Chronicals of a chronic cricket fan..

31st Jan 1999 -

I was preparing for my pre-engineering test. I had a mock exam that day. But my heart was not in studies. I was more interested in the dramatic India vs. Pakistan Test Match going on in Chennai. Yet studies always came first. I turned up for the mock exam on time. As soon as the final bell rang, I rushed back to my friend's home to catch the final moments of the match. The match was over by then. But the highlights were still playing. Sachin Tendulkar and Nayan Mongia were in the process of digging India out of a hole and taking them to a memorable win. We jumped and rejoiced as the highlights moved as a frantic pace; as Tendulkar battled back spasms to hit one boundary after another, taking India closer and closer to victory. Just when we thought the match was in the bag, disaster struck. Tendulkar hold out to Saqlain Mushtaq for 136. Within minutes, the Indian innings was over. Pakistan had secured a famous win and were doing a lap of honour in front of the Chennai crowd.

5th Nov 2009 -

I was in office, away from India, busy with work. While browsing the net, I suddenly realized that Tendulkar was leading a heroic solo effort against Australia, in an ODI in Hyderabad. I immediately logged into Cricinfo and started checking the latest score updates. Forgetting all work, I kept pressing the refresh button endlessly, as the scoreboard motored along with each Tendulkar boundary. Trying to recall the thousands of runs I have seen him score on TV over 2 decades, I tried to visualize each shot from the commentary I read on the webpage. This time, Tendulkar was determined not to let Chennai 1999 be repeated. But with 19 required of 18 balls, Tendulkar hold out for an epic 175. The Indian innings was soon wrapped up. History repeated itself.

P.S. -

1. Other similarities between the 2 games.

2. Previous post on a similar event.

Challenges of customization of online news

Warning:- Technical post ahead.

When I came across this article sometime back, I was specially intrigued by one particular portion –

Everyone can publish, and everyone will - This is a problem, but since online journalism is still in its relative infancy it’s one that can be solved (we’re technology optimists, remember?). The experience of consuming news on the web today fails to take full advantage of the power of technology. It doesn’t understand what users want in order to give them what they need. When I go to a site like the New York Times or the San Jose Mercury, it should know what I am interested in and what has changed since my last visit. If I read the story on the US stimulus package only six hours ago, then just show me the updates the reporter has filed since then (and the most interesting responses from readers, bloggers, or other sources). If Thomas Friedman has filed a column since I last checked, tell me that on the front page. Beyond that, present to me a front page rich with interesting content selected by smart editors, customized based on my reading habits (tracked with my permission).

This got me thinking about the way presentation of news is expected to evolve in news websites, and how it would differ from offline newspapers. Most news websites these days do support “Guided navigation” features, suggesting articles to readers though links like “You might also be interested in..”, “People who read this also read..” etc. While “guided navigation” does have its obvious benefits, I have a difference of opinion with the suggestion that news websites of the future can completely replace the reading pleasure of offline newspapers. Anyone suggesting that content on a news website should ONLY be tailored to the interests and reading patterns of the reader, forgets that one of the key benefits of reading an offline newspaper is the ability to BROWSE through all topics all the time, and figure out what is interesting to you at that moment. For example, Mr. X may never have read the Finance section of the news website in the past, but if he sees an article about lay-offs or pay-cuts in the Finance section one day, he would definitely read it. Similarly, Mr. X might never read the Science and Health section, but might be interested in an article on an ailment which he suffers from. If the content of presented to Mr. X by the news website is tailored only on what Mr. X have been reading since the time he started using the service, such articles would never show up for him. Such algorithms would only narrow down a reader’s vision and knowledge acquisition to fields he or she has been 'historically' interested in (historically here means the history carried by the service provider), which might be biased by the previous set of articles and news items accessed on that service. Hence, an attempt of this kind, narrows the reader’s interest and intellectual growth in the direction defined by the interest he or she had from the time the reader started using the service. I do understand that such algorithms do get more “intelligent” as the duration of use increases. But there is a limit to which an algorithm can guess what a person wants to read.

A hybrid approach might be the way to go in the future. Front pages of news websites can have 2 sections, one presenting the latest headlines and editorial articles belonging to various topics (that is same for all readers), and one that presents articles based on historical data about the reader’s reading habits (stored with the reader’s permission). Going forward, algorithms of the future, apart from a person’s reading habits, must also consider other attributes like a person’s background (educational, professional, personal, demographic) while coming up with customized articles of the reader’s interest. This approach might help counter the two scenarios mentioned above. In this aspect, integration with social networking sites like Facebook, LinkedIn etc. might be an option worth considering.

Mythological Mystery

Yesterday, someone at work forwarded me this joke -
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In some remote village of India , a Masterji was teaching Mahabharat Katha to class 6 students. He was at the 'Krishnajanma' chapter.

Masterji: Kansa heard an akashwani that, his sister's 8th child would kill him. He was furious. He ordered to put Vasudev and Devaki behind bars.

First son is born, and Kansa kills him by poisoning...

Second one is born and Kansa throws him off the mountain peak...

Third one is born....

Now Ramu, who is smartest of the lot, raises his hand.

Ramu: Masterji, I have a doubt (sounding nervous and confused)

Masterji: Ramu bete, whole of India does not have doubt in Mahabharata then how come you have one?"

Ramu: Masterji, if Kansa knew that, Devaki's 8th child was going to kill him, why the hell did he put Vasudev and Devaki in the same cell???

Masterji fainted.......
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Though the joke was good, I began thinking about the real reason for this. After some research, I chanced upon the real reason -

Kans was a doting brother. He loved his sister Devaki very much. Vasudev was Kans’ friend and his choice as the husband for Devaki. When Kans heard the Akashvani about Devaki’s 8th son killing him, he imprisoned Vasudev and Devaki together. His plan was to release Devaki and Vasudev after he had killed first 8 children. Though Kans was a cruel man, he loved his sister, and did not want to keep her imprisoned for life. Moreover, he had complete confidence on the security system of his jail and could never imagine that someone could escape. He thought, that after killing the 8th child, he will be out of danger.

The next question that came to my mind was -

If Kansa knew that Devaki's 8th child would kill him, why did he kill the first 6 (remember that the 7th child Balrama was not killed either)?

After some more research, the answer to this question was also found -

The first 6 sons of Devaki were sons of Marichi. They once laughed at Sage Devala, as he was very ricketee. He cursed them. They were born as the sons of Kalanemi. They became known as Sadgarbha. They used to remain in the water at Patala loka performing penance to obtain immortality. Brahma granted them immortality. However Hiranyakashipu became angry at this. He did not like his brother's grandsons obtaining a boon from Brahma (Kalanemi was the son of Hiranyakashipu's brother Hiranyaksha).

Therefore, he cursed them to be born again and be killed by their own father. Accordingly, they were born as Devaki's children and were killed by their own father. Kamsa as Kalanemi was their father in their earlier birth. The boon given by Brahma to be immortal and the curse given by Hiranyakashipu to be killed by their father were reconciled by Durga.

To make this happen Narad muni went to Kansa after akashvani and feed this idea of “killing all” into his head. To trick Kansa - Narad drew a circle with eight dots and asked Kansa to identify the 8th dot, which was impossible and he obliged to kill all approach.

The more you study this great epic, the more interesting things you learn.

6 Online Vices

This tag from Nikhil has forced me to come out of my online slumber.

I agree with all the vices mentioned by Nikhil, hence I will start my list from no.6. But I will go one step further and list 6 vices from my side. :-)

6. Sending mails with "Hi" or other such meaningless subject lines

In these days when an average person's mailbox consists of hundreds and thousands of mails, and searching for the right mail is a time consuming and often irritating activity, the least one can expect is the sender to use proper subject lines in mails (indicating the content of the mail), so that the recipient can easily figure out what the mail is all about.

7. Sending mails with no subject line

This is not an out-an-out wise as it were. It might sometimes make sense to send mails without subject lines. But one should try to avoid it unless absolutely necessary, for the same reasons as mentioned in point no. 6.

8. Typing entire mails in CAPITAL letters

This is a universally accepted vice. Not only does a mail in ALL CAPS indicate that the composer is try to shout aloud at the top of his voice, but it also makes it very difficult to read.

9. Using multiple font colors in one mail

While it might be necessary to use more than one font color in a mail (for highlighting a particular portion), extravagant use of multiple font colors various sentences / words in the same e-mail a big turn-off.

10. Not being able to find mails in one's mailbox and asking people to re-send mails frequently

Mailboxes of today have ceased to be tools of leisure and become the single most important repository of personal information. Hence, it is imperative that people manage their mails properly, and not loose or misplace them frequently. Given the extremely high number of mails received by everyone these days, it is natural to misplace an odd mail or two at times. But this should definitely not be a chronic problem.

11. Using "Read Receipt" and / or "High Priority" in all mails

Excessive use / abuse of anything makes it loose its value.

The Vote

I did something momentous the other day. I voted for the 1st time in my life!!

Although I have been an adult for quite some time now, this is the first time I have exercised my franchise. The main reason for me being not voting all these years was the fact that I had never been in my hometown at the time of polls. I am happy to have finally broken the jinx. :-)

Similarities between IPL and Elections

Both will begin and end together..

Both will be highly entertaining..
Both will contain many controversies..

Both will cause a Media frenzy..
Both will result in record TV ratings..

Both have obscene amounts of money at stake..

Both involve Corporate funding..

Both involve buying and selling of people..
Both have number games..

Both have Bollywood Celebs involved..

Both involve heavy Marketing and Propaganda..

Both their key players will make millions..

Both feed on strong regional allegiances..

Both involve many weird acronyms (KKR, NCP, BJD etc.)..

Both have "foreign" participation..

Both will capture the imagination of the nation..

Both will not change the life of the common man..

Quote Hanger

Here are some of the good quotes I have encountered in the recent past. Some funny, some thought provoking, some both at the same time :-)

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What do you call a beautiful woman on the arm of an ugly man? A tattoo.

It doesn't matter how often a married man changes his job, he still ends up with the same boss.

He that falls in love with himself will have no rivals.

When a man holds a woman's hand before marriage, it is love; after marriage, it is self-defense.

The man who smiles when things go wrong has thought of someone to blame it on.

You can tell what a man is by what he does when he hasn't anything to do.

You can also tell a man by what he does first when he has a lot to do.

Cricket quote:- Good captaincy is like pornography - it's hard to define but you know it when you see it.

The financial situation at the moment is so bad that women are now marrying for love.

Early to Bed and Early to Rise ,makes your Girl go for another Guy.

Those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music.

In order to conserve energy, the light at the end of the tunnel has been switched off.

वक़्त मिलने पे मै तेरी जुल्फ को सुलझा दूंगा, आज उलझा हूँ वक़्त को सुलझाने में!

There are some things man was never meant to know. For everything else, there's Google !!

Life is like a taxi meter. It keeps ticking whether you are getting anywhere or not.

End of an era..

All Indian Crickets fans in their 20s, like me, will identify with this amazing article in Cricinfo.

La Loo !!

The following photographs were taken inside an AC 2 Tier compartment of an Indian Train.





In case you are wondering what the gadgets above are, these are Toilet Occcupancy Indicators, giving passengers inside the compartment an idea about whether the toilets are occupied or not. Trust the Indian Railways to come up with such ingenious innovations.

Needless to say, the indicators always showed the "Vacant" sign irrespective of whether the toilet was occupied or not.

My favorite TV shows

Off late, I have been thinking about some TV shows that I have loved watching over the years. These are shows I can watch again and again, whenever they are telecast on TV.

1. Yes Minister (and it's later Indian version "Ji Mantri Ji")- Classic British humor. For all you fans of "Friends" and other American sitcoms, I believe nothing comes anywhere close to the instantaneous bureaucracy bashing wit of this legendary British show. I loved the Indian version as well, but was disappointed that it turned out to be an exact copy of the original, whereas introduction of a few nuances of Indian politics into the script would have made it many times more relevant and interesting. Alas, the Indian version had too few episodes.

2. B.R. Chopra's Mahabharat - It was this epic TV series that kick-started my fascination with the story of Mahabharat. The production values and manner of story telling in this serial were far superior than the other mythological epic telecast on Doordarshan in the 1980's, Ramanant Sagar's Ramayan (Particularly infuriating were the repetative scenes where opponents used to hurl arrows at each other in war, and the arrows took almost the entire length of the episode to hit each other.). My fondness for the show also stems from the inherent beauty of the multi-leyered story line of this epic. Ekta Kapoor's recent Kahani Hamarey Mahabharat Ki is just a gaudy remake of the original.

3. Flop Show - This is unquestionably the best satirical comedy telecast on Indian television. No show before or after this, has been able to expose the idiosyncrasies of Indian society and the inefficiencies of Indian bureaucracy in the same laugh-out-laud way as this show. Office-Office is the only other show that comes close, but is not in the same league. Even Jaspal Bhatti has not been able to re-create the same magic in any other show since. The amount of humor packed into each episode o the show was truly incredible. Each episode which dealt with a different problem in the life of a common man, consisted of a small joke in the beginning, the main storyline in the middle, and a parody song in the end. Sheer genius!!

4. Star Trek - As a child with a fascination for sci-fi and space, Star Trek had to be one of my favorites. Apart from the sci-fi elements, I loved Captain Kirk's at times arrogant personality and Spock's funnily shaped ears!! "Beam Me Up, Scotty" is my all time favorite TV dialogue.

Worst movies I have seen..

I am not a great movie buff. I watch very few hindi movies. Hence, I am perhaps not the best person to write a blog post on this topic, as I have not seen a lot of gems like Love Story 2050, Bichchu, Oh Darling Yeh Hai India, Safari, Apne etc.

Yet, I have been lucky enough to watch a few landmark movies that will undoubtedly go down as one of the worst in the history of Indian cinema. I call myself lucky since I am sure the number of people who have seen the following films can be counted on fingertips. The idea was not to list poor movies, but the absolute worst of the lot.

1. RGV ki Aag (2007) - This film will almost certainly go down as the biggest disaster in Bollywood history, the greatest damp squib of all times. What strikes you most is the mockery it made of exceptional actors like Amitabh Bachchan and Mohan Lal. Absolutely none of the elements of the original Sholey, like the bond between Jai and Veeru, Thakur's internal angst, Gabbar's menace etc. get depicted anywhere near as well as the original. RGV might have been better off projecting his movie as a comic spoof of Sholey rather than a serious remake, as a majority of the audience came out laughing from the theater at this utterly ridiculous attempt at mimicking a classic.

2. Gajagamini (2000) - To call this movie "bad" is an injustice to it. "Incomprehensible" is a more apt description. Watching this movie was like staring at a Modern Art painting, trying to figure our the hidden meanings behind the abstract expressions. I am sure not many apart from Mr. M.F. Hussain have been able to figure them out. Even Hussain's muse Madhuri was so embarrassed that she did not turn up for the film's premier !!

3. Badhti Ka Naam Daadhi (1974) - This movie, which must have been conceived by Kishore Kumar during of of his eccentric fits, was an attempt to recreate the magic of the 50's hit "Chalti Ka Naam Gaadi". The horrendous nature of the movie is aptly illustrated by the absurd premise of the story. A rich old man mentions in his will that he would give away his fortune to the person with the longest beard. The lucky man turns out to be Kishore Kumar, whose beard it longer than his height itself. the rest of the film has a few goons chasing him with scissors, and the Kishore Kumar dodging them successfully. The least one expected from a Kishore Kumar movie was some good music, but this film was a monumental let down on that front too.

4. Jaani Dushman - Ek Anokhi Kahaani (2002) - Raj Kumar Kohli's suicidal attempt to remake his 1976 hit Nagin and launch the acting career of his son Armaan Kohli. The saying "Money can't buy everything" is apt for this hopeless film. It is very apparent that the makers spent a fortune in trying to re-create special effects of major Hollywood blockbusters, but it seems that they completely forgot to make any attention to the storyline itself. How else can you justify the hero of the movie just having a couple of lines to speak, inspite of being present in almost half of the scenes. Anyone watching this film should not forget to catch Sonu Nigam doing some of the worst acting ever seen on the silver screen. No wonder no one has heard of Raj Kumar and Armaan Kohli ever since.

Note:- I have confined my selection to A list (big budget and leading star cast) films. I have not looked at B grade movies like countless Mithun-da flicks (Truck Driver Suraj, Kaliya, Chandaal to name a few) for my selection, since such movies are meant to be poor by definition.
I am sure readers of this post would recall many other equally horrible movies they have seen. Comments invited.