Some Happiness

I guess it's pretty late now, but it's something I have decided that I want to say. Last Thursday at my internship was "Bring your kids to work" Day. (Obviously, it's not for me :P). Let me confess that I hold no special attachment for children, I'm probably a little less sensitive about children than most people, and the sight of a child never especially arouses me. But that day was different. Probably because a lot of things have been working on me, and I've totally lost the sight of a group of children all in a single place, or because the sight of so many children brought back memories of school, or whatever I dont know. But I was surprised that I was overwhelmingly happy, overjoyed, more or less. Just the sight of all those children brought such a huge smile to my face, I actually felt foolish! This was probably one of the very few instances of my more than 1.5-year sojourn here when I was not forced to laugh, rather, my lips parted and my mouth widened without me having to consciously think about or put any effort. What was it - the innocence or cuteness or plain relief (due to utter lack of knowledge and worries), I wonder...

An Obnoxious Weed after all?

Matthew Hayden must be silently laughing away to glory in Chennai. First, he's set up the Chennai Superkings' topping of the IPL Standings Table. Next and most importantly, our dear Bhajji has given us quite some reason to mull upon the veracity of Mattie's comment. Just his body language has been quite something over the past few years. Tantrums are bad enough, but when they come from someone who is doing seriously something, it is tolerable, rather, justified, but still, not something to be emulated or followed or practised. Bhajji was quite okay to start with, aggression is always essential in sport, but Bhajji has, more often than not, exhibited misplaced aggression and meaningless anger. And, to add to it, he's been nowhere near his best (which was around 2001 and a few years immediately after). I was among the countless people who supported him when he was vilified in Australia, but I have never been for his "more-than-just-plain-aggression" acts on the cricketing field. A few decent performances here and there, and the absence of a quality spinner to replace a waning Kumble are the primary reasons Bhajji still finds himself in the eleven, plus of course, a whole lot of gimmicks misconstrued as "aggression" and "attitude". The most recent ugly episode of Bhajji slapping Sreesanth has seriously made one sit up and think about us having our own Akthar. Fact of the matter is, Harbhajan is nowhere near Akhthar as far as talent is concerned, he probably could have been compared a few years back, not now. And even if it were tantrums, they ought not to be tolerated. That Sreesanth is no saint is well known, and he probably indulged in some entertaining gimmicks to once again hog some of the limelight, which, he seems to be rather enjoying. But still, it's high time we start weeding out such unsavoury characters that, time and again, subscribe to nonsense, which, irrespective of whether it brings disrepute to the game or not, is certainly in sick taste.
Mattie, you're probably right after all.