Vacation

I'm taking my first vacation from work. After a small trip to Chennai, I'll end up at home in Hyd on Saturday morning.

Eagerly looking forward to doing nothing for a week. (except the poonal changing and Gayatri jabam)

ICL and the Quota System

It was a 177 as captain against the English Colts in the aftermath of our Natwest triumph that brought Ambati Rayudu to national prominence. He had become so popular that everyone on stage (except the quiz masters) could recognize his picture in a cricket quiz held in Anna University a few months later. After being touted as the next Sachin, Azhar, VVS, etc, and a pretty good first season, suddenly he lost his way and dropped out of the limelight. There was a shift to the Andhra Ranji team a couple of seasons back and then a comeback to the Hyderabad Ranji team last season along the way. But it did seem like he would end up being just another Ranji player, he was going nowhere. All this and he is still just 21 years old.

Now he is back in the news as the first current player to sign for Zee's Indian Cricket League in defiance of a probable ban that might be imposed on him. And supposedly he is not alone. He is joined by the cream of the Hyderabad team, the elegant left handed number 3 Anirudh Singh, the dependable D Vinay Kumar and the keeper Ibrahim Khaleel. TOI has clearly attributed the reason for this "defection" to the monetary benefits that the new league would offer. Ofcourse money is a major motivation, but I believe that there is another equally important reason as to why it was a group of Hyderabadis who were the first to join the ICL. Something that I (and some friends) term the quota system.

The quota here refers to the selection of sons of ex-cricketers in the teams that matter at the cost of other arguably more talented players. The ex-cricketer and son that I am referring to are Shivlal Yadav and his son Arjun Yadav. In the last season, Arjun Yadav hasn't done too great. But he was rewarded with a place in the India A team. And also walks into all the South Zone teams. There cannot be any other reason for such a mediocre achiever to go places other than the power his dad wields with the Hyderabad Cricket Association. And incidentally, Shivlal Yadav's previous claim to fame was the selection of Noel (who?) David.

Given that one guy who has performed as well or as badly as the others is preferred shows that it is not meritocracy at work. And as a result the entire middle order except Arjun has decided to quit putting their entire careers at risk. Or probably there was no chance they could have a decent career.

It also seems to me like Arjun Yadav was also responsible for Ambati Rayudu's sudden and unexpected shift to Andhra. And there is some colourful history also between the two where Arjun Yadav ran behind Ambati Rayudu with a stump in hand at Anantapur two seasons back due to allegations that Yadav was a quota candidate. And it could very well have been pressures such as these that have had a big role to play in Rayudu's decline.

ICL has hit the Indian cricket administration at the right weak point, the quota system. something that is obvious to even a casual follower of domestic Indian cricket. There must be other such affected and disgruntled cricketers. And there is no reason why someone who is kept out by say an Udit Patel or an Anirudh Srikkanth will not join the ICL. ICL has found quite a fertile ground to target. Good strategy and I seriously hope this will pay off.

P.S.: Also posted on Critics Corner.

YAWU or Yet Another Weekend Update

Dinners at relatives houses are boring, especially more so if one there is no one except your sis belonging to your generation, and even more so when it is at the cost of missing live football sitting in the cosy confines of home. But at some places, appearances need to be kept. Thus my plans of an uninterrupted football viewing session on Saturday got totally dashed. In the end. thanks to a call in the morning asking us to land up early, I could only watch two halves, the first half of the Spurs-Sunderland match and the second half of the Liverpool-Villa match.

Given that Liverpool won despite me watching, last season's jinx finally seems to have been broken. Liverpool might just end up being title contenders. And good that Man City under Sven and Shin have also started off well. If Man U do badly tomorrow (at Portsmouth) , City can enter the derby on Sunday 4-5 points above United. Enough of day dreaming for now.

The trip to Hyd was planned because my mom is in the US and my dad was also supposed to join her as a part of an official trip. So my sis would be alone and I could go and take care of her. (its actually closer to give her some break from the solitude at home). But dad's trip got cancelled (much to my mom's chagrin, Amma claims that Appa should have put more fight and ensured that the trip went ahead, he being a director and all, but that was hoping for the moon). But I decided to go ahead with my trip as my tickets were already booked by train.

I parked my bike at Cantonment. 60 bucks from Friday evening to Monday morning is pretty decent only. (as compared to what I might have had to pay if I had taken an auto).

Previously the Bangalore-Hyd train had a pantry car, but now it does not. Snacks are loaded at Bangalore itself, so its better if you get them early, else they end up being non-hot and non-crispy. Also Railway grub seems to have reduced in quantity. And they don't even give water these days. If I remember right from the little I remember from B-School, there is a court ruling that water should be served along with food. They used to previously, but now they don't. Just one of the ways in which Lalu is making the Railways more profitable.

Checking the net on the phone is awesome, especially while following a cricket match. But it also has the undesirable sideeffect of draining the battery pretty fast. But worth it if India is doing well as on Friday, but not so on Sunday. But I still ended up draining the battery on both the days.

Enough of rambling. I shall stop here.

Change at work

Till last week, I was working on some data modeling, a project that belongs to what I call the "grey area". There is no one right answer, just a best among the many possible answers. Whatever you do can be right. In a way it is good, especially when it comes to discussing progress with the manager. But somehow this entire exercise seemed a little unfulfilling to me and I was getting a little disillusioned.

Last week I was shifted to a more deterministic project. Developing some tools required for statistical analysis. Its not too easy, but at the same time, I atleast know what my final result will and should be. Seems a welcome change. As Skimpy remarked, probably it is my anti-probability bias that has manifested itself here.

I also have had some mugging also to do, but it does not seem as onerous as mugging for exams. Suddenly my world has become a much better place to inhabit.