I try to say a lot while saying very little. Get used to it.
Posts tagged genius
sachinism, the current religion of the indi-net
Feb 24th
Stuff that struck me while reading about Sachin Tendulkar’s nearly unbelievable* feat, most of which will be repeated everywhere I look over the next few days/weeks:
- On this day 21 years ago He completed a 664-run partnership with Kambli. Twenty-f*ckin-one.
- His 200 contained 25 boundaries (the most by a single batsman in an ODI till date) and 3 sixes. The entire RSA team innings (in reply) had 30 boundaries and 3 sixes.
- He has scored 93 international centuries (combining test and ODI cricket) until today. There was a time when He decimated an Australian team for a whole summer (yes, the great Sharjah innings), which was when I started believing that He would score over a 100 centuries before He retired. That day is nigh.
- His closest competitors today (in terms of statistics) have to currently make
- Tests: 1588 runs to catch up His total of 13447, 8 centuries to catch up His total of 47.
- ODIs: 4170 runs to catch up with 17598, 17 centuries to catch up with 46.
- He made an impeccable, near-perfect 175 while chasing Australia in Hyderabad last year.. only to have the Indian team let Him down and choke once He was out. I remember defending him when people said that the innings was typical Tendulkar – the century was great, but no use if He never finishes what He starts. I wonder if.. somehow.. RSA had successfully chased 400 (they’ve done it before), how sweet would this 200 be for the ungrateful Indian cricket fan?
- The fact that He does not make the ICC list of the best players of all-time in either Tests or ODIs has to now rank as one of the biggest egg-on-your-face (or idiotic) statements until date for the ICC. For a man who is redefining every batting record there is every time He takes guard, a man who has surpassed His contemporaries in both longevity and performance… I guess He doesn’t need the ranking to make His mark in cricket history.
I ask you, does He really have to worry about never lifting a World Cup on India’s behalf? Can we quit wondering aloud about His performance every time He doesn’t make a century?
Will we ever get over Him?
Side note: I noticed that the statistically top batsmen who are still playing cricket today are all 34+ (age in brackets): Jayasuriya (40), Ponting (35), Tendulkar (37), Gibbs (36), Kallis (34). This is to be expected, given the amount of cricket these people have played in their lifetime… but it appears the old guard is never going to make way for a new one.
*I say “nearly unbelievable”, because it is Sachin after all. One can believe that He can pull it off.**
**Yes, the capitalization of ‘H’ is intentional. God, after all.
avtr
Dec 18th
Avatar is a mind-bogglingly spectacular extravaganza, proving Cameron has truly reinvented cinema as we know it.
I can only hope it pays off. It would be sad if such movies are not made because they don’t make enough at the box office.
IMAX 3D only. Please. Don’t insult the man’s effort. No 2D. No IMAX Digital crap.
Go.
there if no charge for awefomeness
Aug 18th
Awefomeness #1: Whale watching in Boston. Pretty damn great. Watching the mother and baby whale play in the waters of the Stellwagen Bank is a little unbelievable – a sight not to be missed. The staff goes on about facts and figures and yada yada yada, but the actual sight is almost…surreal. As we approached, the baby actually breached completely, in addition to all the tail-and-fin-slapping. Something pretty rare, apparently. I would describe it, but words don’t do enough justice – and I don’t have good enough photos to make up the requisite thousand words. I can steal from a different set of photos from the time though – thanks to Gerry.
Awefomeness #2: The missus. Coming fresh off a weekend with her, it was a very close call to beat whale watching 
Awefomeness #3: Kaminey. Think Pulp Fiction, Lock Stock and Manmohan Desai all rolled into one. Think about attention to detail (‘Dhan ta naa’ actually has one guy singing with and one guy singing without a lisp). Think the use of ‘Fatak!’. Think about making your characters so lovingly detailed that the hero gets sidelined. Think about the pure adrenaline rush of a movie perfectly executed, and living up to every expectation you had of it. ‘Aife aife log kaife kaife ho gaye..‘
Awefomeness #4: Old friends. There is a comfort and a feeling there that is hard to replicate elsewhere. Even just talking about random crap. These are people I have known for nearly 10 years now, and the effect is starting to really show. There was a line that Raghu once quoted to me (indirectly) as something he wished he could have carried off while I was around. I can feel it more now than ever before..
Awefomeness #5: Boltbus. No other for me, ever. Wifi + plug-points = Insane time-pass. Massive catch-up on Google Reader. And other reading too. Vague memories of the cramped UK bus trips (and the few Chinatown buses) are banished as I luxuriated in being able to stretch my own legs freely while sitting. While sitting. Bliss.
Awefomeness #6: Coke Studio. A musical Independence Day celebration for Pakistan via Coke – where is India’s? Both seasons online – video +audio – and completely free and legal to download/watch/listen! Artistes including Rahat Fateh, Ali Azmat, Strings… in what can only be termed as jamming to their best tunes. Classy, very classy.
Awefomeness #7: I’m actually learning to take photos. At least I think so (the missus does too – but I tell her she’s biased). I can tell about settings a lot more intuitively. And I truly only feel able to take photos with a camera like mine now – trying out a simpler camera in India was hell. Score.
continually making random posts means i’m degenerating to traditional blogging
May 27th
Moving sucks. SUCKS. Period.
And that series of long titles has been in honor of Dinosaur Comics. Bloody frickin’ awesome:
How he manages to get something pretty rockin’ everyday from the same 6 sets of images.. and not make it completely random is beyond me.
On a side note, and going back to the moving thing, I have way too much stuff for a person who’s lived here for less than 3 years. Seriously.
he fuckin’ won!
Feb 22nd
Recognition is sweet. Even sweeter after an awesome musical performance. Even sweeter coming during a career that has truly transcended time, place and belief.
No matter that he has been felicitated so many times over that this is just one more feather in the cap. But its a feather that India has never really been a contender for.
A.R.Rahman wins 2 Oscars in one shot, for what I rate as one of his best till date, and nothing more need be said.
p.s. Even if I do think ‘O..Saya’ is the better song.
p.p.s. Euphoric does not describe me adequately 
p.p.p.s. Must update with photo when available.
