SURPRISE ELEMENT-NEED OF THE HOUR

The game of cricket is a team game where performance is the name of the game. For sometime Indian cricket faced a tough task facing genuine pace bowling on overseas conditions and that caused us series after series defeat. Bouncing tracks and lateral movement all put paid our hopes and we could not force a single win in the entire series down under. It is our own making as the captain is not ready to experiment and try to make sure his men are in place in the side to back him despite defeats. Of course, we need a surprise element to break the Juggernaut 

LEFT HANDERS LEAD FROM THE FRONT

Last three days of world cup cricket saw the emergence of left-hand opening batsmen of three test playing nation did wonderfully well to lift the morale of their sides in a calculated way of hitting. Sunday sport showed the talent of Shikhar Dhawan doing wonderfully well against a strong South African side. Again Moen Ali did his job for England against a scintillating Scotland side. Now it is the turn of Chris Gayle to go berserk a made a match of it for West Indies with a hurricane double hundred, the first of this kind in World cup cricket in the last four decades. He was in wretched form before this match but made it big with his belligerent batting spree hitting 215 of 156 balls with 10 fours and 16 sixes. Gayle and Samuels added a record 372 runs for the first wicket and beating the highest partnership for any wicket in world cup cricket by Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid. Thus the emergence of left handed openers coming handy and they blossom at a right time to give their sides headway start in the World's Premiere Tournament.
LEFT HANDERS ARE GIFTED AND THERE IS NO DOUBT ABOUT IT

TEAM INDIA IS THE MOST PRIVILEGED SIDE IN THE WORLD CUP 2015-
THEY ENJOYED PLAYING TWO TOP TEAMS ON SUNDAYS IN FRONT OF CAPACITY CROWD AND THE THIRD MATCH ON SATURDAY- SO THEY GET ENOUGH REST TO NURSE THE INJURIES AND COME FRESH. NZ ALREADY PLAYED THREE GAMES. EVEN GAYLE'S 215 CAME ON A TUESDAY AND WITNESSED LIVE BY ONLY LUCKY GUYS. ALL IN THE GAME OF CRICKET.

GAYLE STORM IN CANBERRA BUT ONLY FEW SPECTATORS- HAD HE SCORED THESE RUNS AGAINST INDIA THE STADIUM WOULD HAVE BEEN FILLED TO THE CAPACITY AND THE MATCH WOULD HAVE BEEN PLAYED ON A SUNDAY

MAHATMA GANDHIJI AS A CRICKETER  A CARTOON WITH MAHATMA GANDHI HAVING A BAT IN HAND-please open up attachment Whatever said and done by Gandhiji really helped India to attain Independence from the British rule finally. 1930 -The Dandi March to the 1942- Quit movement Gandhiji was all the way dictating terms to the English.  However he was member of the MCC side touring India. Mahatma Gandhi, when requested for an autograph "played with a straight bat", quite forgetting that he was engaged in a mighty and bloodless revolution with the British-and thereby became a member of an official in England Team. How he was chosen could not probably have been explained even by the MCC selectors.  Requested for his autograph Gandhiji turned over the pages and put his signature as the 17th player of the MCC team led by Douglas Jardine in 1933-34.  The autograph book is one of the treasured possessions of the Marlybourne Cricket Club( MCC ) at Lord's. Not only Gandhiji signed autograph book but also played for the team comprising of Indians of British origin. Mahatma Gandhi played for a team of British origin against a team of Indian origin at London and scored 21 runs with 3 boundaries. He took one wicket also. He was wearing pant and shirt while playing. Gandhiji was not only a cricket enthusiast but he also wielded the willow. R.G. Mehta, a boyhood friend and schoolmate wrote" It is not commonly known that Gandhiji was a dashing cricketer and evinced keen interest in the game.  Once we were watching a cricket match together. In those days there were ding-dong battles between Rajkot city vs Rajkot Sardar (camp area). At a crucial moment, as if by intuition, Gandhiji said that a particular player would be out and hey presto the batsman was really out.  The freedom spirit of Gandhiji came from the cricketing field.

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MARRIAGES ARE MADE IN HEAVEN

It is universally told that Marriages are made in Heaven. The fact
remains in this universe even after centuries and the married couples
make up their mind to have marriage bliss to have a smooth sailing in
family life. Live and let others live policy come handy in marriage
life as well.  Give and take way of running a family appears to be the
best option for Indian way of living.  We did not expect much and the
results are forthcoming. Taking dowry and giving dowry should be
totally abolished in Indian marriages. The fruits of dealing of
problems one at time yield good results.  Understanding each other in
familiar situation provide best atmosphere in daily routine and pay
handsomely for a peaceful living.

Marital bliss is finding perfect happiness in marriage. When a couple
experiences marital bliss, it does not mean that they do not have
problems; they simply know how to resolve them and get back to loving
each other.  The University of Washington Psychology Professor John
Gottman states communication is essential to having marital bliss.
While studying 3,000 couples, he has noticed that happy couples use
“five times more positive behaviors than negative ones,” while unhappy
couples are quick to criticize each other. In theory, learning how to
talk to one's spouse helps one achieve marital bliss.

Winning does not matter when one is looking for marital bliss. In
fact, trying to compete to win arguments often makes the situation
worse. Society teaches both men and women to compete in order to
succeed, and it is easy to bring that mental state into the marriage.
Unfortunately, doing so puts love and respect in the background.  In
order to achieve marital bliss, both people in the marriage must work
towards the same goal. Fighting and arguing destroy marriages. It is
essential that both parties use the love and respect they have for the
other to uplift and inspire them. Acting in love helps couples achieve
marital bliss. It is a matter of adjustment and paying attention to
your spouse gives you the joy of life time and ensure you to face
stiff challenges during trying times.

Children are there for our support and the grand children provide joy
and pleasures of living full size life.  Enjoyment is part and parcel
of life and we make use of the time and money in the best way possible
to achieve maximum enjoyment.  When children approach us for help then
we really realise our importance and the will to live longer to be
part of their life.  During the "bad times," there is more arguing and
blaming, less sharing and touching, fewer moments of joy and
appreciation. But we weather the storms, and some 50 percent of us do
stay married.  What most couples don't realize, say marriage experts,
is that there are things they can do to ensure better times than
worse, to make riding out the storms smoother and easier. An open mind
and an open heart serve as a mirror and enrich your loving life to
last longer.  There lies the success of marriage bliss for senior couples.

C.K.SUBRAMANIAM A-8-1-5 MILLENNIUM TOWERS FLAT 5 SECTOR 9 SANPADA NAVI
MUMBAI MOB 9820359436


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PIVOTAL ROLE OF A POSTCARD

Some time ago the entire media sang the dirge of the telegram.  As
this sentiment weighed heavily with me too.  I made a final visit to
the Sanpada post office with a swift round of post offices in and
around Navi Mumbai wondering how long the hallowed institution of the
post office would be relevant in context of the recent technological
explosion in communication.  That the post office plays an important
role in society cannot be questioned, however reluctant one may be to
sing its praises!.  Not for nothing did the British create heritage
building in GPO  Fort Mumbai.  Today we notice some desperate attempts
at adding a fresh coat of the famous red to post officer, though most
still bring back memories of that familiar musty odious, crumbling
furniture and blotches of glue that made a mess of the space meant for
pasting stamps, writing letters and filling up forms.  But India Post,
post office Savings Banking and speed-post have added a contemporary
twist to the post office.

Much before the gates of the World wide web of the Internet were
progressively thrown open to us, before mobile phones turned our art
of communication into SMSs, Twitter reduced our eloquence to 140-byte
tweets, Facebook restricted our predilection to like and Unlike, and
What's App introduced a lexicon into our idiom, the postcard was the
star player in establishing contact between friends, relative,
siblings and acquaintances.  Along with the above changes sweeping our
lifestyle, the art of letter-writing also seems to be on the wane.  In
the good old days, it bonded people together- parents, siblings,
friends, acquaintances- regardless of where they were stationed or
occupied.  Those little homilies and personal touches packed into
postcards, in fact portrayed the sign of the times, and how people
warmed up to each other.

It is unfortunate that these simple pleasures of communication are
lost on us today, thanks to modern means of "touching base"  which are
stark to the extent of being impersonal.  The pleasures of expectation
and eager anticipation no longer exist in the current humdrum of our
lives.  Gone with the art of letter-writing are many nuance of
communication that brought a smile to our lips, a lump in the throat,
a choke in the chest, a tear to the eyes or a dimple to a romantic
cheek.  Nothing is left to imagination any more.  You wonder whether
generation next will have the time and patience for long drawn of of
methods of communication, but, if truth be told, even we are beginning
to find the electronic means of interacting more convenient and
user-friendly.

I still preserve the postcards written by my father to me for
posterity and to show my grandson the real value for handwriting and
how to squeeze number of words within that yellow color card, how to
improve English knowledge and learn punctuation etc.  As a freelance
writer I met with success with my first letter written in a postcard
and sent to Times of India, Delhi and published about spinner of the
past Sriniwas Venkatraghavan with a catchy caption " Valiant Venkat "
Still I keep stock of postcards to make use of the same when I feel
like doing so to remember my olden days.

Don Bradman (Australia ) was the most sought after cricketer those
days world over.  His popularity reached its peak when a Post Card was
sent to him with a remark
TO
" Mr.Don " ( Bradman's Photograph was affixed ) followed by Address
Somewhere playing in England-and the postcard reached the great
cricketer playing in England. (please open up the attachment for the
proof)

Thus postcard played a pivotal role in people's heart and mind all
over the world.

Encourage sports other than cricket

In the recent Sarita Devi case at Asian Games in Incheon, South
Korea was a travesty of fair play and a blot on the competency of the
judges.  It was a clear instance of partisanship on the part of judges
for depriving a certain winner Sarita Devi in the boxing bout.  It was
her sheer desperation and frustration that prompted her to refuse the
bronze medal. This led to questions of her behaviour and lack of
sportsmanship.  The International Amateur Boxing body declared that an
enquiry will be held  into her behaviour and if found guilty she will
be banned. But why is nobody questioning the incompetency or bias of
the judges.  In fact the enquiry should be directed at the judges and
if  found guilty should be disqualified as they are not fit for the
job. Alas, who will judge the judges! Often it is found that it is the
victim who is penalised and the guilty go Scot-free. The incident is a
blot on the game and sportsmanship. The Boxing body should be put
on the mat for appointing such useless judges for important events.

We are all very proud about the performance of the Indian team in the
just concluded Asian Games.  When our cricket team could not
participate and bring a Gold medal despite being tagged and hyped as
having very great side with very good  bench strength, our Men's
Kabaddi side won the seventh Gold in succession and proved that they
are not second to none.  It was an inspiring show as the match in the
final was a close one against Iran and the score line 27-25 in favour
of Team India tell the tale of a close encounter.  Even our Women's
team won the Gold to keep the Indian flag flying in Kabaddi.  India
thus completed a golden double on the Kabaddi mat for the second
successive edition after the women defeated the same nation 31-21 in
their final  But we witnessed players like Leander Paes and his team
mates skipped the Asian Games for better ATP points tally should feel
ashamed as their absence caused us yet another Gold in Tennis also.
Our cricketers have time to play IPL, CL and Kanga League failed to
show their faces in Asian Games so far.   Team management is helping
their cause to make more money and in the bargain make big booty.
BCCI is money minded and not medal minded.  It is time to encourage
games like Kabaddi in India rather than fostering the Paper Tiger
Indian Cricket Team, who are scared of going out of India and play in
Asian Games as well.  Kudos to Kabaddi team for the stupendous show.


It is heartening to note that Indian team performed very well in the
Asian Games in Incheon and that made us very proud.   Had we put in
some more efforts and played with killer instinct we could have
converted number of bronze medal to silver and silver medals to Gold
and come out with flying colours as the fifth or sixth team in the
medals tally instead of finishing with 8th position.  Fifty seven
medals is not a mean achievement.  The scintillating show of 37 bronze
medals could have been converted to Silver if our stars, showed little
resilience in the end games.  The finishing touch was missing in the
end and we finished with only 11 Gold medals and 9 silver medals in
the end.   There was a chance of finishing behind top teams in the
overall medals tally, but the lack of Gold winning show put paid our
aspirations in the final show down. Hockey Gold and Kabaddi Gold
medals made us proud in the end.  Time to go all out in all such
sports events to make a more meaningful performance than what we
achieved now.