Archive of An Unknown

Having just seen a great match (the tied encounter between India and England) it’s quite natural to think about the match for some time - at least until we see the next match. In fact, Cricket is all about that – wasting a whole day watching it and then many more days thinking and talking about it in great lengths. Though it looked spectacular to watch 676 runs being scored on a same day in a single match, I strongly feel that this is what is going to kill the game in the long run. It is fast becoming batsmen’s game in the name of making it more attractive, more so after the introduction of T20. Bowlers are becoming ineffective in almost all countries. I grew up hearing about how one day format was killing the real Cricket, i.e. the test format. Today, there is a new format that is killing both test and one day formats. Is it good for the game? No, it is not – if you think of the amount of test and one day spectators being lost. Is it good for us? Yes, it is – if you think of the am...

In few more minutes, the first ball of the tenth world cup is going to be bowled. I am sitting in front of the television after a long time to watch a Cricket match. It was the IPL-1 that I watched last. From the start to end! Even that wouldn’t have happened if my wife had not gone for delivery leaving me alone at home. May be, fifteen years back, I wouldn’t have thought of such a lengthy gap between me and this game. It has become reality today. Even yesterday I didn’t think of watching today’s match. Just like that – felt like checking out what is going on and tuned into ESPN. Am I going to renew my relationship with this game, which was larger than life at some point in time in my early life? There was a time when I would go crazy if someone changes the channel even during the ad-break. And, I don’t like the mantra of multi-tasking either. What I have realized now is that it is the best time to write something like this when there is a Cricket match. No productivity loss nor is t...

Had an opportunity to go to my native place / hometown (at this moment I don't know what exactly to call it; let us discuss about that also inside!) after a very long time. When I say I am confused what to call it, it's not one confusion. There are many. I can call it my native place but that's not enough to explain my closeness with that place. I am not sure if the term 'native place' in English just means the place where I was born or if it means the place where my great parents lived, then my parents lived and then I lived for sometime. If it just means the place of birth, that is the place where I was born. But, it means much more than that to me. I grew up in that place for a significant part of my early life. I may not be able to call it my native place if I have to look at my roots from the father's side to call it so. I can call it my hometown, but there are some some problems in doing that, too. First of all, I am not sure if it is a town. It's...