TOURNAMENTS, TRAVEL AND TURNING TWENTY TWO!

Greetings people.

It has been an awesome month and a half. Loads of travel, lots of fun and success at last for TEAM SRM!

College tournaments are always something I look forward to, not because we get to stay/play near the ladies hostel (I’ve always noticed, be it VIT or KIIT UNIVERSITY, the cricket ground is always right beside the girls hostels! Smart!) but because there is this certain something, an X FACTOR to these tournaments. The intensity, the crowd and the adrenaline! Ok, that and the first reason too. ;)

The HOWRAH MAIL took us to Bhubaneswar in 22 hours and the rather enthusiastic student organizers made sure we reached the SOA UNIVERSITY campus without much fuss. But I am sure even they wouldn’t have anticipated the sight that greeted us when we entered the campus. An angry mob of 200 11^th and 12^th std students wreaking havoc. The situation eventually was taken into control but I must admit, it was definitely not a night of sound sleep.

As the days ensued, we began falling in love with the place. The maggi and ice tea, the table tennis sessions and the amazing dal, fish and kheer they served at the hostel mess. It was a shame though that we lost in the quarters, once again to ANDHRA UNIVERSITY.

One tournament unfortunately down, one more to go, we shifted base to KIIT UNIVERSITY. I had to board a train to kerala for another tournament with my league team. Because of the loss, I was denied permission by the college management. Caught between a rock and a hard place, I was in the most uncomfortable of states, mentally. Fortunately though, my cousin, my dad and AIR INDIA came to my rescue. Cousin for booking the ticket at such short notice, dad for paying for it and AIR INDIA of course for providing the shortest( and cheapest B) ) flight from Bhubaneswar to cochin.

The matches at cochin were a disaster, we ended up losing both the games and getting knocked out. This meant flying back to Bhubaneswar for the remainder of the tournament on the college management’s orders. Fly back I did.

A suicide at the girls hostel, 2 hours of tt, an amazing semi final( DELHI UNIV VS REVENSHAW UNIV) and a hearty dinner later we found ourselves at the gates of the university, being denied permission to be let in. The reason we heard was because of a fight in the hostel between the students and the wardens. ‘Fight’ btw would be an understatement, riot would be more like it. The team was assembled and locked up in the indoor stadium for OUR safety by the sports dept faculty. In the chaos that ensued, we ended up shifting our rooms at 1 AM!

With messed up sleep, we set out for our semi final game against KIIT, the organizers. If the first semifinal was a hit, this was a blockbuster! A low scoring event, we ended up winning by the skins of our teeth. The flood lights, the music and the pressure of playing against a crowd of 500 home team supporters! That easily happens to be the best game I’ve played thus far.

The finals didn’t quite go as well though. A tired SRM team losing to a rather pumped up DELHI UNIVERSITY, though once again it ended up being a tight finish. The prize distribution followed, the team returning home richer by 72000 rs and me getting an additional 3ooo for BEST WICKET KEEPER.

Back home 6 hours before I turned 22, all I could do before I hit the bed was unpack, shower and eat. The midnight calls and the showering of love and blessings followed but it wasn’t until 7 hours after midnight that I was in for my first surprise of the day.

The management of INDIAN BANK, with whom I’ve been for the past 5 yrs, surprised me with sweets this year, a gesture that was truly sweet. Pun unintended. My SRM teammates followed it up with a cake at 12 noon in the PD’s office( thanks to our PD for granting permission for that) and my bus mates (I’ve always loved this bunch, you too SADA sir) finished it off with a cake in the bus! A truly special day, thank you all!

An amazing 4 weeks in Bhubaneswar and Cochin followed by more matches in Chennai at present, life seems to be hitting top gear. All that travel has taken a toll on the body but the mind is still fresh and that I believe is what eggs me on to complete this post.

Until next time,

Keep smiling,

ADIOS!

THE GREAT INDIAN CURSE

Over the past few years, the most important thing I’ve learnt is that being good at everything is a disadvantage. A CURSE rather.

March 2007. Having finished my class 12 exams, I had a rather clear path fixed in my mind. Join an ARTS college, get a degree in 3 years and focus on cricket. Had that plan worked out well, I would have been doing my PG in SRM UNIVERSITY right now.

Unfortunately though, it didn’t work that way.

Why?

Because the South Indian society has this strange habit of placing engineers and doctors on a pedestal and looking down on everyone else. Never mind if the engineering/medical seat was BOUGHT and not EARNED. Who cares. DR.KARTHIK or ER. KARTHIK looks better on the wedding invitation than say, a S.KARTHIK(B.COM)

So yes, a victim of this system I became.

2 years at veltech and now 3 years at SRM later, I’d still say, I regret having taken up that decision

I wouldn’t really say I hate engineering. Engineering does have its perks. Especially if it is done at INDIA’S NO 1 PRIVATE UNIVERSITY. Ac buses, hi tech class rooms (though strictly for 1^st sem only ;D), beautiful girls(again, 1^st sem only if you are a mech/automobile engineer :D), a non alcoholic pub right in the campus and hmm, an opportunity to learn how things work (with a disclaimer warning of course :D).

Now tell me, which arts college would offer all this.

But then the 5 years have really taken a toll on me, both physically and mentally. Not many people would understand this but doing engineering while you are trying to make a mark in cricket is actually tough. VERY VERY tough.

Until now, it was just the academic part that worried me. The matches would appear right during the cycle/model tests and we would have to miss them. If the staff is considerate enough, you would get a retest or an assignment (god bless those souls!) but if they were a pleasure starved necrophiliac, the only thing we would get to do after we get back to college is to make trips between the classrooms and their cabins asking for a retest. Without any success of course.

As if this wasn’t enough, after having gone around campus begging the staff for retests/assignments, squeezing in a couple of tests on the days we do attend college and finally managing to secure an above average grade, some A-hole with a self confessed sense of humor decides to pop in and say “unnaku enna machi, sports quota dhaana, avangalae mark poturpaanga.” Oh how I feel like slapping each and every one of them.

But then, even this is fine when compared to how things are panning out at the moment. The college cricket team has been underperforming of late and as a counter active measure, the university’s sports department has gotten stricter. No ODs, no permissions and a letter asking us to pay the entire 4 years tuition fee if we decide to go for a league/state game instead of a college match. Which comes to approximately 8 lakhs. For someone who has been unsuccessfully trying to complete a 4 yr engineering course for the last 5 years, even a bank loan is impossible at the moment. So college match it is. WITH NO EFFING CHOICE.

Ideally, that wouldn’t have been a problem. But what has happened now is that my league team hasn’t taken a liking to it. I’ve been missing out on a lot of opportunities in my league team because some bucking fasterd with no knowledge of the TNCA cricketing schedule decides to conduct a college tournament at exactly the same time a TNCA match is scheduled. Believe me, I am missing out on a LOT.

So yes, this is my situation now. With one more year to go, I might have to miss out on a lot more.

Which brings me to the GREAT INDIAN CURSE. Too many complications, too many sacrifices. All for a stupid ER symbol in front of your name. if ever I had a chance to change the system, this would be no.1 on my list.

Until next time,

ADIOS!

MY TRADITIONAL NEW YEAR’S EVE POST

Like I’ve maintained all along, 2011 has been a mixed year for me. So many moments, so many emotions- happiness, pain, dejection, love, support, motivation and friendship, I’ve truly been on both sides of the spectrum this 2011.

Life until now hasn’t really been easy for me, but the friends I’ve made over the years and the experience I’ve gained from my failures have only made me stronger. My friends who’ve been with me throughout, thank you guys, if I am still sane( well, am i? :P) it is definitely because of you. As for those who demotivated me and/or tried to pull me down, thank you even more. It is because of you all that I put in that extra bit of effort every day.

A special thanks also to this year’s bunch of juniors. Every single one of you. You people have been amazing. :)

So yes, never before have I ended a year with such a vibrant smile on my face. Let’s just hope 2012 brings in more joy, not only for me but to every single one of you reading this post.

I’ll sign off with this short story I found out on the internet.

The Story of the Butterfly

A man found a cocoon of a butterfly.
One day a small opening appeared.
He sat and watched the butterfly for several hours
as it struggled to squeeze its body through the tiny hole.
Then it stopped, as if it couldn't go further.

So the man decided to help the butterfly.
He took a pair of scissors and
snipped off the remaining bits of cocoon.
The butterfly emerged easily but
it had a swollen body and shriveled wings.

The man continued to watch it,
expecting that any minute the wings would enlarge
and expand enough to support the body,
Neither happened!
In fact the butterfly spent the rest of its life
crawling around.
It was never able to fly.

What the man in his kindness
and haste did not understand:
The restricting cocoon and the struggle
required by the butterfly to get through the opening
was a way of forcing the fluid from the body
into the wings so that it would be ready
for flight once that was achieved.

Sometimes struggles are exactly
what we need in our lives.
Going through life with no obstacles would cripple us.
We will not be as strong as we could have been
and we would never fly.

So next time you fail in something (@ezhil arasan, I am NOT referring to failing in an exam btw :P) remember about the butterfly. Struggles are what make us fly higher.

Have a wonderful 2012 everyone.

Until next time,

Adios!

MATCHES, MIRCH AND MASTI part 2

HUNDI BIRIYANIS, HANGOVER BUDDIES AND THE KOLAVERI BHAIYYA

Pardon me for the gap between the previous post and this one, the semester has begun and I am finding it particularly hard to adjust between doing-nothing-at-home to doing-nothing-in-college. B)

Getting on with the post, part 2 of ‘MATCHES, MIRCH AND MASTI’ will deal predominantly with food. And um, beverages.

AN OVERDOSE OF CHICKEN

Now if you are a die hard biriyani fan, you will most certainly know that Hyderabad is THE place to go to for authentic Moghul biriyani. We were not disappointed. The GOLD BAWARCHE RESTAURANT that was a 5 minute walk from the pigeon hole we were put up in served some amazingly good biriyani at dirt cheap rates. Now having grown up in a city that charges exorbitant amounts for relatively small plates, when we saw a hundi biriyani priced there at 140 rs, we thought “well ok, 140 rs, that could serve one person.” But the damned thing came in a container so huge, 3 people could have eaten from it. comfortably! Not only the hundi( pronounced as hun-di) biryanis but almost everything they served at the GBR was insanely good and amazingly cheap. Being a die hard non vegetarian, such good food at such an affordable price spelt only one thing. P-A-R-A-D-I-S-E.

MACHI OPEN THE BOTTLE!

Victory and celebration are something that are synonymous with cricket tours. Now each guy has a different way of celebrating. But one form of celebration that is universally accepted and followed is “machi, OPEN THE BOTTLLEEEE!” this tour had enough rest days in between matches and the guys decided to, um celebrate. Now being someone who doesn’t drink definitely has its perks. Like sitting there watching them making an ass of themselves. And with the right amount of prodding it can be entertainment guaranteed. A few moments from the tour are classic. Buddy’s back stretch, praga’s antics, panch-o going for a jog the next morning with half boil stuck in his beard and PT banging shoulder first into the wall while trying to lie down to sleep. Truly hilarious moments! Both on and off the field, this is probably the best team I’ve been part of. Extremely talented and obscenely funny. It was truly an honour to be one among you. Love you guys. :)

WHY THIS KOLAVERI?

Just a few weeks before this tour, sony music released a song from 3, a tamil movie directed by rajnikanth’s daughter and starring his son in law. A couple of days later, the song went viral registering page hits and downloads like nothing ever seen before!

Before leaving for Hyderabad, I was quite skeptical about this entire VIRAL thing. Agreed, a song can become so popular it is played in all sports events irrespective of the language or the context. Like say a ‘chak de’ or a ‘ringa ringa’. But only after reaching Hyderabad did I truly realize the gigantic proportions this song had snowballed into. It was everywhere. Literally!

Juice shops, shopping malls, chat kiosks, breakfast vendors, everyone kept playing the damned song over and over again! And if they came to know that you were tamil, they had only question for you. “COLA-VERI ka meaning kya hai?”

Now listening to a song almost all the time is something but having it played every morning precisely at 7 is another. Suprabhadam, yes I can understand but why this kolaver di, definitely NO! Our breakfast vendor would arrive at our room at exactly 7am and start playing the song. The worst part, he would put it on loop! So every time the song ended, dhanush would start off again in a few seconds with “yo boys, I am sing a song!” the first few days it was fine, but after the third morning it became too much to bear. What was the meaning of kolaveri you asked, you should have come seen the look in our eyes between 7 and 7.30 am every morning. ;) but then, the man was genuinely good and so were his idlis, dosas and mysore bondas. So we decided to spare his life, affectionately calling him the KOLAVERI BHAIYYA. At the end of the meal, he would make calculations in his head and tell us the total amount. At 10 rs a plate (4 idlis/2 dosas/4 bondas, same rate) we never really bothered to check. C’mon this was our very own kolaveri bhaiyya, he would do us no harm! The last day though, we did. And we realized that he had charged us an additional 40 rupees that day alone! Either he had looted us from day one or he was very bad at math, we would never really know. we decided to leave it at that.

A couple of days later, we were safely back home, the train journey surprisingly being largely uneventful. ;) In hindsight though, this tour has been one among the best. We played hard and we partied harder. It was a shame though that we lost. But then failure is just an opportunity to start over again knowing what to do and what not to. SRMite and proud!

Until next time,

Adios!

MATCHES, MIRCH AND MASTI part 1

Though people might say that I wasted 2 yrs by discontinuing from veltech and joining srm, I’d still say that it was possibly the best decision I’ve taken in the recent past. Yes, it is quite uncomfortable to be explaining to my classmates from school who are now either working or doing their higher studies as to why I am still in the 3^rd year of college but then, the fun I’ve had ever since I’ve joined srm tends to overshadow the disappointment.

College cricket tours were something I wouldn’t have ever dreamt off had I continued at veltech. Because, well, the damned college didn’t really have a cricket team. But ever since joining srm, I spend more time on the field than in class.

This particular blog post is about my recent trip to Hyderabad for, you guessed it right, matches! :D

We spent 10 days there in all and had amazing fun, so much fun that it would be impossible to put it all up in a single post. So 2 parts it will be.

Part 1 of this trip, I’d like to call “CLEAN ROOMS, WATERLESS TOILETS AND A DIRTY PICTURE”

Now the bad thing about college sports tours is that we get to put up with pathetic accommodation. Storerooms in hostels, empty classrooms converted into temporary dorms and haunted faculty quarters; we’ve seen it all. During this stay in OSMANIA UNIVERSITY, the FIFTEEN of us were put up in an independent house with ONE fan, ONE toilet and ONE bathroom! Though frankly speaking, the only reason we ever switched on the fan was to keep away mosquitoes. It was unbelievably cold there.

The rooms though were clean; not as in the ‘hotel room’ clean but as in the ‘inhabitable’ clean. The only problem however was that the following morning there was no water in the overhead tank, which translated into no water in the toilets! Perfect start to the day I would say. Just what you would want a couple of hours before the match. :/

The match was a breeze though and we ended up winning by a little under 200 runs.

And fortunately for us, unlike in IIT KANPUR, our room here was very very close to basic civic amenities; like good (in fact very good) hotels, a cinema theatre and a BIG BAZAAR family store. B)

THE DIRTY PICTURE was playing in the theatre along the road; now vidya balan in any role would draw crowds but vidya balan as silk smitha was sure to, even more. Prime example- almost our entire team flocked to the theatre irrespective of whether they understood hindi or not. ;)

Vidya balan was cute, pretty and hot all in one. But apart from the raunchy dance routines and the barely there costumes and a few genuinely good scenes and well written dialogues, there was nothing much in the movie worth a mention. Truth be told, it was the comments from our gang that kept us in the theatre through the entire duration of the movie. Ok, That and the couple behind us who seemed to believe that me and the others in the theatre were actually watching the movie and not the more interesting romance scene playing behind us. ;D

The movie did end but vidya stayed on in our hearts. B)

Apart from this, we also played cricket in the backyard, bought clothes lines, immersion rod heaters and other basic stuff you might need to survive in the house, ate amazingly good food, christened our breakfast vendor as KOLAVERI BHAIYYA and made friends with the pineapple vendor in campus.

Oh ya, we even asked a few people there for directions to kattankulathur, urapakkam and vandalur! :D

All these and much much more. But to know all that you’ll have to wait for part 2.

So until next time,

Adios!