Old Memories

It's difficult being single at the age of 31. Most of the friends are married and they want you to be married as well. I wonder if there's a tinge of guilt that they feel for not being around. Not entirely sure.

But people are caught up in family lives. They have to spend time with their in-laws which they don't like. But they accept it because of their spouse (who, not surprisingly, doesn't enjoy spending time with the in-laws either).

Am I being selfish here? Maybe.

I was going through old mails when a seven year old mail caught my eye. It was the pdf  copy of a friend's blog which had ceased to exist. Reading through the posts, I could see the transformation, and the evolution in terms of thought.

I see that change in myself when I go through the earlier blog posts.

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It's Sachin Tendulkar's birthday. How much love has this man received!!! Some people call him selfish. They don't understand. He has given too much, way too much to Indians. Even if he was playing just to score runs for himself.

It's also the birthday of a friend.. She was one of the early readers of this blog but has drifted apart after her marriage. I once started a blog with her. Now, I guess, she's much too busy in her married life to care.

I feel angry when people move on. Maybe because I take too much time to do so. It's even more irritating when some of them claim that they still care. They don't. Marriage does that to you.

Spoke to 5 good old friends today(Bansi, Sai, Ritu, Mradul, Gaurav Bhaiya) . I realized this only as I'm writing this.

Some people stay.

I feel grateful.

State of Mind

There's so much I don't understand.

The more I read, the more it gets confusing.

It gets confusing to the point that I can't even argue in favour or against the topic. Mostly I end up ending up agreeing with both parties while listening to their points of views.

But how does one know which side is talking more sense?

I don't necessarily need to take sides, but I should be clear in my head what course of action to take should the situation arises. 

On Rahul Dravid

There are few people I admire more than Rahul Dravid.

I don't think many people will remember his batting or watch its reruns on Youtube the way they do it for Sachin or Lara. It wasn't attractive. I don't aspire for the kind of success that he had on the field. Not that I can achieve that. It's Rahul Dravid, the human being that I find so inspiring. There are few people in the history of Indian cricket who are known so much for their humility, their hard work, and their team-ethics.

I doubt if I'll enjoy cricket as much as I did when they were around

I learned about him through what his peers had to say in their various essays on Cricinfo. The essays were compiled into a book called "Timeless Steel" which has strangely gone out of print.

Here's the link to his speech in Australia for Bradman's oration. The link starts at the place where he talks about the importance of fan to the game. The complete transcript is here.

I want to be like Rahul Dravid. 

On Social Media

I don't write much on Fb, Quora, Twitter.

I visited Twitter for some time today. Too many people shouting out their opinions telling us how they believe the world should run. Yeah, right.

Mostly I feel too insignificant to consider my opinions important enough. Maybe because I feel that others' opinions aren't important either. I don't care what other people think about Sonu Nigam's tweet regarding Azaan, or what Virat Kohli thinks about Anushka Sharma.

Yes, I know the impact of social media on marketing and how it's shaping consumer behaviour. But to me, mostly it's just noise. 

Some people's opinions do count though. Those who have their "skin in the game". I like to read their opinions. Rest don't matter.

Of all the stuff said by Taleb, the concept of "skin in the game" is what I liked the most. Even then, I don't quite enjoy the guy. The problem is, most of the stuff that he talks about is the age old wisdom and he's just promoting it by abusing others. I don't find him original except in his methods to get himself heard. 

Then there's the technical stuff regarding randomness and the black swan events. I don't understand it much. Neither do I understand the work of others whom he criticizes. So I reserve my judgment.

I liked the book "Antifragile" as it made me think. But then, I also read a few books on investing e.g. The Intelligent Investor, The Most Important Thing, The Essays of Warren Buffett etc. I realized that what Taleb is saying has been said by the likes Ben Graham and Warren Buffett umpteen number of times already. 

I digress. 

Blogger is more of a personal diary now. Few people care to visit this place and I like it that way.

On India

In the last 70 years, have we achieved much? or we fall short of what we could have done?

I am not proud of India, or of Indians.

But there are things that Indians have done well - Space programme and software come to mind. We are considered a military power and the permanent membership of security council is often talked about.

Who should we compare ourselves with?
African countries still reeling in poverty, or China which has grown by leaps and bounds?

Is this democracy a success? We have done well when compared to Pakistan, or Myanmar.
Or would we have been better off by being a political economy like that of China or Singapore?

I don't feel proud or inferior.
I'm just curious.

Misbah ul Haq will retire after the West Indies series. There are few cricketers I respect more. This is one of my favourite articles written on Misbah by Jarrod Kimber.

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Why is there no celebrity outrage against Shivsena MP Ravindra Gaikwad? All these celebrities went after a 20 year old Gurmehar Kaur. Bunch of hypocrites.

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I think people in my peer group are more active on LinkedIn than on Facebook.

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I have only seen black and white photographs of my grandparents of the time before I was born. Also, the movies of that era were rarely made in colour. I could only imagine the times of my grandparents in black & white. 

Denial

I think I have always lived in denial. Probably still do.

These days I keep reading Calvin & Hobbes and to a great extent I can identify with Calvin. 

There's something timeless about human behaviour and psychology. I find it strange that we aren't taught that in our schools and colleges. 

For a long time I had an image of self. That of a very liberal and an open individual.
Now I know, I am no different from many other hypocrites.
For too long I have lived in denial.
And after 31 years, it's difficult to get rid of the mindset.

I can pin the blame on the society, family, and my upbringing. But then I'll be lying. As I always have. Most importantly, to myself.

Reality is harsh. And it hurts.

On Sachin Tendulkar (again)

His batting didn't have

the beauty of Mark Waugh and VVS Laxman
the flair of Lara
the determination of Jacques Kallis
the patience of Dravid
the arrogance of Viv Richards
the solid defence of Gavaskar

but,
he had everything in good measure
Which is why he is my favourite batsman :)