विनाशकाले विपरीत बुद्धी

संजय राउत यांना माझा एक प्रश्न, त्यांना त्यांच्या रडवेल्या मुलाच्या चेहर्यावर तरी हसू आणता येत का? सचिन तेंडुलकरबद्दल तुम्ही काही बोलावा इतकी तुमची लायकी तरी आहे का? अहो त्या माणसाच जेवढ़ कर्तृत्व आहे, तेवढ ना ही तुमच्या लेखनिच अन ना ही तुमच्या राजकारणाच. त्याचा एक फटकार (षटकारही नाही) रडनारया पोराला शांत करतो अन भांडनारया शेजारयाला चुप करतो.

गेली ४-५ वर्षे भारतात अन भारताबाहेर फिरण्याचा काही वेळा योग आला. मग तो भारतीय असो, बांगलादेशी असो वा पाकिस्तानी असो, तो केवळ दोनच गोष्टीबद्दल विचारतो. एक ती लता आणि दुसरा सचिन. आपण कृपया समजून घ्यावे ह्यांच्यात दुभगलेली मना जोडण्याचे सामर्थ्या आहे अन्यथा आपले इस्राएल- पॅलेस्टाईन व्हायला जास्त वेळ नाही लागणार.

तुम्ही सध्या जी सचिनवर चिखलफेक चालवली आहे ना त्यात तुम्हीच घाण होताय हे तुम्ही बहुधा जाणत नाही. बर्‍याचश्या मराठी माणसांत एक दुर्गुन आढळून येतो, दुसर्याला कुणी चांगल म्हणाला तर ह्याला पोटात दुखत अन् ह्या समजाला मांजरेकर, कांबळी अन् तुमच्यासारखे लोक खात-पाणीच घालतात.

मला खरच तुम्हा सांगाव वाटत की राष्ट्र-भावना फार महत्वाची आहे, अन्यथा एकसंध भारत आणि तुकड्या-तुकड्यातला युरोप ह्यात फारसा फरक नाही. तुमच्यासारखे मनानी आणि विचाराणी कोडगे लोक कधीच राष्ट्रभक्त असु शकत नाहीत. तुम्ही म्हणता की तेलुगू असे करतात, तमिळ तसे करतात तर मग आपण मराठीच का बर तसे वागू नये, अहो एक समजून घ्या की हा सर्व भारतवर्ष 'हिंदू' ह्या एका नाळेन जोडलेला आहे. तुम्हाला जर राजकारणच करायचा असेल तर समस्त हिंदूंना एकटरा बांधण्याच करा, ना की त्यात भेदभाव अन् दुरावा निर्माण करण्याच.

पण मला असा वाटत की, सचिन हे एक निमित्त्य आहे. राज ठाकरेंनी तुमच्या धनुष्या-बाणाचा प्रत्यन्चा पळवलाय अन् तुम्ही सर्वेतोपरि प्रयत्न करताय की प्रत्यन्चा नाही तर नाही सुतळी तरी लावता येईल काय. तुम्ही जाणता की सचिन हा राज चा मित्र, त्याला छेडल्यास राज डीवचेल अन् काही तरी प्रतिक्रिया देईल. मग काय करा भांडवल त्याच. मी काय बोलतोय ते समजून घ्या, तुम्ही निवडलेला मार्ग चुकीचा आहे किंबहूना असे म्हणणे सयुक्तिक ठरेल की तुम्ही पायावर कुरहाड मारुन घेतली आहे अन् ह्याचा परिणाम तुम्हाला मुंबई महानगरपालिकेच्या निवडणुकीमध्ये दिसेलच. हे सांगण्यास कुणा ज्योतिषाची वा राजकीय विश्लेषकाची गरज नाही.

एक मात्र समजलय, शिव-सेने वरुन आता ठाकरेंचा कंट्रोल संपलाय अन् तुमचा सुरू झालाय.
..... एक सच्चा भारतीय
..... एक अभिमानी महाराष्ट्रिय
..... एक कडवा हिंदू

Those were privileged

Those were privileged, who watched todays Sachin's inning. It was a real massacre of Aussie bowling.
It wasnt one of the best bowing attacks but looking at that mammoth total, anybody would surrender meekly. Tendulkar played undoubtedly one of the best innings of his life and agin in loosing cause.
asa waatata ki he has been cursed for such an outcome of his efforts.
Look at his dedication guys... Aussie total was already 350, it was last ball of the match, and there was an almost impossible opportunity of catch. He didnt let it go, dived fullheartedly to take it and restrict them.
He came on to bat, took some 15-16 balls to take a good look at pitch, bowlers and everything. By that time Kookaburra already stopped swinging and he sensed the opportunity to free his arms. Whereas other three stalwarts of Indian batting line up were in mood to start hitting right from the word go.
There was lot of pain in Sachin's eyes today. I felt like those words "I care about playing for India" were directed towards all these young guns who threw their prized wicket in a mad manner. I still could not understand what Jadeja was thinking while getting himself runout, I havnt seen such a reckless shot from Gambhir in recent past. I can understand that Dhoni was out to a superb catch but Yuvraj... Its better we dont say anything abt him.
I couldnt get to watch Aussie middle overs, but our bowling attack was experienced so they shud hav atleast tried to contain Aussies by slowing down the pace of the game. At least they shud have tried Joginder Bowling (pitching every ball inches inside the crease)
Anyways, It was sad end.. almost repetition of Chennai Test...Ind- Aus match (Benson & Hedges worldcup) and .....

One match immortals

Its a weird title but very true. I observed that, there are handful of cricket players who have literally become immortal just because of their performances, good or bad, in just one match. Those were surely innings of their lives.
The first one who comes to my mind is Douglas Marrilier. In these T20 times, we see paddle scoop (shot over wicketkeeper's head) very frequently, particularly by Dilshan but nobody at least Indian fans will forget the hammering at the hands of this Zimbabwean. He was the one who introduced this shot to world cricket by scoring fifty of some twenty deliveries against formidable Indian bowling attack, and in turn giving Zimbabwe rare ODI victory on Indian soil.
From the time I am watching cricket, there have been many players who came in, promised a lot but just got vanished within few months. First one is Ricardo Powell, this guy made mockery of Indian bowling attack.One another player is Phillo Wallace, this guy hit Srinath for first over sixer, truly amazing stuff but nobody knows when they went offline :-)
There have been few Indians also. Though Venkatesh Prasad went on to play for quite long time, he will always be remembered for that magic ball to Aamir Sohail. We all know him just for that one wicket as it turned the game in India's favour. Same is the story of Hrishikesh Kanitkar. Ask any Indian cricket fan, he knows him for match winning last over boundary to Saqlain Mushtaq's 'Dooosara'.
You might not agree with me, even laugh at me but I must include Joginder Sharma's name in this list. He is still trying but I dont see him coming back in Indian team. He became immortal with that match winning last over bowling against Pakistan in T20 World cup.
There are few players who regained this immortality just because of the connection with Sachin Tendulkar. Henry Olonga, Andrew Caddik to name the few. Aquib Javed, Ata-Ur-Rehman would be remembered more for their wicket of Tendulkar than their involvement in match fixing.
As they say, history of winners would be written. Most of these immortals have scripted victories for their respective sides but there have been instances when guys on the other side have also earned place. The first one should be Chetan Sharma, he has been haunted with that last ball six against Pakistan throughout his life. It was such a blemish on his career that, even a hattrick in worldcup could not wash it away. But, there is this one rare case, this one lefty, Atul Bedade has remained in fans' hearts for his heroics against Wasim Akram, world's greatest one day bowler. Call up any Indian cricket fan, and he will surely tell you how Bedade has hit Wasim Akram for three sixes in one over.

विजयादशमीचा विजय

Vijayadashami 1997, Its been more than a decade, I was in 9th standard and we all friends were out on our bicycles visiting teachers' homes to give Sona and take their blessings. I remember even though Sachin was on ground, after Azhar's dismissal and subsequent interruption by crowd almost everybody had given up hopes of winning (It was supposed to be a repeat of Eden Garden) or even resumption of match and were wandering, enjoying festival.
But that was not to happen, match resumed, I dont think anybody has watched how Tendulkar and Jadeja played that evening. After seeing 100 on the scorecard, everybody sensed that Tendulkar is playing a captain's knock and almost immediately everybody was back at home, watching the proceedings.
Very soon Jadeja fell and slight tension creeped amongst the viewers. Next batsman was Nayan Mongia, he had test century against Aussies to his credit and so people had belief in him. He indeed supported Tendulkar with double digit score. But Mongia, Sunil Joshi, Tendulkar went back in quick succession and almost everybody switched off the television sets.
Tendulkar played a patient knock but went back at very key moment. And then came the historic moment of the match. Two of the local players (to everybody's surprise there were 6 players from Karnataka in that Team... Anybody remembers Sujith Somsundar) started hitting ball around. Whosoever watching that game after Sachin's dismissal, were shell-shocked as nobody has ever seen a wagging Indian tail and that too against the likes of Mcgraths, Flemings and Gillespis. Thereon, It was one great experience to cherish for lifetime.
From that match every cricket fan will always remember one face from crowd, It was Kumble's mother. Every run that was taken brought forward a brilliant new expression from Anil Kumble’s mother. Suddenly, this wasn’t merely a contest between two teams, it was a mother willing her son on towards victory. She was really enjoying her son's heroics. It wasnt just that one mother, with every expression and anxiety on her face, all other India mothers were praying for victory. With last run scored there was kind of jubilation in households. At my home, my mother, my Mavashi, my Maami, everybody was as happy as never before.
Already it was a festival day, and such a memorable victory made my day.

World's greatest tennis player, Roger Federer!!!!

Congratulations to Roger Federer. A-Rod, you were truly unbelievable thoughout the match. you showed that numbers are misleading. It might be 18-2 against u and now 19-2 but every tennis fan would be proud of your fight. I am a proud fan of Roger Federer but A-Rod u surely deserves a standing ovation for the fight.

This years final was way different than last year. This year I had a sense of watching Pete Sampras versus Goran Ivansevich match. It was all about brute power, booming serves, Aces, little less vollyes. I remember watching Sampras and Goran hitting more than 40 aces each. I havent seen anybody hitting 50 Aces, Roger did that. It was just unbelievable.

I have surely started feeling like, rest of the top players are reaching to the level of Roger and Rafa and in coming years we are gonna see better tennis.

But surely, today's game showed that Roger is the greatest player (I have seen) of this generation. For consecutive second year, he played one of the longest and must be most followed games in tennis history. At first he walked as runners up but this year when it seemed that same thing would happen, he came out winning. Roger was just not able to understand Rodic's serve. He could not break his serve till the winning point. But during this 5 setter, Roger hit 100 winners. The last set 16-14 was a real test of character. I wish next year I will get to watch similar score-line with Nadal on the other side. I have seen Sampras and I am a big fan of Sampras also but I would like to say that Federer's game gives more pleasure to eyes than Sampras's. Undoubtedly Federer is world's best tennis player. He has won all four grandslams. Total tally goes beyond 14 and moreover he is amongst the rare players who have won French and Wimbledon is the same year.

Thanks Roger for making me happy.

Elections'09:

Elections '09 are over with the best possible results. Its been a long time India has seen such a clear verdict in favour of any party (I don't see BJP's count in 1999 as very much clear ). Indian voters have got habit to deceive seasoned politicians and political analysts. When India was shining and there were exit polls suggesting re-election of NDA to center, Indian voters have thrown them out and this time around when they were saying that Mayawati will play Kingmaker's role or Queen herself, they have bitten her the dust. UP people have completely discarded her social engineering within two years of its inception.
It will be important to see results of Metros in this election as those were the cities marred with petrifying mujaheddin bomb attacks and those are the cities where global recession has deep impact. Surprisingly two of the metros Mumbai and Delhi have been won hands down by Congress, I don't think they were expecting it even in their dreams. And for such stupendous performance they cant deny credit to two of the astute politicians. Delhi, India's capital city is being served by Sheila aunty for long. She has served Delhi well and surely congress is eating fruits of that. Its renovated Delhi which hopes for better with Sheila and just because of her they have voted for Congress otherwise I don't see any reason any politician winning in Delhi after acquittal of Sajjan Kumar and Jagdish Tytler. If Sheila Dikshit continues her good work, I don't see congress loosing any of the Delhi seats even in 2014 elections. Another person who has made his mark in Metros is Raj Thakare. Literally he handed over victory to Congress-NCP in Maharashtra. His party is literally infant compared to many others but number of votes he has received makes it clear that Raj Thakare is there to stay. MNS ended up counting more than one Lakh votes in almost every Mumbai constituency, way more than the victory margin of Congress-NCP candidates. Most surprising thing which cant go unnoticed is, in two constituency they pushed Shivsena candidate to third spot. It will be important to follow him in coming days as he will start spreading his wings beyond Mumbai-Nashik-Pune.
One important thing to understand from election is that, Indian elections be it Parliamentary or Legislative are fought on local issues. Indian voters have completely decoupled their voting from national issues. If bomb attacks on Metros, recession or Taliban insurgency in Pakistan are national issues for India, then It has to be understood that Indian voters don't pay any importance to them while voting. Particularly for rural India, their daily bread and farming loans are the deciding factors. NREGA and farming loan waiver has helped congress win rural votes. Another important thing to be seen is typical voting pattern seen till now in India. Almost always incumbency creates quantifiable impact on government but it is not at all seen in this voting. Its not seen even in Andhra or Orissa assembly voting either. I don't know whom to credit for that as I don't think local governments are working any better and voters are happy with them. I think Indian voters are maturing and have decided to give more time to incumbent government.
I was thinking about the factors which helped congress won allover the India handsomely. And I could figure out hardly few. One important factor is triangular race. Almost everywhere (excluding Red dominated Bengal and Kerala) out of 543 seats we have seen triangular race and usual congress voters have remained loyal to them. the second factor is Rahul Gandhi. He understood that road to Delhi goes through UP. He concentrated on UP, decided to go on his own. That was one tactical but risky decision and surely that one decision has made it clear that another Gandhi scion will be India's prime minister sooner or later. Third and important factor is farming loan waiver and NREGA. You just cant deny that rural India, at least Congress ruled states have benefited largely due to it.
This election has also given couple of more things to follow in coming years. 1) Varun Gandhi; He has made a mark for himself, though it is through the hate speech, India will surely follow this firebrand "non-Hindu" Hindu extremist. 2) Narendra Modi, you can hate him but you cant neglect him. He is the only person in BJP who has nationwide acceptance from majority Hindu voters and who can create turn around in almost dead BJP 3) Ruling governments be it national or local have to understand that, if people of India are not heard then they need to be ready for Shoe-side attacks. It can happen anytime, anywhere. I don't think India believes in Satyagrah and March to hell as way of protest anymore. 4) And the last and most important thing is performance of young congress politicians. It is said that all the young congress politicians Rahul Gandhi, Sachin Pilot, Jitin Prasad, Jyotiraditya Scindhia etc etc will be given cabinet portfolios, Young Indian blood will be keeping an eye on their performance and I am sure that their performance will be scrutinized to the minute levels.
Last words about election should be saved for one of the most prominent figures in Indian politics who is about to go in retirement, one person who has changed Indian politics upside down during mid 80's and 90's, Mr Lalkrishna Advani. He was undoubtedly deserving candidate for the post of Indian PM, but has to accept the truth. Thanks Advaniji for reinventing Hindu feeling amongst almost dead Hindus of India. Every Hindu will remember you for your contribution.
Jai Hind!!

Oh Finally!!!!
Its been a tough season for Ferrari so far. From the time I am following, I havent seen them in such worst situations. It took them 4 races to debut on points table. Though it wasnt a good display from Ferrari by first loosing race position and then with tighter fuel conditions,
being an ardent Ferrari fan, I just wish that they will capitalise on these 3 points and will continue as I have seen till now.