Friday, December 16, 2011

Rahul Dravid's Speech at the Don Bradman Oration

I want to keep it here for posterity's sake...
Thank you for inviting me to deliver the Bradman Oration; the respect and the regard that came with the invitation to speak tonight, is deeply appreciated.
I realise a very distinguished list of gentlemen have preceded me in the ten years that the Bradman Oration has been held. I know that this Oration is held every year to appreciate the life and career of Sir Don Bradman, a great Australian and a great cricketer. I understand that I am supposed to speak about cricket and issues in the game - and I will.
Yet, but before all else, I must say that I find myself humbled by the venue we find ourselves in.
Even though there is neither a pitch in sight, nor stumps or bat and balls, as a cricketer, I feel I stand on very sacred ground tonight. When I was told that I would be speaking at the National War Memorial, I thought of how often and how meaninglessly, the words 'war', 'battle', 'fight' are used to describe cricket matches.
Yes, we cricketers devote the better part of our adult lives to being prepared to perform for our countries, to persist and compete as intensely as we can - and more.
This building, however, recognises the men and women who lived out the words - war, battle, fight - for real and then gave it all up for their country, their lives left incomplete, futures extinguished.
The people of both our countries are often told that cricket is the one thing that brings Indians and Australians together. That cricket is our single common denominator.
India's first Test series as a free country was played against Australia in November 1947, three months after our independence. Yet the histories of our countries are linked together far more deeply than we think and further back in time than 1947.We share something else other than cricket. Before they played the first Test match against each other, Indians and Australians fought wars together, on the same side.
In Gallipoli, where, along with the thousands of Australians, over 1300 Indians also lost their lives. In World War II, there were Indian and Australian soldiers in El Alamein, North Africa, in the Syria-Lebanon campaign, in Burma, in the battle for Singapore.
Before we were competitors, Indians and Australians were comrades. So it is only appropriate that we are here this evening at the Australian War Memorial, where along with celebrating cricket and cricketers, we remember the unknown soldiers of both nations. It is however, incongruous, that I, an Indian, happen to be the first cricketer from outside Australia, invited to deliver the the Bradman Oration.
I don't say that only because Sir Don once scored a hundred before lunch at Lord's and my 100 at Lord's this year took almost an entire day. But more seriously, Sir Don played just five Tests against India; that was in the first India-Australia series in 1947-48, which was to be his last season at home. He didn't even play in India, and remains the most venerated cricketer in India not to have played there.
We know that he set foot in India though, in May 1953, when on his way to England to report on the Ashes for an English newspaper, his plane stopped in Calcutta airport. There were said to be close to a 1000 people waiting to greet him; as you know, he was a very private person and so got into an army jeep and rushed into a barricaded building, annoyed with the airline for having 'breached confidentiality.'
That was all Indians of the time saw of Bradman who remains a mythical figure.
For one generation of fans in my country, those who grew up in the 1930s, when India was still under British rule, Bradman represented a cricketing excellence that belonged to somewhere outside England. To a country taking its first steps in Test cricket, that meant something. His success against England at that time was thought of as our personal success. He was striking one for all of us ruled by the common enemy. Or as your country has so poetically called them, the Poms.
There are two stories that I thought I should bring to your notice. On June 28, 1930, the day Bradman scored 254 at Lord's against England, was also the day Jawaharlal Nehru was arrested by the police. Nehru was, at the time, one of the most prominent leaders of the Indian independence movement and later, independent India's first Prime Minister. The coincidence of the two events, was noted by a young boy KN Prabhu, who was both nationalist, cricket fan and later became independent India's foremost cricket writer. In the 30s, as Nehru went in and out of jail, Bradman went after the England bowling and for K N Prabhu, became a kind of avenging angel.
There's another story I've heard about the day in 1933, when the news reached India that Bradman's record for the highest Test score of 334 had been broken by Wally Hammond. As much as we love our records, they say some Indian fans at the time were not exactly happy.
Now, there's a tale that a few even wanted to wear black bands to mourn the fact that this precious record that belonged to Australia - and by extension, us - had gone back. To an Englishman. We will never know if this is true, if black bands were ever worn, but as journalists sometimes tell me, why let facts get in the way of a good story.
My own link with Bradman was much like that of most other Indians - through history books, some old video footage and his wise words. About leaving the game better than you found it. About playing it positively, as Bradman, then a selector, told Richie Benaud before the 1960-61 West Indies tour of Australia. Of sending a right message out from cricket to its public. Of players being temporary trustees of a great game.
While there may be very little similarity in our records or our strike rates or our fielding - and I can say this only today in front of all of you - I am actually pleased that I share something very important with Sir Don. He was, primarily, like me, a No.3 batsman. It is a tough, tough job.
We're the ones who make life easier for the kings of batting, the middle order that follows us. Bradman did that with a bit more success and style than I did. He dominated bowling attacks and put bums on seats ,if I bat for any length of time I am more likely to bore people to sleep. Still, it is nice to have batted for a long time in a position, whose benchmark is, in fact, the benchmark for batsmanship itself.
Before he retired from public life in his 80s, I do know that Bradman watched Sunil Gavaskar's generation play series in Australia. I remember the excitement that went through Indian cricket when we heard the news that Bradman had seen Sachin Tendulkar bat on TV and thought he batted like him. It was more than mere approval, it was as if The great don had finally, passed on his torch. Not to an Aussie or an Englishman or a West Indian. But to one of our own.
One of the things, Bradman said has stayed in my mind. That the finest of athletes had, along with skill, a few more essential qualities: to conduct their life with dignity, with integrity, with courage and modesty. All this he believed, were totally compatible with pride, ambition, determination and competitiveness. Maybe those words should be put up in cricket dressing rooms all over the world.
As all of you know, Don Bradman passed away on February 25, 2001, two days before the India v Australia series was to begin in Mumbai.Whenever an important figure in cricket leaves us, cricket's global community pauses in the midst of contests and debates, to remember what he represented of us, what he stood for and Bradman was the pinnacle. The standard against which all Test batsmen must take guard.
The series that followed two days after Bradman's death later went on to become what many believe was one of the greatest in cricket. It is a series, I'd like to believe, he would have enjoyed following.
A fierce contest between bat and ball went down to the final session of the final day of the final Test. Between an Australian team who had risen to their most imposing powers and a young Indian team determined to rewrite some chapters of its own history.
The 2001 series contained high-quality cricket from both sides and had a deep impact on the careers of those who played a part in it. The Australians were near unbeatable in the first half of the new decade, both home and away.
As others floundered against them, India became the only team that competed with them on even terms.
India kept answering questions put to them by the Australians and asking a few themselves. The quality demanded of those contests, sometimes acrimonious, sometimes uplifting, made us, the Indian team, grow and rise. As individuals, we were asked to play to the absolute outer limits of our capabilities and we often extended them.
Now, whenever India and Australia meet, there is expectation and anticipation - and as we get into the next two months of the Border Gavaskar Trophy, players on both sides will want to deliver their best.
When we toured in 2007-08, I thought it was going to be my last tour of Australia. The Australians thought it was going to be the last time they would be seeing Sachin Tendulkar on their shores. He received warm standing ovations from wonderful crowds all around the country.
Well, like a few, creaking Terminators, we're back. Older, wiser and I hope improved.
The Australian public will want to stand up to send Sachin off all over again this time. But I must warn you, given how he's been playing these days, there are no guarantees about final goodbyes.
In all seriousness, though, the cricket world is going to stop and watch Australia and India. It is Australia's first chance to defend their supremacy at home following defeat in the 2010 Ashes and a drawn series against New Zealand. It is India's opportunity to prove that the defeat to England in the summer was an aberration that we will bounce back from.If both teams look back to their last 2007-08 series in Australia, they will know that they should have done things a little differently in the Sydney Test. But I think both sides have moved on from there; we've played each other twice in India already and relations between the two teams are much better than they have been as far as I can remember.
Thanks to the IPL, Indians and Australians have even shared dressing rooms. Shane Watson's involvement in Rajasthan, Mike Hussey's role with Chennai to mention a few, are greatly appreciated back home.
And even Shane Warne likes India now. I really enjoyed played alongside him at Rajasthan last season and can confidently report to you that he is not eating imported baked beans any more.
In fact,looking at him, it seems, he is not eating anything. It is often said that cricketers are ambassadors for their country; when there's a match to be won, sometimes we think that is an unreasonable demand. After all, what would career diplomats do if the result of a Test series depended on them, say, walking? But, as ties between India and Australia have strengthened and our contests have become more frequent, we realise that as Indian players, we stand for a vast, varied, often unfathomable and endlessly fascinating country.
At the moment, to much of the outside world, Indian cricket represents only two things - money and power. Yes, that aspect of Indian cricket is a part of the whole, but it is not the complete picture. As a player, as a proud and privileged member of the Indian cricket team, I want to say that, this one-dimensional, often cliched image relentlessly repeated, is not what Indian cricket is really all about. I cannot take all of you into the towns and villages our players come from, and introduce you to their families, teachers, coaches, mentors and teammates who made them international cricketers.
I cannot take all of you here to India to show you the belief, struggle, effort and sacrifice from hundreds of people that runs through our game.
As I stand here today, it is important for me to bring Indian cricket and its own remarkable story to you. I believe it is very necessary that cricketing nations try to find out about each other, try to understand each other and the different role cricket plays in different countries, because ours is, eventually, a very small world.
In India, cricket is a buzzing, humming, living entity going through a most remarkable time, like no other in our cricketing history.
In this last decade, the Indian team represents more than ever before, the country we come from - of people from vastly different cultures, who speak different languages, follow different religions, belong to all classes of society.
I went around our dressing room to work out how many languages could be spoken in there and the number I have arrived at is: 15 including Shona and Akrikaans.
Most foreign captains, I think, would baulk at the idea. But, when I led India, I enjoyed it, I marvelled at the range of difference and the ability of people from so many different backgrounds to share a dressing room, to accept, accomodate and respect that difference. In a world growing more insular, that is a precious quality to acquire, because it stays for life and helps you understand people better, understand the significance of the other .
Let me tell you one of my favourite stories from my under-19 days, when the India under-19 team played a match against the New Zealand junior team.
We had two bowlers in the team, one from the north Indian state of Uttar Pradesh - he spoke only Hindi, which is usually a link language
for players from all over India, ahead even of English.
It should have been alright, except the other bowler came from Kerala, in the deep south, and he spoke only the state's regional language, Malayalam. Now even that should have been okay as they were both bowlers and could bowl simultaneous spells.
Yet in one game, they happened to come together at the crease. In the dressing room, we were in splits, wondering how they were going to manage the business of a partnership, calling for runs or sharing the strike.
Neither man could understand a word of what the other was saying and they were batting together. This could only happen in Indian cricket. Except that these two guys came up with a 100-run partnership. Their common language was cricket and that worked out just fine.
The everyday richness of Indian cricket lies right there, not in the news you hear about million-dollar deals and television rights. When I look back over the 25 years I've spent in cricket, I realise two things. First, rather alarmingly, that I am the oldest man in the game, older to even Sachin by three months.
More importantly, I realise that Indian cricket actually reflects our country's own growth story during this time.
Cricket is so much a part of our national fabric that as India - its economy, society and popular culture - transformed itself, so did our most-loved sport.
As players we are appreciative benefeciaries of the financial strength of Indian cricket, but we are more than just mascots of that economic power.
The caricature often made of Indian cricket and its cricketers in the rest of the world is that we are pampered superstars. Overpaid, underworked, treated like a cross between royalty and rock stars.
Yes, the Indian team has an enormous, emotional following and we do need security when we get around the country as a group. It is also where we make it a point to always try and conduct ourself with composure and dignity. On tour, I must point out, we don't attack fans or do drugs
or get into drunken theatrics. And at home, despite what some of you may have heard, we don't live in mansions with swimming pools.
The news about the money may well overpower all else, but along with it, our cricket is full of stories the outside world does not see.
Television rights generated around Indian cricket, are much talked about. Let me tell you what the television - around those much sought-after rights - has done to our game.
A sport that was largely played and patronised by princes and businessmen in traditional urban centres, cities like Bombay, Bangalore, Chennai, Baroda, Hyderabad, Delhi - has begun to pull in cricketers from everywhere.
As the earnings from indian cricket have grown ,in the past 2 decades ,mainly thru television,the BCCI has spread revenues to various pockets in the country and improved where we play.the field is now spread wider than it ever has been,the ground covered by Indian cricket ,has shifted .
27 teams compete in our national championship the Ranji Trophy.last season ,Rajasthan ,a state best known for it's palaces ,fortresses and tourism won the Ranji Trophy title for the first time in it's history .The national one day championship also had a first time winner,in the newly formed state of Jharkand where our captain MS Dhoni comes from .
The growth and scale of cricket on our television was the engine of this population shift. Like Bradman was the boy from Bowral, a stream of Indian cricketers now come from what you could call India's outback.
Zaheer Khan belongs to the Maharashtra heartland, from a town that didn't have even one proper turf wicket. He could have been an instrumentation engineer but was drawn to cricket through TV and modelled his bowling by practicing in front of the mirror on his cupboard at home, and first bowled with a proper cricket ball at the age of 17.
One day out of nowhere, a boy from a village in Gujarat turned up as India's fastest bowler. After Munaf Patel made his debut for India, the road from the nearest railway station to his village had to be improved because journalists and TV crews from the cities kept landing up there.
We are delighted that Umesh Yadav didn't become a policeman like he was planning and turned to cricket instead.
He is the first cricketer from the Central Indian first-class team of Vidarbha to play Test cricket.
Virender Sehwag, it shouldn't surprise, you belongs to the wild west just outside Delhi. He had be enrolled in a college which had a good cricket programme and travel 84kms every day by bus to get to practice and matches.
Every player in this room wearing an India blazer has a story like this.
Here, ladies and gentlemen, is the heart and soul of Indian cricket.Playing for India completely changes our lives. The game has given us a chance to pay back our debt to all those who gave of their time, energy, resources for us to be better cricketers: we can build new homes for our parents, get out siblings married off in style, give our families very comfortable lives.
The Indian cricket team is in fact, India itself, in microcosm. A sport that was played first by princes, then their subordinates, then the urban elite, is now a sport played by all of India.
Cricket, as my two under-19 teammates proved, is India's most widely-spoken language. Even Indian cinema has its regional favourites; a movie star in the south may not be popular in the north. But a cricketer? Loved everywhere.
It is, also, a very tough environment to grow up in - criticism can be severe, responses to victory and defeat extreme, there are invasions of privacy and stones have been thrown at our homes after some defeats.
It takes time getting used to, extreme reactions can fill us with anger. But every cricketer realises at some stage of his career, that the Indian cricket fan is best understood by remembering the sentiment of the majority, not the actions of a minority.
One of the things that has always lifted me as a player was looking out of the team bus when we travelled somewhere in India. When people see the Indian bus going by, see some of us sitting with our curtains drawn back, it always amazes me how much they light up.
There is an instantaneous smile, directed not just at the player they see - but at the game that we play that, for whatever reason, means something to people's lives. Win or lose, the man on the street will smile and give you a wave.
After India won the World Cup this year, our players were not congratulated as much as they were thanked by people they ran into. "You have given us everything," they were told, "all of us have won." Cricket in India now stands not just for sport, but possibility, hope, opportunities.
On our way to the Indian team, we know of so many of our teammates some of whom may have been equally or more talented than those sitting here, who missed out. When I started out, for a young Indian, cricket was the ultimate gamble - all or nothing, no safety nets. No second chances for those without an education or a college degree or second careers. Indian cricket's wealth now means a wider pool of well paid cricketers even at first-class level.
For those of us who make it to the Indian team, cricket is not merely our livelihood, it is a gift we have been given. Without the game, we would just be average people leading average lives. As Indian cricketers, our sport has given us the chance do something worthwhile with our lives. How many people could say that?
This is the time Indian cricket should be flowering; we are the world champions in the short game, and over the space of the next 12 months should be involved in a tight contest with Australia, South Africa and England to determine which one of us are the world's strongest Test team.
Yet I believe this is also a time for introspection within our game, not only in india,but all over the world.we have been given some alerts and responding to them quickly is the smart thing to do.
I was surprised a few months ago to see the lack of crowds in an ODI series featuring India. By that I don't mean the lack of full houses, I think it was the sight of empty stands I found somewhat alarming.
India played its first one-day international at home in November 1981 when I was nine. Between then and now India have played 227 ODIs at home; the October five-match series against England, was the first time that the grounds have not been full for an ODI featuring the Indian team.
In the summer of 1998, I played in a one-dayer against Kenya in Kolkata and the Eden Gardens was full. Our next game was held in the 48 degree heat of Gwalior and the stands were heaving.
The October series against England was the first one at home after India's World Cup win. It was called the 'revenge' series meant to wipe away the memory of a forgettable tour of England. India kept winning every game, and yet the stands did not fill up. Five days after a 5-0 victory, 95,000 turned up to watch the India's first Formula One race.
A few weeks later, I played in a Test match against the West Indies in Calcutta, in front of what was the lowest turn out in Eden Gardens' history. Yes we still wanted to win and our intensity did not dip. But at the end of the day, we are performers, entertainers and we love an audience. The audience amplifies everything you are doing, the bigger the crowd the bigger the occasion, its magnitude, its emotion. When I think about the Eden Gardens crowds this year, I wonder what the famous Calcutta Test of 2001 would have felt like with 50,000 people less watching us.
Australia and South Africa ,played an exiting and thrilling test series recently and two great test matches produced some fantastic performances from players of both teams ,but was sadly played in front of sparse crowds.
It is not the numbers Test players need, it is the atmosphere of a Test that every player wants to revel in and draw energy from; my first reaction to the lack of crowds for cricket was that there had been a lot of cricket and so perhaps, a certain amount of spectator-fatigue.
That is too simplistic a view; it's the easy thing to say but might not be the only thing.
The India v England ODI series had no context, because the two countries had played each other in four Tests and five ODIs just a few weeks before. When India and the West Indies played ODIs a month afer that, the grounds were full but this time matches were played in smaller venues that didn't host too much international cricket.
Maybe our clues are all there and we must remain vigilant.Unlike Australia or England, Indian cricket has never had to compete with other sports for a share of revenues, mindspace or crowd attendance at international matches.
The lack of crowds may not directly impact on revenues or how important the sport is to Indians, but we do need to accept that there has definitely been a change in temperature over, I think, the last two years.
Whatever the reasons are - maybe it is too much cricket or too little by way of comfort for spectators. The fan has sent us a message and we must listen. This is not mere sentimentality. Empty stands do not make for good television. Bad television can lead to a fall in ratings, the fall in ratings will be felt by media planners and advertisers' looking elsewhere.
If that happens, it is hard to see television rights around cricket being as sought after as they have always been in the last 15 years. And where does that leave everyone? I'm not trying to be an economist or doomsday prophet - this is just how I see it.
Let us not be so satisfied with the present, with deals and finances in hand that we get blindsided. Everything that has given cricket its power and influence in the world of sports has started from that fan in the stadium. They deserves our respect and let us not take them for granted.
Disrespecting fans is disrespecting the game. The fans have stood by our game through everything. When we play, we need to think of them. As players, the balance between competitiveness and fairness can be tough but it must be found.
If we stand up for the game's basic decencies, it will be far easier to tackle its bigger dangers - whether it is finding short cuts to easy money or being lured by the scourge of spot-fixing and contemplating any involvement with the betting industry.
Cricket's financial success means it will face threats from outside the game and keep facing them. The last two decades have proved this over and over again. The internet and modern technology may just end up being a step ahead of every anti-corruption regulation in place in the game. As players, the one way we can stay ahead for the game, is if we are willing to be monitored and regulated closely. Even if it means giving up a little bit of freedom of movement and privacy.
If it means undergoing dope tests, let us never say no.If it means undergoing lie-detector tests, let us understand the technology, what purpose it serves and accept it.
Now lie-dectectors are by no means perfect but they could acutally help the innocent clear their names. Similarly, we should not object to having our finances scrutinised if that is what is required.
When the first anti-corruption measures were put into place, we did moan a little bit about being accredited and depositing our cell phones with the manager. But now, we must treat it like we do airport security because we know it is for our own good and our own security.
Players should be ready to give up a little personal space and personal comfort for this game which has given us so much. If you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to fear.
Other sports have borrowed from cricket's anti-corruption measures to set up their own ethical governance programmes and we must take pride in belonging to a sport that is professional and progressive.
One of the biggest challenges that the game must respond today, I believe, is charting out a clear roadmap for the three formats. We now realise that the sport's three formats cannot be played in equal numbers - that will only throw scheduling and the true development of players completely off gear.
There is a place for all three formats, though, we are the only sport I can think of which has three versions. Cricket must treasure this originality. These three versions require different skills, skills that have evolved, grown, changed over the last four decades, one impacting on the other.
Test cricket is the gold standard, it is the form the players want to play.
The 50-over game is the one that had kept cricket's revenues alive for more than three decades now. Twenty20 has come upon us and it is the format people, the fans want to see.
Cricket must find a middle path, it must scale down this mad merry-go-round that teams and players find themselves in: heading off for two-Test tours and seven-match ODI series with a few Twenty20s thrown in.Test cricket deserves to be protected, it is what the world's best know they will to be judged by.
Where I come from, nation versus nation is what got people interested in cricket in the first place. When I hear the news that a country is playing without some of its best players, I always wonder, what do their fans think?
People may not be able to turn up to watch Test cricket but everyone follows the scores. We may not fill 65,000 capacity stadiums for Test matches, but we must actively fight to get as many as we can in, to create a Test match environment that the players and the fans feed off. Anything but the sight of Tests played on empty grounds. For that, we have got to play Test cricket that people can watch.
I don't think day-night Tests or a Test championship should be dismissed.
In March of last year I played a day-night first-class game in Abu Dhabi for the MCC - and my experience from that was that day-night Tests is an idea seriously worth exploring.
There may be some challenges in places where there is dew but the visibility and durability of the pink cricket ball was not an issue.
Similarly, a Test championship with every team and player driving themselves to be winners of a sought after title seems like it would have a context to every game.
Keeping Test's alive, may mean different innovations in different countries - maybe taking it to smaller cities, playing it in grounds with smaller capacities like New Zealand has thought of doing, maybe reviving some old venues in the West Indies, like the old Recreation Ground in Antigua.
When I was around seven years old, I remember my father taking a Friday off so that we could watch three days of Test cricket together. On occasions he couldn't, I would accompany one of his friends, just to soak in a day of Test cricket and watch the drama slowly unfold.
What we have to do is find a way to ensure that Test matches fit into 21st century life, through timing, environments, the venues they are held in. I am still convinced it can be done, even in our fast-moving world with a short attention span.
We will often get told that Test matches don't make financial sense, but no one ever fell love with Test cricket because they wanted to be a businessman. Not everything of value comes at a price.There is a proposal doing the rounds, about scrapping the 50-over game completely . I am not sure I agree with that - I certainly know that the 50-over game helped us innovate strokes in our batting which we were then able to take into Test matches. We all know that the 50-over game has been responsible for improving fielding standards all over the world.
The future may well lie in playing one-day internationals centered around ICC events, like the Champions Trophy and the World Cups. This would ensure that all 50-over matches would build up for those tournaments.
That will cut back the number of one-day internationals played every year but at least those matches will have a context. Since about, I think 1985, people have been saying that there is too much meaningless one-day cricket.
Maybe it's finally time to do something about it. The Twenty20 game as we know has as many critics as it has supporters in the public. Given that an acceptable strike rate in T20 these days is about 120, I should probably complain about it the most. The crowd and revenue numbers though, tell us that if we don't handle Twenty20 correctly, we may well have more and more private players stepping in to offer not just slices of pie, but maybe even bigger pies themselves.
So I'll re-iterate what I've just said very quickly because balancing three formats is important:
We have Test cricket like we have always had, nation versus nation, but carefully scheduled to attract crowds and planned fairly so that every Test playing country get its fair share of Tests.and playing for a championship or a cup not just a ranking .
The 50-overs format foucssed around on fewer, significant multi-nation ICC events like the Champions trophy and the World cup. In the four-year cycle between World Cups, plan the ODI calendar and devise rankings around these few important events. Anything makes more sense than 7-match ODI series.
The best role for Twenty20 is as a domestic competition through official leagues which will make it financially attractive for cricketers. That could also keep cricket viable in countries where it fights for space and attention.
Because the game is bigger than us all, we must think way ahead of how it stands today. Where do we want it to be in the year 2020? Or say in 2027, when it will be 150 years since the first Test match was played. If you think about it, cricket has been with us longer than the modern motor car, it existed before modern air travel took off.
As much as cricket's revenues are important to its growth, its traditions and its vibrancy are a necessary part of its progress in the future. We shouldn't let either go because we played too much of one format and too little of the other.
Professionalism has given cricketers of my generation priviledged lives, and we know it, even though often you may often hear us whining about burn-out and travel and the lack of recovery time.
Whenever we begin to get into that mindset, it's good to remember a piece of Sachin's conversation with Bradman. Sachin told us that he had asked Sir Don how he had mentally prepared for big games, what his routines were.
Sir Don said, that well, before a game, he would go to work and after the game,go back to work. Whenever a cricketer feels a whinge, coming on, that would be good to remember.
Before I conclude, I also want to talk briefy about an experience I have often had over the course of my career. It is not to do with individuals or incidents, but one I believe is important to share.
I have sometimes found myself in the middle of a big game, standing at slip or even at the non-strikers end and suddenly realised that everything else has vanished.
At that moment, all that exists is the contest and the very real sense of the joy that comes from playing the game.
It is an almost meditative experience where you reconnect with the game just like you did years ago, when you first began. When you hit your first boundary, took the first catch, scored your first century, or were involved in a big victory.
It lasts for a very fleeting passage of time, but it is a very precious instant and every cricketer should hang on to it.
I know it is utterly fanciful to expect professional cricketers to play the game like amateurs; but the trick I believe is taking the spirit of the amateur - of discovery, of learning, of pure joy, of playing by the rules - into our profession.
Taking it to practice or play, even when there's an epidemic of white-line fever breaking out all over the field. In every cricketer there lies a competitor who hates losing and yes, winning matters. But it is not the only thing that matters when you play cricket.
How it is played is as important for every member of every team because every game we play leaves a footprint in cricket's history. We must never forget that.What we do as professionals is easily carried over into the amateur game, in every way - batting, bowling, fielding, appealing, celebration, dissent, argument. In the players of 2027, we will see a reflection of this time and of ourselves and it had better not annoy or anguish us 50 year-olds.
As the game's custodians, it is important we are not tempted by the short-term gains of the backward step. We can be remembered for being the generation that could take the giant stride.
Thank you for the invitation to address all of you tonight and your attention.


Thursday, October 13, 2011

The City of Joy Chronicles

Cal is hard and hot and I hate it.  I just lost my temper, and came so close into getting into a fist fight with a large sardar.  I went to buy Bournvita from a store close to my house last evening, and this morning when I opened it, the seal was broken and the powder was solid.  So I went to return it but the storekeeper said it wasn't his problem once it left the store.  I started to reason with him and then arguing with him.  In the end I got so mad I chucked the open Bournvita bottle to the floor with the stuff spilling all over.  The sardar got furious, I thought he was going to punch me.  He started shouting at me, I shouted back.  Finally I said, "Oops, I dropped it, I'm sorry" and left the store.  As I was leaving, he tells me that this shows how uneducated I am.  I told him that he's what's wrong with this country.  I think I was expecting him to just take it back and replace it or give me my money back.  I can't remember the last time I was so mad at someone.  I think I just wanted to be mad.

Monday, August 01, 2011

Shenanigans at the Office

This is a list of the pranks we've played on our co-workers at the office... in semi chronological order. I'm sure I'm forgetting a few... Remind me if I've missed anything.

1. Changing the auto-correct on Microsoft Outlook
Victim: Pragyan and the CJ
Perps: CJ then Shravan
One afternoon, Pragyan let his guard down and left his computer unlocked. CJ jumped at this opportunity, opened Pragyan's Outlook auto-correct function and changed words like "Pragyan", "Energy", "Prices", "The", "Power", "Thanks", his bosses names, etc to "NEPAL".
When Prag came back and started to write an email he was stunned to see that everything he was typing was changing to "NEPAL". Eventually he figured out what was done and painstakingly fixed the changes.
A week later, CJ left his computer unlocked and Shravan jumped in and changed his bosses name to Anant "Disaster" and Judah "Big Boi" and changed keywords like "Gas" to "Disaster". Unfortunately CJ didn't notice the changes in his haste and sent out an email that read "disaster prices are expected to stay flat in the future"... it was only a week later that he realized that he had sent this email out to everyone in the office!
It was then decided that perhaps this was too disastrous of a prank and auto correct pranks were abolished.

2. The Shravan-Pavlov Experiment
Victim: Shravan (intended)
Perp: CJ & Achal (as co-conspirator)
One of our less successful pranks. CJ wanted to try the Pavlov's dog experiment on Shravan. Everytime Achal's phone would ring, CJ would offer Shravan (who sat across his cubicle) a piece of candy, hoping that eventually, with conditioning Shravan would automatically ask for candy each time Achal's phone rang. Unfortunately, Shravan decided he didn't like candy anymore, so CJ switched to cheese puffs (who doesn't like cheese puffs). This went on for a couple of weeks, but with the lack of results, the experiment was prematurely abandoned and labeled a failure.

3. The Mouse in the Jello
Victim: Maity (but switched with Patrick to trap the perp.); later Isak and Pragyan
Perp: CJ
I came in to work one day and noticed that my mouse had been encased in jello... an old office classic. I had an inkling of who was responsible, but to flush out the perpetrator, I switched the encased mouse with Patrick's and pretended that the prank was played on him. CJ's surprise and later after a conniving interrogation over lunch at Amma's CJ implicated himself as the criminal.

It didn't end there. After the mouse was rescued from the jello, even tho
ugh it was wrapped in Saran Wrap, it was unusable since the jello had seeped in. After cleaning the mouse, it looked normal and we replaced Isak's mouse with this defunct mouse. Isak, of course, did what we expected and stole Pragyan's mouse. An hour later, in his frustration, Pragyan sends out an angry email to everyone demanding the return of his stolen mouse!


4. The Inverted Cup
Victim: almost everyone
Perp: almost everyone
Old school prank. Filling up a glass of water to the brim, covering it with a card, inverting it and sliding it over the desk leaves an inverted cup of water on your desk. Those unfamiliar with it had a few "accidents" at their desk. Eventually, people wizened up. The next phase was played on Ankit. Thirteen inverted cups were left on his desk, only three with water in them!

5. Windings on Excel
Victim: Achal
Perp: CJ
Once again, a computer was left unlocked and CJ jumped at the chance. He went into Achal's Excel and set up a small macro that converted everything he typed into windings. It was set to run automatically every time a new Excel sheet was opened. Achal was working from home the next day and he had no idea how to fix it. He didn't get much done that day and needless to say he wasn't pleased with CJ.

6. It Snowed Indoors
Victim: CJ
Perp: Maribeth and Achal (I think)
Again, old school. CJ's desk was essentially TPd!

7. The Overturned Desk
Victim: Achal
Perp: CJ
Another classic. Everything on Achal's desk was turned upside down. His computer, the maps on his wall, his desk, his name tag, everything.

8. Variations on a Theme (of the Overturned Desk)
Victim: Achal and Pragyan
Perp: CJ
This one took a bit of work. Achal and Pragyan's desks were completely switched. Everything was moved. It took them both a while to figure out that they were not sitting at their desks! The execution was quite brilliant!

9. The Taming of Ankit
Victim: Ankit
Perp: EVERYONE!
Probably the most well executed and definitely the longest con at the office.
While CJ was away on vacation, Ankit, who was new at the office and not yet initiated in our ways, innocently inquired why CJ had not been showing up to work. This was easy prey we thought, and our eyes gleamed at the prospect that lay before us. We told Ankit that CJ had gone for his wedding and his subsequent honeymoon and that he would be back at the end of the week. Like a well-oiled machine, everyone picked up on this thread. Emails started shooting back and forth. Reduced photographs of other people's (Nishit's) wedding photographs were passed off as CJ's (since all brown people look alike, Ankit didn't notice the difference). I think CJ's wife's name was Mina or such. We decided that we must buy a gift for the newly weds and we decided that we all would contribute $50 towards it. Achal agreed to be the point man on this and collect the cash and buy something nice for the couple. In the meantime, I messaged CJ, alerting him that for all intensive purposes he was now married to someone called Mina. The next day Ankit handed Achal a check for $50 which was quickly cashed.
At the end of the week, CJ returned and we all congratulated him within earshot. At the happy hour that week and CJ and I waited in line for food, Ankit walked up to CJ and wearing a jovial smile, congratulated him on his nuptials and wished him the best. CJ, of course, graciously accepted. That evening we sat around and thought on how we ought to end the prank. We went up to Ankit's desk and picked out his prized autographed book of music, wrapped it up and put it in a fancy box and waited. The next day, before lunch, we called Ankit over and asked him to give it to CJ since he was the youngest. With all of us as witnesses, Ankit, handed CJ the box. CJ opened and box and lo it was a book. Ankit exclaims, "dude I have the exact same book, except mine is autographed". CJ flips to the first few pages and says, "yeah dude, so is mine". Slowly it dawned upon Ankit that he had been played, because by this time no one could hold in their giggles...
I think we've destroyed Ankit's innocence. Never again will he trust.

10. The Hanging Effigy
Victim: Achal
Perp: CJ and Maity
A little on the darker side... CJ and I went to a thrift store next to Korean Deli and found this wonderful teddy bear and rocking chair set for $5. You never know when such things might come in handy, so we bought it, along with a candle holder for an extra 50 cents.
Back at the office, we had Dave, Achal's manager, call him away on the pretense of some work, and CJ and I got to work. We printed a photograph of Achal's face, taped it over the teddy's face, taped a small empty bottle of tequila to one hand and hung him from the rafters using the mouse cable with a suicide note left on the rocking chair and a candle burning (see pictures).
Achal returned to his desk, saw the shenanigans, stopped, said "I'll laugh at this later, right now I have work to do!"... [It wasn't actual work, Dave had just made up something so he would be away from his desk for us to set it up]. The bear was left behind as Achal's legacy at ICF.

11. The Other Keyboard
Victim: CJ
Perp: Shravan and Isak
(write-up coming up from Shravan)

12. The Thrashing of Pragyan (Variation on a Theme)
Victim: Pragyan
Perp: Achal and Shravan
Achal and Shravan completely thrashed Pragyan's desk, with keyboard, mouse, monitor, docking station taken apart, confetti and wrappers lying all over... it looked like a hobo's joint. It was just plain mean.

13. Not a Green Prank
Victim: Pragyan
Perp: Shravan (he claims it's not him)
Shravan took Pragyan's car keys and left his car on in the garage.

14. The Stapled Cups
Victim: Isak
Perp: CJ and Maity
A semi-failed prank. We took a host of cups (thirty odd) and stapled them together, placed them on Isak's desk and filled them up with water. Due to our shoddy stapling job Isak was able to tackle the problem easily but the idea was quite good.

15. The Blockade
Victim: Andrew
Perp: Patrick and Maity
We surrounded Andrew's desk with a wall of used coffee cups. I think Andrew came in, saw what was done and went home as he was want to do.

16. Nepal vs. India - The Ambush
Victim: Pragyan
Perp: Achal, Shravan, CJ, Maity (video by Isak)


17. The Voice in the Computer
Victim: Jesse
Perp: CJ, Achal, Maity
This one was never going to work, but it was a lot of fun making.
Stage 1: Borrow Achal's Blackberry and record me screaming "You, you there at the computer, help me! Get me out of here! Call 911!"
Stage 2: Set that as the ring-tone on Achal's phone.
Stage 3: Place the phone inside the common Bloomberg machine.
Stage 4: Wait.
Jesse walked into the office and sat at the Bloomberg machine and started working in earnest. Then CJ and called Achal's phone and Jesse was so surprised! First he thought that we had run a program in the computer. Then he thought it was a clip. For the longest time he couldn't figure out what was going on. The rest of us pretended that we couldn't hear anything!
It was great!

18. The Old Switcheroo
Victim: Patrick and Ankit
Perp: Laura and CJ
Changed the automatic language option on Patrick's computer to German and Ankit's iPod to Mandarin.

19. "Hi, I'm Mark"
Victim: Mark
Perp: Mainly Achal
Posters of MPurser were left all over the office.


20. Sleight of Hand/Bait and Switch
Vicitm: Mainly Pragyan
Perp: Achal and CJ
I'm not sure what this one was about... Anybody remember what was done?


21. One Cup to Spill Them All
Victim: Shravan
Perp: CJ (?)
A stack of paper cups with water in one of them were left on Shravan's desk.

22. Tape the Speaker, Hide the Earpiece
Victim: Shravan
Perp: CJ
CJ taped over the mouth piece on Shravan's phone and people on the other line couldn't hear what he was saying.

23. Taping of the Phone (Redux)
Victim: Isak
Perp: CJ
CJ quite meticulously taped up Isak's phone with tape.  I'm sure Isak's retribution is not far away.









24. The Gift of CJ
Victim: CJ
Perp: Isak
While CJ was away on vacation with his family in their exclusive Hamptons chalet.  Isak used CJ's gift paper (Disney's "Little Mermaid" - his favorite) and wrapped his computer, telephone, chair and other objects on his desk.  Quite the novelty.  The note on the right is a reference to the prank that Isak and Shravan played on CJ earlier in the year (see:  11. "The Other Keyboard").


25. Farewell Wrap
Victim: Trevor
Perps: Maribeth (with Nicole as cohort)
Serane wrap around Tevor's Scion.   See photographic evidence!

"Carolineeee, You Danceee" or The Great American Road Trip Part 1

The People: Jenny, Michelle, Matt, and Maity
The Car: 2001 Lexus CS 300
The Trip: Washington DC to Malibu, CA
The Distance: ~3600 miles
The Duration: 10 Days (28 May - 6 June)

The day before departure, I had a peculiar sense of foreboding, like this trip would be star-crossed for some reason.  The signs were ubiquitous.  Matt's stomach was in ruins.  Jenny's trip from NYC to Washington DC on the eve of our journey was marred by the towing of her car and a traffic ticket; and, of course, the pleasant city traffic of New York meant that by the time she reached DC on Thursday night, she was haggard and had sacrificed dropping in on the Amish of Pennsylvania. Michelle, who was supposed to bus in late evening on Friday, suffered the curse of banking and stayed in to finish banking stuff till 3 in the morning, missed her bus, bought an expensive train ticket for 5 in the morning, missed that train, and finally embarked on a 6.30 train for DC.  While Michelle's delay was a blessing in subtle disguise - we got to drink beers, sleep in late and play Settlers of Catan into the night - I was worried about the inauspicious beginning to our trip.  A fear that, and I thank the Gods here, turned out to be quite unnecessary.

Day 1
So, on Friday the 28th, after stocking up on snacks and stories, we picked up Michelle and her massive sleeping bag from the metro and started our 3600 mile journey to The Pacific.  Day One aim was to get as close to New Orleans as possible.  We headed west on the dreaded I-66, the scourge of all interstates, and then headed south on I-81, passing through Virginia, the tornado ravaged lands of West Virginia, and finally Tennessee, where we stopped for a bite in the university town of Knoxville.

Knoxville was surprising.  It was hip.  Something I did not associate with the South.  Perhaps because it's an university town that it felt like it was really hip and youthful.  Perhaps we only saw that part of the city.  We walked through the central plaza, almost an European type piazza with fountains and Frisbees.  We walked through a rather curious sculpture garden where we got our first taste of Southern modern art.  We made it a game of guessing the prices of some of the works.  Dinner was at an upscale joint on the corner of the piazza.  I had a Atlanta brew called Deepwater 420, a really sweet and hoppy beer that felt like it was brewed with saltwater.  Matt had the most amazing bisque.  Jenny and I shared a rather interesting gourmet Mac'n'Cheese.

As we left Knoxville, we decided to drive for a couple of hours and get as close to New Orleans as possible, which was still about 500 miles away.  We decided to stop at Chattanooga, TN a little border town by Alabama.  Unfortunately, the recent tornado and storm activity meant that all the motels and hotels around the Chattanooga and surrounding areas were filled to the brim with refugees from Georgia, and Alabama.  We had no choice but to continue driving down south.  We found a room in Gadsden, AL and with Matt at the wheel, we raced through the dark, straight, empty highways of Alabama to find beds for our tired souls.  By the time we hit the sack at the Best Western in Gadsden, it was about 1 in the morning, and we had covered about 700 miles after almost 11 hours of driving through five states.  This was also the start of our rather unhealthy obsession with Best Westerns - the Largest Hotel Chain in the World.  That night we simply collapsed.

Day 2
Early Saturday morning, after a complimentary breakfast courtesy of BWH, we set out for New Orleans via Birmingham, the largest city in Alabama.   Birmingham in the 60s was one of the epicenters of the Civil Rights Movement and the city is littered with monuments and testimonies of the men, women, children, and events that led the fight for equality for all.  We drove into Birmingham on Sunday morning at ten and parked next to the civil rights museum where a large sign warned "No Panhandling".  Almost immediately, a ragged gentlemen stepped up to ask for some spare change.

Birmingham was a dead city on a Sunday morning.  Presumably, everyone was in church!  We walked around the city along the historical Civil Rights Walk, where the likes of MLK had raised a ruckus almost fifty years ago.  It was here that we encountered a small medical center - "Hugs n' Kisses - Alternative Care for the Mildly Ill Child".  After a quick loo break we left the eerie town and headed back on the road towards NO.  I encountered my first ever Cracker Barrel and Jenny and I were racked with curiosity.  Matt and Michele fed us, what we later learned, apocryphal stories of what exactly a Cracker Barrel is.  We were told of mysterious peg games, and exotic foods, but more on that later.

On-route, we stopped for lunch on the shores of Lake Tom Bailey in the state of Mississippi.  Apart from watching people fish and enjoying some fresh air, discussion of a potential two days stop at NO was brought up.  There was a movie shoot that was happening somewhere around NO, but to go there meant stopping at NO for an extra day.  This quickly became a contentious issue.

As we continued driving through the swamplands and mangroves leading to NO, we encountered the first signs of the consequences of Katrina and Rita, almost six years ago.  One of the long bridges controlling the ebb and flow of traffic into NO, lay in ruins...



(To be continued...)

Final Route*:
New York, NY -> Washington DC -> Knoxville, TN -> Chattanooga, TN -> Gadsden, AL -> Birmingham, AL -> New Orleans, LA -> Houston, TX -> Brenham, TX -> Austin, TX -> Carlsbad, NM -> Santa Fe, NM -> Grand Canyon, AZ -> Santa Monica, CA -> Malibu, CA -> Washington DC
*Places in bold are where we spent the night

Saturday, May 21, 2011

The Office

Over the course of the last three years, the junior staff at the office have maintained a healthy level of insanity at the work place.  Besides the pranks, there have been several instances of un-professional behavior.  In no particular order, I present to you an ever growing list of workplace idiocy.  I'm sure I've missed a few... fill me in.

1. The 100 Cheesburger Poker Night
Five people.  Simple concept.
We drove to a McDonald's drive-thru after work.  Ordered, 5 Coke Zeros, 1 medium fries, and 100 $1 cheeseburgers.  After the recovery from the initial shock, the franchise gave us two huge boxes of 50 burgers (Later, upon counting, we realized that they had given us 106 burgers instead).  We took our burgers, went back to a conference room at the office.  Took out a deck of cards and played poker, using the burgers as chips.  After an arduous duel, I emerged victorious, winning a grand total of 83 burgers, the rest were eaten or given away.  Originally we had planned to give away the burgers to homeless people, but we got lazy and instead filled the kitchen fridge with them.  The next day we put up a notice saying FREE FRESH BURGERS.

2. Chair Racing
First instituted as a late night boredom reliever during the dark days of October 2010, for a while this became a dominant act for bragging rights to set fastest lap-times around the cubicles.  The leader board was kept on JK's desk as a reminder of who's top dog.  Over time, with JK's move to a different desk, the sport disappeared in to obscurity.

3. Russian Roulette
An aftermath of the "Assassination of Pragyan" prank.  Suddenly, Nerf guns. One of them the Maverick, a revolver type Nerf reminiscent of the Mel Gibson Western character.  Russian Roulette with Nerf Guns, simple enough idea, tons of fun.

4. The Rube Goldberg Machine
A testimony to the great times in Office 208.  An idea that led to one of the most fun things I've done since graduating college.  Props to Gilmartin.  


5. The GSE Index and the Great Crash

6. The Big Lebowski

7. Crotch-Crotch Ball

8. Fish Here, Fish Now

9. Vs. ICF06344

10. Ka-Me-Ha-Me-Haaaa

11. Halloween

12. Fogo De Chou

13. RPS Tourney

14. Baseket and Kricket

15. The Two Towers

16. Conquer Club

17. The Paper Throw League

18. The NC Fan Club

19. The Capacity Price is Right!

20. Improv Night

21. Vidz-Ball

Monday, May 16, 2011

The Great Depression

Another disappointing end to a promising season.  Another season racked with false hope.  Another season of crappy refereeing - please don't argue with me on this one.  Another season of squalid rumors about Wenger and Fabregas and Nasri and Co.  I don't particularly care that Arsenal hasn't won a trophy in six years.  What I care about is that they play good football.  Alas, of late, the team seems shaken with doubt and self belief - losing at home to Villa in a pathetic manner.  I want the team to stay together, I don't want anyone to go - ok, maybe Denilson.  Still, we have one of the sharpest strikers in the world, two visionary playmakers, a good man in goal, a vermin-exterminator on defense, and a warhorse in pits.  We can come back from this and we will, one day this walk of shame, will only be a distant memory.  Vive le Gunners.

Saturday, May 14, 2011

John v. Fredrich (It's Goin' Down Yo)

Sometime ago, two people, an economics professor at Geroge Mason University, Russ Roberts and film-maker John Papola started a website called Econstories.tv to try raise awareness about the economic paradigm we live in and the policies our governments subscribe to.
Their first endeavor was a rap battle between two opposing stalwarts, John Maynard Keynes (father of Spending Theory) and F.A. Hayek (father of the Austrian perspective).



After the resounding success of the first video, they released a sequel recently:



Enjoy!