It's not cricket...

According to Anil Kumble upon the completion of the Sydney cricket test, only one team was playing cricket. I beg to disagree.

What makes Kumble think India were the only ones playing in the spirit of the game?

What makes them think the Aussies were not?

The holier-than-thou approach by the Indians is disgusting...and of course, to top it all, being the commercial giants of the game, they held the ICC and the entire cricketing world to ransom. Sadly, the ICC did give in to the commercial giants through sacking Bucknor. Agreed Bucknor is nowhere as good as h was, but sacking him on the basis of complaints by one team is outrageous. It undermines the importance of the umpire and the respect they command on the field. At this rate, umpires are going to be scared in making decisions when it comes to India for fear of being sacked!

The number of times India has not played within the 'spirit of the game' --- I can't count that on my fingers. Hypocrites is what they are. How about the number of times Indian umpires have made decisions in favour of India and against the visiting team? How about the number of times Indians appeal for something that's not out? How about all the Indians who stand their ground on knowing they are out? They have blamed the Aussies on all these counts but it's the pot calling the kettle black! And no, I'm not being sore. I'm just annoyed at how the Aussies have pretty much been castrated by their own as well as overseas. And for what? For winning??? It's the Indians that can't digest the fact that they lost.

Yet another laugh is the justification for why Harbhajan could not have uttered a racist comment --- because as Indians we have fought racism! That's not a justification. Does Sharad Pawar have any idea how ridiculous that sounds? That's like saying when someone has been abused as a child they will not abuse someone else...when research shows otherwise. How about the hypocrisy in our own country where fairer-skinned Indians are preferred over the darker-skinned ones? So it's not racism but isn't it just another form of discrimination based on skin colour? How about all the discrimination in India based on whether you are north, east, west or south Indian? How about all the discrimination based on caste? I think we need to fix what's happening in our own country prior to saying the rest of the world is being racist.

India need to get off their high horse of either blaming everything on racism or unfairness. They need to realise that in spite of the few decisions that did not go their way, they were not poised to win since they batted badly. But as always, they place the blame externally. The umpires, the Australians, the crowd...you name it. They would blame a frigging bird if it landed on the pitch to save their face! What all countries need to do is abandon playing in India --- that way the commercial losses would be too much for India and they may just toe the line. Then again, they would just blame the whole world for being racist!

Anyway, till next time,

Cheers!!!

Read more...

New Year...a time to look ahead

Well, it's that time again. It's a new year (so it's 11 days into the new year but I've heard people wishing Happy New Year way into the first month!).

I always wonder what the new year holds in store for me and even though I do not believe in astrology, I generally look at what the year holds for me. Go figure! As always though, few months into the year and I've forgotten what the stars held for me and whether what is happening is actually in line with what I read.

This year is off to an ok start. I haven't gotten lucky yet in terms of finding a job....who knew a driver's license would be so essential??? I'm trying my hardest not to get too depressed about it and figure that either there will be a desparate employer or I will be desparate enough to settle for any psychologist job to start off with and then make my way into my area of preference. And more importantly, with a job, I can continue getting driving lessons to get to my goal of obtaining a driver's license!

On a brighter note, I ended 2007 with a trip to Coff's Harbour for three days and began 2008 with a trip to Newcastle. Enjoyed both of them immensely and was able to go out of Sydney after a long long time. So I'm stingy and generally spend my holidays being miserly but after finishing the degree I thought I needed a break and even though I don't have money rolling in, I figured some of the savings would suffice.

For the New Year, do I have any resolutions? Umm...not really because I rarely stick to them. However, I do have goals ---
1. Get a job
2. Get my driver's license
3. Lose weight (as always...)
4. Try and become less negative/cynical and be a bit more optimistic

Maybe goals will be more achieveable as compared to resolutions.

Only time will tell.

Until next time,

Cheers!!!

Read more...