Open letter to Ricky Ponting

Dear Ricky,

Congratulations on winning a keenly-contested Test match at Sydney. Your team fought back from despairing depths on Day 1 to emerge the unlikely winners on Day 5. Truly, the work of a champion team.

As a supporter of the Indian cricket team, I am aggrieved with the standard of umpiring in the Test. But hey, it happens. You were better, one way or the other.

But what I am aggrieved more as a cricket fan is the conduct of your team — and yourself. Your sanctimoniousness and arrogance were not befitting of a world champion team and its captain.

Let me borrow a line from Richie Benaud who had described the Sachin Tendulkar seam-cleaning incident at Port Elizabeth as "If that's not ball tampering, then I am Mrs. Doubtfire."

Ricky, if your team played within the spirit of the game in Sydney, then
I am Mrs. Doubtfire.

There’s no disputing that yours is the best team in the world. That’s a well-documented fact. Similarly, after what happened in Sydney — and the world saw it — yours is also an ill-behaved team that displays little ethic or sporting spirit, or the gall to stand your ground when returned a favour, as we saw in Harbhajan Singh's case.

I remember an incident from a recent one-day international where Murali Kartik didn’t walk. After India won, you pointed out later that it would have been nice for Kartik to have walked.

That game was of no consequence. You had already won the series. But I’ll tell you what would have been nice.

It would have been nice if you had walked when you were caught down the leg off Sourav Ganguly. It would have been nice if Andrew Symonds had walked on 30.

It would have been nice if Clarke had not shamefully stayed on having knocked the cover of the ball and waited for the umpire to give him out.

Ricky, it would have been nice if Clarke had not asked Ganguly to "f*** off" after taking a dubious catch. It would have been nice if you had not appealed for a catch of M.S. Dhoni that you had grounded.

Yes, I am questioning your honesty, and if it comes to talking about integrity, you should not be standing there.

I know your team has won everything it could win.

Next time, try winning hearts.

Sincerely,

A Cricket Fan

"Where you want it?"

The TVCs for the Indian Cricket League are a riot. I particularly loved the one on the Chennai Superstars. [Video below]



Then there are the Delhi Jets, Hyderabad Heroes, Kolkata Tigers, Chandigarh Lions and Mumbai Champs.

Jesus — I Will Survive

Forgive, O Lord, my little jokes on Thee, and I'll forgive Thy great big joke on me.
— Robert Frost

The mother of all Orkut Gems

From the Orkut profile of a female:

I AM ONE WHO WANT TO DRINK THE EVERY MOMENT OF THE LIFE..

AND WANT TO TOUCH THE THOSE WHICH ARE VERY HIGHT FROM ME..!

FOR ALL THIS I NEED MONEY WHICH I EARNING LOT..!

JOIN MY NETWORK AND EARN TOO MUCH WITH ME

There's more:

passions: ... SOME ONE SPICHAL..!

And more:

sports: NO I AM NOT INTRESTED IN SPORTS.. BECAUSE ALL THAT ARE THE WAISTING OF TIME..!

And more:

music: BEST STREET BOYS,

This doesn't end yet:

movies: I AM LOVING ALL BILLOYWOOD MOVIES

Via Vijayendra.

The best music of 2007

2007 is coming to an end. Thought I’d list the best songs I’ve heard this year. Note that these are songs/album I liked, not just songs which were released this year.

Songs
Sappy ^[video] by Nirvana. What I've Done ^[video] by Linkin Park.

Sappy, it turns out, dates back to 1987. But I hadn't heard it till recently.

Linkin Park's Minutes To Midnight was a digression from their last two albums, which were characterised by LP's style of building up the intensity to a point where the song explodes. That style was missing in this album. Needless to say I didn't like it as much as I liked Hybrid Theory and Meteora.

Albums
Life In A Metro, especially Alvida ^[video]. Metro is by far the most impresive OST I've heard in a long, long time.

Sliver by Nirvana. Some of these songs are so good, you wonder how they hadn't made it to any of Nirvana's studio albums.

People I'd like to listen to less
Shreya Ghosal and James [of Alvida] fame. Not because I dislike them, but because I liked them so much, I hope they are choosy about their work.

People I've tagged
Illuzon, Rachna, Vijayendra.