A Superb Photo - A Moment of Joy

A while ago my friend Ajay, senior at Osmania Engineering College, who works in the UK sent me a whatsapp message saying that his company in the UK wanted to buy 100 copies of '50 Not Out'. Would I also sign the copies for them? I said I would be delighted to and the whole process  went on smoothly.

50 Not Out - And A Burst of Energy (Ajay is seated in the second row on the left, with his glasses)

While we were discussing the deal I was also telling Ajay that he featured in the book too (in the chapter on 'Simplify'. In my first year at the Osmania University we were both chosen to play for the Combined Colleges on the Osmania University campus. It was a decent side and we sailed smoothly to the final against the formidable Nizam College side. Nizam College batted first in the three day final and put on 420 in their 90 overs. In reply we were 180 for 8 or something like that when I joined Ajay, who was a middle order batsman, at the crease. Since 420 looked like an impossible target (even for us), we told each other that we would concentrate on surviving ball by ball, over to over and not do anything silly. We slowly got  our eye in and before we knew it, we were stroking the ball well and picking up boundaries. The initial discipline helped us not to take risks. We put on 50, then 100 and then 150, 175. The new ball was totally decimated by us - boundaries coming at a rapid pace. When Ajay finally fell, we had put on 188 runs for the 10th wicket. I was past my 100 - a rare 100 by a number 10 batsman. Our score was close to 400. In the company of the last man Rajender I added some 20 odd runs before I fell for 109. We were all out for 409, agonizingly short of the opponent total. It was an innings to remember and we all remember Ajay's flick off his hips that raced away to the boundary with the second new ball as clearly as it was yesterday. Ajay was happy to know that. (An interesting tidbit - Ajay would look so sweet and had this smile that we would call him Di, after Princess Diana.)

Anyway Ajay's organisation, BWW (UK) is part of an education system that helps Amway Business Owners to succeed in the Direct Selling Business. 50 Not out was recommended by BWW Inida and one of the senior business coaches Mr. Girish Belur recommended it and wanted to promote it in the UK.

The picture jumped out of the phone - it had so much energy. I don't think I saw so much energy around 50 Not Out ever - or in one place for a long time. It's iconic for me, a symbol, a validation of the work done and I simply love it. Thanks Ajay and team, Girish Belur, for making this happen. Wonderful stuff.