My Elegant Cricket XI

My Cricket Eleven whose video clippings I watch, just for sheer beauty and elegance.

1. Hashim Amla
2. Mark Waugh 
3. Brian Lara
4. Sachin Tendulkar
5. Kumar Sangakkara (wk)
6. Imran Khan (c)
7. Wasim Akram
8. Shane Warne
9. Michael Holding
10. Shane Bond
11. Allan Donald 

If I had to select a team that I would pay to watch, this would be it.

Ae Dil Hai Mushkil

Sometimes I wonder that it must be terribly difficult to be rich and famous. How insecure must they be feeling while living in the constant fear of losing it all?

I don't like the movies of Karan Johar. But his public apology about casting Pakistani actors for Ae Dil Hai Mushkil made me feel like puking. How low will a person have to stoop to disown the people who worked for him? Here is a guy wanting to make millions by casting the famous Pakistani actors. And the moment he realises that his box office collections might get affected because a political party's goons threaten to sabotage its screening, he decides to publicly apologize. 

Similar was the case of Snapdeal removing Amir Khan as its brand ambassador after the "intolerance" fiasco. What are these people who sit on crores of rupees afraid of? How are they able to face themselves in the mirror? Why is it so rare to find people like Nana Patekar who actually stand for something good?

It's easy for me to say all this because I don't have my skin in the game. I have nothing to lose while shouting curses from my keyboard. Someday I might be tested and fail big time.

This post is a reminder to self to know what is the right thing to do. No matter how hard we try to convince ourselves otherwise. 

An old song, which perfectly captures the mood.  

For Tony Greig

My last post was about missing the joy I derived out of Cricket because of absence of Sachin Tendulkar. Another person, who made the Cricket a delight for me was Tony Greig. For a long time, I had thought that he was an Australian, since he appeared so similar to them in many ways. Then, after few years, I learned from my father that he was a former English captain. Even later, I learned that he was actually a South African. 

There have been many great commentators. Richie Benaud sits right at the top. But I saw very less of English and Australian cricket during an impressionable age to be able to admire his voice and insights. For me, it was always Tony Greig, a constant presence in the commentary boxes of India and Sharjah. He made Cricket far more exciting than it actually was.

One can appreciate how good the commentary was only a few years back when one could hear some of the most intelligent voices in world cricket - Tony Greig, Richie Benaud, Tony Cozier etc. These days, one has to bear with the mouth pieces of BCCI - Laxman Shivaramakrishnan, Sanjay Manjrekar, and Ravi Shastri. If not for anything else, BCCI should be sued for making the viewers listen to such pathetic commentary.

Some days, I watch old Cricket clippings just to hear Tony Greig. After Sachin, it's him I miss the most. 

P.S. This absolutely gem of a tribute from Richie Benaud for Tony Greig.

Memories

Today was the first day of India v/s England test match at Wankhede. I last went to see a Cricket match 3 years ago at the same venue when Sachin played his last game. I have fond memories of those 3 days, the only instance I went to see a test match. I remember having goosebumps when he walked in to bat and my eyes getting moist when he gave his farewell speech.

There are some good, probably great batsmen out there viz. Kohli, Joe Root, KaneWilliamson, Steven Smith. Ajinkya Rahane is a delight to watch, Amla's batting is like poetry in motion and there is Alastair Cook threatening all batting records in test cricket.

I still follow Cricket. Cricinfo is always open in the internet browser where I follow the scorecard of every match that is being played. But I hardly remember anything. If you ask me against whom India played the last test series, I'll have to take few moments to tell you the answer. But, I can tell you in exact sequence the matches India played 14-15 years ago with the venue names. Sometimes, I can even recall the final scores that the teams made some 20 years back.

But I don't like watching Cricket anymore. It doesn't excite me in any way. Unless India is losing very badly or consistently, I don't care who wins or loses. I don't even check the score cards once the match is over. Virat Kohli's heroics don't cheer me up. 

Something's gone. There's no Sachin any more. 

Year So Far

I missed out on what people usually call their new year resolutions. Didn't even come close.
Another year about to end.
Full of anxiety, insecurity, and restlessness.
Learned a lot about myself.
Not really enjoyable, but learning all the same. 

Things to Learn - Investment

I think Investing is an art which everybody should try his/her hand at. More than anything else, it requires a deep learning of human behaviour, patience, psychology, philosophy, statistics, and not to mention, business knowledge. A lot of investment principles can be applied to all walks of life.

My boss in my company gave me the following two part advice : 

1. If you have to read one book, only one book on investment, read "The Intelligent Investor" by Benjamin Graham. If you ever feel like reading another book, read "The Intelligent Investor" again.

2. All the wisdom lies in the financial statements and annual reports of the companies. It's good to read books, but one can learn a lot more from the financial statements.

I've bought  "The Intelligent Investor" and am wondering why I didn't read it much earlier. More than about making money, it's about how to stay disciplined and act on the basic principles. The principles, though simple in theory, are very difficult to implement as they require patience and deter us from following the herd.

Even if one doesn't make money after applying the principles of Ben Graham (though I doubt that), one stands to gain a lot from the book regarding human conduct and how to take decisions. 

I don't know how to invest, but I want to learn and I have been making efforts in that direction. It will take time, but I hope to get better in due course. 

We’ll Always Have Paris

I first saw Casablanca some 6-7 years back, a movie that is considered a landmark in the motion pictures history. I remember that I didn’t enjoy it much then, was even bored at certain points and at its completion, I was wondering why it still captured the audience's imagination.

Yesterday, I saw it again and this time, the movie touched me deeply. One of the best things about great pieces of art, be it books, movies, songs, paintings, sculptures is that they will change as you do. Every now and then, I found myself nodding in agreement to what Rick (Humphrey Bogart) or Ilsa (Ingrid Bergman) expressed, feeling their emotions when Sam sings the song “As Time Goes By”, understanding the predicament of Ilsa regarding her departure. It is difficult not to get lost in the story of the characters, which somewhere reminds us of our own dreams and unrequited love. 

It’s not that the movie is the greatest piece of art that there is, but Bogart and Bergman stand out because of their performances. Bogart was in his 40s when the movie was released and it was only from his late 30s that he produced some of his most famous works (The Big Sleep, The Maltese Falcon, The Treasure of Sierra Madre, Casablanca etc.). But there was a certain charm about his suave mannerisms; the way he held cigarette, his baritone, and the manner his eyes expressed the underlying emotions. I had missed all of this in my first viewing. 

There are few actresses who appear as enchanting as Ingrid Bergman has in the movie. The only other I can think of is Joan Fontaine in Rebecca and in Suspicion. There’s much pain in her voice and a deep longing for the old times when she asks Sam to play the song. (Play it once, Sam. For old times' sake. Play it, Sam. Play "As Time Goes By."). I can watch the movie again for this one scene alone.

The movie scores big on almost all the fronts. It has some of the best quotable dialogues; “We’ll always have Paris”, “Here’s looking at you, kid” which I have been hearing from people since time immemorial without knowing their exact origin. There is tension between the old lovers beautifully depicted by Bogart and Bergman. Much humour was provided by the witty dialogues of Capt. Renault who is on the lookout for his interests alone, but deep down despises the Germans. Then there are scenes like the one involving the playing of German and French anthems simultaneously which gives goosebumps to the viewer. And the music. I have been repeatedly playing the songs "As Time Goes By", and "Knock on Wood" on Youtube. 

However, I have one grouse which perturbs me a lot in the old movies, whichever language they belong to. Here in the movie are people from all nationalities (German, French, Czech, Norwegians, Russian, even the locals of Morocco) in the movie and they all speak with flawless American accent. To come to think of it, the waiter in the movie seems to be making fun of a German couple because of their lack of understanding of the English language. I found this joke to be outright dumb. 

Barring this aberration, I found the movie to be thoroughly enjoyable. It has stood the test of time and it still enchants the viewers because of the wonderful acting, iconic dialogues, soulful music and above all a story that was given wonderful treatment by all those involved in its making. I will watch it again soon.