Saturday, October 30, 2010

Cricket extravaganza

I have already discussed in my previous blog on cricket basics that I have grown up playing cricket. Cricket has really been with me through all my ups and downs. In this extravaganza I would focus on my best moments on the cricket field. There was a time when I was going nowhere either with my studies or cricket & I had to take a major step in choosing one of the two…I had to choose studies. My parents would often say a pen is better suited in my left hand than a cricket bat. Cricket thus became a hobby and I have to spend most of my time on studies instead of being a professional cricketer. In this extravaganza I would only concentrate on school and college cricket…& not on any professional levels where I played. I hope people would enjoy my experiences just as I enjoyed those moments.
School cricket: class 2 (DAV School)
As I told in my cricket basics is played in almost every nook and corner of India. Memory goes back to a small school ground. We have the games period of 40 minutes. I, first time captain of the team won the toss and chose to bat. I must specify about the ground. The ground was of around 60 meters straight and 10-15 meters on the right side and 40-45 meters on the leg side of a right handed batsman. I am a left hander and being a left hander meant my leg side boundary was only 10-15 meters. I clearly remember the sweat of those opposition players who couldn’t restrict me scoring 4’s and sixes on my leg side. Like any young kid being a captain I would open the batting, that day I gave my best batting performance as I scored 39 runs with total team score 53 in 5 overs. Unlike the batting I would generally bowl the last over when we had to bowl. That day the opposition team had scored 44 runs in 4 overs and they needed10 runs in the last over. I had the ball in my hand…had only one thing in mind bowl as fast as I could and hit the wickets…it was a dream over as I took 4 wickets in the entire over and the other team could only score 1 runs in those final 6 balls. First time as a captain I had done well both in batting and bowling…
School cricket: Class 8 (holy cross school)
By then I was known as a good cricketer by one and all…in the bid for the captaincy I stepped down as I thought I was not too good in marshalling the troops and thus would help the captain (ravi) in talking decisions in the vice captain’s role. The captain had high hopes on me as such I would generally open the innings in batting…and would also open the bowling attack along with the fastest and by far the best bowler (irshad) of the team…I have fond memories of that that day when I broke the glass of the physics lab with a six and the entire class was punished as nobody uttered my name. Previously on that day I had already hit one ball outside the school boundary which got lost. We were chasing a steep target of 71 of 8 overs. I didn’t do too well with the ball that day giving away 19 runs of my 2 overs and talking just a wicket. I had it on my mind I would take the revenge when I get the chance to bat…on the first over itself I hit 2 sixes…it was the 4th over when I hit the ball to the physics lab with our team score 46 for 2 wickets…the match was not completed as the entire class was barred for playing cricket for one week. Throughout the week everybody would only speak about my ferocious batting…they would tell me nobody wanted the ball in hand to ball against me as I was in devastating mood…well those days were by far the best days as we had nothing else to talk except the cricket.

School cricket: Class 11 (KV BKP (ARMY) School )
Throughout my school life up till class 10 I was more famous for cricket than any other thing. Being a left hander I always had a better rating as a batsman as I was the only lefthander in the class (up till class 10). Many people who would appreciate me for my batting and bowling but never had any female following…things changed as I came to a new school. Nobody knew me and as such no one knew how do I bat or ball…I would take you to a cricket match between the class 11 (science stream) and class 11 (arts stream).unlike in my previous school where everybody knew about my cricketing skills. I was deep down in the batting order…with all those renowned science students coming up for batting. I had heard arts were the tough team to beat and as records say the arts team had won almost all the previous matches. The arts team batted first and scored 63 runs in 8 stipulated overs. As far as science team in concerned captain as well as the vice captain were back to the pavilion in the beginning of the 3rd over with a score of 13 for 5 wickets. Everyone was sad as all the batters were out. Captain of the team was down on confidence as our team was on the brink of another loss to the arts team. I came in to bat this was my first appearance…the first ball I dispatched to the boundary on the leg side….the next ball, again a boundary…team morale was down in spite of me hitting the boundaries on 2 successive balls…there was not much cheers in the science team as the target was steep, as I continued to hit boundaries and sixes out of the ground slowly but surely the team confidence grew…and they started cheering me up…the entire science section was behind me…to my amazement I saw 3 girls of science section sitting outside the ground and clapping for me…I don’t know what happened to me…I was very high on confidence…the next ball I pulled to a six…and raised the bat to all those who were cheering and clapping for me…neither did I score a century nor a half century but I made sure science team was on course to chase down the runs…after 6 overs science team were at 52 for 7 wickets. That means we needed another 12 runs from the next 12 balls…I was at the crease. The best bowler of the arts team had the ball in his hand…1st ball on my legs..i whacked it to a boundary…needed 8 runs from 11 balls…next delivery was fast and straight to my abdomen I got hit…I fell down…after a while I stood up to face the next ball which was a full toss on the off stumps…I glided it another 4…needed 4 runs from 9 balls….i could see the bowler was tense and he came in with his next ball I smashed the ball straight, straight to the bowler (caught and bowled)…out…the arts team yelled on seeing the back of me. 8 wickets down with 4 runs to win…8 balls left. No runs were scored on the last two balls of the over. Last over science team needed 4 runs…first ball was wide…now science needed 3 from 6 balls…the next 2 balls were dots as no runs could be scored..3 runs from 4 balls…next ball batsman could somehow get the bat to the ball… And ran for a run…3 balls 2 runs…next ball …bowled…another wicket fell…9 wickets down. 2 balls and 2 runs to win…the batsman who came in next was also a left hander…I was shouting on top of my voice giving him indications where to hit…the second last ball was bowled he could somehow hit the ball on the offside and ran for a single, there was a slight misfielding and almost everyone shouted run and the runners completed the 2 run…thus 2 runs were scored…science team won the match…it was a memorable day for me, as captain lifted me over his shoulders and marched me across the ground…I could see everybody cheering for me…really a memorable match…
College cricket: 3rd year of my engineering
Venue: tennis court, occasion: HPL tournament
Final year and third year players were mixed and 8 teams were formed. The team which I belonged was considered the weakest team of the tournament. Let me tell you about some rules of that tournament each team had a maximum of 8 players. While fielding only 7 players would be in the field and the 8th player would fetch the ball whenever the ball is hit out of the court. Matches would be of 7 overs each side. Bowling restrictions: one bowler can bowl a maximum of 3 overs, while the other bowlers can bowl a maximum of 2 overs. All the players of the team could bowl if they wished to including the player who is not in the field and fetching the ball from outside (but as there were only 7 overs per side only 7 bowlers can bowl at maximum and the 8th person of the team can’t ball). Batting wise there were far more restrictions than bowling. Hitting on the back, leg and off side had penalties if the ball crosses the 20 meters long fence (without touching the fence) surrounding the court, the batsman would be declared out. There were no runs on the back side. You can score runs on the leg and off side given a condition you cannot clear the fences on a single go. If you hit the fence directly you score 6 runs and if you hit the fence after a bounce you score 4 runs. On the straight there were no such rules…you can directly hit the fence as well as clear the fence to score 6 runs, if the ball goes to the fence after a bounce you score 4 runs. You can run as many runs as you want when the ball in within the court…8 teams were divided into two group of 4 teams. The top two teams of the group would reach the semifinals and the winner of each semifinal would play among themselves in the final to decide the winner of the tournament. I think I have given enough rules now I should start with the tournament…
As I said our team was considered the weakest team and we lost the first match badly as the entire team was out after scoring 19 runs. We lost the match in the 2nd over itself as the other team scored the 19 runs in just 2 overs. We were down and after the first match our run rate suggested we only had a glimpse of reaching the semis even if we win both the group matches. 2nd match we had to win to stay in the competition…well it was my day I got 3 wickets and gave only 9 runs of my 2 overs. We won the match handsomely. I was the man of the match with my heroics with the ball. Our next match was the last match of the group stages. Two other teams of the group had already won 2 of the 3 matches and were almost certain in the semis…we only had an outside chance if we win the match with a big margin. We did what we had to; we bowled out the opposition in just 17 runs. I got 3 wickets were as the captain of the team got 2 wickets. I was promoted up in the batting order to score the 18 runs as quickly as possible. We won the match in the 2.1 overs…Captain of the team (from the final year) scoring 10 runs and I scored 7 runs to win the match (1 run extra for wide). Captain was given the man of the match for his 2 wickets and 10 runs. Thus 3 teams ended with 2 victories of their 3 matches...the managing committee decided to have a knock out match between us and the other team of the group who had a similar run rate to decide the 2nd semifinalist. It was again a dream match for me as we chased down the highest total in the tournament of 84 runs. I scored 26 of just 9 balls and took 2 wickets in that match.2nd man of the match for me. In the semis we had the toughest team of the tournament who had won all the three matches of their group stages…another dream run for me…our captain won the toss and chose to bat. I opened the batting with the captain…scored 37 runs of 17 balls with the entire team score 72 off 7 overs. Then with the ball took 2 wickets of my 2 overs and restricted the other team to 54 all out in 6th over…3rd man of the match for me. We were in the finals nobody would have thought we would reach so far. In the finals we had to play the same team to which we lost in the group stages. Everybody in the team believed we can take the revenge. I was the leading wicket taker of the tournament with 10 wickets and the 2nd highest run scorer of the tournament…just like our team nobody thought I would be one of the fore front runner for the man of the series. The person who was leading the charts in the highest runs in the tournament…was out and we defeated them in the semis…I was only 3 runs behind him. In the highest wicket taker’s chart one of the bowler from the team who reached the final was close to me by taking 9 wickets…And was 11 runs behind me in the highest scoring charts… man of the series was never an issue for me I never thought about it… winning the final and the trophy was my aim… but the players from the opposition had plans for me…to get me out as early as possible and not to give me any wickets…I must say whatever happened in the finals was just because the opposition did a wrong planning…their intentions were more focused to stop me rather than the team. In the finals we won the toss and our captain had no hesitations to bat first…there was talk in the team to send me in the middle order as I could be handy in the last…but the captain persisted to send me in the opening slot …I was facing ….the first ball I whacked it to a 6 straight over the head of the bowler…everybody cheered but team mates asked me to play calmly…one of team mate approached me and said if you stay till the end we are going to win…don’t play rash cricket…play defensively we want you till the end…I tried to defend the next ball it got the edge of my bat off to the knees and straight to the fielder. I got out with just 6 runs on the board off just 2 balls. We got to a modest total of 53 off 7 overs…but we never lost the hope…no team in the tournament had defended such a low total the lowest was 58 which was defended by just 1 run. as I told whatever happened in the finals was result of their poor planning…the opposition batsmen came with a plan of not giving me any wicket so that I may not get the man of the series…it was fair decision to some extent as 53 was a low score in the tournament…all the credit goes to my captain as he gave me 3 overs to bowl in the finals ( in the entire tournament I would only ball two overs as only one bowler could ball 3 overs)…after 5 overs the opposition team were cruising to victory with 41 runs in board…captain gave me the ball for my 3 over as I had only given 7 runs in my first 2 overs…the batsman kept on defending my ball…so that they may not get out as my over ended the score was 43. In the last over they needed 11 runs…in the effort to score runs quickly they lost 3 wickets (one of them was a run out of my fielding) and could only reach to 49. We not only won the match but also the tournament …i didn’t get any wicket in that match…but I was still the highest wicket taker in the tournament( 10 wickets)…as well as the highest run scorer thanks to those 6 runs that I made in the finals…(97 runs)… I was given the man of the series for my all round performance with the bat, ball and in the field (2 run outs—and especially the crucial run out in the finals)….a dream tournament for me…
The next match which I played after my man of the series performance (nearly after 10 months as I graduated to final year of engineering)…I got the man of the match in the first game of the tournament…(one of my friend ( Shobit) quoted: after man of the series performance you start with a man of the match…are you eying for another man of the series?) but that wasn’t to be as we lost the matches and couldn’t even qualify for the semis…team doesn’t depend on a single player but a team…and if a team doesn’t perform well…you cannot hope to win…you cannot depend on just one or two players to win matches for you…every person in the team is equally important for a team’s success…I was in final year then…and that loss in the group stages meant I would be focusing on my studies and thus that was the last time I played cricket…
Hope you enjoyed …my cricket extravaganza…would turn up shortly with my next blog.

Thursday, October 28, 2010

Cricket basics

People often ask me why don’t you write stories on cricket…something like the cover stories. I did get encouragements from people around as I have grown up playing cricket, it almost resides in my blood & secondly I have got fair bit of knowledge about cricket and writing is my passion. Being an Indian I don’t have to describe much about cricket to any Indian as cricket is often referred as a synonym to a religion in India. Viewing to the fact that my blogs are now popular in many countries across the globe where cricket is still in early stages. I think I am privileged to share my knowledge and experience to everybody.
Recently I came across to a kid of 9 years and asked him about our national game. Without any hesitation that guy quite confidently told me that cricket is the national game of India & animatedly started explaining me about the sport. But as we all know cricket is certainly not the national game of India, India’s national game is hockey. I don’t blame the kid for giving me that answer as you will hardly find anybody playing hockey but you can easily see kids from the age of 5 playing cricket on every nook and corner of India. You would be glad to know more than 60% of Indian kids below the age of 10 think cricket is the national game of India.
There are 3 aspects of cricket batting, bowling and fielding. A cricket squad consists of 11 players much like the other sports it is played between two teams. A toss amongst the captain of the two respective teams decides which team to bat and which will bowl. Cricket is played on a circular ground the length and width of the ground may vary but the pitch which is situated at the centre of the ground is fixed to 22 yards which corresponds to 20.1 meters. Across the 22 yards 3 wickets and 2 stumps are placed parallel to one another. Let’s start about the basics
Bowling: A bowler bowls from one of the end of the 22 yard pitch and the batsman bats at the other end of the 22 yards. Much like the baseball there are ways in which a player can be judged out (has to leave the field). The most prominent ways of getting a batsman out is 1) bowled-where the bowler hits the wicket with the ball as the batsman couldn’t make contact with the ball with his bat. 2) Caught- where the batsman hits the ball in the air is caught by the player placed inside the boundary. 3) Run out- where the batsman fails to reach the other end of the pitch of 22 yards before the fielder who gathers the ball and hits the wicket. 4) leg before wicket(lbw) where the batsman is adjudged to be out by the umpires citing the condition, batsman’s body is in the line of the wicket when the ball hits his leg and not the bat.(obviously there are various rules of lbw, the ball hitting the leg (point of contact) should not be above the height of the wicket) 5)hit wicket- where the batsman hits the wicket instead of the ball 6) time out- where the batsman fails to enter the ground within the stipulated period 7) obstructing the fielder-the batsman is adjudged out by the umpires if the ball thrown by the Players(fielders) is obstructed by the batsman where the umpire thinks the ball is going to hit the wicket. 8) Handling the ball- the batsman is adjudged out by the umpires if the ball which is going to the wicket is handled or in other words obstructed by the batsman by holding the ball with his hand.
Bowling penalties: Talking of the bowlers there are various ways in which a bowler can bowl a ball ranging from pace (fast ball) and spin. There are penalties if a bowler fails to bowl a legitimate delivery such as crossing the bowling crease while delivering a ball and is called a ‘no ball’. The penalties of a no ball vary from test and the shorter versions. In the test cricket the bowler is penalized where he had to re-ball the ball with 1 run awarded to the batting side. In the shorter versions not only the bowler had to re-ball the ball with a penalty of 1 run and additional penalty is given to the fielding team i.e. they cannot get the batsman out the very next ball of the bowler except if the batsman is run out. Thus a batsman cannot get out on a ‘no ball’ (with the exception of a run out).If the bowler bowls a ball which is far from the reach of the batsman, is referred to as a ’wide’ ball. The batting team gets a bonus of one run with a penalty to the bowler that he had to re-ball the ball. If the bowler bowls a ball direct above the waist of the batsman on the full (a delivery follower of base ball must be well acquainted with) is termed as a ‘no ball’ & the batting team is awarded 1 run. If the bowler wants to bowl above the waist he can do so only after pitching it short on the playing area, but if the ball is above the head height after a bounce, it is again termed as a ‘wide’ and the penalty of 1 run added to the batting score while a ball above the neck and below the head is called a ‘bouncer’ and a bowler can bowl 2 bouncers in an over in the longer version of cricket(test cricket) but can only bowl a single bouncer in an over in the shorter versions (one day and 20-20 cricket)
Batting: there are various ways through which a batsman can score runs for himself and the team, If the batsman hits the ball out of the ground (i.e. the balls doesn’t land inside the boundary and it goes out of the boundary in a single go) the batsman is awarded 6 points and this point is called runs i.e. 6 runs. If the batsman hits the ball and it crosses the fence after at least a single drop within the field, he is awarded 4 runs. If the ball after being hit by the batsman is within the boundary & it’s up to the batsman how many times they cross the 22 yard pitch. If they cross once they are awarded 1 run, if they cross twice they are given 2 runs and the pattern continues. Each batsman gets only one chance to bat in an innings. If gets out, he cannot bat again in that inning. As there are 11 players in each team, a maximum of 10 players can be out in an inning. 2 players come to bat at the same time (one bats and the other stands on the other side at the bowling crease if a single run is scored by a batsman the batter runs to the bowling crease and the other batter who was earlier at the bowling crease runs to the other end and reaches the batting crease and now it’s his turn to bat.) the moment 10 batsman are out means the 11 the person is left alone. It means the entire team is out as the 11th person cannot bat alone. The batsman can rotate the strike (giving chance to the other batsman to bat) by running 1 run or 3 runs. If the two batsmen runs 2 run that means at first the batsman runs to the bowling crease indicating one run and then he runs back to the batting crease indicating he has run 2 (unlike the base ball where 1 run is given only if the batter crosses all the four bases in cricket one run is awarded only if they reach from the batting end to the bowling end without being run out at the same time the batsman at the bowling end has to reach the batting end indicating the two batsman had run 1 run similarly if the two batsman cross twice then 2 runs are awarded to the batting team and if they cross thrice 3 runs are awarded to the batting team)
Fielding: there are 11 players one of them will bowl that means the rest 10 players from the bowling team will be on the field fielding. One player would be guarding the ball behind the wickets of the batting crease and is called ‘wicket keeper’. The rest 9 players are placed in the field to stop the ball from going to the boundary. There are no such fielding restrictions in the longer version of cricket( test cricket) the 9 players( except the bowler and the wicket keeper) can be placed anywhere on the field. But there are certain fielding restrictions in the shorter versions of the cricket I have discussed about the fielding restrictions on the latter half.
These were just the basics about cricket…I know there are many more rules ranging from type of ball used, weight of the ball, height of the wickets, length and width of the bat…there are many more things but I am only concerned about the basics…the knowledge after which one can play cricket and if you are not a player you can watch it over your television sets and enjoy the game.

Talking of the international standards cricket played across the globe is of three forms 1) test cricket 2) one day cricket 3) twenty-twenty cricket.
Test cricket is the oldest form of cricket and it is played for 5 days at a stretch. 90 overs to be bowled per day (over-in an over a bowler bowls 6 times i.e. he bowls 6 balls to the batsman). Each team gets the chance of batting and bowling twice during the interval of 5 days. It’s always easier to make people understand with examples so I would be taking few examples to make it easier for people to understand. Suppose team batting first scores 200 runs with his entire batsman out. Then only the other team gets the chance to bat(there is also a rule of declaring suppose a team scores 400 runs with its 8 batsman out wishes not to bat any more they can do so in that case the other team comes on to bat). Suppose the second team scores 250 in response to 200 with all batsman out the second team gets a lead of 50 runs. The first team has to chase down the 50 runs then they will look for lead. Suppose the 1st team scores 300 runs. That means their total score is 200(in 1st inning) + 300(in second inning)= 500 runs. The second team gets to bat have to score 251 runs to win as they have already scored 250(in 1st innings)+251(in 2nd innings)= 501. As such if the 2nd team scores 251 with even 9 wickets (batsman) out wins the test match. Test match is often referred to a test of skill, character and patience as there is no limited overs a batman can play or a bowler can bowl. They can play the entire 5 day if they wish to (condition a batsman doesn’t get out). Since it is played for 5 days and is much time consuming as such shorter versions have evolved.
One day cricket: it has evolved from the test cricket; much like the football and other world cups cricket world cup also features a number of teams. Cricket world cup is played for the one day format ( 50 over) and the twenty-twenty format(20 over). Unlike the test cricket where teams have to bat twice in 5 days, in One day cricket they can only bat once in 50 (50* 6 =300 balls as there are 6 balls in one over) overs. As we know there is no over restrictions in test cricket but in one day cricket a team can bat a maximum of 50 overs. The team which scores more runs in those 50 overs win. One day cricket has evolved over the years with its rules. The first world cup played in 1975 was of 60 overs. Now it is fixed to 50 overs. There are also rules of the fielding restrictions and bowling restrictions in one day cricket, as only 2 players can be outside the 30 meter circle (fielding) during the mandatory first 10 over power play, and a maximum of 3 players outside the 30 meter circle during the batting and bowling power play of 5 overs each. Each bowler can bowl at most of 10 overs ( i.e 10* 6 = 60 balls) in a one day cricket. This form of cricket is called one day cricket as it is played within a day. Since 50 overs also is time consuming. As both teams bats for 50 overs means 100 overs in a day which takes around 7 to 7 and half hours therefore the shorter format I.e the twenty-twenty cricket evolved from the one day cricket.
Twenty-twenty cricket: twenty-twenty international has recently evolved with its first world cup played in 2007 where India lifted the trophy. This format of cricket is much more action packed then the test or the one day cricket as it is of only 20 overs and the entire 40 overs (including both sides batting quota) finishes within 3 hours as such This form of cricket has effectively influenced the people to come to the stadiums to watch a cricket match then to go to the multiplexes to see a Bollywood movie (which is also of duration of 2 and half hours on an average). The core of this format remains the same that is the teams which scores more runs in those 20 overs wins the match. The bowling and fielding restrictions do vary from the 50 over cricket. There is no batting or the bowling power play but a mandatory 6 over power play where only 2 fielders can be outside the 30 meter circle. A bowler can bowl a maximum of 4 over in a 20-20 cricket. It is of 20 overs ie 120 balls we tend to see more of 4’s and 6’s in a match which on a spectator point of view is quite exciting.
People often tell me my blogs are often very long…that’s the reason I have tried to summarize the entire cricket basics to a smaller length. I agree that a blog is inappropriate to effectively visualize and make a person understand and follow cricket and I should rather write books or journals on cricket. So friends across the globe you are free to ask me anything regarding cricket and I hope I would be able to spread my knowledge and increase its popularity in far distant countries…signing out as of now…!!!

Sunday, October 17, 2010

A FRIEND REQUEST

You often hear you can’t change a person but with time people do change, the situations and the circumstances change the people. When you dislike somebody you tend to grow intuitions with what has happened in the past.
Now I am presenting a small story where you would realize how your intuitions don’t let people to accept those whom you dislike. Rehan and Avantika were good friends for years but something between them went wrong and Avantika started disliking Rehan as he fell in love with Avantika…for some reasons Avantika cut all her contacts with all her friends and it was nearly 4 years that should could gain her composure and tried to contact her old friends…when the news of Avantika reached to the ears of Rehan, he was overjoyed as he always wanted Avantika to preserve her friendship with her old friends…Rehan hoped that Avantika would accept her as a friend as she must have forgotten those age old things that went wrong with them…
Rehan gave a small message to Avantika: I don’t know what to say but still I am requesting you…!!! (a request to be a friend)
Avantika declined her request and replied: we can’t be friends…friends don’t hurt people…if this is true that I cannot stop you from loving me then this is also true that you cannot force me to love you…it’s your fault that you cannot take my friendship. You took my friendship in a wrong way. I always considered you to be a good friend but you misunderstood me and our friendship got complicated and everything got messed up. I had tried to make you understand in the past but you didn’t understand…and it’s no use to make things clear now and I don’t even want to make you understand anything now. You have got lot of wrong conceptions about me and I don’t think there is any need to clear those conceptions. One more thing I couldn’t contact my school friends just because of you…as you were looking for me. I thought you would not disturb me anymore and you would leave me alone. That’s why I started contacting my friends…but you are again interfering in my life. It’s my request please stop contacting me and please leave me alone.
Rehan didn’t expect she would reply him in this way…all those past that he had left long ago again appeared to his sight… he had many things to speak but he couldn’t speak anything…he kept on thinking about the words Avantika said to him for days…
1)’Avantika: friends don’t hurt people’, Rehan had never meant to hurt Avantika even in his dreams…he kept on uttering I never wanted to hurt you, I don’t want to hurt you…why will I hurt you?
2)’Avantika: I cannot stop you from loving me, you cannot force me to love you’-in the past Rehan once told Avantika if you don’t marry me I am going to die…Avantika made Rehan to promise that he will never think of committing suicide… and since that day… Rehan never forced Avantika to love her…he even told her if you love somebody else…and if he goes away from you, I will bring that person to you…Rehan couldn’t control his emotions …uttering I just sent you message to be a friend…I am not forcing you…I will never force you.
3)’Avantika: I always considered you to be a good friend’; Rehan couldn’t control his tears uttering the word ‘always’. He spoke to himself if you could at least consider me a friend this time.
4)’Avantika: I had tried to make you understand in the past but you didn’t understand…you have got a lot of wrong conceptions about me and I don’t think there is any need to clear those conceptions’, Rehan could only remember those infinite efforts that he made just to clear those conceptions by talking to her but all his efforts went down in vain as he could never see her in those 4 years.
5)’Avantika: I couldn’t contact my school friends just because of you as you were looking for me’, Rehan asked to himself am I a devil, why is she afraid of me? She knew me all these years, I never had any intentions of hurting her then why did she say like that? It is quite right that I was looking for her…but I never had any wrong intentions I only wanted to clear those misunderstandings…which never got cleared.
6) ‘Avantika: I thought you would not disturb me anymore and you would leave me alone’, Rehan quoted to himself now I have become a disturbing element. A mere friend request disturbs her…
7) ‘Avantika: you are again interfering in my life’, Rehan was speechless…does asking a person to be a friend means interfering in one’s life?
Rehan had so many things to speak but he couldn’t speak any of the above mentioned words just because of the first and the last sentence that Avantika said to him ‘we can’t be friends & It’s my request please stop contacting me and please leave me alone.’
Strange isn’t it…Rehan only asked to be a friend and the entire past came haunting him as a bad dream. People say we shouldn’t cling to those past but sometimes past itself doesn’t leave them. Rehan didn’t know what to do as his hopes of having Avantika as a friend were crashed. He could clearly remember the words when he proposed her 4 years back ‘Avantika I want to say something to you but first promise me you will always be a friend and no matter whatever I say today you will always be a friend.’
It was clear that Avantika hated him; she couldn’t contact her friends just because of him…so Rehan decided to go away not only from Avantika’s life but also from all those common friends…so that she might realize that he never meant to disturb or hurt her. Rehan asked all their common friends not to contact him anymore…when they asked him the reason he could only say… ‘I only want Avantika to be happy’
GOD also gives a second chance…is it wrong to love? Rehan loved Avantika but his love saw him lose a precious friend…Avantika didn’t consider him worthy enough to give a second chance to be a friend…
This is a real life story; I never thought a friend request can change somebody’s life.

Sunday, October 10, 2010

Life's Sequel

Life's 1st Part is here

When life gives you lemon you have got two choices either cry over it or make lemonade…choice is yours…often you would come across situations when you find all doors closed…but all doors closed doesn’t mean they are all locked…there are two ways of looking a glass half filled…some say it’s half empty while the others call it half full… a simple occurrence can be viewed in two entirely different prospective …it’s upon you which prospective you choose to see…and more often than not your life depends on these choices…in one of my blogs I have given emphasis on the term happiness, it’s all in the state of mind…similar to happiness fear is also a state of mind…we often tend to keep ourselves occupied with views of failing in our attempt…as long as fear occupies your mind you can never succeed in anything you do…
You often hear monks are beyond emotions, desires and all earthly pleasures…have you ever thought how are they different from us? They live among us but still are so different…the reason is they have a different views of looking things…they are not super humans they are amongst us and every person has the capability to be like them…I am not asking you all to become saints or leave all the earthly desires...I am just asking you to broaden your views…try to look things in different prospective…a frog which resides in the well…do you know what does world mean to him, The entire curvature of the well through which it sees the outside world…but world is certainly not what it sees…to know the world the frog has to come out of the well…then it will know how vast the world is…
Always keep one thing in mind when one thing ends…something else begins. People may lose hope and stop moving on with life but similar to time…life never stops, it doesn’t care about you being lost in deep crutches it goes on with its own pace. Sometimes you feel as if you have screwed up with your life nothing seems correct but friends always remember life never screws you, it’s you and your decisions that screws up everything…when you are in middle of a jammed road…you could only see honking all around…everything cluttered up, the same is the case with your life when you are in middle of disarray everything is messed up…you just have to look and focus beyond your troubles, beyond the discomfort that’s hurting you. Don’t waste your time in thinking what you could have done…but instead think what you can do…you can lose hope and give up but at the same time you could gain courage of fighting against your troubles by simply looking at the troubles what others are facing and how they are coping up with it.
Once I went to a house saw a young boy of 8 months trying to go up the staircase…after many attempts he couldn’t climb up…his parents were worried and were about to help him…but the boy insisted to climb by himself and finally he could climb…this is life hope were others give up…try when others fail and succeed when others stop.
Recently I gave a picture perception interview…the picture was blurred and it was taken from the top view…the image was shown for merely a minute after which we had to script a story on it…including the main characters of that image, their age, sex and their mood(positive, negative or neutral). We also had to describe the past that led to that incidence and the probable future outcome…you would be amazed to know the result of that test. Nearly 100 people gave that test and almost everybody had a different story to tell…just like the test, in real life also you would often see people behaving and reacting differently in similar circumstances or situations…similar to the image the future awaiting us is blurred, you don’t know what actually is going to happen but the clues that you get in life (many times you don’t realize the clues) and depending on your reactions success and failures come and go. Many times the effort that you made is comparable to the person who succeeded in life but you went on a losing side the reason being you never had the right prospective of the situation that surrounded you.
I have already written an article on the title ‘LIFE’…it’s the sequel of that blog. You can also call it ‘LIFE part2’. Just like my previous blog on ‘LIFE’, I have focused on life as my main theme. You know the more you explore life, the more you would know about life and it’s often a case when you tend to see life from entirely different prospective. I would like to give a simple example when you are climbing the stairs of a 50 storey building you could easily give up looking upwards after climbing the 25th stair thinking you still have so many stairs to cover. In the same way you could gain courage by looking downwards that you have covered half the stairs and only half remains. As I have been conversing throughout my blog life’s success depends the way you see and react to the circumstances you face in life. As you know success is for those who thinks ‘he can’ similarly achieving success is possible only if you have the sense of viewing the right prospective in your life.
Have a look at the Lines of one of my prose…

You never know when you have to go
Just do it when have to show

No failures could make you bow
Be inclined to accept your faults on your toe

Life’s seed often comes the way you sow
It’s always the way you reap and go

Success doesn’t count on your foes
It’s the way you shape up your willows

Focus to your work just as the arrow
You would always find yourself flying like the sparrow

It hardly matter even if you are a minnow
Rest assured if hard work and desire are your pillows

You never know when you have to go
Just do it when you have to show…

And there goes my final quotation of this blog
“Life’s not lived the way you want to see, it's lived the way you react to your vision...!!!”
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