Simplifying The Daily Existence

This won't be surprising to those who have the slightest bit of observant sensibilities. However, it could be shocking to those who remain lost in their own world, within the confines of their utterly blissful ignorance. In a way, I actually admire the latter kind, for they don't realize the absolute mediocrity and retarded mindsets that surround us. By now, you would be wondering what I am blabbering about. I realize the introduction to this discussion is a bit too long, but I just wanted to create some sort of a cerebral platform before I dive into what is a shameful fact about riding the Delhi Metro, i.e., the presence of slightly perverted, overtly enthusiastic voyeur lovers who are always on the lookout for an opportunity to glance down a lady's cleavage. Yes, this also suggests that I tend to look around too much, but I don't go around eye-balling cleavages unless they are shoved in my face, unavoidably and suddenly.

The reason I have turned "Romantics" into "Metro-antics" is simply because displaying your love, lust, or whatever makes you stick to your guy/gal in the presence of at least a thousand watchful eyes unashamedly in the Metro is just beyond my levels of comprehension. How can anybody explain a guy and gal, sandwiched between sweaty armpits and massive bellies, stopping just short of pecking each other? This is probably the worst kind of PDA I have ever come across. This is not about me being irritated by something bearable to others. This is not being jealous about not having a girlfriend at the moment. It is about basic manners, hygiene, and reacting to a few fools that can be located in each of the Metro cubicles. They were always around, usually limited to the few, empty corners of the Metro platforms, often taking refuge along the unused sections of the stairs. This is something that still goes around and is digestible. It doesn't make you sick if a couple is slightly cuddled up a few meters away from you, but having to bear the same sight within the confines of the usual, overcrowded Metro cubicle just makes me nauseous. Is it desperation or just the urge to announce to the world that yes! Do we have a date that makes people do such things?

Being an avid Metro user and a keen observer, I couldn't help but notice people who choose to remain clueless and wander the Delhi Metro platforms as if they are sightseeing. For the uninitiated, I am not talking about people using the Delhi Metro for the first time or those who are genuinely dumb. I am talking about folks who use the Delhi Metro rather often and actually know the routes. However, they have this penchant for asking for directions, reconfirming the routes, and re-reconfirming what they already know. These Lost Souls can be found at most Delhi Metro stations, vaguely floating from one co-passenger to another, nodding their head after hearing an answer they already know. Please understand that the Delhi Metro platform offers immediately searchable and easy-to-understand information. So what drives people to repeatedly confirm their position on a Delhi Metro platform despite being fully aware that they are in the right place and won't be kidnapped by aliens? I guess it is just a case of being spooked out by the long, winding tunnels of the Delhi Metro, which they fear might suck them into oblivion, or an overworked sense of imagination that makes them feel that the Metro tracks are ghost-controlled and tend to change every day after midnight!

This is a bowling partnership that the Indian team had been praying for some time now. Strangely, Kumble and Harbhajan never managed to create the kind of spin combo that the Indian team and fans had always hoped. This is despite Bhajji and Kumble having played together for nearly a decade. In stark contrast to this, Pragyan Ojha and Ashwin seem to be gelling rather well.

The Similarities: Both Ashwin & Ojha are traditional spinners. I am referring to the fact that they depend upon flighting and allowing the pitch to play its part. While Bhajji has always been too quick to be labeled a typical off-spinner, Kumble was a far cry from being your conventional leg spinner. Some cricketing experts have even labeled Kumble as being a skiddish seam bowler with a leg-spinners' action. Even more, both Ashwin & Ojha are equally poor fielders. Both of them are slow to move and even worse in anticipating where the ball is going is going in the outfield.

The Challenge: Ashwin & Ojha face the challenge of keeping their places cemented in the Test squad. This is not surprising since Dhoni and the selectors in general seem to have an inclination towards retaining Harbhajan Singh irrespective of the number of times the Turbanotor fails to deliver. Secondly, with more than 300 test wickets to his credit and a couple of test centuries coming in the recent past, Bhajji will always be preferred, i.e. the moment either Ojha or Ashwin err the slightest in their performance.

Conclusion: The left-arm and leg-spin combination is working fine for India at the moment but calling either Ashwin or Ojha "great" is premature and uncalled for. Nearly everybody would agree that both of them are essentially bowlers with limited talent but an appreciable talent. Both of them need to work upon their overall fitness and fielding to ensure that they can contribute beyond the bowling aspect only.

This was a strange dismissal of sorts. Very old-world in its charm and represents the nuances of Test cricket in its purest forms and I enjoyed it in every, possible way. Nafees was batting with his team already having lost two wickets and as usual, Tino Best was gruning, howling and jumping, trying to scare the batsmen with short-pitched deliveries. To his credit, Nafees did not lose his focus and resisted the temptation of hooking. This was impressively done since the pitch was a typical, fifth-day patch and the bounce was highly unpredictable. Just when I was beginning to suppose that Nafees would continue to resist the bait, he was cajoled into trying to pull by some of the surrounding fielders. I cannot recall his name, but one West Indian player, even animated the pull shot to Nafees, egging on the Bangladeshi batsman to try and pull. For some inexplicable reason, the very next delivery, Nafees played into the oldest game of the cricketing book and tried pulling a Tino Best delivery that could have been easily avoided. Best caught the ball that had managed to sail a few feet in the air himself, completing a smart caught & bowled dismissal. Nafees would be cursing himself to have allowed the typical fielding sides' nonsense get to him. I haven't seen anything like this for at least three or four seasons and for a moment, it was humorous. Just loving this season of test cricket in the sub-continent. 

Virender Sehewag has just lofted Graeme Swann for a boundary and as I glance at the scorecard reading no wickets for nearly 116, it seems that Day 1 of the first test match between India and England well might turn into another Sehewag special. The way Sehewag is batting, Alistair Cook must be cursing his luck for having lost the toss. Even Gavaskar commented that this time around, Sehewag is looking rather determined. Early on, the Delhi Blaster was a cautious-something he has been guilty of not doing in the last ten innings or so. If he is ready to keep his head down and look upon this opportunity to register another double ton there is nothing that can possibly stop him, at least not the English bowling. Only Stuart Broad has shown some semblance of bowling a line that can contain or challenge the batsmen. Surprisingly, the English bowlers did not use the short bowl, even to Gambhir, despite being fully aware that he is a bit of compulsive puller on typically sub-continental conditions. I end this post, hoping that Sehewag redeems his recent failures by absolutely butchering the Englishmen.

The ongoing test series between Australia and South Africa has confirmed my belief that the SA team has a major advantage over other test-playing nations in having Amla and Kallis in their top, middle order. For nearly a decade, Kallis was anchoring the SA innings alone, time after time, often being the last man standing. With the arrival of Amla, Kallis has found an equally dependable, if not talented, partner. It seems that the Kallis-Amla equation is going to bother test bowlers of all sorts, no matter what kind of pitch or conditions is thrown to these two batting stalwarts. There are a lot of similarities in Amla & Kallis

This question would be reigning supreme on the mind of devoted Tendulkar fans as the India-England test series 2012 gets underway. For many, this is perhaps the last time the maestro would be playing the Brits on home pitches and perhaps, his last attempt at redeeming himself. Yes, I realize that this might sound a bit too judgmental but the fact remains that the great Sachin has failed to deliver as a batsmen in the test arena for nearly two seasons now. His talents and records shouldn't be the parameter to judge his place in the team. Yes, some degree of preferential treatment is understandable since his talent is beyond human comparison and even the Gods dare not question his genius. However, I still maintain that current form should be the driving force for selection. Perhaps, the Great One should lead by example and judge his own form after the first two test matches. If he hasn't delivered in four innings, he could set a precedent by asking to be eased-out for the remaining matches. This could be the yardstick by which Indian teams are chosen in the future since expecting anything transparent or brave from the selectors is akin to waiting for the Titanic to resurrect itself. 

This morning I read in the newspapers that the England team is contemplating two left-arm spinners in the opening test match against India. Supposedly, this view is fueled by the fact that some of the Indian middle-order batsmen have struggled to score freely against left-arm spinners. I understand this perspective considering that even Tendulkar has got out to Ashely Giles who could have been quite useful in the ongoing test series. However, Giles is out of international cricket and Panesar is out-of-form and out-of-favor. The responsibility now lies on the shoulders of Samit Patel who is an underrated spinner, especially by the Indian batsmen who might be hoping to hit him out of the attack. However, Patel could be a surprising proposition assuming he would be given leg-side field settings by Alistair Cook and would get a lot of rough outside the leg stump. However, I don't understand the Panesar vs Samit Patel question. Panesar has not done anything of note in the last three years or so while Samit has scored runs and taken wickets, even if not by the bunch, in T20s and one-day matches in the recent past.

If the economic crisis bludgeoning the European economies had to be used as a parameter to find a parallel situation in the world of cricket, the New Zealand cricketing fraternity would be the most probable option for me. The reasons are not to hard to find for this rather pessimistic but real analysis. Performance of the Kiwi players has been on the decline for nearly four years. Apart from Vettori and a once-promising Ross Taylor, the team does not seem to have any other player who can engage respect or awe from the cricketing fans. To make matters worse, McCullum has turned into a specialist T20 players

The selection of Indian players for the first two test matches against the visiting England team has been made. From what has been reported on TV channels and newspapers, the sports media at large seems obsessed with who is going to form the opening pair for India, who are the reserve openers and what could have been a better selection. To add more fuel to the opener conundrum, the chief selector, Mr. Sandeep Patil underlined that Rahane has been retained as a middle-order batsmen and not-an-opener. What surprises me is that nobody has bothered to question the form of the middle or the late order
that has been woefully short on runs in the last, two seasons. Yes, the Sehewag-Gambhir equation has not been delivering but neither is the Indian middle order. Perhaps, some wisdom will prevail and a journalistic/media resource will highlight the state of the entire batting line-up rather than obsessing about the openers. Just to end this discussion, what is the big fuss about selecting Murali Vijay over Mukund or not giving Rahane a chance to partner Gambhir? The seriousness with which these questions are being raised make it seem like Gambhir and Sehewag have outrun their shelf-life and the possible options are might talents...which is not the case!

Australia are hosting the South Africans and there is little doubt regarding the kind of contest on offer. You can expect the pitches to be green as a school playground, the bounce to be terrorizing and essentially, it is going to be a battle between some very fast bowlers and batsmen ready to hook and pull without an invitation. It also seems that this test match series has a rather "green" aura to it. Not just the pitches, even the headgear of the Aussies and South Africans would be green,
the scoreboard background on Star Sports ESPN has also taken a green tinge in the recent past, the lusciously-green outfield found in Australian stadiums and hoards of green South African flags among the spectators are going to ensures that I am proven correct!

Before people start badmouthing me after reading the title to this discussion, let me declare that I am a big Yuvi fan. Yuvraj Singh is one of those rare cricketers who exude passion and panache in a perfectly-blended concoction to win a fan's heart. However, there are some facts that need to be addressed albeit without reading too much into what might happen or what occurred in the recent past. For starters, in the T20 World Cup, Yuvi's lack of fitness was clearly visible. Yes, he was hitting the ball hard but the paunch and the missing dexterity on the field were also visible. His bowling was the only
saving grace. Even now, as the Indian domestic cricket season motors along, Yuvraj Singh is being talked about as a serious prospect of filling the number 6 slot because of his batting and bowling, i.e. bowling being an equally important consideration. It would be presumptuous to say that since Yuvraj Singh has scored a double century recently, he will put the English bowling to sword. Test matches are different from one dayers and no one knows it better than Yuvi himself who has often been found handicapped in playing the longer version of the game. Let us not give-in to the survivor's magnificence that is being associated with Yuvraj at the moment. Let us not become biased towards his selection because he has emerged a winner from a traumatic situation. To be fair, there are more deserving batsmen waiting eagerly to get their due. The question remains, will we select a batsmen based purely upon cricketing parameters or be lured by the survivor's sympathy that is too obvious to ignore. 

Everybody who is following the Indian domestic cricket season and awaiting the forthcoming tours by England and Australia realizes that bowling remains the biggest issue for the Indian team. Firstly, their bowling lacks the pace that can put some sort of scare into batsmen who are becoming more immune to the cricket ball with the T20 vaccine. Secondly, the spinner's lobby too is woefully short of displaying anything pleasing. Considering this scenario and the fact that these two tours will be held towards the end of 2012 and the early part of 2013, the Indian cricket selectors might want to consider Praveen Kumar. Let me explain
what I am trying to say here: during this time of the year, there is going to be a bit of nip in the air and off the wicket no matter how much the groundsmen manipulate them according to the liking of MS Dhoni and those in favor of preparing spin-prejudiced bowling strips. If these weather conditions are factored-in, and Praveen Kumar's ability to swing the ball both ways and bowl well with the old ball analyzed, the selectors might find themselves sitting on a solution that they haven't even considered. Please let us be honest with ourselves. Ishant Sharma is not going to bounce-off the Aussies or Brits on these wickets. Zaheer is as injury-prone he was two seasons ago and Umesh Yadav is still raw, no matter how fast he bowls.

I said it before, and I will say it again: I am on my way to Nobel Prize greatness as I slowly unravel the Physics that drives the Delhi Metro. Today, I present to you a phenomenon that not even the most regular Delhi Metro riders must have noticed or bothered to think about. I call this the “Human Pendulum” or “Metro Oscillations”. This spectacle is witnessed only during the peak hours, i.e., when the Delhi Metro platforms are literally spilling over with people. Turn your eyes towards the exit points, where humble mortals like us are greeted with long, never-ending queues. Here, everyone waits patiently for the person in front of them to use the Delhi Metro card or that plasticky coin thingy. Now observe closely, you will find that during times of very long queues, the people have little space to move ahead. Their gut instinct tells them to keep moving ahead, in whatever little space that precedes them.

This is my first submission that will focus on the DELHI METRO riders that I have come across in the last few months. I have a slightly cynical outlook, and thus, I am going to begin with a typical kind of Delhi Metro passenger that needs a serious reality check—I call “it” the “Rajouri Types,” and this is particularly applicable to the women who board the metro from the Rajouri Garden Metro Station and the nearby areas. You must be wondering what could be so typical about such women. Well, there is nothing wrong with them except for the fact that they are highly prone to thinking that they belong to an elite class that should be treated superiorly within the Metro.

I guess this discovery should get me nominated into the league of folks who have contributed significantly to deciphering human behavior, or more precisely, human sleep patterns. At a time when most leading magazines have run out of ideas and cannot write anything new about sleep, sleeping habits, sleeping problems, etc. I have unearthed a new kind of sleep! Yes, this might surprise you, but keeping my observant senses in the switch-on mode has finally yielded results. I have titled my discovery as the “Metro Sleep”. This kind of sleep is seen among only those who have the fortune (or misfortune) of riding the Delhi Metro.

Few nations in the world can boast of a weather phenomenon so influential that it can topple governments and impact nearly every aspect of human life by its erratic ways—I am talking about the Monsoons in India. The Monsoons are so mighty that they can drown the entire Mumbai metropolis within a few hours or decide how much we would need to spend on our daily bread throughout the year. However, there is one warrior among us, made of steel and absolute grit, who doesn’t succumb to the Moody Monsoons. This is the Delhi Metro. Today was a pleasant day when the Monsoons, so far conspicuous by their absence, arrived and threw the capital city out of its comfort zone.

To make matters worse, the Northern Grid had tripped, and the Metro was left reeling with no power! However, to the dismay of those who laugh at the commoners like us who travel day and night in the overwhelmingly crowded tube train, the Metro didn’t accept defeat. Within a few hours, when some idiots had started verbally abusing it, cursing it for its lapses, the Metro was back to its usual benchmark of performance. I must say that if the Metro could hear what some people say about it, rather b***h about it, every time there is the smallest of snags, it would seriously reconsider serving the people of the city. There are some hard realities that the Metro-bashers seem to forget—before it arrived, the lives of those who travel daily across the city were at the mercy of killer buses and the Goondaraj of auto-wallahs. Now that we have at least one dependable and honest mass transit medium, we'd better be thankful for it, use it sensibly, and accept that, like everything else in life, the Metro isn’t perfect, but it works to our advantage and delivers without fail.

I don’t ride the high horse of belonging to a niche section of society that cannot bear a single drop of sweat on their mighty foreheads. However, my childhood unfolded in a manner that could be best described as ‘arrested development’ despite growing up in a typically middle-class environment. As a result, many hesitations about people, places, and being in the outdoors got imprinted on my psyche.

I intend to blog regularly, not daily, in an opinionated and not necessarily discriminatory way. The idea is not to ridicule the Metro or sing laurels about it but to put forth my perspective which could sound rude or helpful, depending on your perception.My views might strike a chord, pinch a nerve or induce the urge to banish me into Hell in you. However, the very concept of blogging and living in a Democracy offers me the right to be unashamedly-expressive. This basically absolves me if being here wastes your time or my efforts don’t live up to the standards set by your sensibilities….the onus of being here is on you—bother to read & comment or just browse aimlessly and proceed without a bother.

For starters, I am a content writer and Expressionism is one of the few skills that I am endowed with. Thus, starting a blog needed little motivation. Secondly, despite being a dynamic, enthralling and challenging subject, it seems that the Delhi Metro has escaped the mind of contemporary writers/bloggers—the few that are in circulation seem occupied with offering tips about the various routes. Yes, these are also relevant from a writing perspective but I felt a general lack of the “Metro Culture” being written about.

More importantly, it has been nearly two months since I started riding the Delhi Metro regularly and writing about it could no longer be procrastinated. My soul is burdened by the restrictive expressionism that any professional role demands. I seek refuge in this blog to ensure that I am not alienated from the niche of thinkers and expressionists.

Restarted blogging in the earliest part of 2018 - trying my best to post regularly - this is not a New Year resolution or wish but I want to blog spontaneously, without a reason, write without a rationale, just share what happened during the day, how am feeling...:)

February 16th: Soon I would be hitting the 100-posting benchmark that is something for me because this required a bit of hard work and staying consistent, knowing that this is more about pursuing my passion and staying true to the art of weaving conversations digitally. There are no Ads you can spot now as the idea was never to make a few cents. This has always been about blogging about the daily life, even at my work-desk, as there are days when the momentum is low, when other managers are busy smoking or having endless cups of coffee and conversations - I would rather do this!

Right now, my approach is - Blog when:
- you are feeling low
- when you have some time
- when you feel anxiety building-up
- when you want to vent
- when you want to try new expressions and explore new words
- when you want to do something for yourself
- when you want to express an opinion without caring about being heard
- when there is no inspiration to write

Updated on February 17, 2018: Just reached a semi-milestone of 100 posts. A reasonably good going considering I was very wayward to start with, the blog being launched in 2012. Took me more than 5 years to come back to something that is aligned with my passion. Will be more regular now...promise!

He is the only guy in the ongoing tri-series between India, Australia and Sri Lanka who has scored a century and he looks good to do it again. The new middle-order batsman from Australia, Peter Forest, has all the makings of a good player for Australia. For starters, unlike Andrew Symonds who might seem a bit puny against the massive shoulders of Peter Forest, this guy can actually build an innings. Symonds discovered the art of constructing his innings much later in his career whereas Peter Forest seems to be doing that since the day he made his debut. In his mannerisms, his power and the way he plays the airy shorts,