In search of myself...

What does it take to become a wicketkeeper? Concentration, fitness, hard work, technique, etc. What does it take to become a wicketkeeper batsman? The aforementioned aspects plus batting skills. What does it take to become an Aussie gloveman? All of these honed to the finest levels. What does it take to become Adam Gilchrist / Gilly / Church? Everything cited earlier plus an ability to display fine sporstsmanship, be it in the appreciation of a good ton by an opponent, or the mammoth honesty to walk back to the pavilion on judging his own dismissal amidst an era of "professional cricketers", even if the Aussie batting line up is in dire straits, or the sheer ability to have appeared in ninety five tests incessantly, or the capacity to guard wickets for fifty long overs and bat through an equal number of overs, demolishing the opposition in the process? Yes, his retirement has indeed marked the end of an era. Wicketkeeping never looked easier and batting for wicketkeepers coul...

I had my pre-employment medical check-up done from the VHS (Voluntary Health Services) hospital here in Chennai. A doctor named Pradeep is one of my close friends there and I had the opportunity, thereby, to visit his division. The latter housed patients who tested positive for HIV. A look at some of them, which I managed to throw with great difficulty, revealed nothing else but eyes calling for someone to donate hope during the last moments of their life. Little children suffering the wrath of a lifetime (if there is any life), for absolutely no fault of theirs! Hitler was no greater dictator than nature probably. A few thoughts came into my mind that I wanted to express. How does it feel when the ultimate fear engulfs the mind? Man and presumably every animal lives today in the hope that there will be a tomorrow. Though death is certain, everyone thinks he or she is immortal, most surprisingly ( Yaksha Prashna, Mahabharatha) . This is exactly the thought that keeps propelling living...

A few instances where I happened to come across words spelt in exactly the way they are pronounced: 1. Seen outside a cycle mechanic's - Mani servis and puncher shop 2. A lodging - Singal and doubal rooms for batchlars... Contact.... 3. An internet cafe - Pandian browzing center.... e-mail, chating, games.... They still seem to convey the message don't they?

Art - this was one of the many periods in school I loathed attending. The teacher, every year, would sketch something on the blackboard and would expect a copy of it in our notebooks. One such sketch was that of a car. I tried my level best to make a reprint, but in vain. I still feel it looked like a house on wheels. Part of art class was colouring/painting practice. My skills with the paintbrush were as deficient as those with wax crayons and I would usually end up with bruised knuckles from sound caning. Every teacher of art has cursed me for my congenital incapacity to make a sketch or colour one. On these lines, I am reminded of one of my escapades with crayons. I was in the first standard and the art teacher had given us an outline and expected us to colour it as homework. The sincere student that I was, I finished it promptly the same evening. My inflated ego, thanks to repeated curses from the teacher, had made me take extra care and time in colouring the sketch. Fully satisfie...