3+ Week Vacation in India

OK so I was looking forward to the 3+ weeks in India as a time off from my routine life here in US. It started off with a 3 day trip to Jaipur for my father in laws post funeral service. The mood was somber but I was glad to see everyone at least giving a hint that things are moving on.

And then things went downhill from there. Dad got sick and was in ICU for enlarged prostate. Spent a whole day getting him through tests and paperwork to get him admitted. He recovered quickly after they catheterized him. And then off and on, days were spent in hospital OPDs. Not to mention his behavior as a patient which were were left wanting. 

Then a few days were spent decompressing with cousins, a marriage and shopping for that marriage. The days around the marriage were fun. Had a lot of laughs and giggles. Apparently I rediscovered my silly side where I couldn't stop making people laugh; a contrast to first half of the days were spent in hospitals. It was a good exercise and use case in that how important it is to decompress with booze less crazy stupid silly stuff  when you are stressed with breakneck pace work and family matters. Just go out at a chill but inexpensive place, happening but not crowded joint or a gathering of close but not many friends and smile a bite, poke a bit of fun at yourself and others and in the process shed the skin of stress and wear and tear of the past week and move on for a fresh one. That's what life is; a day at a time, a week at a time, month by month and year over year.

Thoughts on Sandy Hook Tragedy

Learned today that 20 odd kids and 7 adults have been shot in a school in Connecticut.

My thoughts and prayers are with the victims. But a part of me is also leaning towards the human being who committed this unimaginable act. What promoted his mental state in such a dark corner that all he felt was a rage towards these little souls, a rage that cannot be reasoned with, a rage that cannot be pacified, a rage that is so frightful that it erodes away any last shed of humanity left in the person.

I will be closely following the case of the man and try to get into his mind. The mind of a killer. I will not be surprised to find out if he was sick, felt rejected, felt alone, considered his life to be of little consequence or meaning and hence in the process was jealous of all those who seem happy and contented in contrast to his own life. But there has to be more. 

And as I have followed previous cases viz. the Columbine, Virginia Tech, the Aurora and Oak Creek,, the abridgment of my findings and thought is shaping up to be around the nature of our society today. All these tragedies and the individuals involved in culminating them are all but symptoms of the way our society is today. If their little problems that can be solved by society that includes family, friends and just well wishers compound into personality disorders, chronic insecurity and what not. Society; a lonesome, unforgiving, intolerant, panicky, angry and discontent entity which we all comprise of and hence are molded out of.

This was a bad session.
Got bowled a couple of times.

• Not getting on the front foot all the way and big gap b/w bat and pad
• Playing even length balls with half and half front and back foot.
• For square cuts, need to step deep in the crease, put weight on the backfoot and bring bat horizontally not curved.
• on drives, make sure and be mindful of elbow pointing to sky
• Charging is skip step towards line of the ball and then big step. 
• Don't try to drive everyball. Instead step forward all the way towards the line of the ball and then let your E-H coordination do rest

Practice 2 - 3.23.2012

Key Observations:

1. Drives are better. Its cage hence balls are coming fuller. They wont in real match. Need to move front foot.
2. Back lift needs to stay stable and above the stumps. No rocking
3. Need to be more still before the ball is bowled.
4. Hold your stand and open the body like Sachin here, here, here and here. Straight and perpendicular to the stumps.
5. If the ball is coming on leg, open stance fast. and I mean FAST.
6. Expand stance on square cuts to get more power.
7. Keep bat face lowered but open because simple leg deflections going in the air.
8. When charging, keep head still and bring bat straight down.
9. Try to delicate sweep or guide deliveries coming straight on to leg as full tosses instead of shying away.
10. Keep you bloody front leg down for cuts, punches. Try to get balance and eagerness and greed to always be grounded
11. You are in nets. Practice!!! Hence commit and follow through the shots.

Fame and money is not enough...

So Whitney Houston died last week. She was just 48. It seems another celebrity succumbed to prescription medication, excessive alcohol, depression etc. Not so long ago we lost MJ (meds), Kirk Cobain and Jim Morrison (suicides) and so on. I was trying to think, what in the world could be wrong with them. They have had immense talent. They earned an immense amount of money due to that talent. Enough money that you can call it quits at 40, get a mansion at secluded island, show rest of the day-laboring world the finger and live in great health without 99% of worldly pressure whatsoever. So what incomplete dreams or desires these guys harbored that they take such extreme measures? Is it that the talent they possess comes at a great price? A price that normal OK-to-do person does not pay. Or is that they achieve so much fame, money, fanfare, love, importance, VIPness etc that the small incomplete portions of their lives now stand more highlighted and in-their-face-sized big, accentuated and they see themselves as failures. A lot of people go through failed marriages and bad childhood and lack of normalcy. But does it affect successful people a lot more than bottom dwellers?

I still stand by my rule. Make enough if money if you can and retire and live a happy healthy life. Do no linger is daily squats of work, commutes, office politics, attitudes, rude people and so on. Just make enough so you can live peacefully and happily.

But again, if it was that easy!

Hell and Back Again...

I just saw this documentary called "Hell and Back Again".

Well, its just another documentary on Afghanistan War's effects on the American Soldier. It was well directed and edited. And it once again pressed upon the very simple and very evident point that these wars are just leaving a very deep scar on the current generation of Americans.

So young, physical, energetic, well trained and motivated. Yet so easily lost to one bullet. There is not a day that goes by when I do not stop and think for a second "What If". What if we had not had these wars and all the guys and potential had been used to build a new American economy and working force with all the money that was lost in these wars.  What if ?

What if we had send them to protect the borders and stop drug inflow. What if we had sent to New Orleans the next hour Katrina passed by. What if we sent them to get rid of sea piracy. What if we sent them on a 3 month mandatory National Service of their choice. You know! Teach, help elders, help scouts, help build homes for homeless. The number and difficulty of tasks at home trumps the need,cost or justification of these wars.

If at all we have to fight this enemy, lets build more upon special forces, the best of the best with best intelligence and missions and peel the bark off these degenerates called Taliban and extremists. Armies are used for fighting wars, not in taking down a few thousand terrorists. Taliban are like DDT resistant cockroaches that we will never get rid of because the we can never get of ideology that harbors them. The only way we will get rid of ideology is by educating those who are susceptible to this ideology. We need to attack them by developing a new form of DDT that affect their genes of ideology.

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First Practice of the Season

It was windy and we did not have our batting cage. But we practiced on the tennis courts.

Here are the things I notice.
1. picking up slower deliveries on leg side.
2. Front foot still not going all the way
3. Loosing my balance hitting big shot because I did not fully step forward. I can see a jerk back.
4. Get to the pitch of the ball if on front foot. The way to do that is watch the ball right from the hand of the bowler in his runup.
5. Get on frontfoot first and across.
6. Too casual on drives and defense. Need to commit and show intent.

Need to focus more on the footwork.