The Cricket matches that MY generation will never forget!!
10/25/2015 11:04:00 am
I saw this
video on Facebook, the great moments of Indian cricket (2000-2015). It brought
so many memories. I was going to share on my timeline, but then as I was
writing a status I realized that this won’t do justice to these memories. So this
is how this post was born. Read on. I am quite sure all of you belonging to MY
generation can relate to each of these matches. This video does highlight most
of matches, but I wished they made a 1990 to 2015 one so that we don’t miss out
on the ones before that.
The best
part of the video was that I remembered not only the details about these
matches but even the back-story attached to each of these. Those were the days when I used to watch
matches right from the toss to the presentation ceremony. There are so many of
these matches! It’s difficult to choose a few out of those many matches but
then I have tried to list the most memorable one, in no specific order.
If I had to pick up one match or one performance that would definitely be Sachin Tendulkar at Sharjah. This one was an awesome knock. We had to score a specific number of runs to reach the finals and Sachin played a blinder of an innings. He simply bludgeoned the Australian bowlers, especially the Australian bowlers. What made the knock even more interesting was the commentary by Tony Greig. It was like the icing on the cake/ “sone pe suhaga”. It was also the first occasion I guess where the match was interrupted by a sandstorm.
The next one
is the Hero cup league match at Eden Gardens (the first match played in
floodlights there) and this time too India needed to win this one to reach the
final. Sachin has mesmerized all of us
by his batting but he has this uncanny knack of breaking partnerships. He could
bowl all sorts of deliveries. Medium pace, leg breaks , off spin. And he used
to move the ball quite a distance. This one over was special of course, South
Africa needed 6 runs from the last over. There were other main stream bowlers
like Srinath and Kapil Dev, but then Azhar gave the ball to Sachin, rather he
offered to bowl (History repeated itself when Dhoni gave the bowl to Joginder
Sharma, Can’t compare the two but an odd decision none the less). Run out, 0, 0, 0,1, 1. India win! True hero of the Hero cup!
The next
one is an interesting one and I doubt if many will remember this one. This was
the Titan cup in 1996, a tri-series between South Africa, Australia and India
just after the 1996 world cup. India played Australia at Bangalore and we were
47/4 chasing 216 (back then anything above 200 was a decent target). We did not have cable back then , I remember watching most of these 1993- 1996 wala matches at our neighbor’s place. This one I
watched with my family at home as we had got our own TV by then. Earlier the TV
coverage was not as statistics savvy as now and they did not show all stats at
all times like now. So I and my dad has this habit of calculating the required
run rate at the end of every over. We never used the calculator but we did all
the calculations on a slate and pencil (That helped me my math classes
eventually!). It used to be a fun family thing. Coming back to the match, as
always Sachin anchored the innings but then after he was out there were very
little hopes of India winning (which was the case during most of the matches at
that time.) But then Javagal Srinath (30 of 23) and Anil Kumble (16 of 19) were
the unexpected heroes who won the match for India. The visual of Kumble’s mom
cheering every run in the spectators is something I vividly remember.
The next is
Ajay Jadeja’s blitzkrieg 25 ball 45 against Pakistan in the quarter final of the 1996 world
cup.
There is
the other match of this world cup which we all remember but we wish we forgot.
The semifinal against which turned ugly because of the spectators and had to be abandoned. All of us still remember, Vinod Kambli
crying as he walked off the ground
Another
special ground was Toronto and that was the series I used to look forward to. The surprise package there was Sourav Ganguly who with his medium
pacers was quite successful at this ground.
Irfan
Pathan bowling against Pakistan was a pleasure to watch. The way he swung the
ball was brilliant. His hat-trick in the first over of this test match was very special. Just watch the Younis Khan getting bowled.
Natwest
Final against England!
The T20
triumph! I remember watching this at the KEM Naigaon Boy’s hostel. The atmosphere
in that small TV room was simply electric. There were people dancing stripping
and throwing all sorts of things here and there with excitement. It was the
last over, Misbah after doing all the hard work committed suicide and Joginder
Sharma was the unlikely her. Dhoni’s Midas touch had just begun!
Yuvraj and his six sixes!
India vs
Pakistan 2003 ! Who can forget the way
Sehwag and Sachin butchered the star Pakistani bowling line up (Wasim Akram,
Waqar Younis and Shoaib Akhtar)
2011 World Cup. I was at some conference and was not able to catch the match during the day. We were at the ITC Maratha ,Andheri. The conference got over at 8 and there was no way that we could watch the match if we travelled back. So we crash into this restaurant there where they were playing it on a huge screen and request them if we could watch the match. We ended up cheering, shouting and chanting “India! India!!” with random corporate guys at the restaurant as India triumphed. What followed that victory was even more crazy. People were on streets till late night carrying the national flag. Some of us even managed to gate crash Wankhede that night. Only to be beaten by the police but then that’s how crazy it gets.
There are a very few recent ones in the list. I don’t think that Indians have made a better comeback than this one, especially while defending a total. South Africa were placed comfortably at 188-1 and ended up losing the game (Losing a game from a comfortable position is India's forte but there are exceptions when tables turn). The brilliant catch was Yuvraj was the thing that triggered the downfall of the Chokers.
The
follow-on triumph at Eden Gardens! The Dravid-Laxman partnership was not the
only special thing in this test match. Watching Bhajji bowl during the entire series was simply
superb. With the ball doing so much and men in catching position around the batsman, every ball seemed to be
exciting.
There are
many more matches. Thanks to these great players for making our childhood special,
especially Sachin Tendulkar. There is always the never ending debate how he
played for stats and he didn’t win India matches. To silence the critics 53 out
of his 100 international centuries have come in winning matches (the only one
with a better record being Ricky Pointing with 55 centuries). Anyhow its not
his talent on field that I admire but the efforts he took to get there. The
hardworking gentlemen that he is (remember he walked off when he was caught
behind at Sharjah, even before the umpire declared him out). He has achieved so
much and yet he so humble. His autobiography, ‘Playing it my way’ is an excellent
read.
These days especially
with the IPL fever, there is oversaturation of cricket I feel. I don’t follow
it as regularly as I used to do. But then still there are ardent fans of the
game. The fans of the NEW generation. Cricket is still the most religiously followed
religion in India, but then probably it has lost some of its most worshipped deities.
Cricket will no longer be the same for me as it was back then when Sachin-Dravid-Laxman-Saurav-Kumble-Srinath
represented India.
An Amatuer Guide for Planning a Himalayan Adventure Trek!
10/21/2015 11:27:00 am
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| Those were the best days of my life! |
I recently completed the National Himalayan Hampta Pass Trekking Expedition organized by the Youth Hostels Association of India (YHAI). This was my first national trek and it was a wonderful experience. The base camp for the trek was at Manali and the top most point of the trek was Hampta Pass which is around 14000 ft (for reference the Mount Everest stands 29000 ft tall). Would like to share a few tips which helped me planning the trip. Read on to find out!
The first and the foremost thing is to make up your mind. The rest all falls in place automatically, trust me on this one. Until you decide on that nothing will seem going your way but once you decide this, all things seem to fit in. Like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle; seems way too difficult to start off, but then once you see the bigger picture it’s like child’s play (exaggeration I know but then these things need a push, infact a lots of pushes to be convinced). And what’s the easiest way to fix up your mind? Book tickets. Book tickets for the trek. Book tickets for travel. Book tickets for your stay. (The more you are unsure about yourself, more the tickets you should book: P). The fear of losing money on cancellation is a good enough inspiration for most of us. On a serious note, that’s the next thing you do. Most of these the National Level treks fill in fast, especially the slots around holidays. Plane tickets get costlier by the day and train tickets fill up fast, so it’s always better to finish of these bookings well in advance. Also keep a buffer for your bookings , especially the return tickets. If the trek schedule changes or you have any other issue you always have a spare day to tackle these. The other advantage (and the more important one) is that you can check out the adjacent places like most of us did. When your boss thinks that you are "HAVING Typhoid" for 7 days, you might as well have it for 10 days :) ;) You may not get to such an opportunity later.
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| If this doesn't inspire you then nothing will!! |
YHAI is a national level
non-profit NGO which organizes group treks all over India. Lifetime membership
is cheap and that entails you to trek all over India, including local YHAI
groups. They have professional, disciplined guides and safety issues are taken
care of. (We had a 17 year old girl who had come all the way from Gujarat all
alone. Kudos to her but credits to the YHAI team too for building that kind of trust and reputation). All this at a very reasonable price. You can read about the organization here and have a look at their adventure programs here. The other options are
private trekking groups. They organize group trek as well as private treks for
5-6 people. These are bit costlier but then they provide better facilities. You
can chose either. Google them, you will find lots of such groups.
If you haven’t
made up your mind, please do that. People who don’t come for treks (but wish
that they were once you show them those awesome selfies, velfies and other pics)
have this common question: Why are you going for a trek? Or other variations of
this question like : “Itne upar jake kya karna hai?”, “Upar jake neeche hi
utarna hai to upar kyun jana hai”, “Pahad chadne mein kya maza hai”, “Why subject
your body to such atrocities?”. There are many answers to this question, but
then none of them can answer it perfectly. The only way you will be able to
find out the answer is to experience it. Pictures are not even a close
representation of the kind of fun you will be having. It’s something that you
can’t describe in words. The other problem that one faces is the lack of
company. It’s difficult to convince people in the first place, secondly people
have different preferences. Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani is partly to blame for that
I guess. People expect to find someone like Deepika Padukone these treks (They
themselves are akin to Rajpal Yadav but then no harms in dreaming ;)). The only
reason you should do this is YOU. Most of the people we met had come alone.
Discovering new people, people from different states, different age group, and
different cultural background is way more fun than hanging around with the same
people and discussing the same things that you do routinely. The room I was
lodged in for the 1st day had 4 other guys. We instantly connected within
no time and to such an extent that people thought we had come together. We
bonded on so many things, Bollywood being the most commonly discussed topic and
the one which never came up was Medicine. The latter felt so good J
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| The Panch Pandavs: Mr Anand (the alpha male of the group), Ajay (aka Haryanavi dude aka Suresh aka Afghani, Vijay (aka Ramesh), Manjunath (aka Majnu) and Me (aka Dactar babu aka bhaiyyaji selfie wala smile)) |
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| I, Me and Myself |
So that now
that you have crossed the two major hurdles, the Why and the with whom ones,
the next one is How?. There are two types of people at the treks, one who will
pack everything in their field of view in their backpack and the other who will
be dependent on the first type for everything on the trek. Either one is bad
and you need to have a balance cause it’s YOU will have to carry the bag all
the way up (unless of course you have a pair of X chromosomes like Goddess
Deepika, in which case you will have many Rajpal Yadav’s to do that job for you).
It’s a good practice thing to make up a list
of things and keep on adding things to it as you remember/or get advised to
carry. Carry a decent sized bag, you shouldn’t drown in the weight of your own
bag, at the same time you need to it to be spacious to pack stuff you want to
carry there and which MAY carry back from there. Pack your stuff well. Carry
extra plastic bags. They come in handy all the time and you may not be able to
get them at some place (The Manali Market had a strict no plastic bag policy).
Also you can compartmentalize your stuff in these. You have to pack and unpack
your bag everyday so you can have separate bags for each of the things.
Make sure
you get in the essentials first, and then you can chose from the optional
stuff. The list is exhaustive:
“Rucksack
(if You have one), Woolens, Cotton Shirts, Slacks, Cotton Pants, Sun Cap,
Shoes, Socks, Enameled or Steel Mug / tumbler, Plate, Spoon, Water purifying
tablets, Pen knife, Needle, Thread, Spare buttons, Goggles, Cold cream /
Vaseline, Soap, Toilet Paper, Towel, Rain sheet, Medicines which you normally use at home,
Camera with extra batteries. Jungle Boots/ Snow Shoes/ Trekking Boots are must
for walking on snow.”
I have
filtered a few of these:
The essentials:
A good pair of trekking shoes: If you are to take only one thing
to the trek, make sure this is it. Routine sports shoes may not suffice. That
depends on the trek you are going though. I had bought Action trekking shoes on
my friend’s advice and they were pretty good. These came in only two variants
and are available at all shops. The better option is Quechua. If you trek often
then a pair of Quechua shoes is a good option. Many of my fellow trekkers had
the same and they are good too.
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| Is there anything like a "foot"fie? |
Basic stuff as advised by the organizers: Warm clothes are essential if you trek to
North/ North East. These include warm inners, a good sweater/jacket, gloves and
socks. Trust me, when the temperatures trend to sub-zero range there is nothing
more comforting than having these. Most of us had all sorts of protection and
we still were shivering like crazy. The good thing about having our base camp
at Manali was that we could manage most of the stuff from there itself.
The Decathlon store is a good place to buy all authentic trek related stuff. Bangalore has a few places where they even rent out stuff.
Preparing your body for the trek: If there is time then it would be beneficial if you acclimatize your body a bit. Do a few local treks if possible. You can walk/jog, preferably uphill a few weeks prior to the trek. Breathing exercises also help. (Ramdev Baba ki Jai!). You don't want to end up with an injury there. It's not a pleasant experience, neither for your nor your fellow trekkers who will have to adjust for you.
The semi-essentials:
Sun protection: Yes. You read it right. You not only need to
prepare for the freezing nights but also the scorching sunlight which is
equally worse. A cap is the bare minimum
you need. A sunscreen is also helpful (at least SPF 50). At the end of the trek
there was a sharp demarcation line which separated our clothed unexposed part
of our hands and the exposed one!! Good quality sun-glasses are also helpful. That’s
a place where it’s more a utility than an accessory.
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| Chubti-Jalti Garmi ka mausam aya! |
A waist pouch: I found it to be really handy. Packing and
unpacking every day is a real pain which you will realize for yourself. Imagine
getting out your camera from your bag every time you need to capture that
perfect click (that happens quite often in these places!). At the same time you
can’t take the risk of your super costly smartphone plunging into the deep
Himalayan valleys from your pocket as you are climbing. You can’t go down to
get it back :P. I found a waist pouch really handy for stuff like my phone, my
glares, a few quick bites.
A good camera/ a phone with a good camera: Who doesn’t want to show off those
beautiful pictures once you are back? Yes I am contradicting my previous
statement that the only reason that you should trek is you, but then we all are
allowed a bit of hypocrisy. Majority of us want to capture those moments (apart
from a few who are above all these material things), not only to show off but also to relive those
moments once again. So a good camera is a must for the “Awww” wala awesome
moments. To couple that you MUST have a battery pack/power bank for the I-am-out-of-battery-wala
“Oh shit” moments. We did not have electricity for most part of the trek as I had my One Plus Two phone which captured
some amazing shots and awesome 4K videos. Many others had DSLR’s. Whatever
suits you the best!
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I owe these pictures to Xiaomi and Ambrane as much I owe to the awesome One plus two!
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A pair of chappals: It’s useful to roam around at the
camps in the night as every time you don’t have to wear and remove your shoes.
Plus your legs are suffocated wearing those shoes all day.
Rain Protection: Depending on the weather. You can buy this at
the base camp based on local advice that once you reach there
The
not so essentials:
Extra set of clothes: At these treks you need to keep your
bag as light weight as possible. Most of us had just one set of extra clothes and
we did manage. It’s not that you are going to have a bath every day. Plus
bathing in the River Beas when its freezing cold seems more like a
Roadies/Splitsvilla task rather than something you will willingly do (Splitsvilla
would be more interesting. This modern Mandakini would rather be called Ram
Teri Thandi Ho Gayi. Sad one I know but then I need to have a bit of masala).
The
quintessential stuff:
A smile on your face and a good attitude. Be open to
people. Make new friends. Learn new things. Share your thoughts.
Enjoy,
have the best time of your life and make the most of it. Kya pata yeh opportunity
Kal ho na ho!!
P.S./Statutory warning/Disclaimer:
This in no
way is a perfect guide. I am sharing my first time experience. The problems I
faced while planning my trek and what solutions that helped me. There are
better guides available and you can take the help of Google Baba as always for
more guidance. You can always add your suggestions for fellow trekkers in the
comments section.
P.P.S.
Planning to
write up a picture blog of the trip as and when I find time :)
