Crickonomics

The Growth Story:

Year	1989	1990	1991	1992	1993	1994	1995	1996	1997	1998	1999
GDP Growth Rate	5.95	5.53	1.06	5.48	4.77	6.65	7.57	7.56	4.05	6.19	7.39

The table shows the Indian GDP Growth Rate, from the period just before liberalization till date. A decent growth rate of 5.95% slowly deteriorated to 1.06% in 1991. Economists strongly argue that the Indian government went bankrupt and there was no other option than to liberalize. Bring in foreign investments to avoid bankruptcy and fuel growth was the mantra that was followed. With the luckiest stars in place, the move worked wonders for the economy. From thereon, the Indian economy started to shape into a stable upward curve until the software services crisis happened in 2000. Growth was hit for a couple of years, but the economy recovered not only sooner, but a lot sturdier.  

Year	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009	2010
GDP Growth Rate	4.03	5.22	3.77	8.37	8.28	9.32	9.27	9.82	4.93	9.1	9.72

With high growth during the period 2003-07, mainly powered by the software industry, there was a paradigm shift in the way the world looked at India. 2008 brought recession along with it, fueled by the US sub-prime crisis, but the Indian growth story remained robust. It did dip below 5%, but fared a lot better than many developed economies. A mighty recovery in 2009-10 and awaiting a double-dip in 2011, thanks to Eurozone crisis, has once again made the economists burn the midnight oil with their Excel sheets to find a way out.

The Sachin Growth Story:

Year	1989	1990	1991	1992	1993	1994	1995	1996	1997	1998	1999
Batting Average	35.8	41.4	19.5	41.9	91.4	70.0	29.0	41.5	62.5	80.8	68.0

The date was 15^th November 1989. Indian GDP was struggling to grow at 5.95%, when Test cap no. 187 took field. He played just six innings that year with a modest average of 35.83 runs. The next year, he hit his first hundred against England and, to tell you the truth, the whole of India was watching/reading him play. Everyone was talking about this wonder-kid Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar and since Indians were busy discussing cricket, our GDP growth rate slumped to 5.53%, the next year.

In 1992, his performance got better with an average of 42 and so did India’s GDP - it grew at 5.48%. 1993 became the first feared year for the Indian economy - Sachin showered his blessings on fans with an impeccable performance with the bat, scoring at 91.43 runs per innings. Indian fans were delighted. They stopped working plainly because they were happy and could only talk about Sachin. As expected, Indian GDP growth rate declined to 4.77%. The happy period continued to 1994, where the fans were, now, enjoying their work alongside Sachin’s scoring rate at 70 runs per innings. There were a few negative sentiments when he once got out at 96 against SL in Bangalore, but that was brushed aside. The new face of Indian cricket kept people happy and the economy grew at 6.65%.

It was 1995 when Sachin got married. Fans respected his privacy and the economy grew at 7.57% irrespective of his menial average of 29. The next year, Sachin came back to action to score at 42 runs per innings and the economy steadily grew at the same rate as the previous year. 1997 became the second feared year for the Indian economy – Sachin averaged 62 runs per innings and all Indians were caught guilty, watching him live on TV. Indian growth rate tumbled to 4%. The God of Cricket saw what was happening and offered a deal to his fans. He delivered at staggering 81 runs per innings in 1998 and the fans responded by working hard to push the growth rate to 6.2%. 1999 was even better, the economy got better to grow at 7.4%.

The year was 1991 when Sachin started to become a showstopper in the national fan-following arena. They watched him play, every ball of every test match and much to their dismay, he didn’t perform well. Indian fans were let down and devastated. They fell for the early show of brilliance and let their economy totter to grow at 1.06% that year. Economists said that the country went bankrupt and that is why they had to open the gates for privatization. But, huge expectations on Sachin and a paltry show by him with an average of 19.50 led to the economy debacle. Now you know how Sachin helped in liberalization of the Indian economy.

Year	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009	2010
Batting Average	63.8	62.6	55.6	17.0	91.5	44.4	24.2	55.4	48.3	67.6	78.1

Cometh a new century, the fans went back on their words. Sachin delivered, yet the growth rate declined. The ups and downs disagreement continued for a while until 2003, when the fans lost interest in the game as Sachin’s average slumped to 17 for the year. Because of his under-performance, people stopped watching cricket and - would you believe it – Indian economy grew at 8.37%. For the first time, it had crossed 8% in the past 20 years. Sachin cherished this growth and he made his fans happy next year by scoring at 92 runs per innings, with almost three double hundreds.

The tussle went on for a while until 2008, when recession happened. Sachin’s inconsistent performance in the past few years left the fans upset and caused recession in the world. With back-to-back stellar performances which motivated the fans, Sachin helped the Indian economy grow above 9% in 2009 and 2010. However, the gloom around his 100^th century has caused huge uproar in Europe and America and talks of a double-dip have surfaced. For the betterment for the world economy, let alone Indian, the earlier the 100^th century comes, better are the chances to escape the double-dip.

Reports all around the world say that Indian economy will grow at unprecedented rate in the coming future. Their prediction could be right. Half of the Indian population will stop watching cricket and start working, once he retires.

My Green Top Story

Ever wondered what it feels like to play on a green top? The green top hailed all over the world as the toughest of the pitches to play on. There is no home advantage involved; just toss advantage. Win the toss and put the opposition in to bat. Bring in your fiery fast bowlers to swing the red cherry in ways that reminiscence the batsman their shameful failures of tendering their kindergarten swing. It is so magical a strip that, one hardly finds the difference between the pitch and the ground. It is almost like a park where the bowlers are playing “Ringa Ringa Roses” with the batsmen and “all (wickets) fall down”.

We have green tops in India too. Flabbergasted by the previous statement? These green tops are the ones that we play our school tournaments on. The green mat spread to three-fourths of the pitch and in which a leg spinner can garner better bounce than a medium-pacer. And how does it feel to take a wicket in the second ball of your career – out of the green top. For most part of my tennis-ball cricket career, I was a wicket-keeper; probably because I used to have good reflexes and also because I like to sledge a lot. But, when it was time to play with a red cherry, I always wanted to bowl. A part of the reason I took up bowling was because my former tennis-ball bowlers couldn’t control the seam and it was getting difficult for me to shield away from the bruises. But the main reason was, I wanted that rugged attention that a fast-bowler gets when he runs into bowl and the crowd goes “oooooooooo000000ooooooooooh”. Bowling with an upright seam and making the ball talk was what I had always wanted to do and imagined myself doing.

This incident dates back to 1999, when I took my run-up to bowl the first ball of my career. Bowling to a Right-handed batsman, I imagined myself to be Glenn McGrath and bowled on the goodlength-off stump line, pitching on the seam and the ball deviated a few degrees towards the slip cordon crossing the batsman by his chest. The batsman was as amazed as I was, tapped the green mat, where he found a one-rupee coin on which I had pitched the ball. Mid-on comes and encourages me. “It was a neat out-swinger” says the umpire. Impressed. First ball of your career and you caused panic in the dressing room.

Second ball. Pressure building up. I ran into bowl not knowing how I was holding the seam and where the shiny side was. I pitched on the same one-rupee coin, but this time the ball moved into the batsman. With my Karizma ZMR top-speed of 140kmph, he was struck plumb in front. The whole lot of us appealed “Howzzat???” and without a doubt, the umpire raised the finger that all batsmen dread. The crowd erupted in joy. Thus a Wicket-keeper turns a Bowler! And the prolific batsman couldn’t believe the amount of swing that I could muster. I became a two-ball hero because that was one wicket we all wanted desperately. I finish that over with great zeal and enthusiasm.

After the over, I stepped out of the rope to put my pads and gloves on, when Dravid asked to steam-in with another couple of overs on the green top to castle the New Zealand team before lunch. I obliged him, telling my captain Azharuddin about Dravid’s astute decision. Christchurch was one heck of a green top to bowl on and the NZ were all-out for a menial score. Harsha Bhogle termed me as the next superstar of Indian cricket and without an option Richie Benaud agreed to it. When I walked out of the field leading the team, I showed the crowd my test cap that I got from Sachin at the start of the match. It was an innings victory for us and the next week’s Sportstar carried my bowling action as the Starposter.

 All through our childhoods, we all dream, nothing wrong in it. But how many of us take that dream to the next level? I do. I still dream playing in Indian XI, especially when sitting in a lecture where I don’t understand anything about why the strategic potential of a cutting-edge throughput should satisfy the market demand!!

Naneghat Trip

This post appeared first on CoolAge in two parts. You can check it out at the following links:
http://www.coolage.in/2011/12/05/naneghat-trip-part-one/
http://www.coolage.in/2011/12/07/naneghat-trip-part-two/

The Iranian chai at Matunga with its unique flavour, sensation and aroma clicked active that part of the brain, which had been dormant for months. These months, they left us bewildered with Macroeconomics, Accounting, Supply Chain, et al. And we were still fighting within our own selves to find a way out. The decision to trek in the Western Ghats aroused the butterflies in the bellies and we set out to search for the lost cave atop a hill. The trek team consisted of Debashree, Kartik, Rajeev, Vaibhav and, yours truly, of course. We reached back our respective hostels at 0100 hours, 27th November 2011, 37 hours after our final exams. With cricket, South Bombay heroics and multi-cuisine luncheons, our systems pleaded for some sleep after a hectic exam schedule. But, the fire to explore more, kept us detached from hitting the sack as frequently as possible.

All of us, barring the vibrant Vaibhav, slept for 2 hours only, as we had planned to start at 0400 hours from our hostels to take the first train to Kalyan. Probably, the first time something was executed on time despite having a girl in the team. We reached Kalyan by 0530 hours bang on, and en route we were greeted by hot water disguised as chai in Dombivili station. We waited for the Shirdi bus to start and as the normal Indians that we are, three of us adjusted in the bus seat capacitated for two. Finally, when the bus did start at 0645 hours, we felt overwhelmingly blessed. The bus conductor was super-confident of where the foothills of Naneghat started which he said in his fluent Marathi that we decoded into Hindi and understood later, as his willingness to help us out. As luck would have it, we crossed the foothills of "Naneghat" at around 0800 hours, and had to ask the conductor to stop the bus. One can easily spot the difference between a super-confident man and an over-confident man; a super-confident man says he saw a time machine land here in this village; an over-confident man says that he made that time machine land in that village. Our conductor turned from a super-confident man to an over-confident man and didn't stop the bus and kept on reassuring us that the destination is further down the road. After half hour of further travel and still no signs of Naneghat, added along with some public venting of pressure, he sheepishly accepted that we have crossed the point. With no guts to throw swearing gaalis on a government employee in the middle of a Maratha village, we religiously got down and then hurled the E/C gaalis at him, after the bus left, of course.

Standing in the middle of the road, all that we could see was the Grand Canyon-structured, air-cut mountains of the Western Ghats. We were 15 km ahead of our starting point and we were told to wait for a truck or a jeep that will take us back to the trekking point. With some assistance from the local Police post, we boarded a truck that was going in our desired direction. Five of us in the small driver cabin, we were six in all, the driver included. With twisted necks and pressurized limbs, we reached our trek's starting point at 0930 hours. What should have been a cakewalk was achieved with some bum-paining efforts and it took us such a long time to reach the starting point. And what lay ahead was a search to reach the long-forgotten cave.

So, we reached the foothills of Naneghat. We started walking along the only available path and were met by a stream-bed. As rocky it can get, the Woodlands did come into the picture and was a major assistance in trekking. Google terms this trek as an "Easy" one, but as one would have it, we had to turn it the other way- "Difficult". We followed the bed of rocks and with each meter the slope was increasing by a good fraction of a degree. There were places where tan θ was put to shame while we were on our fours. And what amazed us the most was, each of us, wherever we saw, deciphered a path that could take us to the top. We did reach the top and when we did, it was only to discover that there was another, further higher. The slope was ever increasing and was indirectly proportional to the amount of water we were carrying.

We reached a second top and by that time, we were sure that we were off-track and by no means would we reach the cave. Taking inspiration from Columbus, we set to discover a new cave/peak/place. We set a target and promised ourselves that we will trek until 1230 pm. Peak after peak we went and finally we saw the biggest of the peaks. Life becomes a lot easier when we know where we have to reach, but it becomes a lot interesting when we realize that we will reach somewhere, no matter when and how. And so did we reach the peak, better than everything that we had come across and when one looks back at the trails, it's just amazing to feel that we have trekked so far.
It felt great to be there with complete silence around, listening just to oneself. To feel that, that was life – The higher you grow, the more careful you must be. Everyone down there look so tiny to you, but when you fall, the greater the impact will be and sometimes unlucky enough that no one cares to remember you, after the fall. Just when my mind was taking the philosophical route, I realized that the pug didn't stop following us, after all. Rajeev's phone rang and thanks to you Vodafone, we realized that the peak wasn't a virgin one. Vaibhav came up with an idea of shooting an ad for Vodafone and there, with our minimum equipment (a digicam), we shot the ad (which in under process now and will be released soon).

After half hour's rest, we started to descend down. And the terrain was absolutely magical. With a torn shoe grip, Vaibhav was on the casualty side at most times. Forests, jungle, tough roots, spider webs, creaking insects, rattles of snakes, barrage of slippery rocks surrounded us and the only hope to reach a place of human habitation was the traffic sounds from the South-East, towards which we were moving. Even the descend wasn't as easy as we had presumed to be. We owed that to the difficult path that we had voluntarily taken and were we glad that we did- We could reach ground zero in an hour! Out on the highway, as we waited for transportation, there came the dusty truck again. Hitchhiking on the truck, we made our journey to the nearest dhaba, to pacify our hunger growls. After a delicious meal, luckily enough, we managed to get an auto to a nearest town. After two consecutive jeep drives we reached Kalyan, from where we boarded the local train. It was 1900 hours when we reached our hostels. A strong coffee and a Saridon shot the headache that I was carrying along and it was 0800, the next day, when I opened my eyes again.

If..

We all dread one thing in life. Wish we could change it, but the least that we can expect is not to change our relationships, our lifestyles, our likes-dislikes and most importantly ourselves after the dreadful event. The scared truth is not thinking about what if you die and what will be life after that? On the contrary, the graver truth is what if your loved one dies and what will be life after that?

One certain thing is, that we all will die, one after the other. Who is next in line is the million dollar question! What amazes me more is why should we get close to someone, live with them, share happiness and sadness with them and finally see them die! Why do we put ourselves through those moments of happiness, when we know that we all are going to die one day? Is the juice worth the squeeze? The juice of sharing a life with a closed one and letting them die, while being helpless. Is it worth the pain that we experience afterwards? The pain of leading an uncertain life ahead and thinking that life would have been beautiful if only they didn’t leave us.

I would say yes and a sure yes. Those moments of closeness, care and joy are beyond the capacity that a single life can take. When the sheer absence can make you feel miserable, what would have happened if you hadn’t known that such a joy existed? The realms of change would have been impossible to handle and it is the mind that feels the way that you want it to feel. It’s very difficult to come out of pain and lead a life where the probability is certain that you will lose another loved one, sooner or later. But can you stop loving just because you know that even this loved one will cease to exist?

On the other hand, won’t it be wonderful if we take death by this collar and strangle it to death? Shall we live to live the only life that the Almighty blessed us with? To live it to the fullest and be ourselves, every moment of it. Even the closed one would expect the same from us. To live a life like you always wanted to live, because the last wish of anyone is that they should have lived a life that they would have wanted to!!