May 31 - An unforgettable day

Hi friends,

May 31, for many it might be just another day. But for me it is a special day. You may be guessing that it would be my birthday but it is not, or my marriage anniversary, no way still I am a single, or my first day in job! Not at all. Now before you stop reading further I will start explaining. The day is special because similar events happened in two consecutive years when my fortunes swung like pendulum. The story goes like this…

May 31, 2000, it was a typical summer afternoon in a district place in Karnataka called Bagalkot. That was the time when I was doing my sixth semester Engineering and that day I was waiting for the previous semester results along with my classmates. Exam results are always special in one way or the other. That particular time it meant more than that for me as I was on downslide after hitting the top in the very first semester. Just 2 years before I had sprung a surprise in college by scoring nearly 85% in first semester and attaining the first rank in college for all branches of Engineering. I was a lesser known person in the beginning and was never considered by any one including myself. But due to hard work and good luck it had happened and I was called “Topper” in college. Even my parents were surprised but were very happy and their expectations obviously rose. Also due to the new image of Topper I gained lot of friends in my batch. But I couldn’t live up to their expectations in the next two semesters scoring just around 80%. I was no more a topper (I doubt if I figured anywhere in top 10 or 20) but the tag “Topper” remained mocking me. The fourth semester result was even bad taking me down to 75%. So two years later on May 31 afternoon, I was waiting for a better result to cheer me up. Those days there were some branch level competitions were going on. Many events were organized, but I couldn’t make any mark in the events in which I participated. Though in my favorite quiz competition (called “Super Brain”) I ended up third but that was not sufficient for a prize to win since only first and second used to get honored. I thought it was a bad phase but was hoping for a better exam result which mattered most. At last after a long wait the results were announced in evening that day. When I saw my result I was totally crestfallen. 72% doesn’t read a bad score but for the standards I had set it was not better than total failure. Many of my friends did so well. Parents were disappointed; friends, teachers started questioning and the self belief touched it’s lowest. I asked myself was I that much ordinary? Or was the first semester result was just a fluke? I was totally disillusioned. Then the words of advice which I was searching came from none other than my father himself. Being a retired professor in college, as a perfect guardian reassured me that I was not bad. He told the score may be lesser but not bad. He suggested me to re visit some strategies of studies and my exam preparation. I went back to my hostel room where a poster of my cricket idol Rahul Dravid hung. On the poster a message read “Change of attitude worked wonders”. I thought it is time to change mine.

After the fifth semester results were announced there was not much time left for the sixth semester exams. I couldn’t sort out the strategies which I thought. When the results were out, the score read 77% which managed to put me on increasing curve. Since this time expectations were low it was not a bad situation as previous. Now the seventh semester had started and it was time to apply my strategies in action. When I revisited my past performances, practical and internals (together constituted 40% of the score) were never a concern. I used to touch 90% in that part but it was theory which was a matter of concern. There was no problems with subjects either. I understood the concepts and also I used to appreciate them. Frankly speaking I never used to write answers point wise. I always used to write long answers and ended up short of answering all the questions. When I recollected my preparation, I noticed that during study holidays my study time used to start after 7 pm in evening and it used to go till 2am. Due to this, the mornings used to be gloomy. Now I decided to utilize the day time fully. I started going to library and utilized the whole library time as well as books for the exam preparation. I started sleeping by 11pm which resulted good sleep and in early rise also. I also changed the model of pen. Exam time came; as usual I did well in internals and practical exams. In exam I rectified my previous mistake of writing long answers. Answers were precise to the point highlighting the main points. As a result I was able to touch all the questions. This time I really enjoyed writing exams. But the most important thing was result. May 2001 had arrived and eighth and final semester had started. We were told that the seventh semester results will be out in the last week of May. I hoped it not to be on May 31. Again there were competitions in our college at that time. This time I had done well in some of them ending first in some and second in others. May 31, 2001 came and I was happy that there was no news of results coming out. That day “Super Brains 2001” contest was held and I had done better and was pleased with my performance. When I came out of the contest and to my surprise I was told that the exam results were out. I held my breath and told myself “Not again”. Along with friends I advanced to the net centre. Somehow got hold of a computer and typed my roll number on the result main page and pressed “Submit”. My heartbeats increased as the page was getting displayed. It read 84.77% and suddenly all the fear was transformed into joy and ecstasy. I had stood second to my class and my parents were very happy to see me back at the top. So were my close friends and a closest one even managed to lift me up. Next day someone came and told that I had won the “Super Brain” contest also. The life had come full circle for me in those two years that too on the same day (May 31) and making it unforgettable.

Thanks for reading,

Regards,
Chetan

The Entertainer leaves the arena...

21st April, venue Barbados cricket ground, at post match presentation ceremony a great (or one of the greatest) cricketer announced his retirement from international cricket. When asked to address the spectators he took the mike and asked a question, “Did I entertain you?” The answer he got was the big “YESSS” from all parts of the stadium. The cricketer in context is none other than Brian Charles Lara. So my choice of topic for this blog is “Entertainment and Lara”.

If we notice the question Lara asked to the spectators carefully, it brings out the basic essence of cricket (or any sport). Cricket is a mean of entertainment which the fans tend to forget. The best instance to support my point is the way we, the Indian cricket fans behaved when Indian cricket team was crashed out of the World Cup 2007 in the first round itself. The response was such that one of my friends announced one year retirement from watching the cricket and another told he would never watch at all. Yes, the defeat was really devastating, but we should not forget that “Win” and “Defeat” are just part and parcel of game and the fun is the most important thing we should extract from a game. The fun may be in watching our own heroes in their best of actions or a better performance from the rivals. Sometimes watching the match between the neutral teams is more pleasurable than watching Indian team in action because of the fact that there wont be an element of “Fan”dom. Watching Adam Gilchrist trashing the Lankan bowlers in the World Cup final was really a great entertainment.

Coming to Lara, we can call him a genius or a gifted batsman with possession of best skills. But above all he was a great entertainer in cricket. For me watching him playing at his best is more enjoyable than watching a movie featuring Amitabh Bachchan (Being a die hard fan of Bachchan saab, with all due respect). I was in school when Lara scored 375 and 501 in test and first class cricket respectively. Since I was in residential school with very less access to TV, I could enjoy those knocks by reading in newspaper. Reading itself was thrilling, how the feeling of live watch would have been! I became a big fan of Lara after that 501 knock and pasted his poster in my room. After I came out of residential school, first time I saw him live on TV was in World Cup 1996 when he produced an excellent century to throw mighty South Africans out of championship in Quarter final stage. The knock of 111 was simply superb. First he started steadily (in fact slowly) which made me wonder whether this was the person I had heard of. The initial foot movements were below par and he was not able to pierce the field. But once he passed the score of 20, the Lara I read in newspaper stories came live. The punching drives off square, beautiful cover drives, awesome pulls and the sight of dancing down the pitch to loft spinners for a six really comprised feast for the cricket lovers. After that brutal knock I witnessed many such great feats from the great Caribbean batsman. Among them the best was the world record breaking knock of 400 against England in 2004. Previous year Australian batsman Matthew Hayden had waltzed past Lara’s 375 to score new world record of 380. But it didn’t take more than 6 months for the great craftsman of batting to regain the record back in his name that too with supplement of another record of scoring 400 for the first time in history of test cricket. His batting prowess was in such a level that next day one of my colleagues (who is not a serious follower of cricket) told he watched the highlights of Lara’s 400 but there was a surprise in store for him. He had actually seen the live coverage. There are many such knocks registered in the name of Lara which are not only great in cricketing terms but also carry a lot of entertainment values. April 21, 2007 will remain as the day of curtains for one of the greatest entertainer of Cricket.