Team India not for the weak hearted!

So here I was, a day night game on Saturday night. Following cricket from USA is a challenge with time difference making sure that games are on in odd hours. A Sunday afternoon start in Adelaide means a 10:30 PM Saturday night start for those of us on the EST timezone. India's series down under has been one heck of a series so far for all sorts of reasons. Enough has been said and written about the test series so I won't get into it here again.

The win at the MCG last Sunday meant sky rocketing expectations for us Indian fans. However, having followed the trials and tribulations of the Indian Cricket team since early eighties I well know how misplaced those expectations are. India dealt the first blows in this game reducing the Aussies to 73 for five. Hayden,Ponting,Gilly,Symonds- all the big guns gone without hundred on the board. The young Indian pace attack led by the gangly Ishant seemed unstoppable. Would we do the impossible- beat the Aussies in back to back games in their own den? The plot seemed too good to be true. Sure enough, just when it looked like we would do the Aussies some real embarrassment, we took off the foot from the pedal. Clark led the fightback with the lower order and Aussies ended up with 203 on the board.

By this time it was already 2AM and I decided not to be drawn into the heart stopping Indian batting. I guessed the ball was gonna swing and 204 wasnt that easy. It would be a tragedy to follow the game into the wee hours of the morning and end up on the loosing side. Decided to catch some sleep and when I checked back in the morning, sure enough there it was- 50 runs thrashing as Aussies even won a bonus point. I should have known, maybe I did. I am glad I chose to see the best part of the match and slept through the disaster. Oh well...on to the next match. Win or loss, I remain a cricket addict.

A million mutinies?

I was extremely saddened to read about recent reports where North Indian workers in Bombay were attacked by Maharashtra Navnirman Sena(MNS). This is apalling, a proverbial black mark on a megapolis like Bombay which takes pride in being a melting pot of cultures. Apparently the grouse of Raj Thakeray and his goons was that labor migrants from Bihar and UP were creating lots of turbulence in the city and stretching the city's infrastructure to the point of no return.

Though there is some truth in the matter, migration across countries as well as within is a universal phenomena. People will try to flock to a place where opportunity and a better life beckons. But as a citizen of the Republic of India, the constitution gives me the right to be free to pursue my livelihood anywhere within the nation. It should not matter where I come from. In return one should be willing to abide by the law. If the migrants from UP and Bihar are creating a law and order situation its got to be addressed by the State Government and not through some self appointed son of the soil who is clearly trying to canvass support by playing the regionalism card.

One of the shining achievements of India as a nation post independence is how we have managed to survive as a democracy despite our myriad cultural differences. The disgraceful Bombay episode is a potent threat to the democratic fabric of the nation. Just the other day I read that the Kannada activists attacked and destroyed public property at a Bangalore railway station. These useless goons need to be severely dealt with. If we are saying that Bombay is only for Mahrashtrians, Bangalore for Kannadigas, Chennai for Tamils, then its simply going to be suicidal. More and more Indians now earn their livelihoods abroad. What if every country follows suit and throws us out using similar logic?

At a time when India is better placed on an economic scale than ever before it would be disastrous to let petty things like regionalism take over. Hopefully this too shall pass.

M for 'Multicultural'

I was in a dial-in training today where the presenter- a Danish guy mentioned how Indians have a peculiar way of shaking their head to signify a "Yes" or a "No" which is mighty confusing!. He mentioned this in the context of working in a multi cultural team. This is indeed true, working on a team with folks from diverse cultures often presents some amusing moments. I worked with Brazilians on a project and trying to understand their heavily accented English was quite a challenge. I think it was difficult for them too, one of the guys mentioned that for some reason he found it much easier to understand me on the phone than in person. In time though I found that it got better. Also being exposed to varied regional undertones in which English is spoken in India was a big help because it meant I was not so much used to a particular accent. The case was entirely different with Americans on my team. For them it was nearly impossible to get what the Brazilians were speaking though.

Talking of accents, as is the standard practice on the phone, you spell out a password with an example for each alphabet- You would go "A for apple, C for Cat and so on and so forth". Have heard some interesting ones there- "X for whatever, K for King Kong"!!!

Though the cultural diversity across the world is the cause for unrest in many cases, its never lost on me that however different we may perceive ourselves from other societies and vice versa, the universal constants of family,friends,work - things we worry about and live for remain the same. We are not that different after all.

20 Mile House

There is this beautiful historic landmark called "20 Mile House" on my way to work. Its a small building more like the taverns you read about in old stories. Stopped on the traffic light bang opposite this nostalgic place, the electronic sign caught my eye a few months back. It said "We were here before you were born, 1822". Some research on the internet revealed that the 20 Mile House traces its history back to 1822, when it operated as a stagecoach stop and tavern. It was well known for its Irish coffee and cheese wheels. The place had closed down some years back.

Some days later while again stopped on the same light I read on the electronic sign that the house was open again and would serve dinners and cocktails like the old times. Who doesn't love a little bit of history? Certainly I do. I get an eerie feeling on passing such an old place everyday which was hard done by modern times but glad to know I can have dinner in a true blue American tavern of the 1800's.