Diversity in Unity

wish everyday we could do this...see each other as Indians rather than with the colour of religion.

It was spontaneous. People from every nook and corner of the country came out of their houses last wednesday to celebrate India's victory over Pakistan in the cricket world cup semis. In a giant show of oneness, Indians from various social stratas and belonging to different religions and castes celebrated together. They hugged each other. They danced together. No questions asked, no thoughts processed on whether they are dancing with someone from another religion or from a different social class. Chaiwala hugging bigshot bussinessman, construction workers dancing with software engineers, congressman giving high five to communist. The scenes were surreal. For once, a majority of India had matching thoughts and matching actions. Similar scenes were repeated on saturday too, after India won the world cup. For just this one day, I'll always be thankful to this game. How I wish everyday we could win a world cup!

At the same time, there's a diametrically opposite, pessimistic viewpoint which tells me that all this was just in the name of a game. We never come together in such massive strengths for anything else. If ever we do come together, we look at the colour of the feathers of the birds flying with us. Yes, we come together to celebrate religious festivals with our fellow believers, we come together for riots with our fellow fanatics, we come together to fight for our respective languages, we come together as congressmen and saffron brigades...We never come together as Indians, except for trivial things like sports. No, its not anyone's case that such coming together for sports is bad. Just that, how beautiful it would've been to see that togetherness in our everyday life. Alas, once we all walked back to our houses and wrapped up the tricolour and placed it safely in the cupboard(not to be touched until the next big match), our togetherness also seemed to dissolve. Dissolved in our myriad differences like a a single white drop in a multi coloured ocean...something that can be called unity (lost) in diversity.

When will we come together like Egypt or Tunisia and give it back to our leaders for looting and fooling us? Maybe, Anna Hazare's indefenite fast against corruption that started yesterday is a good starting point. (http://www.indiaagainstcorruption.org/). Find out the location of the fast in your city, join in for sometime and support...

Some more shots from that wild night of celebration after India's world cup win

Sachin...One billion hearts....one wish...one dream fulfilled

the joy overflows..people celebrating inside and on top of a state transport bus

Joy!Jubiliation!

the spirit..

dedicated to THE MAN! Sachin!

I can't drive anymore...I want to jump!

people greeting strangers on the streets...how cricket unites people!

Blocked!

http://www.facebook.com/myopiclensesphotography

your crusader Praveen

Master,I bow before thee

I've always believed calling a living person as GOD is not acceptable. God is something which can't be seen or touched, its something which can only be felt. But there are moments when even that strong resolve is broken. When you see a heavenly painting by an artist, when you see a brilliant guitarist ripping it apart in a concert arena, when you see men/women with a large heart helping millions of poor, when you hear a gifted musician at his peak, when you see a sportsman at his best...Yesterday was one of those days, which made me break that resolve and call Him GOD of cricket and fall at his feet.

Memories came rushing in as he crossed the 170 mark yesterday. The only source to know the score was the mobile and the 'secret' web page that our company forgot to block. And I was in the laundry after a fight with the security regarding a new idiotic 'policy' from the company. The wait for 200 took me back to school days, specifically to that innings of 186 not out against New zealand. We all crowded together in a house near our school. The drawing room was filled with us with the house owner craning his neck somewhere behind, just to catch a glimpse of that majestic innings. We watched almost the whole innings, bunking period after period and the lovable house owner played happy host. It was a small disappointment when he couldn't break Paki Anwar's record. We all went back hoping for the day when Sachin will score a 200. Almost a decade has passed since then. I can still recollect what all I did on a day when Sachin played majestic innings like this. Such innings of rare brilliance as the 98 against Pakistan in the 2003 world cup, when I rushed back from the maths tuition class to watch it from first ball. Many many days like that when all that mattered was Sachin scoring a century. Such is the influence he has on the life of an average Indian. A sad day at office or a boring day at school turned into an unforgettable day. Unremarkable days made remarkable and memorable for ever just because a man decided to unleash his genius on the cricket ground. Moments when sports ceases to be just that and becomes LIFE.

As he crossed 200, the phone started ringing non stop. Everyone wanted to share their joy with their near and dear ones. Among those calls were, two calls from friends in school whom I haven't talked to in a long time. But with whom I've watched many a matches in that house near school. And together we had waited for many a centuries and walked back dejected. Also have jumped together elated at many of his achievements. And it took Sachin again to take us back to those days, talk to each other and share the joy. Sachin is more than just a sportsman, He is a feeling that unites many a million minds. He united more Indians together, more than any RELIGION could. Somewhere down the line someone may overtake the 200, some may score 250. All those numbers may tumble one day. But, some things will remain unbroken...the feeling of unity that Sachin brings, the sheer batting perfection that he unleashed and that down to earth character. Taking it all in his stride, he marches on unchallenged, India's marathon man. 20 years, we graduated from lollipops to blackberrys...but He remains there, where he truely belonged...at the top...

PS-And all those critics can now shut up, FOREVER!
SO bye bye to Paki Anwar from the record books. Its been a pain seeing his name there on top!! :D

your crusader Praveen

IPL-Cheerleaders,Slaps,Kisses...& Cricket

IPL has caught the imagination of the whole cricketing world and has turned out to be a bigger success than that was predicted. The controversies has added to the popularity of the tournament. Am sure no one will ever forget the great crying scene starring 'tough guy' Sreesanth. This single scene is said to have melted the hearts of women across India and they are now watching IPL regularly instead of their staple diet of 'Saas-Bahu' serials. According to an unofficial survey conducted by this blogger, they are expecting more tear-filled episodes in the IPL thamasha. Teenage guys who were moving away to more fashionable sports like formula 1,NBA and EPL have suddenly started loving cricket. No prizes for guessing the reason. Cheerleaders, ofcourse. The teens find it economic and safer to watch them when compared to renting an adult film cd and secretly watching them. Now they can watch all these safely in front of their parents under the pretext of watching 'cricket'. Even middle aged and expiry aged old men are watching this sport for the first time for this reason alone. And then there are the politicians. Their new hobby is dressing up the cheerleaders. My request to them is-"Please leave alone the poor girls and let them do their job. There are millions of people who don't have money to buy clothes in India. Why don't you think of some policies and aid programs to give them adequate food and shelter rather than investigating on which part of which cheerleader was exposed in the latest match of IPL".

The local chaiwala as well as the high end pubs are also enjoying the fruits of IPL as people crowd around TV shops and big screens every night to watch the matches. The cricketers are all happy except men like Charu sharma and teams like Bangalore. There've been unworthy men like Ponting who played and got paid and are now back home blaming the IPL. He's now asking his countrymen to switch off from IPL and stop paying attention to some retired australian cricketers sweating it out in India. Then, why did he keep quiet while he was busy playing in India? The film stars are also enjoying their night out at the various grounds around India. Shahrukh is seen dancing and screaming for his knight riders but sadly that dance won't last long as they will exit without seeing the semis. The lucky guys are the ones from Kings XI Punjab. Whenever they win a match, they get free hugs and kisses from their pretty owner Preity. Its no wonder then that the guys are competing with each other to win the honours. The list of top wicket takers in IPL is dominated by guys from Kings XI. Wondering how many kisses each of them got.

The star or better to say, the wannabe star of the whole show is undoubtedly the IPL boss Lalit Modi. He's a publicity hungry man who never lets go a photo op. My favourite scene was during the press meet after the Sreesanth-slap, Farooq Engineer made Bhajji and Sree shake hands and make up. The three of them were holding hands together and smiling when a third hand appeared from behind holding them. Then a head popped out and it was our glam boy Lalit. He also has this dirty habit of sitting with and cheering the team that is playing well at the moment. During one cliffhanger match, he had to switch ends atleast 5 times. Anyway, at the end of the match, he would be sitting with the winning team. Meanwhile, Mr.cool 'forever young' Vijay Mallya is having a bad time, with his team discovering news ways of losing with every passing match. His outbursts against Dravid and his team of attacking 'test' players hasn't added anything to his public image, rather it has taken some beating. But there was no shortage in the number of hot damsels accompanying him to watch the matches.

Coming to the cricket part of IPL, despite some so called purists calling it a 'rape of cricket', the matches were well fought in the right spirit and is one great dazzling advertisement for the game of cricket. It tests the skiils of the players to the maximum and puts their quick thinking ability to a hard grind. The old players who were predicted to perish in the tornado of slam bang hitting has infact shone even better than the young guns. Players like Sanath Jayasurya, Shane Warne, McGrath and Sachin Tendulkar are as athletic and spirited as any 20 year old. Their presence has infact turned out to be a blessing for the young ones who get the right guidance from these giants. The greatest gain of the IPL has been the bringing of some unheard of cricketing talents to the limelight. Players like Shikhar Dhawan, Gony, Saha, Abhishek Nayar and many others who were unheard of just 2 months back are now household names. Really, the future of Indian cricket is in safe hands. And there is a big talent pool in place now.

Having been there at the Chinnaswamy Stadium to watch the grand opening of this great sporting fest, am happy to see its astounding success. All in all we can say that the IPL party is here to stay. And 20-20 is the future of the game.

PS-The team is support is Mumbai, just for the simple reason of it being Sachin's team. Even after it lost 4 matches and friends made fun of me for supporting them, I continued my support. And now see what they've done. 6 straight wins and almost won the 7th, if not for some crazy run outs and some umpiring errors. Hope they'll win the championship.

your crusader Praveen