Why Sachin does (not) deserve the Bharat Ratna

Bharat Ratna is the highest civilian award conferred by India. It literally means "jewel of India". So, one who is conferred this award must be someone who India must be proud of. Has Sachin made India proud?

Legend: F - For and A - Against

F: Obviously! Cricket is a game popularized by the English and as of now no English player has scored more than 10 thousand runs. Sachin has almost twice the number of runs the highest English player has scored!

A: That only says how frequently the game is played. So, how many countries play cricket?

F: It is quite popular in about 10-15 countries.

A: Out of about 200 odd countries right?

F: Well, if you are hinting at cricket not being global, how global is Carnatic music and Indian music? MS Subbulakshmi and Lata Mangeshkar have also been conferred this award.

A: And this game cricket, seems like it's full of controversies these days? Fixing, ball tampering, doctored pitches and other forms of corruption?

F: Maybe but you cannot blame Sachin for the game being corrupt.

A: The point is, it is a muddy sport and he was part of the era. Can you categorically say that he has not been involved in any scams?

F: Well, nothing has come out as of now. We all believe that he is an honest man. But the point is Sachin is a household name for a billion people!

A: India's population may be 1.2 billion. But the number of infants/children who I am sure don't know about cricket are around 150 million. And I'm sure there are quite a few woman who don't care about cricket. And even among cricket fans I hear that there are a few Sachin bashers. So a billion? Really?

F: Ok, that was an exaggeration. But he has the largest fan following in India..

A: Hang on, better than all the political leaders?

F: I meant in sports..

A: I see .. Is he the best indisputably?

F: May not the best in the world but definitely the best in India.

A: Better than Kapil Dev, Gavaskar and other legends?

F: Well, I meant batsmen. But let's not make comparisons. All these legends that you mention have utmost respect for him and consider him the best in business.

A: Gavaskar is not going to say "I'm better than Sachin". Anyway, so be it. Let Sachin be the best cricketer, not sportsman, India has produced. But you still have not answered the key question. Has he made India proud?

F: This an award given to personalities that India thinks are its jewels. If you look at the list of awardees most were freedom fighters and politicians.

A: I can understand freedom fighters. Politicians? So, it seems to have some political motivations too?

F: Well, maybe.. Rajiv Gandhi was the youngest to get this award before Sachin. Politicians have served the nation.

A: Served the nation. hmmm.. I see.. So, Sachin has served the nation? How exactly?

F: Well, they tweaked the definition. It used to be an award given for public service and achievements in arts and science. But now they extended it to include performance in any human endeavor.

A: Any human endeavor.. Interesting. So, a software professional, a laundry man and why even a janitor may also be eligible..

F: Err.. technically it looks like.. yes..

A: So, he did not serve the nation.. and only a majority think he was the best..

F: Well, it's not just about his talents. It was the feel good factor that he brought to his fans. It was the hope he gave. They were proud of his achievements. Beyond that it was his commitment, the way he conducted himself, his humility and..

A: Let me ask you this question. What do you think should be the motive in giving this highest civilian award?

F: I guess to motivate an ordinary civilian ..

A: Exactly! Millions of youngsters are already watching this sport and possibly wasting time. Thousands choose cricket as their vocation and lose their way. By giving this award to Sachin, is the nation helping itself? Let the cricketers and fanatic cricket fans celebrate Sachin. Sports in India is already in bad shape. We forgot hockey legends like Dhyan Chand. By stooping low to vox populi and celebrating Sachin with the highest civilian award, I think India has got its priorities wrong!

Following Sachinism and being a Sachinist

"Is he going to sub you, is he going to study for you?" yelled my mother. "What's so different? Does he play with his bum?" mocked my advisor. Insane, madness - people could say. They just cannot understand, I would say, and move on.

This article is not about Sachin. Not about numbers. Not about records. Many have written about him, his humility and about his numerous feats. I doubt if I can add even a word more. This is about myself, the Sachin side. So, ideally it should have been in my diary. But that is Sachinism you see. It will be in the open.

I don't remember watching any cricket till 1996. That still surprises me, given that my father follows cricket. The lack of a TV possibly explains part of it. It was around 96 World Cup that I started following cricket. And quite soon got addicted. First it was cricket and then it was Sachin. With Sachin, "addicted" is too weak an adjective.

I had no idea what swing was. What seam was. What a flipper was. I knew only pace and spin bowling and that 6 per over or a strike rate of 100 is a difficult task. I kept cricket simple. Sachin taught me it was not. If it was a simple game, why did he just stand out? Why can't others do the same thing he does? What makes it difficult for them? And slowly I learned about the game and the more I understood, the more I was awed by Sachin.

At home, Sachin always created scrambles in our hall. When Sachin was batting and something else was on TV (a serial, cartoon or a movie), I literally had to fight for my right and fight I did to catch a glimpse of him. The previous channel button in the remote was so helpful! Every time I pressed it, I will receive a stare from my mother or a scream from my sister as the case maybe.  Luckily there were enough seconds between balls, between overs and there was another batsman along with Sachin who also faced occasionally. You see, these were the times, I would let them watch their stuff.

Then there were calculations. 80 more runs required to win, 52 runs for Sachin's 100. Will curse the other batsmen if they score too quickly. Forget the win. Forget the caliber of the other batsmen. Only one thing seemed to matter when Sachin was batting. It is a phenomenon that is hard to explain. Cricket, they say, is a team game. Not when Sachin is batting, for me. I even pray for the opposition to post a decent score to give Sachin enough runs to score a 100. Rubbish - I know. I always try to catch a glimpse of even a solitary boundary he had hit in his innings in the highlights package. Nonsense - I know.

Waking up at 5 AM just to watch him bat in Australia, waking up at 2 AM watching him bat at New Zealand, staying up all night in Hawaii watching him bat in South Africa. Memories simply galore. The nights before many term exams were spent watching him bat. Even my academics took a balcony seat when it comes to Sachin performance. Well, highlights package existed. But it was just not the same.

I have been preparing for Sachin's retirement since 2005, I should say. Closely following Ponting and Kallis' records to see if they will surpass him. Can Sachin last longer than them or just enough to ensure he will be on top? Age calculations, average calculations, test match frequency, forecasts... How does it matter? Somehow they did. And survived he did! And how!

How much ever Sachin accomplished, the requests never ended. Can he do well in the Finals after 98? Yes, he answered, in Australia. Can he do well in the 4th innings while chasing? There it was against England. Somehow every success of his was a check mark in MY list. It made me feel good. Even my grand mother was surprised. "Sachin Sachin Sachin, Do your work" she will affectionately chide.

Who after Sachin - is a question that I have been trying to answer. Sehwag? Ah! He is not even in the team now a days. Dhoni? Kohlis and Dhawans? Nay! They all seem to be performers whom I would at best watch in highlights. That's about it.

Sachin will always remain a phenomenon that I could never explain. With his retirement, a childhood in me has retired too.

P.S - Please keep away your comments on the timing of his retirement. I believe, it his personal decision that none of us have a say on. Whether he should have been dropped is a selection committee's decision. Discussions on both of these topics would simply not be encouraged. 

How much does crowd matter in sports?

Each of us have a preference to a particular sport. And each sport requires a specialized set of skills. But there seems to be one common link across many outdoor sports. The audience, the crowd. As the gladiator thumb rule says "You win the crowd, you win your freedom". Here are a few instances that I can remember when the crowd played a significant role in the game (in no particular order). The recent Wimbledon Final triggered me to wrap this post which I actually started a few months before! 

Tennis:
Fedex vs Djoko - 2012 Wimbledon Semi-Final
Not quite as epic as that  (2008) Wimbledon Final, which remains one of my favorites till today. But, this 2012 Semi-Final was also epic by a lot of criteria. Unfortunately, Djokovic was then too at the receiving end of the crowd. This was a match in which a fading Federer overcame a rising Djokovic. Almost unthinkable at the time of the match. Federer showed his class and the crowd chipped in as well. Each point won by Federer drew a bigger cheer and applause than that of Djoker's. Three out of four sets of pure genius. I think Federer just took a break during the second set :P.

Fedex vs Simon - 2013 French Open
Probably an insignificant match. But consider this - Simon is French and it was a 5 setter with Federer who was perhaps not at his best in 2013. In fact, he eventually lost in the Quarters to Tsonga. Did the crowd help him get to the Quarters at least? :) Simon was left ruing the fact that the crowd was so partisan. The homeboy tag was just on paper, the home crowd wanted their own favorite to win.

Martina Hingis vs Steffi Graf - 1999 French Open final
Monica Seles perhaps bore the most severe brunt from a fan, but there was another notable one. Though I never saw/followed this match live, the reports I read years later made me feel how much the crowd can get to you! This was a match that had Hingis' name written on it. But the crowd, partly instigated by Hingis' behavior on court, decided to re-write it. Hingis never again could manage to reach a French Open finals and ended up not being able to complete a career slam!

Cricket:
When it comes to cricket, wherever India goes, the crowd is mostly behind India and in huge numbers too. There are several instances I could give, so much so that the crowd is often called the 12th man for India! 2011 World cup that happened in the Indian subcontinent definitely warrants a mention. But here is the one that will remain in my memory for quite sometime!
Ind vs SA - 2nd Test at Eden Gardens, Kolkata
Eden Gardens is famous for the crowd's involvement (both good and bad) and it is the largest stadium in India and easily the largest in the world if you account for the extra seats on trees, roofs of nearby buildings and so on. The series had an interesting prelude. India was then ranked #1 and SA #2. India cleverly invited SA for a 2 test match series to strengthen its current position. But the plan backfired as it lost the first one by a big margin. So, the situation was like - If they fail to win the 2nd test match, the #1 tag will be gone. Just as it looked like the shutters were down on Day 1, the turn around began. The SA batsmen were facing two bowlers at the same time, the bowler and the crowd! Many batsmen walked in and were clueless like a deer in front of the headlights. It was a sensational come back in my opinion. India retained the #1 tag and Bhajji, egged by the crowd, performed too! 

Boxing: Ali vs Foreman - Rumble in the Jungle
If you haven't seen the documentary, I suggest you do! The match, well known for the tactics employed by Ali more than many other things, also gave us the famous quote "I will fly like a butterfly and sting like a bee". But a less popular quote was "Ali booma ye (Ali kill him)" by Ali's fans or rather people who Ali made his fans. Foreman was clueless as to why the crowd was so partisan. Around that time, it was physically impossible for someone to hold Foreman in a match, forget winning against him. Ali did it and did it with style but not without the egging and cries of the crowd. Simply phenomenal and a story that makes you think fairytales could have been true!

The role of crowd is probably limited in F1 (or most races), golf and some other sport, in particular, where technique and concentration is more important than power. So, crowd is of little help in these sports. But where it matters, I think it matters big! The extra adrenalin, the extra energy and the boost that the crowd is capable of infusing is just so invaluable! If you consider life as a sport, we do have a big audience. But, looks like a cheer will go a long way too unless of course we rely on 'technique' and 'concentration' :)

If you have enjoyed any such event that remains memorable, please do share it in the comments! Thanks!

Trivia: Turkish fans hold the Guinness record for the loudest cheer, unfortunately for what ended up as a losing cause.

P.S. Methodical research on a similar topic is of course available. The interested may refer to Thirer and Rampey, 1979; Courneya and Carron, 1992; Agnew & Carron, 1994; Nevill, Newell and Gale, 1996;  Morley and Thomas, 2005; Polman et al 2007.

Why my car is a 'child' for me :P

Maintaining a car is like maintaining an elephant if you are lucky and a dinosaur if you are not :P

When I was in school, I was dreaming of a career in medicine. I ended up 'choosing' mechanical engineering though. So, when I had to carry an engineering drafter, I used to compare it with a stethoscope. While unlikely, I have still not ruled out a career for myself in medicine :P. But the analogies keep coming at me. We all must have had or seen moments where a patient tries to tell the doctor what is wrong with him and what needs to be done, only for the doctor to quip "Are you the doctor or am I? Just tell me the symptoms. I will then tell you what to do". A similar thing happened to me with a mechanic. I took my prev(c)ious car to a mechanic and told him "The EGR valve needs to be replaced. Can you help me do it?". The mechanic said something like "Am I your servant? I don't do what you say. I am the mechanic. Just tell me what the problem is". It is a different story that he later on agreed that the EGR valve indeed has to be replaced. So, here is my attempt to draw more such analogies of how a car can be so "human" in a world where we see humans becoming so mechanical!

For starters conceiving a car is no small matter. With the loads of choices in front of you, one can seriously get a headache. Should you adopt one (second hand cars) or make new? ;) When taking them out, cars are like babies who need continuous monitoring, attention and care. Take for instance the requirement that you always have to hold its hand (steering wheel I mean). Sometimes just a touch but sometimes with utmost care.

Once you own a car, you have to change its napkins every now and then.  Well I mean the oil and oil filter. Either you can do it by yourself making your hands 'dirty' or ask a granny to do it for you (mechanic). But it just had to be done. You can postpone it, but you better do it! And there are its nostrils (air filters) that will need occasional replacement. I wonder why we don't take the pain of cleaning these filters. Use and toss culture is not surprisingly different between the two napkins you see!

As the car reaches adolescence, just like pimples, dimples appear on your car. Sometimes you wonder from where they came from. Stones from the road chipping your car sides, nuts/acorn falling from a tree and the 'clever' guy who had parked next door and opens his door ajar, oblivious to the car that is parked next to his (hers) - are all responsible for those dimples (dings) on your car. Anti-aging, skin care creams are available (paint protection) to enhance the looks of your car as it grows old.

Cars in fact suffer from quarter life crisis too. As soon as the manufacturer's warranty ends, you will inevitably have a few maintenance issues crop up. Their shoes (tires) get worn out too. But at least they don't keep changing their sizes! And then their eyes (headlights) can suffer from corneal dystrophy  (faded headlight lenses) and their knees (shock absorbers / struts / suspension) might need a knee cap replacement as it ages, but once done will be up and running like a child!

They put on weight as they age (decreased mileage = more fuel needed), lowering their efficiency. But analogies apart, personally I have observed that if you treat your car with respect, it does return the favor to you in more than one way. I am reminded of this joke piece that I read somewhere sometime:

A heart surgeon went to a mechanic to repair his car. The mechanic opened the hood and started his diagnosis. While he was at it, he started chatting with the surgeon, "Hey doc, so you see, there isn't much of a difference between you and me. If you think of the engine as the heart, then I do operate on the heart, check the valves, replace it if needed. Pretty much whatever you do. Then how come people treat you with more respect and you get all the big bucks?". The surgeon calmly replied, "Try doing it when the engine is running!".

P.S. The following is for people with Mech / Auto Engineering background and with a little knowledge of biology. Many are debatable. Sometimes I used function as the criteria and sometimes structure.
Tear glands = wiper fluid, Strokes of the engine = systole and diastole of human heart, Engine Control Unit = Nervous system, Air intake mechanism, filters = Lungs/respiratory system, Transmission / Lubrication / Coolant systems = Circulatory / Perspiratory systems, Timing parts (cam shafts and timing belt) = Bile secretions in stomach :P, Catalytic converters / EGR = kidney, Anesthesia = disconnect the terminals of the battery.

Questions from a fallen and shattered flower

I flowered to make my birthplace beautiful
I was merrily smiling at passers by
They looked at me with eyes joyful
All was well, happy and time passed by.

Then came a lashing mad rain.
I writhed in pain,
As it pierced my tender sepals and petals.
In a quick spree,
The wind ripped me away from my tree
Making me fall beneath along with dirt and thee.

Was it my fault that I looked beautiful?
Was it my fault that I was cheerful?
Was it my fault that I was tender?
Was it my fault.. was it my fault?

P.S - Penned after reading a very disturbing news piece. Most nouns and verbs above are allusions.

Of trust, hope and our relationships

we have somehow managed to make happiness an exogenous factor. It is no longer derived within us. The source now seems to be external.  



We definitely seem to live in some tumultuous times. Almost every relationship is questioned. And we question, at the drop of a hat. We show artificial emotions, hide our real emotions and along with it a bit of ourselves. We only reveal a glimpse of ours and engage others in a guessing game while we play the same game with others. And when our guesses turn out to be wrong, we are disappointed, heartbroken and sometimes even enraged. Our beliefs (which are guesses in the first place) based on loose principles, becomes murkier at the slightest disturbance. We are tired of proving ourselves, but never tired of asking questions and casting doubts. And these questions are loaded with bias. We ask questions not to clarify but because we are hurt and our trust has been shaken.We have lost the ability to trust and judge and with it has gone the ability to conduct ourselves as who we actually are. Because of the fear of getting cheated by others, we take solace in misguiding others by our actions, by cheating others. So, we ended up with this. We tend to live a life that is good in others' eyes and it doesn't seem to matter how it actually is to us.

We need mother's day and father's day to show (or prove) that we actually care about our parents. We seem to need pictures of 'glorious' times, not for us to cherish our memories, but rather proof to the outside world that we are happy and enjoying. Now, don't get me wrong here. I am not questioning the process of uploading pics (such as in facebook), nor do I have the right to question what others opt to do. But rather, I am sympathizing with our need for a positive reinforcement from others. In other words, we tend to be happy only after we are sure that others seeing us / 'following' us believe that we are happy. We have somehow managed to make happiness an exogenous factor. It is no longer derived within us. The source now seems to be external. We need an approval to be happy!  

The other major development in this world has been the focus on relationships. If you bag the important relationships we care about in this world, only a few in the bag are related by blood. A majority of them are friends. We seem to have moved away from our 'other' blood relations both physically and emotionally. To evaluate this, think of the time you spend with/for others (that is excluding self) in a month. A significant portion will be for your immediate family members (spouse and/or parents and/or children and/or siblings). These are the few in your bag of important relationships that are related by blood. Now out of the remaining portion another significant portion will be your friends. The last and the smallest pie is reserved for your 'other' blood relations.

I don't think anything is wrong with this kind of composition of our bag which has changed over years. It is just that the consequences are a little different than what it was years ago. The bond between you and your mother is intrinsically different from the bond between you and your best friend. While the former is like a covalent bond based out of sharing and internal in nature, the latter is like an ionic bond based out of transfer and extrinsic in nature. If the bond is strong enough, there is always a chance that it will mend itself to disturbances which come in the form of doubts, misgivings and mistrust. But most of our relationship bonds (be it blood or otherwise) seem to be too weak and are shattered by the simplest of agitation. Even as simple as a physical move-out reduces someone who was your best friend in that place to just a friend and pretty soon s/he disappears into oblivion. The transition is faster when it comes to other 'agitations'. Even in this advanced communication world, it is hard to find strong relationships and a majority seems to be artificial. We end up owning a bag of relationships that is heavy in number but meek in strength. What has happened? Why is the trust and hope so thin? Whose fault is it?

[A side note: English is a very funny language. There is not much difference between trust and hope when looked superficially. Both involve beliefs. 'A rose by any other name smells as sweet'. So rather than trying to find out what the words mean, let me interpret the words as I wish. Like a mathematician, you can flip the terms or call it what you want.]

While both trust and hope have an element of expectation in them, the timing of the expectation is, I believe, a little different. In hope, the expectation is in the future and somehow discards the present or gives less weight to the present. We hope that the weather will be alright in the next few days (even though it is worse now). We hope that the fight that we had with our mother today will not become a major issue and things will be alright tomorrow. We hope that our best friend will understand our actions and come back to greet us soon. And so on. Things might not be always alright today. But, we hope that it will be, in the (near) future. And for this hope to exist, the foundation for the relationship, at least, should not be weak. For if it is, we do not carry any hope.

In contrast, when we trust, the expectation is for now and ever, until it is shattered. We all trust that this world has something in store for us. A child trusts its mother on the food it gets. When we share our worst nightmares and fears with a close friend, we trust that s/he will understand us. We trust God that our present sorrow will soon disappear and good things await just around the corner. It may take years for us to develop this trust or a matter of minutes.  

Our relationships can survive only when both hope and trust are present. It becomes precarious when trust goes missing and evaporates when hope too fades. Our relationships are best tested and remembered when we are in a distress (A snippet from ThirukkuRal - "KEttinum undOr uRudhi kilainjarai neetti aLappadhOr kOL". There is a surety in calamity as it can act as a scale to measure friends). We don't call on our 'relations' if we don't trust that they can help. And we feel dejected, if we had hoped for their help and they fail to reciprocate. We think we deserve their help and attention, so much so that we take it for granted and then we are unable to digest the disappointment. And we give up on them easily.

I think we need to reverse the way we develop relationships. We need to ask questions first and then believe, not the other way around. Seek information before you develop trust. Let the trust be well earned. That way, doubts will not easily break it and even when the darkest clouds pass, there would be hope left. Doubts and relationships can never coexist. And doubts are sown and developed by us - both ways.

Spend time for others. May you even live a life for others. But try not to do something just because others would acknowledge and appreciate it. Let the true happiness arise within you and fill your lives.

In Plato's words “The man who makes everything that leads to happiness depends upon himself, and not upon other men, has adopted the very best plan for living happily." How true! But we don't need to have the best plans. Better plans will do. Feed on others' happiness. Just don't depend on others' approval. All the Best!

PS: The article was written over many days and took several shapes touching upon diverse thought processes going through my disturbed mind.. Maybe, I will write a prequel / sequel when the time comes.