Ulta Pulta Ek Samaan

A sad attempt at making a few ambigrams :D Do give feedback. Also suggest more words that you would want me to kill my time with :P

Sachin vs Bradman

Those who know me know that I am a Sachin Tendulkar fan and a very big one. There is no doubt in my mind that Tendulkar is the greatest batsmen ever. But there are a few people who think Sir Donald Bradman was the greatest of all time. I would like to disagree. Here is a small comparison. Please tell me what you think of it.

Pressure: Sachin plays every innings under huge pressure. 1 billion people expect him to perform in each and every match, be it against the Aussies or Bangladesh. To perform consistently for 20 years is no joke!!! Bradman never had such pressure during his whole career apart from maybe the Bodyline series and in his last innings against England. Just look what pressure did to him. His average, which was usually over 100 in most series, came down to just 52 in Bodyline and he couldn't score 4 runs in his last innings with the whole world watching.

Number of Matches: Bradman played 52 tests in 20 years whereas Sachin has played 159 tests in the same period. Back then the players easily got 8-10 days of gap in between 2 tests. In one year only 4-5 tests were played and to add to it there were NO ODIs. Nowadays there are so many matches and Sachin has played all of them since his debut in 1989. It is only recently that he has started to take breaks from ODI series but he still plays all the test matches for India.

Position of Batting: Bradman usually came at no.3 or no.4 and mostly when the score were 176/1 or 217/2 No pressure!! Sachin usually came at no.4 and mostly when India had lost both the openers and the scoreboard looked like 20/2!!! In ODIs Sachin opens and has the pressure of laying the foundation and setting the trend for the innings.

Opposition: Bradman played mostly against England and he got used to that bowling. So he scored over 5000 runs against them with an average of around 92. He played one series against each of the minnows of that time (India, South Africa and West Indies) and scored heavily against them. He never played in Indian sub-continent against Indian spinners. Moreover, excluding Larwood, Bradman never played any quality bowlers. Whereas, Sachin played against the likes of Ambrose-Walsh-Bishop, Wasim-Waqar-Akhtar, Warne-McGrath-Lee-Gilespie, Donald-Pollock-Steyn and Vaas-Murali-Mendis. His overseas record is as good as his home record. Also the standard of fielding is far better than it was in that time!

Style of Cricket: In the times Bradman played, cricket was not limited to 5 days and so there was no pressure on teams to enforce a result. So a player could play for as long as he wanted and didn’t want to get out. We all know if Sachin decides this no one can get him out, remember the 241* against Australia in 2004, in which he curbed off side stroke play because the ball was swinging. If Tendulkar had played in the era of Bradman, he would easily have an average above 100.

Time: The greatest teacher ever

The syllable gu means shadows
The syllable ru, he who disperses them,
Because of the power to disperse darkness
the guru is thus named.

– Advayataraka Upanishad 14—18, verse 5

This post is a tribute to all my teachers who have directly or indirectly influenced me. These include my parents, my grandparents, my friends, my educators, my idols, my heroes and last but not the least, people whom I dislike. But I have realized that each second in your life teaches you something or the other. For instance:

• Standing on a local train station teaches you about the daily struggles people have to go through in a day.
• Visiting the hospital to visit a doctor for a minor headache teaches you the extent of suffering present in the world.
• A visit to an airport terminal teaches you how people long to be with their loved ones.
  

On this day let us not forget about those small incidents which teach us a lot of things, which our teachers or elders will never be able to teach us. These things are only taught by one thing and that is TIME. I wonder how many of us realize this and value this.

The Fairer Sex

I am sorry I ever wrote this post. I am deleting this post on public demand. I apologise for my remarks. They were totally uncalled for. I do not understand anything that goes on with girls inside college campuses, primarily because I have never cared enough to find out about it. So, if possible Please forgive me.