Delhi fails to qualify; Cricketers are routed in DDCA elections

Do you know that Gursharan Singh debuted at Hamilton, New Zealand in a match against Australia !

All is not well with Delhi Cricket….. the team has not qualified  ~ poor form of some of the senior batsmen coupled with a complete breakdown of trust between players, administrators, and selectors crippled Delhi's controversy-ridden Ranji Trophy campaign. Delhi finished fifth in 9 teams in Group A. Chetan Chauhan, former opener and now Chairman of DDCA selectors said - Virender Sehwag’s “confusion with his batting slot” badly affected his game in the current Ranji Trophy season.  “Make no mistake, Virender Sehwag is a great cricketer. I believe the problem was his confusion with the batting order. He was in a dilemma as to whether to bat at the top or bat in the middle-order and that has affected his game,” Chauhan, a former Indian opener who played in 40 Tests, told PTI in New Delhi.  The players (Captain) and administrators pulled in different directions on the venue too. Besides, selection of players also became controversial…. Gambhir successfully insisted on picking 'outsider' pacer Navdeep Saini, who apparently belongs to Haryana. 

Delhi and Feroz Shah Kotla have a big history. Feroz Shah Kotla Ground at Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg, established in 1883, is the second oldest international cricket stadium still functional in India, after the Eden Gardens. Feroz Shah Tughlaq (1351–88), the Sultan of Delhi, established the fortified city of Ferozabad in 1354, as the new capital of the Delhi Sultanate on the banks of Yamuna river, the site of the present Feroz Shah Kotla. Most of the city was destroyed as subsequent rulers dismantled its buildings .  Sultan Feroze Shah Tughlaq was a ruler in Tughlaq dynasty who succeeded Muhammad bin Tughluq but ruled over a much smaller kingdom.   

Interestingly in  Oct 2008 – in a test match against Australia,  the Umpires Aleem Dar and Billy Bowden as also the players on groud had to hit the turf because of bee attack.  It was a question of to be(e) or not to be(e) !  ~ now the news is not of Cricket but of election where Cricketers lost so badly.  It was to be a high profile election with the great left-arm spinner Bishan Singh Bedi and a team of cricketers to pitch against ruling lobby of DDCA.  It was a team of Bedi, Madanlal, Abbas Ali Baig, Gursharan Singh… coordinated by Kirti Azad who did not contest.   There have been corruption charges and charges of misadministration.  It had so many serious issues : selection process, age-fudging in junior tournaments, financial irregularities, outsiders from adjoining Haryana and UP becoming regulars in club cricket and more. 

The spinner Bedi's panel  had a simple agenda: "to clean the game". Bedi, India's first cricket manager, who has a reputation for being a straight talker, campaigned for freeing Delhi cricket from corruption.  ~ and when the results were out……… the former India captain Bishan Bedi lost the election for the presidency of the Delhi and District Cricket Association (DDCA) by a huge margin to Sneh Prakash Bansal. Bedi got only 285 votes, while Bansal got 3433, and none of the other international cricketers in Bedi's camp could manage even 200 votes in their respective categories. Surinder Khanna lost the general secretary's election to Anil Khanna by 2345 votes, while Madan Lal was beaten in the sports secretary's election by 3258 votes. Two other former international cricketers Gursharan Singh and Abbas Ali Baig fought for a place in the executive committee but got only 163 and 169 votes.

Sneh Prakash Bansal and his panel on Monday swept the DDCA polls with a landslide victory procuring more than 70 per cent of the votes. While Bedi faction raised objections about the manner in which AGM was conducted, Bansal & Co. showed that with the system of proxy votes in place, it’s near impossible for an outsider to win an election.

Tailpiece : With a century in his maiden first class match against an international attack no less (for India U-22 vs England in 1981-82), Gursharan Singh kickstarted his career with rare panache. Two seasons later he was on the playing field during a Test match against West Indies at Ahmedabad, albeit as a substitute, and took an unprecedented four catches at forward short leg. He made his debut in Mar 1990 at Hamilton, New Zealand where India played Australia in ODI 618 under Azharuddin.  The team composition is quite different than what we normally read : WV Raman opened with Manoj Prabhakar – Sanjay Manjrekar, Azharuddin, VB Chandrasekhar, Gursharan Singh were the batsmen, great Kapil Dev was followed by  A Sharma, Kiran More and Atul Wassan.  India made 211 and Australia won by 7 wickets.

With regards – S. Sampathkumar

first ticket in Cinema ~ not the Mannan type (first commercial Cinema)

In the start of the 1980s, the hi-class ticket (at Devi Paradise, Saffire, Satyam etc.,) was Rs.2.90….but one had to stand in serpentine queues unsure of getting a ticket….that was thrilling ! 

Rajnikant, Vijayashanti starrer Mannan released in 1992 was a great hit.  It was a remake of the 1986 hit Kannada film Anuraga Aralithu starring Rajkumar. In one of the scenes, Rajni and Goundamani would take leave from factory on a false pretext, stand in queue buying ticket for Chinna Thambi on its 175^th day…. the 1^st man was to receive a gold chain and the 2^nd a golden ring….. winners Rajni and Goundamani would be startled as the prizes would be given in the hands of Vijayashanthi, to whom they had lied and had come to the movie……..

One thing that could perhaps puzzle economists is the non-applicability of ‘demand and supply’…….. the relatively strong uniformity of movie ticket prices – even where the manufacturing cost and the salary of artisans vastly differ……yet the prices of a star movie and unknown stock do not ordinarily vary…..which is not so in other forms of entertainments such as starnite, rock concerts … film awards and the like… more the hype – more the price one will have to cough !!  

Ever seen a film in ‘Touring talkies’…….. or in a village … there will be tharai ticket (sitting on the ground) and bench ticket ~ if you are somebody, as one enters, the owner (or the manager) would come, offer you a seat by cleaning that bench with the towel that one has on the shoulder… !! ~ a dog or rat would run in between the legs suddenly… and after a few reels, the movie would be stopped and lights put on – to enable changing the reels of the film…..

Raja Harishchandra  released in 1913 was the first film – a silent movie, directed and produced by Indian icon Dadasaheb Phalke.  The film on the legend Harischandra, who spoke only truth, marked a historic benchmark in the film industry in India. Only one print of the film was made and shown at the Coronation Cinematograph.  Not lacking behind was Tamil (why language in a silent movie !?!) - Keechaka Vadham, made by R. Nataraja Mudaliar in 1916. The first talkie was a multi-lingual Kalidas which released on 31 October 1931, barely 7 months after India's first talking picture Alam Ara.

Films have been there for more than a century now and the history can be traced to the invention of the movie camera itself.  Most films before 1930 were silent ~ this is no post on the tinseldom and the growth of Actors and actresses nor their capturing governance ….it is more about the ticket – the cinema ticket that commoners buy to watch a movie. 

The Lumière brothers were born in Besançon, France, and moved to Lyon.  Their father, Claude-Antoine Lumière (1840–1911), ran a photographic firm and both brothers worked for him: Louis as a physicist and Auguste as a manager.  They patented a number of significant processes leading up to their film camera, most notably film perforations  as a means of advancing the film through the camera and projector. Ever since brothers Louis and Auguste Lumiere screened the first program of films to a paying audience at Paris' Grand Cafe in 1895, the French have viewed film as an art form to be protected from the worst excesses of crass commercialism. 

France is credited to be the birthplace of cinema and was responsible for many of its early significant contributions. Several important cinematic movements, began here. ‘Workers Leaving The Lumière Factory in Lyon’  (French: La Sortie des usines Lumière à Lyon), also known as Employees Leaving the Lumière Factory and Exiting the Factory, is an 1895 French short black-and-white silent documentary film directed and produced by Louis Lumière. It is often referred to as the first real motion picture ever made.  The film consists of a single scene in which workers leave the Lumiere factory. The workers are mostly female who exit the large building 25 rue St. Victor, Montplaisir on the outskirts of Lyon, France, as if they had just finished a day's work. Three separate versions of this film exist and there  are a number of differences between them.

28^th Dec 1895 was landmark in cinema history for this is considered to be the day on which Lumiere brother’s movie was screened at Grand Café in Paris commercially for the first time…. that is tickets were sold to public and people watched the show paying for it…… how much things have moved now is best understood by the way box office reviews write of film grossing so many crores…

In  modern French film industry understand that there is something called ‘carte illimitee’, an unlimited-access pass offered by the country's biggest cinema chain, Union Generale Cinematographique (UGC). The pass, available for an annual subscription paid in monthly installments of $14, was introduced by UGC in March as part of a marketing push to get more people into its 43 cinemas. Chairman Guy Verecchia told French daily Le Monde at the time that "if French people went to the cinema as frequently as Spaniards do, we would sell 200 million tickets a year.

Next time you stand in a queue for a movie ticket – praise or curse Lumiere brothers..

With regards – S. Sampathkumar

new Ranji format- Tamil Nadu beaten... J&K scrapes through by 0.001...

Can you identify this bowler ?   - Tamilians now know him better. ..

If you know somebody reeling out statistics of the game and is above 40 at least and you feel like stumping him with a Q – just ask him what the format of Ranji trophy presently is >>>> ………… if you yourself are a novice, read on :  Ranji Trophy is the premier domestic tournament of the Nation, played between States (there are Cities too – Hyderabad, Bombay – UT Delhi; others Railways and Services also….)  the competition is  named after England and Sussex cricketer Kumar Shri Ranjitsinhji (Jam Sahib of Nawanagar, also known as "Ranji"). The 2013 Ranji Trophy was won by Mumbai, who won their 40th title by defeating Saurashtra by an innings and 125 runs on 28 January 2013.

When we followed the game faithfully, it was Zonal format, Tamilnadu would play hard against Karnataka, Hyderabad was also a tough team ~ Andhra was easy and Kerala was the weak link…. Then Goa also came to the fold of South Zone  - this zonal format continued for decades………. Then  in 2002-03, it was Elite and Plate league. Six teams from Elite and two from Plate made it to the quarter-finals.

Now there are 3 groups of 9 teams each – each team thus gets to play 8 matches  - 3 from A & B and 2 from C make it to the quarter finals.. The new format has brought in parity in the number of matches that the teams  play against each other in the league stage. Earlier, in the Plate Division, a side could play five matches at the preliminary level.

Now the man who saw at the start of the post is Saurasish Lahiri who floored Tamilnadu on their home turf and took Bengal to the next level.  The Score card reads : Bengal 130 (Rangarajan 6-30) and 139 (Laxmi Shukla 46, Rahil 6-64) beat Tamil Nadu 85 (Nandi 4-9) and 180 (Karthik 62, Lahiri 7-62) by four runs

It was Offspinner Saurasish Lahiri's seven-wicket haul  that set up a thrilling four-run victory for Bengal against Tamil Nadu, helping the team all but qualify for the knockout phase. Chasing 185, TN were comfortably placed at 102 for 1……… but morning was different – Badrinath was out – Dinesh Karthick played a good innings of 62 - in the twelve-over period between the 61st and 73rd overs, as TN lost six wickets for 27 runs to slide from 131 for 3 to 158 for 9. The last wicket pair took them too close but still the win was Bengal’s.  So, Tamilnadu is out of contention….

Elsewhere there was the match between Jammu & Kashmir and Tripura which otherwise would have withered into wilderness….but for the fact that J&K qualified with this draw and squeaked past Goa by 0.001….  Prior to the 2013-14 season, the farthest Jammu & Kashmir had progressed in the Ranji Trophy was the pre-quarterfinal against Odisha in 2000-01. On Thursday, they qualified for the Ranji Trophy quarterfinal by the thinnest of margins - their quotient was 0.001 better than Goa's - after drawing their game with Tripura in Agartala. After Goa's victory over Andhra yesterday, they were tied with J&K on four wins from eight games. J&K, having already secured three points from the first-innings lead, needed to beat Tripura on the last day or ensure they kept their score in the second innings above Goa's quotient to ensure qualification.  Chasing 228, J&K finished at 87 for 2, staying ahead of Goa's quotient. J&K finished with a quotient of 1.006, over Goa's 1.005. J&K will now play Punjab in the quarterfinal at Moti Bagh in Baroda from January 8.

The teams now in the fray are : from Group A : Karnataka, Punjab and Mumbai;  from Group B : Railways, Uttar Pradesh and Bengal.  Tamilnadu in this group had just one win in 8 matches and finished above Madhya Pradesh and Services.  From Group C : it is Maharashtra and Jammu Kashmir.  J&K made 3711 runs losing 123 wickets;  gave away 3837 runs taking 128 wickets- while Goa who were edged out made 3612 (110) and gave away 3954(121)

Tough …. Very interesting indeed.

With regards – S. Sampathkumar

2^nd Jan 2o14

legacy of New Year .... revelry of drunken youth

How a tense a person are you … relaxed or carrying some burden all the time… how free are you when you walk or drive on the road ? – do you care to see things and people around you ?  On Jan 1, 2014, as I walked in Marina beach in the morning – saw this bike, parked ….. nothing amiss and perhaps some people would not have watched it at all……

2014 dawned …. Was it another ordinary day… ? – coming as it did, it dawned at various times over the globe…….. ~ and the midnight did set off dazzling celebrations for 2014 around the world.  Going by a report in Daily Mail - revellers in New Zealand started the celebrations, dancing in the streets of Auckland and Queenstown.  In London, 250,000 spectators lined the Thames as the London Eye was transformed into a giant Catherine Wheel. They were also treated to peach snow, banana confetti and orange-flavoured bubbles which fell on the crowd.  Police made 100 arrests by 4.30am following celebrations in London but said crowds were 'good-natured'. Dubai attempted to break record for biggest ever fireworks show with Guinness World Record judges on hand. Display included 500,000 fireworks set off from 400 locations and synchronised by 100 computers. More than one million people pack Sydney harbour to watch the spectacular fireworks display burst into the sky. Bright rockets flew from the four sails of the city's iconic Opera House for the first time in more than a decade.   More than 260 people injured as firecrackers are set off in the Philippines during the countdown to midnight.

photo courtesy : dailymail.co.uk

These make an interesting read ….back home, on New year eve, roads leading to Kamarajar Salai (Beach Road) in Chennai were blocked by Police putting up barricades  - people returning home had to wind through narrower lanes, crowded more …  the City Police regulations for the Public read : No bursting of firecrackers in crowded places; Any form of eve-teasing will be severely dealt with; The public shall refrain from throwing coloured powder/coloured water on others; Drunk drivers will face legal action and their vehicles will be confiscated; Speeding on two wheelers and cars will also be severely dealt with; The public shall refrain from getting into the sea or getting on to boats to venture into the sea.

In life there are things which change without you having to do anything… time is one … new year beckons as time flies past.  A few decades ago, New Year would usher in with hundreds of ‘Greeting Cards’ personally written wishes from relatives and friends that would make one happy.  That was the time when people thronged Post Offices for Post cards, Inland letters and covers – are they still in use ? – then e-mail took over ; now sending e-mail is considered old-fashioned in the era of Facebook, twitter, Whatsup  and other medias. Most telephony providers hike or charge special rates on festival days and the messages do get delayed due to overload of traffic.

In Chennai, [perhaps the same story in many other Cities in India] every year, there is the ungainly sight of New year revellers partying and spoiling the day of others .  This becomes the time when Police, Paramedics are kept on toes as cops struggle to keep the inebriated under bay. This is nothing new and recurs year after year – Mount Road Buhari Hotel, Beach Road , Elliots beach, ECR – the list is only expanding – mobs gather and as the clock strikes, the drunken mobs revel causing inconvenience to everybody and themselves.  As youngsters drive mad, some accidents get reported and Emergency services and Police are kept on their toes..  why this kolaveri ? – what sort of pleasure is this ??

Now getting back to the same photo that you saw first ~ a closer look – would reveal – it is parked on the wrong side – is damaged and is left unattended  – most probably its rider was drunk, drove wild, caused an accident, injured himself, perhaps injured somebody else too…… could have been hospitalized – not knowing where the vehicle presently is and perhaps for some more hours none would care for…. In the morning of 1^st Jan (with Sun yet to rise above shoulder level) – a group of youths in half a dozen motorcycles sped past near PWD – there was that thudding sound – one vehicle with 3 on it had fallen – at least two of them were seen rubbing all parts with some bleeding injuries  - the rest group were still laughing – not caring to lift the fallen youth ! – those passerby also felt numb and not needed to go near and offer any help……. ‘wild New year celebrations’ !!

If you felt this post to be too cynical…. You must read this report in The Hindu, Chennai edition too before deciding ……………. - After two years of fatality-free New Year celebrations, the city and its suburbs witnessed five deaths in road accidents on New Year’s eve on Tuesday. Rash driving proved fatal for some of the revellers. P. Ramprasad (19), an engineering student, died after his bike rammed a lorry on the Sardar Patel Road flyover. He and his friend Saravanan, who was riding pillion, were headed to Besant Nagar beach. While Ramprasad died on the spot, Saravanan sustained injuries. In another accident, Ramanarayanan (42), an employee at a hotel in M.K.B. Nagar, died after the two-wheeler he was riding was knocked down by a lorry near Basin Bridge. He was on his way to Washermenpet to celebrate New Year with his friends. Lorry driver Muthuvel (32) was arrested and remanded.

Arun Kumar (17) of Kundrathur and Anbuchelvan (25) of Arumbakkam died in two separate accidents. While Arun Kumar’s bike hit the median on Vandalur-Minjur Road while he was on the way to buy a cake, Anbuchelvan’s bike was hit by a lorry near Vellapanchavadi. The lorry driver Sivakumar was arrested and remanded. Around 4.30 a.m. on Wednesday, Sekar alias Dhandayudhapani, a 23-year-old man, who was returning after attending a New Year’s party in Maraimalai Nagar, died after he fell from his bike on the Tambaram Bypass Road. Two of his friends, who were riding pillion, were injured. Meanwhile, R. Balachandar (32) of Otteri, who was on his way to a party, was injured after a bottle of alcohol he had tucked in his waist shattered and pierced his abdomen after he fell from his two-wheeler on Perambur Barracks Road on Tuesday night.

The accidents on New Year’s eve kept the staff at government hospitals on their toes. Doctors said most of the cases were related to road accidents. The casualty ward of Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital received a total of 69 cases since midnight. Of this, 37 persons sustained injuries in road accidents, while the others were injured in assaults and falls. At the Government Royapettah Hospital, 50 persons reported with injuries after midnight. “Complaints were lodged for about 30 cases, while many others claimed that they sustained injuries after falling from their two-wheelers. A majority of them were in the age group of 20-24 years. At the Government Stanley Medical College Hospital, 25 persons were brought in for treatment of injuries between 11 p.m. on December 31 and 3 a.m. on January 1.

Every New year spells trouble for the Police and law-abiding citizens. In the melee, Police are lenient and generally do not book  people for over-speeding or drunken driving – more than 18000 cops were on the streets – Are  not human lives and limbs precious.. are there not better ways of  celebrating the  New Year. Is there real need for continuing the legacy of the colonial rule ?

With concern - S. Sampathkumar

2^nd Jan 2013.