Abysmal India in the world cup

I did not want to write about this topic but I cannot resist it anymore. India is out of the world cup and what a sad sight it was. I thought this team would definitely go to the next round by beating Bangladesh and Bermuda. That was a given, but subsequently you know they were not consistent enough to move to the semis or further.

Removing the emotions aside, this Indian team promised a lot, but did not deliver. They had all the support systems in place, the expertise required, the skills, treated like kings and enough time to plan for the world cup, but they did not perform. This team did not have the stomach for a fight. In any team, you need everyone to come together to become a winning unit and i think we were always hovering around the 50-50 winning percentage.

Serious questions need to be asked by the administration and we should get back to the spirit of winning rather than the commerical aspects. I think there is so much money floating around that players and administators are not held accountable for poor performance. There should be an attitude change to try new players, start winning abroad and keeping the effect of politics on the game to a minimum. Allow players to play cricket rather than do all other stuff. People should start treating them as normal people and dont care too much about them (remove them from their demi God status).

Cricket is a common thread that unites the country and has so much emotions associated with it. It is in the DNA of Indians and to get it out of the system is like breaking up from your love. I think this is the opportunity for all people to give other sports some credit and start encouraging people in other sports. People should start going to some athletics events, football matches, golf tournaments, tennis and so on and encourage people from other sports as well. I think every Indian is so much attached to cricket at this point and it really hurts when the team plays so badly. If this is not working out, try other sports should be the mantra.

Finally, the death of Bob Woolmer has cast a shroud around the Pakistan team and the latest is that two Pakistan players have been asked to stay back in Jamaica. It is a very sad thing that a person can be killed for losing a game and in fact, the players lost it. As they say, you can only take the horse to the water, but not make it drink. There is a much deeper plot to the murder of Woolmer which hopefully will be revealed soon and not swept under the carpet.

Junoon

I went to a concert of Salman Ahmad (of Junoon fame) organised by Asia Society, NY. One of my friends asked me about whether i was interested and I jumped at the offer. I did not know the kind of music it was going to be, but i knew it would be different.

Reaching the venue was a task in itself because of the snow storm and one had to walk in puddles of snow and it gives you an uncomfortable feel when the feet gets wet. The concert started 15 min late and it suited us quite well.

Salman Ahmad is a doctor by training and quit for his first love music. He was accompanied by Samir Chatterjee on the tabla (my friend was learning tabla from him). Salman is a rock artist with a sufi soul. He has a pony tail and his attire resembled of a rock artist. He started with a couple of numbers which i felt were quite boring and then he hit on his most famous number "Sayyoni" of Junoon fame. That lit the place up and i got more interested at this point. His mastery over the guitar is a sight to see and he could play soft tunes and also really step it up and go over the top. The normal routine used to be he would string a soft tune, start singing and then show his full reportoire of guitar skills and them come back singing at the end and wrap up the song. I was not too impressed by his singing mainly because it was more at a high pitch. He was ably supported by Samir who was alert and upto the mark. He did not do anything extraordinary, but at the same time he held his own. I thought he should have been given a solo stint for say 10 min instead of Salman hogging the limelight. Salman showed his skills with the guitar during the middle of the concert and then tapered towards the end.

Salman's USP is his rock sufi type of music and i would put him as a better rock artist than a sufi artist. It seems like his DNA is rock injected with Sufi influences. He makes best use of his limited skills with his surprise element. I am saying limited skills when I compare him to lets say Mandolin Srinivas. Srinivas has grounded out in Carnatic music and then he moved on to fusion and his music shows the richness.

I was satisfied with the performance, but at the same time I felt something missing (having a nice masala dosai and not having a coffee to wash it down kind of feeling).