Dev D is an emotional ATYACHAR

I was encouraged by one of my mates to watch Dev D and was set the expectation that it is a cult movie in its own sense ...well after having watched the movie over a tumultous period of 150 mins I would like to replace the "l" in cult with letter at my disposition...please pardon my syntax here but its straight from the heart.
I dont blame my mate for it I guess he too has been a victim of "Keeping up with the Jones" syndrome and to have social conformance with his mates might have watched the movie in disgust .....
Well well what can I say about the movie I feel empowered like Khalid Mahmud like having the right to tear apart the movie to shreds......the movie has a decent plot with the protaganist Dev D delivering well in his role ...what I just struggle to understand is why has the director put in so many real life stories into the plot of the movie ...I guess the USP of the movie is the frequent foul language and the openess with which sex is being discussed....

Now now I know that Sex sells and that we as audience gather a vicaral pleasure from watching lewd/nude scenes and Iam not a follower of Ram Sena......but what Iam concerned with current mental decadence of the current youth population of India...with the movie vividly portraying famous scandals like the MMS Scandal whereing the actress has scant respect for her father and at one point of time accusing him of jer@#$g at her MMS leading to his suicide.This prompts the girl to take the path towards prostitution.
Now portraying this as the independance of a teenagers mind inspite of doing something wrong is what I take as inference from the movie....
Abhay Deol is the only one who has done justice to himself and the movie by acting well....morever the movie meanders off track in between and fails to come back to its original plot....
If movies like Dev D and shows like Splitsville are a reflection of the mindset of the youth of India then Iam thouroughly sorry to say that Iam sad and that it disappoints me a lot.....what our teenage population see from the west and what we try to copy are two different things....
nyways I just sincerely hope that the future of India is in safe hands.....

The Curious Case of Harbhajan Singh

Well well now what can I say/write about "Bhajji" , whenever I get ready to scribble something negative about him he just astounds me with his gritty performance on the field.There is not even an inkling of doubt in my mind that Harbhajan aka Turbanator is a patriot and is a player with a large heart.Now all of us love players with large hearts because of the fist thumping , the high energy levels which gives an adrenaline rush.
Bhajji loves to play for his country and is backed up by his exceptional talent to turn the ball but alas he is a mere mortal who always fails in front of his inner demons.He has had the reputation of committing "Harakiri" on field by acting in weird fashions.
How on the earth can he explain his behaviour of slapping Sreesanth and abusing Pietersen on field when he was clearly clean bowled.Iam on purpose leaving the "Monkeygate" scandal completely off limits as of now , as I feel it was a case of action-reaction.
Ohh Bhajji how art thou like this ? Why just not focus on cricket and do the talking with the bowl and bat instead of thy tongue....it would not be fair to say that our cricketers should not show acts of aggression on the cricket field but it should be controlled in nature.Dhoni exemplifies the case of controlled aggression and does that with his performance on the field.
Anger and more importantly exhibition of it at short outbursts is a weakness and a characteristic which your opponents would love to exploit to there benefit.
I think Harbhajan as a cricketer has a achieved a lot and would achieve all the more if he just puts his focus on the game and completely bring out EGO out of his game.He should himself learn the way he has mentally conquered Ponting and more often than not Ponting falls for Harbhajan for his past record than his guile in the delivery.
The monkey gate scandal was an altogther a different affair with Bhajji being instigated time and again by the players and public so to some degree his reaction can be justified ...however what Bhajji need to be cognizant about is that he has paid heavily for his conduct in the past in terms of match fees, not playing matches etc and more importantly has had his public image besmirched.
Bhajji should start to mature as soon as possible else he will land up mentally like our very own Benjamin Button.....

Celebrations of an abstract mind

Welcome to my world of evolution…To an existence beyond your wildest imagination…To a life of inspiration…To the eternal hope for salvation! I live in a world which exists only in your dreams! …
and THIS IS JUST THE BEGINNING!

I’m back… and I’m bigger…better…and stronger! A new and improved version! We spoke of stories and songs…of life and rejoicing… of exhilaration and anticipation. So I ask myself… where do we go from here! And the answer my friend… is as clear as water! There is only one constant… CHANGE! And as I change… as I evolve… as I adapt…so must my thoughts. I find myself on a threshold. Make no mistake…I do not talk of a new life. I talk of change to an existing one.

I am not revolutionary… I am just another man…livin’just another life…fighting for his right to belong…fighting for his place in the sun! I stand on the edge… but I see a horizon.

Do not question my belief…for my life is free. I do not ask you to follow me…I ask you to keep the faith! I can only show you the way…the road is yours to take!

So I welcome you once again…to the musings of an abstract mind. Where my world rests on the laurels of my faith… where my freedom leads me to eternal hope…where it is not the power of my mind but the depth of my soul which will determine the fate of my existence.

Welcome to my world without boundaries…to a life without rules… to a celebration called humanity.

Welcome to my life… I AM THE WAY!

The Power of Six Hats

Early in the 1980s Dr. de Bono invented the Six Thinking Hats method. The method is a framework for thinking and can incorporate lateral thinking.The six hats represent six modes of thinking and are directions to think rather than labels for thinking. That is, the hats are used proactively rather than reactively.The method promotes fuller input from more people. In de Bono's words it "separates ego from performance". Everyone is able to contribute to the exploration without denting egos as they are just using the yellow hat or whatever hat. The six hats system encourages performance rather than ego defense. People can contribute under any hat even though they initially support the opposite view.The key point is that a hat is a direction to think rather than a label for thinking. The key theoretical reasons to use the Six Thinking Hats are to:
- encourage Parallel Thinking - encourage full-spectrum thinking - separate ego from performance.For me EGO stands for "Edging GOD out", a trap which all of us fall into.

There are six metaphorical hats and the thinker can put on or take off one of these hats to indicate the type of thinking being used. This putting on and taking off is essential. The hats must never be used to categorize individuals, even though their behavior may seem to invite this. When done in group, everybody wear the same hat at the same time.

White Hat Thinking
- This covers facts, figures, information needs and gaps.Its the phase of time when one drops arguments and proposals to look at the data.
Red Hat Thinking
- This covers intuitions,feelings and emotions.The red had allows the thinker to put forward an intuition without having to provide any justification for it.
Black Hat Thinking
- This is the hat of judgement and caution.It is the most valuable hat and is used to point out why a suggestion does not fit the facts,the available experience,the system in use,or the policy being followed.Black hat must always be logical.
Yellow Hat Thinking
-This is the logical positive.It can be used in looking forward to the results of a proposed action,but can also be used to find something of value in what has already happened.
Green Hat Thinking
- This is the hat of creativity,alternatives,proposals,what is interesting,provocations and changes.
Blue Hat Thinking
- This is the overview or process control hat.It looks not at the subject itself but at the "thinking" about the subject.In technical terms it is connected with meta-cognition.

Patek Phillipe

“You never really own a Patek Phillipe, you merely look after it for the next generation” – the permanence that this ad tag-line suggested caught my attention when I was in college and began my fascination with watches. I was initially flabbergasted why someone would pay thousands of dollars to buy ‘ultra luxury’ watches that use complex mechanical movements to perform functions that a cheap quartz watch can perform at a fraction of the cost. For example, an automatic watch that is powered by the physical movement of the wrist can lose upto 12 minutes a month when a quartz watch powered by a battery loses practically no time. Of course, to ensure accuracy in an automatic watch you need to buy a really high-end ‘caliber automatic’ rather than a ‘standard automatic’. I have realized that there is no objective explanation to this indulgence - it is similar to buying art rather than buying a photograph, you really pay for an extremely complex solution to a problem that has a simpler solution. It is also a celebration of your success and you buy it just ‘because you can’.

Wit is "It"

The great wit and playwright George Bernard Shaw walked up to Sir Winston Churchill, the Prime Minister of Great Britain, and asked him if he would care to accept two seats for the first night of his new play? Shaw said, ‘Bring a friend….if you have one’. Churchill replied, ‘'GBS, unfortunately I have an engagement on that night, but I would like to come on your second night . .. if there is one.' Now that’s what you would call a classic retort. How many times in your life have you been in a situation when somebody either poked fun at you or ridiculed you and all you could do in retaliation was stand there fuming, gasping for words and not being to able to come up with a quick retort? How many times have you just walked away from a mild insult without making a quick funny humorous retort and then after an hour, the perfect retort strikes you and you beat your head with a tumbler because there is nothing you can do about it? Well, I am not talking about retorting in a pedestrian manner with either insulting language or a haughty exit but I am talking about a very ingenious, quick and witty rejoinder which makes the other person bristle at the retort but also leaves him admiring you. In fact,wit can be such an indispensable trait that when Oscar Wilde was asked if he had anything to declare as soon as he landed in America, he famously replied, ‘I have nothing to declare except my wit.’ Some of the greatest wits in this world have come from diverse backgrounds like theatre, movies, politics, armed forces etc. Some of them are Groucho Marx, George Bernard Shaw, Winston Churchill, Oscar Wilde etc. If you don’t mind the retort being a bit on the extreme (Read: Bathroom humor wit), people like Woody Allen, Rodney Dangerfield would be the best bets, I guess. May be you should look up these guys at the holy altar of Google the next time you have a three day holiday. Ladies and Gentlemen, I present to you some witty retorts that have stood the test of time. The celebrated dancer Isadora Duncan once wrote to George Bernard Shaw declaring that, given the principles of eugenics, they should have a child together. "Think of it!" she enthused. "With my body and your brains, what a wonder it would be." "Yes," Shaw replied. "But what if it had my body and your brains?" George Bernard Shaw once found himself at a dinner party, seated beside an attractive woman. "Madam," he asked, "would you go to bed with me for a thousand pounds?" The woman blushed and rather indignantly shook her head. "For ten thousand pounds?" he asked. "No. I would not." "Then how about fifty thousand pounds?" he continued. The colossal sum made the woman pause, and after further reflection, she coyly replied: "Perhaps." "And if I were to offer you five pounds?" Shaw asked. "Mr. Shaw!" the woman exclaimed. "What do you take me for!" "We have already established what you are," Shaw calmly replied. "Now we are merely haggling over the price.“ And let’s end this with a classic from the Mahatma himself who once asked what he thought about Western civilization. "I think," he replied, "it would be a very good idea.“ Next time, someone says something funny, I guess you know now what to say

Work Life Balance is good during Recession!

Some fellow managers are surprised when I start to talk about how important is it to maintain Work Life Balance during these tough economic times, the response is ‘Are you serious? There is a full scale recession out there and the thing you now want to talk about is work life balance!’ My simple and honest answer is: ‘Yes! Work Life Balance options have a proven record to help companies and national economies to deal with severe recessions’. Let me explain how this works. During the last severe recession in the 1980’s work life balance initiatives were used to help companies and countries to deal with the down turn and to help them to get back on their feet again. Multinational companies are looking at Work Life Balance and flexible working initiatives to help them through this down turn as the cost associated with the recruitment and training of new staff is great. Even companies who had to seriously restructure their organisation in good economic times used Work Life Balance initiatives.There are many examples of how Work Life Balance can assist an organisation during a recession but let me just give you a few: Part Time Work arrangements / Job Sharing: Giving your existing staff members the option to work part time is a very effective manner by which to boost the eiciency of your staff. Part time workers work more effectively than full time workers and have a higher output per hour then full time staff members. Research has shown that the most efficient and effective employees work 19 hours per week. It is a myth that you need to work non stop to be efficient! Furthermore, establishing part time arrangements is a very effective way to reduce your staff count. Two staff members who start to work part time (50%) have reduced your count by one full timer. This is possibly the most effective and popular manner to reduce your head count.Sabbatical Leave: Offering sabbatical leave for your staff members to go to travel the world or use it to improve their education is another way to temporarily reduce your wage bill. If you are overstaffed at the moment, but expect you need staff in a year’s time when the economy picks up why not offer your staff the option of sabbatical leave? Look at the recent example of Permanent TSB who offered their staff members even a paid break for a number of years in order to reduce the staff members for the coming period. Normally sabbaticals are unpaid. One of the benefits of such an initiative is that you keep your staff members who you have invested in through training and establishing a social network.Flexi-time: In these difficult times it can be important to extend your organisation’s opening hours without increasing cost, Flexi time could have this effect. Extending the starting and finishing times for employees has the effect of being longer available for your customers and your business hours can increase which can be of benefit to service industry organisations. Most organisations are now working in the service sector and fixed opening hours which were necessary in an organisation which was confined by the working of the production belt are no longer necessary.Term Time: Term time working is that employees work more during certain periods in order to work less during other periods. If these periods relate to your business peaks then both the organisation and the employees are on a winner. If your organisation works less during the summer months why not let your employees work less hours then and let them build up extra hours during the times when the organisation is busy in an employee Working Hours Bank.E – working: In our time of e-mails and Internet working from home can be of great benefit to the employee and organisations, especially during a recession. Working from home through an internet connection is in fact more productive than working from the office through factors of less distractions and old fashion guilt, which makes employees work extra hours to get projects finished. There is also less time wasted on talking to colleagues, traffic congestion and other disruptions.As you can see Work Life Balance provides creative solutions to meet the needs of organisations during a recession and increase the job satisfaction of your workforce. Taking time to reflect on this topic can give you solutions which suit your organisation.

I am on a diet and only eat soaring ballads

But this is not about me or about food. This is about one ( of several) tinglish errors…err…I mean English terrors, Spoonerism. Greeks call this phenomenon of slipping founds (oops...I did it again) as metatheses. But that is restricted to adjacent sounds like ‘ask’ is pronounced as ‘aks’. However the humor in the flip-flop is attributed to Rev William Archibald Spooner. He is known to have scolded a student for "hissing at his mystery lecture" and " tasting two worms". Spooner ( 1862-1964) was a small man, an albino but for all that very intelligent. Till his dying day he claimed that his was a tipping slung ( that’s mine by the way), and that all the mix-ups were involuntary. Some say that his mind was so fast and histongue could not cope. But somewhere one gets a feeling that he was just having some fun at the world’s expense. He once proposed a toast to "Queer old dean"and he "traversed the streets of London on a "well-boiled icicle". The latter I find particularly brilliant ‘cause it involves spoonerism and is an oxymoron. Spooner, whether he intended it or not, is a legend and since there have been several spooners trying for their worth. I have spend sometime trying to make one half as witty as his but have been singularly unsuccessful. But best I have ever done is "The groom is made of mean geese"for "The moon is made of green cheese. I guess Spooner’s true genious was in spouting them out at the spur of the moment. The below limerick is by one R. Frank Tulakthat I found particularyfunny.

My wife I call bunny hunch
though her response is sometimes as slow as a turd of hurtles;
most of the time I am pickled tinkto be harried tomer.
Except when I have to go to fart and sinalwith her for the purpose of cinding a fart and ushingit through the piles.
Being married is a londerfulwife.

The Day the Music died

Generation after generation has grown up listening to " American Pie" by Don Mclean and over the years fans have fallen in love with the song all the more and many are still trying to decipher the exact meaning of the lyrics as Mclean still maintains his silence of what he meant when he wrote the lyrics.3rd February (1959) is officially known as "The Day the Music Died" when three American Rock and Roll musicians - Buddy Holly,Ritchie Valens and J P Richardson died in a plance crash near Clear Lake , Iowa.The death of these musicians inspired Don Mclean to express his feelings through his song the "American Pie".The song has had a profound effect on me as each line is as meaningful and intriguing as the previous line.The songs exihibits the vicissitude of emotions Mclean felt and went through during the 1960's.Sociologists credit teenagers with the popularity of Rock and Roll, as a part of the Baby boomer generation, they found themselves in a very influential position. Their shear number were the force behind most of our country’s recent major transitions. McLean was a teenager in 1959 and he begins by simply commenting that the music had an appealing quality to him as well as the millions of other teens. McLean also had an intense desire to entertain as a musician. His dream, to play in a band at high school dances, was the dream of many young boys who wanted to make people dance to Rock and Roll.Music was believed to “save the soul” and slow dancing was an important part of early rock and roll dance events. Dancing declined in importance through the 60’s as things like psychedelia and the 10-minute guitar solo gained prominence.McLean was asking many questions about the early rock ‘n roll in an attempt to keep it alive or find out if it was already dead.Back then, dancing was an expression of love,and carried a connotation of commitment. Dance partners were not so readily exchanged as they would be later.Before the popularity of rock and roll, music, like much elsewhere in the U. S., was highly segregated. The popular music of black performers for largely black audiences was called, first “race music,” later softened to rhythm and blues. In the early 50s, as they were exposed to it through radio personalities such as Allan Freed, white teenagers began listening, too.McLean was writing this song in the late 60’s,about ten years after the crash.
The jester in the song is Bob Dylan , there are several interpretations of king and queen: some think that Elvis Presley is the king, which seems rather obvious. The queen is said to be either Connie Francis or Little Richard.An alternate interpretation is that this refers to the Kennedys — the King and Queen of “Camelot” — who were present at a Washington DC civil rights rally featuring Martin Luther King.The song also mentions about a generation lost in space which refers to hippies, who were sometimes known as the “lost generation,” partially because of their particularly acute alienation from their parents, and partially because of their presumed preoccupation with drugs (which was referred to as being “spaced-out.”).Being on drugs was sometimes termed — being lost in space because of the TV show, “Lost in Space,” whose title was used as a synonym for someone who was rather high.
The song inspired Janis Joplin (lady of the blues) to write and sing the song "Killing me softly with his song."
The song is one in its class and has been voted as the 5th best song of all times...please take some time out to listen to the song its an absolute beauty....

Recession is a necessary evil....

They are calling this current economic crisis as unprecedented and worst in the modern times , infact some financial analysts are comparing this trough as bad as the Great Economic Depression of 1929.

The questions which arise are why do we land up in such a situation and why is it cyclical phenomenon.I like to view things in a very simplistic way in life and would like to do so now too.I feel that such an economic downturn is a blessing in disguise.
The world readily accepted the merits and success of Capitalism more after the Second World war and the fallout of the USSR in 1990 weakened the stance of Socialism all the more in the 90's and in this century.USA and her allies grew larger in stature and suddenly Capitalism was viewed as the best possible economic model with Utopian principles.With global economy becoming more interconnected with each other the dependancies of individual economies grew more on the developed nations and vice-versa.
The liberalization of some of the developing economies opened up the possibility of offshoring jobs and building up of the services sector in some developing countries.In some cases even manufacturing was getting offshored to other developing economies .Everything seemed to be picture perfect and it seemed that nothing could go wrong , but the fundamental problem laid in the fact that for any economy to sustain and grow the common man needs to have a net disposable income.By offshoring jobs to developing countries i.e India,China,Phillipines the income and spending power of the common man was eroded due to unemployment.Morever with the influx developed markets with cheaper commodities and goods from developing nations the indigenous industries suffered miserably leading to shutdown of many companies.This erosion of income took some time before it started to impact the paying power to clear off credit card debts and mortgages.
To add on to this spiral downturn the financial institutions eased of their risk models to give of loans to home buyers etc.This time period also saw a rise in the number of mortgage brokers who acted as conduits to give easy loans to individuals with a besmirched credit history.
All was still safe till this point had some regulatory body interjected and stopped the flow of blood , however to add on to this the Investment Bankers converted these bad debts as attractive investment with "ZERO" Net Present value as a future investment which would yield returns over a period of 10 years.Large institutions invested their surplus funds into these investment options to gain profit over a long term.Hence over a period time money was being lost without anyone realizing what was happening.
With the happening of this recession , I hope everyone across the world has realized about some of the demerits of capitalism.Capitalism is great when the distribution of income is equal across the realms of the society and when everyone aspires to grow at a steady pace.
The one thing which I fail to comprehend is the concept of market capitalization , its something which governs the lifeline of each sensex index across the world. I personally feel all the mad rush in share markets is in the endeavour to protect the market value of a company which is directly linked to the share prices (as the number of units remain constant).No one till date has been able to give me a concrete list of all factors which impact the share prices of a specific set of companies in an industry.Everything is based on speculation (I might be wrong here , but would be obliged if someone could enlighten me here) and prices jump up and down over a period so does my pulse in my jugular.
There are some key learnings from this recession for all the companies and leaders , and I have enlisted some of them below :-
> Growth of any company should be based on current profits and net earnings and not on future investments and projects.
> More strict guidelines need to be incorporated to ensure that audit companies comply with the standards before publishing the quarterly/yearly results of each company
> Leaders of developing nations should understand that the backbone of every strong economy is always the manufacturing sector.
> Their should be more science applied to the forecast or control the share prices and the sensex , and it should not be based on forecasting trends based on historical prices which were always speculated
> Companies just dont grow by increasing their wingspans sporadically , the growth can be achieved organically and inorganically.More controls should be levied in terms of controlling the expenses within and each investment project should be analyzed properly before being given a go ahead.
> Lastly , lay offs is not the solution to resolve the economic problem , its a problem to which the solution lies in creating more jobs by creating more infrastructure and manufacturing projects.
I would say that one should not loose hope in these times of distress and always look at the positive aspects from this dark period.Capitalism is fantastic when controlled within an achievable growth rate and thats what all of us should realize at the end.Each one of us individually is a capitalist in himself/herself , our needs and demands grow each minute and that can be explained with the number of cars we buy and the number of "investment properties" we invest in.Its time for all of us to take a break in life and slow down our pace.
Hence all of us individually can make a difference , by no means should we increase the demand of any commodity which gives rise to a false demand.
Its important to realize during such times to realize what we value the most as individuals is it money invested in locked in options or is it the peace of mind.
There are some things money cant buy for every other worry there is always a beer lying in the pub nearest to your house....
Cheers !!!!

Is Shane the greatest cricketer ever ?

After reading a lot of cricketing autibiographies,articles and initiating discussions with random people at bars I have been able figure out to a large extent who all have had the greatest influence on cricket in the past 200 years.Please bear in mind and treat this as a caveat that these are purely my thoughts and have not been influenced by any person living or dead and definitely Iam not writing this under the influence of any amber spirits....

Many names jump up for the likes of W G Grace,Jack Hobbs,Douglas Jardine,Harold Larwood,Graham Gooch,Gavaskar,Gower,Lillee,Thompson,Vivian Richards,Richard Hadlee,Wasim Akram and the list is endless but this list will surely be incomplete without the mention of Sir Donald Bradman,Shane Warne,Sachin Tendulkar,Brian Lara and Ricky Ponting or what I would call from now on the "The famous five".

It is an ardous task to ascertain who is the greatest of them all , but over the past 200 years the game has majorily been a batsman's paradise barring a few years of instances wherein the West Indian bowling greats and sultans of swings from Pakistan tormented the batsman and scared the living daylights of them.Its been a game thoroughly enjoyed to witness the runs scored by a batsman and hence the job of a bolwer becomes all the more tough to take wickets,control the flow of runs and also be a crowd puller.

Now of how many instances have we heard off wherein we go to watch a certain bowler take wickets or just to watch him bowl up his run up to deliver an inswinging yorker or a googly.Such has been the nature of the game that it has always been a tad unfair to the bowlers.Out of the famous five Shane Warne is the only bowler present and rest all are star batsmen in their respective era's.

Sir Donald George Bradman was, without any question, the greatest phenomenon in the history of cricket, indeed in the history of all ball games. To start with, he had a deep and undying love of cricket, as well, of course, as exceptional natural ability. It was always said he could have become a champion at squash or tennis or golf or billiards, had he preferred them to cricket. The fact that, as a boy, he sharpened his reflexes and developed his strokes by hitting golf ball with a cricket stump as it rebounded off a water tank attests to his eye, fleetness of foot and, even when young, his rare powers of concentration. His batting average record of 99.94 is one which maybe would never be broken and thus also makes him immortal for ever.Sachin,Lara and Ponting have taking batting in tests and one dayers completely to a new level and have a tremendous influence on the game inside and outside the field.

Which now brings me to the phenom called "Warney",acclaimed by many greats of the game as the best bowler ever.In 2000, Warne was named by a 100-member panel of experts as the fourth of five Wisden Cricketers of the century, Warne received 27 votes, behind Sir Donald Bradman (100 votes), Sir Garfield Sobers (90 votes), and Sir Jack Hobbs (30 votes). Sir Viv Richards took the fifth place, with 25 votes.Warne has had such a tremendous influence over the game for the past 18 years for enumerous reasons , the top reason being for reviving the dead art of leg spin thought to be extinct, and is now pre-eminent in a game so transformed that we sometimes wonder where the next champion fast bowlers will come from.He was the first cricketer to reach 700 Test wickets. He swatted more runs than any other Test player without making a hundred, and was probably the wiliest and best captain Australia never had. His ball that gazoodled Mike Gatting in 1993, bouncing outside leg stump and cuffing off, is unanimously esteemed the most famous in history.Shane's life has been a like a straight picking from a Hollywood movie, nicknamed as "Hollywood" by his team mates for his great looks and exuberant way of life Warne has always led his life in the fast lane.Fans and general public have mystified his love for fast cars,women and gambling with his wizardry of spinning the leather ball on a 22 yard strip anywhere on the world.

Warne has a great fan following across the realms of society almost making them sycophantsfor the enigma he has been on the cricket field.It was said of Augustus that he found Rome brick and left it marble: the same is true of Warne and spin bowling.Warne's place in cricketing posterity has been assured by the fact that he has overturned the domination of cricket by fast bowling that had prevailed for two decades before his debut. Despite the presence of high quality spin bowlers such as Abdul Qadir on the Test scene, Australia's fast bowlers Lillee and Thompson had dominated cricket in the early 1970s; while from 1976 until the early 1990s, the West Indies had lost only one (ill-tempered and controversial) Test series with a bowling attack almost exclusively comprising fast bowlers. In the early 1990s, with the West Indies on the wane, Waqar Younis and Wasim Akram of Pakistan were assuming the mantle of the world's most feared bowlers. It was in that context that Warne's tormenting of batsmen became so significant rather than his actual statistics. His humiliation of Gatting and subsequent dominance, in particular, of English and South African batsmen, provided a welcome sight for cricket watchers weary of the relentless intimidation by West Indian bowlers of the 1980s and 1990s. His treatment of South African batsman Daryl Cullinan was such that Cullinan was said to have sought the help of a therapist to overcome Warne's psychological hold.So tormented were the English by Warne that British Airways at on epoint of time had planned to put up the image of the leg spinner at the tail of all their 747 airbuses.

One of the greatest compliments which I feel Warne received was the amount of time and practice Sachin Tendulkar had put in specifically to tackle Warnes leg spin before the 1999 India-Australia series.Warne was totally taken offguard and did admit that the images of the Little Master hitting him haunted him for months to come.


The story of Shane Warne is still not over , with him leading the Rajasthan Royals to victory in the first edition of the IPL he proved to his detractors in ACB that he deserved his shot at being the captain of Australia.Fans across the world still want him back to face England in the upcoming Ashes'09, such has been his impact on the game.

This treatise might be thought by many as an eulogy but its not , its my love for the game which is supreme and will so till the end.....

I will pose a question to all the readers "Is Shane the greatest cricketer ever ?"

Regards

Ishan