes c Sunny Gavaskar b Madan Lal 5

Faoud Bacchus c Syed Kirmani b Balwinder Sandhu 8

Jeff Dujon b Mohinder Amarnath 25

Malcolm Marshall c Sunny Gavaskar b Mohinder Amarnath 18

Andy Roberts lbw b Kapil Dev 4

Joel Garner not out 5

Michael Holding lbw b Mohinder Amarnath 6

FOW 1-5 (Gordon Greenidge), 2-50 (Desmond Haynes), 3-57 (Sir Viv Richards), 4-66 (Larry Gomes), 5-66 (Clive Lloyd), 6-76 (Faoud Bacchus), 7-119 (Jeff Dujon), 8-124 (Malcolm Marshall), 9-126 (Andy Roberts), 140 (Michael Holding).

Extras 0b, 4lb, 10w, 0nb, 0pen) 14

Total (52 ovs) 140 all out

Bowling

Kapil Dev 11 4 21 1

Balwinder Sandhu 9 1 32 2

Madan Lal 12 2 31 3

Roger Binny 10 1 23 1

Mohinder Amarnath 7 0 12 3

Kirti Azad 3 0 7 0

Modi Entertainment் Network

I read a piece during the weekend where the Champions League was launched with great fanfare. Two teams each from the professional leagues from India, England, Australia, and South Africa. This, Mr.Modi will want us to believe, will be on the lines of the Champions League in football.

Suresh Menon has covered this issue well in his Cricinfo piece. What will Shane Warne do if Hampshire joins Rajasthan Royal? Will he turn up for both? Sounds ridiculous, but it may happen if Mr.Modi wishes! That will happen as long as IPL is professional and the others are not. Because ideally professional clubs will have the exclusivity angle covered, which would mean that both Hampshire and Rajasthan Royal cannot play Warne. The owners of Royals are no fools to allow Warne to play for any other team in the League. And there are more instances like this! Graeme Smith, Mathew Hayden, Muralitharan, and few others! So you will end up with a pretty lop-sided league, where six out of the eight teams will field less than their strongest teams for reasons other than cricketing matters!

Another important angle is the ICL. There are litigations round the corner if Mr.Modi bulldozes his way and disallows the ICL players from playing in the League. I think he can't stop that happening! If Lou Vincent is allowed to play for Lancashire, it is assumed that the club will field them in the League as well, if it qualifies. If he plays in the League, can we assume that BCCI/ICC is legitimizing ICL? The BCCI officials pat themselves on the back for 'professionalizing the sport.’ (What does that mean?) Banning ICL is nothing but plain 'dadagiri.'

But strange things have happened in this sport in the last month. Maybe this adds to the list………

My better half, the Smart Alec that she is, pointed out that she’d read somewhere recently that Modi in his early days ran an outfit called Modi Entertainment Network (MEN). ‘Isn’t this circus also part of MEN?’ she asked. I smiled almost to suggest, ‘You couldn’t more right.’

Clown and the Tiger

This morning, I was reading a piece by Amit Varma, The IPL reveals India's bench strength. This was not the first piece I have been reading on similar lines—some of them by notable cricket writers. I asked myself—Am I missing something? How can the IPL tell you about the bench strength? In that case, have I understood the word 'bench strength' correctly?

These guys must be joking, I felt. How can IPL tell you about the bench strength? When Tevez isn't part of the Manchester United eleven, that is bench strength. When Lionel Messi is a reserve in the Argentinean team, it tells you about the bench strength of the team! How can a Gony and a Dinda tell you about the bench strength of the Indian team for the longer version based on some festival cricket? Probably, the IPL or T20 can give you an indication of their talents, which they need to take forward to do well in the international arena. This still doesn't add up to the bench strength of the Indian team!

How can a four-over spell in a domestic festival match give an indication of a bowler's capability at the higher level? Just because a clown tames a tiger in a circus, you can't make him a forest ranger, can you? Similarly, how can an innings of 40 in an IPL match tell you that an opener can face a Steyn or a Lee on a bouncy wicket? The ideal way is to test these guys in a four-day environment and see if they have picked up anything from the Pontings or McGraths or Warnes. If the players come up trumps and force their way into the Indian team, then you can probably mutter the word 'bench strength' (not say it)!

But I get this uneasy feeling—that our selectors will pick a team based on the IPL performances—too often have they ignored their instincts and gone by public sentiment (anybody?). Probably, bench strength means that players are good enough to sit on the bench and not good enough to play at the highest level—I hope not.

Curtain Down on Vijay Tendulkar!

Vijay Tendulkar no more—An end of an era, said the newspapers last Tuesday.

I first heard of Tendulkar when I watched Sinhasan in school. Today's generation must note that Sinhasan was a classic Marathi movie of the seventies directed by Jabbar Patel. It is probably the finest political drama ever made on cinema. Political dramas can be boring and predictable beyond a point. But not Sinhasan—it was gripping and had a feel of realism around it.

As I grew up, I saw more of Tendulkar's works on cinema—Manthan and Nishant from the Benegal stable, Aakrosh and Ardh Satya from Govind Nihalani, Saamna and Umbartha by Jabbar Patel—each a riveting drama of human conflicts. I have all of them in my DVD collection. Having revisited them again, I dare say that he was India's finest screen writer. In the coming days, I intend to watch Aakrosh and Aakreit and celebrate! I do regret that I have not seen his celebrated plays, barring Kanyadaan, which I thought was decently done by Lilette Dubey's team. I am seriously hunting for those DVDs! Anyone?

There are few things that stand out in memory!

There was liberalism written all over him. This is pretty evident from the way he created situations and characters in his work. I am often disappointed with 'liberals'—most of them are imposters who find it ‘cool’ to be ‘liberal’—that's not the point! What is important is that you need not just listen to Pink Floyd, follow Obama vs. Clinton debates, and profess atheism to be liberal. Tendulkar showed that you could be an iconoclast without having to think in English!

He was a strong personality. Some of the subjects he dealt with in his movies were women empowerment, rural awakening, and political awareness. Remember the last scene in Nishant where the entire village rises in rebellion against their employers, the village landlords, who have nothing but brutality and avarice in their CVs. Remember the female protagonist in Umbartha, who stakes her marriage to an affluent family to work in an asylum. They tell you that his characters were strong people, much like himself!

Can there be another Tendulkar? Rather, is there quality theater happening in India? No. But that discussion is for another day. Not today. Today, we’ll take a bow to someone who rewrote traditional theater in India! Tendulkar, RIP!