Play of Anomalies

Many would have said, “We don’t care about the finals. Just win this game” for the WC 2011 Semi Finals between archrivals – India and Pakistan, hosted at Mohali, PCA Stadium on Mar 30, 2011.

While news channels quizzed if the ever increasing frenzy was due to decades old Indo-Pak jingoism, while various diplomats and ministers with their hefty group of delegates met after a brief cold war, terming the match an excuse for diplomatic cross border relations, for the common man in both the nations, this game was larger the life, most critical than most of their daily duties. The streaks of patriotism were so heavily rampant that no "Aman ki Asha" initiative would work.

For an average Indian, there were many questions –

1) Will India maintain its unbeaten record of being triumphant over Pakistan in all WC encounters?

2) Will Sachin hit his 100th century today?

3) Will Dhoni include Ashwin in attack?

Many more questions occurred as the game progressed –

1) Why did Dhoni include Nehra when he was so costly in previous WC 2011 matches?

2) What did he find so interesting in the pitch that he included three seamers in the bowling attack?

3) Why did he keep Ashwin away when he had done well and when everyone endorsed his selection?

4) How much butter did Pakistanis consume for breakfast to let go Sachin so easily and so many times?

5) What magic wand did Sachin wield to keep alive at the crease for so long?

6) Will Indian pace attack weave the same magic that Wahab Riaz managed to through his 5-wicket toll?

7) How Pakistan manages to bring in the best pace attack possible, every time despite its ace bowlers – Asif and Mohmd.Amer denied their berths in the team?

8) Why Raina was not brought up in the order for his unruffled batting prowess displayed on many occasions and was brought in at position 8 for fire fighting?

9) Why, despite many fielding lessons, did Yuvraj hit the stumps with his hand and not with the ball, thus giving a lease of life to Umar Akmal?

10) Why Pakistan team did not use their batting power play much earlier when Afridi and Misbah were at crease?

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India’s victory was truly special, a memorable one it will remain for every soul in the country. It was a show of power and responsibility by Team Blue – be it Sehwag’s cold blooded massacre of Umar Gul’s overs, Sachin’s consistent efforts to remain at crease and work wonders, Raina’s unquestionable composure at very testing moments, unprecedented discipline in bowling from Nehra, Yuvraj’s contribution with the ball, Bhajji’s witty tricks on his home turf, only a single digit extras in an innings that carries unfathomable pressure, the yorkers, leg cutters and off cutters from the pacemen of the team. Every moment was full of tension, fervent prayers and anxiety. There were many anomalies observed from the captains of both sides. At the day’s end, the net cost of the comedy of errors; how and for whom luck outplayed anomalies mattered. Mar 30, 2011 is a special day for India, another day where luck worked to support stupendous efforts and did not give a hoot to petty manual follies.

Where colors speak ...

Back to my blog for a brief post after a long time... Happy HOLI to all!!
Can there be a better day/occasion than Holi (the festival of colors) to write/talk about colors?

Work has got hectic these days. We broke from our insipid routine at Bangalore, nailed down a weekend and made a trip to Coorg and Bylakuppe. Come April/May, the mad rush on account of summer vacations in most tourist sites in India, further bolstered our fervor to complete the visit in month of March itself.

That's a brief prologue leading to my post on Bylakuppe's Buddhist Golden temple, adorned with colors. From here on, let the colors convey it all to you -

Please feel free to access - https://picasaweb.google.com/divya553/Byelkuppe#
I have some problems uploading pictures onto my blog - my blog just refuses to listen to me after a significantly long inert period.

Some Footnotes:

Date of visit: Mar 13, 2010

Place/Location: Bylakuppe Namdroling Monastery, 7-8 km from Kushalanagar town. Kushalnagar is about 220 km away from Bangalore and falls in Mysore district.

Reached by: KSRTC buses ply at very good frequency from Madikeri/Bangalore/Mysore to Kushalanagar. An auto hired for Rs 40 (one-way) assures a safe drop at the golden temple.

More about Bylakuppe: A Tibetan refugee settlement established in the year 1961, consisting of many camps under the names - Dickyi Larsoe and Lugsung Sampduling. The mini, self-sufficient town houses monasteries in tandem with the Nyingma tradition. The temples/monasteries here are considered the second seat of the head monk - His Holiness Penor Rinpoche, whose main stay is the Palyul Monastery in Tibet.

Refresh yourselves:Kushalanagar is a fairly big town, has hotels for stay. Athithi restaurant, near the town bus stand provides good food.

Activities: The monks here form a tightly knit and coy community. Therefore, it is important to contain one's excitement, maintain silence and follow prescribed rules on display boards. One requires about 2 hours to visit the place at leisure.
When we reached at 12.45 pm on Sunday- Mar 13, we attended a prayer meeting. We witnessed a huge congregation of monks, they were performing rituals and chanting hymns, the prayer began before we entered the venue and lasted till we left - 2.45 pm.
When prayers are offered, tourists have to wait at the outer doorway and catch of glimpse of the interiors from there, strict entry restrictions are followed. Their prayer sessions are highly involved, complex with eerie noises made by a chief monk, these noises seemed more like inhalation and exhalation exercises. Dances were performed by men in colorful attire and masks; white clothes were swayed slowly by a monk between these dancing men; huge temple bells were rung and traditional musical instruments - drums and tremendously long pipes were played at regular intervals.

Tagline: The colorful monasteries, encompassed by green lawns, living quarters of monks, hospitals and educational institutions, in this mini town of Bylekuppe, present a different and unique cultural and religious landscape, seen nowhere else in South India.