Humanity - Dead or Alive?

I had a chance to watch the news report by Channel 4 on Srilanka's killings (Thanks to facebook) and I was really disturbed after watching these video's. I don't want to get into any political stand point and get into a shell called "Tamizhan". However, this brutal act by the military of a country can never be accepted or digested how much ever neutral you want to be.

First of all I want to make it clear that I am someone who doesn't support people who are against the war crime by Sri Lanka, just because they are Tamizhans and the Tamizhans are at the receiving end. I want to see it at a broader picture and not just limit to political webbing called "Tamizhan".

Velu pillai Prabhakaran, the fighter for a cause may have reasons to fight for the rights of his people. Sri Lankan's (Sinhalese) may have their reasons for not entertaining the requests of the Tamizhians. Let's get out of all these political drama's and just see if the crime done by the Sri Lankan army to the minorities can anyway justified or digested by the world.

Channel 4 is not associated with Sri Lankan government or the Prabhakaran's fighting unit (I am desperately trying to avoid using L*T* in this article). So their evidences cannot be one sided or there is no evidence or reason for them being one sided. With that confidence I, as a common man is inclined towards believing this video a REAL one.

I am unsure if Sri Lanka can prove all those killed in the war either belong to their own army or to the opposite team. I am neither talking about those who actively participated in the war or indirectly supported either of the party. I am just looking at the common people, small children and women. Do they really deserve this from the government which is supposed to save them?

When I talk about women, I need to mention about the women who were part of the Prabhakaran's unit as well. Is it right for the army men to rip them off just because they belong to the opposite unit? Looking at the way these women were treated, is that not a cruelty against humanity? Do Sri Lanka recruit for their army with only men who doesn't have a mother or a sister? Will those who involved in such a shameful act against women bear or even enjoy when the same is done to their mother, sister or wife? 

Next, killing men in a systematic way. The systematic way was so arrogant beyond someone's imagination. The army make men naked, blindfold them and shoot them at their heads. OMG.. I was wondering if these army men were manufactured with a component called heart. The kiddo, Velu Prabhakaran's son was shot dead and there were 5 bullet marks on his body. Is this the way the Sri Lankan's treat a 12 year kid? 

I was really amazed to see the way they killed people in bunches. Announcing a "No Fire Zone", getting people into it and destroying it. Is this the war ethics the Sri Lankan's know? To make it worst, all these people are the civilians of the country and they had run to the "No Fire Zone" to save themselves.

What can the Sri Lankan army tell to justify the attacks on the hospitals? How do they expect a common man to believe these attacks are not deliberate?

The video disappeared from my eye's as soon as I closed them. But the screaming of those poor people are still ringing in my ears. 

The tears and cries due to fear of death, loss of their dear one's right in front of their eyes, search for safety, inability to stand against the sexual harassment and what not... Sri Lanka for them is a "LIVE HELL" which they are seeing even before death.

Will the International community teach Sri Lanka a lesson for this brutal act??? Will the current Indian government even think the same way a common man thinks? Will the Indian government vote against their "FRIEND" Sri Lanka in the UN?

Whatever happens in the future is never going to answer the cries of these innocent civilians. But they can atleast assure safety and peace for the remaining people.

We got to wait and see if the right verdict will be pronounced and the guilty be punished.

Below is the video of Channel 4 coverage, taken from You Tube.

Srilanka's killing fields - 1 (Courtesy Channel 4 & You Tube)

Srilanka's killing fields - 2 (Courtesy Channel 4 & You Tube)

Rahul Dravid - "The Wall"

March 9th 2012 will go into Indian cricket history as a day where one of their legends hung his boot. Yes. Rahul Dravid, great wall of Indian cricket had announced his retirement.

Many of them this wouldn't be a surprise but for his fans this is a shocker. We would have liked to see him play the way he does, forever. But one has to respect his decision which taken considering the young guns waiting behind and the future of Indian cricket.

Rahul is not a easy man to say "bye" and forget. He had made a big impact in the Indian cricket such that now there is a deep hole once he had retired from International cricket. His achievements speaks for himself and the man who replaces his place would be under a severe pressure and has a big boot to fill in.

His batting style, his shots, his catches in the slip, his tactics of building partnerships will all be missed greatly by the Indian Cricket. His class can be learnt but can never be mastered. He is the master of classic batting. 

There are lot of questions around the timing of his retirement. I would obviously go in support of Rahul though I would miss him and his batting. With the fact that the Indian team doesn't have any overseas test assignment in the next one year, it will give ample opportunity for his replacement to cement his place and gain confidence at test level.

Statistics of this legend is amazing and it had started ticking on the first assignment of his, the most memorable debut against England. He is the only man to be involved in two 300+ partnerships in ODI cricket history. His one partnership with VVS in Kolkata against the Aussies will sign for his test cricket achievement. This blog would not be enough for sure if I had to list his achievements and statistics.

The respect this man deserves is amazing and with all due respect I wish him all success in the coming years.

His cricketing career highlights for you (Thanks to BBC Sport):

1. Rahul Sharad Dravid is born in Indore on 11 January 1973 and makes his first-class debut for Karnataka against Maharashtra in the Ranji Trophy just after his 18th birthday, scoring 82. He makes his India debut in a one-day international against Sri Lanka in April 1996

2. Later that year, he is handed his Test debut against England at Lord's. Fellow debutant Sourav Ganguly scores 131 at number three, while Dravid, at seven, compiles a characteristically painstaking 95 from 267 balls. The pair spend more than a decade together in India's batting line-up

3. Dravid soon establishes himself in a powerful India batting line-up which includes former teenage prodigy Sachin Tendulkar, elegant left-hander Ganguly, the free-scoring VVS Laxman and aggressive opener Virender Sehwag. Tendulkar and Dravid would go on to become the two highest run-scorers in Test history

4. Dravid is the top run scorer at the 1999 World Cup with 461. He makes 145 against Sri Lanka, sharing a second-wicket stand of 318 with Ganguly, who smashes 183. It is the record ODI partnership for any wicket, but is beaten six months later when Tendulkar (186 not out) and Dravid (153) put on 331 against New Zealand

5. Dravid signs for English county side Kent for the 2000 season and has a successful summer, scoring 1,221 first-class runs at an average of 55, including an innings of 137 at Portsmouth in a fascinating duel with Hampshire's star Australian spinner Shane Warne.

6. Australia's record run of 16 consecutive Test wins is ended in an astonishing game at Kolkata's Eden Gardens in March 2001. After India are forced to follow on, Dravid (180) and VVS Laxman (281) add 376 for the fifth wicket to set up a 171-run win in one of the greatest Test matches of all time.

7.  While Dravid is an automatic choice as a batsman and an excellent fielder, he would occasionally be asked to keep wicket in order to improve the balance of the limited-overs side, picking up 14 stumpings in one-day international cricket

8. Dravid is man of the series on India's tour of England in 2002, scoring 602 runs in four Tests, including centuries at Trent Bridge and Headingley and a double ton at The Oval, but a Test century at Lord's, the home of cricket, would elude him for another nine years.

9. Although he is nicknamed "The Wall" for his safety-first batting style, Dravid's career hits a purple patch in the winter of 2003-04 when he hits double centuries in successive series against New Zealand, Australia and Pakistan, including a career-best 270 at Rawalpindi, and is ICC player of the year.

10. When the cricket world comes together in January 2005 to raise money for victims of the Asian tsunami, Dravid takes his place in a star-studded Asia XI which play an ICC World XI containing players from Australia, West Indies, New Zealand and England in a one-off fundraising ODI.

11. Having deputised as captain for Ganguly on occasions, Dravid is handed the captaincy on a permanent basis in late 2005 after Ganguly's very public row with coach Greg Chappell, the former Australia skipper.

12. Dravid remains a prized wicket for opponents, but his captaincy is criticised after England's first Test win on Indian soil in 21 years comes in March 2006, when stand-in skipper Andrew Flintoff inspires the tourists to victory, famously assisted by the team singing Johnny Cash's "Ring of Fire" during an interval.

13. The 2007 World Cup in the Caribbean is a major disappointment for India, as they lose to Bangladesh in their opening game and fail to make it past the group stage. They win that summer's Test series in England, but Dravid relinquishes the captaincy (after recording eight wins from 25 Tests) to concentrate on his batting.

14. Soon after stepping down as captain, Dravid loses his place in the one-day side but remains a constant in the five-day arena, passing 10,000 Test runs in 2008 as well as signing for the Royal Challengers Bangalore franchise in the inaugural Indian Premier League.

15. In April 2009, Dravid sets a new record for Test catches by an outfielder when New Zealand's Tim McIntosh becomes his 182nd victim in Wellington, overtaking the previous record set by Australia's Mark Waugh. By the end of his Test career, Dravid has increased his record to 210.

16. Dravid is India's man of the series on their 2011 tour of England - which is widely expected to be his last - as he finally records his first Test century at Lord's, and adds two more rearguard hundreds as India are whitewashed 4-0 and lose top spot in the Test rankings to the all-conquering hosts.

17. But another 4-0 whitewash, this time in Australia, leads many commentators to question the future of India's "old guard" and a disappointing series for Dravid - in which he averaged under 25 - proves to be his last hurrah on the international stage.

We all love you and will miss you Rahul..

Nanban

Movies are not something which I take my family often to. May be because my wife is not a big fan of movies or my son is too small to sit quiet for the entire movie time. I always think twice or thrice before I take my family to a movie.

I decided to take them out for a movie last weekend and had few valid reasons to it. I took them to "Nanban" a Shankar directed movie. I had confidence to take them to this movie because of the original version "3 Idiots" and heard Shankar did full justice to the original version in his remake of it. I also wanted to give my wife the experience of Sathyam which recently started operating from Brookfields, Coimbatore. Finally, offlate I had a feel that my son had grown up and started to understand things which made me feel that he also would enjoy his time there.

I blindly booked tickets online along with few snacks with a hope that my wife wouldn't be having any complaints about it :). As expected, when I informed her that we are going out for movie on Sunday morning, she was little upset that I booked it on the day of Pongal where she had other ideas of going to temple and keeping Pongal there. Since it is not the first time, it didn't take me much of time to convince her.

We reached Brookfields at 9AM and we had 30 mins to check in before the movie time. I took them directly to the Sathyam lobby as I know 30 mins wouldn't be enough for my wife if she starts checking at other shops. My son was too happy seeing a big lobby to play around (thank god I didn't take him to the game zone) and started to run around. I didn't want to hold him back as he was under my eyes throughout the entire lobby and wife started to look around since it was her first visit there.

We entered the movie hall around 09:20AM and occupied our seats. My son was not at all happy that he had to share the seat with me or my wife and immediately started crying. When I explained him that he is too small for a separate seat, he quickly understood and quietly occupied my lap (Kudos to my judgement about him!!!).

The movie went really good and I checked with my wife once in a while to make sure she liked the movie. Shankar did great justice to the original version and everyone did their part to their best. Siddheesh was very quiet throughout the first half and I had to check at times if he was sleeping which wasn't the case. Throughout the most part of the second half of the movie he was busy with all the snacks that I have ordered and I made sure both of them enjoyed the movie till the end.

Once he is done with all the snacks he started to walk down the stairs and come back and he was doing only that till the end of the movie. He also stared to dance in the steps during the last song and I couldn't control him. My wife was busy with the movie. I was happy that both of them were having a good time there.

When we came out of the hall after the movie, I asked my wife if she wanted to do some shopping for which she said "No" after giving a hard thought. I know she would be hungry and also would want to go home. I was very happy that both of them enjoyed their time and decided to take them for all the good movies which are going to come.

On the way back home, I asked my son whether he enjoyed the movie and asked him how was the movie. He responded back by singing "யாரு போல யாரு மச்சான் (Yaaru pola Yaaru machan)" (which is actually "En friend'a pola yaaru machan"). So you guys would also have know his feedback by now.

So confidently I moved to my wife and asked he how was the movie. Her response was -
"Movie was super and I liked it so much. But who asked you to order the snacks online, we would have bought something else and you didn't allow us for that saying the snacks will come to our place. Why is your taste going so weird" I actually had ordered for Popcorn, Ice-Cream and Fresh Juice and wondering what better could I have ordered for my wife & son.

Moral of the story: It is very easy to make a 3 year old kid happy than a 30 year old grown-up [which includes me too :)]. LOLzzz
 

Aussie... The nightmare!!!

Happy to start my new blog talking about Cricket, my favorite sport.

I had so many reasons to be eager for the India Vs Australia cricket series to start. Starting from Sachins 100th ton till the anticipation over winning the first series down under. Looking at the recent performances of the Aussies against SA & NZ, one would have thought this series would be the opportunity that we were looking for so many years to rule over the OZ nightmares.

But it was again proved that reality matters and what happened actually broke so many Indian cricket fans including me.

It was a known fact that the Indian team are slow starters when they tour out of the sub-continent and that was the talk going around when we lost the first test which I feel we had every chance of winning. The days which came after was expected to be heart warming but ended up heart breaking.

All of a sudden the failing Aussie batting seem to have gained a sudden confidence and the toothless bowling (that's how it was portrayed) got something to bite at. If someone was expecting the Indians to fight back in the second test, they just showed the back and no fight. It was a mere surrender and everyone had resigned from the winning idea or even from the idea to draw the test match. On the first day of the second test match when India folded to 191 the talks were only around the white wash. Lots of people said that was too early to write off, but the days came after seems to be on the way to 4-0 result.

Winning a test series down under is now out of the talk and discussion were around retaining Border-Gavaskar trophy until today. Seeing the pitch prepared at Perth, even the possibility of retaining the trophy looked slim however the Indian team insisted they are confident and have high hopes of turning things around.

It came the day it mattered, the first day of the Perth test. Until this day, the Aussies, at various instances had questioned the body language of the Indian team and have talked about how Indian team mentally goes down in tough situations. As expected, the players who represented the Indian team in various press meets denied their morale is down and kept insisting that they will bounce back on the bouncier pitch in the world.

The Indians showed today why the Aussies felt the Indian team is down and out. We clearly saw the Indian team had resigned from putting in any efforts to win a test match or even to draw. This time around, the Aussie bowlers showed us that they are hitting a dead snake. Eventually whatever did their bowlers do today, fetched them wickets and to make the matter worse, their opening stand had almost crossed the total first innings score what Indians could manage.

When people can talk about a white wash during the second match where Indians managed 191 runs in the first innings and ended up loosing, why can't they talk about it now where our team managed 30 runs less than their first innings score in Sydney.

David Warner, the Australian opener is 100% accurate in saying India already beaten. He had clearly killed them today by hitting the 4th fastest century in the test cricket. It was really amazing, on a pitch where he could score a humiliating fast century, none of our guys managed to reach a 50.

Being an ordinary fan who gets upset when India looses and gets excited when India wins, I wish the Indian Cricket Team, all the very best to try and draw this test match (which now needs a miracle and dramatic turn around)

See ya guys in the next post...