Humiliation at Mumbai.

At lunch on the final day of the test with India at 75/3 and Sachin showing a lot of promise, i went to bed thinking tht the game is safe now for us. But Alas! it was not to be.

We were bowled out for 100!!!!. 7 wickets for 25 runs !!!!!!!!!!!!!! Damn.....this is crazy for test cricket.

And it seems like our cricketers are trying hard to set new lows to fall to with each passing year......WOW!?

Dileep Premachandran, writing for cricinfo on this , put it brilliantly.....

Capitulations are rarely honorable affairs, but even by Indian standards this was particularly lily-livered and shameful. Even in an Indian batting hall of infamy, which houses such gems as the 66 all out at Durban (1996-97) and the 81 at Barbados a few months later, this has to take pride of place.

I know that it's always difficult to play for a draw on the last day of a test match, but the demons,as usual, weren't in the pitch but in the minds of the Indian batsmen. Our batsmen aren't simply good enough to withstand a disciplined bowling attack and poor Mr. Chappell thinks that we have ready to use replacements like with Australia in the form of younger players. But the truth is that our crop of young cricketers though talented aren't good enough to face up to the hardships of international cricket, especially Test cricket.

And guess what his reaction after y'sday's defeat was?

According to the BBC,

He's (rahul) an incredible performer but we've relied heavily on him and it's time we found some others who carry their fair share of the load

And can i ask, Why aren't players like Laxman and Kaif not in the playing XI Mr. Chapell? 'Cause aren't these two exactly the kinda players who fit the bill ?

India needs, especially the test team, these players along with the hard hitters. Test cricket is all about the skill not just blind hitting of the ball.

Mr. Chappell bring back Laxman into the team. He is an invaluable batting asset which India can't afford to ignore.

It is one thing to prepare the team for future, but ignoring the present would put the future itself in jeopardy.

As Nasser said during the third test,

" ....... India cannot ignore the present while concentrating on the future. I feel tht India should let the future take care of itself........"

And the time is now, before it's too late to repent.

Booed @ Home!

A bit too harsh maybe.........but again, their is a limit for everything....isn't it!?

(Photo: Getty Images.)

Somethin' fishy goin' on in Washington....

Oh boy!......by the looks of things in the recent days , surely somethin' fishy is going on in Washington regarding preemptive strike against Iran . It's lookin' more and more like the 'before' scenario of the Iraq war now. I think the Bush administration has already reached a decision on the strike against Iran long time bck, it's just a matter of the "right" time now.

The groundwork for this, in terms of rallying public opinion, has already started with the kinda of statements emanating from Bush and other members of his administration. A couple of days back the Bush administration released an updated version of it's 2002 Security policy manifesto which reaffirms the now infamous "preemptive strike" policy. And then Bush, during a key policy speech, singled out Iran as the single most serious threat to U.S's security in the world today.

And also the mouthpiece of the GOP......FOX news....has started concentrating more and more on Iran in it's news coverage and special reports. And all these reports deal/dealt with dangers of Iran having nukes and possibility of a preemptive strike.

Here is the thing now......... when Fox news & it's reporters start talking abt the logistics of a preemptive strike....make no mistake....there is really something 'concrete' happening. Fox news is like a testing plus propaganda machine for the Bush administration and conservative ideas in general......they are most probably the first media outlet in the States which starts building up the fear psychosis among the public in the US to create support for the policies of Bush administration ( in general for all the GOP administrations).

Remember Iraq!

I'm really shocked and speechless that Mr. Bush and his administration are really thinking abt doing it all over again in a new country in spite of what all has happened in Iraq!!!!!!!!!

How come these idiots are governing a democratic country ? And shit.....tht too for a second straight term!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

How many more have to loose their lives????

Iraq count: US Army: 2300+ Iraqi Civilians: 100,000+

Isn't this enough Mr. President?

P.S. : Jon has an interesting and as always very funny take on this.............. make sure to take a look.

The Voices behind "The Simpsons"...... (1)

For all the Simpsons fans out there..........this is like jackpot. Know the voices behind "The Simpsons"............

Part 2....

This video is a program aired on Bravo, " In anticipation of the landmark 300th episode of The Simpsons, James Lipton sat down with the series' accomplished ensemble to meet the actors behind the voices in order to discover how they have managed to create such a wealth of believable and beloved characters."

The Voices behind "The Simpsons"..... (2)

When u come across something like this, & when u r a big time fan of the show, it has to be on u're blog. Well, if u have one. I certainly have one.....so here goes the video.

This is a short clip of two, Dan Castellaneta & Harry Shearer ,of the many awesomely talented voices behind "The Simpsons".......being interviewed by Conan.

N joy!!!!!!

Oh man......these guys are extremely talented..........ROFL!!!

Who needs Twenty20?

After Sunday's out of the world match, one wonders what is "impossible" in cricket?

On a day when history was made and then re-made in less than three and half hours , for the cricket lovers around the world comprehending what happened at the Wanderers was impossible let alone trying to imagine the consequences this game will have on the game of cricket in the near future. The initial reactions to this game from around the world have been coming in........most of them frenzied ones ( The Gaurdian, The Age , Cricinfo , BBC .......) ........... with the exception of Barry's .............who might have rightly seen the bigger picture in all this frenzy.

Everyone was blown away by the match and aren't really concerned with the way ODIs are turning out to be with each passing day. i mean batsmen dominating the whole 100 overs of a One-day match doesn't auger well for the future of cricket. It's ok that high scoring matches happen time to time which would really spark the interest in the game like less cricket crazy nations like RSA, NZ, WI, England.......but might really discourage youngsters to take to bowling as a career in cricket.

ICC should seriously consider some changes in the One-day cricket to make it more of an even contest btw the bat and the ball. Championships like Twenty20 shld be restricted to may be a one-off match btw the contesting teams in a tour and to minnows coming up in cricket.Who needs Twenty20 anyway? When ODIs are becoming this exciting every year do we really need a new format of the game to be squeezed into an already tight international calander. 20-20 is a gud tool to improve the skills of minnows or new nations in the cricket world and may be can be used as a single warmup match before the ODIs......and tht's wht it shld be restricted to.

New rules and set standards shld be intoduced in to the One-day game, so as to make the contests more even between the ball and the bat. (like as in pitch conditions,type of balls used .......). Maybe some of the former cricketers could help ICC in this regard.

One-day cricket is a fantastic format and we shouldn't let the importance of it get diluted with other new formats of the game.

Keep playin' and watchin' the game!

(Photo: Getty Images.)

In Evolution i believe....

Enough of this 'creationism' bullshit.

It's really freaking me out that in a country known for its scientific and technological advancements.......a factual theory like Evolution is being mocked at as something made up by atheists.

It's high time that we,as people who believe in science, need to really stand up for what we believe in.......the truth. We shouldn't let theocracy run amok in the decision making of......matters that concern and effect not only us but also our future generations.

So, let us be the initiators of a movement in the virtual world.....a movement to defend science. Let's not let rational thinking die among the people in the world.

Dr. 'drax once again came up with two fantastic icons/buttons that u could put up on u're blogs if u believe in this cause. Here they go.....

Add the following html to your page if you feel strongly about it

Update: U cld also directly paste the following html text into the template of u're blog...

<a href="http://blogofadesitexan.blogspot.com/2006/03/in-evolution-i-believe.html"
title="Do you?"><img src="http://students.uta.edu/sb/sbg9414/temp/IBelieve2.jpg" style="border:solid 1px #000; padding:0px;" alt="I Believe" /></a>

<a href="http://blogofadesitexan.blogspot.com/2006/03/in-evolution-i-believe.html"
title="Did you?"><img src="http://students.uta.edu/sb/sbg9414/temp/Evolution.jpg" style="border:solid 1px #000; padding:0px;" alt="I Evolved" /></a>

Postcard from Space (4)

Well with NASA's spacecrafts going places in our solar system, ever other day brings us the news of new discoveries.

According to NASA, the above image is of.....

Plumes of icy material extend above the southern polar region of Saturn's moon Enceladus as imaged by the Cassini spacecraft in February 2005. The monochrome view is presented along with a color-coded version on the right. The latter reveals a fainter and much more extended plume component.

Enceladus becomes the third planetary body outside of earth, known (for sure tht is) to have reserves of water.

Grt goin NASA!

Experimenting!

Hmmm....i'm kinda experimenting with a few blog tools on my blog. So u cld see some new tools on my blog in the comming weeks.

Plugged in a new shout box/say box in the right column......to make my blog more interactive.Do leave any suggestions/comments tht u might have.

:)

Dana Reeve passes away.

I don't understand why bad things always happen to gud people. When i logged into my system this morning i learnt of some sad news, the passing of Dana Reeve due to lung cancer at the age of 44. It's hardly been just a year or so since the sudden passing of Chris and now this........ :(

I hoped that she would fully recover from her diagnosis of lung cancer last August....but alas it was not to be.

My deep condolences to her family & relatives.

The "real" Simpsons!

Solid Jon.......Well Done.

I don't know why 'critics' are not impressed by Jon's solid performance at the Oscars last nite!?

What the hell were they expecting?

He did a great job with not going too off or wild with his jokes. It's not his fault if some of the "big stars" didn't get his jokes......who cares?

I watched the whole show and he did a commendable job whenever he was on screen. I was kinda disappointed and felt tht he was allotted too short a screen time to really push the show.

Anyway Jon, we all will be looking for u to be bck at the TDS from today.

Update: One of the more sensible reviews of Jon .

Howzat!!!!!

Mr. Bush seems to be enjoyin' his tour to South Asia, away from all the troubles at home........and elsewhere too.

Had a little game initiation session in nets setup at the US Embassy in Islamabad y'sday. To help him out were Pakistani cricketers Inzy and Butt along the sidelines. A gud PR exercise for Bush, might have worked with the rest of the cricketing world.......but not sure abt how the paki's might have reacted to all this!

Click here for all the pictures posted on the BBC. And for video click the title of this post.

Nuclear Deal: A win-win for both the countries.

Well Mr. Bush has done it. Striking the nuclear deal with India is a great move that future generations of both the countries would look back as a the turning point in terms of the relations between both these countries.It's a gud deal for both the countries, as they stand to gain equally due to this deal.

India gets the official recognition of a Nuclear Power from the U.S. and in a way from the rest of the western states, which for so long have refused to acknowledge it's status. No more poking from IAEA in regard with it's military reactors. Gets to keep the all important feeder reactors out of the civilian inspection regime. Deal enables it to buy high end nuclear tech. from the U.S. itself, to meet the rapidly emerging domestic power needs, thus reducing the dependence on Oil to some extent.

U.S. itself is going to gain enormously in terms of economic gains by selling the nuclear tech. to India. The American companies can now easily sell lucrative defense deals to India without much restrictions. India's less dependence on oil means less fuel prices to American consumers.

And more importantly U.S. stands to gain an important ally in the region as well as on the world scene. Both countries can work on their common goal(s) such as nuclear non-proliferation in the world, peace and stability etc.

I think Mr. Bush understands the value of having a great ally in the form of India. A democratic and stable nation like India could always be trusted with in difficult times. And Bush seems to have realized this pretty soon unlike his predecessor Mr. Clinton. Though Mr. Clinton played a major role in breaking the isolation of India by visiting it in 2000, that particular visit didn't serve much of India's interests. Mr. Clinton's administration stubbornly sticked to it's policy of no deal unless you sign the NPT/CTBT. Obviously, that didn't help the relations btw the two countries.

But Mr. Bush dared to think different from Clinton on the issue of nuclear co-operation with India. And he needs a pat on the back from us. His administration's foreign policy until now might have revolved around the theme of war on terror. But this decision might be a real shining gem among the rubble.

Well the ball is now in Mr. Bush's court. He has to make sure tht the U.S. Congress makes the required changes in the laws to pass the bill. let's keep our fingers crossed until then. I'm sure it's going to be passed......but until then....

Well done Mr. Bush. Well done India.

(Photo: AFP)

Pain.

This morning I learnt something tht broke me.....from inside....i can feel the pain inside my heart.....

I never felt in my life the emotional pain tht i'm feeling now........i never thought tht it wld be this excruciating. Now i know. The feeling of one's heart getting squeezed from inside.....the sinking feeling tht i feel...into an unknown abyss.....is killing me.

I want to let the pain out.....i want to scream out.....i want to cry out loud....but i can't....

I need to move on....move on with my life....i have an exam 'morrow....deadlines to meet...but i don't know how?....but i have to....

I will.