Saturday, November 27, 2004
Hailey
Whatever little i read of Arthur Hailey, I found quite interesting. He wasn't the conventional best-seller writer who wrote on just one
subject. He tried his hand at a range of topics, essentially these were dealing with the different industries. In 'Moneychangers', it was banks he dealt with, in 'Airport', he dealt with aviation,in 'The Final Diagnosis', it was medicine and so on. Though none of his books were of any high literary merit, it could be read to kill time as they were real page-turners. Probably, the one thing that made his books immensely successful were the research involved behind each of them, like when he tries to explain the nitty-gritty of Banking or the nuances of the Hotel Industry.
subject. He tried his hand at a range of topics, essentially these were dealing with the different industries. In 'Moneychangers', it was banks he dealt with, in 'Airport', he dealt with aviation,in 'The Final Diagnosis', it was medicine and so on. Though none of his books were of any high literary merit, it could be read to kill time as they were real page-turners. Probably, the one thing that made his books immensely successful were the research involved behind each of them, like when he tries to explain the nitty-gritty of Banking or the nuances of the Hotel Industry.
Sunday, November 21, 2004
On Call
If you have been part of a support or maintenance project then you probably would know what being on call means. If you havent then its your good fortune. What this term means is that during weekends and holidays, you would be called on the phone to fix an issue and by some burst of clairvoyance, you should have an inkling as to what the issue is and also have a ready solution in hand, else you need to travese 10 miles to your office and in the course of this travel come up with a solution which you can readily apply on reaching the workplace. Believe me, this is not as complicated as my previous sentence sounds. I know that my weekend is wrecked the minute I am entrusted with a company provided mobile phone which would be my confidant for the next two days. The biggest misery for me is not the impending phone call but the actual wait for it. During these days, I would never part with the phone as if my whole life depended on it. Every two minutes, i would steal a furtive glimpse of this insipid object so much so that its contours would be sketched in my mind till eternity. And when the phone does ring, its a big relief for I would have something to look forward to for the remainder of the weekend.
Sunday, November 14, 2004
Cricketing Woes
Few would have realized at the beginning of the year that Indian cricket would reach the low that it has now. Its a pity what the three month hiatus has done to the team after their admirable performance in Pakistan. I guess that its safe to say that Indian cricket is in the doldrums.
Before the match commenced yesterday, I had already predicted that Pakistan would emerge victorious. Although the Indians posted a biggish total, Pakistanis were the better team. What I have come to realize that the Indian team is just not balanced. I mean,what happens if one of the bowlers were to have a bad day. There is just no back up bowler to do the job. Similarly, lack of a specialist keeper is also proving costly. I guess there were far too many runs scored because Dravid could not collect keenly on the leg side. Going in with seven specialist batsmen is almost as if there is no faith in the six batsmen doing the job.What we need to look for a specialist keeper who is quite capable with the bat too. Maybe looking for a Gilchrist is a bit too much but atleast he must be able to do what Moin does for Pakistan or Boucher does so consistently for SA. Also there are just no quality all rounders in the squad. Irfan hasnt done particularly much with the bat and Agarkar lacks consistency. With the kind of team India fields in the ODIs, its adding a bit too much pressure on the specialist bowlers. In the long run, the Indian ODI outfit needs to be changed before things get out of hand.
Before the match commenced yesterday, I had already predicted that Pakistan would emerge victorious. Although the Indians posted a biggish total, Pakistanis were the better team. What I have come to realize that the Indian team is just not balanced. I mean,what happens if one of the bowlers were to have a bad day. There is just no back up bowler to do the job. Similarly, lack of a specialist keeper is also proving costly. I guess there were far too many runs scored because Dravid could not collect keenly on the leg side. Going in with seven specialist batsmen is almost as if there is no faith in the six batsmen doing the job.What we need to look for a specialist keeper who is quite capable with the bat too. Maybe looking for a Gilchrist is a bit too much but atleast he must be able to do what Moin does for Pakistan or Boucher does so consistently for SA. Also there are just no quality all rounders in the squad. Irfan hasnt done particularly much with the bat and Agarkar lacks consistency. With the kind of team India fields in the ODIs, its adding a bit too much pressure on the specialist bowlers. In the long run, the Indian ODI outfit needs to be changed before things get out of hand.
