Master stroke !!!

Recently many news paper and news channels were running this story. They were all going gung-ho about this blatant discrimination. If you look at this issue closely you will notice the genius brain behind this 'controversy'. Haagen Dazs (the ad agency actually) used entire Indian media, virtually for free, to advertise their new franchisee in India. Creating a controversy seems to have become the best way to advertise now a days. We have seen this with (auto)biographical books written by the likes of Jaswant Singh, Om Puri, Andre Agassi. All you have to do is make some controversial statements and you have got free advertisement in the media. It would have taken that ice-cream chain millions to convey the opening of their store in Delhi. Now it has taken just an apology for choosing the wrong words. Talk of media power...

विठ्ठल

तीर्थ विठ्ठल, क्षेत्र विठ्ठल ।
देव विठ्ठल, देवपूजा विठ्ठल ॥१॥

माता विठ्ठल, पिता विठ्ठल ।
बंधु विठ्ठल, गोत्र विठ्ठल ॥२॥

गुरू विठ्ठल, गुरुदेवता विठ्ठल ।
निधान विठ्ठल, निरंतर विठ्ठल ॥३॥

नामा म्हणे मज विठ्ठल सापडला ।
म्हणुनि कळिकाळा पाड नाही ॥४॥

-------------------------

आनंदाचे डोही आनंद तरंग ।
आनंदचि अंग आनंदचे ॥१॥

काय सांगो झालें कांहीचिया बाही ।
पुढें चाली नाहीं आवडीनें ॥२॥

गर्भाचे आवडी मातेचा डोहाळा ।
तेथींचा जिव्हाळा तेथें बिंबे ॥३॥

तुका म्हणे तैसा ओतलासे ठसा ।
अनुभव सरिता मुखा आला ॥४॥

--------------------------

अजि सोनियाचा दिनु ।
वर्षे अमृताचा घनु ॥१॥

हरि पाहिला रे हरि पाहिला रे ।
सबाह्याभ्यंतरी अवघा व्यापक मुरारी ॥२॥

दृढ विटे मन मुळी ।
विराजित वनमाळी ॥३॥

बरवा संतसमागमु ।
प्रगटला आत्मारामु ॥४॥

कृपासिंधु करुणाकरू ।
बाप रखमादेविवरू ॥५॥


जेव्हा जेव्हा हे अभंग मी ऐकतो तेव्हा तेव्हा मनात एक अनामिक भावना येते. ते काय हे मला ठरवता येत नाही. मनाला एक प्रकारची हुरहुर लागते. यात त्यातल्या संगीताचा वाटा मोठा. पण ते शब्द...पहिल्या अभंगात नामदेवांना जळी स्थळी काष्ठी जसं म्हणतात, तसं त्यांना विठ्ठल दिसतो. त्यांच्यासाठी सर्वकाही म्हणजे विठ्ठल. ह्यातला विठ्ठल मला काहीसा प्रतीकात्मक वाटतो. विठ्ठल म्हणजे तुम्ही ज्यासाठी जगताय ते. असं काही की ज्याच्यासाठी तुम्ही सर्व काही विसरु शकता ते. तुमच्यासाठी सर्व काही तेच होतं. नामदेवांसाठी ते तीर्थ होतं, क्षेत्र होतं, बंधु , गुरू पिता सर्व काही विठ्ठल. असा विठ्ठल नामदेवांना सापडला. तो काय़ हे मला माहित नाही. (पण तो विठ्ठल एखादी मुर्ति खचितच नसणार.) असा विठ्ठल खरच असतो का? मला तो सापडेल?

तुकारामांच्या भाषेत ह्याच अवस्थेला ते 'आनंदाचे डोही आनंद तरंग' अस म्हणतात. आणि शेवटचा अभंग म्हणजे तर सगळ्याचा कळस...लता मंगेशकरांचे भैरवीचे स्वर ऐकताना खरच अमृताचा घनु वर्षतोय अस वाटतं.... हे तीनही अभंग एकाच अवस्थेचे वर्णन करतात. ती अवस्था काय ते नाही मला सांगता येणार.

नास्तिक

एक खराखुरा नास्तिक जेंव्हा देवळाबाहेर थांबतो
तेंव्हा खरंतर गाभाऱ्यातच भर पडत असते
की कोणीतरी आपल्यापुरत्या सत्याशी का होईना
पण प्रामाणिकपणे चिकटून राहिल्याच्या पुण्याची….

एक खराखुरा नास्तिक जेंव्हा देवळाबाहेर थांबतो
तेंव्हा शक्यता होते निर्माण की
देवाने आपला आळस झटकून देवळाबाहेर येण्याची….

एक खराखुरा नास्तिक जेंव्हा देवळाबाहेर थांबतो
तेंव्हा कोऱ्या नजरेने पाहत राहतो
सभोवतालच्या हालचाली, भाविकांच्या नजरा
कोणीतरी स्वतःचेच ओझे स्वतःच्याच पायावर
सांभाळत असल्याचे समाधान लाभते देवालाच….

म्हणून तर एक खराखुरा नास्तिक जेंव्हा देवळाबाहेर थांबतो
तेंव्हा देवाला एक भक्त कमी मिळत असेल कदाचित,
पण मिळते अखंड समाधान, एक सहकारी लाभल्याचे!!....

देऊळ बंद झाल्यावर एक मस्त आळस देउन
बाहेर ताटकळलेल्या नास्तिकाशी गप्पा मारता मारता
देव म्हणतो, दर्शन देत जा अधून मधून....
तुमचा विश्वास नसेल आमच्यावर;
पण आमचा आहे ना!!!!!....

एक खराखुरा नास्तिक जेंव्हा देवळाबाहेर थांबतो
कंटाळलेल्या देवाला मोठ्या मिन्नतवारीने परत पाठवतो देवळात
तेंव्हा कुठे अनंत वर्षे घेऊ शकतो आपण दर्शन
अस्तिकत्वाच्या भरजरी शालीत गुदमरलेल्या देवाचे......
एक खराखुरा नास्तिक जेंव्हा देवळाबाहेर थांबतो........
- संदीप खरे

Questions ...Questions !!!!

Is there any definition for the word or concept 'unnatural'? We use this word very frequently. But I have never been able to define it clearly. There is no such thing as 'unnatural'... Also what is crime? why murder is crime? And even further why suicide is considered a crime?? questions questions.... many of them...

Good people !

Those who think that good people do not exist in this world surely don't know about Wikipedia, youtube and torrents :)

Reservation for backword classes and why I support the idea

This question is haunting me ever since Arjun Singh announced the increased reservation for the OBCs which took the percentage of the reserved position in all government institutions to 50% approx. I saw many debates regarding this and now I have some opinion on this.
There are two aspects of this issue. One is the about the idea or the concept of reservation itself. Should there be any reservation at all or should there be not? If the answer to this question is affirmative then the second question comes into picture that is how should it be implemented?
Initially I was against the very idea of reservation, especially during my 10th and 12th standards. But, now as I think of it, that opposition was because of me being denied an opportunity of studying in a good institute and not because I thought one can not and should not compromise on quality, which I claimed to be my basis for the opposition to this concept. Now I support the idea of reservation.
Let me explain. When I used to say that students should be given the admissions on basis of their marks only and not on basis of their cast, I was ignoring one big issue that we have here, that is the cast system. Say I have 90% marks and a person from a reserved category has 85%, I used to say that I should be given preference for admission.
But what I did not consider is how I got my 90% marks and how he got his marks. I think my upbringing played very important role in this. The culture at home matters a lot. My father is a doctorate in microbiology. My paternal grandfather is a lawyer and my maternal grandfather is a doctor. Now, compare this with the other guy whose forefathers, for centuries, did nothing but cleaning of roads and gutters. So it boils down to one question, Is the development of a human being because of his nature or his nurture?
By development because of nature I mean that a human being is what he is , in spite of his upbringing and the environment which he grows in has no effect on him whatsoever. I don't think so. I believe that what goes around does play an important role in an average person's development. So crude comparison of marks is not the fair way to judge merit.
Next part is about the implementation of this concept and how can undeserving people be left out of this benefit. I think that if a person thinks that he needs reservation, he is the one who needs it badly. There will be a time when people will think that they don't need reservation. And then only we can do away with it.

worst !

This post is going to be out and out negative. I am posting about three worst things in cricket

One:
Sri Lanka is the worst place to play cricket in.

I guess many people will agree with me on this. The reasons for this are two-fold. One, the weather is very unreliable there and our intelligent administrators schedule the matches there in the monsoons. (to add something more about the crazy scheduling, for current tri-series it goes like one match, 3 days gap, then India plays on two consecutive days and the final on Monday !!). But the most important reason which makes matches more mundane and devoid of any excitement is the pitches in Sri Lanka. You don't get worse pitches anywhere else in the world. They are slow, the ball does not come onto the bat at all and the bounce is very low. I am not saying that the pitches should be like the cement roads but there should be some excitement in the game. I don't remember any exciting games played in Sri Lanka.

Two:
Harbhajan Singh would be the worst captain India would have if ever he becomes one.


See this:

The guy does not command any respect. He is always the centre of controversies. In the infamous 'monkey gate' issue, BCCI may have saved him from punishment with the usual flexing of the 'Money Muscle', but I believe that Harbhajan did utter the racial abuse, and was stupid enough not to know the consequences of the same. And the 'Sreesanth slap' which takes away the cake, seemed like a scene taken from Ekta kapoor soaps or one of the reality shows that go around. In the same IPL , in a match against Chennai Hayden and Raina were going berserk. Harbhajan had 2 overs up his sleeves. But our hero (who was filling in for Sachin as captain) threw the ball to some youngster who had not played in any International match ever. Not wonder the new comer was smashed all over the park. What a boost for a youngster.

Three:
Arun Lal is the worst commentator any game has witnessed so far.

No explanation needed. All agree on this.

It's not that big deal !

Today I open every Indian news paper site and I see the news of Shahrukh Khan being detained at New Jersy airport allegedly because his name was Khan. We had a similar story some days ago when our former president Dr. Kalam was frisked before boarding a US bound flight by the concerned airlines officials. That time also the incidence was blown much out of proportion as it is being done this time. In fact there are some valuable lessons we can learn from these incedences.
I personally respect Dr. Kalam a lot. But I am not mad at airline people for frisking him despite the fact that he was once the President of India. It's part of the security process that they follow strictly and I don't see anything wrong with that. I guess that is why there have been no terror strikes in US post 9/11. These people value the lives of civilians over some age old ,utterly rubbish protocols. And I never read anywhere Dr. Kalam complaining about that. The process has to be consistent. Just because a person holds or held a high position or is a celebrity should not allow him to bypass the security system. If I am frisked and so are many others, everybody has to undergo the same process. And it's same principle these guys follow.
It's we, the Indian people, who have some kind of colonial hangover. We have all these classes of VIPs and VVIPs and what not. Why should there be any exception to the security process when the internal security is the most important issue that we have at our hand here. People are talking about giving the same treatment to people like Hillory Clinton , Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie etc etc as a revenge. It should have been done ages ago. Not as a revenge , but as a routine process which is aimed at improving the internal security. Its high time that we take terror attacks seriously and not just some news we read along with sports and business.

All time best

Well I know we can never compare cricketers across different eras but putting an all time best team is much too tempting an idea.
Here's my pick in the order of batting numbers.

1. Sunil Gavaskar
2. Barry Richards
3. Sir Donald Bradman (C)
4. Sir Vivian Richards
5. Sachin Tendulkar
6. Sir Garfield Sobers
7. Adam Gilchrist (wk)
8. Imran Khan
9. Shane Warne
10. Malcom Marshal
11. Glenn MaCgrath

12th man: Wasim Akram

Really???

of course these are not mine but i believe in them so...

Reality is what we take to be true. What we take to be true is what we believe. What we believe is based upon our percepts. What we perceive depends on what we look for. What we look for depends on what we perceive. What we perceive determines what we believe. What we believe determines what we take to be true. What we take to be true is our reality.

Movies minus story

Almost all of us love watching movies. All of us have opinions about them, like which movies are good , which are not, what should have been done and what should not in a movie. I have been thinking about what makes people like a particular movie. What is it that a movie which becomes a box office hit has that a flop movie does not?

There are many categories of films which become hit. There are those films of Karan Johar and Yash Chopra style which show the larger than life characters. People in those movies do not have the woes which an average man has like money woes and other everyday problems. They have big houses, fancy cars, many servants, in short, all that money can buy. Their problems are not centered around money. They have some emotional problems, problems with their relations, any relations including father-son, mother –son, brother-sisters, brother-brother, and of course the usual lover problems. I think these movies show the life which many people crave. The one where there are no petty (?) worries which a common man has every day. In a way these films are like fantasy films. Fantasy does not necessarily mean flying objects, magic wands and rings. Johar-Chopra genre is also a kind of fantasy.

Then there are those movies which kind of vents out the public feelings. There are some things which people want, they are passionate about, they are angry about. Films like Nayak, Chak de India, Kabul express and so on. The protagonist in these films do what people want to happen around them. It’s again like showing what people want in real life.

And, the Rajni-genre of the movies. They are like super heroes. Seemingly normal people doing things like super heroes. Many south Indian movies come under this.

I still believe that story is the most important part of any movie. But when we see many movies with almost the same kind of story (it’s really hard to say that a Karan Johar film has a story) getting stupendous response at box office , I doubt if a story is required for a movie. May be for years we have been seeing such movies that we don’t realize that these movies so not have any story.

सुहास शिरवळकरांच्या 'दुनियादारी' या कादंबरी मधल्या या काही आवडलेल्या ओळी....

"तुझं प्रेम हे खरं आणि सर्वव्यापी आहे रीन. जगाच्या पाठीवर कुठही गेलं तरी आपण आकाशाचं अस्तित्व नाकारुच शकत नाही. पण रीन, म्हणुन कोणी आकाशाखालीच निवारा शोधत नाही ! त्यासाठी घराच्या अस्तित्वाची गरजही तितकीच प्रखर असते ! तू माझं आकाश आहेस; श्रद्धा माझा निवारा आहे ! मी तुझं आकाश आहे; धीरुभाई तुझा निवारा आहे ! आकाशानं आकाशाइतकंच भव्य राहावं रीन. त्यानं कोणाच्या निवारयाचं छप्पर होऊ नये. "

राजहंस माझा निजला

हे कोण बोललें बोला? 'राजहंस माझा निजला'

दुर्दैवनगाच्या शिखरी, नवविधवा दुःखी आई
तें हृदय कसें आईचें, मी उगाच सांगत नाही
जें आनंदेही रडते, दु:खांत कसें ते होई

हे कुणी कुणां सांगावे
आईच्या बाळा ठावें
प्रेमाच्या गावा जावें
मग ऐकावें या बोला, 'राजहंस माझा निजला"

मांडीवर मेले मूल, तो हृदया धक्का बसला
होउनी कळस शोकाचा, भ्रम तिच्या मानसीं बसला
मग हृदय बधिरची झाले, अति दुःख तिजवी चित्ताला

ते तिच्या जिवाचें फूल
मांडीवर होत मलूल
तरि शोके पडुनी भूल
वाटतची होतें तिजला, 'राजहंस माझा निजला'

जन चार भोंवतीं जमले, मृत बाळा उचलायाला
तो काळ नाथनिधनाचा, हतभागी मना आठवला
तो प्रसंग पहिला तसला, हा दुसरा आतां असला

ते चित्र दिसे चित्ताला
हे चित्र दिसे डोळ्यांला
निज चित्र चित्तनयनांला,
मग रडुने वदे ती सकलां, 'राजहंस माझा निजला'

करु नका गलबला अगदी, लागली झोंप मम बाळा
आधीच झोंप त्या नाही, खेळाचा एकच चाळा,
जागताच वाऱ्यासरसा, खेळाचा घेइल आळा

वाजवूं नका पाऊल
लागेल तया चाहूल
झोपेचा हलका फूल
मग झोपायाचा कुठला, राजहंस माझा निजला

हें दूध जरासा प्याला, आतासा कोठें निजला
डोळ्याला लागे डोळा, कां तोच भोवतीं जमलां?
जा, नका उठवुं वेल्हाळा, मी ओळखतें हो सकलां

तो हिराच तेव्हा नेला
हिरकणीस आता टपला
परि जिवापलिकडे याला
लपवीन, एकच मजला, राजहंस माझा निजला

कां असलें भलतें सलतें, बोलतां अमंगळ याला
छबकड्यावरुनि माझ्या या, ओवाळुनि टाकीन सकलां
घेतें मी पदराखालीं, पाहूंच नका लडिवाळा,

मी गरीब कितिही असलें
जरी कपाळ माझें फ़ूटलें
बोलणें तरी हें असलें
खपणार नाहिं हो मजला, राजहंस माझा निजला

हें असेच सांगुनि मागें, नेलात जिवाचा राजा
दाखाविलाही फिरुनी नाहीं, नाहीत का तुम्हां लाजा?
न्यावयास आतां आलां, राजहंस राजस माझा!

हा असा कसा दुष्टावा?
कोणत्या जन्हिंचा दावा?
का उगिच गळा कापावा
पाहुनी गरिब कोणाला, राजहंस माझा निजला


कवी - गोविंदाग्रज

Politics and Education

Polls for 2009 are near and the campaigning is in full gear. There has been a lot of discussion about the ideal leader. What should be the qualities of an MP or an MLA or anyone who has been elected as people’s representative? What people expect from a leader? Some of these expectations are that the candidate should have no criminal records, that he should at least be a graduate etc.
I have a problem with the second expectation, the one about the educational qualifications of an MP. There’s an inherent flaw in this requirement. Which degree should the MP have? Political science? Law? Economics? Chemistry? Math? Biology? Arts? Which one? So demanding merely a degree is not enough.
There is another technical difficulty in this. It is a harsh reality. Is our education system clean enough? What is the guarantee that a person claiming to be a graduate has obtained the degree in a legitimate manner? What if he has doctors his certificates? Is there any way to ensure the legitimacy of his degree certificates? Sadly our system is not clean enough.
I personally feel that to be good MP you need not have a degree. If I know how to find stresses in a beam, then does this mean that I can be a good administrator? If I can solve differential equations, does it mean that I can solve people’s difficulties. Our education system is not the ideal one. I have learnt in Pune University, which one of the better universities in India. There was absolutely nothing in our curriculum which would have taught us about the tackling about the real life problems.
To be a good administrator you should reach to the people. You should have the knowledge about the real problems in front of the common man. What are his worries and what are the best ways to get rid of their problems. For this you need to be the one among them. You should have spent time with the people. It’s not clear to me that what advantages an MP with graduate degree has over the one without a degree. There can be many people, especially in rural India who may not be highly educated but they might have better understanding of their constituency. We are likely to miss out on those people. (Personally I think that choosing a government and Prime minister through elected MPs is utterly foolish, but I am considering current system.)

सागरास...

स्वा. सावरकरांच्या स्मृतिला अभिवादन म्हणुन त्यांची ही महान कविता...


सागरास...

ने मजसी ने परत मातृभूमीला । सागरा, प्राण तळमळला

भूमातेच्या चरणतला तुज धूतां । मी नित्य पाहिला होता
मज वदलासी अन्य देशिं चल जाऊ । सृष्टिची विविधता पाहू
तइं जननी-हृद् विरहशंकितहि झालें । परि तुवां वचन तिज दिधलें
मार्गज्ञ स्वयें मीच पृष्टि वाहीन । त्वरित या परत आणीन
विश्वसलो या तव वचनी । मी
जगदनुभव-योगे बनुनी । मी
तव अधिक शक्त उध्दरणी । मी
येइन त्वरें कथुन सोडिलें तिजला । सागरा, प्राण तळमळला

शुक पंजरिं वा हरिण शिरावा पाशीं । ही फसगत झाली तैशी
भूविरह कसा सतत साहु यापुढती । दशदिशा तमोमय होती
गुण-सुमनें मी वेचियली ह्या भावें । कीं तिने सुगंधा घ्यावें
जरि उध्दरणी व्यय न तिच्या हो साचा । हा व्यर्थ भार विद्येचा
ती आम्रवृक्षवत्सलता । रे
नवकुसुमयुता त्या सुलता । रे
तो बाल गुलाबही आता । रे
फुलबाग मला हाय पारखा झाला । सागरा, प्राण तळमळला

नभि नक्षत्रें बहुत एक परि प्यारा । मज भरतभूमिचा तारा
प्रासाद इथे भव्य परी मज भारी । आईची झोपडी प्यारी
तिजवीण नको राज्य, मज प्रिय साचा । वनवास तिच्या जरि वनिंच्या
भुलविणें व्यर्थं हें आता । रे
बहु जिवलग गमतें चित्ता । रे
तुज सरित्पते । जी सरिता । रे
तद्विरहाची शपथ घालितो तुजला । सागरा, प्राण तळमळला

या फेन-मिषें हससि निर्दया कैसा । का वचन भंगिसी ऐसा
त्वत्स्वामित्वा सांप्रत जी मिरवीते । भिउनि का आंग्लभूमीतें
मन्मातेला अबल म्हणुनि फसवीसी । मज विवासनातें देशी
तरि आंग्लभूमी-भयभीता । रे
अबला न माझिही माता । रे
कथिल हें अगस्तिस आता । रे
जो आचमनी एक पळीं तुज प्याला । सागरा, प्राण तळमळला

Dada !!!

So dada has announced his retirement. Nagpur will be his final battleground. It’s very fitting to call it a battle ground, not only because of the eternal on-field tussle between Indian and Australian players, but because every match that Sourav has played in has been no less than a battle.

A player can’t make a better debut in tests than Sourav, scoring back to back hundreds in swinging English conditions. Wow! Those cover drives can never be wiped off anyone’s memories for ever. And there are those gigantic sixes, hit to spinners, over long-on and long-off. Ganguly had arrived with a BANG, a louder BANG than that of most players.

After the England tour, India played Pakistan in Toronto. Ganguly , once again showed his brilliance with the bat. He scored back to back centuries. He chipped in with some wickets as well. He became India ‘s best one-day player at that time, contributing significantly with bat as well as ball. Along with Tendulkar he formed the most successful opening pair in the history of the one-day cricket.

Sadly there were many flaws in his technique which were exposed in course of time. He was extremely susceptible to short deliveries. One reason why he never was the same force in the longer version of the game as he was in the one-day version. But he battled, as he always has done. He played those spanking shots through covers and square on the off side by moving outside the leg stump. He forced bowlers to ball to his strength. With over 11000 runs in ODI and over 7000 in tests, he has achieved a lot in cricket.

Around 2000, world cricket, Indian cricket in particular, was in turmoil over the whole match-fixing issue. Those were very ugly times as big names in cricket were under suspicion of match-fixing. Several Indian players were also suspected. People started doubting outcome of every match. Performance of the Indian team also started to falter. Team needed someone dynamic, someone aggressive as the leader. Ganguly turned out to the one.

It all started with memorable series against Australia in 2001. Harbhajan’s spin, Laxman’s magic and Ganguly’s captaincy combined and gave India a near impossible victory in that series. Ganguly lifted India from debacle of 1^st test in Mumbai. He had beaten Aussi wizard Steve Waugh.

Then Indian travelled to the Caribbean’s in 2002. Again India came back from behind to level the series. Despite losing 1^st test at Gayana , India came back at Port of Spain to come on even terms. People may say that a victory against West Indies would not rate that high, but given India’s dismal performance abroad, it was definitely a big achievement.

The story continued in England tour. Again we came back from behind to level the series 1-1. Who can forget that test at Headingly. Remember the Ganguly scored vital 99 in that match. And then came one of the best moments of Indian cricket at Lord’s, in that final. Who would forget the start given by Ganguly, scoring 62 off 40 balls. He was unstoppable that day. His answer to the English bowling in his body was boundaries on cover fence. Those pictures of him waving his shirt at Lord’s gallery would be printed on every cricket lover’s mind forever.

One of his career’s high point was the World Cup 2003. 2 veterans took India to the finals, Sachin and Sourav. After a terrible tour of New Zealand, and a poor start which Indian got off to in World Cup, nobody would have backed on India to get to the finals.

Many people criticize Ganguly for his decision to field first. I still believe that it was the right decision. Australian attack would have ripped apart Indian top order on that track. Our bowlers weren’t good enough to exploit the pitch conditions. It was a humiliating defeat in the end. But still we had gone far beyond anybody’s expectations.

Then came the famous tour of Australia of 03-04. Again, nobody gave India any chances. 2-0 loss was considered good result for India. And where was the first match? On one of the bounciest track in Australia. India were struggling terribly in the 1^st innings after Australia had scored a mammoth total in the 1^st innings. Ganguly played innings of his career at Gabba that day. Ganguly, with help of Laxman and rain, saved India from the blushes. India bounced back exceptionally at the Adalade test. India won a test match in Australia after a long long time. India could have even managed a series win, had it not been for Steve Waugh’s final rescue effort in his last test. India had managed a 1-1 draw. A result beyond anybody’s expectations. Ganguly and John Wright combination was working amazingly.

Easily the peak for Ganguly’s captaincy was the double success in Pakistan tour. India , under Ganguly’s leadership had once again shown the new age Indian team to the cricketing world.

But, after the peak , there was only downside to go to. John Wright relinquished the job of Indian coach. In comes certain man named Greg Chappell. A very able batsman of his times. He was appointed on Ganguly’s request. Chappell was the man who helped Ganguly with the flaws in his technique. Ganguly thought that he will make a good coach, helping India to be the best side in the world. Sadly that didn’t happen. Ganguly went into a bad patch. Chappell supposedly asked Ganguly either to perform or to quit. It was a reasonable demand. Ganguly was not performing and Indian team was struggling. So he was sacked.

I think that break showed real character of that man. Anybody else would have just quit the game after that humiliation. But not Dada. He went back to the nets. He played county cricket. He played in every domestic tournament. And as they say fortune favours the brave. An opportunity came knocking on Ganguly’s door. Indian team had a nightmare of a series of one dayers in SA. In that situation experience was called for and the selectors went to none other than Dada. From then on, as they say, the rest is history. It was greatest ever come back in history of the game.

Ganguly’s biggest contribution to Indian cricket was his captaincy. More than all the runs he scored; it’s his captaincy that he will be remembered for. He taught Indian team what it means by the term ‘giving it back’. Before Sourav, in the days of Azhar and even Tendulkar, India was a side which went on away tours just to lose. Only question used to be what would be the margin of defeat, 1-0, 2-0, or 3-0? Sourav gave our team the much needed inspiration and convinced them that we are not just a bunch of losers.

And then there was his belief in the youngsters. Sehwag, Yuvraj Singh, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan owe it to Dada. Sehwag in particular. Who would have persisted with a man who gets out on first ball of a test match playing an upper cut? Harbhajan Singh was almost in the verge of getting dropped before the 2001 Australia tour. Ganguly gave him a chance. He recognized the hidden talent and we are seeing the dividend now.

Sourav Ganguly is not limited to the game of cricket only. The perseverance, the ‘never – die’ spirit, the fighting ability, the leadership qualities shown by him will continue to inspire generations of sportsmen in this country.