Seeing Rahul Dravid in flesh and blood..

I've been to Bangalore to watch the India vs New Zealand test match. Though it wasn't test cricket of supreme quality, thanks to some spirited performances by the Kiwis, I thoroughly enjoyed whatever keen contests that happened. From the pavilion stand, I watched Indians on the victory podium. And many more than that.

But the highlight of the last day was when Rahul Dravid quietly walked into our stand and sat couple of seats behind me. I was so engrossed in the game that I didn't really bother the hush behind me. When I finally did turn back, there he was! The gentleman! Or the highest compliment you can play to a man - he is "the complete man", going Raymond's way.

I almost had a minor heart attack watching my hero at a hand's distance. I could have chased him down to get an autograph, which he might have obliged without much fuss. I chose not to. An autograph might have helped boast about it in my circles. But no, that's not what I want.  Having seen him up and close, I now wanna dream - openly and wildly - that I someday would catch up with him for coffee and over it, discuss tons and tons of books. Or may be, interview him for pustakam! Or may be loan from him the entire Cardus collection.(given he has them!)

Looking forward to that day, Rahul. Until then, thanks for everything! 

Thank you. Miss you. Love you.

People come. And then, people go. That's the surest part, the-going-away part. Celebrate people as and when they happen to you, because for all you know, they might not be around any longer.

Rahul bid good-bye to international cricket today. What does that mean to me?

Remember The Picture Of Dorian Gray? Today, my hair turns a bit gray and face has few wrinkles. I've grown old, irreversibly that too, with his retirement. The huge chapter of admiration and adulation that ran across my teenage and youth, came to an end. There will be no new additions to the numerous stories I weaved out of his mere presence. The star I kept gazing at in bored hours and kept praying to in moments of desperation, has gone out of my horizon, once for all!

But hey.. I'm the winner here. I've loads and loads of goods to carry home. A wealth that has escaped from memory cells to find a deeper suitable seat for a life long stay.

Thanks Rahul for being around and for what you're. And yeah, love you!

Cricket Ramblings

My head's got so many things thinking about, it's gonna be real hard to stick to a topic in this post. The intention is however to be in and around cricket. 

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Day began with Dileep Premachandran's article on Sourav Ganguly. Having been his fan for this long, nothing from him comes as a surprise. So, when he says, "I don't see a point in playing cricket, now.", I support him with the usual fervour.  Looking back, this guy has been such an inspiration in my life, in terms of doing what I wanna do and speaking my mind on it.. I sometimes wonder if he IS the key ingredient to the personal I'm today. Love you, Sourav Daa.. always! 

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It is always good to know somebody else is also thinking on the same lines as you. At least, it surprises me when I see my mind in others' words. Two of cricinfo's articles almost stole the words from my mouth. Both relating to India in WC 2003. 


For me the most remarkable of India's wins because of bowling performance are victories against england and NZ in WC'03. It's always such a rarity to see an Indian bowler being absolutely ruthless in his attack. If Nehra's performance was such a beauty, the aggression and accuracy of Zaheer against NZ had me floored. I precisely remember sitting on the top of the sofa.. I know that's weird way of sitting.. at the beginning of the match, and was on the ground by the time Zaheer completed his first spell. Man! Wasn't he a treat to watch in that match?! 

While watching the repeating highlights of various WCs on star cricket, to my own surprise, I quipped: It might have been a different story, had Laxman featured in that WC final. It's too much of a thought, but over the years,  Laxman has just grown in stature of being Australia's nemesis. 

Rahul's article here

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Gautam Ghambir's statement, "No one would die if India doesn't win the world cup.", shows the need to be realistic with our chances and the nature of the game itself. If India wins, it would inspire a million others to pick up bats and balls. If not, nothing is truly lost.. except another chance to be champions. 

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When I talk, people tend to think that either I'm too ignorant or intellectual to be termed as sane. 

For instance, when I theorized that sledging is a good idea and can reap rich benefits, out of my own limited ping-pong playing experiences, I got similar weird looks. Get ready to make your eyebrows dance, as I present my theory here. 

Any player, according to me, has two layers - 1. skill 2. attitude. Individually, they don't need long drawn explanations. But the combination of both is petty interesting. Let's just take binary values of the two attributes to put the theory simple.

Assuming you're some one with right level of skill and attitude needed for the competition. 

No skill. No attitude. : Can be dusted off soon.
No skill. Loads of attitude: As a opponent, you should be ready for surprises. 
Skill. Right attitude: That's a deadly combination. Win or loss, you'd be in for some serious blows. Here's where your mental strength of performing under adverse conditions comes to your rescue. 

Skill. No attitude. This is an interesting combination. This could be anyone's game. But if I'm the opponent and if I get the idea of the skills of opponent, I find it petty wise to start playing the mind's game. Playing to the best of your ability, surely rises the game's standard.. but if you can play on the guy's mind, it could get favourable to you. Also, I believe in utilizing correct skills at apt times. I don't think,  trying too hard to get rid of a good batsmen with average temperament isn't that great an idea. If I'm a captain, I'd insist on bowler targeting  batsmen's mind as well as his stumps, not just his stumps alone. That case, even a wide delivery can get him a wicket, needn't be an unplayable delivery. 

My point is mind games work. Sledging is a part of it. It needn't get too abusive, involving mothers and wives. But well, ethics put apart, sledging of any kind works, reaping rich benefits. 

So, when the man himself admitted saying, "I sledged once and it worked", I loved the statement. It's the "worked" part of the statement that makes me proud of my own analysis. :P 

After all the world we're in is not so gentlemanly!



 

Come home, Laxman!

There's this Telugu movie in which the lead complains about losing a day in the calendar. She lost it because she was on drugs. I didn't know what was sucking me into, but it looks like I've lost too many days in my calendar. I missed the world for about a month or so. I'm glad, I'm back. And though this post is a delayed celebration, I'm happy I woke up in the nick of the time.

If I tell you that the news of Hyderabad hosting a test match makes me ecstatic, you might raise your eyebrow or laugh at my stupidity. Even if you've been ardent cricket fan all your life, you might not understand my ecstasy. Especially if you're from those big metros like Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai or Bangalore. You wouldn't know what it is to be a metro and yet have occasional cricket matches happen in a multi-purpose stadium. You'd have no idea what it means for an ordinary cricket fan to have a cricket stadium. You'd have no idea how harsh it was on us, when IPL was taken away from Hyderabad because of agitations. You'd have no idea what its like dying to watch your heroes playing the highest form of cricket and yet can't even dream of it.

My ecstasy is two fold. One is that this city, which has been cricket loving all through and yet deprived of proper cricketing action, is getting its due, finally! This city will cheer, roar, celebrate and enjoy every single action involved when two Test teams are battling it out.

The other reason, and more important of the two, is Laxman! He made the Australian crowd to bow to him. He made Kolkata his home. He's shown a piece of wood can be a magic wand, too. In the days of slam bang cricket, he keeps showing what's called class. He'd be coming home. He'd be cheered for the first ever time, by his own people and the people would enjoy their fellow, perform at the level he's best at.

It would be pretentious to say that Laxman would be most sought out in Hyderabad's match. No! The God would take all the honours, as the ritual goes and no hint of doubt in it!

But Laxman needs this bit of it, for what he has given to Test cricket! Hyderabadi's aren't intelligent cricket lovers like Chennaites or sophisticated as the Bangaloreans. We don't go on to streets to fight for our heroes. We don't make fuss when Laxman is neglected or ill-treated. We can't make ourselves visible or heard like our counterparts from Bangalore or Kolkata keep demonstrating. Not that we're gauche. Not that we don't love. We've a unique way of doing it. When we love, we love! That's all! No further action gets kicked in. We're too laid back to tell how much we love. May be, not even that! We just don't see the need. The Australians might call us daft, but we're the way we're. 

The authentic Hyderabadi would get a typical Hyderabadi reception.. for the first time ever is *the* reason for my ecstasy.

God bless, Hyderabad!

Laxman is NOT unsung... Please...

The whole of media is going bonkers over the topic of Laxman being the unsung hero. For having not got the mass popularity, for not having those huge endorsements, for never having been part of the glamorous world, for having been doubted despite best performances. Indian media has this knack of bringing controversy from just about anything.

Laxman can't be appreciated in normal ways, you see. He's way too special to the ordinary to observe.

When you come across a breathtakingly beautiful lady, you'd show your admiration by not dropping your eyelids even for a moment. But what if you come across a woman with strong character and mettle.. how would you appreciate?

If you join your friends for a bollywood / hollywood music show, you can simply sway your hands, following your friends or the crowd. What if that show was about classical music - Indian or Western? How much of it could you enjoy, without having strong base in appreciating it, in first place?

It's so bloody easy to talk about a Hollywood blockbuster? How many of us, calling ourselves movie buffs, can actually comment on the classics that stood out time?

The Sophie Kenslies, the Stephenie Meyers RULE the literary world. But does that leave a Orhan Pamuk or Marquez too tough to comprehend? Are they unsung?

Not everything can be acknowledged by everyone. It's only in this country, which suffers from for-the-mass syndrome.. it's only here that majority counts, a little too much.

Laxman belongs to a rare species of true performers.. if he doesn't have mass appeal, it's alright. It doesn't even count. For he is, too special for the ordinary. To adore him, you gotta have that extra bit of specialty to appreciate beauty.. beauty in the purest of forms.. otherwise, he seems too ordinary.

He makes the Australian players and crowd respect him. What are you waiting for?

Stop the fuss! And bow to the man, who showed painting can be done on the canvas called cricket ground.

Boxed voice..

With dry and aching eyes, I couldn't afford to watch much of the T20 WC action in live. Tucked under blanket, thought "hearing" cricket can't be a bad idea either. Eyes shut and ears wide open, I get to listen a match on TV. Tough as it was getting, I get to hear this one man's voice, for whose interviews I used to await eagerly. It's now much easier to lie under the blanket than when he is action.

Anil Kumble's bowling is anyway clinical, but his voice for me is irresistible! And to have him now in the commentator's box is immense pleasure for someone like me who's fascinated by voices. Saurav's another guy, I'd love to hear day in and day out.

Alas! The moment of joy was soon galloped by the thought - my heroes who had triumph and glory on the field have now vacated their thrones to occupy a corner seat of a closed box. Probably, these are the signs of aging - apart from the usual grey hair and wrinkles - that the people around me whom I associate your childhood with, without whom life would've been less passionate, have now moved on to new ways of life because of their age. And it is now on my turn to introduce these commentators as my idols to the younger lot.

For the first time ever, I wish the prime of youth doesn't pass off. To feel young, seems like you need a lot many others to remain young.

Damn it... how hard is it to be yourself?

(When there are few sane voices around you trying hard to put in stuff into your head, you either have to heed to them, or rant like this almost at midnight with not so sound health. )

I'm not worried about the result of the match nor about the show put up by the Indians so far, but how ridiculous Dhoni has been all through his innings. Not just this particular innings, it's been a while that he found a gratuitous approach to his game. The audacious Dhoni who massacred any bowling attack is now a distant memory!

The fact that he has been terribly struggling doesn't hurt me as much as the way he has chosen to go about things. Yes, there'll be numerous voices out there professing about "n" no. of virtues you don't posses. Does that only mean you'll have to start acquiring all of them, by trail and error method, and forget what you've been endowed with?

Impatience is a way of life, if that's your way too - SO BE IT!
Only fools rush.... don't worry! End of the day, if you win the race, you won't be tagged as "foolish" winner. If you lose, you'll anyways get an earful.
If your blood gushes out at every opportunity, go make it big! Resistance is USELESS!

Oh.. there is adaptability too, just round the corner. But if that starts hurting your innate strengths, just leave it there at that very corner. You'll be named "inflexible". You choose another way, you'll be called otherwise.

Straightly put: As long as you get the results, the world sings your tune. And to get results, you'll have to be you. Chances of being successful is far less when you're busy trying to be what you're not.

Incongruous are the man management skills of a team, that forces compromises out of its best men. Sachin has fallen prey to this weird theory of sacrificing his best, in name of team's benefit or whatever crap. Thankfully, Sehwag couldn't be bend. He is what HE IS!

Afridi makes more sense to me, going out and out at the very first ball of every single game he plays. He's a no-hoper in terms of batting these days, is still understandable; success or no-success he has his way.

Dhoni.. you gotta BE YOURSELF!

( I can now sleep peacefully.. I needed this outlet, very badly!)

Gilly!

Boy O Boy!

Witnessed some breathtaking stuff from Adam Gilchrist, one of those occasions where you thank yourself for being there. Gilly, all through the series has been like the teasing tide that comes, touches your feet and rolls away too swiftly, that you feel.. "Oh..so little of it!". And on the very big day, when it mattered the most, he comes in as one of those tsunami waves to which you surrender, despite your best efforts. ( Amit Mishra has really been good, when put in the context.)

I always loved watching this guy in action for the massive sixers he hits, but today his boundaries, driven all along the ground were like an artist at his best. None can paint better! None can script better! None can mesmerize better!

A boy, who is just 37 years old will rule my dreams, tonight!

Boy O Boy!

All you guys out there.. time for rehearsal

Hey...  you guys and gals out there,  screwed up by life?

Watch Deccan Chargers in action, and that would give a perfect rehearsal for the ebbs and tides of life. I mean it.

Its "wow" a moment, and "alas" the other. If you want to rock at the swinging business between the both, then they are a must watch!

McCullum... My heart goes out for you, dude! Better times await you.

Sure, I had the last laugh today, but in less than 12 hours it can be a whole different story. Wishing the deccan's all the very best.

Updated on 17th May: Hehehhe.. they can teach you how to create "mess" out of nothing! Sure, none of us would be keen to learn that! 

Deccan Chargers - Go India Go..

Deccan Chargers have started, started in the best possible way. As their tag line goes, they seem to be the "unstoppables" now. Suprisingly not, people started to give them a chance to win the tournament this year. As their ardent follower this should be great news for me. Yet, I still back away to call them champs.

Ask me why?

Deccan Chargers seemed the best team possible for a T20 encounter on the paper even last year, because it has too many big names. It had the best of the batting possible. Can you imagine giving a chance to any team when the likes of Afridi, Gilly, Gibsy, Scott styris, the big man Symonds are all on the other side? There was the problem, they all had to be in the team so that on a given day even if one of them had "his-day" the team can win comfortably. Say, the first match they won against Mumbai, when Gilly dictated the terms to Shaun Pollock and Co. The rule of four foreign players had its impact on the strongest team on paper.

This team, probably could chase down any, ANY target! And at the very same time, it could also give away any, ANY target that is otherwise unsurmountable. Warne hitting Symonds for an "awful" lot of runs, wasn't just bad for the ego of Symo, but for the DCs all through the season. The simplest funda of cricket, even a bad ball has to be hit for the boundary, even a tail ender has to be out, its over only after the last ball or the last wicket. No matter, how potent your batting strengths be, there needs to be a decent bowling attack.

Following Deccan Chargers all through was / is like reliving those moments of WC'99.  Even if you prefer to call it exaggeration, I still would present the similarities of the then Indian team and the now DC. On a day when everything goes their way, they seem unbeatable. Played on their weak spots, they can be tamed with no major effort. The batting is highly dependent on some big names. It's like if the big guns don't fire, that is all! The rest of the line up is so pathetic that you can't even expect the others to bat sensibly. They needn't do anything similar to that of the bigger guys, but use presence of mind and avoid mess. Look, at the run-out in yesterday's DC match that involved Gibbs and Venugopal rao. Common sense, isn't it? That's required from Venu's end to complete the run and throw his wicket away, so that the set batsman can continue. Well, I agree common sense is not that commonly found.

Lesser said about the fielding, the better. The bowling line up may not be giving nightmares, but you need people who have big hearts, to keep hitting the line even while the ball is disappearing. That's not so seen in the DC's last year. The point I want to make here is, though Indians were given a chance to win the world cup'99, they couldn't do. Simple reasons:

1. If the key batsmen are out too soon; others can't even bat out, can't make the best of the ruins. 
2. The bowling can be teared away on a given day. Hard to recover once that's done. Even if the so called, front line attack does it job, the fifth or sixth bowlers can give it away.
   
3. Fielding?! Let me put the other way; dropped or misjudged catches, fumbles, overthrows, lethargic movements, pushing the ball over the rope to pull it back etc.
   

Knowing what li'l cricket I know, DC's are still  far away from being the title contenders. Sourav used to keep repeating this: "The team that plays well for the majority of 100 overs would be the winner." The super-fast format of the game may not fit that line into it. Yet, for me a team that can be called a champion or has a potential to be, is the team which can rise to the occasion, which can roar in tiring conditions, which denies to be dusted, which can do anything to save its pride. DC's are li'l too far away, from my point of view, and the huge let down for them in my point of view, comes from the locals.

That said, I still would follow the DCs for rest of 11 matches. Because they let me keep swinging between hope and despair, a game that I've started to enjoy off late, as I'm left with no other go. :P Also, I can relive many of those 99 moments.

Trivia: Since I've anyway got into the business of comparing the team of by-gone era and the current Chargers, here's another point. Charger's anthem filled with may "Go"s. And the WC'99 team had this slogan Go-India-Go! Look, isn't that a point? Okie.. at least silly point? ;)

Tagore's Universalism and Modi's IPL

"Home and the world" was one of the books, I read last year. This work of Tagore on the face of it, may only seem to be a romantic trio, where the woman happens to be caught between her husband and the new found love. Digging a little deep, you may also find allegories, that it's actually India's struggle to be on the "swadeshi" terms or to be more enlightened soul and be on the global perspective. It's not hidden that Tagore was not keen on the "swadeshi" moment and he had difference of opinions with Gandhi as well. And this work of his, I personally feel is just to highlight his point of anti-swadeshi or to profess Universalism or both. You may end up finding this book absolutely boring or too biased. All said and done it's one of my favourites.

Universalism - a world with no boundaries, no way to differentiate or discriminate one individual from the other. I always considered, myself patriotic, even if that has to be certified by trivia that my blood boils when heard something against India, that I passionately celebrate any of its victories in any of the fields and the likes. At the very same time, courtesy to my upbringing, I always despised the conceptual separation among ourselves, be it in the name of religion or caste, creed etc. The point that struck me hard, while reading "Home and the World" was that, if demarcating on the lines of worship or the traditions followed were wrong, then why limiting ourselves in the name of national boundaries should be good feel. If its only hatred, vengeance and enmity that's passed on, even "patriotism" is certainly not a positive energy.

IPL has conceptualized and materialized, too soon after I completed this book. The concept of universalism in action. The best part of the IPL was, that it has crossed boundaries and the worst part of it could have been the very same, if not for the intensity the guys showed for their respective franchisees. That went over the roof, when Sri and Bhajji involved themselves in the slap episode. Under the heavy influence of Tagore's universalism, I thought I'll find a new fun of enjoying a sport, not egging on anybody in particular. The fun of watching a game with no intense passion, a constant attitude of "who'll win?" rather than, "we'll win".

It just didn't happen. I found myself  fanatic over Deccan Chargers, my home team. I was praying against the likes of Saurav, Anil, Rahul which was not possible even in dreams a little earlier. Yes, it turned to be a disastrous season for DC leaving me with a very familiar taste of "let-down", which was soon to be overcome by another very familiar feeling "oh-next-time-it's-ours". I don't give a chance for the Chargers to be crowned even this year, but I'm very sure, I'll follow them with the same intensity I support India. That, by no means, is an overstatement.

One of the reasons I enjoy IPL to the fullest, may be!

Ahem.. Sachin spoiled me too..

My day has been full of cricket. Having nothing to work at work, I've been mostly in cricinfo site. And sharing the "wows.. oohs.. aahs" with people in (gtalk) and around (me). So.. India won, won convincingly enough. That's good news, but the post isn't about that.

Out of the blue, I dug out my gmail chats to find out the link recommended by a friend, sometime back. He stated it pretty clearly that it was about the way we group watching cricket, it was by Siddhartha Vidhyanathan, that it is a must read and a lot other things. Being busy at that point of time, just kept it away. The only thing I do with something postponed is to postpone. Now the news is, I READ it! ;-)

And the bad part of the news is that I feel like talking / blogging / writing about it, just as Siddhartha did. But how to start and where all to touch, wish walking down the memory lane was easy. So, what I'm gonna do now is, just copy, paste few of the lines that I loved in the post.

Sachin Tendulkar spoilt us. He commanded that we sit in front of the television sets. He ensured we got late with homework, he took care of our lunch-break discussions. He was not all that much older than us, and some of us naïve schoolboys thought we would achieve similar feats when we were 16. We got to 16 and continued to struggle with homework.

For me, he was more than all this. (Just like he's for everyone else too.) Being in an all-gals school, and talking about him all through day, I was kinda "pick the odd". Hero was supposedly Shahrukh or Aamir, only few had an idea of Sachin, thanks to his endorsements. Atleast during the 96 WC that I found hard to share the excitement at School. Things then changed, cricket penetrated so deep into everybody's life, that like it or not, you had to live with it.Thankfully, gained a lot of friends just because of cricket. To date, if I've prayed it was for Sachin Tendulkar. I pray whenever he plays. I prayed for his health, for the serious backache he had halfway through career. Was li'l grown up, but yet worried a lot for his tennis elbow. And I prayed hard, that he shouldn't be part of any scams and scandals.Had he been associated with any of these, my trust about humans would have shattered forever.

I never ever tried to emulate him, for the simple reason that I was never keen on playing the sport. I seriously wonder, why couldn't Sachin inspire me to pick up the bat. But the lessons he taught, were all helpful in making me better person. What amazes me is the "BALANCE" he achieves, be it on the field and off it. Watching him bat is like heaven. I desparately wanted to whistle for his super shots. Alas, that's something I can't practice. That way, he leaves with me a sense of nonaccomplishment.

Did Sachin spoil me or not?  Without him, my childhood would have been deprived of much joy and happiness. Not sure if Sachin's retirement would mark an end to the first quarter of my life or any such things, but surely he's the one who would let the child in me intact. Which means, I can be a kid whenever I feel like and that way, yeah.. he did spoil me. It's tough for people around to handle me as a kid, and when going gets tough, people just start complaining.  ;-)

(This is "half baked" stuff from me.  Supposed to be posted on Nov 17th! Untimely too.. )

Best Images of Saurav Ganguly - 1

I believe this should be an interesting excercise. To track down the memory lane and search for the images of the man, I suppose had a huge influence on me. Saurav did inspire me to the core and here's an attempt to recollect how it happened.

First Image:
This should be more than a decade back, I just have returned from school in the afternoon finishing that day's exam   Tuned into the TV just for a while and saw him clad in the white clothes with a thoroughly black background and saying "Everybody else walk out for tea, I would take a break for Tata Tea!" and the my immediate response was "Wow... Handsome!" Hardly did I know, that he was Saurav Ganguly playing his first test for India.

Somehow, I really can't get to the moment that I took him to the idol. May be there is no one such moment, probably it was a gradual process.

The Kochi Image:
He was out of the Kochi one dayer against Aussies, as he was penalized for denying the umpire with the ease he usually does. He was in the commentary box for a while and talked a bit, quite well. The one incident that he narrated which I still precisely remember, talking about the hawk-eyes of cameras on the ground.
"During a test match, the square leg was yawning uncontrollably and at the same moment the camera was focused on him. Realizing it the umpire got back to business, but I started giggling over it. In no time, I was the prey for the camera!"
 I also remembering him saying that the tender coconut is called as "Tata" in bengali. Now, I can't gurantee that! This match was so special because Sachin took 5 wickets and ruined Aussies party! Jadeja scored a fitting hundred.


The Bangladesh Trophy:
It was the season of Independence trophies, on the eve of 50 years of Independence in the sub-continent. Pak's trophy was taken by South Africa I guess. India's was taken by Sri Lanka and Sri Lankan's had to give it back to India. And in the Dhaka stadium, Pakistan and India were fighting it out to claim the Bangla's trophy! 300 plus target is daunting be it any team, but Saurav played a superb centurion innings helped by the masterly Sachin and timely Robin Singh.
It is was darkening out there in the east, Dhaka stadium didn't support full-fledged flood lights then, but undaunted by all the challenges, Saurav accomplished the task. He denied (it comes natural to him) to walk off while the opponents and the umpires wanted to call off the match, due to bad light! Bravo.. Saurav!!


Walking back in Eden Gardens:
It was almost lost, only formalities left when Saurav Ganguly was returning to the pavilion on the third day of that epic Kolkata test match. I surely lost hope, just was waiting for the castle to crash into pieces. Rahul is walking to the pitch to complete what can be called as the "last recognized batting pair." Saurav on his way stops him, hand shakes and pats his back. I didn't get a clue of it. "What the hell would Rahul do now? Agreed, he's the most capable in terms of batting out sessions, but here the team is in such a deep grave, how could he pull it! At the most he can bat all the day tomorrow, but then the rest of the team should hang on. Is that possible. To bat out almost four sessions, without losing as many wickets? With what confidence did Saurav wish him?".. so were my thoughts! Later what happened, is now part of history!

To be continued.. :-)