I watched Invictus yesterday and feel good after watching the movie...its again a top of shelf classic from Clint Eastwood with remarkable performances from Morgan Freeman and Matt Damon.
The movie touched a deep chord with my conscience and proves the fact that forgiveness and not looking back into the past are highly mature form of thinking....something only very few blessed souls have on planet earth....
Invictus means Unconquerable in Latin and is actually a title of poem written by an English poet William Earnest Henley in 1875..this poem was Nelson Mandela's favorite poem ...and something which gave him strength when he was imprisoned....
INVICTUS
Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be For my unconquerable soul.
In the fell clutch of circumstance I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance My head is bloody, but unbowed.
Beyond this place of wrath and tearsL ooms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years Finds and shall find me unafraid.
It matters not how strait the gate,How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate:I am the captain of my soul.
I was amazed by the fact on how Mandela can / could forgive all the people had indicted punishment , insult and pain to his body and soul. In one of the scenes from the movie Freeman playing Mandela truly says that Forgiveness truly liberates the soul and that he can't afford to delve into the past and instill the fear the white government had whilst passing on the power to Mandela.
The movie is based on a book Playing the Enemy : Nelson Mandela and the Game That Changed a Nation. Its a true story of human bonding beyond racial barriers in which Mandela asks the captain of the Springbooks (South African rugby team) to win the 1995 world cup for the country and people of South Africa.
Many people already know what is the plot of the movie ...however what is important is the underlying message for humanity....
I personally believe that the day we stop caring for each other is the day we stop being called as humans....it exemplifies the fact that people like Gandhi and Mandela are true gems of the human race...people who believed in the power of mind and sacrificed their whole lives in service for their country...
So on that note for a feel good evening with family do watch INVICTUS....
Friday, March 26, 2010
Tuesday, March 02, 2010
Who is the best batsman ever ? Bradman or Tendulkar
From the moment Sachin Tendulkar first sprang into prominence,cricket writers have compared him , in way or another,with Sir Donald Bradman.
Sir Don in his own time was compared with Australia's Victor Trumper.During Bradman's playing career certain number of critics of about the same age as Bradman - or even younger - continued to make these comparisons and often went to great lengths to prove that Trumper was the better batsman (even without ever having seen Trumper play). Nothing has changed over the past 50-60 years or so the comparisons will keep on happening. We have been fortunate enough to have a player like Tendulkar play cricket in our times but also have been unfortunate enough to never have seen Bradman , before making any comparisons.
Tendulkar himself has always remained completely aloof from the argument , he is possibly now on his swan song but personally I and all his fans would want to see him bat into eternity.
The time is prudent definitely to declare Tendulkar as the one of the batting greats the game has ever seen and also include him in Wisdens Top 5 players of this century , but one should also put rest any comparisons of Tendulkar with Sir Don , Len Hutton , Jack Hobbs, Gavaskar or Sir Viv Richards.
It is not an apples to apples comparison and certainly not a fair one.Stats would heavily favour both the greats,Tendulkar in terms of volume and Bradman in his averages.Numbers definitely speak for themselves but I believe in relativity in terms of the era , quality of opposition and bowlers and the ever changing rules of cricket.Bradman played at a time were it was "no holds bar" for the bowler in terms of targeting the batsman's body to limit run flow and get him out.The Bodyline series is a testament of this fact , Tendulkar is playing in an era were bowlers have been limited in terms of their line and length.Moreover the inclusion of the 3rd umpire and the challenge system has benefited the players immensely , thereby completely ruling out the human errors by the umpires. Bradman did score a lot of his runs against England and has been sometimes criticised for scoring heavily against weak teams , just to clarify the only weak team he played against at that point of time was India , that only once. Bradman batted at the crease for 80 times in test cricket and scored a staggering 6996 runs at Godly average of 99.94.
Coming now to Tendulkar , for the majority of his career has always been the pivotal batsman and saviour for the Indian team.This was not necessarily the case for Bradman as he captained "The Invincibles" Australian team to great success.Tendulkar on the other hand instead of being part of a plan has been the plan.
The question is on what grounds do we compare these two greats on style ....has anyone of us seen Bradman play barring a few black and white footage. Secondly in terms of runs had Bradman have the oppurtunity to play more tests and ODI's wouldn't he have amassed more runs at his phenomenal average.
Hence I feel that both Tendulkar and Bradman are great players of their own era's and comparison can't be made between the two.One thing is for sure that is common between the two - the undying love for the game and the great level of fitness they exhibited in their twilight playing years.
Sir Gary Sobers recently compared that Gavaskar is the best batsman ever because of runs he scored against a bowling attack in his time which comprised of Lillee,Thompson,Roberts,Hall,Imran Khan etc.
So just to wrap up Tendulkar is definitely the best modern day batsman especially amongst the players he has played along with ...Lara,Ponting,Anwar,Kallis,Jayawardene etc and Sir Don would remain to be the best in his playing time also.
Sir Don in his own time was compared with Australia's Victor Trumper.During Bradman's playing career certain number of critics of about the same age as Bradman - or even younger - continued to make these comparisons and often went to great lengths to prove that Trumper was the better batsman (even without ever having seen Trumper play). Nothing has changed over the past 50-60 years or so the comparisons will keep on happening. We have been fortunate enough to have a player like Tendulkar play cricket in our times but also have been unfortunate enough to never have seen Bradman , before making any comparisons.
Tendulkar himself has always remained completely aloof from the argument , he is possibly now on his swan song but personally I and all his fans would want to see him bat into eternity.
The time is prudent definitely to declare Tendulkar as the one of the batting greats the game has ever seen and also include him in Wisdens Top 5 players of this century , but one should also put rest any comparisons of Tendulkar with Sir Don , Len Hutton , Jack Hobbs, Gavaskar or Sir Viv Richards.
It is not an apples to apples comparison and certainly not a fair one.Stats would heavily favour both the greats,Tendulkar in terms of volume and Bradman in his averages.Numbers definitely speak for themselves but I believe in relativity in terms of the era , quality of opposition and bowlers and the ever changing rules of cricket.Bradman played at a time were it was "no holds bar" for the bowler in terms of targeting the batsman's body to limit run flow and get him out.The Bodyline series is a testament of this fact , Tendulkar is playing in an era were bowlers have been limited in terms of their line and length.Moreover the inclusion of the 3rd umpire and the challenge system has benefited the players immensely , thereby completely ruling out the human errors by the umpires. Bradman did score a lot of his runs against England and has been sometimes criticised for scoring heavily against weak teams , just to clarify the only weak team he played against at that point of time was India , that only once. Bradman batted at the crease for 80 times in test cricket and scored a staggering 6996 runs at Godly average of 99.94.
Coming now to Tendulkar , for the majority of his career has always been the pivotal batsman and saviour for the Indian team.This was not necessarily the case for Bradman as he captained "The Invincibles" Australian team to great success.Tendulkar on the other hand instead of being part of a plan has been the plan.
The question is on what grounds do we compare these two greats on style ....has anyone of us seen Bradman play barring a few black and white footage. Secondly in terms of runs had Bradman have the oppurtunity to play more tests and ODI's wouldn't he have amassed more runs at his phenomenal average.
Hence I feel that both Tendulkar and Bradman are great players of their own era's and comparison can't be made between the two.One thing is for sure that is common between the two - the undying love for the game and the great level of fitness they exhibited in their twilight playing years.
Sir Gary Sobers recently compared that Gavaskar is the best batsman ever because of runs he scored against a bowling attack in his time which comprised of Lillee,Thompson,Roberts,Hall,Imran Khan etc.
So just to wrap up Tendulkar is definitely the best modern day batsman especially amongst the players he has played along with ...Lara,Ponting,Anwar,Kallis,Jayawardene etc and Sir Don would remain to be the best in his playing time also.
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