Indian Capitulation at T20 WC

Of late I have managed to stay dispassionate to a certain extent ( read as...not losing sleep over a loss ) whenever India plays. But watching how we floundered in the games against WI and Eng, made me feel bitter and irritated, which lingered on for few hours into early morning. By now, every possible explanation has been given by passionate fans, disbelieving cynics, former players and coaches, not to mention majumdar from TimesNow ( Man, wish someone would put a lid on that dude ). Essentially there are two groups : who think MS is a gr8 captain and others, who think he is just plain lucky. His luck has been attributed to matches on docile wickets, big hitters ( sometimes he joins that league), toss, weak opposition etc. As a fan, one can rely on media, expert commentators and occassional insider news from team officials or former team mates, to gauge what goes on in the dressing room and off the field. However, the latest comment from Kirsten seems to have vindicated those who felt that our beloved players are afflicated by fatigue and injuries, which the players themselves have been denying with a straight and sometimes, a liar's face. It is only human, especially in India with all the hype, money and glamour, to feel the need to be in tournaments such as IPL and tire onself at the end of it. I have a feeling, the Indian players wont take the opinion of Kirsten all too well that they might have to skip IPL next time around. It was so obvious that Zak and Ishant were carrying injuries. Sometimes we wonder, how much more money do they want to make and what are they going to do with all that, if they cant give their best for their country when on the field.

Yet again, our shortcoming against short-pitched deliveries has been well advertised by the WI and Eng quickies. Our pacers, with their mediocre speeds tried in vain to re-enact the same, but were tonked royally. Generation of good bat speed with the leading edge very slightly slanted backwards is the way to get elevation which is essential to clear the park : Rohit tried to keep the ball down and Raina aimed for the skies. While we have become good travellers, mostly due to docile pitches, we have to get rid of the predominantly front foot mindset. Bajji, the passionate surdar exasperated everyone by bowling on the pads of players, who are good on the leg side. No plausible explanation can be given, especially when the field is not set for that kind of a line. The less said the better about ground fielding - zak, bajji and yuvi were the serial offenders this time. If one had noticed closely, our team overall doesnt have the aggressive mindset in attacking the ball irrespective of whether the batsmen are looking to steal that additional run. With a weak throw, it is fool hardy to think that they can catch the batsmen offguard, by acting as if they are deliberately letting them to go for the extra run. Jadeja, never looked like the one made for T20, even when he played in the IPL. He is not a big hitter, and the shortest format requires big hitting. So why pick him in the first place ? No good team currently has anybody earmarked for stonewalling. Someone like even Kallis, who can drop anchor, can also clear the field.

MS did few things right - post exit mostly - in admitting that he is finding it difficult to get his big shots. He is street smart enough to understand that he doesnt have the shots as yet to collar attacks of all kinds and on all pitches. He was also wise in patching up with the media after the flare-up over the Sehwag issue.

I hope and wish, that our players learn from this mistake and show good results atleast for the next few months, before they again get back to their old ways. The real concern is about the timing when they choose to shoot themselves in the foot.

The trip to Wayand Apr 30 - 3rd May - Part II

We reached Coimbatore well after the scheduled arrival time, and were desperate to cleanse ourselves of Doraiswamy's blessings ( The bus, just in case you missed the pun ). After wandering around a bit, we chanced upon a pretty good hotel, where we did what had to be done before gorging ourselves on a sumptuous buffet breakfast. Surprisingly the price of Rs.125 was well below our expectations, in stark contrast to the quality of food. We called for a cab, who agreed to drop us to Calicut for Rs.3000. En route, we spoke with the cab owner and fixed Rs.3700 in all for a direct drop to Wayanad, since the our travel agent in Wayanad was asking for a hefty sum of 3K for pickup from Calicut.

We reached Calicut and picked up our mysterious passenger, after a bit of hide and seek. There was some serious mallu chat between the true Keralites, and I was harassed for my unfamiliarity with the nuances of their language. It drizzled a bit and we stopped at a T shop for some palam poori and chayaa. We moved on, and as we descended upon Meenangadi, the clouds looked ominous and we were hoping to reach our furnished stay before the rain gods obliged. We were given a very friendly welcome by our travel agent ( who were very young and soft spoken as well ), and soon after we settled our coimbatore cab driver his due.

Harris cheta, the travel agent, drove us in his maruti zen ( which was to be our sight seeing vehicle ) through a dense patch of greenery which had no real path leading to the house. It was dark and was kind of spooky ( if you had seen the blair witch project, you would know what I am talking about ). The house was more of a bungalow, but was infested with bugs of all sizes and shapes - the windows were left open for some fresh air. Harris then introduced us to his relatives who were the caretakers of this magnificent house and were also neighbours. This introduction was re-assuring and to show our gratitude, we ordered a rather royal dinner.

Ibnu, one of the co-owners of the travel agency, showed us the possible sight seeing places. We requested that we didnt want to squeeze in too many places during our short stay, and instead preferred to spend some quality time at the few places we were going to see. So we finally settled for :
1. A drive through Muthanga Wildlife Sanctuary
2. Kuruva Dweep
3. Edukkal Caves
4. Pookode Lake

And few other places...

The trip to Wayand Apr 30 - 3rd May

Wayanad beckoned, and we obliged. As is the case, the planning was little awful : assumed too many things for our own comfort. After the last minute gasps, we managed to zero in on a start up travel agent in Meenangadi. It was supposed to be a fully furnished house, with facility for cooking. As far as the travel modes from chennai to wayanad and back were concerned : we explored buses, trains and even flights. We were so hung up on going to God's own country. I followed up with two bogus travel agencies - who were probably not too keen on making good business and the guys whom I implored for tickets werent stake holders. As expected, they came up trumps with empty hands. With no travel options to Calicut, we tried for Coimbatore and hoped to get a cab from there all the way upto Wayanad. Meanwhile, my more resourceful comrades digged in and unearthed the valuable redbus.in - a common portal for booking bus tickets. We were due to travel on the 30th of april, and we were hunting for return tickets even on 29th. Plain awesome. With no onward journey confirmed, the return journey was booked duly and as God would have it, we were waitlisted. But my friend forewarned that the tickets would be confirmed by the time we were done breathing in the fresh coffee aroma in the plantations in Wayanad.

Man, and what a bus it turned out to be. The call themselves some doraiswamy travels and charged a hefty 640 for a non-AC semi-sleeper or something. A classic example of people being taken for a "bus ride". Chennai humidity added to the woes, with sweat dripping, people clamouring, the travel agent desk buzzing with enquiries in chaste and unchaste : it was just plain chaos at Koyembedu. Then the secret agent ( we never really knew who worked for that travel agency, coz we found all and sundry milling around issuing directions ) from the travel agency escorted us to a relatively short walk and asked us to board a bus which didnt belong to them. I was wet in my pants - from the sweat :-), and still followed the agent like a faithful dog. Inside the new bus, the seats assigned to us were already taken, by not so friendly looking guy who roared that he isnt vacating his spot unless the dictum came from the President of India himself. With tail nicely tucked between our legs, we alighted and spoke with the secret agent. He then said to walk a little more to loosen our limbs and somewhere on the boundary of koyembedu bus stand, we will find our life saver - the mysterious white bus emblazoned with the letters "Doraiswamy Travels". Oh boy, what a relief it was when we found our treasured bus standing proudly in a pool of "keechad". We got in with bated breath ( you see, it wasnt pleasant smelling what we presumed were acts of people answering nature's call ), and to our horror found ourselves in a dim-lit and dank atmosphere. The seats's heads were nicely plucked out, exposing the soft sponge interiors...aahh...what a sight. We resigned to our pitiful trip to coimbatore and dug into our curd rice and parottas. Something to chew on, and we set on course to Coimbatore.....more to follow.

CSK - so near yet so far - deja vu

Chika, our chief selector, famously oracled that CSK would go on to win the IPL this time around. Being a non-filmi brand ambassador ( thank god we didnt have to put up with kollywood tantrums to go with the bollywood tamasha, unlike last year ) and a die-hard fan of the local franchise, he is bound to exude optimism. The point is, it was just a misplaced one.

To begin with, the foreign players - oram, albie and freddy - didnt do justice to their reputation. Apparently, it was MSD's push for stacking the team with all rounders, for which he cant be blamed. Had two of the three performed in line with their potential, CSK might have gone the distance. To be fair to MSD, the team itself was heavily reliant on Haydos to fire at the top of the order. CSK resembles the Indian team of 90s where there was too much reliance on Tendulkar to make up for the lacklustre bowling resources. One might argue that the allrounders didnt get a fair chance to spend some time at the crease to come to terms with the SA wickets and the format of the game, but they didnt inspire confidence in their captain to send them up the order. It was always haydos, MS and raina doing bulk of the scoring.

This team was devoid of the glitz and loud presence, unlike few other teams, and it also helped that Chika didnt quite command the kind of star power which Preity, SRK or Shilpa did. There were no real gainers in CSK this year around : to a certain extent Raina showcased his bowling skills, as did Jakati. Balaji, for all his intelligence, just tried too much to record the highest economy rate in the tournament. One wishes MSD sheds his caretaker type of batting, and throws caution to the winds and plays his natural game. Unfortunately, the winning ratio is on the higher side whenever he dons the role of an accumulator. Badri, will probably remain on the periphery of national selection - he has adapted his game quite well to suit the needs of the shorter version. But there will always be younger and more talented players staking their claim in all forms of the game. Parthiv, along with Dinesh, have acquitted themselves reasonably well, but dont see them getting a spot in the national team unless MSD opts to sit out or is plagued by injury. If there is one player who is all hype, that has to be Gony. It beats me as to how he can be called a successful bowler. His 6ft something frame, might instill fear among the shorter breed when he walks on the street, but not on the pitch for sure. CSK would do well to find a good bowler for next year's edition. Few of my friends were waiting to see the likes of palani amarnath, pity we didnt get to see him play even one game.

All in all, CSK were a one man show, which sure doesnt deserve to win a tournament. MS had predicted that it will be one innings that would seal the fate of the knockout games - it was Gilly for Deccan and for RCB, it was the greenhorn Pandey who took the pace bowlers to the cleaners.

Disappointed, but not disillusioned.

Brand Equity Chennai 09 - Prelims Answers and The final rounds

Answers to the prelims :

1. P Chidambaram
2. Kelvinator
3. Tea
4. Kukoro
5. Israel
6. Tendulkar
7. Wrigley
8. Churchill
9. Biloo Barber
10. Srilanka
11. Luxury
12. Bikini
13. Myanmar
14. Sir Martin Sorell
15. Lantern
16. JFK
17. Devil Wears Prada
18. TN
19. FBI
20. Copied
21. Bull Bear
22. PavanHans
23. Kerosene
24. Tiffany
25. Cannibalization
26. Asin
27. Google
28. Kancheevaram
29. Shankar Netralaya
30. Original


First Strike

1. Which author's manuscript was rejected 19 times before being published and had a preface written by EM. Forster
- Untouchable by Mulk Raj Anand
2. Which of the partner's wives were sisters
a. Ogilvy n Mather
b. Ernst n Young
c. Procter n Gamble
- c
3. Warren Harding was the 1st american president to do which of the following :
a. File an Income tax return
b. Pay rent for white house
c. Own a luxury yacht
- a
4. Antonio Zemperla, the Italian is the largest manfacturer of which of the following :
a. Sex toys and games
b. Silicone implants
c. Amusement park rides
- c
5. Which of the following yields biofuel as a byproduct
a. Tea
b. Coffee
c. Beer
- b
6. Which of the following was first used for TV in 1961 during the great American "Gator Bowl" college game ?
a. Product placement in a show
b. Slow Motion Replay
c. Ticker
- b

Round Two - Visual
1. Showed the book cover in which the title and some items were masked.
- Al and Laura Ries' "War in the Boardroom"
2. Advertisement was shown - Reynolds Permanent Marker
3. Sudha Moorthy in her younger days
4. A photograph from Zimbabwe showing a wallpaper made of money and highlighting the effects of inflation
5. Jimmy Wales - founder of wikipedia
6. Perfume bottle - Armani Attitude

Round Three
1. What did ICICI give to its customers for last year's diwali - Money Plant
2. Tom Peters positioning era began with David Ogilvy creating the 38 point for advertising that ........ ?
- Sells
3. Mar15th, 1962-JFK when announcing the consumer rights, outlines 4 principles :
Right to Information
Right to Safety
Right to be Heard
Right to ?
- Choose
4. In 2008, Ramazan Baydan of Istanbul had to hir 100 extra workers to manufacture model 271. What is model 271 ?
- Shoe thrown at George Bush
5. What did UN define as the "Silent Tsunami" ?
- Financial Crisis
6. The 1st recorded laws governed two things. One was about re-posession. what was the other ?
- repay

Audience Q :
Which emperor imposed tax on non-muslims ?
- Akbar
Since 1983 Finn Air is the official airline of ?
- Santa Claus

Round 4 - Darkness

1. In South India, micro-ovens startet kits carry which feature ?
- Idli Mould
2. Warren Buffet when sharing his two cents on the financial crisis, attributed it to three Is : Innovators, Imitators, ?
- Idiots
3. Allen & Overy,Clifford Chance,Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer,Linklaters,Slaughter and May - form the magic circle of London. What are they ? ( THe five biggest of something )
- Law Firms
4. Bulgaria, Czech, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, UK, Poland, Sweden. Denmark, Hungary, Greece, Romania etc - what is common ?
- Yet to adopt Euro
5. Fence mount, door mount, anti-arson, weatherproof, top loader, front loader - variants of what ?
- Letterbox
6. Thailand is favourite destination for MICE industry. What is MICE ?
- meetings, incentives, conventions and exhibitions

Round 5 - Complete Darkness ( Audio Visual )

1. Sameer Mirchandani - naukri.com
2. Polo cologne - Carrie Underwood Singing the ad jingle
3. MTN Series - some video or song
4. Dr Reddy of Reddy Labs, talking
5. Something to do with Shreyas Talpade
6. Chodh do Aanchal - Song ? Paying Guest and sung by Shubodh Mukherjee

Round 6 - Ignorance is complete Darkness
Commemerating 200 years since Louie Braille invented Braille System

1. More than 500 groups related to barbie are on facebook. However whom does the group caribou barbie refer to ?
- Sarah Palin ( due to her fondness for caribou hunting )
2. Which group of islands' per capita availability of fish is the highest in India ?
- Lakshwadeep

Audience Q - a picuture showing pearls. What is special about the pearls ?
- Mikimoto Kokichi pearls - spherical pearl producing technique was used

3. In 1863, the 1st person to patent on nitro glycerine, 1867 for dynamite, 1876 for blasting gelation
- Alfred Nobel
4.Past decade, Novartis has sold "Coartem" at subsidized prize to developing world for a loss of 200 millin $ every year. What disease does it treat ?
- Malaria
5. Which golfer was highest earner of PGA tour of 08?
- Vijay Singh of Fiji
6. Genre of Media, first telecase on 23rd July, 1977 in Chennai ?
- FM Radio

Tie Break Q :
In 1982, which technique did Mastercard first use ?
- Hologram

Wings of Fire - APJ simplified

With a 3 day break from office work, I decided to catch up on the books which I had piled up with the expectation that I would read them ( and I bought into the fact that reading fiction is a waste of time, and now I see myself surrounded by non-fiction books, mostly dealing with globalization, flattening, roundening and all kinds...). First in line was the semi-autobiography of my alumni - the great APJ. Having bought the book back in August-08 at a book fair in my office, I had been reading this book in fits and starts. I graduated from the same institution from where APJ found his calling, and naturally I expected to get an insight into his college life from this memoir. This time I did end up finishing the book and was glad I started off with a simple, but powerful and informative piece of non-fiction.

"Wings of Fire" is very simple in what it covers :
His personal life - 20%
His professional life - 60%
His philosophical leanings - 10%
His managerial learnings - 10%

Unique features :
Haiku type poems, either quoted or self-scripted.
A summary of the inception and progress of Indian space and missile programs
Simplified way of building a team and motivating them


APJ pays ode to his parents, close family, his mentors at college and work, his colleagues and all. He traces his humble beginnings, and how that laid the foundation for his quest to achieve rarefied heights. However, he does make a brief mention about his colleagues who envied the success which he achieved in his work sphere, but with no vitriol. At times one might not be able to really feel his inner urge to reach out to the Almighty.

This book has a very Indianness feel in its writing, in the sense that there arent too many fancy words to confuse the non-literati ( if ever there is such a word ) ;-). However, it caters to definitely 3 groups of people :
Youth - It is a must read for the youth of this country, who would have the time on their side to implement or follow the learnings outlined by APJ
The Curious - Has a narrative running through the length of the book chronicling the development of the Indian space and missile programs
Managers and Leads - A distilled version of management mantra for building and fostering an ultra-productive team.

Brand Equity Chennai 09 - Uncorked - Prelims

After few years of forced sabbatical from quizzing, I ventured to the second quiz held in the city, now officially christened as the "quizzing city" - iDEA Brand Equity Quiz 09. Given my now famous directional sense, I somehow managed ( albeit with generous help from my co-passenger ) to reach Green Park Hotel in Vadapalani. The traffic was chaotic on the 100ft road : I would have been naive to expect anything less.

With no prior preparation ( both real and mental ), it was rather foolhardy to think of trying to ask the company's HR folks to sponsor our team to the tune of 4K, especially at a time when cost cutting is the mantra across the board. This self realization didnt dawn upon truly yours, but courtesy of a more accomplished quizzer.

While the audience were shown their places ( the back rows ), the 24 teams made it to the front rows ( organizers did a good job in settling the crowd alike ). The quiz master, Derek O Brian, tried hard to convince us that he felt nervous conducting prelims which he hadnt done for last 7 years. He sure didnt lose his touch, when he started belting out the below questions :

1. Which minister featured as a senior lawyer in the infamous Dabhol Power Project case?
2. Which of the following brands can be related back to Sir William Thomson, a physicist and a baron ?
Kelvinator
Allwyn
Vaseline
3. Which beverage has flavonoids ?
4. Which brainteaser with roots in Japan, is now fast becoming a rage in the western world ?
5. Which country has the highest ratio of engineers and scientists as a ratio of the total population ?
6. Audemars Piguet, the legendary swiss watch makers, have signature watches as a tribute to the centuries of which cricket player ?
7. iChew is the chinese website of which popular product ?
8. Which British PM is the grandson of late New York financier - Leonar W Jerome ?
9. Which Indian movie had to alter its title after a protest was launched by a community which accused the producers of hurting their community ?
10. Which of the following country uses the label "Garments without Guilt" to drive home the message of not using child labour in its operations ?
Nepal
Sri Lanka
Bhutan
Pakistan
11. In marketing parlance, L-class is used quite frequently. What does "L" stand for ?
12. Which piece of clothing has links to the word "Atome", which is french for atom, one of the smallest particles then known to the world.
13. RBI was the central bank for which country other than that of India and Pakistan prior to 1947 ?
14. During the 1970s and 1980s who was known by the sobriquet "The third brother" in the advertising world ?
15. What is the election symbol of RJD ?
16. March 15 was declared as the world consumer's day by which 20th century US president ?
17. Lauren Weisberger's best selling novel was translated into a movie, which was nominated at the Oscars. The movie name has a very famous designer brand in it.
18. Only state in India to have a transgender welfare board ?
19. Guardsmark - a very famous US company offering security services, derives its workforce from which other organization primarily ?
20. Legendary Sam Walton said " most of everything I have done is what I have ------"
21.In 1720, a year after the south sea bubble, Alexander Pope used two four letter ( in singular ) words in his poem, which we cant escape in the daily economic times ?
22. Which helicopter services provider has got the largest orders for the sorties as part of the election campaign in 2009 ?
23. In 1911, more gasoline was sold in the US other than which other petroleum derivative ?
24. Which famous New York Retailer goes by the tag line "Little Blue Bag" ? Clue : very expensive place.
25. Which is the business term to describe the act of one company stealing the market or traffic knowingly from another company ?
26. Pix of Asin ( No fancy questions, even as the audience went gaga if Derek was really asking just the name of the actress in the vogue cover he showed )
27. Pix of a van carrying the slogan "Explore the world of internet" seen in TN. Which company carried that slogan ?
28. Pix of Sari ( which type of sari ). Probably to test the predominantly male quizzers who probably were expecting a googly.
29. Logo of Shankar Netralaya
30. Levi's Logo with tagline "America's -------- Jeans". Fill in....

Thats for it folks for now...typing this out at 12 in the night, after the long return trip from Vadapalani. The answers ( if you havent googled it already ) and the final rounds, the teams that made it to the dias....all in the next post.

Ensoi Maadi !!