Fight against Corruption

In my earlier post, in the backdrop of Arab revolutions, i had mentioned that people coming out on street can be possible in India only due to law and order issues like terrorism and gap between rich and poor. But in April, just after the world cup, Anna Hazare was instant rage. All and sundry supported him as rightfully we should have against corruption. People had candle marches, social networks went beserk...
So finally indians have said enough is enough for corruption. Or we are still like sheeps in the herd , herded by manipulators in the system with their new media tools.
There is a whole conspircy theory about phenomenon behind Anna movement. It was timed perfectly. Monday after world cup win on saturday. Media had over exposed itself on cricket frenzy. They needed new fodder. There were many fasts in Delhi which fail to catch even 100 eyeballs. What was different here? was there a media role to promote and highlight. If so who was behind and who were beneficiaries. Not all questions were answered but any logical mind can extrapolate. Not that i dont respect Anna Hazare. His issue is noble. He is a trustworthy guy who has taken rich maharashtra scoudrel politicians. Though some say he is stooged by maharashtra opposition (non congress ncp parties). Congress blames him for RSS sympathy. He was framed in false cases for sure. The faces of anti corruption movement are respectable: kiran bedi, kejriwal, bhushan, hegdes. Congress played its dirty politics as usual to attack the leaders of this movement. Last but not least he was attacked by idiots like mahesh bhatt who had only one point of objection that he praised Narendra Modi. whats the connection between that and anti corruption movement. what positibes has modi got into for gujarat is another topic. for that matter what nitish kumar has done to bihar progess is another matter.
But the movement had a specific agenda aboutr Lokpal Bill.Thats again a positive thing. You cannot have vague points to agitate. Lokpal bill with proper norms can be effective bill to fight corruption. some thought leaders argued that just like any other law in India this bill can be manipulated by those who have manipulated and milked indian system for last 64 years. What can a law do? But being a civilized democratic society we can only resort to lawmaking. Another criticism against Anna Movement was that it will undermine parliamentary democracy with sort of pressure tactics used by its leaders. Who were these people who criticized anna: digvijays, pawars, sibals, and whole set of incumbents who are known to be champions of special kind of politics, manipulation.
Then came ramdeo issue. First government wanted to explore if they can use ramdeo movement to fizzle out steam from anna movement. Moment both Anna and ramdev showed solidarity it cracked down badly. Its a blot on indian democracy. In fact we indians are used to congress version of democracy as in case of emergency. What made government motivated to use high handed ness is to douse fire before it builds up and then save ts skin using majority in parliament. It also knows that public memory is short and election in 14 will be fought on different issues. 3 years is long time in politics. Though state elections in states like UP are year away but in those states congress does not have any chance.
So its now for public to drive the fight against corruption for next 3 years. There seems no vaible alternative to congress as we see bjp today in shambles. But we need to give chance to get clean candidates elected. we need to cleanse system. The educatd should come in political mainstay. Let the parties who have milked india with corruption have civil society alternatives. Let there we revolution by leaders like anna, bedi taking constititional posts apart from just being watch dogs....

Himalaya Ki Goad Mein; Har Ki Dun experience

It was 1989; I had just appeared for my Xth exams. I was an ordinary student in school. Thanks to some external motivation, I had developed some interest in studies and some knack to get good marks in exams. That was though not enough for the great rat race of life. What was needed was that spark, a little bit of confidence to excel. Though I don’t claim extraordinary achievements but the Himalayan experience in 1989 really helped me in long run as I realize today when I return from another Himalayan trek after a gap of almost two decades.
Then world was different then. In fact state was UP today is Uttarakhand. Rajeev Gandhi govt was struggling due to Bofors. Ram Mandir movement was in its very early stage. Political uncertainty was 6-7 months away as general elections were looming. Here we were a group of 30 people led by Gore sir a trekking enthusiast from SP college and colleague of my father. The group was motley, a doctor couple, few banking couples, old collegians, an old but fit prof, hot college girls and boys after them, kids from 10th till 12th. I was the baby of team by birthdate. The facilities were very basic. In Delhi we stayed at Maharashtra Mandal. Rail journey was cruel with less no of confirmed seats than the actual number. We stayed at Dharamshalas everywhere in biting cold and just carry mat , sweaters and shawls. The journey was scenic. The route was Ghuttu, Panwali, Trijuginarayan, gaurikund, kedarnath, ukhimath,chopta, tungnath, gopeshwar, valley of flowers, hemkund, badrinath and mana. These all places were heavenly. The most important point there was I was chosen as a rope leader to manage a sub group of 8 college ladies and a couple. It sparked a leadership spirit inside me and gave me immense confidence.
22 years have passed. Life has taken twists and turns. Life has taken me to many places in India and abroad. But I always wanted to go where it all started. 2011 has been super. I achieved 4 sinhagad treks, 1 vasota trek, 2 WC live matches , WC win. To top it all, my plan to go on Himalayan trek materialized. I was encouraged by a friend who had done same trek via yuvashakti last year. Also I had a friend who had promised to join me but backed away at last minute eventually. This trek was a comfortable one. Started with flight to delhi, ac express to dehradun. There I joined the group which had faced torture of mainland heat from pune via sleeper class. Most of them were youngsters: eng 1st years, Xth, XIIth students and few elders with yuvashakti leader being eldest at 45.
We took an arduous bus journey to a place called sankri around 200 kms ahead of dehradun. For some time we were on jamnotri route. we could see yamuna flowing in the valley below. We had a very economical lunch and bread omlette/magi enroute. We wasted a lot of time and it was almost dark when we reached base camp of sankri.Before that we had to take permit from shri govind national park which is forest reserve. Jungel was getting thicker, taller and air was getting chillier. Sankri is on hilly front though just at 1930 mtrs above sea level. There is a great wind factor as its on peak top. We put on our warm clothing and looked forward to first evening together. Due to trees collapsing, there was power outage so we had gloomy evening descending with only torches and candles to support. We started on track of ghost stories to add to the ambience. The rest house has metal cots, mattresess and thick blankets. This is the case throughout but for harki dun where capacity of guest house is only 10 beds and we were 20. Yuvashakti had outsourced the arrangements to local party who sent two very sweet kids (sons of owner brothers), guide (gajendarbhaiiya), 2 cooks who were very friendly, 2 porters one of whose name was daftar (meaning office in hindi). They prepared normal food of rice, dal, rotis and sabji. Any food in the hills is heaven. So many of youngsters who were disappointed at bhendi being served could not stop from second helping. We had our first trek night.
Next day was kind of acclimatization. We walked flat alongside a mountain and valley which had at its base river Supin flowing. Forest was thick. We crossed two waterfalls where we drank fresh mountain water. We walked though 11 kms. There was no climb or altitude gain. Some clever tourists used jeeps to reach next destination called taluka. Taluka was the only place we had electricity. This was the time I realized importance of reaching destination early. All good rooms were blocked by those who reached first. We had to fight flies and had toilet which was away and unclean. We played cards and visited a local house. Local people were very hospitable and had kids who were very smart. Some of them knew geographical location of Pune and i was amazed. I know of same age students in Pune who cannot make out ahmednagar in Maharashtra map. That guy wanted to be engineer. God bless him and let him realize all his dreams. Till now I was close to only group which had fairer sex as members. We had only two.
We started the real trek at taluka and headed for osla. We had first river crossing over a bridge. We had to climb up and down. It was 14 kms of arduous trek. Most of youngsters tired. My motivation was to reach destination as i knew if i stopped it would be tough for me. Along with some young kids I was the first one to reach seema where we had guest house overlooking osla village on valley opposite and river supin flowing in between. Enroute we had a stall which provided us maggi which was out of world. I got best room for my group comprising of a stodgy Xth passout in whom I could see myself 22 yrs back. That led to a fun batter that I being senior was a god father of that kid. Anyways today’s kids are smart and I had a great chance to interact with them. They think differently. Their values are different. The inputs I got from this group am sure will help me raising riya when she turns at that age. I was totally disconnected from young generation. Now I know total psychology that these kids have. These kids are unruly but they are good. I repeat maybe P L Deshpande in asami but I got abreast with clock. At Osla we had another task to drive away a group of moneyed Punjabi guys on letching only 2 girls in our group. We managed that.
Next day was supposedly most difficult day of the trek. 14 kms with more than 1.5kms climb. We had two maggi stalls. Weather started getting chillier. Gradient was amazing. But again I was the first one to reach destination at HKD. The place is amazing with river supin flowing as heavenly stream . All snow laden peaks adding height quotient. We played cricket and handball which added to my fitness quotient.
As I said HKD has only 10seats and yuvashakti had managed only 1 room so we in a room were 2 per bed and oxygen available was limited. I suffered there first night but had guts to bang door to make them open the door and sleep .

Next day weather changed and it was raining. So whole morning we had to spend indoors with anatakshari in full flow. This was the time when some old ladies tried to put me into difficult position. I don’t know in what way I antagonized them and they felt that I was khalnayak no 1. I know that in immediate past I had intentionally made fool out of my adversaries, but here someone was trying to make me one. I was amused.
The weather cleared and most of us reached Mangad glacier where we played snow and had great time.
Next day was climb down to osla and seema. The return journey had started and climb down was easier. I again was first to reach osla. This was the only place which had satellite phone. So we all talked with our dear ones. And we were rejuvenated. We had great time at seema with dumb charades ruling. All the kids were calling me kaka (uncle ) and were very pally to me,
Next day was tougher as road to taluka is up and down. But with greater resolve we entered taluka and ended our trek. We covered osla to sankri atop of jeep. In 1989 I had travelled ukhimath mandal a top of bus and today it was same. I had with me a great singer in chinmay who can sing great Marathi songs.
We reached sankri to find that there is a landslide on way which can keep us at sankri for 3 days. But thanks to Col ss chawla, yogi (our local support) we managed to ply on both sides of landslide and enter bus that reached us to Dehradun
At Dehradun I upgraded myself to ac in transit hotel as I am spoilt with urban pleasures. I managed all my pending correspondence. I met my business and social friends. I reached train ac express in night where few youngsters from my group came in to bid me farewell. As with other short term friends, I know these kids will not be in touch with oldies like me. But I shared with them my only concern to be a good father to Riya and best practices involved. These kids are good and I spoilt them with party involving high spirits. I am feeling rejuvenated after being in touch with them. Though also I don’t understand reason for some old people esp ladies to have crossed me. But I don’t care. I have kept myself abreast with times esp with youngsters and incidentally I know someone in my shoes as a youngster who was in katariya or someone’s who were doing first trek after std Xth . I can identify with the thought process of most of them. But ladies I cannot. That’s the tragedy.
Now I am back with my loved wife and daughter totally rejuvenated and fresh and I hope it brings about same results as what himalayan trek did in 1989….

Passing it on

Its always pleasure when new gives way to old. New blood in management gives companies new ideas, plans, energy and often lead to successes (though some negative case studies also exist, but in terms of % positive impact cases lead in nos). In 2007 world cup new blood leased life into Indian cricket taking it to inaugural ICC T20 win, test no 1, and ICC world cup. New directors are giving new dimension to bollywood, marathi film and theatre. Music has seen new stars.Only worrying aspect is marathi literature where old still rules, very few new talents have emerged. Maybe due to decline of marathi as language in education. Though some new Indian english talent has emerged. Change is constant. Thus one feels great when you pass on your legacy to new blood. I am not retiring or i dont claim to have great legacy but i am simply sharing a great experience of passing on a hobby or culture or lifestyle called as trekking to my 9 yr old daughter.
Trekking is life style. Its an addiction. Pack off your sack every weekend and head to hills. We in pune are blessed with options, accessibilty and suitable weather (except maybe 2-3 summer months when you can do night treks) Rains add new dimesion to trekking. But as they say every trekker memoir starts with climbing sinhagad. Go to any place with open view , or any high rise or a hill near pune. The big wall of sinhagad with its unique shape and TV tower is something you will see. It has omnipresence here. It challenges, it calls and you follow that. There are people who go there every week. For me last few years have been resurrection in my trekking life. Years before that due to work pressure or lack of like minded fellows, bad habits, laziness, young family chores, physical challenges, i admit to have taken urban cosmo lifestyle. The trekking lifestyle was there throughout my student and single working life. But since last few years, have found likeminded people, groups and will to complete my trekking cv. 2011 has been fantastic. Vasota, sinhagad atleast 4 times with friends. Himalayas are calling this summer/monsoon. But what i experience last sunday was amazing. Doing trek with my daugther.
In fact she was so excited to go to trek that she was wide awake till late. I had also promised her to see 4 planets visible beteen 510 t0 5 20 am for this week. I woke her up and there she was ready. we went to chandani chowk to see that. we could see only 3 as it was getting brighter. then drove towards base.
We started climbing. There was lot of encouragement from usual sunday morning crowd at sinhagad. She was bit tensed as she saw the climb and destination. she was comfortable till first met when road is wide with stones. Sun was still behind hills. It was bit chilly as last few nights in pune are very pleasant. Then we have those narrow steep climbs where she was bit sacred . But gave her solid instructions to hold my hand. we were slow but reached the final met after a stiry telling session from me to disctract her. we had water and lemon drops. That refreshed her. Final strech is narrow and bit winds through shrubs. she was comfortable then as she could see destination nearer. as we recahed she sensed the achievement when i showed her parking place. we had famous buttermilk, bhaji , guava, kairi. i gave her option to climb down by road. These days though cars are not allowed up due to raod repairs, jeeps di ply. she refused saying she wants to complete the trek.
She was slipping while cimbing down as one normally does. One has to control climb down. Same logic of hold me, story went off well. Now sun was up so we drank lime juice at one met. also we started counting no of slips as 'prasads' and who wins with most prasads. we reached parking. She then called her mom at home who was worried. My wife in typical mumbai girl. she gets scared on water and heights.
we (I) have made umpteen attempts to convince her but we could only manage ARAI hill, neelkantheshwar, karal bhaje caves, lohgad, pratapgad, panhala out of her.
As i was driving back, i could see her doze off due to early rise or exhaustion. she was claiming her legs were not aching but could sense that they were. But seeing her determination and eagerness, i was impressed. Though it does not mean much, atleast i have satisfaction to have exposed to healthy trekking lifestyle. Now its upto her to take this baton. One good thing pointed by my friend is that, now i have a trekking buddy for whole of my rest of the life. Thats something is very good news and something i look forward to. stay with this space for more such experiences.
I am sure all my dad friends and other parents will identify with my feeling. I see many such parents taking children to sinhagad or more difficult treks. So this is not big deal and i am not bragging. But idea is to share with you feeling of passing it on and getting new trekking buddy. Thats a significant moment in everyone's life

Todays State: Lack of leaders...

We completed 51 yrs of Maharashtra state. When we were young and studying outside the state, all other state residents were envious about our state esp those from north and east. Country has been glamoured by Mumbai mainly out of bollywood, cricket, share market, business headquartered in south mumbai, taj oberoi, bandra, juhu, its lifestyle. They did not know much about rest of maharashtra. They knew about Pune mainly due to its young, hep crowd, weather, defence establishments (where many chose to retire). Beyond that they had only heard about nagpur oranges/rss headquarters, kolhapuri chappals and mirchis... period... Now that was the outside image of state.
Those inside has various things that constituted meaning of maharashtra. We were immemnsely proud about our heritage. Be it saints like dynaneshwar, tukaram or be it history mainly with shivaji, peshwas, holkars , shindes. We were leaders in cooperative movement with prosper farmers esp in western maharahstra. We in Pune had rich social service heritage with Tilaks, Agarkars, ranades, gokhales. We were also ahead in empowering neglected sections helped by some great leaders like Phule, Ambedkar, shahu maharaj. We had great literature and talent like that of Atre, Kusumagraj, PL, Vinda just to name a very few. We had good drama movement. Indian Film industry was born here and had great names like Phalke, prabhat, bhalji, raja paranjpe etc leading from front. Cricket culture in mumbai (and to some extent Nagpur)is folklore. Wrestlers in Kolhapur made name. Pune led in education. We had good universities for agriculture and engineering. we had great industrial belts like Thane, chinhwad and many more.Only problem with maharashtra was lack of good political leadership . We never had leader of national stature. In fact that was the problem of all leaders south of Vindhya. Some shrewd leaders from south gained top spots due to dynastic vacuum or sheer luck. Also another breed of regional leaders got away with good deals due to coalition politics. But maharashtra never had such gutsy politicians who bargained for state inspite state being highest contributor to party headquarters or towards govt exchequer. all and sundry in congress felt highest achievement to be confidant of Gandhi nehru clan. Last leader of national stature was dr B R Ambedkar. There was no real opposition to congress except during emergency when all intellegenisia and committed thought leaders (socialists) and opportunist (pawar and co) united to form an alternative. That dismatled in early 80s.But to form real alternative it took last decade 0f 20th century as traditional base of jansangh /rss got polarsised by Babri movement (arised out of congress misleadership), and urban , son of land politics by shivsena combined and formed govt in last half of nineties.
But again due to dirty politics of congress and due to failed opportunities of sharad pawar, congress came back and we now are where we are. First decade of naughties have taken us back 20 years. Nothing new is happening. Even in non related areas like music and drama we tend to rely upon past laurels than new work. cimena exception to this. some attribute decline conveniently to shivsena bjp govt when surplus budget got into deficit. But one has also to ackowledge work on mumbai flyovers, expressways, golden quadrilaterals etc . Congress cannot claim a single achievement except making alcohol double costly and further distressing families wrongly aligned with that disctraction. Jaitapur is another distant dream but wrongly managed. Industry has declined with every industrial land owner dreaming of a mall or office complex on his land. IT which started in SEEPZ Mumbai, is now only restricted to hinjewadi pune. Pune has done well thanks to educational institutes to create supply of labour for IT but now will lose advantage due to builder/leader nexus to escalate costs.
so whats maharashtra known for today esp by outsiders: Raj Thakrey and bal Thakrey have gained notoriety due to pariochal politics, Bombay is Mumbai now and there is fashion amongst cosmo english speaking media to hate Thakrey politics both sides. But moment you have sympathisers for both clans, one needs to understand that there is thought process which fet denied and thus the support. But both clans need to understand that there needs more than just posturing to make policies and do things of substance but you need to give them benifit of doubt that they were in power for only 5 yrs againts congress corruption for 46 yrs. also we should all unite against our common evil: both congress and not family egos. That is also another problem.
leading to corruption, maharashtra's identitity now is pawars, chavans, kalmadis involved in multi crores of scams with no respite in form of punishment etc. Nothing new happening in literature thanks to lack of marathi support by marathi parents. In education, no pioneering work exept minting money by private operators. In industry we lack behind well meaning gujarat. Load shedding and farmer suicides being common place, we cannot claim to be developed society. Thanks to all our leaders for this plight. So let me conclude that afer 51 yrs of formation of maharashtra we dont have leaders to lead us. Much proven case for false leaders like yours truly

1983 to 2011

What final it was? There was a great knock from Mahila Jaywardena. Every boundary hit during last 5 overs was adding immense pressure. At the break someone asked me to predict. I said India will win, because
1. it was easy pitch to bat on as batsmen like Perrera and kulasekhara were hitting out bowlers like zaheer.
2. we had played lankan bowlers atleast 30-40 times in past two years and had chased much bigger targets.
Its that experience and belief that counted. Imagine india of 90s with sachin gone. we would have been all out 170s with some one holding one fort till end while a little cameo of 30 odd fast runs by some bowler. Not this team. Opposition fears Yuvraj, dhoni and gambhir as well. Then there is X factor of Pathan, Raina or bhajji. Not add that they are shit scared of sehwag and SRT. Bowling comes under severe pressure when someone bowls team india. This was evident even against Australia. That was tougher chase than final. we were 5 down and one wicket away from tail with 80 odd runs to get. Role played by sachin, gambhir etc was again crucial then which allowed us to survive middle order collapse. That match gave team belief and that made difference. I was very sure that we would beat pak and srilanka . In fact my close friends can vouch for that. Innings from Ponting was also great at ahmedabad. This world cup i had a chance to witness in person two great innings: one at Nagpur the 99th hundred for losing cause, and one by ponting for another losing cause. This makes cricket a team game and individual brilliance may or may not guarantee success.
That was the thing of past. Only sachin playing for lost cause.
Last 7 world cups we had be dissappointed as per above script though in 03 we had a team effort led by dada. its dada who laid foundation to rise of India in cricketing sense. coming back to world cups;
in 87, i was in IX . and those were diwali vacations. I had enjoyed cup in mumbai and pune. Sweeps of grahan gooch and vengasrkar's stomach upset costed us more that loose shot by kapil when we were crusing. remember jubiliation day before when pak was destroyed by Mc dermott
in 92 when i was preparing for JEE, the campaign never took off in australia. First world cup for sachin. we beat pakis, but lost to austraia due to rain rule. Lost to england, NZ, WI listlessly.
in 96 , i was in hostel and final year. Had seen every match as its most relaxed time after getting campus etc. Had a great victory procession all around kharagpur after we beat pakis. Dhoni was in kharagpur for 3 yrs as ticket collector. Its water of Kharagpur you know what makes everyone cool and tough.... But srilanka match was disaster even after getting dangerous kalu and jaysurya in first two overs. Till sachin was batting in 2nd innings there everything was fine....
in 99, we played two bad games : one gainst zimbabwe where we lost from winning position (sachin was absent for this match due to his fathers death), and one against Australia where Mcgrath outswinged us. These matches got us at bottom of table due to supersix rules. Only consolation was victory against pak as those were Kargil days. I was engaged during that world cup. another memories from mumbai.
in 03, riyas first world cup. she was 1.5 yrs old. she used to see matches with me. my grandma passed away a day after world cup final. India vs pak was highlight though team played well under ganguly to come out of humiliation against austraila in group stages, to beat all other teams till get humiliated by aussies again in final. yet near yet so far.
07 was disaster. newly joined to round table, I had arranged great parties for both matches but lost them both.
2011 was the cup. which brought back memories in 83 i had just started my 5th standard and highschool. we were staying in temporrary home as main house was under construction. we had old crown b/w TV. I remember shrikants shots, during half time we were dissappointed except one uncle who had predicted india win since start of world cup. Then that sandhu ball. We had news on TV for an hr , when we were back , WI were 5 down. we danced that evening...all over pune
in 2011, We partied a lot at table this world cup. had a chance to see live matches.
Now the god of cricket has everything in life. soon he will reach 100 hundreds. Many people have anologies for growth and liberalization of India to rise and career of Sachin. I agree to an extent. Really the growth of sachin can be paralleled with growth in wealth and purchasing power of Indian middle class enabled by new economy esp by IT. Today people like me can spend sizable money just to be at stadium. My earlier generation in 83 would not have atleast in my community. (white collored, middle class mentality with small town upbringing)
riya is 9.5 yrs old. she now understands cricket. i have passed on my crkcet craze this world cup. She is now what i was in 83.. she will join 4th next year. Entire circle has turned round.

Cheering for India

50,000 people walking out. all crestfallen. some are silent, some are cursing, some anxious to get out their car from the mess, some hungry, some thirsty for spirits.
That was 10 45 pm at Nagpur outside VCA Jamtha stadium just after Robin Peterson hit Nehra the winning boundary. some clever people rsuhed out immediately after peterson hit second ball for six over long on : farthest point where we were sitting.
Just imagine reverse scenario if Peterson would have giving catch to bhajji at long on or nehra would have been able to produce dot ball.... The same crowd would have seen dancing out of stadium amidst drums bugles, flags, shouts for India-India. Many would have waited till Man of the match interview to end.... And i would have ended my dream come true in most ideal pattern. But if wishes were horses. There was sad ending , final twist in tale. But what i witnessed was amazing.
Cricket is just another sport. It is not here in India. Its mass opium. Its a crazy combination of manipulation by media, commercialism, and corruption. We dont have cricket lovers we have cricket jingoists. Especially the trend is very scary. I have seen india play at the stadium in 80's Vs England at Pune.90's vs WI at eden gardens and here in 2011 at VCA Jamtha vs South africa. This was my first experience watching sachin century. That will be the most treasured memory of lifetime.
coming back to point, in 80s the crowd supported India but idea was to watch good cricket. In 90s it changed where crowd only wanted india to win. Now it doesnt matter, fans are taken for granted. Its all about TV audience. In fact Nagpur crowd was sporting to applaud great shots from south african batsmen. Reason i say fans are taken granted for is that howsoever you treat them, you will get full house.
Start with tickets, they had to suffer lathis. Those with connection (including myself) got it without pain. Its like Indian culture of nepotism. They said tickets were online but for those with foresight in 2010 , no one got hold of them. System crashed.
Then comes process of fan comfort during the matches. I know VCA is one of the best stadiums where seats are numbered and clean. You have cafeterias (though very inadequate for the crowd). Ground is a great sight. But the main problem is access. This stadium is 20km outside nagpur with single connecting raod. There was a whole traffic jam. The road is big. But anyone with common sense would have opened three lanes for vehicles towards stadium and one for reverse. But no such flexibilty was shown by police. some people started at 11 and just got in right time. many lost first 5-6 overs. Security was vague inspite of terror warning. They were just checking tickets and frisking was very superficial. Anything would have happened but thankfully or luckly it went well. Thats the state of our preparedness against terror. Rambharose; ie riding on good luck....
Water was served in polythene bags which was a big problem to open and drink without getting wet or spilling it. so by the end of match there was lake of spilled water over stairs and area. toilets were very reasonably big and clean.
Mind it this is best stadium in India. I cannot imagine how it is at some non descript venues...
To see whole one day match is energy sapping for spectators. Add to that constant dancing , music and antics to get camera attention. I dont know how foolish you would look when you see your own antics later. The urge to get seen on camera was spolier as everyone else who did not stand up had to lose out on action or had to stand. Thankfully score board was good and so was action replays of balls.
Going back again took us three hrs. So add six hrs to 9 hrs of match time. Real tough ask. But indian fans dont mind hardships.
Coming to on field, its an experience watching Sachin field. Surprised. A great learning curve watching him field. That was the most memorable part of the experience.
Lets start with indian batting. Sachin while batting is as cool as anyone can. He plays with bowlers mind. when to attack, when to defend. he is smart. Ofcourse his talent to score and technique is beyond comparison. But one can predict when and which ball he attacks based on match situation. He advised gambhir many times to either stand outside crease to dale steyn or go one step back for morkel who is high on bounce. Sehwag is also another cool chap. He was troubled initially by steyn. Thses guys bowl fast. The speed and carry of ball was visible from my position just behind square umpire. But sehwag attacked to get out of that tight corner. Only sehwag and sachin can attack such quality bowling.Gambhir took his time to settle but scored when he got set. I justify Dhonis decision to take powerplay because both sachin and gambhir had timed two offside boundaries of steyn very well in 38th over. so they felt they are in. But all batsmen including sachin went for lofted shots where they got wrong. smith was clever in making all players stand on edge. crowd was stunned. some even started cursing them. when indian innings ended, we knew we were 20 runs short and that was fatal in the end
Bowling initially has held smith, amla bogged. Though it was easier batting conditions in evening thanks to dew as ball was coming more upto the bat. Our bowling rose to occassion and ensure that we lost with 2 balls to spare. the kind of score we had would have been otherwise surpassed with 3-4 overs to spare with say 4-5 wickets in hand for a team like SA. our fielders though were sluggish when singles were converted to twos. Gambhir and yuvraj dropping sitters. Thats what is said it was learning curve watching sachin field. You know then what makes sachin as sachin he is why others are just termed others.He is fully committed. Others lose focus when action doesnt not revolve around them. But sachins body language is different. No south african batsman thought about second run when he hit towards sachin in deep. He took a catch, he saved few boundaries. i could not see same body language inside any player except raina or kohli to some extent. But age on their side, what about the most senior player at the age of 38.
The fact that i was there to witness sachin's 99th international century will remain a high point of my life. The crowd reaction was crazy. It went beserk as he reached 96 and amount of noise when he made 100 was deafening. I have those moments captured.
Add to that sehwags batting, gambhirs shots,nail biting finish, crowds roar after every african wicket, quality of steyn morkels bowling all was a great experience.
The very fact that you are part of something millions would be watching all over world made me feel different when i was a dot in 50000 strong crowd. I dont know how players feel when they are center of attraction with closeup cameras. what is it being sachin when you carry billions hope? spare a thought...

First impression

All teams except SA and Ireland have played two matches. Weekend saw two interesting matches: SL Vs Pak and India Vs Eng. Rest all matches have been onesided except maybe Eng Vs Netherlands. Eng, India,Pak and SL have advantage of coming across close situations which might be helpful in knock out stage.

If you ask me to take my neck out and predict a winner: South Africa. Reason variety of their bowling attack and experience batting. Only weakness seems to be long tail and lack of allrounders. we in past have seen great SA allrounders like Boucher, Pollock, klusener. Now only kallis is left but with injuries bowling slow. Also their usual bugbear of choking can go against them. But they have strong potential to beat everyone.

Australia is second favorite with good bowling lineup and allround abilities of watson. Batting looks out of form but with players like Ponting, Clarke you cannot rule them getting back to form.

Pakistan looks next solid team with dangerous players like afridi, razzak , akmal giving great allround depth to batting. Misbah, Umar, Younis form sound middle order. Openers seem inexprienced but can give fast starts. Bowling is good as well.

India will be lucky to grab fourth slot in Semis unless their bowling and fieldling improves. Batting has clicked but bowling unit is below par except zaheers second spell against england. So unless bhajji, or someone else picks up we might see teams scoring heavily and batting under pressure while chasing or just like what we saw at banglore. England lost their nerve so we could save a point.

Srilanka's spin looks ordinary. Malinga fitness will be crucial. Batting also had chinks. But since they will be playing in their country they can easily reach semis if malinga is fit

England had advantage of playing hard cricket so their only road ahead is to improve. Their bowling is underconfident. Batting looks good. But mentally seem brittle. so you might not bet them going past QF.

New Zealand will reach QF but no more. Nothing extaordinary from team yet.

WI have lost Bravo and will find tough to go to next stage by knocking over bangladesh despite great perfomance against netherlands. If gayle is found early by bangladesh, then we can see some upset at Dhaka. But mostly will be last QF team.

Bangladesh can cause upset against WI if lucky to get gayle early. Batted not so except Tamim . Bowling has not clicked as well but have crowd support.

Zimbabve is on revival and will definitely give some established teams some scare. But they will be better off than most of minnows

Ireland and Netherlands have european ethics and built. But they lack confidence and experience. They do have one or two good players but will be force by 2019 WC.

Kenya after so many years of World cup exp flatter to deceive with same set of old players. Their cricket needs revamp

Canada should have been replaced by Afganistan to make interesting viewing.

Amidst Unspoilt Wilderness of Vasota

I woke up in morning, I felt city buzz. While going to office i faced Traffic, pollution. I saw cement jungle everywhere. Though i have a lot of structured sorroundings near home but situation in major cities like Pune is alarming. Hill slopes are destroyed, tree are cut, rivers are blocked and what we face is urban nightmare. Add to that carbon pollution, noise pollution, traffic chaos, inflation, corruption. Its unbearable. As the people in Arab world are doing it, it was time for me to revolt. I revolted and headed towards Vasota, a fort amidst koyana backwaters. and i was successful in my revolution. I am now refreshed and ready to survive in good old bad citiscape...
Everyyear i make a resolution. There were few things as a collegian or working single professional, i missed. Maybe due to sudden migration to kgp or for jobs. later due to business. Harischandra and Vasota are two 'dhams' for trekking enthusiasts. Add to that list; ratangad, rajgad, bhairi, rajmachi... many such dhams. I had done rajgad, torna, torana rajgad, shivthar rajgad, khandas-bhimashankar, lonavala bhimashankar, dukes nose, madhu-makrandagad, rayreshwar, umpteen times sinhagad, but somehow missed these popular slots. three years back i went to harischandra (blogged then here). I was impressed by grandeur of Kokankada, terrain, sorrounding peaks. It was amazing.
Last two years went dry ( i mean not that dry due to my focus on partying and socializing. also work pressure took toll) But year 2011, is year of health. Going back to where i was. Thus year started with two climbs to sinhgad. Solaris my health club has started Transform challengs. so lot of activities.
Had heard that Vasota fort will no more be accessable for trekkers after formation of Koyana Tiger reserve. So felt feb11 was my last chance. I searched web and found giridarshan having trek on 13th Feb. Called few friends, one of them joined. He being lecturer at sassoon, roped in his four students. Prepared on home side. Wife and daughter felt sigh of relief as i was supposed to be out of equation for more than 24hrs. (just kidding..) Got a sack, sleeping bag and headed towards meeting point which was in city at 10 30 PM. There were many takers for this trek maybe due to the tiger reserve threat. We had two bus loaded of trekkers heading towards vasota. After innumerable delays and pickups on route we finally took highway at midnight. Night was cold. I caught up with my school mate and shared memories of school, college etc. Had a great tea break on mahabaleshwar phata and reached satara at 1 am. I dont know for what they halted at satara for more than 30 mins. Finally we took Kaas ghat. Kas plateau in night is another story. In this blog here i had written about trip to Kas. Two buses in total darkness and steep turns can be scary.
Finally we reached Bamnoli at 4 am. Just two hrs to sleep. Found a corner at mandir. spread the sleeping bag. But before crashing, met the most important task during trek: Cleaning bowels. Open air task has to be accomplished in dark. so went near lake alone. It was scary experience. Managed that and slept amidst snoring of atleast 20 odd people and 60 odd trekkers. Cannot run away from crowd here also.
Next morning had a breakfast of pohas and tea. Launch people came in at 9 just like any govt office. Forest permissions are also granted on the spot as against my information that we have to get in prior from Pune. But staying at vasota is not allowed. If found there is penalty. So our fleet of 7 launches with 12 people in each started by 9 30. Expanse of Koyna dam is amazing. Right from Tapola till dam wall is nearly 60-70 km north south. add to that inward stream of lake on both east west side . some of them as long as 5-6 kms. Add to that its standard east west width of atleast 6 -7 kms. Huge water storage. Still Maharashtra suffers from power and water crisis in summer is another story. On west side of dam we have huge jungles and few hamlets cut off from world. Launch is only way to access these villages. Comparing vegetation on east slopes and west slopes indicated human touch of destruction on east side which is accessible. West side is unaccesible due to mountains and sahyadris on west (heavy climb from konkan side amidst treachourous mountains and valleys) and dam water on west. So we cross two valley on lauch and finally saw vasota fort on west. The extension of lake entered almost 2 -3 kms . As we entered the vegetation thickened out sizably and by time we reached Met Indavali, launch station and start point form vasota, it was thick forest which i had never seen maybe expect at Bhimashankar.
So we started trek at 1030. There is forest office and small gate to enter. Once we cross that its jungle all the way. We never saw sunrays till almost we reached top. We say vegetation, shapes, butterflies, birds but did not see any other wild life (fortunately or unfortunately). Saw a cat which people claim to be udmanjar. The gradient is steep but taxng. Lack fo sun makes it easier also cool breeze helps. maybe a km ahead you have a natural water stream which is last water source till you reach top. The water is amazing. The jungle noises soothe you all along. I pitied those who had their earplugs on with some music. Thankfully inspite group being large, chatterati was less. After one and half hrs of forest climb we reached open spot from where we could see how far we had travelled from starting point and could see jungle, dam waters, mountains. The view is amazing. i cannot describe, neither photo will give that feel. Walk amidts forest is an experience and summary of trek. We reached on fort at 12 30. There is nothing atop the fortexcept water tank, and old dilapidated temple and some basement structures. It seems Britishers destroyed the fort when they captured it. while they have preserved silliest of castles in scotland, they have ruined our forts and history. For that i will never pardon them (as if it counts). In fact when it was ruled by marathas, britishers were kept there are prisoners. Imagined being imprisoned on fort thousands of km away from home that too in such landscape. some guts. This fort was captured by shivaji during conquest of Javali from mores. since then till british took over was always with marathas. Thankfully no mughals or shahs.
then we headed towards babu kada which is a great view. It might be second tallest rock formation after kokankada on harsihchandra. On top of it is old vasota which now is very diffficult to reach except when you have a guide. View of kokan on west is amazing.
Giridarshan had provide lunch of chinese mix veg, roti, shrikhand. amazing. Lunches on trek are always great.
Then we saw machi, where we could see nageshware cave. Its 3 km ahead and has old cave and mandir. we started climb down at 3 and reached launch by 4.30. Climb down takes toll on your knees. But same forest experience helps.
We took launch , caught few naps and reached bamnoli by 6. Bus took us to satara where they ahd ordered thalis at rajatadri. Reached pune by midnight
24 hrs of extreme bliss amidst some scenic landscapes and thick forest...