The difference between 99 and 100

The wait is over. I am not sure whether it took 3 days for me to get back to my senses to write about a historic event or i was just patient(lazy ?) enough to see another history in the match against Pakistan, i leave that to the toss of a coin. We have waited for more than a year, around 30 innings for adding just 1 to a number.

That ‘unity’ has become so significant because it requires an upgrade to the whole system. I am not even sure whether the cricket database accommodated 3-digit numbers to the “total number of international centuries hit by an individual” column.

In India, whether it is education or sport, when you cross the nineties and you don’t get to 100, you are considered to be inferior than the one who has just passed in the exam.  This is the fate for every Indian child and Sachin is no exception. If you wanna feel the degree of pressure he might have been going through, imagine yourself writing an exam of 3 hours in front of your whole school with everyone being able to watch every single character that you are able to jot down on the answer paper. In Sachin’s case, the number of spectators was not in thousands but millions.

His biggest strength, I believe, is the ability to focus and that was put to vigorous test in the course of the journey. When you read this, you might have already got obsessed with the number of articles on why he is great, Godly etc. There is definitely nothing new in this post as well. I share the feelings of the Indian cricket fan who has heard the mellifluous sound of the ball-meets-bat, watched the flamboyance of his willow with awe and with tears in his eyes. That sense of completeness of watching the game, no other cricketer can offer.

Our minds are so filled with comparisons, statistics, analyses stuff that sometimes, it is required to remind ourselves the real intention behind watching the game. The spirit of the game itself sometimes gets lost in the plethora of numbers that tend to overshadow the essence of the game itself. This may very well be an assumption but most of the youngsters of my generation would have started watching cricket because of Sachin. I did not start watching cricket after going through all the doctrines of cricket. All i knew was there were 11 players on each side, 2 bats and a ball in the field. Almost every kind of cricketing shot ever described might have received the blessing of those Godly hands atleast once.

Now I would say, the difference between 99 and 100 is a phenomenon created by

1 strong-willed soul amidst

10s of opponents

100s of slanderers

1000s of criticisms

100000s of wishes

10000000s of  prayers.

 

There are so many other things to say but just to KISS(keep it short and sweet), I am proud to have lived this mortal life in the Sachin era.

காதலுக்கு !

உன் கூந்தல் ஏறும் பூவில் மட்டும் வாசம் கண்டேன் …
உன் காந்தக் கண்கள் பேசிய பொழுதில் சுவாசம் கொண்டேன் …
உன் வாசம் எந்தன் நுரையில் உறைய
நேசம் கொண்டு நெஞ்சம் நிறைய
காதல் என்னும் கதறல் சத்தம் என்னுள் கண்டேன் …
இதயக் கூட்டில் இடியின் ஓசை உணர்ந்து கொண்டேன் …

What !

What i thought will be existing forever doesn’t exist anymore !

It felt like an atom in the metastable state to the core.

 

What i considered worthy is unworthy now !

I was eating plastic thinking that it was edible, i vow.

 

What i thought will never come back in life has come to me !

I feel like i have woke up after being hit by “The Killing Curse”, but the scar exists.

 

What i miss so much in life is so so far away !

I try out and almost reach out virtually but still the remaining distance is always halfway.

 

What i thought i ll be doing by this time, i am not doing it !

I am rather hooked-up to the banalities of life, beating rotten eggs.

 

What i perceived it to be, it is not !

It is rather something it is not supposed to be, it was never what it was meant to be.

 

What i lacked of in my early days, i have obtained it !

I now possess what i can make use of but the platform of application is nowhere to be seen

 

What i possess is evidently temporary !

And i still manage it to call it “my possession” with pride.

 

What i read, write and speak, everything fades off !

It lives analogous to the fill-up-the-blanks type trends in twitter.

 

But what still renders a ray-of-hope in the baffled mind is,

The feeling that has endured all the agonies, managed to stand up, smile and get along as always.

The Big Indian Festival !

No prizes for guessing what this post is about … I am no exception …

This post is valid only for another few hours and I am struggling to compile what i had been thinking all these 5 days. I believe there would be no other country in this world that celebrates as many festivals as mommy India does, thanks to the diversity she adorns. But there is one FESTIVAL-KA-BAAP that occurs once in 4 years. If you are still unable to comprehend what i am talking about, I would think that you belong to a country which has not heard cricket, let alone your fondness for the game. With all the media-hype over the fest, brands tagging anything and everything they sell to the fest to gain advantage, terrorist threats and the even-worse match-fixing allegations, this is one true gala that is seeing all colors.

Well, that was one sloppy introduction to the sport, but i am not going to write stats, reviews, predicitons or analyses. I am interested in describing what a sport could actually do to a common man. The jurisdictions are strictly bound to the Indian territory and a bat-and-ball game that an average informed-Indian could think of.

DATE : 24-03-2011
TIME : 9:30 PM
VENUE : BUS STAND, COIMBATORE.

There was no other way. Amidst travel, you cannot afford the luxury of a bed to lie on or a LCD TV to watch on. Wherever, however and whatever – these were the three words in mind. The ultimate goal was to catch a glimpse of Indian batting. The initial problem was my footwear. Actually i did not have them on. To be frank, i did not have them with me at that time.

I was running, bare-footed along the dirty street in the bus-stand. Damn, i was easily able to make out that there was no electronic shop selling TVs out there in the vicinity. There was no crowd anywhere. After reaching the corner of the street, I saw a small crowd peeping into something with serious faces. I knew that very moment what it was and rushed immediately.

I was happy to hear some commentator’s voice as i approached and felt very happy. The moment i looked at the screen, I realised i was wrong. There might have been 5 or 6 people but that was a huge crowd for a 3.5 inch screen. They were watching the match on a Reliance mobile !!! I joined the mob too.

An over passed and that mobile got switched off. Worst, India was at the verge of a historic triumph or a grave disappointment. I had to run all over to find another source that shows me cricket. I luckily found out another mob, this time the screen i found was average size. 21 inches !!!

I had bus-drivers, a tea-shop owner, some fellows who work in the nearby fruits and grocery shops beside me(was able to make out from what they spoke). The difference between the runs and the balls started getting bigger as Raina and Yuvi were consolidating. So were the excitement and the noise. A bus-driver came running to watch the match leaving his bus that was scheduled to leave by that time !!! :O

At one moment, everything stood still. On the screen, a circular object bounced over a rope. ROARRRRR !!! Everything around me started shaking … The noise !!! Suddenly i was able to see the Indian cricket team all over. Cheering, dancing and shouting. Everyone seemed to have either won a prize in the lottery, got a proposal from their dream girl or given birth to their first baby.

It was amazing to see the magnitude of happiness a sport could conjure. I walked back with the same feeling. The pain in my legs seemed to disintegrate.

Nothing !!!

I simply have no idea how to start. The reason could be either of these.

1. I have a lot of things in mind and i don’t understand where to start.
2. I have nothing in mind and hence the situation.

The more keystrokes i make, the more sleepy i become. But still, sleepiness does not hinder my typing speed. I never made spelling mistakes when i type, i know i am just not fast enough. When u keep pressing keys one by one, there is hardly a chance for you to type wrongly unless you actually don’t know how to spell it. I would sometimes permit my fingers to play around in the keyboard but by the time i figure out the position in which letter “E” is available, the confusion whether to hit that using my middle finger or index finger messes the whole thing up. And if you still find me making spelling mistakes here and there, my primary school teacher should be taken into task.

The whole idea behind this post is to clearly state that there is nothing in my mind that is currently getting the required RAM and memory that it is supposed to get. The vicissitudes of life are to be viewed from the eyes of a third person, if possible fourth or fifth. The randomness of the thoughts is so very evident from the way we behave for similar experiments. I intended to write about nothing but I failed again and again. I was not able to distinguish between “nothing I wrote” and “nothing that was not written”. If you feel that the sentences do not form a coherent paragraph, pardon yourself.

Coming back to the point, I might have nothing(yeah, u read it right !!) worth reading in this paragraph. Nothing is used as a better comparing tool to differentiate between masses(physical, theoretical or conceptual). What am I talking about ? I am talking about nothing. Writing nothing seemed to be an easy task when i wrote nothing. But nothing could be written about nothing is a false notion. Something could still be written. But would that render the very intention to write nothing null ? The fact that nothing can be written on anything is equally idiotic to the fact that anything can be written on nothing. I knew nothing. I am on neither sides.

Something that flows inside the neurons, something that is responsible for transporting abstract organisms across pints of blood, ounces of flesh and millions of tissues without much data loss(i assume it to be). Something that kicks my butt on its face when there is pain. Something that tickles my brain whenever it has found a stupid word to fill in. What is that ?

Thats pretty much the way i wanted to write my next post which would encourage readers to get out as soon as possible.
With all the dizziness set in, i find it is my ultimate responsibility to shut-up and sleep, though shut-down is still not given as an option for my system.

I realise that essentially one can and cannot write nothing at the same time.
I understood atlast. “Nothing is impossible”

அழைப்பிதழ்

மஞ்சள் தடவி குங்குமம் இட்டு,
அஞ்சலில் வந்ததோர் அரிவாள் வெட்டு …

கிறுக்கிய வார்த்தைகள் சிதறிக் கிடந்த
பழைய கவிதை நினைவில் சிரித்தது
இன்று மங்கள வார்த்தைகள் அழகுற அணிந்து,
சிதைந்த என்னை சின்னாபின்னமாய் கிழித்தது …

கூந்தல் ஊஞ்சலில் மெய்மறந்த என்னை,
தட்டி எழுப்பிய தேவதை முகம் …
கந்தலாகிக் கசங்கிப் போன என்னை
கிண்டலாய்ப் பார்த்து நாராசமாய் சிரித்தது …

கண்கள் அயராது கண்டு ரசித்த
புன்னகையின் பிறப்பிடமாம் பூவிதழ் …
என் கண்ணீர்த்துளி அலங்கோலமாய் அலங்கரித்த …
காதலியின் திருமண அழைப்பிதழ் …

சிலேடை !!!

சிலேடை …
நான் மிகவும் ரசித்த செய்யுள் பகுதிகளில் ஒன்று …

ஒரு பாடல் இரண்டு பொருள்களுக்கு ஆகி வருதல் போல நயமாக பாட்டெழுதுவது “சிலேடை” …
(இணையத்தில் எங்கேனும் இதற்கு சரியான விளக்கம் மற்றும் தகவல் இருப்பது தெரிந்தால், தயவு செய்து பகிர்ந்து கொள்ளவும் )
ஆனால், நான் காளமேக புலவர் இல்லை …
ஆகவே, திருமலைராயன் எனது சிதறலில் இல்லை …

செம்மொழி மாநாடு நடந்தேறிய காரணத்தினால் விளைந்த நன்மை, தீமைகளைப் பற்றி அலச விரும்பாமல், தமிழென்னும் அமுத ஊற்றிலே மூழ்கித் திளைத்த ஒரு தமிழ் கிறுக்கனின் சிதறல்கள் ..

“சிணுங்கி அழைத்து சேதிகள் கூறிய
கண்கள் மின்னப் புன்னகை செய்த
இதயப்பையில் நாளும் நான் சுமக்கும்
பெண்ணுமோர் கைப்பேசியாம்”

nuMbErs …

Heyya, am definitely not going to write about some petty tips to calculate fast or shortcuts to crack the so-called competitive exams(you know i cant, don’t you !? ) … This is about a special bondage that I have been carrying all these days, maybe a congenital disease !! And it is good to write bout something that is going to last forever, on a B’day … right ?!

And definitely, am not in a mood to look into the intricacies of the language and jot down punctuations appropriately, am in more kinda scribblin mood with lingo, so if you think you have something serious to do, adieu !

Numbers have always fascinated me right from my childhood. I dont know why .. The first symptom(disease, right ?!) that i remember is a Train Engine number which i saw sometime in my 3rd STD(not sure bout the grade, but damn sure about the number), competing with my sis to remember that for the rest of the journey. I never knew am gonna remember it for the rest of my life. It was 69842. I guess i even think bout this atleast once in a month. (arggggggghhhh !!! that is around 180 times, atleast !! )

Talking bout the symptom, i even doubt if it is hereditary. My mom partially suffered wit this syndrome i guess.(sorry mom !! ) I have stared agape when she spells out the DOBs, DOAs of all the family members effortlessly(the no. is around 50, maybe more, but never-the-less). I inherited that female chromosome i guess.

I wont proclaim myself as a good math-prob-solver because i guess there is a lotta things other than numbers in math. During my 8th STD(i guess !), my dad bought me a book named “Minnal Vega Kanidham”(translating to “Lightning Fast Math”) … some petty book, but that definitely has played its role in carrying this mania forward.

And calculator, a good toy indeed ! Used to keep pressing “2″, then “X”, then “2″, again “X” and then keep pressing “=” …. that gave me a good exposure to the math.pow !! A 10 digit calculator taught me powers till 2^33 … And looking at the pattern of numbers change was ecstasy .. especially when u see 2^25 = 33554432 ! I used to remember stupid numbers i see in newspapers, poster-dates, worst, even eavesdropped a passer-by and remembered a phone number for almost a month. ( i dont remember that now ! ) … I used to think i am a gifted child at times, realise am differently-abled !

Let alone math, history has a fair share of nos, right ?! yeah, Minto-Morley reforms – 1909, Battle of Plassey – 1757, Battle of Terrain – 1192 A.D … some that i was able to recollect, from my brain’s junkyard … I sometimes pat myself for this, but most of the times end up irritated …

Even after scribblin this much, the word count that keeps ticking at the bottom of this window is surely grabbing attention. Registering the fact that am gonna be a numerical-psychopath for the rest of my life. !!!

குமுறல் !!!

வெற்றியின் சின்னமாய் விளங்கினேன் …
இன்று வீழ்ச்சியின் விளிம்பில் வாழ்கிறேன் …

கொடிகளை அலங்கரித்த என்னைக் காப்பாற்ற
இன்று கொடிபிடிக்கும் சூழ்நிலை …

கம்பீரமாய் காட்டில் நடை நடந்தேன் …
இன்று கம்பிகளுக்கிடையில் சரணடைந்தேன் …

ஆண்மையின் அகரமாய் திகழ்ந்தேன் …
இன்று அண்டி வாழ இடம் தேடி அலைகிறேன் …

என் பெயரில் இயக்கம் அமைந்ததால் என்னவோ
அழிந்து போனதோர் மாந்தர் கூட்டம் …

“அத்துணை ராசியற்ற பெயரோ ?!” என்று நொந்து கொள்கிறேன் …
இது என்னுடைய உறுமல் இல்லை … குமுறல் … !!!!

Media – A Voyeur !?!

Inspite of having a few topics in mind waiting to be published, I have taken this up cos this is really disturbing. Where is the media heading toward ?! This was the question I had in mind after seeing a leading(LEADING shame !!!) channel in Tamil showing the scandal of Swami Nithyananda.(‘Swami’ has been mentioned just to identify the person). I was stunned seeing the video clipping of a so-called Godman but the thing that was more shocking was the way the news-person was describing it. The unavailability of audio in the clipping was an added advantage for them it seems, they started describing the way they might have interacted, allegations on the relationship etc etc. (Hear it, puke !!)

The quality of the news-content getting published and displayed these days are alarmingly abysmal. When significant achievements, astounding inventions and discoveries, appreciation for good virtues etc. are getting a seat in the back-row, if not the last row because of some high-minded agents still prevailing in the sector, the front-seaters are mainly terrorism, voyeurism and immoral activism.

I observed unwanted media-intervention first in the 26/11 attacks in Mumbai, I maybe really late. I felt the media should not have been permitted coverage to that extent. The horrible face of a dastardly act was shown to the public in a way that has never happened. Too much of coverage, same 2-min clip played for more than 100 hours, i was not actually buying it. And if they say that these were to create awareness about the danger a common-man could possibly encounter, I am lost. This will create awareness ?! This will create a fear, sense of despair and negative thought-flow, nothing else.

While the sensitivity of news of this kind is high and requires to be announced to the country by proper means, it was fine in some grounds. But, does anyone see an unselfish motive in the media reports involving sex scandals, tortures and harassments etc. ? The word “Extensive coverage” applies only to matters of this sort in the current trend. Tiger-Woods’s private life of the past was shamelessly scribbled, exhibitioned and portrayed in the media. Was this required ?! The wrong was committed but did that qualify to be a news on the 1st page !?!

I believed that if there were a classification in TV channels where a “Parental discretion” was not required in the past, it was the NEWS CHANNEL category. I changed my mind !!! God save the future-gen…