There is an old fact that remains the crux of the so-called gentlemen's game. A bowler is as good as a batsman makes out him. If you strain your ears to hear the habitual cricket commentary, you would realize that if a ball is spanked for a boundary, the bowler loses his credit unless it’s an edge that flew past the slips. The same ball would have been treated as the ball of the tournament or beyond if it results in a wicket. Otherwise, nobody bothers to credit the bowler for his effort. On a given day the worst of deliveries produces the best of wickets and the commentators appreciate the apparent plan the bowler had to take those wickets. In a game that has so many variables like the pace of the delivery, pitch/weather conditions, bat’s dimensions, batsmen’s eye/strength/co-ordination/ability, I believe nobody can claim to be an expert in professing the outcome of the game. Yes – The experts can give directions, indications and review the perceptible strengths and weaknesses of the players and teams involved, but as they, its only done when it is done. Or, every ball bowled is a different story and can have pleasantly surprising or strangely shocking outcomes.
Still we have ‘Experts’ in the game. And I say this without any disrespect to this elite group as they still know more than many around in this game which throws innumerable possibilities in a freaky frequency. And this my friend, is one more reason why cricket is a funny game.
Monday, December 13, 2010
Monday, December 6, 2010
A stone unturned and metal casted
Before I open my gag, I would put a disclaimer around this topic. Please abstain from reading beyond this if you love wearing jewels. And with this statement, I have already eliminated atleast 50% readership to this article.
Now, why is it that I am witnessing a sense of retribution in myself around jewels? Blame on the bloody calendar, blame it on horoscopes, blame it on love – There are toooooooo many nuptial events happening around me and wherever I go, invariably, gold accessories are the centre of discussion. Even in the archaic days of our society there is an unsaid equation that has been holding true for decades now. The equation is read like this: Marriage = It is an event where lots of gold is on display and almost all men are either poorer before or after the event. Having an economic background, it’s easy to argue that the demand for any object increases when the supply is less and the same holds good for Gold. Same should hold good for a lot of elements in the periodic table. But other than a few like platinum, titanium etc none of the metal could attain the materialistic value like Gold. Besides Gold is not just only an element in the periodic table. The common expressions that I see in a Gold-seekers eye when someone walks gold-loaded in a conjugal affair, like the ones I have been to, speaks volumes about the kinship that they have towards it. So its more than economics and chemistry. Here is my theory which ofcourse needs credible research before it would be published as a thesis. Besides economics around gold is effortlessly defeated as Gold ornaments are not of great value compared to Gold bars, coins etc.
A Gold-seeker craze for gold should be guided by hormonal imbalance. The joyous expression on that face when someone gifts gold (And this expression is only when someone gifts –not when you buy for yourself) is a true reflection of ecstasy with all 17 muscles stretching beyond their limits in that unparallel smile that’s pasted on their face. The same cannot be achieved even if you send a picture of yours when you had toured moon. Its psychosomatic truth. A lot of responses I get around this topic is like what men have for sports or cars. But I feel the craze for sports or cars is different. Men love sports because it gives a competitive rush to life and that goes well with the DNA codes the creator had written in men. It brings a sense of oneness when we collectively support a team/player etc. (Not always though –you need to watch a club-level soccer game in Argentina). It gives an identity to a man and brings more reasons to share a beer with him. With cars/bikes etc, there is a tangible benefit that men attain when they use the machine in life. But where does craze for Gold address any of these elements? And if it does it only brings odium between gold seekers.
During my adolescence, I saw people of my generation abhorring Gold and shifting to cheaper alternatives like terracotta, artificial gold etc. But then a new craze has evolved – Platinum and stones, though the latter has been around for spiritual and the ostentatious ones. Diamonds have been a symbol of fortune and it is a corny sight when you see 15 women swarming in like bees to check one of the earrings recently bought (It seems like someday one of the 15 would do a Mike Tyson by biting Holyfield’s ear and have the diamond for good). I don’t quite get it. I agree that I don’t have aesthetic sense nor do I go about understanding the amount of effort to bring out the sparkle in a jewel. But isn’t it simple that it’s a damned stone for which some African youth has lost his/her future. For God sake, its just a pebble – which beyond a temperature would vaporize like any other metal in the periodic table. You know why they say ‘Diamonds are forever’? Because its elemental carbon and carbon found everywhere in almost everything we touch and breathe out carbon in different forms.
And if I were to talk about jewel brands – I would be judged in court. I have come across the magic word, that could bring the fairer sex out of coma/death bed – Its “Tiffany’s” or “Solitaire”.
Now, why is it that I am witnessing a sense of retribution in myself around jewels? Blame on the bloody calendar, blame it on horoscopes, blame it on love – There are toooooooo many nuptial events happening around me and wherever I go, invariably, gold accessories are the centre of discussion. Even in the archaic days of our society there is an unsaid equation that has been holding true for decades now. The equation is read like this: Marriage = It is an event where lots of gold is on display and almost all men are either poorer before or after the event. Having an economic background, it’s easy to argue that the demand for any object increases when the supply is less and the same holds good for Gold. Same should hold good for a lot of elements in the periodic table. But other than a few like platinum, titanium etc none of the metal could attain the materialistic value like Gold. Besides Gold is not just only an element in the periodic table. The common expressions that I see in a Gold-seekers eye when someone walks gold-loaded in a conjugal affair, like the ones I have been to, speaks volumes about the kinship that they have towards it. So its more than economics and chemistry. Here is my theory which ofcourse needs credible research before it would be published as a thesis. Besides economics around gold is effortlessly defeated as Gold ornaments are not of great value compared to Gold bars, coins etc.
A Gold-seeker craze for gold should be guided by hormonal imbalance. The joyous expression on that face when someone gifts gold (And this expression is only when someone gifts –not when you buy for yourself) is a true reflection of ecstasy with all 17 muscles stretching beyond their limits in that unparallel smile that’s pasted on their face. The same cannot be achieved even if you send a picture of yours when you had toured moon. Its psychosomatic truth. A lot of responses I get around this topic is like what men have for sports or cars. But I feel the craze for sports or cars is different. Men love sports because it gives a competitive rush to life and that goes well with the DNA codes the creator had written in men. It brings a sense of oneness when we collectively support a team/player etc. (Not always though –you need to watch a club-level soccer game in Argentina). It gives an identity to a man and brings more reasons to share a beer with him. With cars/bikes etc, there is a tangible benefit that men attain when they use the machine in life. But where does craze for Gold address any of these elements? And if it does it only brings odium between gold seekers.
During my adolescence, I saw people of my generation abhorring Gold and shifting to cheaper alternatives like terracotta, artificial gold etc. But then a new craze has evolved – Platinum and stones, though the latter has been around for spiritual and the ostentatious ones. Diamonds have been a symbol of fortune and it is a corny sight when you see 15 women swarming in like bees to check one of the earrings recently bought (It seems like someday one of the 15 would do a Mike Tyson by biting Holyfield’s ear and have the diamond for good). I don’t quite get it. I agree that I don’t have aesthetic sense nor do I go about understanding the amount of effort to bring out the sparkle in a jewel. But isn’t it simple that it’s a damned stone for which some African youth has lost his/her future. For God sake, its just a pebble – which beyond a temperature would vaporize like any other metal in the periodic table. You know why they say ‘Diamonds are forever’? Because its elemental carbon and carbon found everywhere in almost everything we touch and breathe out carbon in different forms.
And if I were to talk about jewel brands – I would be judged in court. I have come across the magic word, that could bring the fairer sex out of coma/death bed – Its “Tiffany’s” or “Solitaire”.
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