Rear guard action

What would any South African cricket fan do, seeing their side settling for a draw again after getting 9 opponent wickets? But they had company in Australian fans during the Ashes of 2009. And the tormentors for both SA and Aus were the English tailenders.

SA is down 1-0 in the series with a test to go after this.
England - 4th innings 9 down and 2.5 over to go (runs were not a concern for both the teams).
England was playing for draw and SA was in need of a win desperately.
Last 2 batsmen, Onions and Swann (rather bowlers) in crease.
Two of the best bowlers, Morkel and Steyn bowling at them.
10 fielders surrounding them in catching position.
Occasional taunt at the batsman from the closein fielders.
Crowd against them.
And the 2 batsman survive to draw the match.

English and SA are too familiar with this situation.
Travel back 20 days to Centurion for the 1st test of the series.
England were 9 down with 19 balls to survive.
Collingwood and Onions stared down by 22 hawk eyes.
And believe it or not they survive with Onions facing 12 balls.

None of these compare to the historic Ashes match last year.

England survived 69 balls (yes a long long 11.3 over) in the 1st Ashes test.
The heroes of the match were Monty and Anderson (not for their bowling though). England were staring at an innings defeat when the pair came together after the fall of the settled Collingwood. Monty played perhaps his longest innings of 35 balls to deny the Aussies a victory. The crowd in the Cardiff stadium was vociferous when the final ball was negotiated. England celebrated as if they had won the test. But perhaps the damage was much more than a victory. Aussies are generally not in such a situation and were totally unsettled. What happened next is not only history but historic…England beat Aus 2-1 to win the Ashes. The pride on Aus was dented which ultimately resulted in they loosing No1 ranking.

The might of the tail is shown in such daunting circumstances and the English are right on top.

Will SA loose the series is something to be seen after the remaining test.

Collingwood’s contribution in all the 3 tests is very significant though the accolades deservedly go to the tail.

Arahanta - a review

Multiple failed attempts to book tickets for 3 Idiots and Avatar. A weekend without entertainment. It was heading to a dull finish. Then came Arahanta. Where-else - Rangashankara.

First impression on the Kannada play -

• Thin storyline
• Excellent acting
• Good costumes

If you want numbered ratings - 3 out of 5

Story starts off in a Jain monastery with the announcement that the Jain king of Kalinga has just vanished from the palace and his "not so good" (NSG) son will take over the gaddi. Quickly you can recall the battle of Kalinga after which Ashoka(the Great) became a peace lover after a blood bath. So the story is about the same Kalinga kingdom.

Story continues - Kalinga is now a subordinate of the powerful Hindu kingdom of Magadha. And as a mark of their superiority over Kalinga, Magadha emperor has taken the revered and massive 1st Jain thirthankara statue from Kalinga to Magadha. Long standing "ambition" of all Kalinga emperors is to bring back the statue but the "ambition" is still a dream. The catch is the statue needs to be got back only through peaceful process and not war. Why? Because Kalinga is a Jain kingdom and Jains are peace lovers\followers.

NSG is young and energetic. Quick results is his way. He has a minister who adds fuel to NSG's burning "ambition". "If the statue is ours, then whatever means we take (war or peace), we should get it" is NSG's philosophy.
On a parallel note, there are efforts to bring back the statue in a peaceful manner with the help of Jain businessmen and their money.
But circumstances force a war between NSG and Magadha kingdom and NSG wins.

The climax of the 90 mins play will answer the open questions -

• Can NSG bring back the statue to Kalinga ?
• Will NSG become good ?
• What happened to the runaway king ?

Arunsagar's stage setting is simple and good. The king's dialogue delivery is loud and touching. NSG has shown good aggressive nature. Unnecessary characters like NSG's mother, the monks of the monastery could have been avoided. Playwright Ramnath has overused the Jain religion concept of peace. Magadha rulers are shown in a bad light needlessly.

Message for today was very loud and clear - Avoid wars and embrace the peace path for success.

I hope to be back

I will be back in the blogging world. Atleast for now, I have decided not to take a long break from blogging. But still unsure on what to start off with.

Remember them

Many of us don’t remember today as we do remember Oct 2nd or Nov 14th or Feb 14th.
This day in 1931, 3 young freedom fighters were killed by the then Indian rulers, the British. Bhagat Singh, Rajguru and Sukhdev were killed for fighting for freedom. There have been films which are dedicated for these three heroes. But not a single Indian website or a news channel does a capsule on the great heroes of India today. That’s the sad part.
I am a great fan of these revolutionaries.
Thanks guys for your struggle...Hats off to you.

Kiss the path!!!

What a romantic statement for one of the most unromantic incidents!!

I was on a (s)hopping spree with my family in Gandhi bazar. It was getting a bit late for other appointments that were to follow the shopping. As the family decided to sip a hot cup of tea, I thought I will get my car from a far of parking space to save some walking time. I started running on the footpath. Just to mention the footpath was like Aishwarya Rai's figure...smooth skin with proper curves :-)) As I ran down, one of my foot got caught in the curve and I was down on my knees and hands (just like a dog!!!). This was when the (un)romantic incident could have happened. I think I kissed the path!!! But unlike many who shy away when they fall in public place..I turned around saw if my legs were ok and continued my run towards the car. I got to know later that my mom was in tears seeing her old(!!) son fall and there were others who commented "bidru style hodithane nodu".

I now realize that I am lucky to get out injury free from the incident especially because of the dangerous curves around the place.

How am I?

I believe in the concept that a person is made of his circumstances and envoirnment. But 2 people grown up in the same envoirnment and circumstances, can still be different. Theres that element of brain (from inheritance or whatever) which has an effect. Thats the main reason why we are the way we are!! But how are we?

A friend of mine introduced me to this peculiar site. It's one of the several sites which tries to access what kind person you are by asking a set of questions. I generally dont believe in these things as it has no influence on my behaviour. But still i went through the exercise of knowing myself. The results are here. Lots of this did make sense to me.

Mouse over any part of the strip to learn more about the traits that the colors represent.

Animated Director

What I liked about the questions is the way they are modelled. The graphics of the bucket, quadrant and slider are very good. This UI concept can be used in several places. These could attract users to the survey which would have been rather boring if it was multiple choice or rating kind of survey.

If you have 15-20 mins to spare...enjoy this survey, but dont take it to head. You can also ask your close friends to rate you on the survey to get a different perspective.