The first cricket match I ever watched was between India and West Indies in 1991 that took place in Perth, Australia. I had just come back home with a friend after playing marbles (or maybe hide & seek) and my friend requested me to put cricket to check on scores. Prior to that moment; I had no interest in the game as I was just a 9 year old who preferred all the gully sports – lukka chhupi, marbles, cycling and just running around with friends for no reason. The match was delicately poised with WI needing 1 run to win with 1 wicket remaining. The next ball from Manoj Prabhakar got the edge of the bat and Azhar took this impossible catch to tie the match. That was my first ever exposure to a cricket match and how could I not become fan of this greatest sport ever. That moment changed my life forever.
My passion for the sport knew no bounds. Just like many other Indian kids, I played cricket on every damn place – inside the house, rooftops, middle of the street, empty home plots, closed factories, unkempt grounds and in front of the mirror admiring my shots. Not only did I break window glasses and lamps of neighbours’ houses, I broke so many things in my own house that I can’t even remember. My mother cringed and pleaded but I was not the one to be stopped. Cricket had gripped me completely. I turned out to be a decent player playing regularly for different gully teams and winning them matches with my quick bowling. My batting was laughable, just a notch above Courtney Walsh and Ashish Nehra, but I improved later on. With tennis ball cricket, I was ruthless. I once hit a hundred in 24 balls! I went on to play district cricket and played against Yuvraj, who now plays for India. I nurtured so many dreams of playing for India that I couldn’t sleep in the night before a morning match, I bunked school to watch matches, I sneaked out of school during recess to catch some cricket (only I know how I got back inside the school again),I skipped meals when India lost... the list goes on. Alas, all hopes were dashed when you find out how tough things can be so you eventually end up taking the easier route – Study in Canada.
Now I only watch cricket because I can’t find those 7 hours, I mean really, those 7 beautiful hours that you require completing a match. I blame it on Canada... Even if I had the 7 hours, I am sure it would either snow or rain in between...How cruel...
World Cup 2011 is just around the corner and I just can’t wait for it to begin. To all those critics of the game, who think it’s too long and confusing, I have to ask you this – how many other sports have three different formats where each format requires you to play differently with same rules? Even though a 50-over match is long but 99% of the time you will get a result unlike world’s most popular sport Soccer. Compare a tied soccer match to a tied match in cricket – the pleasure in cricket is beyond comprehension. Don’t even compare Cricket with Baseball. Not only is baseball the worst game ever invented where you can swing all you want but your bat won’t touch the ball, the game has 9 innings and the scorecard in the end still reads 1-0. What the hell does that mean? And what on this earth are sports like Curling, Luge track racing, Lacrosse... And Golf??? It’s a sport? Why do you want to spend all your day trying to put a tiny ball in a hole 18 times...
Okay, enough said now... I love Tennis too :) love watching and playing it...
2011 Cricket World Cup begins on February 19. If India wins, I will celebrate like crazy but if Canada wins at least one game, I will celebrate even more.
Monday, February 14, 2011
Are we all corrupt
Corruption – one word that is synonymous with current affairs these days. You would identify with the term even more if you are from subcontinent. Every day a new scam unveils its ugly surface only to be nipped in the bud later on. Corruption is quite rampant in developing countries as it exists at grass root levels. In developed countries, or so called first world, it mostly exists at a higher level. Numerous Ponzi schemes, BP gas leak, Wikileaks, Wars in Iraq & Afghanistan prove it. Are we all part of this? No matter what we protest against, the powerful and mightier always wins. How does one put an end to it? The ugly truth is – no one in this world is clean. We are all corrupt. We all stop at MONEY. Here’s my take on corruption.
We become corrupt the moment we are born. If corruption means bribing someone to get work done, then every child is corrupt. Try stopping a toddler from crying without giving him something in return. If toys are not provided, a child is not happy. As we grow older and start going to school, we want what other kids have. Do we not hate our fathers for refusing to provide us with what we want? Haven’t we all been there? If you get what you want suddenly love for your parents increases by many folds. We want favours in return of a good behaviour.
As we grow older, we start going out with friends and have relationships. How much do we spend on our bfs/gfs so they are pleased? A LOT. What’s that? Bribe? In a way it is, otherwise why would you spend even a penny on a stranger? Of course there’s human bonding but buying expensive gifts to please someone is nothing but bribery. It’s the purest form of corruption. If we don’t get that kind of attention from our partners we don’t like the relationship. There are exceptions but most of us succumb to the material way of taking a relationship forward.
Corruption is human nature. It’s a part of our lives and we don’t seem to understand it. Yes, we all want money in order to fulfill our needs but it doesn’t stop there. Once we get money, we want more. Bigger house, bigger car, bigger everything... How does it come? Trust me; it’s always at the expense of someone else. People living in west enjoy many luxuries because poor kids are employed in other countries to build products they desire. They don’t need to bribe someone because somebody above them has already bribed many. Why is there a need to outsource? In the name of trade, we say it helps both the countries but why does a task become menial in your country at the first place? We never want to keep others at same level as us. We want to be above others. They say China’s labour is cheap and that’s why we outsource. Why is it cheap? Because you made it through your corrupt policies!
Corruption is within us. We will exercise it whenever it is required.
Let’s end this with a Buddhist Quote I read recently – “All wrong-doing arises because of mind. If mind is transformed can wrong-doing remain?”
We become corrupt the moment we are born. If corruption means bribing someone to get work done, then every child is corrupt. Try stopping a toddler from crying without giving him something in return. If toys are not provided, a child is not happy. As we grow older and start going to school, we want what other kids have. Do we not hate our fathers for refusing to provide us with what we want? Haven’t we all been there? If you get what you want suddenly love for your parents increases by many folds. We want favours in return of a good behaviour.
As we grow older, we start going out with friends and have relationships. How much do we spend on our bfs/gfs so they are pleased? A LOT. What’s that? Bribe? In a way it is, otherwise why would you spend even a penny on a stranger? Of course there’s human bonding but buying expensive gifts to please someone is nothing but bribery. It’s the purest form of corruption. If we don’t get that kind of attention from our partners we don’t like the relationship. There are exceptions but most of us succumb to the material way of taking a relationship forward.
Corruption is human nature. It’s a part of our lives and we don’t seem to understand it. Yes, we all want money in order to fulfill our needs but it doesn’t stop there. Once we get money, we want more. Bigger house, bigger car, bigger everything... How does it come? Trust me; it’s always at the expense of someone else. People living in west enjoy many luxuries because poor kids are employed in other countries to build products they desire. They don’t need to bribe someone because somebody above them has already bribed many. Why is there a need to outsource? In the name of trade, we say it helps both the countries but why does a task become menial in your country at the first place? We never want to keep others at same level as us. We want to be above others. They say China’s labour is cheap and that’s why we outsource. Why is it cheap? Because you made it through your corrupt policies!
Corruption is within us. We will exercise it whenever it is required.
Let’s end this with a Buddhist Quote I read recently – “All wrong-doing arises because of mind. If mind is transformed can wrong-doing remain?”
Food Supply
I recently read on an ad that we produce enough food to feed everyone on this planet and yet 1 out of every 7 people is malnourished. This means almost a billion people don’t have enough to eat every day. Now if there is enough food for everyone then where’s the food for these billion people going? Are some of us overeating? Or may be wasting? It has to be true because this morning I heard Ethiopia has asked for urgent food aid for almost 6 million people. According to UN even North Korea’s food situation is desperate as food aid is only reaching 1/3rd of the people. 20 million people need food aid in Africa due to poor rainfall. Food prices are also going up because of poor rain fall in Asian countries where much of the wheat and rice is grown.
Despite all the shortages and inflation, we here enjoy the luxury of sitting in a nice restaurant regularly devouring various cuisines from around the world, over stacking our fridges with food and throwing away food that is 1 day past its expiry or food that got spoilt because we just forgot to eat it. I don’t know if this lifestyle is right or wrong but morally it certainly sounds wrong. How can I now go to an Ethiopian restaurant to eat when I know people in Ethiopia are dying for that same food? If those same ingredients can be brought here so we can all enjoy that delicacy then why not in Ethiopia itself. If there is lack of food supply in a particular country then I am sure we have enough surpluses elsewhere to cover that shortage. That food doesn’t reach the needy because it’s kept in reserves so just in case there is drought or any other disasters, people of that country are saved. Drought may not happen but food remains in those warehouses. I am not saying countries don’t send food aid wherever required but there is obviously something wrong in the system that so many people go hungry every day.
I remember reading a book called “The Skeptical Environmentalist” written by a Danish author, Bjorn Lomborg. It came back in 2002 and took everyone by surprise with its audacious content. Hailed as a revolutionary book, it claimed we have enough resources in the world to feed more people than we currently have on daily basis. Many criticised for misinterpreting scientific data but then many were convinced. I support Lomborg because looking at western countries (and now even Asia) where obesity rate is all time high and where weight loss diets/plans are fast becoming billion dollar industries, certain portion of the population is more than just well fed.
.
Despite all the shortages and inflation, we here enjoy the luxury of sitting in a nice restaurant regularly devouring various cuisines from around the world, over stacking our fridges with food and throwing away food that is 1 day past its expiry or food that got spoilt because we just forgot to eat it. I don’t know if this lifestyle is right or wrong but morally it certainly sounds wrong. How can I now go to an Ethiopian restaurant to eat when I know people in Ethiopia are dying for that same food? If those same ingredients can be brought here so we can all enjoy that delicacy then why not in Ethiopia itself. If there is lack of food supply in a particular country then I am sure we have enough surpluses elsewhere to cover that shortage. That food doesn’t reach the needy because it’s kept in reserves so just in case there is drought or any other disasters, people of that country are saved. Drought may not happen but food remains in those warehouses. I am not saying countries don’t send food aid wherever required but there is obviously something wrong in the system that so many people go hungry every day.
I remember reading a book called “The Skeptical Environmentalist” written by a Danish author, Bjorn Lomborg. It came back in 2002 and took everyone by surprise with its audacious content. Hailed as a revolutionary book, it claimed we have enough resources in the world to feed more people than we currently have on daily basis. Many criticised for misinterpreting scientific data but then many were convinced. I support Lomborg because looking at western countries (and now even Asia) where obesity rate is all time high and where weight loss diets/plans are fast becoming billion dollar industries, certain portion of the population is more than just well fed.
.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)