ASHES

Tail enders

Having had a great sporting stint over the last 5 years in college I have come to dissect attitudes and mannerisms of all sports men that I have seen on TV or come across in personal life. I study each and every individual and try to learn from him no matter how inconsequential a player he (or in fact she) might be. It is also reflected in the fact that as a fast bowler I never had an original action of myself. I started watching TV at an early age and copied all the bowlers on show, my fav actions that I kept for a longer time than others were, heath streak, allan Donald and the current one which I have for the last 4 years that of Glenn Mcgrath. Anyways as I was saying I came across lot of people and I noted the trivial attributes that every individual carries as a sportsman.
On the basis of this I have generally divided all sportsmen (mostly men because I only know one sports woman :P) into 2 categories. No. 10 and No.11. Now what is the distinct difference of these two categories. Basically its two categories of guys who would wear a no.10 on their back or no.11, generally by a guys sporting ability and attitude I can tell if he’s a no.10 kind of a guy or no.11. I’ll tell you how it works. A no.10 is one who really hates losing, these are generally footballers or football fans. The most important thing about these guys is that they are fighters, they are go-getters and arrogant with a varying degree obviously. A no.10 kind of guy will never take any crap, and give it back always. A no. 11 on the other hand is gentle, much more focused and not easily agitated. These guys harp on their composure rather than skill. Most no.11 are not gifted unlike the no.10’s, they are hard working group but they are not fighters. They don’t have the killer instinct. I am by the way a typical no. 11.
If I am not wrong the no.10 has been popularized by first pele and then maradona, the greatest exponents of football. i am not too sure of any famos footballers who wore 11, maybe roberto carlos or rivaldio had it i dont know. in cricket there is mcgrath, flintoff and now kaif for india, probably these people are good examples of my point earlier. a lot of people tried to get away from thse 2 nos., like ronaldo for 9 beckham for 7, and sachin for 99, but these nos. could never be so famos. there is something about these numbers that make them tick.
some time back i had to do a daring job and i was hell scared to do it, and i was thinking of it on the 9th of that month, so i thot maybe i shud do it on the 11th , 11 being my lucky thing and all, but something told me that if you want to do it its now (read:zubin:P) and i did it on 10th just symbolising in a sense that the no.10 is a go-getter, no.11's will always keep waiting for another day, they play with apteince and integrity, while the no.10 just does it and stays positive....

so whats your number????

Going around the wicket

We often use the word ‘traditionally’ to talk about how some contemporary concept worked earlier. We say traditionally we are religious people and we deliver our prayers by going to temples and mosques. While that might be a tradition even holy books agree that you don’t need a temple to worship your god. So that brings a case for not following tradition. Tradition largely is some pattern which is devoid of logic, not calling it senseless but it doesn’t have theoretical reasoning behind it. Like when hockey players start the match they form a circle with their stick in front of them forming a smaller circle and then they start the pep talk. So no reasons just a tradition. Another example is my cricket team enters the field we put our hands one on the other and raise them with the call of Wallace as to the warrior from braveheart. Numerous new guys have asked me what it means and why only this name but I have failed to gather an answer for I never asked this question as a junior and have always been shouting that.

The point I am trying to discuss here is should we follow traditions for the heck of it or try to change them or not care about them at all. I think the first two options are pretty much the same just that the particular tradition is being changed but you would agree to having a tradition, but what about not caring about it at all. Now it makes for an interesting case, you know that the tradition is not based on logic (mostly). So continuing it needlessly is serving no point, but then you start to wonder that if it is actually insignificant why it has been there for so long. It is never easy to convince yourself that breaking a tradition will serve any purpose either, I mean if it doesn’t make a difference you might just let it be anyways.

My feeling like what I believe will be the feeling of most people who read this (and that number is generally small) is that it depends on the situation whether you want to break, change or continue the tradition. Of course the option we select will be the one that yields the most tangible profit to us. But then there is a certain ethical side to it. For instance you try to make up your mind on some such stupid tradition as to whether you agree to follow it or not, the problem arises when you think that to get that tangible something you have to change your opinion. What do you do?
I believe every human mind is installed with one basic function, that is to prove that it is correct and whenever it realizes that it may have made a mistake it looks for other minds who would either justify that judgment or may have made the same mistake so that your mind is not the only one guilty. And then that mistake can be passed off as human nature. Therefore everyone thinks about traditions in a way that suits them better, saying that our opinion depends on the situation is just like a time out you take to see that if you are conflicting your ethics you find more people who did so and so that you are clear. In fact in a very ironic sense this forms a tradition where every person gives a judgment based on this time out. A tradition which we later don’t even realize that it exists.