Pieces of the Wall

I’ve never had the courage to write about Rahul Dravid. Like actually sit down and write a piece he deserves, like I’d want to. Maybe someday I will, but till then I am more than happy to read some wonderful pieces of writing on him that pop up now and then. Since I find myself going back to some of them quite often, I thought I’d make a list of some of the (in my opinion) really brilliant ones. I’m going to keep updating this list as and when I find other articles on him. I’m pretty sure there are some other great ones out there that I might have missed, so if any of you have any recommendations then do let me know so I can add them!

(in no particular order)

  1. Arun Sagar – “On being a fan”
  2. Sidvee – “When Dravid was there”
  3. Sidarth Monga – “Hiding behind the wall”
  4. Kunal Pradhan – “Dravid, who never changes”
  5. Rohit Brijnath – “The beauty of waiting in Test cricket”
  6. Sidvee – “Dravid and the mastery of struggle”
  7. Sidvee – “Degrees of fandom”
  8. Vikramjit Singh – “The Curious Case of Rahul Dravid’s Rebellion” (contributed by Supreeth)
  9. Alan Tyers – “The Secret Diary of Rahul Dravid, Aged 29792 Balls”
  10. Sriram Dayanand – “The Beacon”

Adele, Writing and Test Cricket

I know that I really need to be writing more often, but I suppose this is what happens if writing is a major part of your day job! Also, this is what happens when you get used to restricting yourself to 140 characters *glares at a certain micro-blogging site*

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Heroes

Today was a day for heroes.

First, there was Rahul Sharad Dravid and his magnificent 104 against New Zealand. I didn’t watch any part of his innings, but kept a close eye on the score. I can’t help but admire this man, I don’t know how exactly it started, but he’s been one of the few people/things I *believe* in and no I am not saying that in a fanatical-SQUEEEE-fangirl kind of way (okay, maybe just a little bit).

Then, there was Darcy.

I sat down to watch Pride & Prejudice (2005) for probably the fifth time, and this movie never fails to remind me why I love Darcy so. For a long, long time my idea of the perfect romance stemmed from the relationship between Elizabeth Bennet and Mr.Darcy. The witty banter in the beginning, then the quiet looks, filled with longing coupled with awkwardness. No fanfare, but fierce all the same. So now, I will go back and read the novel (again) and fall back into Darcy-land.

Glee/RCB

Today, I sit here and tell myself I will write. About what I don’t know, but you’re here already reading this so I might as well say something.

I’ve been watching Glee lately, and I love it. It seems plastic and superficial at first, you know high-school-drama (sigh) and cool kids and not-so-cool kids and teacher crushes and same-age-boy crushes. But then all these characters sing amazingly, fantastically, mind-blowingly well AND none of them are clear cut black and white (I kind of have a weakness for those kinds).

Also this week, I re-discovered my love for a certain RCB batsman. Well not re-discovered, it had just kind of subsided into a little corner that I visited occasionally when I saw his name in the papers or on television. But then I got to watch him play live against KKR at Chinnaswamy Stadium on Saturday, and there he was in the flesh – running, smiling, hitting gorgeous 4′s and 6′s. There is beauty in the world again.

I start my advertising internship tomorrow. Let’s see how that goes.

It’s “live”, alright!

As I sit here and (to put it mildly) admire a certain Royal Challengers captain, I notice that the commentators are talking to the wicketkeeper of the Mumbai Indians as the game is going on.

Pardon me if I’m wrong, but wouldn’t this distract him? The poor thing would have to firstly strain to actually hear what the commentators are asking him/ saying through the noisy crowd, and then secondly he’d have to answer while keeping his eyes on the game. Wicket-keeping requires a decent amount of concentration, doesn’t it? It might be an interesting concept ( actual “live” interaction) but at what cost?

Then again, this is 20-20 cricket – anything is possible!

:(

Dravid leaned forward and, surprised by the bounce, was hit flush on the helmet. The crashing sound was heard in the BC Roy Club House Stand and Dravid went down immediately. He lay on the ground for about five minutes and the whole team gathered around as John Gloster, the physio, attended to him. As Dravid walked back to the dressing-room, his shirt had blood stains and he was in pain.

from here

Dear Dravid,

Please get better soon. You’re still my hero, smashed nose (and bad world cup) and all.

Lots of love,
Me

It all comes down to this

I suppose I could sit here and write about how pathetic it is that the team that I support have failed to come together and manage to chase a total of 254. I could sit here and write about how I am running out of reasons to hold my head high and proclaim that Yes, I Am An Indian Fan. I could sit here and write about how everyone was sure about the outcome of this game. And I could say I was too, but all I hoped was for one final show from one of the greatest batting line-ups in the world in this ICC World Cup 2007. Theres also the fact that sponsors are going to make an an immense loss economically.

But you know what? I’m also going to say I still hope Bermuda beat Bangladesh. I’m also going to say that Munaf Patel’s four still made me smile just now. I’m going to say that Rahul Dravid’s barrage of four 4′s made my heart go out to him even more, and that Harbhajan Singh’s 6 just now made me grin ( not just me, Munaf Patel seems to be grinning too). I’m going to say that I hope this team doesn’t have to face the horrendous public ire in the worst possible way i.e get punished by people creating havoc and punishing their families.

Because:

Yes, I Am An Indian Fan.

Crucial.

“What happens to India if they lose?” Rahul Dravid was asked the day before. “We’re not even thinking about the possibility,” he replied.

Erm, but we are. We really, really are.

I don’t need to stress on how important this match is for us. In fact, today every move I made resulted in ” oh my god maybe I shouldn’t do this it might jinx the match”. But I’m not the one playing out there right now. So what I do over here doesn’t affect anything over there.

Right?

I love the Pepsi Gold advertisement. The music is really catchy but what takes the cake is the tag line, “world cup cola” . I didn’t even realize that there was a play on the word “cola” in hindi ( so it becomes “world cup ko la” which in hindi means “bring the world cup”) until a friend in school pointed it out to me. Smart campaign. And it tastes good too!