woh beetein din

Nostalgia is on my mind… always… more so since i left bharuch for greener pastuer’s ….

“Bhangyu bhagyu toy bharuch” is an old saying i dont know if i spelt it rite… But basically it means that any one that once is a bharuchi will always remain a bharuchi no matter how broken this town may be.. and i cannot agree more with this fact. Now that i have left bharuch i can even claim to say it from personal experience.

For me the first memories of bharuch start with the fact that i joined Rungta Vidya Bhavan… a school i never liked at the beginning… coming from Jamnagar from a boys school it felt strange and cheap to be studying in a co-ed. The sight of girls at that point frightened and seemed strange. How naive i was than to not realise the love i was going to develop for the opposite sex just a few months later….

Playing in this school was different.. there was no serious sport like cricket or football but there was langdi, dodge ball and we used to look forward to it… later Kho Kho, Kabbadi and Volley ball became more of an attraction… The PE(physical education) period’s were jhakkas!!!

Coming to the more serious topic of girls…. Boy.. for a guy who comes from a boys school once the initial awkwardness was gone it was fascinating. The girls were always smart beautiful and desirable. Whether it were talking with them or lending them my english notebook so that they could copy my answers. I just looked forward to them more and more…. too bad they didn look the things the same way… Crushes and infatuations happened almost every day impossible to remember or count as my heart became uncontrollable… i never think that word can be used to describe the heart…. i dont want to name any one here as not only some of them will read this, also that there are so many that the list just wont end. lol….

The snacks of Bharuch need to be given a mention here – The khaman, the ameeri khaman(sev khamni), the sev usal opposite to our school (red hot water with no peas ), the batata’s with red masala, the kotha’s with the pink sharbat… the amli (tamarind ) outshide our school, the chani bor…. aaah… see nostalgia again… Gone are the days when in 1 Re we used to get a plate of moong, chole, upma, pauha, usal in school. They were fantastic. Eating 6 panipuri and paying just 1 re. the days were great nevertheless… (time to close office more to follow soon….)

the way forward

Indian cricket is at a cross road now… With some very promising youngsters and exciting talent waiting in the wings… Already they have been introduced into one day and t20 cricket… But true cricket lovers will agree that the most important test cricket is still the real test for these youngsters.

I for one would never want to force either of the big 5 to retire, Sachin, Laxman, Sourav, Rahul or Anil. They have given so much to Indian Cricket that no one has the right to force them. But what i worry the most is that since these great players are prolonging currently it might just happen that they might all go together or all of a sudden.

The call is to phase in players in the team slowly, like Australia phased out Mark Waugh than later Stever Waugh than slowly Langer, Martyn, Warne, Mcgrath, now Gilchrist next Hayden and Ponting… they are going with 1 or two seasons between them. India needs to phase in Rohit Sharma and Yuvraj in the test team very fast. They are ready one feels. But who of the seniors has had it enough. Guess this Australian tour to India will see a couple of them hang up their feet.

Also it is only right that they are allowed to retire and not forced. On the basis of this series loss in Sri Lanka if our selectors act it will be wrong. Lets give credit to the Lankan Spinners we have seen something new. Pressure from both ends, Murali was always good but he lacked support but what Mendis gives him is not maintaining pressure but even he is a strike bowler. Mendis with his unusual grip has been difficult to pick but the best thing has been he has been so accurate that he has never been put under pressure. Apart from Sehwag attacking him in Galle he has not been attacked.

But to attack him either he has to bowl badly or our batsmen have to pick him, which i must say doesnt seem to be happening still. But as time wears on he will be picked. But in this low conditions while these two operate together with pressure from both ends it will be difficult.

However what the selectors need to think before acting do they think the youngsters would have fared better than these 4 middle order stalwarts??

I guess we have to stick with our Stalwarts, as much as it hurts that we should have won the Lanka series after the fight back in Galle. The fight is still on as while i am writing Laxman and Rahul are fighting it out on the last day. Hope for the Eden to be recreated!!!

These 5 are truly the champions and have given the most amazing memories to all cricket lovers and no real cricket fan can ever forget. I salute the 5 champions and remain assured they will sign off on a high with a victory against the Aussies.