I was really sick on Friday, severe body pain and high fever, tried to get up to go to office, but my body and mind could not synchronize and finally I had no option but to take a day's sick leave. The rains have started, it rained continuously on Friday and Saturday, there was a brief respite on Sunday morning, but by midday the rain gods started showering the tender earth with their bounty.

I was OK by Saturday night, and on Sunday morning I was 100% fit. I cleaned my book shelf and rearranged all my books. As I arranged the books I realized that I had about twenty novels that I had started reading, but somehow or the other I did not finish reading them. There was an anthology of crime fiction, three Clive Cussler novels, two novels by Dean Koontz and Dick Francis, two books by Rabindranath Tagore, two books by Satyajit Ray, I have forgotten the names of the remaining books.

Maybe my first resolution for the coming year will be to stop buying new novels unless I have finished reading all the books I have in hand:)

Then came the news of the selection of the Indian cricket team for the upcoming Indo-Pak series, Rahul Dravid has been "rested," lets see what happens. Shoaib Akhtar palyed the final ODI against the Proteas and took 4 wickets, his pace is as unrelenting as ever. Although Pakistan lost a match that they should have won, the warning bells are already ringing in the Indian camp. Some doubts why was Badrinath selected, not even given a single chance and dropped/rested, what happened to the lanky pace bowler Ranadeb Bose who was touted as India's answer to the fiery pace of the Aussies. If Sehwag fails in the first two ODIs will he be "rested?" Why was not Mohammed Kaif selected? We have so many problems with the fielding, and Robin Singh our fielding coach, can't he put in a good word for Kaif? What is the syndication controversy that Dilip Vengsarkar has landed himself int mean? Two many questions and no answers..

Maybe when the series is over, some more heads will roll.

Lets wait and watch.

MY UNDYING AFFAIR WITH DICKENS...

On my sixth birthday, I received an illustrated classic version of "Oliver Twist" by Charles Dickens. I still remember the details of the book. It was a small and thick Jaico publications book and had a pink cover with the picture of a young boy on it. In the days succeeding my birthday I used to wait for school to get over, I would rush to my house, and finish my homework quickly. In first standard, we had one page of handwriting in Hindi and English, and some simple addition and subtraction problems, on Wednesdays and Fridays we used to get homework in other subjects.

Once homework was done I would go to my favourite reading corner, a small chair painted red and white, that was kept in the living room. I would look at the beautiful pictures in the book and read each sentence slowly and aloud, I would wait for my uncle and elder sister to return from office and tell them what adventures Oliver had faced. It used to amuse both of them and they would listen to my enthusiastic mumblings patiently. I finished reading the book in a month, and my passionate affair with Dickens, his books, and his powerful characters started.

I used to pester my uncle to get me books, I used to say-"Mama(Uncle), just get me one set of dresses for Diwali, for the remaining amount of money get me books." I really thank my uncle from the bottom of my heart for all the generosity and affection that he showered upon me, and the love for literature that he kindled in my mind when I was just a small boy. By the time I was eleven years old I had finished reading the illustrated classics versions of Dickens, Alexandre De Dumas, and Jules Verne. I especially loved "Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea" by Jules Verne and "The Count of Monte Cristo" by Dumas.

When I was thirteen years old we had "A Tale of Two Cities" as our supplementary reader and this time the text was pretty close to the original. Once again Dickens weaved magic with his words, portraying Paris during the revolution, Darnay's love for Lucy, and the supreme sacrifice of Sydney Carton. From then there was no looking back, the Library hour that we had once a week in school was devoted to devouring the works of Dickens. I started by reading "Oliver Twist" again; then I read "David Copperfield" and "The Pickwick Papers."

By the time I reached my tenth standard I had finished reading most of the works of Dickens. High-school was absolute misery, I hated Mathematics and Chemistry, drawing the diagrams in the record-books for my Science laboratory classes was another torture that I had to undergo. Finally in May 2002, when the Class XII results came out I realized I had passed in all the subjects.

There was no room for any doubt, it was English Literature for me, and to the dismay of most of my school teachers and friends I joined B.A. English Literature in college. Three years that I really enjoyed and learnt a lot about literature and life, I would like to thank Mr. K.V. Rao. Mr B.S. Suresh, Mr. P.V. Ramanathan, Mr. Balaji, and Mr. Prasanna for imparting a lot of knowledge and teaching me to believe in myself.

Three years passed like a breeze, and the campus recruitment started, I took a test along with about 700 other students to join an e-learning company. The test contained questions on basic English grammar and usage and an essay section where we had a choice of six topics, of which we had to write essays on three topics. My first essay was on "India in the year 2020" the second essay was on "The Impact of Computers on Modern Industry" and the third one, my personal favourite "My Favourite Author." The author of my choice was Charles Dickens, and I poured my heart into the essay. When the results were announced after an hour of anxious waiting only two students had cleared the test and I was one of them. The other boy who was selected did not join the company as he decided to pursue his higher studies in Australia.

I was called for a personal interview and to my surprise and joy at the end of the evening I had an offer letter in hand. Today three years later and in another company, I really thank Dickens for I am sure my essay on Dickens got me my first job.

Hi everybody, I reached home safely at about 12:15 A.M. on Saturday. I left office on Friday night at 10:05 P.M., after waiting at the bus-stop for about 10 minutes, I got bus no. 18-K and reached Chennai Central Station at 10:30 P.M.

I was surprised to note that the train to Arakkonam scheduled to depart at 10:15 P.M. was still there, I got into the train, and reached Putlur by 12:05 A.M. The station was empty except for a couple of dogs playing with each other and some beggars who always sleep on the platform.

There was a hint of moisture in the air and a cool breeze blew which made me pull my monkey-cap over my head. I cycled to my house whistling an old Hindi song. I reached home without any incident, and slept like a log till 10 A.M.

I don't know maybe I will be put in the second shift the next month. Let us see what happens.

First Experience in the Second Shift

A colleague planned to go to his native place and he swapped his shift with mine. So I am here on Friday evening, no jobs at the moment. Just finished an early dinner of pooris at the canteen. Navrathri is about to end, I am really missing Kolkatta, how I wish I could go to the local pooja pandal, watch the majestic idols of the Goddess, sigh! will that life ever come back...

I need to leave office at 10 P.M., hopefully I will reach Central Station by 10:20 P.M., my train to Tiruvallur is at 10:50 P.M., may be I will reach home by 12:15 A.M. Saturday.

Shall post an entry on Monday describing my late night train journey.

Cheers folks, back to work.

Indian Cricket-Back to square one or square zero?

All that euphoria surrounding India's victory in the 20:20 World Cup has lost its sheen after India received another drubbing at the hands of Australia. With one inconsequential match to be played at Mumbai's Wankhede Stadium, the score reads 4-1 in favour of Australia.

Dravid does not even look like a shade of his former self. Perhaps its the curse of being India's captain, his batting has been unusually horrible and he does not have a big score for quite some matches now. Maybe after Dada's soul searching in domestic and county cricket, its the "Wall's" turn now to take rest for a while and regain form.

Bowling has been horrible, Sreesanth, Zaheer, R.P. Singh, Romesh Powar, everyone has taken a beating. Except for India's victory at Chandigarh, nothing much to write about.

India need to win the match at Mumbai to save their dignity.

This series has been in the news for all the wrong reasons the Australians abusing everyone as usual. Sreesanth and Bhajji giving it back to them, then the crowds at Nagpur calling monkey chants at Symonds. Cricket is no longer the gentleman's game, we will see how the crowds behave when India go to Australia.

Golu

Just a random image from the web, golu at my house is smaller and simpler. Worked really hard on Wednesday night to assemble the golu racks. It was a seven-tier rack and it took me three hours to assemble it.

By the grace of God just received some minor injuries, nicked my thumb and index finger, hurt my knee, but all that is trivial as it is the spirit of Navrathri, the joy and devotion that matters most.

Wishing everyone a :Happy Navratri and Durga Puja."

Shutter Bug-A hunt for a normal camera

At the end of my shift, I decided to pursue my luck and buy a camera. In this world of digital fantasy, I was shocked to find that fifteen camera showrooms were no longer selling a normal 35 mm camera. I wonder does no one use these good old 35 mm cameras anymore. I scouted shops in Cathedral Road, Alwarpet, and Mylapore, but everywhere I got the same response -" Saar sorry, ippo andha camerallam vikkarudhilai" [" Sorry sir, now we don't sell those cameras."] I was tired having walked from Cathedral Road to Mylapore and was in a mood mixed of anger and frustration.

Finally I found a small photo studio at Luz Corner near Mylapore, where I got a 35 mm camera with a flash function. It is simple and black in colour and uses ine battery. When you open the shutter a green light glows on the panel which indicates that the camera is ready for use. The flash facility enables one to take photographs in the night.

I took some photos of the Golu dolls arranged at my house. Will get to know how well the camera works when I get the film roll developed and printed.

For the record the camera, fim roll, and battery cost me Rs 958/-.

A Close Shave

India defeated Australia by 8 runs to secure its first ODI victory against the world champions in four years. Dhoni won the toss and decided to bat first. Ganguly and Sachin opened the batting and both players were tested by Brett Lee's unerring line and length. Sachin was unusually dormant with the bat while Dada produced some early fireworks. Sachin was lucky to be given not out to a caught behind appeal. Ganguly departed for 41, Yuvi scored 39, Sachin got run out in an extraordinary way for 79. Dhoni-Captain Courageous scored 50 while Robin Uthappa scored 30 runs of 18 balls. The Aussies were set a target of 292 runs for victory.

The chase started in the usual slam-bang fashion with Gilchrist and Hayden milking the bowlers. then Gilchrist was caught by Zaheer Khan on the boundary. Ponting and Hayden continued to plunder the bowling, then Ponting was stumped by Dhoni. Symmonds joined the party, and almost all the viewers thought we are finished. Some inspired bowling by R.P. Singh, Harbhajan and Murali Kartik produced the desired result for India. R.P. Singh shattered Symmonds stumps and on the next ball he produced a brilliant throw to run Brad Hogg out.

India sniffed victory and with 16 runs required of the last over Zaheer bowled sensibly and India won by 8 runs.

The Baroda match has become all crucial now and India really have to improve their batting, with Gambhir ruled out for the rest of the series, Ganguly and Sachin have to ensure that solid and quick starts not ball wasting Test-innings are produced(comment for Tendulkar). Bowling by Zaheer and Pathan is worrying, I am not very sure how the pitch will behave, most probably the the track willl crumble and enable the spinners in the second innings; and there might be a fair bit of bounce during the first innings.

Let us hope for the best.

WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS

India defeated South Africa, then Australia in the semi finals and finally Pakistan in the finals to win the inaugural 20-20 World Cup. Dhoni, Yuvraj, Rohit Sharma, Sreesanth, and Irfan Pathan starred in the unexpected victory that India achieved. At this juncture a spare a thought for Greg Chappell who had the foresight to give an opportunity to these youngsters who were groomed to attain victory. It is happy to note that Greg is back in India to be a coach at the Rajasthan Cricket Academy.

FUTURE CUP

After all the joy and jubilation of winning the 20-20 tournament. Team-India needs to pull up their socks as they have lost two matches on the trot. So the honeymoon is over and Dhoni & Co. need to put runs on the board and the bowlers need to find their line and pitch the ball at the right places and use the one bouncer an over rule.

Dilip Vengsarkar, has made his point by saying no one can take their place for granted in the team.

India have to win the remaining matches to win the series.

Let us see what happens....