Avengers Endgame: Some of the biggest questions that endgame has given the audience to think about

Hello Everyone,

Avengers Endgame has finally hit the theaters and it has hit the bullseye in almost every aspect. A fitting farewell to the superheroes who lived a decade conquering the hearts of audience through some brilliant story telling, extraordinary set pieces and a mind blowing chemistry between the actors who donned the roles of superheroes.

If you still haven't watched the movie yet. please stop right here and close the page and go watch the movie....

Note: The questions that I post here are purely based on the cinematic experience I had . I haven't read the comics and doesn't know the stories that happen there. These are purely based on the movies ..

*************************SPOILER WARNING****************************

Avengers Endgame throw the heroes into trauma for five years after the events of infinity war and the re-entry of ant man in the year 2023. The heroes tries to undo their past and bring back those who have been turned into dust as a result of the "Snap". I don't want to go into further details ( as there will be some people still reading this without watching the movie, who cannot control their anxiety) and would like to stop here. The heroes succeed in undoing the snap and the epic battle of the movie happens after.

As the movie concludes as an emotional conclusion, there are a few big questions that is left over from the story line of this movie. Some people would say this as a plot hole but i wouldn't really call it that way. Because we have seen Marvel Studios handle such questions in the movies that follow.So the what is the challenge here. All the heroes who has come back from dust are coming back straight to 2023 where the final act happens.

Half the population of the entire universe has come back after five years.Like Peter Parker said. Its like they have woke up from the sleep. How will they go into the new world. This directly points to the next set of movies that are lined up.

 Spider-Man: Far From Home- Peter Parker is just the Peter Parker who left in 2018. Who all have turned into dust in 2018? We know about his friend Ned, and the cast from Home-coming who looks exactly the same in the newly released Far From Home trailer. What does this point to?. Are they living in 2023 or 2018 or even 2019?. Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige said that, Far From Home would start minutes after the events of End Game. So what are the possibilities...?

Theory 1:Story happening in 2023: The world accepts that the people who were gone has come back alive and starts to live with it. Like Ant-man  seeing his grown up daughter...Good bye Heroes.. Good bye Infinity stones...

Theory 2: -Heroes going back to 2018/2019: Our heroes having cracked the idea of time travel, can send back people to 2018 where they go turned into dust. This actually raise a few questions.. Now that Thanos have been defeated, and that too the one from past, Will they be going back to the timeline where Thanos never really exists. Or will there be a parallel timeline where everything happens in an untouched manner? Time travel is one hell of a question...

So going by this theory if heroes are to be send back( I am not sure about the rest of the population who are stuck in 2023) to the past to live a normal life, there is a big chance that some of the heroes might actually come back in this scenario.The endgame event happens in 2023. So going back in timeline actually means that we will have all the heroes who said good bye???????? Only time will tell.

The Future of Infinity stones: This will throw us into another conflict. The stones are destroyed by Thanos after infinity war. Endgame uses the stones from the past and send them back to where they actually belong. Does this mean, the stones will not be destroyed, as there is no Thanos to take part n the events that happen after 2014???? If the stones are to be present in the upcoming movies, Doesn't this mean the heroes too. How will the stones survive the timeline change and the heroes doesn't.?????

Infinity War : The Thanos who gets defeated is the one from 2014. The final battle that takes place, is in 2023. As banner says. "Its time travel" and we are not sure about the outcomes. The stones have gone back to where they belong. But Thanos and his army haven't. Does this create a new timeline caused due to endgame events that runs in parallel of the original events? This means in the original timeline Thanos continues his conquest and in the newly created timeline he comes for the battle? Or does the infinity war doesn't happen at all???  Dear Russo brothers "Why would you do that?"

Lets hope Marvel Studios surprises us again......

Note: I am not the finest or greatest fan of MCU. The above questions and theories are made out of the movies watched so far. Please feel free to correct me on my theories and feel free to anwser the questions and I would be happy if you pass information that i am unaware of...

And for the fans who cannot agree to my doubts, please avoiding spamming in the comments sections of the post. Because "I cannot do this all day"... :) Cheers.. Peace Out!!!

North Indian Trip: How it came into picture

It has been some time since I wrote something. I feel terribly out of touch while writing this down, but a friend of mine has inspired me to write this.To be more accurate, To write. This may not be the most appealing piece of work i could come up for those who are expecting a standard travelogue. I am neither a great traveler nor a great adviser for those who are planning for a journey of experience. So please bare with me on listening how it came into mind, how the plan shaped up, how it happened. Since I don't want to restrict whatever it is in my mind i would be splitting this up as chapters. I would be going to the past a bit to bring down some memories and thank a few people who made this happen. So please bare with me on some of those boring parts.

How it came into the picture

Hailing from Gods own country- Kerala, I was never a travel enthusiast who explored the possibilities that nature, human history and culture has offered us. Just like many people I found excuses for not trying out to be in places which fell out of my comfort zone. Introvert in nature, could be the easiest phrase I could come up with. But just like everyone's life there came the situation where I had to shed my introvert-ism (blame me for killing English, but that's how I "desi"-fy certain words on my own) and deal with people who are absolutely genuine, smart, outspoken, kind-hearted, and nuts. These aren't the behavior patterns of separate set of individuals but were collectively found in all among the particular set of people i was working with. (By the way i am an IT guy). This environment was totally new for me and made me go thru the unexplored side in me. Travelling was one among many things I learned (no mastered, just started) from this wonderful set of people.

My first journey with them was to Goa which was on the new year week of 2016. It was my first trip after college and it was totally different from previous encounters as we were on our own, not so organised and exploring places which we had no idea about. As an absolute amateur it was a good experiencing the party city of India and the beautiful beaches at a time when there is hardly any place to enjoy solitude. It ended as a decent experience and I was looking forward for the next journey with them . At the end of September the plan for north Indian trip shaped up all of a sudden.

The destinations planned were Bangalore, Delhi, Agra and Manali. The leader of our trip Mr.Annan ( that's how we call him) who plan the trips came up with the time to travel, which made me sad. It was planned to happen on the last week of December which would conclude after the first two days of 2017. This was not possible for me due to two reasons: one, a friend of mine was getting married on January 1( talk about right timing)  and i had no choice of missing that one. Second, cold climate makes me totally sick, physically and mentally. Born and bought up in one of the places which experience the highest temperature in kerala- Palakkad, anything less than 25 Degree Celsius had always kept me down.So when the plan came up, I let them down citing these two reasons. I had regretted the decision but when the team came back after the trip they said it was good that i didn't join them due to the cold climatic conditions in Manali at that time. They advised me to select a time when the temperature is around 15- 25. That's how the plan ended up in first week of may.

If you are planning to visit Himachal and you find it difficult in cold conditions April-May would be decent time for you.

After the interest popped up, the next important thing( i would say the most important thing) to do was getting a gang and do planning. My roommates(2 of them) were supportive to the idea of trip but they were not sure about their leaves and one of them said 0% chance of joining when i said about the time to travel. I knew some of my friends had interest and went on to ask as many of them to join the trip. I could write or possibly shoot a short film using the conversations for putting up a team for the trip but i would like to restrict it as

In the end,  three people(including me) had backpacks ready. It was none other than my roommates. And then it happened....3 people , who had never traveled beyond south India, set out for a North Indian trip for a period of 8 days. None of them were fluent conversing in Hindi.Infact only one of these barely spoke basic lines of the language. Guess where they were going?

Delhi... Agra.... Shimla.... Manali.... Amritsar....( Delhi was only a drop by location due to some last minute changes in planning).

-to be continued.... 

Screen Overlay Detected Error: Xperia XA Dual Android Marshmallow

It was only two days back i bought my new android mobile Sony Xperia XA dual. It runs on Android Marshmallow 6.0.1 and has a pretty descent spec which attracted me to buy it. This is not a review about the phone but just a small attempt to help out fellow android users.

It happened today morning that i ran into an error when i tried to open Album. It was showing this message

Note: this one is from web . What i came across was with Album and not "instagram" . But i feel its Pretty much the same

I was not sure how it came up all of a sudden since I have being trying different features in marshmallow (I was a Jelly bean user and this is the first time i am using it). I selected "Allow"  option from the message and then the following message came :

I selected "Open settings" and then i got redirected to "Draw over other apps" menu

I was unsure about what to do with it and did quite a lot of mess around apps changing permissions and i'm still not sure what all changes i have done across the settings.

 But i was able to solve the issue of screen overlay error. I came across a few solutions from web and luckily one worked for me . So if you come across such an issue you may try any of these.

1. Changing App Permission

1. Select "Settings"
2. Select "Apps"
3. Select the "Gear" icon on top right area of Apps

4. Select the option " Draw over the apps"

5. This will redirect you to apps with permissions set in the device

6. Select the app for which permission is required

6. Select the toggle to turn on permission as above

Reopen the app after these changes

2. Remove the permission of  Memory cleaning/File Manager/Battery monitoring/Data usage Monitoring Apps .

Using the steps mentioned above(steps 1 to 5) you can remove the permission of

1. Memory management apps(Clean master) or
2. File manager App(Zapya)
3.Battery Monitoring App(DU Booster, DU Battery Saver)
4. Data Usage Apps(Data Usage Monitor)

3. Uninstall the apps mentioned above 

If the above two methods doesn't solve your problem, you can probably try un-installing the apps mentioned. I am not saying the problem is caused by all these apps, but any one of these can be the reason for the error

What worked for me:

The issue got solved when i removed "DU Battery Saver" app. 

I am not saying installing the app caused the issue. It could be because i have set permissions/access to apart from default features. I have still not figured it out since  solving the problem was my primary target 

Other References

I came across few other solutions across the web/forums/communities by going through posts and comments. I am not guaranteeing these will work , but have be successful in certain devices

1.

2.

3.

4.

Kindly note that all these information are from Web communities and i m not guaranteeing that the above reasons and solutions can cause and solve the error. All i wanted is to share the little information which can help the android users. Hope this helps


Note:  From what i read in forum, many devices are having such an issue and different solutions exists.If you come across better solutions, please feel free to comment. I will try to add it to the main content.


Information courtesy: 
www.androidpit.com
http://www.howtogeek.com/
http://forums.androidcentral.com/

Compensate a role, Compensate antics of past, Flag bearer of a state- Sanju Samson and the Customs to follow

Yesterday:

"Well.. lets hope he gets a chance this time" a guy whom i never seen before was saying to the person standing next to him in the bus.I was travelling back to my room after office hours.

"Yes. Hope he does not turn out like his precedent" that was the response i heard  from the other person. 

I couldn't listen to the complete conversation as the guys had reached their destination and got off the bus which we were travelling.

 One Year Ago:

Indian team completed their England tour with mixed results across three formats of the game, and in an interview with the Indian captain M.S Dhoni  a question came up.

Why wasn't he given a chance?

"He is very young. He will have lot of opportunities in the future" Captain replied in his usual style.

Two days back:

Young Samson appointed as the new skipper of Kerala team.

Friend's thought:

There is every chance that Sanju Samson may appear in Blue jersey for his national side within the next three days. This is by far considered as the best chance for a player like Samson(should have said "best chance for Samson" alone) to remind the selectors that he is always available for playing squad whenever they are looking to bleed fresh blood .

Today:

The pessimist in me came out and was following my optimistic side which soon joined the conversation with me after dinner . I was half-sure about the outcomes of topic as usual

Pessimist: Do you think he will play tomorrow ?

Optimist: Of course, he will. As he(friend) mentioned this is by far the best chance for a debut for Samson.

Me: Yeah. Right. Rahane is the captain. His teammate in IPL. so i don't see a reason for the team playing without him.

Optimist- Yeah right buddy. you bet

Pessimist: Great. Do you think that he can perform well? On what grounds was he selected to the team? did he have a great IPL season? how good was his statistics in last Ranji season?

Me: Well not good enough. he had one 50+ score in this IPL season. I read that he has a double century to his account in last Ranji and a couple of good outings as well

Optimist: You can write him off by numbers but lets not forget that what all positions he played  for the team in this season of IPL. Not so familiar slots like opening and No.5, 6 and 7 positions where his only role was to finish off games for the team. Why wasn't he given chance to play in England when he did justice to numbers as well? 

Pessimist:  In England, we had a long tour, remember last time, players were hit by injury and we had to send replacements in between. so we send a 17 member squad this time .And for IPL, if you are a successor of Dhoni this is just a training parade .if you can't do it in IPL how could  he do it in international level.

Me: So the opening slot experiment.?

Pessimist: Well if you still don't know that Watson's absence and smith's success in No.3 position pushed him to that slot, better take rest. So he has to fit into any slot if the team  asks .Don't you think so?

Me: Yeah i guess.so the finishing role is what he is supposed to do.

Optimist- Can't understand such a logic. since when did the custom of training finishers come into existence? Why are you drawing lines of comparison with Dhoni? Is it because he is a wicket keeper?

Me: Yeah. he will be leaving the game with a reputation level like never before. So his followers should take up similar job as well?

Optimist: Well is that case Dhoni was name as Indian reply to Gilchrist from Australia.He was a hard hitter. Cool head.. Later on he became  Bevan from India and later became superior than Bevan according to many.

Pessimist; That's how you become when you play for Indian team. You just become next Sachins, next Dravids, Next Laxmans. you can't leave away the legacy of those easily.

Optimist: Well then, where is Pujara now. He was adjudged "Next Dravid" after 10 matches.

Me: So who was his primary version? Manjarekar, Wassim Jaffer ?????

Optimist: Stop nonsense. Why cant you treat players with their own identity? Why do Kohli have an identity on his own? can't that be applied to others as well.?

Pessimist: Well .He is a combined version of aggressive Ganguly, run-hunting Sachin, wrist-y Azhar........and....a couple more. 

Me: Hundreds in run chase.... Anything abut that?

Pessimist: Yeah, a bit of Dhoni as well. Since he plays up the order he is able to score more centuries.

Optimist: Guys , our topic... Was Samson.

Pessimist: Well you can't change the custom. just to remind how good Dhoni was, as a finisher..World cup final... 92 from79 .. the biggest moment..

Optimist:  What about Gautam gambhir who had 97 in thee same match and 75 in  T20 final 2007.

Pessimist: we were talking about Samson. Right.... Lets not deviate.

Optimist: So you are coming to say that Samson needs to prove that he can fill into Dhoni's gloves.

Me: Within 2 matches!!!!

Pessimist: Yeah that's the chance he has to prove that he is worth a try . A weaker opposition is what he has to play against. consider that as well.

Optimist: So did Dhoni has his mettle proved in the first two matches??

Pessimist: There wasn't much of competition at that time.

Optimist: Great logic. He needs to show his nerves in no time. Awesome . what else does he needs to prove? 

Pessimist: Of course , the lost pride of our state due to match fixing scandal. A new flag bearer, Even when barring the fixing scandal, the other guy's antics were total shame for us. Lets hope sanju is not that kind

Optimist: Is it proved that the guy is guilty?

Pessimist: No,but why would one get arrested for  no reason.He is still a misfit though. too much aggressive, 

Me: But Most Australian players are aggressive as well right?

Pessimist: Stop stupidity. they perform well.

Optimist: So what all roles should Samson fit into?

Pessimist left without a reply and optimist has nothing left  to argue for. So he too left ...I was driven into confusion once again .

End Note:

Well Samson's numbers may not be there yet. Be it his age, or his career. One cannot certainly deny the  fact that early exposure to international level can do good to his approach to the game.

Classifying the possibilities of his place in eleven after Zimbabwe series :

He may get a chance to continue in T20 side which gives him a responsibility to score big in domestic level and earn place in other formats

or 

Even if left out of playing eleven in next few series', the experience of being there in the middle will urge him to come back with strong performances.

Well my pessimistic side has a few notes here as well. But i go with optimist this time and hoping for any of the above to happen.

Its not easy finding a player of his quality from our state. That too a batsman hailing from kerala.

Remembering the name  "Balan Pandit" -who was considered as "Father of Kerala Cricket"in this moment. 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

By the Way.......................Why was Samson made skipper of Kerala team?

Pessimist & Optimist: Don't pull us back, just to utter the word "Custom" . stupid...........

The curious case of Yuvraj Singh

      The word "Form"  represents various aspects in life. It is application for a government employee. It is a design element in the life of a software employee. But in Cricket it defines status of each single player which defines his place in the team. "He is In form" and He is out of form" literally means"He is In team" and "He is Out of team". But when it comes to team India there has always been some special considerations over the last two or three decades(long before cement became a part of Indian cricket grounds and dressing rooms). Players have been given long streak of chances for a good knock or two which caught people's attention. No need to tell the story if the knock becomes historic. But what if the player turns out to be thee one who came up with the lion share of winning performances in two world-cups across two different formats. There comes the curious case of Yuvraj Singh.

         If a cricketing website like "Espn Cricinfo" can forget his glittering knock of Natwest series final which resulted in a successful chase of 325, and purely concentrating on world-cup stories(not a single sentence about world cup of 2003), it is clear that the player profile description talks more like a common man than a cricketing pundit. So what Yuvraj has been said about is, for the lead role in world cup triumphs. Talk about his glory in the past and his potential, he is qualified to be part of  any list in shorter formats of the game. And that is where he was misjudged by the team management and his captain. These are some of the many reasons behind the crucifixion act carried out by people for his knock in the tournament decider which ended yesterday. It was sad for any cricket fan who had witnessed his knock but blaming the person alone can't be justified.

        Someone who fights with a killer disease and come out victorious is indeed qualified for a second chance in his life in whatever stream he was on. So was Yuvi. But justifying his comeback to the team by taking into account half a dozen half-centuries and a double hundred in domestic tournaments was like allowing a person to drink scotch whisky who had tasted only beer before( now don't think about liquor and where i got this info, purely for writing purpose). That has been the case of Yuvi which the team had to paid price of loosing the chance to lift the trophy for the second time. It was not the only reason for India's loss. But it brought back the game which would have gone to few interesting levels to none. Who should be blamed.? Yuvi....Definitely not....

Putting the cards on the table one by one, which is not going to be treated as an appeal for a further chance, lets just clear the air. Considering the big moment of his life, the comeback game against New Zealand in chennai can be put first. He had put on some extra pounds when entered the arena after one year(11 September 2012). The match was well set up for the hero, by the this-is-my-attitude lad virat kohli after taking India to a level where India required 48 of last 7 overs. with more than 7 wickets in hand it was a sleep walk for the team. But the last over heroic act set up by captain himself and allowing the comeback man to score the winning runs resulted in 1 run loss. Yuvraj's score read 34 of 26 balls which is pleasing to hear but the way in which he scored came out after some uncharacteristic shots which came before only when he was not in the best of his knocks.

The comeback season went on for the next five months after which he was dropped from the team for his poor run with bat. In this period he scored only 3 fifty plus scores, one in each format. And that was enough for the selection panel to take back the position which itself was considered more like a sympathetic decision. Pointing out the same former captain Sourav Ganguly criticized the selection and captain for allowing Yuvraj without proper match practice in the domestic level. Ipl 2013 turned out be a bad outing for Yuvraj and his franchise as his average read 19.83 in the 13 games he played. For someone who had scored 50 from 12 balls , it was a below par performance.

The next call to the team came last December against Australians, and that too in a T20 match. Things went well on the day as he scored 77 of 35 balls which came with supreme shot selection. Many believed as the return of timing to his bat, but only a few got bothered about the fact that he took on young bowling attacks of West Indians A who toured India. Just like the previous occasion team selection put his name on playing eleven and then followed the ODI series of misery (only for the player himself). In a series called a batting treat(otherwise called as run-porn by one of my friends) Yuvraj' top score was 12 and the total of 19 from 5 matches played.

And the rest is history. He lost the place on ODI team after West Indian series and his body language through out the world cup T20 was poor. Having a captain who has nothing to talk about a fellow player's game directly(not in press meet justifying his decision to retain the player for his capability, talent or whatever it is) and a coach who is like Thushar Kapoor of Golmaal Series, how could one expect a player of low confidence rise like a phoenix from nowhere. The same body language was visible in Sreesanth in the world-cup finals against Sri Lanka in 2011. Extremely low and acting as if he is wandering in desert. That's what Yuvraj has been throughout the tournament that just finished.

You can't expect Dhoni to do a Ganguly, in terms of biting finger nails or raising the spirit by a friendly pat on the back. Not saying that one need to do this all the time(a typical Dhoni's view towards players). But need someone who backs his fellow player with some good conversations. Going back to basics is not bad after all. But these are extremely optimistic considering the situation Yuvraj has been in now. Shedding few kilos or a century in comeback game won't bring back the Yuvraj again. But some real good run in the domestic level and positive backing from the team management and captain (not by trusting his abilities which were once, but covering up the voids in his confidence level) are essentially required for the maestro of shorter format to live up to his reputation here after.

After all, who wouldn't like to see him rule the opposition again. He is the prince of big moments .........      

A Captain who solved the mystery of "Why" and "How"- Sourav Ganguly

         Speaking about Tendulkar's style is an easy job. You can keep on talking and still you won't bore people. Arguing for Dravid's defense is a tough task. You may never find it easy to win debates. Talk about Laxman and elegance. You can always write a tragic script for a movie in Australia. But, when speaking about "Ganguly", you should be careful. Because, its not just Dada, but his fans are still hot to handle.

        This could well be the most carefully prepared piece in my collection(still amateurish) till now and there is some inspiration behind this. 17 years ago, two young lads from India stood on the "Mecca of Cricket" making their debuts against an English side who had already went up in the series by 1-0. Many people still believe that these guys should have given chance in the first test and it would have resulted in the series ending  in a draw or could have become a day dream come true(winning a series in England), which has turned out to be a nightmare for the captain cool and his co 2 years ago .No time machines invented till now to go back and change things. So, have to day dream for at least one more year.

 Coming back to the series, it was not an occasional debut , a couple of gems were discovered that day, who went on to play the perfect second fiddle where the GOD of cricket occupying the first, and sometimes taking over whenever the pedal was under their feet. It take some character to overcome the hurdles and take the driving seat of a flight in which the engine name is "Sachin Tendulkar". When a person  named as "Sourav Chandidas Ganguly" took over the pilot seat which was tampered by a rod called "Fixing" many questioned....... WHY???????

 It looks easy to judge a team by the way they performs. Watching the last champions trophy is giving us a feel like the "Art of Dominance" is no longer an Australian product in the cricket market these days. But wait... Why would some one like Brian Lara make a comment on his favorite captain on the very same day which gave wonderful memories 17 years ago. A sensation-centered questionnaire from media may have brought it out. But Lara had no doubts in pointing it to Dada ahead of someone like Dhoni. Its easy to understand the fact that no 5-year kid would thank the one who planted and looked after a mango tree before it actually started giving the best fruits. But Ganguly earns it from everywhere where people know what really team work means and how difficult is the process of "Moulding the team".  Even if he is termed as the arrogant boy of 90's who had rejected the rumor of not carrying drinks to his team-mates, he proved wrong at the age of 35. No wonder he brings a lot of charisma to the team with his presence.



 A leader is one who believes in his team and himself. A leader is one who leads from the front. A leader is one who display risks as strategy.... etc... etc.. There will be a lot of captains to get a first class percentage with this list.  But Ganguly achieved outstanding marks to solve the "Why" in a period where aggression is a patent for Australians, in which pace bowling as an art of conquering the opponent with a mystery named Shane Warne who was having a hand which could make even a china bowl hit the off-stump pitching outside leg. Indeed Ganguly had the likes of a God,a Wall and a Kangaroo Hunter.(Arguing for Bhajji would bring in debate but i always felt if there was someone who brought the best out of him, its Dada) But its takes lot more than some quality to reach the ultimate territory. If kolkata was the path to that place then Ganguly guided the so called quality which was moving 360 without knowing the path.

A flat track world-title is not darker in any aspect, but becoming runners-up in testing conditions always gives a sense of achievement even though the aggression was surrendered before the dominant Australia in 2003. The decision to bowl was criticized. But its take a lot of courage to be Ganguly. He went for it, keeping faith in his pace trio. A retired veteran bowler who makes a great come-back(ahem.. ahem..Not Afridi by the way, he does that very often), simply on captain's call was truly unbelievable. One would have considered Piyush Chawla would have been a better replacement for world cup to keep in bench. But it was not Dhoni who captained India. It was Ganguly. Yes, there was and there is politics in Indian cricket. But never lesser was the joy on an Indian fan's face whenever 11 players gathered together to forming a circle, when a wicket falls irrespective to which team they played against or which match situation it was.

No matter how the strength was on paper, India remained only paper tigers  for a longer period in  history of test cricket outside India. A win at Haedingley, an Adelaide or a Rawalpindi is not familiar for a "Captain Cool" or a "Vice president" of Indian Cements. There comes the "HOW" ..... Which only Ganguly can figure out ..... So keeping it down by the fact that a lot of finals have been thrown off or outclassed in many ways Ganguly has always been a passionate leader. If some one like Yuvraj says that "He will do anything for  captain like Gangly" after a four year period of retirement of the captain guess what the influence Dada had on his growth(success) ????? How could one promote a middle order batsman to opening and goes on to become the most destructive player after Viv Richards?????? How could show belief in a part timer in the last over of  match with lead bowlers watching?????? How could one keep faith in a slip-fielder to be keeping wickets for a world tournament?????? Lets just eat and drink whatever Ganguly does. Don't have any other answer for these.

Its is easy to find a good player these days, to crop them and bring them to the highest level of game in some period. But, young guns creating moments in the history of game on their own- that is something you could only find under a captain who is highly an absorbing personality. No one bites his finger-nails so hard while fielding. No other captain worries about the performance of his fellow player more than the player himself. No other batsman gets angry for no reason when his partner gets out. Of course, he is emotional, outspoken, controversial. But that doesn't shatter his never-give up attitude in any way. Running around the ground after taking a wicket at the age of 39 like a young kid and the guts to take off his shirt at Lords. That is him. Only he can do it.


 Despite being rated as the sixth best ODI batsman of all time and impeccable records Ganguly clearly stands out as the best captaincy material India ever had. He was the God of Off-Side. He was the arrogant price from Kolkata. Evaluating him in terms match winning knocks and huge pile of runs wouldn't be a proper way to recall the memories of a captain who had the greatest influence in Indian cricket. You can love him or hate him but you just can't ignore him. Just go to kolkata and ask "who is Sourav Ganguly?" carelessly. 9 out of 10 times you will get slapped. Fact or story... sounds good when it is about Dada.

A Game , An Innings, A Number & A Revolution- Chris Gayle

" Cricket has been part of Indian sports and culture ever since the World cup victory of 1983.
  
  Cricket became the breath of each Indian when Sachin Tendulkar entered International arena.

   Indian Cricket grew under the effective leadership of Sourav Ganguly.

   Kolkata,Laxman,Dravid,Harbhajan- took India to higher standards of cricket" and finally

   Dhoni and Co took us to the greatest heights of cricket"

                                             These are certain views or opinions which can be heard all over India. One aspect which relates all these views together is cricket. One difference is that, it is hard to find a large group of people who will agree with all of these as the combined reason for popularity in India. One fact is that these views change according the generations who were able to taste the reap of Indian cricket in respective periods. You can strongly say that there are few more lines to be added before the beginning to make it complete. Accept my sincere apologies if i miss any, i know it will be "many".

                                            Cricket has been living its life through different generations with different resources postured as legends in history. In India cricket is like a television, a luxury once, became a want, and a necessity now, in terms of its popularity. One can point out a lot of factors which made it so, but no complaints except that, no other sports or game in Indian enjoy such a high fan base. Statistics would represent a shrub near rosewood. All the above quotes mentioned made it better and better.

                                            One may easily state that the golden period of Indian cricket will be over once the "Cricket God" hangs his boots for ever. But stop for a minute, there is one missing point. What about the fan following- not towards players but towards the different formats of game.One who have witnessed the epics of test cricket of Indian team can easily say that test cricket is on verge of extinction in India. The culprit is none other than IPL and T20. India's international T20 assignments are not the crime factors but the domestic and collaborated T20 festivals are the ones in the script.

                                             Globalization- what has it to do with domestic cricket in India?. At first it was heard that foreign players would be part of Indian Ranji Trophy tournament. But later on IPL was born. It began at the right time when team India lifted the not so followed format in 2007. Rest is history. Standing in the sixth edition of the league, people are enjoying their holiday season by making their attendance in arena and before televisions. The attendance of 45,000 people for the irrelevant match between Delhi and Pune- where were they when Indian played against Australia and England at home? OK with working days, but what about the weekends? 

                                             Time is running short. Who would like to spend 8 hours on a hot day watching players in white colors all around? So they made their choices. Go for the entertainers and watch quick scoring, lot of boundaries, and lot of sixes. So here comes our revolutionary character- Christopher Henry Gayle. How he is here, What he was before is nothing for an Indian cricket fan these days, sorry- IPL fans. People love him, hate him, stop. It is not for his contribution to the legacy of cricket which would be written in history for people to be born, but for the so called "massive" items from his bat in IPL.

                                              A number of 175 is something- which will earn a great ovation from crowd in Tests, a symbol of greatness within a player in ODIs. But what if, it is within a period of 20 overs. "Massive entertainment" more likely a "highlights" of a game showing boundaries and sixes.. So how is it going to affect the game of cricket in India. I would like to bring an incident which happened to none other than Rahul Dravid.-a person known for his impeccable contribution to test cricket in India. "My sons want me to play like Gayle"- this is what he said recently after retirement. This is a warning from an innocent mind that easily falls in love with the colorful toy.

                                             One can't simply complain the approach of people towards a specific format which literally contributes nothing except in terms of money. No one can simply point out a game as the first match of his life. Only if, he starts following the game in the late periods of his childhood. So what is going to happen when a kid see Gayle hammering bowlers to bring down a bunch of records. The kid gets attracted to the person and the format at the instant. He/she (He in most cases in India) expects the same sort of entertainment from all the games he watch and all the players, in the sense of scoring. Bowlers may not get respect in his view. It may take some time for him to learn what the real competition between ball and bat is. Test will make him feel as a boring 5-day event. Second session will be the time for him to take a snap after lunch. He would expect more than one Gayle in tests. Free hits and power-play will become unavoidable.What else.
                                             This innings from Gayle may have laid a strong foundation in many of the young minds in India. They can't be neglected. "As a 10 year old I grew up watching Kapil Dev lifting the World Cup for India and it inspired me a lot in my life"- these words from Dravid reminds us the fact that a whole lot of ten year old-s will have watched Gayle storm and naturally they may have laid a memory or inspiration for the future. They may not necessarily understand what real cricket is and how a player is being evaluated in terms of greatness in the game. But many of them may aspire to become the future gayle-s without a second thought.

                                             "Many people may say test cricket is the ultimate challenge. But I prefer T20". These words from Gayle are already in effect. He did no harm to other formats in any manner, but he did in the way he approaches T20 format. He can't be made a villain to other formats. But a savior in some sense if he continues to approach other formats in the same way and reap the same amount of results. May cricket Gods bless him for that to happen.....

Vishu- Recollection of pages which were believed to be lost

It is the first time in my life that I m not going to wake up to see the sacred light with Vishu Kani. A sad demise of a family member this year and I am left with nothing else but thoughts. Ever since I was a kid I didn't know why I was not at all shattered by an early morning wake-up call from my mother at the end of second week of April each year. I have never felt the same sort of freshness in any of my academic exam mornings. Who would disagree with that?

I can’t remember the year or my age when I saw the first vishu kani. It would be a disastrous lie if I point out a number in terms of year. I am prompted to write this with a little more than zero inspiration but with a hand full of memories from my dear motherJ. Probably I have nothing else to do this year for vishu and all I could do is to sit before a zero brain box, watching the nonsense version of gentleman’s game. It was a purposeful decision that I made to ask my mom regarding my childhood and vishu.  She told me a few as well. After all recollecting something which is withering from  mind would sometimes do good with the thoughts. So the following are two incidents from my childhood which brought a smile on my face today.

My mom, she had a terrible Vishu once. She said it was when I crossed a boundary. As most kids do I had that irritating (not for kids J ) habit of asking too much questions starting from one end to a probable infinity. What made it worse was that my mom didn't know where she should stop. It all started with nothing. I just wanted to know why we are setting up vishu kani.  As we all know a genuine answer won’t satisfy kids my mom told me that “it is because we will get too much of fruits and vegetables during the month and we want to see it on this particular day”. I followed it up. “Who is giving all these items” . She said, your grandpa, dad and father in laws will get them from their friends. It was just OK.. but “Why are we  having raw rice and the holy text. “This is the starting of the year and we should keep it as well”, she said. “What…..- so who is January”. That’s what my anganwaady(pre-primary) teacher taught us. The answer was a true one. “It is English calendar, and we celebrate vishu during the beginning of Malayalam calendar”. Hmm.. “So where can I see a Malayalam calendar”. It was a trap J. My uncle came to me and said he would show one and took me away from my mom. She doesn't remember when exactly I stopped asking the questions to him.

The second one was rather bizarre. I almost tortured my parents to death before many of my relatives. Who knows the exact list? I can still see a pathetic look on my mom’s face while saying this. It was when I was 7. I was a brother already and was trying to possess a stupid maturity. She didn't tell me how worse it was.  Vishukkaineetam, was special on those days, still special J. There was even a competition among friends that who had achieved the highest total after the school reopens.  The competition was limited to boys , because I still remember a girl would say, “ My papa(dad) gave me 500 rupees,  with a lot of air taken in while saying  500.” So no girls allowed, It was boys’ zone. Those numbers are like 36 required of last over with Dale Steyn as the bowler (now don’t say that u need to become De Villiers or yuvaraj). I could remember that I was the topper with an amount of Rs. 438(according to my mom). I was on seventh heaven I achieved the title.  Once my mom went to get some medicines for my sister and to a bad luck she forgot her purse at home itself. I would carry my wealth wherever I go during those daysJ. And you know what could have happened.  I generously gave my money to my mom making her promise that she would return it from father upon reaching home. And guess what, I was not able to ask because my dad was not on a good mood that day. And when I asked him the next day, he said “your mom didn’t give it to me”, and said to ask her. I knew she don’t have any and the amount she had was used for some other purpose. I was sad, really sad. I don’t have anyone to complain. Whenever I did they laughed at me. And that day came when we went for a marriage when most of my relatives came. I was still like the Srilankan team member after each world cup finals. One of my uncles took me and asked what happened. I said I didn't get my 438 back. The story followed by that. He was little funny that he told me to go around tell all our relatives like a mass petition signed. That was the apt judgement for me. I went on, on and on, till my dad came to me gave me 500 rupees. I was happy and asked him “why 500”. Dad told me “This is interest for what we got from your aunts and others”. By the way I became a bank on that day.

 You know Vishu has been special to people in many ways. Each year may present us some surprises, some gifts, some new relations, some loses, and the “some” continues to become “many” after a while. I don’t know you people celebrated vishu in the past, but apart from some crackers being spread, how many of you have felt the feel of having all together looking forward for an year of expectations and joy . I won’t boast that I am a divine human who feels this all the time,but I felt that I missed it sometimes. This can be a confession, sorry, is one. A thought of five minutes made me ask my mom what I was to them, even if the incidents don’t feel to be an entertaining read, I decided to write it down.

I wish all of you a happy Vishu and let us this year of brings you a lot of joy and surprises. Spend some time with your parents and siblings. I would be mighty pleased if you ask your mom or dad what you were during your earliest of vishus . It is your decision how to make it this year and I leave it to you. Enjoy and stay safe.

A Farewell- Some 'Shoulds' and a million "Should Not''s- Sachin Tendulkar

This might be one of  my thoughts which is not at all timed in many aspects. But letting my personal interests to be in my table, there are some thoughts which i would like to pass to all cricket lovers. Accept it or just dump it like a girl do with a boy's proposal. :)


Sachin Tendulkar- One word that defines it all. I am not here to make an analysis on what his qualities are, but just to look upon certain things which could probably occur in some period of time. Border-Gavaskar trophy is going on and having India already claimed the series, what actually i look forward as an Indian fan is nothing less than a whitewash. But the second day of fourth test is just making a subject to think about- Sachin.Why now? Team has already won the series. Whats wrong with him. Let him play his natural game. There are certain points of debate i would probably bring in.

After the World Cup victory everyone was on heaven's height. Of course it was a proud moment for Indian cricket and Indian regaining the title. But there was no discussion on Sachin's retirement at that point of time even though many Indian players including Dhoni himself suggested before the world cup that the Title was meant for Sachin, which went in the right way. But Indians were brought back to real world by England and Australia when Indians toured there. By the end of each tours the call for retirement of seniors came up. Former players and analysts felt it was time up for seniors to hang their boots. Dravid hung his boots and it was expected since his  thoughts were that, he considered one series at a time. Laxman went rather unexpectedly which was an unlucky decision for fans and cricket lovers. Not to forget there is still no proper replacement at number 6 after Ganguly left, which was a dark day of Indian cricket by the way he called off from duty.

Now its sachin who is the only one left in the fab-four. His knocks haven’t been impressive since the world cup. It’s not like he is someone who lost his touch completely or being put into misery like Dravid or Laxman in Australia. The passion and his Midas touch is visible in each game. Only thing is that he was not able to carry it to a big one. Coming back again, how long can Sachin continue like this. It’s definitely up to him to decide when to make a call for himself. But it should not be on a losing note. It should not be upon a selector to tell him that he should move on. That is one thing every cricket lover would expect. Let me just share some thoughts which made me to think about his retirement plans now.

The first test of Border-Gavaskar trophy was a great sign of relief for the fans in which Sachin showed his class and many of us thought he would rule the so-called weakest bowling attack of Australia. But apart from that 81 there hasn't been big scores from him.  So how is he going to proceed from here. There is an African series coming up and to make matters worse the bowling unit of south Africans is one hack of a problem everywhere. Taking from the positive side of ongoing series a fan can hope India would do the unexpected there and Dhoni and his team would lift the trophy(Keeping fingers crossed). What if it happens in the expected way. The question of Sachin's retirement would come up again.

So this is where I point out some recent happenings in cricket. It all started with Dravid announcing his retirement from ODI in England. He made his final knock a memorable one with almost a full packed crowd putting a standing ovation when he got out and Trott taking off his cap before he shook hands with the wall.

A player who was known for his records in tests was indeed more qualified to receive a better once for his last test. But unluckily that didn't happen and on one fine morning he announced his retirement before some media representatives.

Forgive me for not mentioning Laxman because it hurts many fans like me when talking about his retirement. So what i came through next was Ponting who was said as the next biggest player in Australia after Don called off his career. He too was unlucky being dropped from ODIs before he made a call for himself. But his retirement from tests was rather colorful in the way it happened(not the result). He was applauded by a passionate crowd. Even Nathan Lyon can't forget the applause he received that was meant for Ponting. Smith and his Co greeted him with honorary guard and it was a pleasant sight for a cricket lover.

    Not after a big time gap Mr.Cricket too hung his boots. It was a double blow for Australian cricket in every aspect since they were not expecting it, at least we people here were not. But for God's sake his retirement was on a winning note and  he held his head high as a champion who fulfilled his destiny.

It was really an awesome sight scoring the winning runs in his last test match and leave like retirement was never his plan. But rather unexpectedly he was not picked for the one-day series.

So coming back to Sachin. It was one black day for Indian cricket when Sachin announced his retirement from shorter format when Delhi was burning. It was hurting for a cricket fan because he went way when 1 billion people went ready to stand up and salute the champion for his contributions that is never matching to any others. what more hurting was that some political thoughts made it a cover for government's escape attitude towards the Delhi rape victim. Not to go in detail, it was a bad day in many ways. We made a mistake. So is Sachin? He never wanted to have people's attention, but his decision was indeed unlucky for us more than Sachin himself.

So what’s next. A projected whitewash in Africa could make the Champion think again about his future plans. Indeed all that we can hope for is his hard work ends up in positive result. But if not, can we pay the price for watching him calling up a press meet and announce his retirement? I pray it won't  happen at any cost. Even if it is in a losing cause there should be a google image for Sachin's last test with the entire ground giving him the 'Guard of Honour'. Each and everyone knows who Sachin was, and who Sachin is for India. And 'what Sachin has to' is above all.. The 'Never Say Die ' attitude won't vanish from his mind and his passion would go on forever. But each cricket fan has the ambition to salute him and applaud him like nothing for one last time when he makes a call. Be it in Africa or any other nation. Before He gets ready for what the unacceptable we thought for years, it is people who should prepare for. It's not about youngsters. Its not about replacements. It’s all about gratitude of a cricket crazy nation for their "Cricket GOD".