THE GOD OF CRICKET

A few years back , while i was watching a cricket match on t.v , i saw a spectator holding a banner which read "Cricket is my religion and Sachin is my God."....Year after year, time and again, this cricketing god has proven his worth  and today after 21 years of cricketing career he still seems keen and raring to go  just like a youngster....

The day of 24th february 2010 is going to be remembered  by cricket lovers all over the world as we all witnessed the creation of history .... The  Sachin hurricane swept across the south african coast sending the proteas into a spin and shaking the foundation of the team which boasted of being better than all sides when it comes to one day cricket....

At last the barrier of 200 runs in one day was broken and deservedly so, it was broken by the greatest cricketer on the entire universe... It was in a way, justice delivered as Sachin has been criticized by skeptics of not being able to play any long innings... This mammoth effort might have silenced those idiots as well....

For years, Indian criketers and fans have been haunted by Saeed Anwar's record breaking 194  against  our team at Chennai... With Sachin's double ton,the anwar haunting is past.... And all patriotic indians are breathing a sigh of relief as the maestro pockets yet another record adding to his long list of world records... Along with Sachin, The city of Gwalior and Captain Roop Singh Stadium will also become a part of cricketing legend and will always be remembered for this day..The people of gwalior must be God's chosen ones to have witnessed such a unique spectacle... I envy them but i am happy that atleast i watched it on T.v. and di not miss the event like many of my friends did because of the working day...I guess bunking the office for such a match was truly worth and dont regret that....It is possible that someone will make 200 and break this record , but it will take a herculean effort to do so and if anyone can do that, it might be someone like Sehwag, Yuvraaj or Ricky Ponting...But i dont see that happening  very soon....

       People like Sachin Tendulkar are born once in million years and i am sure we are not going to see anyone like the little master again.... It will take many light years to evem match the achievements of the maestro....With 46 one day 100s and 47 test hundreds, Sachin tendulkar has personified glory and success... Few decades down the line , it would not be easy for the next generation to believe that such a person ever played this game ...His record are so unbelievable..  I feel God cannot be everywhere ,thats why he created someone like Tendulkar to make people believe that he still creates super humans..The greatness of this man is his humility ...Dedicating his 200 to the people of India was a great gesture and a slap on face of regionlist chauvinistic forces.... This makes him even more greater and thats the reason he is the heart throb of 125 crore Indians....

I salute the great man who has always give us a reason to rejoice and smile ....He makes us feel proud of being Indians ...Amidst all the negative things happening in today's world, Sachin stands out as  a light house of hope and joy....If ever i would like to be someone or want my next generations to emulate someone...it would be Sachin Tendulkar ......At last , a pertinent question that always strikes me....With the effort Sachin has made to make all of proud... Does nt he deserve The Bharat Ratna?? I just hope the politicians think about it and honor the greatest son of our soil and give him the honor which he truly deserves......Long Live Sachin...JAI HIND!

reactions of people about sachin:-

"Its better not to bowl right now"-Commentator Robin Jackman during the match on 24 feb 2010

"There are 2 kinds of batsman in the world,1.Sachin.., and 2. all the others"...-Andy flower

"We did not lose to team India .We lost to man called sachin" -Mark Taylor, the then Australian captain

"He can play that leg glance with a walking stick"- Waqar Younus

" Do your crimes while Sachin is batting,bcoz even god watches him playing"-A poster in Sydney

"Sachin is greatest batsman i have ever bowled against...Its  a treat watching him play,Thank god I m not playing anymore" -Shane Warne

"I m lucky to have  been born in this era which will be known as 'sachin era' in the history books of future"- Ompal Singh

HAZARON KHWAHISHEIN AISI......

Why we always expect God to act as we all want him to? We expect a lot without being willing to yield to the plans of the almighty....Those who leave everything in god's hand will ultimately see god's hand in everything... But we lack patience as this is the sge of instant things...instant coffee,instant lunch,instant love and instant life...So who has the time to live according to the God,s clock which requires perseverance  and loads of patience?

  The fact is we desire too much without deserving a bit.... That is the cause of discontent which leads to all the sorrows..Man thinks himself so wise and good that he does not like God's thoughts concerning himself, his fall, his guilt or his danger. The thoughts of God are not man's but man should have the thoughts of God.

God's thoughts are love, purity, tenderness; ours are forgetfulness, ingratitude, and hard-heartedness. He thinks of us as the lost sheep are thought of by the Shepherd, as a prodigal child is thought of by his Father, but our thoughts are not like His.

In it's wandering state the sheep has no thought of returning to the Shepherd, and the prodigal son to his Father, until convicting grace meets him, he has no reciprocal affection towards his Father. God's thoughts to us are thoughts of love, but not so ours to Him. He is tender of our comfort but we are not tender of His honor. He considers our interests but we think not of His glory. He watches over our safety, but we are not watchful to keep His statutes. He loads us with benefits and blessings but we load Him only with our sin. He has given us all that we have but we bring Him cold thanks in return.
GOD GIVES AND FORGIVES ,  MAN GETS AND FORGETS.. 

No. 1 spot in test is safe ! but for how long?

   Kudos to the Indian team for the comprehensive win at the eden gardens...After the disappointment at Nagpur the team looked a totally different unit at kolkata where it beat the south africans in all the departments of the game...the young brigade led by Dhoni showed real character to bounce back after the mauling at Nagpur...This test win was more important in many aspects....firstly the team was playing without the big guns Dravid and Yuvraaj, secondly the numero uno spot was at stake and lastly India had only three bowlers in the second innings to dismiss the proteas, as Zaheer khan was out due to an injury, this speak volumes about the attitude of this team...

The foundation for this win was laid in the third session of Day 1 when the proteas after a great start made a mess of things and lost seven wickets in the last session for just 20 odd runs.... This nicely set up the match... the second day saw two of the greatest players of the world at their very best .... The little master sachin and his disciple Veeru made sure that India do not loose too many wickets.... Centuries by Sachin and Sehwag ensured India of overhauling the African total but still the task was incomplete as india needed a huge lead to create pressure and this job was well done by Dhoni and Laxman .... The mammoth partnership between Dhoni and Laxman ensured that India couldnt lose the match from  there on....

Taking ten wickets on the batsman friendly track wasnt that easy and to add to that the rain god played the spoil sport on day 4 with just 34 overs being bowled due to bad weather....And on day five India had a huge task of getting seven proteas batsmen out...Thankfully the weather stayed alright and despite Zaheer's absence Indian bowlers led by harbhajan ensured that India clinch a famous win at the dying minutes of the last day....? Harbhajan's five wicket haul and his famous victory lap is going to remain in the memories of cricket lovers for a long time, it brings back the memories of  the year 2000 series against Australia when Bhajji burst on to the scene with a series winning performance and who could forget that match winning partnership between Dravid and Laxman when India was following on!

Amongst all these accolades, we must not forget the great performance of the South African batsman Hashim Amla who scored 494 runs in three innings and was dismissed only once...Amla nearly saved the Kolkata test when he stringed a long partnership with Mornie Morkel, the number 11 batsman.....Deservingly Amla was adjudged the Man of the match and also The man of the series, giving South Africans something to cheer about

The Test series ended  at 1 -1 which made sure that team India will remain number one side in Test with 124 rating points in ICC world rankings....This is a great moment for the team ....but there are still afew things that needs to be looked at to ensure that we stay at the top in future also...The experiment with Badrinath and Murli Vijay didnt seem to have worked well as both these batsmen struggled to make any mark...If India aspires to consistantly win not only at home but abroad, then we have to find good middle order batsmen because Sachin, Laxman and Dravid are not going to be around forever....         Its time to try Dinesh Kartik, Manish Pandey, Rohit sharma,  Viraat Kohli and Suresh Raina in the test matches, so that we can find someone to fill in the shoes of the great trio....

Zaheer has been a stand out performer for the past two seasons but India's second seamer has been a cause of concern...To win test matches we have to find bowlers who can pick 20 wickets... Ishant, Srisanth,R.P.and  Munaaf  have not shown great signs for a long term prospect of being a world class bowler..... Likewise, finding a replacement of Kumble in the spin Department has not yielded any result so far... We have tried Amit mishra, Pragyan Ojha,Piyush chawla etc but none of them showed any promise.... This puts added pressure on Harbhajan Singh.....

India could try fast bowlers like Dhawal kulkarni,Sudip Tyagi and Abhimanyu Mithun...In spin department we can try R.Ashwin and even try Ravinder Jadeja as a potential all rounder.....Not to forget the Pathan brothers Irfan and Yusuf....

Reaching the top position is tough but maintaining the top position is tougher because there is very little space at the top....And the south Africans and Australians are closing in narrowing the gap.....Lets see how long we are going to remain number one!   

SAVE TIGER

      As the world takes yet another step forward towards scientific glory and progress….the mankind’s leap forward takes us  further away from our Nature and its diversities….We have grown in science, I.T., health sciences, space technology  but we have paid a heavy price for the development…all this development has been achieved at the cost of reducing forests,polluted rivers,increasing healh problems,polluted citiesrising sea levels ,high level of green house gases and decreasing flora and fauna…..The mankind’s blind race for its selfish motives has led us almost to the threshold of a natural devastation  and nearly the end of nature….

         Last night while  I was watching the television i saw one advertisement that is 'Save the Tigers in India'.There are just about 1400 tigers left in India and that too according to wild life surveys…we all know how misleading these stats can be, the real figure of alive tigers can be staggeringly lower than this stat suggests….. the biggest example of misleading stats was recent survey at Sariska …we all know how many tigers are actually left in Sariska and Ranthambhor for that matter….. This message is for every Indian to start thinking about our natural wealth and raise a voice of concern to save not only the tiger but also other animals who are on the verge of extinction due to increasing human interference in their natural habitat and ever increasing poaching……The need of the hour is to devise an effective mechanism involving the governments, people and N.G.O.s  to rethink the policies, make new laws to save the wildlife and also regulate the human habitations so as to stop encroachment in the jungles,which these poor animals well and truly deserve to own…..

       The ever increasing human habitations leads to conflict between humans and the animals ….as was evident in the cases of tigers attacking humans in Corbett National Park area …. This news was aal over the news channles yesterday… But instead of calling tigers as “ Maneaters” we must realise that it is we humans who have forced the tigers to be maneaters as we threaten them by disturbing their habitats and thereby effecting the balance of the wild life……

        You might wonder what help we can do to save tigers by writing blogs,sms,articles etc?  But all great journeys begin with a small step and by creating awareness among the people about the importance of tiger and the pride which we take in calling tiger our national animal, we can send a messgae to the masses and this small endeavour will create a wave of awareness and one day it will turn into a movemnet…. More so we can help the cause by boycotting all the products that are made of animal furs,skins etc …..

          This is high time… if we don’t wake up now we will only have photos of tigers to show to our future generations….. So get up and join the cause….your small initiative can change the scenario…… Save Tiger…… before its too late!

National Game or national shame?

The recent drama that unfolded involving the indian hockey players and Hockey India is yet another stain on the face of what used to be our national pride....hockey,which has flourished more in the hearts of indians than in the lesser developed facilities  and low class astro turf grounds  in india, is dieing a slow death and its sad to see this happening in the country which produced legends like major dhyanchand,ajitpal singh, mohd shahid, jaffar iqbal,dhanraj pillai and many more.....

 The country which won 8 olympic gold medals in hockey from 1928 to 1980...is struggling to make the team play..... forget about winning..... thats a pity ....it shows the ugly face of politics involved in sports...when all the sports administration is headed by honorary presidents ,most of them have never played that particular sport in their life.... When we have such administrators , the doom is certain...!The  hockey india chief Mr. Mattoo is no different, he is simply a puppet of Mr suresh Kalmadi, who has the rare distinction of ruining mostly all the sports in the country ....as kalmadi has headed many important sports bodies including Indian olympic association......

The hockey has been in the hand of Mr kps gill who left no stone unturned to ensure the demise of the game.....his secretary Jyothikumaran was caught on tape accepting bribe for selection in the team....... And now Mattoo is making sure he finishes off the noble work initiated by the great KPs gill(great?).... as long as we have people like these in hockey, lets not be in the false dream of winning any medal in olympics or world cup.....  Leave that! even qualifying in these events will be difficult,The sports minister's role has been very disappointing in the whole fiasco..... 

we can just pray for better sense to prevail somewhere....thats all we can do..... But please dont hope too much........ and also keep a hockey stick at your home because few years down the line,it would be a antique item  you could use to impress your friends and relatives....Sad but true........

What a country!

What a country and what a system! where a street rag picker child is sent to jail for stealing a bread but people like lalu yadav who misappropriated millions of rupees in the fodder scam, are rewarded with the post of cabinet minister.... where a clerk caught with 200 rupees bribe is immediately dismissed from duty but a minister seen taking bribe on national t.v is roaming around free and unharmed.... Where a government employee has to prove the source of income to the authorities for buying a new car but a person who came from a poor background, became minister and amassed huge wealth in crores of rupees is not asked a single question about his source of income... I fail to understand how the income of ministers,M.Ps and MLAs increase manifold in a matter of 12 months... If they have some investment secrets, they should share it with poor people of the country ....as a large portion of poor people are still trying their luck to be rich by investing in chit funds and lotteries,,, may be our leaders can show them a better way to be rich quickly...Well thats what we call"right to equality".... everybody has the right to be rich by hook or crook....whatever!

There are many examples of "success stories" in politics.... a woman from a poor background joined a small regional party and within a few years, that party won assembly polls in a state, that woman became the symbol of backward castes and poor people.... But just to fulfill the dreams of her poor voters, that woman had to move in to a multi crore mansion, though she never wanted to leave her poor house.... Thats ultimate sacrifice! the statues of that woman are being erected everywhere in that state just to boost tourism... she never wanted her statues to be erected, the people forced her because spending millions of govt money on statues will provide food and shelter to the poor!Alas... the supreme court interfered in this generous cause and the poor people have to be content with a few statues of their beloved "behenji"....

Madhu koda is a latest edition to the " public service and sacrifice group of companies" He sacrificed his integrity and honesty just for the sake of the people of Jharkhand and invested huge money in various states to boost the economy(?) of Jharkhand... The EOW( econimic offence wing) has spoiled the party.... poor people of Jharkhand are now wondering ,what a great CM we had?May be mr. Koda will get an offer from The IMF to be their econimic advisor.....

       As long as we have the Lalus, kodas, mayawatis in our system we dont have to worry about our future because these elements will ensure we dont get any future at all!

The case of nationality....

The fatwa issued by darul ulum devband instructing muslims to refrain from singing the national song Vande mataram is very unfortunate and anti national.... the song which inculcated the the feeling of nationalism during our freedom struggle and united people from various religions,regions ,castes and creeds to fight against the british tyranny  has all of a sudden become a matter of debate... I fail to understand how singing of our national song can pose any threat to any religion ? I dont think praising our motherland can in anyway harm any religion... The song does not praise any particular religious deity which is wrongly presumed by the so called scholars of devband.

   The fatwa issue is not only against the national pride of our country but it is also misleading the muslims.. This should be condemned by muslim scholars and learned people as it is setting a wrong example for the future generations.. Today the devband prohibits muslims from singing vande matram, may be tomorrow they will ask the muslims to stop paying respect to the indian tricolor, mahatma gandhi, father of the nation and the indian constitution as well....

The government should also step in ... there should be no leniency in matters related to national pride... suppose the  devband some day passes the resolution that they will adopt the national song of pakistan as their national song, will the government still be  a silent spectator? The devaband is not the only representative of millions of muslims in India... Its time for the nationalists muslims to come forward and speak against the Fatwa , and send a clear signal to dev band that it cannot dictate terms on national matters.... The need of the hour is to understand that india is our mother land , which gave birth to all of us and the mortal reamins of our ancestors also lies in this very land... so  to sing a song to praise our mother is not against any religion...As A.R. Rehmaan has sung"maa tujhe salaam"

Those who have objection to this song and this Nation  had been given opportunity to go to pakistan in 1947 and that option is still open..... Religion is a personal matter but nationalism is far bigger than religion... Those who have objections to Vande matram will object jan gan man some day on the basis of useless logic... These sort of tendencies should be curbed on its very onset or else it will aggravate into more serious anti national threat in the future.....We dont want this to happen