Hail Captain Dhoni!

Namaskaram

India faces many issues. A perennial one is that of its wicket keepers. It might well be my sheer ignorance but forgive me, i haven't seen a single keeper in the team last. Off memory i can count 5 keepers in the recent past, and i'm not even a keen follower of the game. They come, they are hyped, and they soon slip into the oblivion that is ranji.
Another issue we faced, The Double Edged sword that is the Indian Captaincy. One captain had issues with the erstwhile coach! he was, not so graciously shown the door, while another couldn't deal with the demons within, but he retained his place.
Around this period India unearthed MS Dhoni. He showed promise both behind and in front of the stumps. He was charismatic, daring and dare i say, dangerous with a bat in hand. This was a team that was transforming. With no Captain it didn't look promising.
All right enough of the foreplay, lets get to the good part. Dhoni was given captaincy. We all know, what ensued. The rest is not HISTORY. It was consistent hard work, and a whole lot of luck. For a change our national team did look like world beaters. And for the first time the team was showing the tenacity and flair (although only in glimpses) associated with the Aussies. Well, history didn't happen, we didn't run away with all the matches we played, but we were showing improvement.
What really impressed me, and generally the entire nation im sure is our crushing of the Aussies down under, in two matches in a best of three finals.. Lets give them the credit they deserve. That is literally the tennis equivalent of beating Federrer in Wimbledon on Center court in Straight Sets. Very very impressive. And From where i see things Dhoni was certainly the chief architect. First he dropped the senior citizens in the team(kudos to you). Then followed the show of faith in Gautam Gambir, and the icing was the introduction of Praveen Kumar. He swung us to glory the last two games. So a lot of credit to Dhoni. But this still isn't the purpose of the blog.
The real fete by our man was the 'shepherding' of the Super Kings team. Sans the Hayden, Hussey and Oram power play, the team looked very ordinary. And it took a strong captain, and a trusting one to show the team the way. Although the super kings were helped a great deal by the Failure of the Mumbai Indians to capitalize on their chance, the kings deserved their place in the finals (anyone who disagrees can take a hike, cause its my team, its the pride of Chennai, so screw u deranged narcissist). Once in semis it was certainly any teams game, and despite not being the best team in the league, we (with reference to the super kings) had a chnace of victory, and to be fair so did Punjab and Rajasthan (Come on, lets not kid around, Delhi without a firing sehwag is just not threatening).
A brilliant team effort in the semis, meant we were in the finals. I cant resist this, but i did hear a lot of, "CHENNAI SUCK" and the analyst gave no chance to Rajasthan at the start of the tournament, but here the final was being played between them. So #%@* u all.
I know we lost in the final, but we lost to a better team. No regrets there at all.This loss brought to light Captain Extraordinare (no, not Warne, we'll talk about that later).Out stepped Dhoni, he did not hang his shoulders, no cold handshakes, no pointing fingers, no blame game. and i quote him "We lost as a team". Now if thats not mature, what is? A lesser mortal could have shrugged shoulders and pointed at the poor bowling that cost us the game, but NO not Dhoni. It was collective. It was spontaneous and it was from the heart, and it was exactly what the team deserved.
Praise flowed in for our dear captain, and every other person who is an anybody in the field was talking about him, and so am i, WHY? because the man has earned it.
All things said and done, Dhoni rocks. I absolutely adore his every move (although i did disapprove of Miss Padukone, who am i to judge). The man is going places and taking team India and the Super Kings with him. Lets just hope this captain does not end up in a match fixing scandal or a suffer a string of defeats or run into a schizophrenic coach, or looses belief in himself. Heres praying we finally have a captain on par with Waugh or Beckenbaur, one who'll lead from the front.
Hail Captain Dhoni

How sad is the Indian Media?

Namaskaram. (Im an indian all the way an darn proud of it.. get used to it)
This is ma first attempt at blogging, i plead u will show patience and some amount of appreciation. No part of this blog i hope will bear a resemblance to the many other that float around. Any resemblance is merely co-incidental and is not an attempt of plagiarism.
Something that disturbed me a couple of days ago, wasw making headlines all over the country. This being the victory of Senator Obama over Senator Hilary something Clinton. This piece of news (albeit of great importance) made headlines, everywhere including here in India. Every News channel on the day of the final primary made it their mission to feed the indian audince with the oodles of crapp that was happening so many miles away. And it only got worse. With the news channels begining to analyse the elections and its many implications. And how the democrats if (and mind u its a big IF) in power would change the phase of the World.
Enough of this charade.. its about time they realised that we honestly DONT GIVE A SHIT, about wht happens in america. What difference does it make to me or you if Senator Obama beats the life outta Senator Clinton. and evenyually goes onto win the contest with Senator McCain or happens otherwise.. i dont see that affecting our mounting fuel prices drop. its just not fair. I really owe u an explanation on why all my drivel is even important.. well good morning gentle men ITS NOT. just like the race for the white is irrelevant to all of us, so is this blabbering of a deranged mind.
When the little girl from Delhi, AArushi was murdered, the media covered it like it was the next big thing after the Independence. Granted the issue is of importance to all of us, but describing in detail about the house the girl lived in, her vacations abroad, the sewers next to her home, man it was all a case of overkill.. i do sincerely hope that justice is served, but i also plead with the media to stop feeding this much nonsense and lace it with the label FLASH NEWS.
Recently ive notice that our dear bollywood likes to be in the headlines, be it for right, wrong or even down right irrelevant reasons. And who do they turn to in their time of need ?? Dont bother, Its one of the many 24\7 channels we have and they shamelessly feed it to us. I know sex and cinema are the biggest sellers presently, put them together and you have a blockbuster. And so it seems the Media has decided, show them celebs, throw in some sex and bring an element of crime into it, and whola we have a winner..
I never understood the term "War of the Khans", cause to me Aamir won hands down, nobody could even match up.. recently when the FLASH NEWS: WAR OF THE KHANS was flashed, i was genuinly curious.. But as law would have it, it turned out to be some childish game of one up manship between Aamir and Shah Rukh about some dog over a Blog and how neither bothered to respond.. Now im justified in bitching abou the media. Again i must say, WHO GIVES A DAMN..
You must have got my point by now.. The media need to get some substance.. and since they havce nothing now, anything would be an improvement..
Thank you all for ur beloved time..
Stan Avris