Three biggest Indian cricket defeats of my time

I have been an ardent cricket fan ever since I remember. I sill have faint memories of 1987 World Cup Semi Final defeat against England. India had a target of 255 to win and top order misfired. Flash forward twenty years, scene was little different, it wasn’t a semi final but it was a knock out match, equally important. There was again a target of 255 and top order collapsed, World Cup 2007 group match defeat against Sri Lanka was equally devastating for fans.

Now when emotions have dried a bit and reality seems to be sinking in, I got thinking about defeats those left me completely heart-broken as an Indian cricket fan. Considering the way Indian team plays there is no dearth of defeats but to make it an effortful exercise I thought I will restrict myself to top three those come to my mind. Factors those went in evaluating these defeats were significance of lost match, level of hope, team’s form and emotional letdown these defeats caused, and finally, this is based on the way I look at Cricket. It was tricky to pick just three and here are the unlucky ones:

3. India v Sri Lanka in group match of World Cup 2007 at Queen's Park Oval, Trinidad on 23 March, 2007

Well…this one is too recent and need no elaboration :-(

2. India v Sri Lanka in Semi Finals of World Cup 1996 at Eden Gardens, Kolkata on 13 March 1996,

This was an emotional defeat on a crumbling home pitch, probably too much to digest after winning an epic against Pakistan in Quarter Finals. An on course run chase crashed all too sudden and crying Kambli probably made a lot many others cry too.

1. India v Australia in Final of World cup 2003 at Wanderers Stadium, Johannesburg on 23 March, 2003

This one scores highly as I think this Indian team was the best we have ever got in a World Cup. They were playing amazingly well as a team and boy who can forget those very frequent huddles. But to Australia they looked almost invincible. To me this was our most convincing performance in World Cup. However in Finals over spirited Zaheer and a fourteen ball first over gave away Australia an early advantage and India never recovered from that point onwards. Honestly I still had some hope while we started chasing but Sachin’s departure sealed the coffin. Losing a World Cup Final leaves that frustrating feeling, too close but yet too far.

There are many more which came close to these three, Javed Miandad’s last ball six in Sharjah cup in 1986 was a very close entry to this list. Then 1987 World Cup Semi Final defeat against England was again a big blow. One more close competitor will be defeat to Pakistan at Ferozeshah Kotla Stadium in April 2005 when India lost last match of six match series. India had a lead of 2-0 and lost four matches in row to lose series by 4-2. Fourth defeat at Kotla was India's biggest defeat in terms of runs at home that time and was disrupted by disappointed fans throwing bottles on the field. If I recall correctly, this match was watched by Vajpayee and Musharraf, huh, what a shameful let down that was.

From a Cricket perspective, these top three humiliating defeats occurred when we were to chase a target, batting literally collapsed and we lost convincingly. But I also noticed some more patterns in my top three ranked Indian cricket defeats. All were in World Cup, boy I expect too much out of this carnival every time. All were in month of March, either I watch too much Cricket in March or may be March is unlucky month. Two of these defeats occurred on March 23rd, where the hell are those astrologers who predicted India’s win over Sri Lanka this time in all morning news shows?

What a nightmare…

It’s over and shall remain an unfilled dream for another four years. Derailed blue brigade has caused utter disappointment and humiliation. An over hyped mission, over one billion ardent fans, a spirited team with its back against the wall, a coach who revoked hopes of repeating the history; all were mercilessly shattered. Tears rolled, bottles broke and one of the most passionate sports dreams of India ended. Its time to call it a day, bid adieu to world cup, accept that we just couldn’t deliver when it mattered most, its time to pack bags and leave battlefield, its time to make ways for gladiators who deserve to be there, its time to painfully and reluctantly move on.

Times ahead…

Is consistency important in life? Is having a clear sense of direction in life important? Are vague ideas worthless? These are few questions that have been debated over several drink session throughout my college days. There have been many who believed consistency, crystal clear purpose and clarity in thoughts are essential and then there are few like me who have debated that these aren’t necessary. Every time we used to run out of liquor and thus energy to argue and capacity to generate more creative arguments, that’s why a conclusion was never arrived on this subject.

Few weeks back I drove to Bangalore and met up with one of my pals who used to be on other side of the argument and still is. Over a beer, unknowingly, we were again where we left it in college days. None of us have changed the sides, there were just more creative arguments, life’s experiences to supplement our points and a little more patience to listen others idea with a sense of openness and maturity. This time we were short on time and fully aware that few subjects are never to be concluded and probably its better that way.

Driving my way back to Chennai, I reflected on times gone by and times ahead of me. More I thought more I was convinced that consistency isn’t important. Take for example people, one of the most amazing creations of god but extremely inconsistent (i.e. heterogeneous bunch). Have you ever met two identical folks? I haven’t and I know I will never. My point is if you become consistent then where’s the fun, everyone knows how to get around you. If you have had a track record of changing course of your life every few years towards things you never imagined, you will agree crystal clear sense of direction is a myth. My vague ideas are always my source of inspirations and keep me going.

There are occasions when I am lost because I have no clue where I will be few months down the line. However few months down the line I do find myself at point which is far better than what I would have expected or pushed myself for in case I would have been clear. I am once again at that juncture where there is vagueness for the time ahead. Lot of uncertainties and changes ahead and I am looking in future with vagueness but excitement and I am sure I won’t be wrong. Cheers to times ahead. :)

Who am I?

I am misfortune’s boon,
I am rainy sunny noon,
I am darkroom lit by moon,
I am snow for you in June,

I am tears in your smile,
I am undiscovered isle,
I am walk down the green mile
I am life for you a while,

I am broken man’s only hope,
I am convict’s hanging rope,
I am part of a violent mob,
I am nonexistent place on globe.

I am unclaimed piece of land,
I am digging up a diamond in sand,
I am living in wonderland
I am Alice’s best friend.

Inspiration: Gin Soaked Boy – Divine Comedy

Three in the same week…

Last week was full of action for Indian judiciary and outcomes were exemplary by all means. High profiles getting convicted isn’t something that is normal in India, it rarely happens. Indian judicial system has been severely criticized in recent times for its tied hand approach in dealing with high profile cases and in the backdrop of that criticism last week was probably a sigh of relief for people who have lost their faith in the system.

As a pure coincidence, Shibhu Soren (A high profile tribal politician, ex-minister), Sanjay Dutt (One of the top actors in Indian film industry, called Bollywood), and our own Navjot Singh Sidhu (ex cricketer, man who spiced up the way cricket is commentated), all three were convicted last week. Soren was facing charges of murder, Sidhu was charged under Section 304 (2) of the IPC (culpable homicide not amounting to murder)and Sanjay was charged under terrorism prevention and arms act. It was especially amazing to see CBI (Central Bureau of Investigation) seeking capital punishment for Soren for masterminding his personal assistance’s murder.

So is this a turn around for Indian judicial system? I honestly don’t think so, primarily because judiciary is dependent on legal and investigation framework to arrive upon a judgment. Being born and brought up in a lawyer family, I know for sure that judicial system has far more loop holes to be plugged at grass root levels. We can probably blame judiciary for not delivering most obvious verdict or we can burn thousands of candles at India gate but the fact is that if an investigating agency or attorney has decided to take the case off track, judicial system is going to find it difficult to see the obvious. Take for example Priyadarshani Matoo's case, while delivering the judgment lower court judge made a hopeless statement that though he knew that the Santosh is the man who committed the crime, he was forced to acquit him, giving him the benefit of doubt. Years later, Santosh has been given capital sentence in the same case, only thing which probably changed from the last time was the way prosecution and police presented the case during retrial.

So will we ever be able to tighten our police, investigation and legal system so that judiciary can deliver decision based on what actually happened rather than what was told in a court room by bunch of setup evidences, investigating squads and piles of reports?

Life’s biggest gamble…are you ready?

October 20, 2006

There are very few topics under the sun about those I do not have a firm opinion or decisive frame of mind and I got to admit that marriage is one of them. Every six months when I am back home this topic keeps coming back and with every passing home trip I am running out of excuses, I have tried all of standard ones and some pretty innovative ones too. I guess being able to buy almost three years using all of those is by no definition a mean achievement, but the bigger question is how long? Tomorrow I will be attending two more friend’s weddings; others who got married in last couple of years have become dad n moms. ‘Am not complaining and neither I am in a hurry, I just need to make up my mind.

Honestly I can’t clearly explain you why I am running from marriage. Am I scared of commitments? I guess not that I know of. I haven’t made many of those in my short lifetime so far and whatever I made I tried living up to. Got accused for not keeping few of them but I know I honestly tried. I guess part of the reason I am so scarred about marriage is the risks associated with this eight letter word. Once married, you are supposed to understand and act on your partner’s feeling and if you are the one like me who have been extremely bad in dealing with other’s feeling, you better be scared. I mean, how are you supposed to know that when India is about to score that long awaited win against Australia in mother of all cricket matches, your partner would like to go for a long drive and that’s what is causing her little chubby chin go up, I honestly can’t figure that out. I can’t read feelings, can’t timely interpret facial frowns, can be too disconnected at times, can rarely say appropriate flowery tales when matters, and can rarely peep in someone’s heart; few things just don’t come to me naturally and that’s me.

I am a drifter and unless I get someone who can tie me down with a long long rope I may just drift apart hurting someone’s feeling unintentionally. In marriage, my worst nightmare would be to wake up one day and realize that both of us have drifted apart in opposite directions almost without noticing it with our own interests. No fuss made, no reasons like irreconcilable differences, no hard feelings; suddenly one day it dawns on you that you are still extremely friendly but there is no passion, depth or connection in your companionship. Scary, isn’t it? And when you are playing the biggest gamble of your life, you better be scared.

That’s’ may be the reason I am scared. I am probably just happy and content with life and things the way they are. May be I am just not willing to take that risk of shaking the apple cart. I know I am running a race against time and life will catch up very soon like it always does, I am anyway not one who is pledging to die as a bachelor. I am running my car on reserve gas and I got to stop before I run out of gas. Now the car and reserve gas might not be the best analogy to explain such a delicate issue like marriage and if that’s the case you would have to put up with me. I haven’t got a scholarly or legendary style of writing and I am sure you would have figured that out if you are reading this blog form past sometime.

I have seen lot of my friends getting married and settling down in life (as people call it, I am still trying to figure out what do they mean by settling down, to me what can’t remain afloat goes and settle down in the bottom). Few of them are no more what they used to be, I guess their preferences, priorities and outlook has changed and none of them are complaining. However, as an observer I do see people changing, and I guess I am scared of changing myself. I may not complain some years down the life but right now I am just on the fence watching wickets going down and hoping that they will call off the match due to poor light and I may not need to play. That’s optimism, huh, cheers.

"just friends"?

I was talking to one of my friend and this interesting topic came up. The essence of the discussion that led me to this topic was that friendship and relationship got to be two different things. I will not argue too much on that aspect. The aspect I had problem with was on transitioning between these two stages. She believed that if you are friends, you got to be friends for whole of the life, no room for relationship. Now I do not want to take a stand on this, may be life would have been simpler if rule of life would have been so clearly defined and taught to all of us. The point is life isn’t that straight forward or black and white, there is plenty of gray areas and that leaves a lot on mortals like me and you to make or mess it.

Personally I do not see an issue in friends seriously falling for each other; it makes amazing sense to me. I guess you should be more than lucky if you can find a companion in your best friend. It helps if you have known and understand each other truly because that’s what is crucial for a successful relationship. I believe you will agree that a friend is certainly preferred over a stranger.

Now let’s talk about friends turning in to lovers, navigating rough weather of transition and successfully transforming the friendship in to a relationship or messing up a great friendship (whichever the fate turns out to be). Transition from friendship to a potential relationship is a tricky one and unless otherwise you have a rule book on Do’s and Don’ts in life like my friend, you are very likely to find yourself on this juncture in your life. There is a stage between friendship and relationship which is above friendship but below commitment level and that’s the most vulnerable time of this transition. It’s a juncture when one needs to quickly switch gear and rise to the occasion. At this point one needs to be crystal clear on where the whole thing is heading, if you can commit to it, fine, go ahead. However if any one of you get to this stage with a hazy reading of situation, you are heading for a trouble. It will eventually lead you to destination nowhere and you will end up messing a great friendship. Sort things out as soon as you can because from here when things fall, it’s a rapid southward nosedive.

Oops…lecturing on relationships isn’t my cup of tea and I guess I just got too carried away with my thoughts, thanks for putting up with the last few lines. No lectures, ‘am not qualified for that ;-), Cheers,

No 'U' Turns...

I promised myself that I will post a new blog entry over this weekend and so I am making this half hearted attempt ;-) to keep up that promise.

Sometimes life seems to me a long one way. You can drive down it as fast or as slow as you want but there aren’t any U turns and reverse gears. We keep moving on and then wish that those good times would have been a little longer, may be forever. When you were in school you wanted to go to college and then when you were in college you wanted to get in to professional life. Haven’t we always been looking ahead in future with a sense of impatience and restlessness for our initial part of life? And now, once in a while don’t you feel like going back and being a part of that innocent childhood, mom’s kitchen, sister’s dolls, accompanying Dad for a shopping spree, kites, street cricket, those true friends, being part of that house cleaning marathon during Diwali days, I can go on and on with this list but let’s face it, we can’t be there. No, I am not complaining, I am just realizing one fact here that you can’t go back. So the point is to live today, try to smile on yesterday no matter what it was and look forward to a tomorrow when looking back you will be smiling about today.

Now if that’s getting too philosophical, I apologize, philosophy isn’t my cup of tea. I talk out of my experiences in my little life and apparently life has been such a crazy ride that my experiences sounds like philosophy. Have a good week ahead.

Random thoughts on a lazy Saturday afternoon

Its 3:30 PM on a lazy Saturday noon. I have enqueued few of my pal songs on the winamp and just wanted to write something. Its long since I have posted anything here so wanted to make up for that. However to be honest, I do not have any idea on what to write. I am hoping as I continue some direction or topic will come up, if you aren’t used to lost and random thoughts, you may want to call it a quit at this point.

Over last five years great deal of things have changed for me and my taste of music is certainly one of them. I hardly knew an English song or singer then and now I know reasonable number of those. Thanks to assorted CDs burnt during late nights of last few months at college, Worldspace and VH1. In the right side tab of this blog, you will see few songs that I have recently come across (Not necessarily new songs) and kind of liked. If you click on the song, it should take you to the lyrics. However a word of caution, most of these lyrics will be abstract and shady. I guess, off late most of the singers (If you exclude hip hop) are singing along less happier lines or may be my antenna for noticing happy songs is tuned out.

Let’s talk about dynamics of two important fellows those have made us what we are and will determine what we will be tomorrow; welcome Mr. Mind and Ms. Heart. Mind is a typical analytical creature who will dissect every little situation and apply all possible models (What-if, what’s in it me, Return on Efforts, time value of decision etc.) to arrive on a risk free, minimal effort, socially acceptable and practical response to the situation, very typical of we guys and so lets give a Mr. prefix. On other hand, Heart has a different way of looking at things. Heart is extremely spontaneous, follows the intuition, believes everything is possible, isn’t scared of expressing the emotions and most importantly, gives a damn to all models followed by Mr. Mind, very typical of girls and so the prefix Ms. Now the problem is that these two fellows do not have a clear demarcation of roles and responsibilities for enabling you to live a hassle free life.

You better do not let your heart drive you on a bad day at work. Heart will say “f*** it, I can’t take this crap, I deserve better, let’s put in papers”. Mind will tell you “where will you go? You don’t even have a resume ready and job market is horrible. Also let’s honestly accept it that you were lucky to get in this job itself. Forget even serving notice period, they will be more than happy to release you with immediate effect. Your monthly fixed costs (House rent and Car EMI) are three times than your current bank balance”. I guess listening to mind is an obviously convenient choice in this case. Take other extreme, you have been asked out on a date that you have daydreamed for months. Mind says “boss, where do you have time, money and energy for all this? Remember she has dumped her last bf because he wasn’t in town on her birthday as he needed to attend an urgent meeting in States. If she dumps you, you will be all around the place being Devdas reloaded, remember what happened to you when that colleague of yours with whom you were still planning to start conversation changed the job. This girl has grown up listening Nirvana and for first twenty years of your life you thought Nirvana is a religious western groups like our ISKON. Plus this girl is not from your caste, she doesn’t even speak Hindi. Will there be any future with her anyway? Your mom will freak-out seeing her” Heart says “you love her and love is blind, who cares about the rest. She has asked you out and you both have amazing chemistry. Your love is taller than erstwhile WTC towers, caste and language can’t be a bar among loving hearts. You can remember all Nirvana lyrics for her and you can make this relationship work because it’s worth it” Now it’s your call to whom you want to listen in this case () but the bigger question is that where do we go from here and how do we live this heart-mind paradox?

Whom should you generally listen to? I guess I will leave you with this thought for now. Have a good weekend.

In the circle of life, don't run, life catches up...

Ever thought about a circle? No, I am not kidding; however, I do realize that it takes lots of beer to get to that kind of thought process (for me it was four). Coming back to my circle, isn’t life a circle? Two things about a circle; first, you go around a time or two just to waste your time and realize that you are back to where you started from, second and more interesting aspect is that when you are back to where you started from, you are never on the same side; you are now facing to what you were showing your back. Isn’t that life? You conveniently turn your back on things you want to put behind and start walking away with a hope that every step is taking you far from those unpleasant realities. However, life standing still where you turned your back at it smiles at you. You pace up to get away, more you pace up shorter it takes to get back, and eventually on one turn you realize something familiar is around the corner. “Welcome buddy, how have you been? You came back pretty fast, huh” grins familiarity. You are facing what you avoided, life catches up, and it does almost all the time. Cheers, ;-)

Back in Battlefield

I was on a reasonably long vacation and returned two weeks back. I was holidaying in remote sandy corners of Rajasthan. Obviously that doesn’t sound such an exotic or great idea about vacations in peak summer but it was fun. I guess the vacation was necessary to get over few of the things those I had running through my head for a long long time. I thought I succeeded a bit in doing that. On second thought, may be not. What the heck, why am I such a spineless stupid?

Thy name is woman...

With the risk of being termed a MCP, I dedicate this post to all the girls I have known and will know in times to come (I feel like god :)). I bet anyone who has known a woman (including women themselves) will agree that this poem is so damn true. Enjoy...

An angel of truth and a dream of fiction,
A woman is a bundle of contradiction.
She’s afraid of a wasp, will scream at a mouse,
But will tackle her boyfriend alone in the house.

She’ll take him for better, she’ll take him for worse,
She’ll break open his head and then be his nurse.
But when he’s well and can get out of bed,
She’ll pick up the teapot and aim for his head.

Beautiful and keenly sighted, yet blind,
Crafty and cruel, yet simple and kind.
She’ll call him a king, then make him a clown,
raise him on a pedestal, then knock him flat down.

She’ll tell him that he is the best guy she ever met,
Then she'll ask him why can’t they just be friends.
When she is upset, she'll like him to leave her alone,
And if he does so, she'll tell him he has a heart made of stone.

She’ll inspire him to deeds that ennoble man,
Or make him her lackey to carry her fan.
She’ll run away from him and never come back,
But if he runs away, then she’ll be on his tracks.

Sour as vinegar, sweet as a rose,
She’ll kiss you one minute, then turn up her nose.
She’ll win you in range, enchant you in silk,
She’ll be stronger than brandy, milder than milk.

At times she’ll be vengeful, merry and sad,
She’ll hate you like poison, and love you like mad.

Note: This one is not original; it is by a Mid Day correspondent and was published in March 2006 in Mid Day, Mumbai. However, I have added one paragraph in the original one; I hope it has fit in well. No prize for guessing but no harm in trying either.

One thoughtless political decision, one giant setback for meritocracy

Never write off politicians. Just in case you did, they have come back. They were ignored for a long by youth, who gave a damn to them. They lost their front page print media space and their time share on TV channels to shining stars of India Inc. Dalal Street started making more news than Indian Parliament and I thought we are moving forward. Moving forward to building an India where the country has not been broken up into fragments by narrow domestic walls of religion, caste and gender. I thought we are inching towards making India a country that is built on foundation of meritocracy, an economic powerhouse where results matter and not reasons, a future that puts the ghosts of our political blunders to rest and a political environment where youth can stand united and fight to regain and restore India’s supremacy. They yet again proved me wrong.

The Human Resouce Ministry has recently proposed to introduce reservations for other backward classes in higher education institutes, including the IITs, IIMs and 20 central universities. If implemented the overall reservation in the central government institutions will be from the current 22.5% for SC and ST students to 49.5%. The politics of reservations is back and for politicians definitely make great sense ahead of the Uttar Pradesh elections next year where the OBC vote could change the political landscape.

I was in school when Mandal commission report stirred the whole country. I still can’t unremember the burning pictures of Rajeev Goswami (The poster boy of anti-Mandal agitation, 1990) on India Today cover page and what followed it. It started the series of self-immolation incidents all over India. He was a Hero for me in my childhood and in my teenage years I developed a sense of anger for reservation due to the cost I paid. Rajeev never got a government job and died a lonely and unnoticed death last year. Barring a few cursory references to the act that had once catapulted him to iconic status, it was an unsung death. Why Rajeev Goswami died unsung? It’s because India has changed so dramatically in the last 15 years that neither the cause he espoused with such violence, nor the methods his opponents employed to crush the agitation are relevant today. But I guess there are still people around who want to bring back the ghost of Rajeev.

I believe with age come wisdom but I guess not for politicians. Though I had been deeply involved in caste based politics and gang rivalries during my early undergrad college days, I matured and put behind the caste discrimination. Our politicians still seem to be stuck with caste based politics. My point is that everybody needs to be judged based on his/her capability. In what caste one is born is something which he/she doesn’t have a control on. So why differentiate based on caste? Are we saying that everyone born in upper caste is born with a silver spoon? Are we to believe that all backward caste families are below poverty line in India? Yes, we need to support under privileged social groups to elevate them to even levels in social strata but at what stages and up to what extent? India has had reservation system in place from ages and politicians need to accept that it has not worked the way it was envisaged. If we want to do the same thing over and time again but expect different results, that’s pure insanity. This caste based reservation has just divided the nation at grass root levels.

The recent government proposal is a giant setback for meritocracy and forced me to initiate this caste Vs merit debate. I don’t believe that caste should be criteria for reservation; rather it should be economical status of an individual. If you want upper caste kids from lower middle class families to score almost double marks than their lower caste, higher class counterparts and still be out on stands, go ahead. If you want to penalize him/her because he/she is born in an upper class family, go ahead. If you want few more Rajeev Goswami, go ahead. Else, rethink.

This post is an expression of my personal views. I do not intend to offend any body. If you agree with me, please sign the petition against proposed reservation (Link below). I do not know if this will change anything but I still want to do my bit for supporting a cause:

http://www.petitiononline.com/No_Quota/

Outlandish disorder

The idea of this post is not to bitch about life or generate sympathy by self pitying. These are random thoughts to vent out something which I have no clue about. I am going through some very strange syndrome; don’t know what it’s called coz it never happened before. It’s strange and definitely not fun. I am not myself anymore. Last I remembered, I was right on the top of life, couldn’t have complained about anything not going my way. When everything seemed so perfect, just right then something swept me under my feet. I guess I have a reasonable idea about this ‘something’ but no clue on what followed it. Funny part is that being swept is not new to me. Life has tried that many times before too, but this time looks like life fellow got it right. So here I am, down and out in myself.

Everything that can go wrong, have gone (Murphy must be pretty happy to see that his law works, I bet it does). You name it, I got it. “Identity crisis”, “Directionless life”, “Comparison Blues”, “Crushed spirit” and “Evaporated confidence”. I am still doing fine enough to not generate even a minor blip on external radars about my state of mind, I guess of late I have become damn good at it. What has got hit is definitely something in me.

Living life with lost confidence is something that I am not used to. Its painful coz it makes you forget everything which you were so proud about and good at. It makes you realize what all you have lost and how miserable you are. Your flaws and limitations seem larger than life and you hate yourself for whatever you are. You lose sleep and start operating in a pre programmed manner. I guess right somewhere there I am. I thought giving time to myself will make a difference but this seems to be one of those things that get worse with time. Just when you think it can’t get worse, something happens.

I guess one good thing in this syndrome is that I am getting to know myself and knowing your limitations is not bad if you have never admitted those. At the end of the day I am not a perfect person and when I come out of this syndrome I will just want to be what I am. Until then I am lost, will not let system get me down but got no energy to fight back either. Gonna try everything other than giving up :-)

SSDD Demystified

If I ask you to remember and list significant days of your life, how long a list will you come up with? Fifty, hundred, five hundred? I sincerely doubt if anyone can list more days than that. So now what is your age? Let’s say twenty five years. Now tell me if you just remember hardly two years of that, where did other twenty three years go? Other twenty three years of your life can be termed SSDD; Same Shit Different Day.

SSDD is vastly misunderstood and is considered as a negative way of looking at life. However, I firmly believe that one agrees or not, SSDD exists in everybody’s life. Let’s face the truth; in life there are two types of days, few to live and rest to survive. It’s like they tell you in cricket, not every ball is to hit. You need to leave tough ones and hang on there until that loose one comes your way on which you can free your arms. Similarly in your life, you go through ordinary days in ordinary ways doing all the ordinary stuff, don’t you? So there is SSDD, isn’t it? However, you obviously don’t sulk and become full of pessimism when you are letting an ordinary day go by. So you see SSDD is not a pessimist phenomenon, its rather your way of telling life that you will not let ordinary stuff divert you from stuff that you are really excited about. So next time when you realize that life has thrown an ordinary day towards you and someone asks you how is it going, what are you going to tell? Tell the truth, embrace SSDD.

Life goes on, day by day, SSDD way...

If I look back to May 2003 time frame it was euphoria and ambitions of conquering summits of excellence in our professional worlds that helped me bidding a courageous farewell to all that I loved. I mean it was never easy to imagine life without System Lab and Gurunath kind of things. Somehow things changed a lot after that, partly with time and partly due to circumstances, and hopefully all for the good. I still had a PC with almost similar configuration until last summer as I had in sys lab and I still do drink coffee from a Nescafe vending machine, however neither sys lab nor Gurunath is a part of life. All this is not sheer nostalgia; somewhere down there lies the truth of my life. I still remember, while sitting in Gurunath on a late summer night, me, Deepak and Swapan talked about the same funny thing called life. We went all over; friends, family, love, career and what not. During all that discussion Tidel Park building in distant background with all its glow was a kindda representative of an immediate milestone for times to come; a beginning of new chapter in our professional life. Months later I ended up getting a job in that building, and several months later to that, every late night I walk to office pantry, forcing my face as close as possible to the screened glass wall in a hope of getting a glimpse of dim lights of Gurunath; never succeeded, lights are too bright in pantry and too dim in Gurunath. That’s life; hope you are getting the theme.

Past thirty three months have been a fairly good time, but if you ask me am I happy, I don’t have an answer. Logically I should be; if I go by numbers, I should still be. Though there have been significant things to be happy, cherish and to be proud about, looks like the average duration for which this happiness lasts has reduced exponentially. Now a days happiness lives for minutes and disappointment may prevail for days. People wonder what the hell else you need in life if what you have is not enough and you complain what the hell I should give more to life to get what I need. Lots of ‘What’ and nobody seem to have any answer, even you. Seems funny? Amidst all this life still goes on, day by day, SSDD way.