Cricket

It is more than 10 years since I have stopped watching cricket. It's not that I haven't watched any cricket at all since then. Some overs in this match, some balls in that, I've watched. But, I don't remember when I watched a match from start to finish. Probably the one when India won the world cup in 2011. 

I had never been a cricket-crazy guy. May be because, I never played the game. The only occasion I played was during my Infosys training days. I was included in the team because they didn't have enough players that day. I was the 11th batsman in the team. The bowler was on hat-trick, and I had to face the last ball of the over. I was pleaded by the non-striker to block the ball any which way, so that he could bat the next over. The bowler came charging along. It was a slow ball. I closed my eyes and with all my might swung the bat. When I opened my eyes, I saw the bowler and the wicket keeper celebrating. The hat-trick was complete. The non-striker batsman was giving me a look mixed of anger and frustration. That was the beginning and end of my cricketing career. 

Like any other Indian kid I had been an avid watcher of cricket during my childhood days. Was a big fan of Sachin. I think, death of my interest in cricket and Sachin's retirement are deeply connected. 

I still remember the day India won the world cup in 2011. After the match, we drove around the city in our car. There was tens of thousands of people on the road, celebrating, bursting crackers....and there was only one slogan on every mouth - Sachiiiin Sachinnn.  The atmosphere was exhilarating. 

I wish we will have similar celebration this time.

Today is India's semi-final against New Zealand. 

P.S. India WON! We are in the finals...Sunday gonna be fun!

P.P.S. India lost to Australia in the finals. Sad, but not heartbroken. Am I too old to be emotionally attached to things? 

     

Bibliophilia

I can't resist buying books. 

I have now, in my possession, more books than I can read in next 10 years. Yet, there is not a single week where I don't add more books in my wishlist, not a single month where I don't convert some of those to actual purchases, not a single year where I haven't added more books than I have read that particular year. 

Today, I bought yet another 10 books (I had bought 50 odd just last month during Amazon sale). Most of today's purchase are for my daughter though, I consoled myself. Knowing very well that, I only bought the ones that I am going to read as well, adding those to "Read with Daughter" shelf. 

Buying books has become a compulsive obsession. Sigh! 

Unfiltered

Well...Decided to a start a new blog. On Diwali evening of 2023.

Content - unfiltered thoughts, random musings, interesting observations, vicious rants. On anything and everything.   

Calling it "Thinklets" - thoughts that are not fully formed, structured....(I used to think it is a term coined by me, only to discover that the domain name in blogspot is already taken.)

Hopefully, will be more regular here, unlike the previous failed attempts. 

In the year 2005, I started blogging. weirdofromnowhere.blogspot.com . I used to curate my blog rather frequently there. Posting 1-2 blogs every week, in the initial year. Don't know what fame I was chasing then. Probably, an ambition to be a writer some day, perhaps, a famous writer to that. Create a movie blog too during those years. Both the blogs finally died in 2013, after taking several breaks in between. 

I moved to Wordpress in 2015 with weirdofromnowhere.wordpress.com and vowed to be more regular there. Experimented writing in Odia there. Struggling to type in Odia in a separate website, copy+pasting and losing my thoughts completely thereby. Oof. Anyway, that site is also dying.

The problem is probably, I am thinking too much before I am typing. Not required. Hence, this new site. 

Sarah asked, "Are you killing me?"

I replied, "How can I? You are my conscience."

Pongalswamy asked, "And, me?"

I said, "Of course not. Both of you are my guardians. While Sarah is my moral guardian, Pongalswamy is my first critic. How can I get rid of my yin and yang?"

Pongalswamy said, "Then, how will this blog be different from the previous two attempts?"

I sighed, "I don't expect it to be too different. Just the way you discard your old notebooks, and start a new one hoping that new one is going to reflect your changed thoughts, it is something like that."

Sarah encouraged, "All the best..."

Happy Diwali, by the way!