To be an Indian Cricketer

It takes a certain amount of talent to be in the Indian Cricket team. To lose to world class sides in succession is no mean task. To have a coach with whom you have a winning streak of 17 chases and then shoo him after a world cup blaming him for your flaws requires extreme concentration and power of will. Here's an insider's tip on how to be the player you like most.

To be a Sachin Tendulkar, you'll have to lose all forms of self respect and be adamant to remain in the team no matter how badly you perform. In case you need a break or are sure you won't play well in an upcoming tournament all you have to do is pretend a shoulder injury. Later you can come back anytime you want. After all, those centuries you knocked decades ago did not come easily to you.

To be a Sourav Ganguly, you need to be a bengali with your kin in the BCCI for support.

To be a Kumble you need to be close to forty years old and practice bowling yorkers at medium pacer's speed so you can fool the batsman by claiming to be a spin bowler.

To be a Laxman is the toughest. You need to make sure you get selected for all the test matches and you should deliver centuries consistently. That these centuries come in thrice as many balls doesn't matter.

A Virendar Sehwag must first get the support of his captain...go about blitzkreiging for ten matches after which you are entitled to make twenty ducks in a row until the management finally decides to "Rest" you for two matches. And then you're back again.

A Mahendra Singh Dhoni requires raw power and a lot of hair. One successful series, quite a lot of ads...and then change your gameplay.

To be Rahul Dravid one has to practice extreme yoga and stress therapy so you remain calm under all situations...even when you need to speak up.

To be an Irfan Pathan, you need to bowl really well up to a point when the world cup's round the corner and then lose your form.

To be a Yuvraj Singh, you must be able to ape the team's current most successful player's techniques. And behave like a senior player while you're not yet one.

To be a Ramesh Powar, you need a little extra pounds and must be able to run with a huge paunch as though it were someone else's.

To be a Harbajan Singh, you must never take wickets.

To be a Sadagoppan Ramesh, Balaji or any other player who stays in the team for only one tournament and then vanishes irrespective of his performance...you have to be from Tamil Nadu.

Jokes apart, ever wonder why people from southern states never make it big unless they are exceedingly well talented but people from north get to stay in the team in spite of bad performances? Everything is politicized and biased. Why a nation so big as ours has to lose to sides like bangladesh is because really talented people never get a chance to play. There are probably a million bradman's waiting to be discovered and given a chance. They are out there in the streets of poor India, playing gully cricket. These are the very same people who bunk college or office to sit at home and watch an eight hour match just to see our clumsy team lose most of the time.

labels: personal blog, r vinay, rvinay88, trashcan, trashcan - a dump for my garbage thoughts

Of viruses and versions

Imagine an entire industry being created by a few bored, lonely geeks sitting behind their computer terminals in a remote, desolated location...sipping diet coke and racking their brains to write a few lines of code that could be sent over the internet to you, me and the rest of the gullible world.

Welcome to the world of Anti Virus software industry. The AV has become inevitable...almost as inevitable as your Operating System itself. Let's sit back and think...If the AV's are supposed to do what they claim to do...then how come there are several viruses out there on the loose attacking unsuspecting internet users? Every week there's a new update patch available...that keeps updating your virus listing, which goes up to a million pages in length. Yet there are "big bad viruses" that can neither be detected nor be destroyed by any AV software. "We're working on it." they claim. And are positive of finding cure...but then another new virus will simply pop out.

Now I ask you to spend a few quirky minutes of your very boring life on this....If you were running an industry that will run only till there are viruses, would you create a software that could destroy every virus? If your bread and butter depended upon these tiny files, would you try to give your customer a software that could destroy all of them? Will anyone need the police if there all the thieves were in jail? People, look at the conspiracy thats up and running right in front of your eyes...a conspiracy that is affecting everyone of us. You pay out of your pockets for and sponsor the livelihood of these opportunistic people.

This is the world we live in. A world of capitalistic ideas, profit minded cheats and that one detestable word that has made so many millionaires...

labels: personal blog, r vinay, rvinay88, trashcan, trashcan - a dump for my garbage thoughts

"VERSIONS"

Linkin Park!!!

The success of any rock band lies in its ability to make people relate to the emotions they're portraying. Thats the reason why personal musings are an instant hit. With Linkin Park, the reason for their quick rise to fame does not merely lie in their tunes or Chester's screams. The lyrics are something every human can relate to. Strong emotions flow through lines that emphasize the emotions that many people fear or fail to express openly. Fear, Hatred, Betrayal, Vengeance are feelings that are more often suppressed than not. LP acts as a ventilation for such feelings. One can actually feel the emotions so strongly that the effect is almost physical.

"I cant feel

the way I did before.

Don't turn your back on me

I won't be ignored"

The guitars(Brad Delson and Dave Farrell) are used more blatantly in some songs than others. Hit the floor has a hard rock feel to it, even though LP is more of a techno/nu metal band. The work is highly appreciable in A place for my head. Braking the Habit is a personal favorite of lead vocalist Chester Bennington...He can never perform this song on stage because he ends up crying every time he sings it.

"I don't need you anymore

I don't want to be ignored.

I don't need one more day

of you wasting me away"

The genius in LP sounds are the techno part of it. Subtle sounds that together make a great effect on the listener. The swooshes and scratches Joe Hahn provides are a treat to the listener.

"I don't know why I instigate

and say what I don't mean"

Quality and strength of emotions portrayed has been deteriorating since their first album. Probably ran out of tunes...so had to "mash" things up in Collision Course. And then there were talks about the band splitting but now they're back with a bang with Minutes to Midnight. Their sound seems to have evolved into something new in this album.

"Take everything

from the inside

and throw it all away

cuz i swear

for the last time

I won't trust myself with you."

Mike Shinoda's a genius, who can rap, write lyrics and play the guitar with equal ease. Rod Bourdon's drums aren't all that great. Even die-hard Fans feel LP could do with a better drummer.

But all-in-all, LP's a treat for all lovers of music. A great companion in lonely times with tunes that stick to your head and lines so personal that some songs, you may feel, were written exclusively for you.



labels: personal blog, r vinay, rvinay88, trashcan, trashcan - a dump for my garbage thoughts

All in a day's work

Early morning. Sweet climate (very rare in singara chennai). Deep sleep. Incessant buzzing sound. Darned alarm in my mobile phone. Never fails to ring. Wake up and I'm literally dragged into a car. Driving lessons. They're not that boring actually, except that my instructor had to have learnt his english in some remote caribbean Island..."Brake the apply" he says unabashed. Doesn't even realize his grammar could have given Shakespeare a heart attack. After the classes I come home...only to realize, I forgot to brush my teeth. Serves my instructor right. I try to catch up some more sleep but no..I wake up and get ready. Gotta go to college to pay my fees. A bus journey for one and a half hours...thanks to a million bus stops within the same road by our beloved MTC. I pay my college fees to an accountant who refuses to look at my face. His eyes never left the currency for even a second. As though, if he lifts his gaze off them, they might disappear. Another one and a half hour journey back home and i get a call. My sister's vehicle refuses to start. And she's in another part of this city. "Alright...I'll be there" and i leave the house and a drop of liquid hits my face. Thankfully, it wasn't any crow this time. Just that it started to rain! Not quite the kinda day I'd imagined. Basking in the sun with sun tan lotions, novels and fresh juices. I end up in a mechanic shop with a vehicle that refuses to start. "The rains do that to them"...the mechanic tells me. "Just get the damned thing started" I tell him. Another half hour of driving against watter pellets that hit your face like bullets when you drive fast, I reach home to realize mom din make lunch for me. No fault of hers. I ended up eating outside for a major part of the week and she had to dump my lunch into the garbage can. Only today I thought I'd eat home...only because I din have money. So I console myself with a cup of tea and settle in front of my tv. Thats when the realization hit me...there was no power since last night..."The rains do that to them" I recollect how much knowledge a mechanic had possessed. So I borrow some money and hit out to my favorite food outlet nearby...They're closed..."No customers due to rain" I was told by another man in misery. Get back home with an empty stomach. Kill a couple of hours till things settle back to normal. And now, sitting in front of my computer...all i can say to myself is..."Its all in a day's work."

labels: personal blog, r vinay, rvinay88, trashcan, trashcan - a dump for my garbage thoughts

Rain Rain...

Chennai is notoriously famous for its weather. The city wants rain but when it does rain its highly inconvenient for the locals. A heavenly teat for all Auto drivers..."Mazha kottudu baa" they say justifying their sky-high prices. Luckily for them, the roads in Chennai are designed to wash away unwanted dirt on the surface of the roads (which actually includes the surface of the roads themselves) during the rainy season. The mechanics love being busy tightening brakes and loosened nuts(Only for vehicles). The ubiquitous, duty-conscious traffic sergeants brave the bad weather with government provided raincoats, if only to have a sip of hot tea and fleece an occasional violator. One can see a true warrior if one would take a peak at the road users during such a season. Unaware of what lays beneath a pool of water, be it an open man-hole or a block of stone. That's courage. Watch the innovative young minds ignite when they use plastic bags as a cover for their precious heads when out in the rain. No graffiti design can ever beat the patterns made on the walls with slush sprayed on it due to speeding cars. And the accompanying obscenities make it even more interesting. The only time when gas stations are filled with cycles is when the gods shower their blessings on opportunists. And all those people who're victimized by these opportunists together sing....

"Rain Rain go away
Come again another day"

labels: personal blog, r vinay, rvinay88, trashcan, trashcan - a dump for my garbage thoughts