Ajinkya Rahane: A promising talent

My School, S. V. Joshi High School, required 50+ runs and Ajinkya Rahane was occupying the crease with the 11th batsman. The final wicket and the illustrious (Paladhe Chashak) trophy is up for grabs for the opponent team (I believe it's Tilak Nagar school# but not sure... but if yes...hahaha). Everybody thought the match is all over but Ajinkya Rahane had different ideas. He just did not allow the 11th batsman to face the bowlers at all, shrewdly taking singles on the last ball of every over, he scored all the runs himself and snatched the game literally from opponent's jaws. The man of the match and tournament was obviously none other than Ajinkya Rahane.

"The signs of greatness are demonstrated in ones childhood", Anonymous and I was reminded of this every time I heard about this chap during each and every visit to Dombivli (or Bombay). Watching him during the last IPL game where he scored unbeaten 62 of 49 balls at No. 3 position against Bangalore Royal Challengers was exciting too. Meanwhile, Rahane has been scaling new heights, playing for Bombay*, India U19 and now a part of Mumbai Indians in the IPL as well.

Rahane's record http://content.cricinfo.com/ipl2009/content/player/277916.html in the first class reads 2550 runs in 43 innings (25 matches) at an average of an impressive 63.75. He is one of the only 11 players to have scored more than 1000 runs in a single Ranji Trophy season. stupendous Indeed!!! With such performances, he is already knocking the doors of Indian cricket team for a while now and I guess he is one of the strong contenders (along with Suresh Raina, Rohit Sharma, S Badrinath, Manoj Tewari and Yousef Pathan) to be an ideal replacement for Dravid, Laxman and Sachin. To my limited knowledge and expertize, Suresh Raina would be more suitable as a replacement for Very Very Special Laxman and Yuvraj or Rohit Sharma are a good choice to replace Sachin at No. 4. Ajinkya Rahane/Rohit Sharma/S Badrinath would be fighting for the most critical No. 3 position. Trying Yousuf Pathan at the late middle order in the test team would be an exciting prospect as well.

Then, Indian test batting line up would look like:

1. Sehwag
2. Gambhir
3. Rahane/Rohit Sharma/S Badrinath
4. Yuvraj/Rohit Sharma -- Youraj still needs to prove himself abroad in Tests. So, the place is not certain
5. Suresh Raina/Yousef Pathan/Manoj Tewari (Pick or 1/3 or 2/3 based on you want to play 5 bowlers or 4 bowlers)
6. MS Dhoni

I think it's an exciting time for Indian cricket with so many choices around. I hope Dhoni would be able to build a formidable side comparable to invincible West Indies in the 70s or Australians in the late 90s.

Rahane though still has his task cut out to make his mark amongst the best in the business. If he does so, it would make all of us Dombivlikars (yeah I still think myself as one) very very proud...
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# I am requesting the former captain of Tilak Nagar School, Shashank Desai alias Ballu to throw light on the story.

* Sunny Gavaskar in Sunny Days says it gave him as much satisfaction and pride when playing for Bombay as he derived from playing for India. In those days, most of the Bombay batting lineup was part of Indian batting lineup.

Kayak with Vrooom and Co

"Vroooom.......Kkkkkkkkkkrrrrrr....Vroooooooom", The car was racing at its optimal speed. The banking of the roads on a sharp turn could not be banked at all and I was shitting in my pants sitting along side the driver, (PhD) Hari in his Hyundai. "That's just a James Bond demo for you !!!", quipped Hari nonchalantly suggesting he knew exactly what was happening. "Dude, What do you think? This is BMW or Ferrari??", Amit sounded concerned. Nandan was concerned too....speechlessness could be the sign. "I do not care man. When in my hands the bitch has to perform!!!", Hari was at his usual impulsive best. Hari is a doctoral researcher with a lot of enthu.....enthu* that is epidemic and overflows most of the times and probably in all situations. More often than not he reminds me of Vroom, a character in Chetan Bhagat's "One Night @ Call Centre". Everything of both characters is so very similar. But possibly, there are 2 distinct differences. One, Hari does not work in one of the Call Centres but a premiere research center, supposed to be doing state of the art research ahead of the Industry. Two, Hari is supposed to be happy with his job of growing and characterizing Carbon Nano Tubes (CNTs) for his PhD as opposed to Vroom who was too desperate for a nice break in Journalism.

Although, sitting alongside Hari in a car was an adventure (if not an ordeal), sitting back to him on a Kayak boat was a huge rejoicement. I mean there was no danger of drowning in the shallow waters here. Moreover, I know swimming to the extent that I can save myself and probably a partner. "Guruji!!!, Keep going Left....Left...Left!!! Right....Right....Right!!! Left...Right...Left....Right!!!!", we were screaming all the way as we were finding it extremely difficult to control our boat on a 21km Kayak trip in Lesse river. More than going straight along with the stream, our boat mostly preferred the zigzag route, maximizing the effort and value for money....truly Desi style.

To start with each of us had a short stint with Amit to get some funda about "How to go about Kayaking". Amit ofcourse was a seasonal with sea kayak experience under his belt and hence by default became the guide for all of us. After all permutation and combinations, me and Hari teamed up to be on the same boat with me on the back controlling the direction and Hari setting up the speed. The other team Amit and Nandan were kayaking like pros from the word go. The tutelage seemed to have worked for us too and it probably took us 20 of the total 21kms to get the Kayak basics right. Nevertheless, we really enjoyed the whole experience. Two spots on the route were most memorable. The view of the Castle on the hillock was splendid. It was unfortunate that none of us had the camera to take a shot. The other spot was an artificial slope where there was danger of toppling over. Fortunately, none of us toppled over but to enjoy others falling over in the water was fun....as always....yeah...as always. When you can't save others from falling over, you should do nothing but to enjoy the fall from the sidelines. We did just...

It was a very excellent outing and thanks to each one of you for making it memorable.

Amit: Thanks a ton dude!!! An excellent job in planning the trip as we did not even waste a second during the whole day....That's called a planner. I wish you plan PhD the same way. Btw, we should plan another Kayak trip, hopefully soon. I would like to see us improved.

Nandan: Thanks for being along side for both days. The Full Moon Hike and Kayak could not be avoided and had to fall on one day after the other. I know it was tough and I am sure you must have derived a similar degree of satisfaction after coming out unscathed through these challenging back to back trips.

Hari: Thanks for everything but more than everything thanks for introducing all of us to SUBWAY. I really loved the sandwich. After all the effort it was no less than ambrosia. Hope to visit the place many more times.

For all those interested in adventure sports in Belgium, Dinant (http://www.lessekayaks.be/ ) is the palace to go.
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*Here is an example of when Hari's enthu overflows:

I remember Hari had called me a week (may be 10 days) after joining his PhD in IMEC to enquire about the opportunities back in India after his PhD. He probably mistook me as one of the resourceful HR agents with plentiful opportunities at their disposal. I just could not control my laughter after about half an hour of telephonic conversation. Now, I myself do not know about my future after PhD. I still wonder if going for PhD has been a clever decision career wise or not. If anybody is sure about their next assignment, do let me know and I will kneel down in front of u for life time. "But Guruji, The point is (this is Hari's favorite slang. He emphasizes every point by saying But The point is).....One has to be proactive and not reactive :)" Hari was adamant to discuss further and further. I suppose he wanted me to extrapolate his case and predict which research group he would be heading/contributing after his PhD.....Isn't that daunting? I believe I could not stand up to his expectations but did try to offer some gyan through one of my favorite PhD comics: http://www.phdcomics.com/comics/archive.php?comicid=1086

Kumar: An Afgan in Belgium

Long weekend (1-3 May 2009) and I decided to take off to Netherlands for a biking trip near Leiden and also from Lelystad to Enkhuizen, on a wonderful pathway that splits the Sea. Netherlands is considered "Heaven for Bikers" and biking (cycling in India) seems to be in my blood. My parents enjoyed a bike trip from Miraj to Wadi in Maharashtra when they got engaged. Here though, I was alone. There is something that lures me about traveling alone as one invariably meets interesting strangers on the way. When you are in groups, you are sought of within the group and forgo this opportunity but while alone one earnestly look for these interactions.

As I boarded the train to Brussels North from Leuven station, a 360 degree smile welcomed me. With canned beer in his hand, Kumar made an offer I could not refuse and occupied the seat next to him. Immediately, he started conversing in hindi, "Kaha se ho?, India se? (Where are you from? , India?) "Bombay, India", I nodded "aur aap? (and you?)". "Well, I was born in India. But we as a family shifted to Afganistan soon when I was three. We had a huge business in Peshawar-Pakistan and Kabul-Afganistan and we decided to move. We were fabric merchants." "Then how come you landed in Belgium?", I intervened. Kumar had a visible sorry state on his face. He explained,"As you know, there is war going on there. If I go back they (Taliban) will make me fight against Americans. If you are young then you have no option but to stand and fight. Practically No Life Exists There. Women of our home are not safe as well. They cut their fingers if they get the glimpses of the fingers. They chop their hands if they sight them. Burn their eyes if they see them. Burkha is a must but may not be enough. It's not a safe place at all. Koi bhi waha pe apni zindagi bana nahi sakata. (Nobody can make life there)"

I was shocked. It was not as if I was not aware of the situation but to hear it from horse's mouth was an experience and not a pleasent one. "How are your family members? I hope they are safe and sound.", my genuine concerns. "Haan ji (Yes). Jan hein to Jahan hein. Family hein to Khushiyan. Luckily all are safe, heal and hearty. We had developed contacts with some Punjabis when we were in business. If we had not wound up our businesses, we would have been snatched all our dukans, makans, khets (all wealth in general), by Taliban. We might have been killed too. waise bhi, koi bhi waha pe apni zindagi to bana nahi sakata (Nobody can make one's life there). So we made a deal with Punjabis and requested them to take us out and we came to Belgium around four years back."

I was happy to learn that all his family members are safe but was curious to know how he and his family has survived for four years in Belgium. He informed that they have been given a place to stay in Sint-Truiden. He also informed that there are around 40 Afgan, Punjabi families in Sint-Truiden. Some of them have been here for a longer while and have constructed a temple for the community. There are 2-3 gurudwaras (a place where sikhs pray) too. Most of us meet at the temple often. We perform kirtens and other ceremonies too. There are a few Afgan and Punjabi families in Kortrijk as well. They were asking us if we want to move to Kortrijk but we refused to go because of the temple.

Hope is a good thing and good things don't die

Kumar carried a lot of hopes too. I hope to settle into some kind of business in Belgium. As it is I have an experience as a fabric merchant. They have offered papers to my father, who is above 65. I have been given an Orange card* for now and I am putting an effort to avail a white card soon. I am going to a lawyer now and hope things workout. Once I obtain right papers, I will start my business and I will make my life here in Belgium. Certainly, Hope is Eternal. I wished him all the success in all his endeavors as the train came to halt in Brussels North, an intermediate stop to Netherlands.

Fifteen minutes of interaction generated a fodder to think for 15 hours. During the entire trip my mind was thinking about people who have been snatched of their lives, be it because of bomb blasts, riots, wars or anything. There must have been a volcano within these people which can break any time. The exodus of Kashmiri pundits from their homeland or of hindus from Pakistan and Afganistan is as unexplainable and abhorable as the killings during Gujrat riots or of plenty of Palesteinians in Gaza. So abhorable was the mass murdering of Jews during WW-II and earlier. I was carrying Hitler's Mine Kamph (you may call it a coincidence) with me this time around. As I started reading Hitler's philosophy which said, "The plough is then the sword; and the tears of war will provide daily bread for the generations to come". Something I could never comprehend...never ever comprehend.
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* Orange card is a form of restricted residence permit in Belgium. You can't move out of Belgium unless you have a White card and above. I do not know all the colors.