Thrilling Win for India

It puts other sports to shame........how can football be called interesting compared to this........first one way, then the other.......n then back again......it continued till the very last ball........n then some more.

So it's nine o'clock n time for the toss. I go upto the first floor tv room to watch India versus Pakistan.......can India beat their arch-rivals today? Not more than 5 minutes have passed than we are told to go upto the second floor because the seniors have to practise for an event planned for sunday. I luckily manage to find a seat......not soon afterward, the room is full with everyone excluding 6 or 7 of us on the floor.

Everything goes badly for India right from the toss..........Shoaib Malik puts India in to bat. Everyone cheers, but i know the ball will be swinging around quite a bit and it's going to be difficult for the Indian batsmen. True to from the ball is swinging, Mohammed Asif bowls beautifully, exploiting the conditions to the hilt and takes the first four wickets to fall.........brilliant bowling.

Uthappa is not one to be bogged down though and he wants to show that his 47 that helped India beat England in the sixth ODI was not a once in a lifetime innings........he comes to the party with two sixes off Yasir Arafat and before long, he reaches his fifty......well done, Uthappa. Rain delay!! The players go off the pitch for about ten minutes.........but then Uthappa falls first ball after resumption. Pakistan are back on top again.

Pathan on his comeback wants to be counted........hits two towering sixes off Afridi......but gets out the next ball. India lose their way in the last over.........but manage 141. Respectable after their poor start.

RP and Sreesanth to open.........RP bowls well, good swing........picks up his first wicket. But Salman Butt and Kamran Akmal accumulate runs........looks like Pakistan might run away with the match. But not if Agarkar and Pathan can help it........Pathan's first over since being dropped from the Indian team is a wicket maiden........not to mention a run out off his first ball. The noose is tightening around pakistan.........the run rate is climbing. Shoaib Malik falls to Pathan, Afridi is dropped by Agarkar, and then Afridi gets out trying to hit one over the top like he usually does.

Pakistan need 39 off 14 balls after Afridi's wicket........looks like it's all over. Misbah ul-Haq clobs 10 runs off the last two deliveries and then Agarkar goes for 17 in his over. Pakistan are back in the hunt. One over, 12 runs to win for pakistan. Sreesanth to bowl........single, four, double, four.......all over for india. One to win from two. Misbah misses........one from one. Dhoni brings everyone inside after consulting nearly half the team. Sreesanth is feeling the pressure. A short ball and Misbah can't get it away........Yuvraj throws the ball to Sreesanth who whipes the bails off. Tie- game............or is it??

Everyone seemed to think that that was it...........but I knew better. There's a bowl out. By the time everyone managed to figure that out........the warden has switched the TV off.........everyone peters away disappointed. Hope can do wonders..........so I wait.....with only hope to keep me company. The TV's back on............yipppee!!

Bowl out time..........India are going first.........Sehwag hits. One to India. Yasir Arafat misses. Harbhajan in next..........it hits!! Next up for Pakistan, it's Umar Gul........and he misses too. Now it's Uthappa's turn to hit the stumps and he does it well. Shahid Afridi has to hit for Pakistan to stay in the hunt..............but no, he misses too.........and India have won!! What a match.........this is what cricket is all about.........high class encounter and a thrilling finish. Three cheers for cricket.......and one more for India!!

Sports Day!!

Phew!! King of clay versus king of tennis....whatever his failures on clay, Roger Federer is the king of tennis. And Nadal, the king of clay. He's done it again....for the third time now. A hatrick of Roland Garros titles. He outmatched Federer in a game lasting over three hours. 6-3, 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 to Nadal.

In cricket, Asia did another treble and beat Africa 3-0 in the Afro-Asia Cup. Thanks to centuries from Dhoni (a blistering one) and Jayawardene. And Rafique and Harbhajan picked 4 and 3 wickets respectively.

Now, I'm waiting for the Canadian Grand Prix to start with rookie sensation Lewis Hamilton starting his first race on pole. Adios and good luck Hamilton!

Contact Has Been Made

As promised, I got in touch with my friend in Muscat, and this is what he has to say.....

oh it was pretty coooool here(except fer the damages)..hehee.. well lets say i
got to enjoy the rain and breeze while walkin on the road (b'fore the real
cyclone showed up!) .. got all drenched and all .. hehehe..it was nasty in
masirah islands (part of oman).. and sameer's side.. went out to see the damages
caused today .. saw cars flown away to the wadis and malls filled with water..
anyways this was the first time a cyclon came here.. enjoyed it!! there was
electricity here .. nothin much happened to my side .. except a tree gettin
uprooted and fallin on the road .. and the entrance of my building being flooded
.. we started clearin all the water ..and also got an australian girl who stays
above my floor to help us out! hehe!! ya right now oman is in a bit of sorry
state ..with all trees uprooted .. walls near the port destroyed a bit ..
flights may operate from today ,pavements partially destroyed.

But there have been reports of some 12 casualties....hopefully it doesn't rise any higher.

Gonu lashes across Oman

Cyclone Gonu, reaching a level 5 category is lashing across Oman wreaking damage, flooding large areas. From news reports seen recently, some 15 people, are believed to have been washed away. Many more are stranded in buildings as the downpour continues. Rescue efforts are hampered due to storng winds, and helicopters are not able help the stranded. The city has been without electricty or with intermittent electricity since the cyclone hit.

I searched the internet for some blogs from Oman and found one which gives a first hand account of living in a city under severe hurricane threat.......
                                                     Sleepless in Muscat


I haven't been able to contact a friend in Muscat.....but a first-hand account promised after I reach him. Here's to hoping that he hasn't been affected in any way and is safe with his family and the rest of Oman.

Religion? What's That? And God?

What is religion? A way of ife? Wasn't religion created to make humans follow the right path, help distinguish betwee right and wrong? Is that what religion is all about even now? Open the newspaper, switch on the television, and you see incidents of religious wars, communal riots. Everywhere, everyday. There's Israel-Palestine, communal violence in India.....why is it that people have to claim their religion above all others?

I have friends from mnay different religions. As far as I know all religions are essentially the same with regards to teachings. Agreed they are different in the 'god' they choose to follow, they way they worship, but when it comes to values, I don't see major differences in any. The religion people choose to follow is their personal choice. Why create wars over it?

What does it matter whether you are a Hindu, a Christian, a Muslim, a Jew.....we are all humans. Forget just humans, if you believe in God, we are all god's creations, animals and plants included. Why the discrimination? Again belief in a higher being is a matter of choice. I am undecided. I question. I waver between belief and non-belief. No one can tell me to believe in God. In the same way no one can force me to believe that god doesn't exist. The idea of a higher being was created to instil a sense  of fear in people, so that they do not stray. I, personally, do not need to fear a higher being, to follow the right path. It's a case of moral values. I do not claim to have never done wrong in my life. Of course, I have. And I'm sure, staunchly religious people have wronged too.

If God and religion is the cause of wars, I'm sorry to say that both of them have lost their purpose. I'm looking forward to a world where religious tolerance is a reality instead of just a fact on paper. When the religion you follow is not an issue, when you don't have to fill in your religion in a questionnaire. Religion should not come in the way of love. A couple should not be prevented from marriage if they belong to different religions. People should not be forced or even coaxed into conversions. Religion should be a purely personal choice. Preaching your religion on loudspeakers, boasting about your religion to people who follow other faiths should be a thing of the past.

Alas, this is only Utopia.

The Walkathon and its After-Effects

Not a good way to start blogging, but that's how the story begins. A bus-stop a little way off from the destination, an impossible to cross highway, and pedestrian bridges located far away from each other. And the result.....a fever.

So, I took a both, threw on a cap(hair wasn't dry.....n so the fever), and went to meet my friends. Caught a bus, a lunch of pizza, and some shopping later, we hopped on a bus that was headed back home. A small difference this time around, we had to stop enroute to get a new remote control from the Sony service centre.

We got off the bus, and like i said the bus stop was some distance from the place, and on the other side of the highway, but luckily there was a pedestrian bridge to the other side. Now the walk to the service centre. What we hadn't taken into account was that there was no footpath, n we had to walk on the edge of the road. To make matters worse, there was a fly over to walk along. We were caught between the devil and the deep blue sea. The cars were travelling dangerously close to us on one side and on the other side we could see the cars travelling on the road below us. A loss of balance and that was it. The thoughts that were going through my head were a lot of 'what-if's. Luckily, we made it across with no incident. 

We cross the fly-over....now there's a little more to walk. After walking a bit we realise that we can't reach the place from where we are.....there's no exit from the high way. We retrace our steps, and find the entrance to the service centre. Though i don't think that was the right way. Anyway, we reach there only to discover it was shut down for the day 10 minutes before we reached. What a waste! Now the trek back home. We were hoping that there would be a bus stop on the other side....but lady luck was shining on us, and so there wasn't.

Well, I didn't have the nerve to cross the fly-over. I had started feeling a little queasy after the wet hair and long hours in the sun......maybe the start of the fever? No way was I going to walk along the edge of the road again. Oh no! So, we skip the fly-over, go to the road below to find a way across without walking on the edge. And where's the pedestrian bridge? A long way off......so it's walk, walk, walk again. All this while a short tempered friend is cursing us for taking him on this trek. We're in it with you, mate. 

And a long walk later through a residential site that was under construction, with half built houses, and eerie orange streelamps (it looked like a ghost town)....we reached the bus stop, and it was back home finally. What a relief to rest my legs.

And so, the next day begins....with a fever.