Tennis Days

Playing tennis, that too under lights, in a state of the art court is an experience I could never ever imagine 3 years back. Thanks to Zehra and Tushar, I could play my 1st ever tennis game under lights on a chilling christmas night. This game came after a very long time as the last time I played was back in June 2010. The game was very refreshing, and the pain is being felt now.

It all started in MET, back in Jan 2009. As very few people were placed by that time among the recession-hit Operations batch, a lot of people had a lot of time to spend (Should I say waste!) in the otherwise boring Sem - 4. Most of us chose different ways of spending time, but we spotted the intimidating tennis court and felt a pull we just couldn't resist. But there's a story which actually initiated this.

One of those days when Zehra, Tushar and Bhavik were at the court. Some guys were already playing then so they were waiting for their turn. I wasn't with them that time, as I had been to Vaishnao Devi in Jammu, the farthest place I have ever visited in India till now. So, there they were waiting, looking at those guys play a rookie kind of tennis. Zehra had a word with those guys, asking for their rackets and some time to play which they agreed they would do. 30 mins passed by, yet the guys did not stop playing, making things a bit frustrating for us. Soon enough it was 4:50 pm and we just could not bare anymore as the court would be open for students only till 5 pm. Zehra lost her patience (quite naturally) and asked the guys to which those morons said, "Sorry guys, we have a class to attend. We can't give you our rackets." They said this and left, leaving behind 3 people - 2 dejected & 1 furious. Zehra was so angry, Tushar & Bhavik could feel the heat. Zehra felt this should not happen again ever. She suggested to get our own tennis rackets. Tushar and Bhavik were wondering about it.

Buying those rackets was not a simple decision. Among all of us, only Zehra had been placed in Piramal Healthcare by that time. Tushar, Bhavik, Mousami and I were tense enough as we were not. Jobs, forget good ones, were not easily available. Money was also an issue for some of us. We were not sure as to we would be playing tennis that often. Worst, were we deciding to buy rackets just out of frustration? Zehra, Tushar and Bhavik had a group discussion about this. Once they all agreed to contribute, they called me up to ask if I would chip in as well. I agreed, without thinking much about it. It took me some time to realize that I had made one of the smartest decisions of my life in a blink. That was the day after which the tennis court at MET virtually belonged to us till the time we left the institution. (you can ask any of our batchmates about this)

We all used to play for hours together on the court. We downloaded videos from Youtube on how to play the game. We clicked our pics, video recorded our games. We were also planning to organize a intra collegiate tennis tournament then. We had been tan for a very long time. Now Zehra is atleast 2 times fairer than what she was during those days, I am sure Mousami, Tushar and Bhavik would agree! We forgot everything else while playing the game. There was always the tension of placements, education loan, personal commitments troubling all of us. It was the tennis court that made us release all of it and enjoy our lives. We enjoyed a lot, not just tennis, but our lives surrounding it.

Life without Wife

Just a rare occasion that my mom being away for 2 days has created such a mess at home. It makes me wonder how dependent we all are on her. More so my dad. Life without his wife has truly become miserable for him.

My mom is visiting Shirdi with her office colleagues. Usually, when our parents are away, my granny comes to stay at our place to look after us. This time, we all decided that we wont call her as we have grown up now and we can take care of ourselves! My dad was proud of this. Quite certainly, things haven't happened as we had planned. Much worse is the incident which happened some time back.

Things were going fine in the morning. Me and my sis had our breakfast and we started doing the household chores. Noon was approaching, and we started feeling the heat. It does look simple when mom does it, perhaps because we have always seen her doing those things. But, it's only when you put your feet in someone else's shoes that you realize the other side.

In the evening, dad had to pack some stuff. By the time he finished with it, he had a lot of waste paper to dump. Most of the times, it is my mom who does it. I wish she would have done it, atleast today. On second thought, if she had done it today, this hilarious incident would not have happened. So, what my dad does is he just forgets that his cell phone is also somewhere close to the waste. He dumps the waste papers along with his cell phone!

It was late in the night when my dad realizes that his cell phone is missing. We look around the entire house for it. We did found out certain things which had been missing since a few days, but could just not find the cell. He was worried. We asked him to remember the last call he received or made. It took him some time to realize what he had done. I had emptied the dust bin just a few minutes back in the garbage dumping in our backyard. Me and my dad went to find out the cell. It took us around half an hour to go through a lot of garbage before finally getting it back. I had never been so dirty all my life, thanks to my dad.

I am missing my mom. Back home it is very smooth when she's around. She makes our lives easier. It's a pity that we don't always realize or appreciate it. I hope this incident shall change a few things, atleast for me. I think it is also necessary to learn all of this. It's good to be in safe hands but just in case we face a similar situation again, atleast we would be somewhat prepared to face it! I dont say this often, but, mom I love you. Dad, you are hilarious at times. You did not realize but I just could not stop laughing for quite some time. I am waiting for mom to come back and I am gonna narrate this whole thing to her. Hahahahahaaaaaaaaaaaa

Is Cricket really a Batsman friendly game??

If you are a cricket lover I am sure you must have heard commentators and analysts saying "Cricket is a batsman game!" many times. Many of these commentators have been players at the highest level of the game. Most of the analysts, on the other hand, go through a lot of data crunching to come up with their trivia and statistics. I therefore wonder how can they say such a thing without realizing that it is the exact opposite. Yes, Cricket is a bowler friendly game. I am sure it must be hard to believe, especially when the big boys say otherwise. Well, I do have facts to support this view.

First of all, a batsman has to face all the bowlers bowling to him in a match. He is all geared up, with pads, gloves and helmet to keep his body safe. He has to adjust his batting for pace, swing and spin. While scoring, he has to run, not just for himself but for his partner as well. The bowler, however, has 10 other men to help him get wickets. The fielders take catches; the wicket, however, is credited to the bowler. At times, a bowler makes life difficult for a batsman, which makes him vulnerable and he can give away his wicket to some other bowler. At times, the batsman is run-out. There are times when the ball edges on to the stumps. There are times when a non-striker batsman is given run-out because the ball has hit the stumps with the batsman out of crease, thanks to the bowler who could touch the ball before hitting the stumps, luckily. A bowler gets so many chances and such good support from the team to take wicket while a batsman needs to make sure he does not give any chance of taking his wicket.

In terms of statistics as well, it turns out that the bowlers have always had an advantage in the game.

Let us look at the top 2 batsman in Tests, ODI's and T-20's with their top 5 scores. It does take a lot of time and deliveries to face for even the top class batsman to score meaningful amount of runs. Even in T-20, the fastest half century took 12 deliveries. However, for the bowlers, things are easier. In a test match, a bowler needs to bowl a maximum of 20 good deliveries to take wickets, while 10 in ODI's and T-20's. All bowlers need not produce all of those deliveries; they can produce a few individually as well plus the fielders are there to take catches and make run-outs, while the batsman can also play on to the stumps.

The commentators and analysts definitely need to ponder over this.