Silver lining in the cloud

However cliche this may sound but that's what first came to my mind when I heard Advani's this quote.

Somebody has finally spoken up against current implementation of reservation. This doesn't indicate that he is against reservation, but atleast he is unhappy about the way it is implemented right now. Government's absurd, frustrating (for people ofcourse) way of forcing quota on us, was something much lesser than what we deserve as people of a democractic country.

I am not saying, Advani is a visionary or understanding politician, but his this step is much better than defeaning silence of not only congress but also opposition parties. There was hope when Left was talking about excluding creamy layer and all, but suddenly all was well for Congress after UPA meeting and Pranab Mukherjee blatantly declared proposal of the bill the monsoon session. Talk with Doctors, blah blah was suddenly vaporized and all hopes were shattered. Does this mean BJP will oppose reservation bill? May be not, but atleast this is better than what has been happening till now. Hope this boosts spirit of people seeking justice and transperancy.

This is really is funny...

Poor Inzy... He was already facing some competition from Younis Khan on captaincy front, now he has competition off the field too. When you watch India-Pakistan match, above anything else, you don't want to miss Inzybhai's speech at presentation ceremony. Typical speech goes like this.

Bismillah-e-rehman-e-rahim. First of all many thanks to Allah. We is played good cricket is today. But Indians is played more good than us...

and thus it goes. Now why I said he was facing competition? Oh right... He is now face to face with Indian media giant Hindustan Times, when it comes to stand-up comedy.

Read this article : Wild, wetty dreams

Inzybhai start innovating, else you're out of the business.

Some more links : India Uncut, Greatbong,Goose Egg

PS:- HT seemed to wake up after the article made news all around blogosphere, they did minor modifications and changed the title to "Wild, Witty dreams" !!!! That didn't seem enough and finally they have removed it from the website. You can find original unedited version here.

It's getting wild....

...here at Bangalore. It's first time after coming to Bangalore that I have seen so turbulent weather. Raining hard and high-speed wind. uuhhh.. I am loving it... :)

The One With Disappointment

It happens most of the time and it has happened again. Very few have managed to make sequel bigger and better than prequel, like T-2. (History proved itself with T-3 though). And History is repeating itself with Joey, a spin-off from mega-hit sitcom Friends.

F.R.I.E.N.D.S was hugely popular through out ten years it lasted. Contrary to its popularity, its Pilot received absymal ratings and people who watched pilot rated it as hackeneyed, but it started gaining popularity because of its humourous dialogues, sharp one-liners and well-knit subplots. Chandler, Matthew Perry, quoted in one of the interviews that other comedy shows like Seinfeld were great too, but what was different about Friends was that writers were not afraid to make some emotional subplots. Very true!!! But Friends never ceased to be a good comedy show, they never overdid emotions on the show and it remained huge hit.

On the other hand, JOEY had huge audience even before pilot was aired, because fans of FRIENDS wanted to see more of friends and it did open with huge audience, but it didn't live upto reputation of FRIENDS and it's no fault of audience. People would have definitely expected it to be as humourous as FRIENDS, but leave that alone it wasn't even "good" comedy. First of all, Characters aren't defined very well. We all know that Joey is stupid, food-lover and promiscuous and that's what we like about him, but when you overdo it, it's not that funny. His sister, Gina Tribbiani, is weird and his character is very confused. His nephew, Michael Tribbiani, is a genuis rocket-scientist, exactly opposite to his uncle. Acting-wise both Gina and Michael are mediocre. His Neighbour, Alex Garrett (Andrea Anders), on the other hand is rather cute and sweet. Her fear for Gina and her love for Joey sometimes touches you in otherwise loose plot. Obviously, Joey makers have failed miserably to recreate the magic created by David Crane and Marta Cauffman. Ratings have keep falling down and NBC have decided not to continue after second season and last episode of second season will be series finale. :-(

Despite all these, being an ardent FRIENDS fan, I keep watching Joey with hope of resurrection. I want to see silver lining in the black cloud. Hope that comes soon.

Scooping the Loop Snooper

Warning : Techie poem ahead. Read at your own risk.

An elementary proof of the undecidability of the halting problem

No program can say what another will do.
Now, I won't just assert that, I'll prove it to you:
I will prove that although you might work til you drop,
you can't predict whether a program will stop.

Imagine we have a procedure called P
that will snoop in the source code of programs to see
there aren't infinite loops that go round and around;
and P prints the word "Fine!" if no looping is found.

You feed in your code, and the input it needs,
and then P takes them both and it studies and reads
and computes whether things will all end as the should
(as opposed to going loopy the way that they could).

Well, the truth is that P cannot possibly be,
because if you wrote it and gave it to me,
I could use it to set up a logical bind
that would shatter your reason and scramble your mind.

Here's the trick I would use - and it's simple to do.
I'd define a procedure - we'll name the thing Q -
that would take and program and call P (of course!)
to tell if it looped, by reading the source;

And if so, Q would simply print "Loop!" and then stop;
but if no, Q would go right back to the top,
and start off again, looping endlessly back,
til the universe dies and is frozen and black.

And this program called Q wouldn't stay on the shelf;
I would run it, and (fiendishly) feed it itself.
What behaviour results when I do this with Q?
When it reads its own source, just what will it do?

If P warns of loops, Q will print "Loop!" and quit;
yet P is supposed to speak truly of it.
So if Q's going to quit, then P should say, "Fine!" -
which will make Q go back to its very first line!

No matter what P would have done, Q will scoop it:
Q uses P's output to make P look stupid.
If P gets things right then it lies in its tooth;
and if it speaks falsely, it's telling the truth!

I've created a paradox, neat as can be -
and simply by using your putative P.
When you assumed P you stepped into a snare;
Your assumptions have led you right into my lair.

So, how to escape from this logical mess?
I don't have to tell you; I'm sure you can guess.
By reductio, there cannot possibly be
a procedure that acts like the mythical P.

You can never discover mechanical means
for predicting the acts of computing machines.
It's something that cannot be done. So we users
must find our own bugs; our computers are losers!

by Geoffrey K. Pullum
Stevenson College
University of California
Santa Cruz, CA 95064

From Mathematics magazine VOL73. No. 4, Oct 2000 319-320

Online petitions

Best web business idea today is to create an Online petition website. No matter what happens, create an online petition, circulate round of emails all around the world and get satisfaction that you have started a "revolution" now it's "world's" responsibility to carry it on. No matter what topic is just start a petition. Whether William Hung goes out of American Idol or some Rahul chap goes out of Indian Idol, just create a petition and show your outrage. How many petitions have you signed till date? and how many of them had positive outcome? or for that matter any outcome?

I am reminded of a story here. Churchill used to instruct his subordinates to keep woods and axe ready for him when he returns after acidic public lectures to subside his anger. Petitiononline seems to be doing same thing for us. Just to subside our anger. We feel we have done our part and get back to our lives!!!

One such mail came to me asking to sign petition to protest against quota in IITs and IIMs. Although I support the cause, I strictly believe this is not the way out.
Slimshady aptly puts it in words...

1. We signed this petition when Akshardham was attacked and they went to varanasi
2. We signed this petition when an IITian got slaughtered and they moved to IIM
3. We signed this petition when a Girl got Desecrated and they moved to another
4. We are signing this petition now so that they can divide and rule


Needs to do something solid rather than merely signing petitions. Various students from different IITs have gone on hunger strike. I don't know if it's effective move but atleast stronger move than signing petition. They might end up like Rajeev Goswami in case of Mandal Comission but they are putting out their anger and not feeling satisfaction by putting their names on online forums.

Quote of the day : The only verdict is vengeance; a vendetta, held as a votive, not in vain, for the value and veracity of such shall one day vindicate the vigilant and the virtuous....
--V for Vendetta

PS :- Although it may seem that it's contradicting to my stance on Blank Noise Project, but it isn't. Why you ask? Blank Noise Project had different purpose, different presentation and different audience. Read the need of Blank Noise Project here.

Being Cyrus

Once the game is over, The king and the pawn go into the same box.

With arrival of movies like Raincoat, Black, Iqbal, Page 3, Hazaaron Khwahishein aisi... Bollywood has proved that it's certainly moving forward and going to routes which has remained virgin to it. Being Cyrus is one such attempt. While others have attempted to go subtle. Being Cyrus is not only subtle, but also highly professional, stylish and well executed.

We see the movie through eyes of a young parsi, Cyrus Mistry. He joins family of Dinshaw Sethna, well-known pot-maker in the past and his wife Katy. What follows is a twisted story of Sethna family of Fardounjee Sethna and his sons, Dinshaw Sethna (Naseeruddin Shah) and Farokh Sethna (Boman Irani).

First half deals superbly with development of characters of both of the brothers, their father and their spouses. Homi Adjania, being a Parsi himself, gives superb look into the Parsi culture and mannerisms. Scenes like Boman Irani's encounter with his neigbour, Boman Irani's dealing with his father give a fair outlook. Second half starts a mystery where actual plot starts. Who is good? Who is bad? Who is killer? Who is victim? You never know!!!

Saif Ali Khan vowed to do film with a solo hero after Kal ho naa ho. At that point of time, he seemed overconfident, but in recent times he has definitely grown up into a decent actor. Boman Irani and Naseeruddin Shah are at their usual best. Simone Singh scores. Dimple Kapadia is adequate. Manoj Pahwa does more than what director might have hoped for him as Inspector Lovely.

At no point in movie you have dragging feeling. Editing is superb. Why not? Editing is taken care of by Jon Harris, who edited Guy Ritchie's Snatch. Camera work, Cinematography gives you an international feel. While other offbeats (Page 3, Iqbal) were different yet Indian, but this one is truly international class. Homi Adjania's work as a debutant is fabulous. Watch out for him, he's going to make big in new-age Hindi Cinema. Movie is a punch with its 90 minutes storyline. Highly recommended!!!

Other Reviews : Gaurav Sabnis, Rediff

PS:- This review has been cross-posted to InFiCa, where I am ahem...a movie critic now.

Experimenting Google AdSense

Google AdSense is good way to make money, if your site/blog is getting good visit, unlike mine. I have managed to earn $ 0.81 through my blog. YEAH!!!! Anyway...

Multiple sources tell me that some keywords are getting very high "per click price". Here I am putting some, so by chance you're visiting this article and see Google ad on top, please click it. I'll share my revenue with you, if you can get past me $1. (Although Google won't pay me till I manage $100 :( ). Let's see how much money can I make out. Here are the keywords with per click price. Happy Clicking!!!!! Click with all your might and all your time. :-)

$78.30 chicago personal injury lawyer
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$69.17 lasik new york city
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$58.08 best equity loan
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$56.88 whole life insurance quote
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$53.46 whole life insurance quotes
$53.42 car insurance in new jersey
$53.12 las vegas personal injury lawyer
$53.12 term life insurance quotes
$52.54 mesothelioma treatments
$52.41 equity loan rate
$51.78 equity loan
$51.50 new york personal injury lawyer
$51.29 equity loan rates
$51.15 fixed rate equity loan
$49.88 manhattan lasik
$49.38 whole life insurance quotes
$49.12 miami personal injury lawyer
$48.79 auto insurance in new jersey
$48.64 lasik nj
$48.52 beverly hills plastic surgery
$48.52 new jersey auto insurance
$48.39 apply for mortgage
$47.79 what is mesothelioma
$47.72 peritoneal mesothelioma

Update 1:- List has been updated with highest keyword worth $78.30. If you're still reading this, which is quite unlikely, keep clicking...

Update 2:- This is more interesting. I actually earned 3.80$ in two flat days, more than I have earned till date. Wow!! This actually works.

Sivasamudram / Shivasamudram

Due to some laziness I am missing out on putting up some pics of my recent outings, so before I miss again, I just put up the pics of Sivasamudram. Description later or may be never... In short, the place is awesome, especially in groups and don't miss it if you get a chance. And if you don't get a chance, create one.



First View





Our group



First fall





Second Fall







A few brave men... and women too






Me, Puneet, Rawat and Shetty made some efforts to go down and this venue of so-called Dam. Rest of us prefered to stay in the cab. And boy, they definitely missed this opportunity. It was a perfect view ( a la Rang De Basanti - above two pics). Sitting on the cliff of looking down, wow!! that's awesome. 180 degree steep. We were out for a casual trekking and didn't take the camera, so didn't manage to have closeups of this breathtaking visuals.



While returning, although tired we were in great mood, with a biig hoopla, with all 'Dil' songs and some wonderla-remix :-) Detailed ( and better) description of tour by Anshu is here.

PS:- Pallavi mentions that the place is called Shivana Samudram. Wikipedia says both are same. Now I am really confused. Please someone clearify my doubts.

Holi - 2006

A picture is worth thousand words. Let the pictures speaketh...



Read-Ink group, who were enthusiastic enough to celebrate inspite of not having holiday at company. People here don't celebrate neither Uttarayana nor Holi nor Navaratri. Bangalore sucks, Gujarat Rocks!!!! :-)



Host Couple, Lalit and his wife...



With Nishit, there has to be a solo.




Ab itne nahaoge, to bhookh to lagegi hi...




Bhang ka rang jama ho chakachak, phir lyo pan chabai...
Aisa Jhatka lage jiya pe, punarjanam hui jaay...

Do you love/hate Google??

I have been told that these days my blog looks like more of sports/IT blog :-) Might be true, but then again it used to be movie blog few months back. So stay here and you might get something of your choice in future :-) This time around it's again some techie stuff, but I assure you'd enjoy this if you are using Google (which I bet most of us are).

Danny Sullivan has two nice articles at SearchEngineWatch blog. 25 Things I Hate About Google and 25 Things I Love About Google.

A weekend that was!!!

A great day in history of sports. And a great weekend!!! Too much adrenaline to be contained in veins. You don't know what to see, what not to see, of course you can demonstrate your remote control skills to miss as less as you can, just like Uday did.

Australia gets off to flurry start, courtesy Gilchrist and then Ponting and Hussey stretched it to the limits. 434-4. Highest ever total in the history of ODIs, breaking a record almost 10 years old, which many brave teams closed to but could never broke it. Australia broke it in style and broke with margin of 36 runs. Whew!!! Now who's gonna chase that? 330 is the record chasing total in ODIs. 434?? Impossible. No one has chased that even in Test Match. Can Proteas do it? Doesn't seem so. Loosing first wicket even before they get into double figures, but then miracle happens at The Wanderers. SA skipper Greame Smith and Man-of-the-match-to-be Herschelle Gibbs punishes Australian bowlers all around the ground. In the midway, after few wickets, they seem to lose the track, but with the support of tail-enders Mark Boucher takes Proteas to the win in style with pen-ultimate delivery boundary marking his half-century and an exciting match and series win for South Africa. Australian record is broken in less than five hours. Lewis ends up with record of higest beaten bowler in ODI history with figures of 10-0-113-0. Statisticians have hard job at hand. So many runs scored and so many records tumbled. A match that was!!!

It was bound to be an intense battle. Michael Schumacher. Making his intensions clear in qualifying by snatching the poll position and issuing warning to young guns. I ain't out of here so soon. Fernando Alonso. No mood to give up his well-deserved champion title. Kimi Raikonnen. A poor chap. Had to satisfy himself with runner-up position last season courtesy repeated engine failures of his McLaren. This time too starting from the back of the grid due to engine failure in qualifying. Alonso made his intensions clear when he overtook Massa to find himself on tail of Schumacher. Then onwards these two were involved in a fierce battle for the dominance. Ferrari crew managed to keep Schumi on top after first pit but Renault overpowered them and Alonso took first place while coming out of pit and wheel-to-wheel battle with Schumi. At some points, Schumi went close enough but this Spaniard, Alonso is here to stay and didn't let seven-time world champion overtake him. And while these two were busy in their battle of man, the man who started behind all others snatched the last podium position owing to some great driving and clever one-pit strategy. First Grand Prix of 2006 season, the Baharin Grand Prix has shown us the flavour, as to what this season has in bag for us. A race that was!!!

Everybody was certain about the future of the second test between India and England at Mohali, when only 65 overs were bowled in two days game. But Indians aren't giving up so easily. After restricting England to 300 in first innings with man-of-the-match deserving performance by Bespectacled, engineer, mild-mannered, soft-spoken, unlike Warne and Muralitharan, metronomic line-and-length, hardly turns the ball, flipper, loyal soldier, matchwinner Anil Kumble, Rahul Dravid with some tailenders support made sure that India secured handy lead of 38 runs in the first innings. All well upto this point, but on fourth day England tasted what they had been deprived of till now, India's spin attack. The way Bhajji and Kumble were turning, flipping, googlying, doosraing deliveries, each England batsman must be praying Bismilla-e-rehaman-e-rahim-esque thanks to Jesus for each surviving delivery. The penultimate day of second test match saw England reduced to 112-5, which ultimately resulted in 9-wicket win and 1-0 series lead for India. A day that was!!!

PS:- Adjectives used for Kumble are a blatant lift from Amit Varma's India Uncut.

MS : Back to the business

That kind of rhymes, doesn't it? Well, almost. 2006 Formula 1 season officially flagged of today with qualifying for first Grand Prix of the season, The Baharin Grand Prix. And the baap of all is back to business. Yes, it's Michael Schumacher.

IT's Ferrari on the front-row with master on the poll. Ferrari showed reliability in both the practice sessions, as compared to poor reliability of McLaren and poor show by Renault. With new regulations in place, MS did intelligent show by just managing to stay in top 10 for first two qualifyings and snatching the first place in the third one and equalling Ayrton Senna's record for 65 polls. His partner, Felipe Massa, who was upgraded from Sauber-Petronas to Ferrari seize the opportunity to manage second place. Jenson Button and current world champion, Fernando Alonso followed. Hit by rear wing failure and right rear suspension failure Kimi had to satisfy with last place on the grid. Tomorrow is the big day and this season I bet is rebirth of the Phoenix.

Renounce what you don't have

Nice Zen story about Renounciation and Non-attachment. Thanks to Arati for sharing this beautiful story.

On Women's Day...

Frankly speaking, I had forgotten Women's day until Puneet woke me up and passed on this article (Streets, stories and strategies)to make me feel something I am unable to put it in words. Is it pain? I don't know. Amit Varma puts it as (Of many violations) Bloody hell, I'm lucky to be a man; and a part of me says I should be ashamed to feel that way.

Being a man you're lucky not to go through some of emotional hell as women or girls or even female children go through. Reading such incidents make you feel their pain, although you may not totally understand their frustration, their anger, their embarassment, their pain that they suffer at one or other stage of their life. Most of them never speak. Neither to friends, nor to family. I have few bold female friends who have been brave enough to put their embarassing experiences in front of me. I have seen their faces while narrating, I have seen their anger, I have felt their pain and I will never be able to forget those faces. I seriously don't know how to conclude this. Whatever had to be said has been said here and here, but can only feel satisfaction to hear some instances such as Hemangi's Train to Chennai.

Link of the day : Blank Noise Project. A voice against street sexual harassment.

Update : Gaurav Sabnis aptly describes need and effectiveness of Blank noise project.

Remembering Gandhiji

Linking yet another great post on punyatithi of Mahatma Gandhi.

Happy Republic Day

I had seriously thought of writing something on my blog on this day, but after reading this great post, I feel complete. And this is not a mere excuse for not writing anything, but go through the post and you will know.

India v/s Pakistan

India-Pakistan series is supposed to be high-electric series, but if you look at India-Pak 2006 series, I bet you won't agree. Batsmen get to make all the merry and bowlers waste their energy on flat and dead pitches. Make last session of 5th day an exception to this.

5th Day was full of farce at Faisalabad. Pakistan unwilling to try some challenging and dynamic game, continued their batting, probably Younis Khan's sake, who missed his double century ... ⟨forrest_gump⟩ again ⟨/forrest_gump⟩. And in all these farce, there was definitely some entertainment as an Indian bowler conceded 13 runs, a toffee if you guess that bowler.... MS Dhoni :O Last few overs were no less than one of the biggest tumble of Test History.Here are last few overs (W are supposed to be wicket)

| W 1 1 . . W | . . . . . W | W . . W

Zaheer Khan paid finally for some good bowling on the dead pitch and ended up with 4 wickets. So Pakistan is like 488-3 and then 490 all out!

As if this was not enough Lo!!! Shahid Afridi and Younis Khan opens the bowling with new ball !!! How I really wish Zaheer Khan and Harbhajan would have opened Indian innings. Younis Khan fights a bit and wants to continue. Height of frustration !!!!! Finally match ends in a draw. Wow!! atlast some interesting moments at end of the final day of the match :)

Look who's talking...

Almost when I am about to leave the office I read this story and can undoubtedly classify as story of the month. McGrath calls for better behaviour. ROTFL. If ever I make an International Sledging - XI, more than half of the spots would be occupied by Aussies and McGrath would undoubtedly be the skipper and man calls for good behaviour. Bold step I'd say ;-)

PS:- Brett Lee too joins the band

The day we won the cup

June 25. 1983.

Greatest day since independence. You bet.

India won the Prudential World Cup by beating the mighty West Indies.

For all you newbies, this Australia team has got nothing on the West Indies of 83. No other team in the modern era had a bowling attack like they did---sure other teams, at various times, had Waqar & Wasim, McGrath & Gillespie & Warne, Pollock & Donald.

But the West Indies firm of Roberts & Holding & Marshall & Garner was something else--- four of the most accurate, fearsome gentlemen ever to have walked the cricket field. And all of them did it together on that day in mid summer, June 25 1983.

The batting was not too bad either. Three of the greatest one day batsmen ever were in the West Indies team that day---------Greenidge, Haynes and Viv Richards. Backed up by the mighty hitting Clive Lloyd, the steady Larry Gomes and the artistic
and athletic keeper Dujon who was the best keeper-batsman before Gilchrist.

And yet they lost the biggest game of their collective lives.

They lost to India.

India, which then looked about as threatening as Bangladesh does today. Kapil was the only world class one day player in the side. Gavaskar was a liability in ODIs, the bowling attack of Binny, Madan and Sandhu would give no opponents sleepless nights and the other players---well not much could be expected from them. Or so we thought.

When the World Cup began, there was no excitement in the country. We did not care about it and you could not blame us for that.... in 2 previous editions we
had beaten only East Africa (even lost to Sri Lanka before they got Test status). I remember buying the pre-World cup "Sportsweek" (now defunct) and asking my
father what chances we had. (I was 7 then) My dad nodded mournfully "Winning the cricket World cup is as much a pipedream as winning the football one."

This time however things were a bit different. My dad did not notice it then and neither did many people----but in retrospect it is evident now.

Just before the World Cup, India toured the West Indies. Needless to say, they were plastered. But it was not in vain. A 3 month tour playing against the world's best opposition was exactly the right kind of preparation going into the cup.

In addition, two significant things happened on that tour. Mohinder Amarnath rose from the ashes to become India's leading batsman. Amarnath used to be known as
a pathetic player of the short ball whose career was in jeopardy after he got hit on the head by Rodney Hogg. After a layoff, he came back a changed man. He had stood tall among the ruins in the Pakistan series (where Imran and Safraz razed our batting) and then attained legendary status on this tour to West Indies.

The West Indian speed merchants peppered us with the short stuff. Gavaskar ducked. Gaekwad took it on his body. Amarnath hooked. The West Indians had never seen
Indians hooking bouncers. The faster they came at Amarnath, the more vicious he hooked it and such was his dominance on that tour that both Imran and Marshall accepted that he was the best player of pace in the world.

The second significant event was that we actually won a ODI off the Windies. It was the last one---rather insignificant in terms of the series, but of great significance for what was to follow. At Berbice, Gavaskar finally got into the groove of one day
cricket (forgetting his 36 over 60 overs) and Kapil blasted the West Indies bowling attack. A mere blip on Windies' radar-----------but at least we knew we could
beat them.

Well not only was it possible to beat the West Indies, India made it two in two defeating them in the first match of the World Cup. And then, after a few wins and
losses, it all came down to the match against Zimbabwe.

My dad had a small radio. When I turned it on, India were 15 for 4. Soon they were 17 for 5. I was deliberating whether to skip drawing school but this did it. I trooped off with my paint brush and was ensconced on the cold floor along with scores of
others, drawing "still life." My mind however was anything but still.

There was the unmistakable drone of transistors coming from outside. That means people were still listening in. Soon the drone increased. More transistors/radios
had come on. What could that mean ? Was India still "in the game"?

It was hot inside the room. And I desperately wanted to leave. But I had to wait to get picked up by Baba. And then the first sound of "chakka" (sixer) from
someone next door. Soon others followed. My heart was pounding, threatening to jump out of its socket into the paint bowl.

Baba where are you? I want to go home.

Baba came. A big smile on his face. Kapil was smashing Zimbabwe all over the place----he was in a marauding mood. Going home, I caught the end of India's batting
on the radio. India wrapped up the game in style with the commentators describing the fielding as brilliant. India had made the turn--------cricket would henceforth be India's national sport.

Semi final. I knew India would lose. I was sanguine. I also thought that if I thought India was going to win, God might punish me for my hubris and defeat us. And
by God, did we need godly intervention to win against England.

India bowled first. The fielding was exceptional. The runs were choked and England made their mistakes. Alan Lamb was run out by an exceptional bit of fielding, Gatting was bowled by a gem from Amarnath and Botham was castled by a brute of a delivery from Kirti Azad. Then India came into bat. Also went out the lights---power cut ! Or what we used to call "load shedding".

I have this problem. Whenever I get tense, I start shivering. So here in the month of June, on a hot Kolkata night with all power off, I was shaking. With tension. You see I had maneuvered myself into a lose-lose situation. Long before Azhar and Jadeja, I had bet against my own team. I had a running bet with an uncle---if India makes it to the finals, I will treat him to a "Rajbhoga". Which cost Re 1 in those days.
Something I was not willing to give up since it constituted about 20% of my "personal stash". I wanted India to win. Desperately. And I also wanted to avoid losing my Re 1.

Yashpal Sharma flicks Bob Willis for a six. Sandeep Patil hammers Allot. The power comes back on for us to see Yashpal Sharma getting dismissed. But no further
hiccups and Kapil races back to the pavilion after the winning run as he is engulfed by the teeming population. I lose my Re 1. Which, I refuse to pay when uncle asks for it.

Then June 25 dawns. No more bets. No more debts. India vs West Indies.

Sunil Gavaskar. 5 feet and a few. Joel Garner. 7 feet and a few. Garner hustles in and hurls them from sky high and Sunny is all at sea. He is soon taken out of
his misery. So are we. Srikkanth, on the other hand, looks cool and composed.
Well as cool and composed as he can look. Roberts is hooked over fine leg for six and then Sri gets on one knee and creams him through cover. Shot of the match. Twitches his nose, walks towards square leg. And then gets beaten by a beauty from Marshall and is trapped in front.

Amarnath has dropped anchor. Runs are difficult to come by. Holding goes wide of the crease, angles one in. Amarnath plays down the wrong line and his stumps go cartwheeling. My heart sinks.

With runs not coming, Yashpal Sharma loses the plot and gifts his wicket to the innocuous off spin of Larry Gomes. Kapil also holes out to deep square leg
attempting a mighty heave. Then Doordarshan loses feed. Damn.

Back to the radio. Azad and Binny are blown away. India's tail fights back. But my heart has turned to cinder. I knew India was going to lose but at least a
fight was expected. This was abject surrender. Everything is going according to their script. Their script. I almost feel like crying.

Power is back on for the Windies chase. Only good news, Llyod has pulled a hamstring. Fat chance of Lloyd batting though. Richards is enough.183 is nothing. Absolutely nothing.

And then it happens. Pure magic.

Gordon Greenidge, one of the world's most technically correct batsman is at the crease. Sandhu runs in and bowled a seemingly innocuous outswinger. 183 to get...60 overs. Plenty of time. So Greenidge reads the outswinger and shoulders arms to let it go.

Nothing wrong in that. But the ball is charmed---- the collective will of so many Indians makes it change its line. Late.... very late it swings in ever so slightly and clips Greenidge's off stump. Greenidge stands there with his bat raised --incomprehending, incredulous. Sandhu is rushing towards keeper Kirmani clenching his fist. India has drawn blood.

The Man comes in. Chewing gum, twirling bat, utter disdain for the opposition. Madan Lal is dismissed from his presence with a swipe to square leg. Binny (India's version of JLo---if you have seen him you know what I mean) is thrashed through cover. And then Doordarshan loses transmission again.

"A good thing" my mother says. It is torture watching India lose. Now we can all go back to our respective lives. But the radio is on. My dad mutters to himself ---"Richards has got to go".

However it is Haynes who goes, unable to keep a drive down off Madan Lal. The wrong guy....the wrong guy....we need Richards.

The fall of Haynes has no effect on the Man. Richards is no mood to step off the center stage----determined to finish off the match himself and repeat his murderous innings against England in the 1979 World Cup. Runs flow from his bat with precise
inevitability.

" He is out. Gone."

The commentary drowns out amidst the thunderous applause. It's true. Viv IS out and Madan has scalped him. Richard's overconfidence has done him in. He bludgeons Madan Lal uppishly and Kapil Dev, runs back and takes the most significant catch in Indian
cricketing history. Crowd goes silent and then the Indians erupt. But we all saw that later. For now, we are simply jumping up and down with joy. We are in with a chance.

Clive Llyod is not being able to play his normal flowing game and Gomes has gone into a shell. Binny takes out Larry Gomes with a late moving outswinger. And then "Big Cat" Lloyd, strung by a hamstring, plays a nothing shot and is skinned by Kapil at cover.

I run around the room in the unquestioning glee of childhood.we have won, we have won. My father tells me to calm down. Half of the side still remains. But yes, we are in with a chance. Now we are cursing Doordarshan. Doordarshan obliges by restoring live feed. Bacchus is scratchy. Dujon looks solid but watchful.

Srikkanth hits the stumps on a direct throw. The Indians go up in appeal. The umpire does not oblige. Srikkanth runs around like his pants are on fire. My mother opines that it is better luck when there is no live feed. Maybe she wants us to just have our food but there is logic in what she says. As long as I was watching the game on TV, India kept losing wickets. When the feed went off, India's batting fought back.
And now also just after the feed is back on, things have stalemated.

Sandhu comes back in and bowls one wide of off stump. Bacchus is no Richards but tries to be. He swings hard hoping to send the ball screaming to the fence. It
takes the edge and Kirmani dives full tilt to his right and brings off a blinder.

India's problems have always been in getting rid of the tail. How many times has it happened that we get rid of the main players and then the fringe guys come and bite us on our bum?

Marshall, who was a fairly decent bat, digs in. Dujon works the ball away into the gaps. No more of the frenetic, disdainful heave-ho of the top batters------Dujon and Marshall have gone over to Plan B. The Indian fielding is tight, Binny beats Marshall
all ends up. But the edges are not coming.

Kapil is striding like a wounded tiger----the team is pumped up. I am shaking like crazy. Please let us not lose this from this state....please God.

God answers. Mohinder Amarnath is called into bowl. He lopes in, the only bowler in the world who decelerates as he comes to the bowling crease. A loosener, gently
going down off. Dujon takes an exaggerated front foot movement and seeing the line of the ball raises his bat.

And as he raises it, the ball miraculously takes the inside edge of his bat, comes back, bounces once in front of the stumps and hits it !

Dujon slaps the ground in digust and I am airborne with joy. Amarnath is not done. He induces Marshall's edge and Gavaskar clutches onto the ball for dear life.

Kapil brings himself back on. A lot of overs still left. This is a gamble.

Andy Roberts. Shuffling across he is pinned to the crease by a Kapil inswinger. The finger goes up. Kapil is growling now and the Indians are all over the place. Andy Roberts wends his way back accompanied by a fat white man who keeps on lecturing him. It is still a wonder to me why he did not smack the guy then and there. Garner and Holding hold on. They are not scoring runs but they are not getting out either.

Amarnath bowls. Holding launches into a wild swipe. It misses, strikes him a bit high on the pad. Who cares? The umpire's finger is up, Holding looks dejected.
Amarnath has already gotten hold of a stump.

The Indian contingent is rushing onto the ground. The TV flashes " India has won the World Cup". Kapil is smiling from ear to ear.

The Goliath has fallen. David has won the World Cup.

Many years have passed by since then.

I have since become an atheist. I don't know what to believe or trust any more. But there is one thing I do believe in and that is in miracles.

Because I saw one myself. On June 25, 1983.


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Special thanks to Uday for sharing this article. Original Blog.