Thursday, July 26, 2007

about "test" and "oneday"...

Lying on my bed(read mattress), watching the bowler churn out overs after overs and the batsman ducking under it or leaving it altogether as if it was never coming and the scorers finding peace from work, I thought what it was all about in test match cricket....?...and I had to find the answer from myself as I always had stood by it and felt for it....was it really boring, mundane, grim...? what about the excitement of a closely contested one dayer....the blitzekreig, the flsahy strokeplay...but as it was, it was just the beginning of the test and it had my eyes glued on the final day as one team tried to save the match while other one was desperate for 1 single breakthrough...and it did not come....through application of a few batsmen and the grace of rain-gods...so what about the prospect of all the men inside the inner ring...all circumventing the batsman as starved sharks waiting for a ship to sink...(bad one ..?)...anyway...and the prospect of throwing in your best bowler for an endless spell and hence increased pressure on the batsman for a long duration...what about the sheer duration of time...the focus..the concentration...the committment...and the resolution...thats the depth and width of test cricket which one dayers cant match....obviously, ill contested and dead tests can be very irritating...but if there is at all a contest,its pure delight...

Monday, July 16, 2007

pilgrimage...

initially we were 6...finally we were 3 left to start our journey...so we boarded the cab from noida to the new delhi railway station...i was carrying a "razai", that of my fello passanger and friend deependra..and both my co-voyagers were having a good time laughing on me for my carrying that object in mid of march anticipating cold weather...but i thot i knew better....thinking that we had some time to spare, we retraced out path from the platform (number 5 if i am not mistaken) to the main gate from the pahad-ganj side...to have a cup of tea each...not bad!...and after a while the train left the station...it was not too much fun thinking that we cud have been 6...the whole of the compartment was ours ...but 3 of the berths were to be vacant i thot...we were cracking jokes and reminiscent of past memories frm college...had our dinner expectedly and then some ice -cream unexpectedly....without much adventure, we decided to put our sleeping bags on...if only we had one ...:)...by this time, my friends had started eating their words...it was rather cold...as it always is in a train in north india at night in march...!!!...my friends needed no convincing that I had some experience of travel on train....it was a nice night's sleep and I was not the happiest soul to be persuaded to pack my bags to disembark at jammu-tavi.....outside the station we went...ques ...that of buses and people buying tickets...soon after, we were on our way to katra...after another hour or two, and a bumpy ride, we reached katra, the foothill or rather the valley where the pilgrimage starts on foot...nice sun overhead, we had to hunt for an ATM, for we had all relied on each other at the start of the journey...there was the UTI ATM smiling on us...i did the honors and regret for I feel the guys made miscalculations of our expenses later and I did not get what I had spent on them..anyways, its a pilgrimage..:)...breakfast..and then we had to hunt for a room...after much persuation and wait, we landed a room in the "Niharika Lodging", a govt. venture...it was great arrangement..it was cheaper than the regular hotel-lodging and the facilities, hygiene was far superior...only thing, get it booked online if u gotta get it before-hand..we were lucky however (or rather my smart work in tackling the manager)...coffee, bath, again coffee...basked in the sun for a while on the terrace and all set to start the "foot-work"....we reached the bottom of the hill, started the outing...there were shops all along the initial pathway...security checks were abound...had bisleri, and a bag on my back..(rather trademark of mine)..we were cheerful by now and craking jokes all-along, taking snaps, started the climb rather quick.....after the initial 2-3 kms, I volunteered for tea...it was there that the "food-fest" started...yes it was one !!!...climbing up the slope, we felt hungry every second moment..and we could not have asked for better arrangements...shops were abundant...i relived the hill-experiences...tea,bread-butter,bun-butter,rajma-chawal..parathe...it was proving to be a gala time...we exchanged a million stories in the time...it was a festive atmosphere..colors all around, pilgrims chanting 'jai mata di"..."main nai suniya..' and the likes...horses and mules carrying the old and not-so-old folks...the enthusiasm carried by the old man or rather "carrying" the old man to the top...alike in the little kid trudging through...it was great time!!!...after 3-4 hrs of ascent, and 12 kms of picnic, there were signs of reaching the destination which we started to feel....it was getting cold as the sun set beyond the clouds...and then it grew dark and the bulbs and lighting shone...we also reached the darbar meanwhile...bought the prasad, chanting and shouting the hyms, we started to move briskly...inside the campus, we had the bath which sent us shivering to the core and reminding me the winters which I had forgotton of, living in bangalore for a couple of years.....(just a snack break guys..resume the post in a while)....back frm the break.. well, i completed the post, did not save the latter part and boom it was lost...really tired now...rest of it later...