India vs Australia - Close 1st Test Match

A superb Test match. High level of competition. Good captaincy and a fine advertisement for the game. Well done Australia and India.

Two classy centuries by Virat Kohli, two by David Warner, a patient and dogged spell of spin  bowling by Nathan Lyon. And so many more support performances, Steve Smith, Michael Clarke, Murali Vijay.

The aggressive declarations by Australia set the game up despite losing time due to rain. Fantastic. There is no fear of losing, it is about wanting to win. Brad Haddin's handling of the captaincy in the crucial last session was good to watch.

As far as Australia was concerned they wanted to win the match - for their dear mate whom they lost in a most unfortunate accident. (Lyon patting and stroking the number 408 after the win was nice to watch - it was very private and personal and one could feel that it was authentic and not manucfatured for the television as most do.) Australia were a jittery lot but held themselves together in their endeavour. The opponents were tough and were not giving in easily. In fact the Indians showed that they wanted to win as much as the Aussies did which made it all worthwhile. In the end they held their nerves, believed in the process, did all the basics right and got through, just about.

What interests me is the situation which India was in (the part when I started to watch it from). Kohli was batting with Saha and 60 were needed in 18 overs with five wickets in hand. Your number 11 is Ishant Sharma who is no bunny with the bat - he can hold his own. One would like to ponder over what could have been done right to ensure a win from that stage - instead of losing their heads.

What is it that makes us lose our heads and focus? Saha gets almost 15 runs in an over and shows that there will be balls to hit - obviously Lyon simply cannot go on and on forever. How about rotating the strike and getting Kohli on? How about putting the pressure back on Lyon by taking just three or four singles and wait for the loose ball? How about thinking - "Hey, Lyon and the Aussies are under pressure now, can I just hang around and get used to the situation and build pressure some more?' A partnership of 30 between him and Kohli at that stage and everything would have been different.

For me, this is what the coaching staff needs to be doing. How to handle the situation? How to think in such situations? How to out think the opposition and outlast them? I don't expect this heavy coaching side to give them tips on skill - they are the most skilled in India perhaps. Its now in the realm of the mind. How can Shami, Aaron, Ishant also get into a their minds that they can play around Kohli and still pull it off? Or even they can pull it off by themselves if they applied themselves?

The J&K team that beat Mumbai said that the recent experiences with floods made them all tougher. That's a cue for our coaching team. Put them through the paces with the army, the commandos. Think out of the box.

I see the Indian dressing room. Team director Ravi Shastri, team coach Duncan Fletcher, coaches army Arun, Sridhar, Sanjay Bangar and god knows who else all watching with grave faces. Team manager Arshad Ayub is a test cricketer too -and so many more experts around. Each word and gesture from these people will weigh on the boys. If I was the Indian team captain I'd tell the boys - don't listen to ten guys, just hear and let go. Focus on your game. What is the point in having so many coaches if they cannot teach them to be mentally tough and use their discretion to make decisions that help you cross the line? It's my theory that one coach and a good captain are good enough. Let them figure it out. They will do better.

I disagree with Gavaskar's statement today that India should have played for a draw. I agree with Kohli that if they had played for a draw they would have lost by 150 runs. This is the way forward even if you lose. Don't fear losing. Go for wins. You will win more often than you will lose that way. For Kohli, his batting, his attacking captaincy and a very gracious few words at the end, a big thumbs up. Well done lad and keep going. You're on the right track. You will win more often than you lose in the end analysis. More importantly you will grow more winners in your team like you.

Link - Sensational Cover of Stairway to Heaven

Sensational is right. Check this out.
The cover version is sung by Heart, one of my all time favorite groups.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LFxOaDeJmXk

Virat Kohli - Tough As Nails

This guy is probably the toughest we have seen in recent times. Certainly among his contemporaries. And today's incident proves it once again. Skipper Kohli walks in with India in a spot of bother and gets a bouncer first up from the most feared fast bowler on the planet now - Mitchell Johnson. He ducks, but only manages to get into the line of the ball. It hits him straight on the forehead. Ball is travelling upwards of 145 kmph (I assume).

There is silence all around. Mitchell Johnson slows down and you can see it all going cold. The memory of last week's incident is only too alive. 

Kohli stands straight. Takes off the helmet, checks it, does not give an inch. No smiles, nothing. The Aussies crowd around him. Johnson walks up softly, peering of see if there is any trace of damage. He looks relieved that Kohli is fine. The Aussies peel off. Kohli is ready for the next ball.

Johnson is shaken. Clarke walks to him and pats him on his back. Next ball please.

Kohli scores 115 of the most solid and confident runs and pulls India out of the woods. At least temporarily. When he gets to his hundred he kisses his helmet. Not the protective gear, but what he is representing.

Tough as nails. You have a captain who is like that, everyone stands up. This should be an interesting series. 

2 Minutes to Make you Happier at Work and In Life - Link to Article by Laszlo Bock of Google

There is immense sense in this. It is about gratitude. Be grateful for about two to three minutes a day and you will be happier at work. Given below is an article by Google's Laszlo Bock.

The formula for those who are too lazy to click on the link.
1) Write down three things for which you are grateful for
2) Spend two minutes praising or thanking a person you know
3) Do this for 21 days

https://www.linkedin.com/today/post/article/20141124163631-24454816-two-minutes-to-make-you-happier-at-work-in-life-and-over-the-holidays

What one cannot understand is this statement - "It has been recently found by Google's People Operations Analytic team that being grateful and expressing it could be the secret weapon to workplace happiness.." Is this the new great discovery or what? Will it be copyrighted - gratitude? I hope not. It's a good thing. Let's keep it free - and I mean from ads etc too.

Final Test, Exit Sachin Tendulkar - Dilip D'Souza

Did you miss the last Test match Sachin Tendulkar played? His 200th Test match ? If you have not been there in November 2013 (or even if you have been there) and wish to be in the Wankhede stadium again, read Dilip's book 'Final Test - Exit Sachin Tendulkar' The book picks you up from Bandra - pick-up point Dilip's home - which is opposite Sachin's, and takes you into the Wankhede stadium. Tickets, trains, journalists, die-hard emotional fans, institutions, noises, smells, tastes, feelings and sights engulf you in this ride as the book chugs on. You are overwhelmed by it all but there's a rational voice next to you, the author's, unobtrusively and inoffensively putting forth arguments and thoughts that could offend, if said in any other way. You cannot argue with cold facts, intelligent arguments and logical observations, especially if they come served on an honest platter. So you nod your head, wonder why nobody had the guts to point out some of these issues before and why everyone is bending over to make this happen, and yet, the author has not lost sight of the real thing, the exit of one man who held the reigns to our wildest hopes over many years and made many things seem possible.

The phenomenon of Tendulkar began in the late eighties. Dilip writes beautifully on how the phenomenon impacted us socially, psychologically and economically even. You can read it in the book. Let me tell it from my viewpoint as I experienced the way he impacted us in the past two decades. The late eighties was a time that was hopeful at best. We were all hazy twenty somethings who had just got used to the huge idea that we were lucky enough to be World Champions in 1983. (Amitabh Bachchan fought our wars on the screen till then but he was growing older and we could still not relate to real success except that some injustices were righted.) If that one win in 1983 proved to us that we Indians could be looked at kindly by the gods (who seemed to be white by the way), we started hearing news of this run machine who dominated proceedings in school cricket matches. He was not limited by our fears; instead he seemed to think that we should be winning the World Cup every time, every day. Play him anywhere and he'd attack. His approach threw off any aspects of fear, of subservience, of wanting to survive. He wanted to dominate. He blew away all concepts of good - he wanted to be the best. He had developed the skill, he had the attitude and he had the courage and burning desire to drag a whole nation of negative thinkers, timid people who settled easily, divisive people into what seemed to be the light. The entire team bent itself around him as he became the nucleus, bowlers and oppositions started fearing India as an opponent and a new energy crept in. Could we all be like that?

Can one man pull a whole nation and its collective consciousness out of a hole we had dug ourselves into with sheer application, skill and dedication to the medium? It cannot happen overnight. But it did- it happened slowly. We started to believe that we can dominate, not by talking of the past, but by our current actions. But we also found that it was difficult to sustain such levels of excellence because it is hard work. We tried in many ways to blame  and pull down this newly constructed tower of excellence. This we-frogs-will-pull you-down effect told on Tendulkar surely as he changed his game to be more responsible, to look for outcome than mere dominance, to change his technique and his psyche. In the end perhaps, he wanted to prove that he was right. Slowly but surely, through his injuries and the sheer length of time, his love for the game, his surrender to the force that he was blessed with, he did pull the psyche of the negative Indian upward and sent it soaring. To the other extreme now.

Even as he tired, slowed, he never showed any signs of not being capable. He was still the wicket to get. It all came through diligent and intelligent work, an attention to detail, work ethic and humility. But the nation that grew around him and his exploits, that could now look the white man in the eye, was not reflecting these. It reflected words, empty threats. It basked in the reflection of Sachin and many such stalwarts who grew in this period, not just in cricket, But it chose to ignore the path they took. It showed an ugly side to it.

The game grew exponentially in the years that Sachin played. the money, the media, the exposure, the entertainment, the advertisers, the craze for the game increased phenomenally and it all seemed to hang on to the shirt tails of this one man who led it like a Pied Piper. BCCI grew into a monster and started bullying cricketing bodies all around the world. The game itself transformed. The IPL saw the white man now being at the beck and call of the brown man. Cricket had reached a stage in India, where it was fully drunk on its own power. We can bully anyone. We can do anything. We are India. We are cricket.

This is a dangerous stage to be in. If the spirit of the game is trampled, it will lose its charm. Its quality to draw people.

Somewhere in this stage, Sachin's final test match was organised. It was a special occasion. Sachin, god to millions, will exit. He will choose when to exit. He will choose where to exit. He will choose how to exit. Everyone bent themselves over to give him the perfect farewell. The match was organised hurriedly, the opponent was picked, the venue. Sachin played. All else is forgettable about these two matches (which were highly forgettable anyway) and were a bad advertisement for the game. All one remembers is that Sachin played, people poured their hearts out as if a part of them died. Sachin spoke the near perfect speech, the team carried him on its shoulders, the crowd roared, cried, he almost got a hundred (I loved the way Dilip introduces Sachin's dismissal), his mother watched, a billion people watched. The game - well it was forgotten. It became a mere vehicle for this grand farewell.

And this is the space where Dilip sits, at a corner of the Wankhede where he cannot even see the game properly thanks to some wonderful engineering to build these swanky new stadiums. Why was this being done to end one of the most stellar careers we have ever seen? Why did he agree to it? Why did he want it this way? It was not as if his capability had diminished. He could still hold his own. It was not like the way we all waited for Kapil Dev to overtake Hadlee's haul in the most laborious, saddest manners and heaved a sigh of relief when he did. We don't want to remember our heroes like this. We want our heroes to be heroes forever. Not illusions to be shattered. We were part of the story too - you cannot take it away from us. You cannot burst our bubble. We have invested in you. We created you.

Dilip wonders why this match was held and in such circumstances. Would world greats like Nadal, Jordan opt to go out like this? Would such thoughts be entertained? He wonders at the crowd and its delirium. He sees the boy who has come from Chennai for two days just to watch Sachin play, the people who want a glimpse of their god outside his home, the messages that flash across the big screen, the irony of the naming of the Press Box. He sees the aggression in the fans, remembers what they did to poor Maria Sharapova, sees them pile up garbage, mess up the stadium, heap praise lavishly and embarrassingly. Dilip remembers small incidents from each players cricketing life, adds life to the proceedings with his keen powers of observation and honest questions. How the BCCI now swaggers, the money in the game, the people on the inside, the people who want to get there, the people on the outside and what it means to them. He wonders what the West Indian greats would say if they saw their team surrender so abjectly? He connects cricket to math, quotes from cricket classics, shows glimpses of his life. You want to meet his friend who blocked the full toss and lost a game for them, friend Praveen Rastogi who ran the best three runs ever, Dilip's love for fast bowling, his admiration for the game and Rahul Dravid (and his straight lines), his take on the advertisements notably Fair and Lovely and his experience while adopting a child. He sees the Ambani's car (that car!), he ponders over the irony of releasing a postal stamp in an age when his students questioned him innocently about what post boxes are and how they transport post, he wonders as most of us do at what the politicians are doing there, the not-so-loved BCCI strong men as they muscle their way into the frames, he looks back at the way the nation stopped to participate in this event. Dilip packs so much into the book that its racier and spicier than any cricket book I have read in a long while.

To pack in the details to make a book interesting is done in two ways. One way is when you want to make the book sell at the cost of everything else, truth and integrity be damned, in which case you look for the stuff that sells and try to stuff it in. Another, is to look at the truth that haunts you. and try to uncover it, without losing judgment or perspective, to put forth an intelligent and uncompromised viewpoint and to fall in line with the greater truth. This is an act of love to the medium of expression and Dilip stays true to that. I am so glad he did. In fact I am so glad he writes and expresses himself so because we need voices like his. How many have dared to look at Sachin, the cricketing institutions, the fans, and written so honestly. Not too many as I know. It is not done whimsically to raise controversy, it is put forth intelligently without ever taking away from the brilliance and luminescence of the man or the game. In a world that seems to favor the former approach, I am glad we have Dilip, and people like him, who bring intelligence, maturity and integrity to the table.

'Final Test - Exit Sachin Tendulkar' is as good a eulogy to Sachin as any to me. An honest one,  and one that could well show the mirror to the cricketing world. Well done Dilip.

The Richest Man in Babylon - George S. Clason

This book has sold more than two million copies and contains success secrets of the ancients. It's something that Suresh read a long time ago and he was kind enough to gift me a copy. I only wish i'd read this book some twenty years ago - not that its not too late to start now - I just can't get over the fact that we missed such simple and practicable wisdom. Thanks Suresh.

Penguin, Rs. 350, 194 p

The Babylonian parables have a wealth of wisdom concerning how to 1) acquire wealth, 2) holding it and 3) making it earn. It pretty much deals with all things concerning money and in my opinion this book should be made compulsory reading for anyone who is about to embark on a career. If I'd known this when I passed out of college, I'd be much more financially stronger, way beyond what I can express.

The first parable is apt. A bunch of friends in Babylon, all hard working fellows who expected to somehow grow rich in their old age find that they are still struggling. However their friend has become the richest man in Babylon. He was like they had been, not even the brightest in the class. How then, they ask him, is it that you are so?

He tells them that they had 'failed to learn the laws that govern the building of wealth. or you do not observe them.'

1) Save 10% of all you earn. Pay yourself first.
'a part of all I earned was mine to keep", he said. Not less than 10%. How is it that you pay everyone but yourself? (This strongly resonates with the thought of how we have love for everyone but ourselves. It's so simple, pay yourself first.)

2) What you save must earn.
"Wealth, like a tree, grows from a tiny seed. The first copper you save is the seed from which your wealth shall grow. The sooner you plant that seed, the sooner shall the tree grow. And the more faithfully you nourish and water that tree with consistent savings, the sooner you may bask in contentment beneath its shade.'
(Put your saved money away someplace where it earns and is not idle.)

3) Take advice from those who know
If you have to invest your money take advice from those who know. Seek advice from those who are competent through their own experience to give it.
This means go to the expert even if you look foolish - they make speak the truth and harshly but they will give good advice.

4) Don't eat the children of your savings. Make them earn for you.
Don't spend your earnings. Reinvest.

5) Live upon less than you earn
Simple enough but we just seem to miss this. Live on less or earn more.

6) A small return and a safe one is far more desirable than risk.
Don't get carried away by stories of easy riches, be safe.

7) Let not yourself get niggardly and afraid to spend. 
Spend on yourself 70% of what you earn and make your family happy. Life is good and rich with things to enjoy.

7 Cures for a lean purse
1st cure:
Start fattening the purse. Spend one less than you earn. Put back one more coin than you have used up. (Save!)

2nd cure:
Control expenditures. expenses grow with desires.
Write down all you desire. Get 100% value demanded for each coin spent.
(Spend wisely.)

3rd cure:
Make the gold multiply. Put each coin to labor that it may reproduce.
(Invest wisely)

4th cure:
Guard thy treasures from loss. Secure the principal in investments where it can be reclaimed if desired and collect a fair return on it.
(Don't lose what you earned or gained.)

5th cure:
Make a profitable investment of your dwelling. Build and own a home.
(Build a home and in a way that it becomes a good investment too.)

6th cure:
Provide in advance fro thy growing age and the protection of your family.
(Pensions, home, savings, royalties.)

7th cure:
Increase your ability to earn.
(Be more creative in how you use your abilities to earn.)

How to create wealth
Preceding accomplishment must be desire. Desires must be strong and definite. To be rich is no purpose.

The process in which wealth is accumulated - first in small sums, then in larger ones as man learns and becomes more capable.
For eg. Desire 5 pieces of gold - find the strength of purpose to achieve it. Then desire 10 pieces - similar ways.

To succeed over the others, be the best. Skill is required. The more wisdom we know, the more we may earn. The man who seeks to know more of his craft shall be richly rewarded.

Seek greater skill that you may better serve those upon who patronage you depend.

Things a man must do:

• Pay his debts promptly
• Take care of his family
• Will of record
• Compassion and aid to those who need

There is abundance for all.

Meeting the goddess of good luck
Procrastinator waits. Opportunity passes by. Crush the spirit of procrastination.

Make payment immediately when you are convinced that the bargain is wise. To attract good luck it is necessary to take advantage of opportunity.
Men of action are favored by the goddess of good luck.

The 5 laws of gold
Gold comes to any man who:

• Puts not less than 1/10 of his earnings to make an estate for his future and that of his family.
• Finds for gold profitable employment and multiplies it
• Invests it under the advice of men wise in its handling
• Stay away from those who invest in a business or purpose with which he is not familiar with or which are not approved by those skilled in its keep
• Does not force it to impossible earnings, follow the advice of a trickster or trust it to his own inexperience and romantic desires.

The gold lender of Babylon
In this story Rodan the spear maker is given 50 coins of gold by the king. He wishes to give it to his sister whom he loves but seeks advice from the gold lender. Rodan has, through his efforts, only earned one gold coin a year from his savings. This reward is for a new design for a spear that he gives his king.
The advice on lending is thus:
The descending order of safety to lend is those
-  whose possessions are of more value than they desire
- have capacity o earn, human effort
- those who have neither earning capacity nor property

Keep the treasure safe. Make it earn. Be conservative.
Better a little comfort than a great regret.

On repayment of debt
In the camel traders parable where he cites his change in fortune from being burdened by debt to transform into a wealthy camel trader.

Debts were my enemies. Pay them back.
Where determination is, a way can be found.

The wisdom of the clay tablets from Babylon
1) 10% of all one earns to be saved - plan for future prosperity
2) 70% of all that is earned must be spent to provide a home, to take care of his wife, clothes to wear, food to eat and not lack in pleasures and enjoyment.
3) 20% of all that is earned to go to repay debts. Engrave names of all to whom one is indebted.

The luckiest man in Babylon
In this they talk of Arad Gula, who became a rich man from being a slave.
Work is the best friend I have known. If you find a master - work as hard as you can, even if he does not approve of you. Work makes you a better man.
Others will see your spirit.

There is no short cut. No sudden fortune. One must be wise and postpone gratification. Make use of skills to earn. Sharpen the skills to earn more. Pursue wisdom. Work as hard as you can and seek opportunity to earn more.

From what you earn, save 10% and no less. Make this money earn on safe investments guided by people who talk based on their experience. Look for safe investments and incremental growth. Don't be greedy and seek high return and lose your principal. Be conservative in investing.

Be careful with the money you earn or gain. Do not lose it. Do not lend to people who cannot repay you or who do not have the earning capacity nor properties that exceed that amount of the loan. Continuously increase your capacity to earn. Spend less than you earn. Don't lose what you earn.

Provide a good home. Provide for your future. Provide for your family. Spend wisely. Don't be niggardly though - enjoy the pleasures of life but within what you earn. Get value for every coin you spend.

It's a wonderful book. Thanks Suresh.

Paradoxes of Our Lives - It's Not The World That's The Villain, It's Us!

Every time we blame the world for something that is happening to us, it's not the world at fault.

It is us. We are doing all that we are blaming the world for. The world is merely reflecting it back to us.

For example, let's says we think the world is unfair, unreasonable, unloving, untrustworthy etc. Surely all of us resonate with that somewhere - at work, family, relationships.

The truth is that we are being unfair, unreasonable, unloving, untrustworthy - to the world at large, or worse, to ourselves.

Let us say, that the world is actually full of nice people with all good intentions. These nice people are also taking the trouble to mirror to us our deepest issues which, if resolved, can sort our lives out and move us towards a more peaceful and joyful existence. So the world and people in it are actually inert mirrors. What we put out, it instantly shows back to us. If we can see and feel what it is showing us (i.e. if what it shows back affects us, irritates us, makes us angry, upset, victimised etc), then we must understand that the world is being a good friend, showing us where we are going wrong. Gently.
If we can step back and accept that and be willing to make some changes, that's a start.

The cycle starts with us. If we start with being nice to ourselves, then we have something to give to the world. When we are fair, reasonable, loving, trusting to ourselves, we look at the world with those eyes. Then the world appears so.

When we are blaming the world, we are in a way blaming ourselves.

Take it easy. Go easy on yourself. Be nicer to yourself. Less harsh.

The world reflects this thought, this feeling, back to us. Everything is all right.

(Thanks Shobhs for somehow getting this across to us!)