A weekend of winning

Just how you'd want your weekend to be in the perfect cricket world ! A critical midwest tournament game for UK against EKU. An ISA tape ball tournament saturday and sunday. Some of us guys had been wanting to play in the tape ball tournament together, because, although we had known each other for a while, we never played together as a team. So this was our chance ! But 4 of us had to play the UK game, which meant that the rest of the guys had to play without us for a game. We fought with ISA as much as we could to get both our games scheduled on sunday, so that we could come back and play both games without fear of losing one game and leaving us one must-win game to enter the semis. Not to be. And ofcourse the rest of our guys were like "we don't want to play without you guys, so let's withdraw" and so our ISA tournament was in jeopardy. And so, I was angry with almost everybody that day..with the ISA for not being a little more accomodative with our requests, with our guys for being so adamant about not playing, with the opponent for not returning the huge favor we did to them. And all this confusion left us so unprepared for the EKU game.


Funny how mornings provide wonderful solutions to seemingly unsolvable problems from the previous night. Prabhu and gang agreed to play the one game without us and we were all set for the game against EKU. We sent EKU to bat first, and got all their high profile batsmen out early and got them reeling at 49 for 6. A decent 7 th wicket partnership got them to 97. At one point, they were threatening to get to a decent score of 140-150, which would have put us in a little bit of a bother, especially with the sweltering heat and no shade. EKU started with a bang and got 2 wickets for the first 5 runs. And their best bowlers were in operation. Once me and ashok played out the first 7-8 overs, runs started flowing. The rest of the game went on smoothly and we got there with plenty of overs to spare and lots of wickets in hand. I was personally satisfied, because, all I wanted to do was to stay there till it was over, and I could do so with some amount of effort.
Some highlights: Ashok's terrific straight drive and Laka's pull six that nearly landed in the nearby lake.

Just as soon as we got our kits packed, we called prabhu and heard loud, happy voices in the background...they had won without us in a nail biter. Got us real pumped up. Dharma and kay with big contributions had done the job for us. In the morning, we were all pumped up and made short work of our opponents (and mind you they were no push overs as we would learn the hard way later on) gettting them out for 64 and prabhu and myself got us more than half the way in 4 overs. It was easy for us the rest of the way. The semis was a bigger challenge than we thought because we were asked to bat first. I got vijay and prabhu out to run outs with some over aggressive running. But I managed to avoid their anger by playing a decent knock and we got to a 108. Our bowling was the highlight and they managed a weak 75. The finals was the most thrilling of them all. Inies and Vishy with some late innings heroics, took their score to 139 from what looked like a 95-100 max after ashok's dismissal. 140 in 15 overs was going to take a monstrous effort. I was very determined and wanted to play out the 15 overs and give it a real good shot. We had the batting to do it, but to get to 140 was going to take some luck as well. When Vijay and myself were starting to get a decent run started, I twisted my ankle and fell and was run out. A horrible way to get out in an important game ! Vijay and laka followed short after. Our hopes started waning, but our unsung hero (to that point) Vasu had to have his day yesterday. He started connecting, and it was six-shower the rest of the way. Our moods were changing with every six. After the first couple of sixes, we thought, atleast we had a couple of big ones in response to their 7-8. After the next couple, we started thinking "okay,they scored 140, we'd have around 110, so we don't have to be embarassed when people ask". After the next couple of sixes, it was "wait wait wait, guys we need 46 from 5 overs, we actually have a chance". 2 more sixes and the opponent's heads drooped and we knew the game was ours...was an improbable but highly deserving victory to a TEAM that played its guts out the whole weekend.

Some highlights:

1. Dharma's terrific story narration during our 3 hour break that we later agreed was our source of inspiration for the game. All this when the opponents were busy working out strategies to get us out.

2. Kay's spinach and my sambhar that made sure we were all as "mandham" as possible when we got on the field :)

3. Dharma and kay's every ball routine of the same dialogue and dharma's leg shaking exercise(to keep the runs flowing).

4. Baby K's expert sledges that were working wonders ! And viswesh's irritated response to it "Avan vaayila saaniya potttu adainga da" was extremely funny !

All in all, it was a weekend filled with action and winning ! Here's captain's take on it.


Cheers !
Dinesh

Interactive Tags

I liked the concept of tagging and using that to get to know people better. When I was tagged by Sujan, I felt that, maybe we could use this concept to get to know more interesting things about people, instead of just limiting this to reading habits. My intention is not to bore people with irritating questions. So I'll try to make it as short and interesting as possible. I realize that we are connected in the blogging world by people in different regions of the world and in different walks of life. Maybe these questions will help know bloggers just a little bit better. Enough with the promotion of the idea..here are the questions :) (RT and RS, thanks for the suggestions)

1. Favorite fellow blogger and why ?

My favorite blogger is RS. Because she's blessed with the ability to create magic with words and can make a reader go "wow" with each one of her creations. Her short stories are particularly good. Read them if you haven't already.

2. Your favorite person/people in life.

Micheal Jordan - Defined (and still defines) a winner. Answered every call and gave his best in everything he did. Always knew how to tackle adversity, always said the right things and had the ability to make everyone around him better.

Kamalhasan - Defines versatility. Blessed with fantastic observation, demands perfection in everything he does, and lets very few things bother him (like commerical failures and technical shortcomings in indian movies). When I see him, I get the feeling, that he would have been the best in any field, not just movies.

Mahatma Gandhi - Defines principle. I liked that he gave up eveything he had to attain his goals. A powerful man who knew how to use his power to make his vision for india a reality.

3. If you could be one person of the opposite sex, who would it be and why?

Sania Mirza - A whole nation's hopes on her, she is an ambassador for her sport. She is in a position to turn a country's fortunes in the biggest stage of the world. Who wouldn't want to be in her position ? :)

4. If you could be in a book/music band/movie, what would you be in ?

I'd be a in music band. The feeling of satisfaction/ecstasy after a big show is such an addictive one. I'd do anything to have that feeling once every so often.

5. If you were to be marooned in an island and you could pick one friend to go with you, who would it be ?

I guess I'd pick Sayee. That way I can have jugalbandhis and laugh all the way to my grave. Yeah, he's one of the very few people in the world that can make you look forward to a situation like that. I thought of a few others too..
Vijay - so I can argue with him till the end :)
Subha - That way I can atleast listen to good music till I am dead or rescued :)

So, there you have it. It's your turn now. Let the tagging begin. I'll start off with the following people.

Subha
Raman
kay
Moni

Tags, Tidbits and Movie screens..

I've been tagged by Sujan. I used to be a voracious reader. But these days, books are nothing more than travel company. They are dusted and packed when a trip happens and are put back promptly in the shelf finished or unfinished, and are not disturbed till the next trip. Unlike Sujan, I am purely a fiction reader especially when I have to pay money to get these books. You can never go wrong with a fiction novel, just like some would say, "when in doubt, go with a rajinikanth movie". Honestly, I haven't explored enough with the other genres to make a meaningful comparison. I keep thinking I should, maybe someday I will ! I started reading with enid blyton's fiction series and exhausted practically all of Enid Blyton's writings..Five findouters being my favorite (Recall fredrick algernoon troteville anybody ? ). I was so crazy about Blyton that I used to miss my school cricket matches to read her books (Missing cricket and Me? That never happens !). Stayed with Blyton and hitchcock for a good amount of time. After that it was Hardy boys for a while and then I moved to Agatha Christie and Sidney Sheldon and Jeffrey Archer. It was when I was in college that I chanced upon a P.G Wodehouse novel and I started reading it because I had nothing better to do. Man, was I happy. I am not great at describing art, but this man definitely has a knack with words. A sense of humor like none other, he plays with words making us readers look so human ! If you haven't had a chance to read Wodehouse, give it a shot, you won't regret it.

Last book I bought : Tell me your dreams (Sidney sheldon)

Last book I read : Tell me your dreams (Unlike other sheldon books, a lot less masala, and some good research into the topic. I liked this one. try it ! )

Total Books I own : Less than 10

Books that mean(t) a lot to me: Didn't make a change in my life or anything like that. But I enjoyed reading these books.

1. The stuttering parrot (Alfred Hitchcock)
2. The doomsday conspiracy (Sidney Sheldon)
3. Aunts aren't gentlemen (PG Wodehouse)

And here I tag

1. Laka - Would like to know what you read
2. Sangeetha - I am sure you have some interesting insights for us
3. PB - I know he reads a lot of good stuff. I am sure he has a lot to say about them as well.
4. Ashok - We always would want to know more about an interesting gentleman like ashok. Wouldn't we ? :)
5. RT - Whenever you get back ! Would like to know what you read ! A psychologist's perspective :)
6. Priya - Priya..remember, no toxicology books allowed :)

Nothing like Cricket ! The midwest tournament started last weekend and inspite of being extremely tired, I couldn't sit out this game. We won our first game against charleston and our next game's against Louisville. It is a great feeling to get back on the grass to be a part of everything that goes on in a cricket match ! I was thinking about forgoing this season. But the feeling of satisfaction after every win or every 50 is too inviting. So here I am, in another midwest tournament ! Go UK !

Listened to "Oru naal oru kanavu" in Raaga. One of Raja's best in recent times. It's a fazil movie and some numbers are very simple and pleasing (Kaatril varum geethame, khajuraho and Ponnukkindha). The conversation between Vaali and Ilayaraja provides good insights into how music gets written and composed. Very neat ! I liked Tippu's voice in ponnukindha song.

Lexington Tamil Cultural Association Proudly PresentsTamil Cinema's Magnum-opus"Anniyan"

Wednesday, 22nd June 2005 Time: 7:30 p.m Venue: Reel Deal Cinemas,South Park Shopping Center,Nicholasville Road(Behind Best Buy n Toys’R’us stores) Lexington, KY Tickets:$12 per person.Ages 7 to 15: $6, under 7 years: Free Tickets Available @:Vishal Intl.Saagar Indian StoresTandoor

LTCA comm. members - Good luck !!