India vs Australia – will Aussie's sledging work?

"If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;"

These are the words that greet you when you enter Wimbledon. If one looks at sport as a simple winning and losing game, then it applies, else we will need to look at other means

Ricky Ponting in his interview fired the first salvo at India saying that they are the double world champions and started their usual mental disintegration (Read Sledging) techniques. Will this backfire on them? I personally think so why?

1. Aussies over the years have built their team on 5 extraordinary individuals - Adam Gilchrist, Mathew Hayden, Ricky Ponting, Glenn Mcgrath and Shane Warne. Only the first three are surviving today and are in their latter stages of their careers. Also without Symonds contributing consistenly they don't look to be dominating force and their bowling seems to be strong only on paper
2. The Men in Blue does not think twice in giving back what they get. Andrew Flintoff recently got a handful from Yuvraj's demolition of England and Stuart Broad, Uthappa recently replied to Ponting's "History" remarks as "Ancient History" and they often ensure that they perform well (with exception of Zaheer Khan in the Worldcup 2003 Final). Perhaps this the kick the team required.
3. Indians in their combination have got two cricketers who are on a comeback. Irfan Pathan and Bhajji who on their day can be dangerous. The Aussies very well know the effect of targetting cricketers who are on a comeback. In addition the big three - Sachin, Sourav, Rahul and Zaheer are rested and raring to go. The rest can do wonders to the aching body
4. And finally they have a fearless captain Dhoni who tells his players to just play and don't worry about winning or losing, for he strongly believes that if one is destined to win, they will and all he it requires is 100% commitment from his team and he is bound to get it. In a recent statement Dhoni emphasized the need to be humble and keep the foot on the ground. This will go a long way in building successful teams
5. Andrew Symonds in a recent interview told that the celebrations went a too far beyond what was achieved. Well Mr. Symonds How did you celebrate when you won the 2003 and 2007 worldcups. The country and culture are different and celeb!rations also differ. Try to take it on your chin and move on man. Yuvi are you listening (Read another batting master class)

It is human tendency to get disappointed when losing, the definition of a great teams are the ones who take victory and defeat in equal measure and prove on the field that they are the champions. However in Cricket, teams call this aggression. Do you need to be aggressive to the extent saying that you are superior and other is inferior? I don't think so.

Keeping aside the celebrations and the politics of selection and team compositions, I am also going to join the bandwagon of cricket connoisseurs praying and hoping that our Men in Blue will run the Aussies close. Even if is one sided, I would still like to believe that the team played their part and played their hearts out.

Let us look at the official start of the India-Australia series. Its going to be a cracker. I plan blog after every match and look if my thought process of how India is going to attack this series

Happy viewing

The News Channels Cat Fight

News channels today are greatly influenced by movies. Be it the grandeur (Read coverage), the news presenter (Hero, Heroine), etc have that extra masala spiced up very often.

One of the recent events that prompted me to write was the coverage for Sunita Willams. True, she has set a world record for walking in space, but Is she Indian by birth or has she lived here. In both the scenarios the answer is "NO". But why does the media go gaga over this formal visit. Like say

Channel 1 - Breaking News! Sunita Williams arrives in Bombay, Ahmedabad
Channel 2 - Breaking News! Sunita Williams' relatives house raided by news
cameras
Channel 3 - Breaking News! State Government to confer award on
Sunita willaims
Channel 4 Breaking News! Sunita Williams…….

To me the news channels look like some Bollywood (I hate to use this term!) movies that are promoted heavily with very limited or no content. Over the last 5 years one will not find information on any single news feed that captured the imagination of the viewers for a long time (this might anger some broadcasters J).

Well there are two sides to this coin – Money (read profitability) and Popularity (read TRPs). And today, the news channels are going out of the way to make their presence felt.

What happens to basic Social Responsibility for their country and community in unearthing news, achievements and inventions that can be viewed by one and all across the globe. But at this point, the former is getting more coverage than the later.

Is it because we are lacking true achievers who can create a global impact? Or we do not have business houses / broadcasting companies that can spread their wings to bring news that can captivate a large audience. My vote goes to the later

While I try to get some understanding on this, I think the problem lies in our country's considerate and moderate views on anything that may have led to this situation. For that fact, we have been pioneers in a few areas that we can date back over a thousand years. Be it the invention of "Zero" or the Rig Veda and Indian astronomers who have given the world the entire framework of space research. Modern science is now accepting what they had outlined millenniums ago. This has been emphasised greater in Dr. Kalam's book "Wings of Fire"

Dr. Vikram Sarabhai in his inaugural address of the ISRO mentioned this "There are some who question the relevance of space activities in a developing nation. To us, there is no ambiguity of purpose. We do not have the fantasy of competing with the economically advanced nations in the exploration of the moon or the planets or manned space-flight. But we are convinced that if we are to play a meaningful role nationally, and in the community of nations, we must be second to none in the application of advanced technologies to the real problems of man and society."

So the achievement of a nation is truly not dependent on its economic prowess or the path breaking inventions or achievements of its citizens. It calls for sustained economic and scientific development that will lead to a better system that supplements inventions and growth. At this outset, one would agree that this development has not happened consistently at all levels in India and has left us back by a couple of decades with the developed nations

But, do we stop here or go the extra mile. Perhaps the news channels can look at some inspiring dialogues as well.

"Zindagi jine ke sirf do hi tarike hai. Ya to jo raha hai use bardasht karo ya phir jimmedari uthao use badalne ki"

Or

"Yeh system ko badal ne jao, toh system tumhe hi badal deta hai"

Or

"ek paav past mein, ek paav future mein, isi liye hum apne present par moot raha hai"

The list can go on..... even the kutha, kamina, saale dialogues can appear here