The damage being done by Tendulkar

Yes, he is an awesome batsman. Yes, he is GOD! and he is much more. But there are many instances where he is the devil.. not to me, not to you.. but to the people who matter - the young talented players.

Look at the recent match between Chennai Super Kings and Mumbai Indians. Every person who saw the match or heard about it or read about it is talking about Sachin. Almost every newspaper in India wrote in its headlines that Sachin's innings made the victory possible. It is Sachin in every article, in every status message, in every tweet and in every blog post. But does Sachin deserve it? (He definitely deserves much more for his career. But for yesterday's match?)

What did Sachin do?

He played a sensible innings by staying on till the end and asking other batsmen to take risks. By doing so, he scored 72 in 52 balls.

Yes, that is a great strategy. That is how he (or any other experienced player) should play ideally and he executed it with perfection. That won the Mumbai Indians victory. No doubts about that.

But....

What did Badrinath do?

He came in at a stage when Chennai were in trouble losing 2 quick wickets in 4th and 5th overs and stood at 38/2. He did exactly what Sachin did - to make sure that wickets did not fall and giving strike to Raina who played a wonderful innings.

I would rate his innings better than Sachin's simply because he was under much more pressure and has negligible experience compared to the master - even though he played exactly the same role as Sachin did, with comparable perfection.

What did Raina do?

He played an outstanding innings. He took Chennai from 38/2 in 5 overs to 180/2 in 20, making 83 not out off 52 balls. His, is obviously, the best batting performance of the match.

What did S Dhawan do?

He opened the innings along with Sachin and played the role which Sachin assigned him to perfection. He made 56 in 34 balls giving Mumbai a great start. It was he who went after the bowling and made it easier for Sachin and for every other MI batsman who came in later.

If not for his innings, Sachin's innings simply doesnt have a meaning. (Dont tell me that there would be plan-B. I am talking about what happened and what is happening after that happened.)

Unfortunately, no body is talking about the awesome performances of these young batsmen. All these future stars are being shadowed by the image and following of the little master.

Many such performances are going unnoticed. This might act as a serious threat to the growth of some good players.

A Trip to IITK

My recent visit to IITK was different from earlier visits. I didnt go there to write more exams but to tell the students about an important exam and how to prepare for it.

It was my first visit after graduating and I went on behalf of JP Morgan for the pre-placement talk. It was a short visit with an overnight stay in the campus. We reached IITK in the evening, gave a presentation to the students in which I spoke about "life of an analyst in JP Morgan" and left early the next morning.

It felt great to see many of my batchmates (who are pursuing their dual degree) and juniors. I had my dinner in Hall-9 canteen where I met many of my friends. I met most of the guys from Aero dual and TDPs (the group of telugu speaking guys) there. I then spent some time in Hall-1 Quad answering some of the queries which students had regarding career opportunities. I then went to Hall-7 where I met my final year wingmates. My tour of hostels ended with a small treat in Hall-1 canteen to some of my juniors.

The trip was different for more than one reasons. I realized why IIT Kanpur is a great place to be in. I was able to notice and feel many things which I never noticed in my 4 years of stay there. Those things which never came into my observation seemed to be very precious - the huge number of students with diverse interests, the silence which could have been found easily by just turing off the speakers, the professors, library and labs (yes!), playgrounds, the abundant time available etc. Those people who used to bore me to death (guess who? :P) looked like respectable intellectuals. Those roads on which I hated to walk seemed to be very pleasant and calm, especially at night. The library, to which I only went once a semester while registration, seemed to contain a lot of knowledge.

The campus, on the whole, appeared to be much more cleaner and beautiful than ever before, especially after going from a place like Mumbai.

P.S1: The only thing which didnt seem different was the GH, although a few residents changed.

P.S2:P.S1 need not necessarily mean something negative. Depends on how you look at it though.

Agyaat 2

******* continued from my earlier post*******

Considering the interests of various stakeholders involved in this prank, I am refraining myself from narrating the entire story. However I will conclude Agyaat by revealing the suspense, if there is any.

As a response to my earlier post, people came up with different guesses as to who the unknown person is. The answers ranged from "a real beautiful girl" to "a guy trying to take revenge on Bhaskar". But none of them were correct. Some readers went way ahead and began asking if I am Bhaskar. NO, I AM NOT!

I am really surprised that no one was able to guess it correctly. I couldn't believe how each and every reader trusted Shwaitang's words, just like Bhaskar. No wonder Bhaskar didn't realise it was a prank!

If you still didn't get it, Shwaitang is the one who did it all. He took a new mobile connection that day and so Bhaskar didn't have his number. When Bhaskar asked him to call, he happily called to his own mobile from his own mobile and confirmed that it was really a lady answering. As if he was referring to the Airtel-Auntie who said, "the person you are trying to call is currently busy"!

Needless to say, we had great fun at the Hypercity Mall, followed by a heavy treat to Bhaskar to cool him down!

P.S: Sorry for disappointing you. I really didnt try to copy RVG's style of having a disappointing climax here. It is just a coincidence!

Agyaat

******* based on a true story *******

It all started with an SMS from an unknown number that said, "I always wanted to tell you that I am having a crush on you right from the moment I saw you on floor". Bhaskar, who very recently shifted to Mumbai to join a huge Investment Banking firm, was surprised seeing that SMS. It is 10 pm. There were 8 more guys in the house at that time, all of them who joined the same I-bank along with him. Another SMS quickly followed. "I didnt want to surprise you. But I am not able to bear this any longer". Bhaskar didn't know what to do. He approached his friends for suggestions when a third message arrived. "Your reply is the only way in which we can end this".

Bhaskar called every one present in the house to make sure that no one is playing around with him. After confirming that it is not someone within the house, he decided to call and find out who the person (hopefully a girl) is. But he didnt want to call her directly. He felt that it would be a huge move and might scare the girl right away! So he asked Shwaitang, whom he believed was the most honest guy present in the house, to call her and find out if it is really a girl. Bhaskar also insisted that Shwaitang should call from his own mobile so that she will answer the call thinking it is someone else. So Shwaitang called from his own mobile and confirmed that it is really a girl on the other side.

Bhaskar couldn't believe it! He was not able to control his anxiety. He immediately sent an SMS saying, "Who are you?". A message soon came back saying, " I cannot reveal my identity so soon. It will not be good for me to do so". This only made Bhaskar more anxious. He began guessing who it could be. "How can someone know my number, which is less than a week old? It should be someone who is very close to me. May be someone from the new joinees itslef", he thought.

His friends also began to think seriously as to who it can be. They made a list of all the girls who could possibly have his mobile number. Then began a brainstorming session as to who from the list can it be. They took each name one after the other and Bhaskar ruled out all of them, although sometimes less strongly than others! He felt shy at some names and sad at others. But even after a long session, they were not able to conclude who it is.

Finally his friends convinced him that, whoever the girl is, he should be pro-active and take the initiative to move things forward. Else the girl might develop a not-so-good opinion on him. So he replied "I would want to know who you are before I take a decision. Shall we meet at the Hypercity Mall at 8 pm tomorrow?". A message quickly came back saying, "I can't believe that you agreed to meet me so soon. Tomorrow could be the most luckiest day of my life!".

Bhaskar was very proud, happy and anxious at the same time. His friends then tried to look at reasons as to how the girl could have been impressed in such a short time. They came up with some examples where Bhaskar stood out from the rest of the joinees and proved his mettle. After a lot of discussion, his friends left. The night for Bhaskar ended with the exchange of a few "good night" messages. But Bhaskar was not able to sleep. He imagined how he would react upon seeing the girl. His reactions varied from, "WoW! I can't believe it is you!" to a simple "Shit!", for the various girls he thought about.

Bhaskar came to the office as usual the next day. As soon as he opened his inbox, there was a mail saying that an employee immediately needs blood. Bhaskar immediately replied to it and went to the hospital to donate blood. Very few people knew that bhaskar did this. But still, he recieved an SMS that said, "I am really proud of what you are doing right now". Bhaskar went into a shock after seeing this. He couldn't believe it. He immediately called up a few guys to inform this and asked them to enquire how could someone know about his blood donation. They said, "If she is loving you so much, she would obviously be observing what you are doing!".

***** to be completed

P.S 1 : Wow! I can't believe I typed so much. This post has become really long. Can't write more now. Will complete it as soon as I find some time.

P.S 2 : If I can borrow RGV's style along with his title, "know who the unknown is in my next post 'Agyaat-2'".

Good Bye IIT Kanpur!

This will be my last post from IIT Kanpur as I will be leaving the campus in a couple of hours. After having spent four wonderful years it is not easy to leave this place. This place has taught me many things. It had shown me both successes and failures. It had given me great friends. Will miss this place and people.