Quo Vadis?

If you have seen my earlier posts, you would have seen the playing area and the rules that held fort back then. This post is about my contribution to street cricket. If you have read Part 1 carefully, you would have realized that I was the ball boy, being the youngest and also because of my comparatively limited cricketing skills. All that changed one eventful day when something dramatic happened. My Chithappa (uncle, more specifically husband of my mum’s younger sister) who was then in Bombay sent me an amazing gift by courier appreciating my good performance in school. Let me take a detour from this to tell you till that fateful day, the cricket bats used were generally the flat painted ones made of country wood, which surprisingly could be bought off a kitchen vessels store where they would be stored in an oversized bucket. For those who could afford them good cricket bats from sports shops made of ordinary wood and passed of as oil bats. These bats often had no balance and the ones...

This is the landmark for our area, the Housing Board Arch. It is not called Sunnambu whatever, but the place is called Pattinampakkam or ForeShore Estate. Yet another landmark of the area, Our Lady of Guidance Church also popularly called Lazarus Church (which is a misnomer). The car festival of this church reminds you of a village fest. Not 10, Downing Street but 10, Malaiappan Street. ; ) Taken from my car, this is about the spot where the stumps were drawn on the ground near the manhole. This house in the foreground was the boundary, you get 4 if the ball travels to it on the ground, a 6 if it reaches through the air and you get OUT if it goes over the house. Also it is the end of the game, if you did not have a spare ball.

This was my pin code for over a decade during my schooling days. And this is also a tribute to the street cricket (SC) that was wonderfully picturized in the movie by the same name. My fond memories of SC are as follows: The playing area: My earliest memories of SC in Chennai 28 were in front of my then residence No. 10, Malaiappan Street. Our playing area was the narrow street that would be around 30 feet approximately. As the street was narrow the game could be either playing along the length of the street or the breadth of the street depending on the number of players available. As the youngest of the street then I would eventually be the ball boy, so the following is my spectator view of the sport The kit: The playing kit included two bats (whenever available) and a constant supply of rubber balls or if we had enough money tennis balls. As the street was of asphalt we had to avoid stumps so as to not hammer the stumps into the road and breaking them, however on those odd occasion...

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Hi, I was commenting on yet another tribute to Dr. APJ as he completed his term I was struck by the fallacy of it all. We have all hoped for our people’s president to serve yet another term but our elected representatives denied us. Please read the last line carefully and pay attention to the phrase “our elected representatives”. Now let me ask you, did you elect your representative? Did you exercise your fundamental right and by virtue of it your fundamental duty to choose your representative? When was the last time you paid attention to the election process, meaning the national, state or even local level government elections? It is a sad commentary that the euphoria and enthusiasm that many college students show for their union elections and total apathy to the general elections. Too often we have heard the refrain “Politics is a gutter, we will not step into it”. My friends every time you see that poor soul who stripped down of his clothes and his dignity enter the sewer to clean ...

How often has an advertisement in the media left you as confused or utterly bewildered as in the cartoon above? Given below is a crude translation of a radio ad that is doing the rounds recently: Dumb ass 1 (a.k.a D1) : I’m so worried Dumb ass 2 (a.k.a D2) : Why? D1: My wife has not been shopping for the last two days, I don’t know what happened to her? D2: Don’t worry, my wife is shopping like crazy, it does not matter if your wife or my wife or anybody’s wife shops, whoever shops, the benefit is for us. Me: ???????????????????????!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! What the @#%&? How in the wide world will my wife’s constant shopping benefit all, me included? PS: The ad in question was for a mutual fund.

To the first person who exemplified the term First Citizen of India by his conduct and not by virtue of the post, who redefined the nature of public office, who led by example, who wore his love for his country passionately on his sleeve, who made the common man look at public office as a noble service finally, who broke all precedents and established new benchmarks, who showed what it is to be a good human being; a simple tribute. You will remain forever in my mind as someone who rose above all odds and reached the top, yet remained down to earth grounded on personal values. God be with you sir in your new endeavours, you have done so much, yet there is much more to be done. My best wishes are mingled with those of millions who would have loved to have you as our First citizen for some more time. For all that you have given our country and us and for all that you will continue to do, Thank you. A proud citizen of India.